第160页
《简·爱(英文版)》章节:第160页,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
stood at his side.
'Have you a sponge in your room?' he asked in a whisper.
'Yes, sir.'
'Have you any salts- volatile salts?'
'Yes.'
'Go back and fetch both.'
I returned, sought the sponge on the washstand, the salts in my
drawer, and once more retraced my steps. He still waited; he held a
key in his hand: approaching one of the small, black doors, he put
it in the lock; he paused, and addressed me again.
'You don't turn sick at the sight of blood?'
'I think I shall not: I have never been tried yet.'
I felt a thrill while I answered him; but no coldness, and no
faintness.
'Just give me your hand,' he said: 'it will not do to risk a
fainting fit.'
I put my fingers into his. 'Warm and steady,' was his remark: he
turned the key and opened the door.
I saw a room I remembered to have seen before, the day Mrs. Fairfax
showed me over the house: it was hung with tapestry; but the
tapestry was now looped up in one part, and there was a door apparent,
which had then been concealed. This door was open; a light shone out
of the room within: I heard thence a snarling, snatching sound, almost
like a dog quarrelling. Mr. Rochester, putting down his candle, said
to me, 'Wait a minute,' and he went forward to the inner apartment.
A shout of laughter greeted his entrance; noisy at first, and
terminating in Grace Poole's own goblin ha! ha! She then was there. He
made some sort of arrangement without speaking, though I heard a low
voice address him: he came out and closed the door behind him.
'Here, Jane!' he said; and I walked round to the other side of a
large bed, which with its drawn curtains concealed a considerable
portion of the chamber. An easy-chair was near the bed-head: a man sat
in it, dressed with the exception of his coat; he was still; his
head leant back; his eyes were closed. Mr. Rochester held the candle
over him; I recognised in his pale and seemingly lifeless face- the
stranger, Mason: I saw too that his linen on one side and one arm, was
almost soaked in blood.
'Hold the candle,' said Mr. Rochester, and I took it: he fetched
a basin of water from the washstand: 'Hold that,' said he. I obeyed.
He took the sponge, dipped it in, and moistened the corpse-like
face; he asked for my smelling-bottle, and applied it to the nostrils.
Mr. Mason shortly unclosed his eyes; he groaned. Mr. Rochester
opened the shirt of the wounded man, whose arm and shoulder were
bandaged: he sponged away blood, trickling fast down.
'Is there immediate danger?' murmured Mr. Mason.
'Pooh! No- a mere scratch. Don't be so overcome, man: bear up! I'll
fetch a surgeon for you now, myself: you'll be able to be removed by
morning, I hope. Jane,' he continued.
'Sir?'
'I shall have to leave you in this room with this gentleman, for an
hour, or perhaps two hours: you will sponge the blood as I do when
it returns: if he feels faint, you will put the glass of water on that