CHAPTER XIII 155
" Only such books as came in my way; and they have not been numerous or very learned."
" You have lived the life of a nun: no doubt you are well drilled in religious forms;-- Brocklehurst, who I understand directs Lowood, is a parson, is he not?"
" Yes, sir."
" And you girls probably worshipped him, as a convent full of religieuses would worship their director."
" Oh, no."
" You are very cool! No! What! a novice not worship her priest! That sounds blasphemous."
" I disliked Mr. Brocklehurst; and I was not alone in the feeling. He is a harsh man; at once pompous and meddling; he cut off our hair; and for economy ' s sake bought us bad needles and thread, with which we could hardly sew."
" That was very false economy," remarked Mrs. Fairfax, who now again caught the drift of the dialogue.
" And was that the head and front of his offending?" demanded Mr. Rochester.
" He starved us when he had the sole superintendence of the provision department, before the committee was appointed; and he bored us with long lectures once a week, and with evening readings from books of his own inditing, about sudden deaths and judgments, which made us afraid to go to bed."
" What age were you when you went to Lowood?"