Jane Eyre

him look before, – not quite so stern; much less gloomy. There was a smile on his lips, and his eyes sparkled, whether with wine or not, I am not sure; but I think it very probable. He was, in short, in his after-dinner mood; more expanded and genial, and also more self-indulgent than the frigid and rigid temper of the morning: still, he looked preciously grim, cushioning his massive head against the swelling back of his chair, and receiving the light of the fire on his granite-hewn features, and in his great, dark eyes – for he had great, dark eyes, and very fine eyes, too: not without a certain change in their depths sometimes, which, if it was not softness, reminded you, at least, of that feeling.
    He had been looking two minutes at the fire, and I had been looking the same length of time at him, when, turning suddenly, he caught my gaze, fastened on his physiognomy.
    »You examine me, Miss Eyre,« said he: »do you think me handsome?«
    I should, if I had deliberated, have replied to this question by something conventionally vague and polite; but the answer somehow slipped from my tongue before I was aware: – »No, sir.«
    »Ah! By my word! there is something singular about you,« said he: »you have the air of a little nonnette; quaint, quiet, grave, and simple, as you sit with your hands before you, and your eyes generally bent on the carpet (except, by-the-by, when they are directed piercingly to my face; as just now, for instance); and when one asks you a question, or makes a remark to which you are obliged to reply, you rap out a round rejoinder, which, if not blunt, is at least brusque. What do you mean by it?«
    »Sir, I was too plain: I beg your pardon. I ought to have replied that it was not easy to give an impromptu answer to a question about appearances; that tastes differ; that beauty is of little consequence, or something of that sort.«
    »You ought to have replied no such thing. Beauty of little consequence, indeed! And so, under pretence of softening the previous outrage, of stroking and soothing me into placidity, you stick a sly penknife under my ear! Go on: what fault do you find with me, pray? I suppose I have all my limbs and all my features like any other man?«
    »Mr. Rochester, allow me to disown my first answer: I intended no pointed repartee: it was only a blunder.«
    »Just so: I think so: and you shall be answerable for it. Criticize me: does my forehead not please you?«
    He lifted up the sable waves of hair which lay horizontally over his brow, and showed a solid enough mass of intellectual organs; but an abrupt deficiency where the suave sign of benevolence should have risen.
    »Now, ma'am, am I a fool?«
    »Far from it, sir. You would, perhaps, think me rude if I inquired in return whether you are a philanthropist?«
    »There again! Another stick of the penknife, when she pretended to pat my head: and that is because I said I did not like the society of children and old women (low be it spoken!). No, young lady, I am not a general philanthropist; but I bear a conscience;« and he pointed to the prominences which are said to indicate that faculty – and which, fortunately for him, were sufficiently conspicuous; giving, indeed, a marked breadth to the upper part of his head: »and, besides, I once had a kind of rude tenderness of heart. When I was as old as you, I was a feeling fellow enough; partial to the unfledged, unfostered, and unlucky; but fortune has knocked me about since: she has even kneaded me with her knuckles, and now I flatter myself I am hard and tough as an Indian-rubber ball; pervious, though, through a chink or two still, and with one sentient point in the middle of the lump. Yes: does that leave hope for me?«
    »Hope of what, sir?«
    »Of my final re-transformation from Indian-rubber back to flesh?«
    »Decidedly he has had too much wine,« I thought; and I did not know what answer to make to his queer question: how could I tell whether he was capable of being re-transformed?
    »You look very much puzzled, Miss Eyre; and though you are not pretty any more than I am handsome, yet a puzzled air becomes you; besides, it is convenient, for it keeps those searching eyes of yours away from my physiognomy, and busies them with the worsted flowers of the rug; so puzzle on. Young lady, I am disposed to be gregarious and communicative to-night.«
    With this announcement he rose from his chair, and stood, leaning his arm on the marble mantel-piece: in that attitude