had a rounded, muscular, and vigorous hand, as well as a long, strong arm.
'Yes; though I touch it, it is a dream,' said I, as I put it down from before my face. 'Sir, have you finished supper?'
'Yes, Jane.'
I rang the bell and ordered away the tray. When we were again alone, I stirred the fire, and then took a low seat at my master's knee.
'It is near midnight,' I said.
'Yes: but remember, Jane, you promised to wake with me the night before my wedding.'
'I did; and I will keep my promise, for an hour or two at least: I have no wish to go to bed.'
'Are all your arrangements complete?'
'All, sir.'
'And on my part likewise,' he returned, 'I have settled everything; and we shall leave Thornfield to-morrow, within half an hour after our return from church.'
'Very well, sir.'
'With what an extraordinary smile you uttered that word- "very well," Jane! What a bright spot of colour you have on each cheek! and how strangely your eyes glitter! Are you well?'
'I believe I am.'
'Believe! What is the matter? Tell me what you feel.'
'I could not, sir: no words could tell you what I feel. I wish this present hour would never end: who knows with what fate the next day may come charged?'
'This is hypochondria, Jane. You have been over-excited, or over-fatigued.'
'Do you, sir, feel calm and happy?'
'Calm?- no: but happy- to the heart's core.'
I looked up at him to read the signs of bliss in his face: it was ardent and flushed.
'Give me your confidence, Jane,' he said: 'relieve your mind of any weight that oppresses it, by imparting it to me. What do you fear?- that I shall not prove a good husband?'
'It is the idea farthest from my thoughts.'
'Are you apprehensive of the new sphere you are about to enter?- of the new life into which you are passing?'
'No.'
'You puzzle me, Jane: your look and tone of sorrowful audacity perplex and pain me. I want an explanation.'
'Then, sir, listen. You were from home last night?'
'I was: I know that; and you hinted a while ago at something which had
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