Jane Eyre

his shape was seen plainly as well as his face; his unusual breadth of chest, disproportionate almost to his length of limb. I am sure most people would have thought him an ugly man; yet there was so much unconscious pride in his port; so much ease in his demeanour; such a look of complete indifference to his own external appearance; so haughty a reliance on the power of other qualities, intrinsic or adventitious, to atone for the lack of mere personal attractiveness, that in looking at him, one inevitably shared the indifference; and even in a blind, imperfect sense, put faith in the confidence.
    »I am disposed to be gregarious and communicative to-night,« he repeated; »and that is why I sent for you: the fire and the chandelier were not sufficient company for me; nor would Pilot have been, for none of these can talk. Adèle is a degree better, but still far below the mark; Mrs Fairfax ditto; you, I am persuaded, can suit me if you will: you puzzled me the first evening I invited you down here. I have almost forgotten you since: other ideas have driven yours from my head; but to-night I am resolved to be at ease; to dismiss what importunes, and recall what pleases. It would please me now to draw you out: to learn more of you – therefore speak.«
    Instead of speaking, I smiled: and not a very complacent or submissive smile either.
    »Speak,« he urged.
    »What about, sir?«
    »Whatever you like. I leave both the choice of subject and the manner of treating it, entirely to yourself.«
    Accordingly I sat and said nothing: »If he expects me to talk for the mere sake of talking and showing off, he will find he has addressed himself to the wrong person,« I thought.
    »You are dumb, Miss Eyre.«
    I was dumb still. He bent his head a little towards me and with a single hasty glance seemed to dive into my eyes.
    »Stubborn?« he said, »and annoyed. Ah, it is consistent. I put my request in an absurd, almost insolent form. Miss Eyre, I beg your pardon. The fact is, once for all, I don't wish to treat you like an inferior: that is (correcting himself), I claim only such superiority as must result from twenty years' difference in age and a century's advance in experience. This is legitimate, et j'y tiens, as Adèle would say; and it is by virtue of this superiority and this alone that I desire you to have the goodness to talk to me a little now, and divert my thoughts, which are galled with dwelling on one point: cankering as a rusty nail.«
    He had deigned an explanation; almost an apology: I did not feel insensible to his condescension, and would not seem so.
    »I am willing to amuse you if I can, sir: quite willing; but I cannot introduce a topic, because how do I know what will interest you? Ask me questions, and I will do my best to answer them.«
    »Then, in the first place, do you agree with me that I have a right to be a little masterful, abrupt; perhaps exacting, sometimes, on the grounds I stated; namely, that I am old enough to be your father, and that I have battled through a varied experience with many men of many nations, and roamed over half the globe, while you have lived quietly with one set of people in one house?«
    »Do as you please, sir.«
    »That is no answer; or rather it is a very irritating, because a very evasive one – reply clearly.«
    »I don't think, sir, you have a right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have – your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.«
    »Humph! Promptly spoken. But I won't allow that, seeing that it would never suit my case; as I have made an indifferent, not to say a bad use of both advantages. Leaving superiority out of the question then, you must still agree to receive my orders now and then, without being piqued or hurt by the tone of command – will you?«
    I smiled: I thought to myself Mr. Rochester
is
peculiar – he seems to forget that he pays me 30
l.
per annum for receiving his orders.
    »The smile is very well,« said he, catching instantly the passing expression; »but speak too.«
    »I was thinking, sir, that very few masters would trouble themselves to inquire whether or not their paid subordinates were piqued and hurt by their orders.«
    »Paid subordinates! What, you are my paid subordinate, are you? Oh yes, I had forgotten the salary! Well then, on that mercenary ground, will you agree to let me hector a little?«
    »No, sir, not on