CHAPTER XI 122
alone in the best quarters . I say alone -- Leah is a nice girl to be sure , and John and his wife are very decent people ; but then you see they are only servants , and one can ' t converse with them on terms of equality : one must keep them at due distance , for fear of losing one ' s authority . I ' m sure last winter ( it was a very severe one , if you recollect , and when it did not snow , it rained and blew ), not a creature but the butcher and postman came to the house , from November till February ; and I really got quite melancholy with sitting night after night alone ; I had Leah in to read to me sometimes ; but I don ' t think the poor girl liked the task much : she felt it confining . In spring and summer one got on better : sunshine and long days make such a difference ; and then , just at the commencement of this autumn , little Adela Varens came and her nurse : a child makes a house alive all at once ; and now you are here I shall be quite gay ."
My heart really warmed to the worthy lady as I heard her talk ; and I drew my chair a little nearer to her , and expressed my sincere wish that she might find my company as agreeable as she anticipated .
" But I ' ll not keep you sitting up late to-night ," said she ; " it is on the stroke of twelve now , and you have been travelling all day : you must feel tired . If you have got your feet well warmed , I ' ll show you your bedroom . I ' ve had the room next to mine prepared for you ; it is only a small apartment , but I thought you would like it better than one of the large front chambers : to be sure they have finer furniture , but they are so dreary and solitary , I never sleep in them myself ."
I thanked her for her considerate choice , and as I really felt fatigued with my long journey , expressed my readiness to retire . She took her candle , and I followed her from the room . First she went to see if the hall-door was fastened ; having taken the key from the lock , she led the way upstairs . The steps and banisters were of oak ; the staircase window was high and latticed ; both it and the long gallery into which the bedroom doors opened looked as if they belonged to a church rather than a house . A very chill and vault-like air pervaded the stairs and gallery , suggesting cheerless ideas of space and solitude ; and I was glad , when finally ushered into my chamber , to find it of small dimensions , and furnished in ordinary , modern style .