Джейн Эйр / Jane Eyre

Reed occupied her usual seat by the fireside; she made a signal to me to approach; I did so, and she introduced me to the stony stranger with the words —

�This is the little girl respecting whom I applied to you.’

He – for it was a man – turned his head slowly towards where I stood, and having examined me with the two inquisitive-looking grey eyes which twinkled under a pair of bushy brows, said solemnly, and in a bass voice —

�Her size is small; what is her age?’

�Ten years.

’

�So much?’ was the doubtful answer; and he prolonged his scrutiny for some minutes. Presently he addressed me:

�Your name, little girl?’

�Jane Eyre, sir.’

In uttering these words I looked up; he seemed to me a tall gentleman, but then I was very little; his features were large, and they and all the lines of his frame were equally harsh and prim.

�Well, Jane Eyre, and are you a good child?’

Impossible to reply to this in the affirmative; my little world held a contrary opinion: I was silent.

Mrs. Reed answered for me by an expressive shake of the head, adding soon, �Perhaps the less said on that subject the better, Mr. Brocklehurst.’

�Sorry indeed to hear it! she and I must have some talk;’ and bending from the perpendicular, he installed his person in the armchair opposite Mrs. Reed’s. �Come here,’ he said.

I stepped across the rug; he placed me square and straight before him. What a face he had, now that it was almost on a level with mine! what a great nose! and what a mouth! and what large prominent teeth!

�No sight so sad as that of a naughty child,’ he began, �especially a naughty little girl.

Do you know where the wicked go after death?’

�They go to hell,’ was my ready and orthodox answer.

�And what is hell? Can you tell me that?’

�A pit full of fire.’

�And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there forever?’

�No, sir.

’

�What must you do to avoid it?’

I deliberated a moment; my answer, when it did come, was objectionable; �I must keep in good health, and not die.’

�How can you keep in good health? Children younger than you die daily. I buried a little child of five years old only a day or two since – a good little child, whose soul is now in heaven. It is to be feared the same could not be said of you, were you to be called hence.