第166页
《简·爱(英文版)》章节:第166页,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
the sun was just entering the dappled east, and his light illumined
the wreathed and dewy orchard trees and shone down the quiet walks
under them.
'Jane, will you have a flower?'
He gathered a half-blown rose, the first on the bush, and offered
it to me.
'Thank you, sir.'
'Do you like this sunrise, Jane? That sky with its high and light
clouds which are sure to melt away as the day waxes warm- this
placid and balmy atmosphere?'
'I do, very much.'
'You have passed a strange night, Jane.'
'Yes, sir.'
'And it has made you look pale- were you afraid when I left you
alone with Mason?'
'I was afraid of some one coming out of the inner room.'
'But I had fastened the door- I had the key in my pocket: I
should have been a careless shepherd if I had left a lamb- my pet
lamb- so near a wolf's den, unguarded: you were safe.'
'Will Grace Poole live here still, sir?'
'Oh yes! don't trouble your head about her- put the thing out of
your thoughts.'
'Yet it seems to me your life is hardly secure while she stays.'
'Never fear- I will take care of myself.'
'Is the danger you apprehended last night gone by now, sir?'
'I cannot vouch for that till Mason is out of England: nor even
then. To live, for me, Jane, is to stand on a crater-crust which may
crack and spue fire any day.'
'But Mr. Mason seems a man easily led. Your influence, sir, is
evidently potent with him: he will never set you at defiance or
wilfully injure you.'
'Oh no! Mason will not defy me; nor, knowing it, will he hurt me-
but, unintentionally, he might in a moment, by one careless word,
deprive me, if not of life, yet for ever of happiness.'
'Tell him to be cautious, sir: let him know what you fear, and show
him how to avert the danger.'
He laughed sardonically, hastily took my hand, and as hastily threw
it from him.
'If I could do that, simpleton, where would the danger be?
Annihilated in a moment. Ever since I have known Mason, I have only
had to say to him "Do that," and the thing has been done. But I cannot
give him orders in this case: I cannot say "Beware of harming me,
Richard"; for it is imperative that I should keep him ignorant that
harm to me is possible. Now you look puzzled; and I will puzzle you
further. You are my little friend, are you not?'
'I like to serve you, sir, and to obey you in all that is right.'
'Precisely: I see you do. I see genuine contentment in your gait
and mien, your eye and face, when you are helping me and pleasing
me- working for me, and with me, in, as you characteristically say,
"all that is right": for if I bid you do what you thought wrong, there
would be no light-footed running, no neat-handed alacrity, no lively
glance and animated complexion. My friend would then turn to me, quiet
and pale, and would say, "No, sir; that is impossible: I cannot do it,
because it is wrong"; and would become immutable as a fixed star.