CHAPTER XVI 193
crime she wished to perpetrate . I was amazed -- confounded . She looked up , while I still gazed at her : no start , no increase or failure of colour betrayed emotion , consciousness of guilt , or fear of detection . She said " Good morning , Miss ," in her usual phlegmatic and brief manner ; and taking up another ring and more tape , went on with her sewing .
" I will put her to some test ," thought I : " such absolute impenetrability is past comprehension ."
" Good morning , Grace ," I said . " Has anything happened here ? I thought I heard the servants all talking together a while ago ."
" Only master had been reading in his bed last night ; he fell asleep with his candle lit , and the curtains got on fire ; but , fortunately , he awoke before the bed-clothes or the wood-work caught , and contrived to quench the flames with the water in the ewer ."
" A strange affair !" I said , in a low voice : then , looking at her fixedly -- " Did Mr . Rochester wake nobody ? Did no one hear him move ?"
She again raised her eyes to me , and this time there was something of consciousness in their expression . She seemed to examine me warily ; then she answered -
" The servants sleep so far off , you know , Miss , they would not be likely to hear . Mrs . Fairfax ' s room and yours are the nearest to master ' s ; but Mrs . Fairfax said she heard nothing : when people get elderly , they often sleep heavy ." She paused , and then added , with a sort of assumed indifference , but still in a marked and significant tone -- " But you are young , Miss ; and I should say a light sleeper : perhaps you may have heard a noise ?"
" I did ," said I , dropping my voice , so that Leah , who was still polishing the panes , could not hear me , " and at first I thought it was Pilot : but Pilot cannot laugh ; and I am certain I heard a laugh , and a strange one ."