CHAPTER XIX 250
" A profound remark ! A most ingenious quibble ! He went to Millcote this morning , and will be back here to-night or to-morrow : does that circumstance exclude him from the list of your acquaintance -- blot him , as it were , out of existence ?"
" No ; but I can scarcely see what Mr . Rochester has to do with the theme you had introduced ."
" I was talking of ladies smiling in the eyes of gentlemen ; and of late so many smiles have been shed into Mr . Rochester ' s eyes that they overflow like two cups filled above the brim : have you never remarked that ?"
" Mr . Rochester has a right to enjoy the society of his guests ."
" No question about his right : but have you never observed that , of all the tales told here about matrimony , Mr . Rochester has been favoured with the most lively and the most continuous ?"
" The eagerness of a listener quickens the tongue of a narrator ." I said this rather to myself than to the gipsy , whose strange talk , voice , manner , had by this time wrapped me in a kind of dream . One unexpected sentence came from her lips after another , till I got involved in a web of mystification ; and wondered what unseen spirit had been sitting for weeks by my heart watching its workings and taking record of every pulse .
" Eagerness of a listener !" repeated she : " yes ; Mr . Rochester has sat by the hour , his ear inclined to the fascinating lips that took such delight in their task of communicating ; and Mr . Rochester was so willing to receive and looked so grateful for the pastime given him ; you have noticed this ?"
" Grateful ! I cannot remember detecting gratitude in his face ."
" Detecting ! You have analysed , then . And what did you detect , if not gratitude ?"
I said nothing .