CHAPTER XX 263
I put my fingers into his. " Warm and steady," was his remark: he turned the key and opened the door.
I saw a room I remembered to have seen before, the day Mrs. Fairfax showed me over the house: it was hung with tapestry; but the tapestry was now looped up in one part, and there was a door apparent, which had then been concealed. This door was open; a light shone out of the room within: I heard thence a snarling, snatching sound, almost like a dog quarrelling. Mr. Rochester, putting down his candle, said to me, " Wait a minute," and he went forward to the inner apartment. A shout of laughter greeted his entrance; noisy at first, and terminating in Grace Poole ' s own goblin ha! ha! SHE then was there. He made some sort of arrangement without speaking, though I heard a low voice address him: he came out and closed the door behind him.
" Here, Jane!" he said; and I walked round to the other side of a large bed, which with its drawn curtains concealed a considerable portion of the chamber. An easy-chair was near the bed-head: a man sat in it, dressed with the exception of his coat; he was still; his head leant back; his eyes were closed. Mr. Rochester held the candle over him; I recognised in his pale and seemingly lifeless face-- the stranger, Mason: I saw too that his linen on one side, and one arm, was almost soaked in blood.
" Hold the candle," said Mr. Rochester, and I took it: he fetched a basin of water from the washstand: " Hold that," said he. I obeyed. He took the sponge, dipped it in, and moistened the corpse-like face; he asked for my smelling-bottle, and applied it to the nostrils. Mr. Mason shortly unclosed his eyes; he groaned. Mr. Rochester opened the shirt of the wounded man, whose arm and shoulder were bandaged: he sponged away blood, trickling fast down.
" Is there immediate danger?" murmured Mr. Mason.
" Pooh! No-- a mere scratch. Don ' t be so overcome, man: bear up! I ' ll fetch a surgeon for you now, myself: you ' ll be able to be removed by morning, I hope. Jane," he continued.