CHAPTER XVI 192
CHAPTER XVI
I both wished and feared to see Mr. Rochester on the day which followed this sleepless night: I wanted to hear his voice again, yet feared to meet his eye. During the early part of the morning, I momentarily expected his coming; he was not in the frequent habit of entering the schoolroom, but he did step in for a few minutes sometimes, and I had the impression that he was sure to visit it that day.
But the morning passed just as usual: nothing happened to interrupt the quiet course of Adele ' s studies; only soon after breakfast, I heard some bustle in the neighbourhood of Mr. Rochester ' s chamber, Mrs. Fairfax ' s voice, and Leah ' s, and the cook ' s-- that is, John ' s wife-- and even John ' s own gruff tones. There were exclamations of " What a mercy master was not burnt in his bed!" " It is always dangerous to keep a candle lit at night." " How providential that he had presence of mind to think of the water-jug!" " I wonder he waked nobody!" " It is to be hoped he will not take cold with sleeping on the library sofa," & c.
To much confabulation succeeded a sound of scrubbing and setting to rights; and when I passed the room, in going downstairs to dinner, I saw through the open door that all was again restored to complete order; only the bed was stripped of its hangings. Leah stood up in the window-seat, rubbing the panes of glass dimmed with smoke. I was about to address her, for I wished to know what account had been given of the affair: but, on advancing, I saw a second person in the chamber-- a woman sitting on a chair by the bedside, and sewing rings to new curtains. That woman was no other than Grace Poole.
There she sat, staid and taciturn-looking, as usual, in her brown stuff gown, her check apron, white handkerchief, and cap. She was intent on her work, in which her whole thoughts seemed absorbed: on her hard forehead, and in her commonplace features, was nothing either of the paleness or desperation one would have expected to see marking the countenance of a woman who had attempted murder, and whose intended victim had followed her last night to her lair, and( as I believed), charged her with the