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white wrappers, were bearing down on him like ships in full sail.
'All's right!- all's right!' he cried. 'It's a mere rehearsal of
Much Ado about Nothing. Ladies, keep off, or I shall wax dangerous.'
And dangerous he looked: his black eyes darted sparks. Calming
himself by an effort, he added-
'A servant has had the nightmare; that is all. She's an
excitable, nervous person: she construed her dream into an apparition,
or something of that sort, no doubt; and has taken a fit with
fright. Now, then, I must see you all back into your rooms; for,
till the house is settled, she cannot be looked after. Gentlemen, have
the goodness to set the ladies the example. Miss Ingram, I am sure you
will not fail in evincing superiority to idle terrors. Amy and Louisa,
return to your nests like a pair of doves, as you are. Mesdames' (to
the dowagers), 'you will take cold to a dead certainty, if you stay in
this chill gallery any longer.'
And so, by dint of alternate coaxing and commanding, he contrived
to get them all once more enclosed in their separate dormitories. I
did not wait to be ordered back to mine, but retreated unnoticed, as
unnoticed I had left it.
Not, however, to go to bed: on the contrary, I began and dressed
myself carefully. The sounds I had heard after the scream, and the
words that had been uttered, had probably been heard only by me; for
they had proceeded from the room above mine: but they assured me
that it was not a servant's dream which had thus struck horror through
the house; and that the explanation Mr. Rochester had given was merely
an invention framed to pacify his guests. I dressed, then, to be ready
for emergencies. When dressed, I sat a long time by the window looking
out over the silent grounds and silvered fields and waiting for I knew
not what. It seemed to me that some event must follow the strange cry,
struggle, and call.
No: stillness returned: each murmur and movement ceased
gradually, and in about an hour Thornfield Hall was again as hushed as
a desert. It seemed that sleep and night had resumed their empire.
Meantime the moon declined: she was about to set. Not liking to sit in
the cold and darkness, I thought I would lie down on my bed, dressed
as I was. I left the window, and moved with little noise across the
carpet; as I stooped to take off my shoes, a cautious hand tapped
low at the door.
'Am I wanted?' I asked.
'Are you up?' asked the voice I expected to hear, viz., my
master's.
'Yes, sir.'
'And dressed?'
'Yes.'
'Come out, then, quietly.'
I obeyed. Mr. Rochester stood in the gallery holding a light.
'I want you,' he said: 'come this way: take your time, and make
no noise.'
My slippers were thin: I could walk the matted floor as softly as a
cat. He glided up the gallery and up the stairs, and stopped in the
dark, low corridor of the fateful third storey: I had followed and