Jane Eyre. An Autobiography / Джейн Эйр. Автобиография. Шарлотта Бронте

the stairs and entered the cold and dimly lit schoolroom: here prayers were read by Miss Miller; afterwards she called out —

      “Form classes!”

      A great tumult lasted for some minutes. When it ceased, I saw the girls all in four semicircles, before four chairs, placed at the four tables; all held books in their hands, and a great book, like a Bible, lay on each table, before the vacant seat. A distant bell tinkled: immediately three ladies entered the room, each walked to a table and took her seat. Miss Miller took the fourth vacant chair, around which the smallest of the children were assembled: to this inferior class I was called.

      Business now began, certain texts of Scripture[18] were said, and reading of chapters in the Bible, which lasted an hour, was done. By the time that exercise was done, day had fully dawned. The bell now sounded for the fourth time: the classes marched into another room to breakfast: how glad I was to get something to eat! The refectory was a great, gloomy room; on two long tables smoked basins of something hot, which, however, gave an odour far from inviting[19]. The tall girls of the first class whispered —

      “Disgusting! The porridge is burnt again!”

      Hungry, I ate a spoonful or two of my portion without thinking of its taste; but burnt porridge is almost as bad as rotten potatoes. I saw each girl taste her food and try to swallow it. Breakfast was over, and none had breakfasted.

      A quarter of an hour passed before lessons again began, during which the schoolroom was in a tumult. The whole conversation ran on the breakfast. Miss Miller was now the only teacher in the room: a group of great girls standing about her spoke with serious gestures. I heard the name of Mr. Brocklehurst pronounced by some lips; at which Miss Miller shook her head disapprovingly.

      A clock in the schoolroom struck nine; Miss Miller left her circle, and standing in the middle of the room, cried —

      “Silence! To your seats!”

      Discipline prevailed: in five minutes the crowd was brought to order. The upper teachers now punctually took their posts: but still, all seemed to wait. What was the matter? I had heard no order given: I was puzzled. The classes were again seated: but all eyes were now turned to one point, mine followed the general direction, and met the personage who had received me last night. She stood at the bottom of the long room. Miss Miller said aloud —

      “Monitor of the first class, fetch the globes!”

      The lady moved slowly up the room. Miss Temple – Maria Temple, as I learned afterwards, the superintendent of Lowood, having taken her seat before a pair of globes, began giving a lesson on geography. The duration of each lesson was measured by the clock, which at last struck twelve. The superintendent rose —

      “I have a word to address to the pupils,” said she.

      She went on —

      “You had this morning a breakfast which you could not eat; you must be hungry: – I have ordered that a lunch of bread and cheese shall be served to all.”

      The teachers looked at her with a sort of surprise.

      “It is to be done on my responsibility,” she added, and immediately afterwards left the room.

      The bread and cheese was presently brought in and distributed, to the delight of the whole school.

      After morning classes I went into the yard for a short walk, when the sound of a cough made me turn my head. I saw a girl sitting on a stone bench near; she was bent over a book. In turning a leaf she looked up, and I said to her directly —

      “Is your book interesting?”

      “I like it,” she answered, after a pause of a second or two, during which she examined me.

      “What is it about?” I continued. I hardly know where I found the courage to open a conversation with a stranger.

      “You may look at it,” replied the girl, offering me the book.

      I did so; but I saw nothing of interest to me. I returned it to her; she received it quietly, and was about to start reading: again I dared to disturb her —

      “Can you tell me what the writing on that stone over the door means? What is Lowood Institution?”

      “It is partly a charity-school: you and I, and all the rest of us, are charity-children. I suppose you are an orphan?”

      “Both my parents died before I can remember.

      I wonder if they keep us for nothing?”

      “We pay, or our friends pay, fifteen pounds a year for each.”

      “Does this house belong to that tall lady who said we were to have some bread and cheese?”

      “To Miss Temple? Oh, no! I wish it did: she has to answer to Mr. Brocklehurst for all she does. Mr. Brocklehurst buys all our food and all our clothes. He lives two miles off, at a large house. He is a clergyman, and is said to do a great deal of good.”

      “Did you say that tall lady was called Miss Temple?”

      “Yes.”

      “And what are the other teachers called?”

      “The one with red cheeks is called Miss Smith; she teaches us to sew; the little one with black hair is Miss Scatcherd; she teaches history and grammar; and the one who wears a shawl, is Madame Pierrot: she comes from France, and teaches French.”

      “Do you like the teachers?”

      “Well enough.”

      “But Miss Temple is the best – isn’t she?”

      “Miss Temple is very good and very clever; she is above the rest, because she knows far more than they do.”

      “Have you been long here?”

      “Two years.”

      “Are you an orphan?”

      “My mother is dead.”

      “Are you happy here?”

      “You ask too many questions. I have given you answers enough for the present: now I want to read.”

      But at that moment the bell sounded for dinner; all re-entered the house. The odour which now filled the refectory was scarcely more appetising than at breakfast: I ate what I could, and wondered whether every day’s food would be like this.

      After dinner, we immediately went back to the schoolroom: lessons recommenced, and continued till five o’clock.

      We had another meal, consisting of a small mug of coffee, and half-a-slice of brown bread. I ate my bread and drank my coffee with pleasure; but I was still hungry. Half-an-hour’s recreation followed, then study; then the glass of water and the piece of oat-cake, prayers, and bed. Such was my first day at Lowood.

      Chapter VI

      The next day began as before, but this morning we couldn’t wash up; the water in the pitchers was frozen. Before the long hour of prayers and Bible-reading was over, I felt ready to die with cold. Breakfast-time came at last, and this morning the porridge was not burnt; the quality was eatable, the quantity small. How small my portion seemed! I wished it had been doubled.

      At first, the lessons seemed to me both long and difficult; and I was glad when, about three o’clock in the afternoon, Miss Smith put into my hands a border of muslin, together with needle, thimble, etc., and sent me to sit in a quiet corner of the schoolroom. One class still stood round Miss Scatcherd’s chair reading. It was English history: among the readers I observed my acquaintance of the verandah: at the beginning of the lesson, her place had been at the top of the class, but for some error of pronunciation, or some inattention to stops, she was suddenly sent to the very bottom. Miss Scatcherd continued to make her an object of constant criticism: —

      “Burns” (such it seems was her name: the girls here were all called by their surnames), “Burns, you poke your chin[20] most unpleasantly; draw

18

Священное Писание, Библия

19

источало малоприятный запах

20

ты выпячиваешь подбородок