Джейн Эйр / Jane Eyre. Шарлотта Бронте

find out.

      As soon as we were left alone, Miss Temple invited Helen and me to approach the table and gave each of us a cup of tea with one delicious but thin morsel of toast.[16] Then she got up, opened a cupboard, and took out a whole fruitcake with nuts on top, wrapped in wax paper.

      “I wanted to give each of you some of this to take with you,” she said, “but as there is so little toast, you will have cake now.”

      What an earthly heaven I was in that night!

      The china teacups looked so pretty in the firelight, with their patterns of tiny flowers. The steam from the teapot, the aroma of hot toast, and the sight of the thick slices of cake on the plates filled me with joy. As we feasted, and I listened to Helen talking to Miss Temple about French books and faraway places, I couldn’t think of a time when I had been happier. Not only was I eating well for the first time in weeks, but I was with beautiful, kind, wise Miss Temple, and I felt safe and warm.

      Just a week later, Miss Temple stood before the school to make an announcement. She had made inquiries, she told us, and she had discovered, from a reliable source, that the allegations made against Miss Jane Eyre were false. Everyone applauded, and all the teachers hugged me. My name was cleared.

      From that day onward, I resolved to work harder than ever. Soon I was put up to the next class, and, as I had been promised, started to learn French and drawing. I would not now have exchanged Lowood with all its hardships for Gateshead with its daily luxuries.

      Chapter 9

      But the hardships of Lowood lessened. Spring came. The snows of winter melted. The nights and mornings were not so freezing cold any longer. First flowers started to appear amongst leaves. On Thursday afternoons we now took walks, and I realized that in spring the countryside around Lowood was beautiful. There was a clear stream nearby, and the school stood in the middle of a pretty wooded valley surrounded by high hills, purple with heather.

      May followed April and brought days of blue skies and sunshine with it. All this beauty I enjoyed often and fully, free, unwatched, and almost alone. For this liberty and pleasure there was, however, an unpleasant cause.

      Even though Lowood had a beautiful setting, it was not a healthy one. The nearby forest was full of for that crept into the school and breathed typhus through its crowded schoolroom and dormitory. Ere May arrived, our school was transformed into a hospital.

      If we had all been strong and well-fed,[17] it wouldn’t have mattered so much. But, semi-starvation and neglected colds made forty-five girls ill at one time. Classes were broken up, rules relaxed. The teachers spent every moment looking after the ill or packing things of those who were fortunate enough to have friends and relatives and could leave Lowood at once. Many went home to die, some died at school and were buried quietly and quickly.

      While the disease had become an inhabitant of Lowood, and death its frequent visitor, gardens glowed with flowers: lilies, roses and tulips were in bloom. Some of these lovely flowers ended up as a humble decoration for the coffins.

      But I, and the rest who continued well, enjoyed the beauties of the scene and season. We walked in the wood from morning till night, we did what we liked, went where we liked: we lived better too.

      Mr. Brocklehurst and his family never came near Lowood now driven away by the fear of infection. The servants and teachers were kinder to us. They gave us slices of pie, apples and parcels of bread and cheese to take out on our explorations.

      I usually found a large, flat stone in the middle of the stream, where I had a picnic every day with my chosen friend Mary Ann. She was witty and original, and had a manner which set me at my ease. Some years older than I, she knew more of the world, and could tell me many things I liked to hear. She could tell stories well, I could analyse; she liked to inform, I liked to question, and we spent hours talking.

      And where, meantime, was Helen Burns? Why did I not spend these sweet days of liberty with her? Had I forgotten her?

      No doubt she was far better than Mary Ann, as the latter could only tell funny stories. But Helen was gravely ill. She was kept separately and Miss Temple took care of her personally. She had been taken to a room upstairs, and I saw her once in the garden with Miss Temple but was not allowed to speak with her. She did not have typhus, but an even more serious disease – consumption. How serious the disease was I learnt only later.

      One evening, in the beginning of June, I had stayed out very late with Mary Ann in the wood. We had wandered so far that lost our way and it was only thanks to a man and woman, whose cottage we accidentally found that we found our way back. When we returned, we saw the doctor’s pony at the gate. Mary Ann went inside, and I stayed behind a few minutes to plant in my garden a handful of roots I had dug up in the forest. It was such a pleasant evening that I felt sorry for the sick who were lying in their beds now.

      Примечания

      1

      we had to amuse ourselves indoors. – нам пришлось находить себе занятие дома.

      2

      don’t answer me back – не пререкайтесь

      3

      If you don’t behave, she might send you away – Если ты не будешь хорошо себя вести, она может выставить тебя на улицу

      4

      I turned the afternoon’s events over and over in my mind. – Я вновь и вновь прокручивала в голове события этого дня.

      5

      Perhaps now his spirit was watching – Возможно, сейчас его дух наблюдал

      6

      it was probably nothing more than a footman carrying a lantern across the lawn – это был всего лишь лакей, который шёл по полю с фонарём

      7

      puzzled – озадаченно

      8

      And it would mean leaving Gateshead Hall behind at last. – И это значило бы покинуть наконец Гейтсхед Холл.

      9

      Revelations

16

delicious but thin morsel of toast – вкусный, но тонкий ломтик тоста

17

If we had all been strong and well-fed – если бы все мы были крепкими и сытыми