CHAPTER XVIII 228
CHAPTER XVIII
Merry days were these at Thornfield Hall ; and busy days too : how different from the first three months of stillness , monotony , and solitude I had passed beneath its roof ! All sad feelings seemed now driven from the house , all gloomy associations forgotten : there was life everywhere , movement all day long . You could not now traverse the gallery , once so hushed , nor enter the front chambers , once so tenantless , without encountering a smart lady ' s-maid or a dandy valet .
The kitchen , the butler ' s pantry , the servants ' hall , the entrance hall , were equally alive ; and the saloons were only left void and still when the blue sky and halcyon sunshine of the genial spring weather called their occupants out into the grounds . Even when that weather was broken , and continuous rain set in for some days , no damp seemed cast over enjoyment : indoor amusements only became more lively and varied , in consequence of the stop put to outdoor gaiety .
I wondered what they were going to do the first evening a change of entertainment was proposed : they spoke of " playing charades ," but in my ignorance I did not understand the term . The servants were called in , the dining-room tables wheeled away , the lights otherwise disposed , the chairs placed in a semicircle opposite the arch . While Mr . Rochester and the other gentlemen directed these alterations , the ladies were running up and down stairs ringing for their maids . Mrs . Fairfax was summoned to give information respecting the resources of the house in shawls , dresses , draperies of any kind ; and certain wardrobes of the third storey were ransacked , and their contents , in the shape of brocaded and hooped petticoats , satin sacques , black modes , lace lappets , & c ., were brought down in armfuls by the abigails ; then a selection was made , and such things as were chosen were carried to the boudoir within the drawing-room .
Meantime , Mr . Rochester had again summoned the ladies round him , and was selecting certain of their number to be of his party . " Miss Ingram is mine , of course ," said he : afterwards he named the two Misses Eshton , and Mrs . Dent . He looked at me : I happened to be near him , as I had been