dinner?'
'No, sir, I must prepare for the journey.'
'Then you and I must bid good-bye for a little while?'
'I suppose so, sir.'
'And how do people perform that ceremony of parting, Jane? Teach me; I'm not quite up to it.'
'They say, Farewell, or any other form they prefer.'
'Then say it.'
'Farewell, Mr. Rochester, for the present.'
'What must I say?'
'The same, if you like, sir.'
'Farewell, Miss Eyre, for the present; is that all?'
'Yes.'
'It seems stingy, to my notions, and dry, and unfriendly. I should like something else: a little addition to the rite. If one shook hands, for instance; but no- that would not content me either.
So you'll do no more than say Farewell, Jane?'
'It is enough, sir: as much good-will may be conveyed in one hearty word as in many.'
'Very likely; but it is blank and cool- "Farewell."'
'How long is he going to stand with his back against that door?'
I asked myself; 'I want to commence my packing.' The dinner-bell rang, and suddenly away he bolted, without another syllable: I saw him no more during the day, and was off before he had risen in the morning.
I reached the lodge at Gateshead about five o'clock in the afternoon of the first of May: I stepped in there before going up to the hall. It was very clean and neat: the ornamental windows were hung with little white curtains; the floor was spotless; the grate and fire-irons were burnished bright, and the fire burnt clear. Bessie sat on the hearth, nursing her last-born, and Robert and his sister played quietly in a corner.
'Bless you!- I knew you would come!' exclaimed Mrs. Leaven, as I entered.
'Yes, Bessie,' said I, after I had kissed her; 'and I trust I am not too late. How is Mrs. Reed?- Alive still, I hope.'
'Yes, she is alive; and more sensible and collected than she was.
The doctor says she may linger a week or two yet; but he hardly thinks she will finally recover.'
'Has she mentioned me lately?'
'She was talking of you only this morning, and wishing you would come: but she is sle
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