CHAPTER XIII 156
" About ten."
" And you stayed there eight years: you are now, then, eighteen?" I assented.
" Arithmetic, you see, is useful; without its aid, I should hardly have been able to guess your age. It is a point difficult to fix where the features and countenance are so much at variance as in your case. And now what did you learn at Lowood? Can you play?"
" A little."
" Of course: that is the established answer. Go into the library-- I mean, if you please.--( Excuse my tone of command; I am used to say, ' Do this,' and it is done: I cannot alter my customary habits for one new inmate.)-- Go, then, into the library; take a candle with you; leave the door open; sit down to the piano, and play a tune."
I departed, obeying his directions.
" Enough!" he called out in a few minutes. " You play A LITTLE, I see; like any other English school-girl; perhaps rather better than some, but not well."
I closed the piano and returned. Mr. Rochester continued-- " Adele showed me some sketches this morning, which she said were yours. I don ' t know whether they were entirely of your doing; probably a master aided you?"
" No, indeed!" I interjected.
" Ah! that pricks pride. Well, fetch me your portfolio, if you can vouch for its contents being original; but don ' t pass your word unless you are certain: I can recognise patchwork."
" Then I will say nothing, and you shall judge for yourself, sir."