CHAPTER XX 265
According as the shifting obscurity and flickering gleam hovered here or glanced there , it was now the bearded physician , Luke , that bent his brow ; now St . John ' s long hair that waved ; and anon the devilish face of Judas , that grew out of the panel , and seemed gathering life and threatening a revelation of the arch-traitor -- of Satan himself -- in his subordinate ' s form .
Amidst all this , I had to listen as well as watch : to listen for the movements of the wild beast or the fiend in yonder side den . But since Mr . Rochester ' s visit it seemed spellbound : all the night I heard but three sounds at three long intervals , -- a step creak , a momentary renewal of the snarling , canine noise , and a deep human groan .
Then my own thoughts worried me . What crime was this that lived incarnate in this sequestered mansion , and could neither be expelled nor subdued by the owner ? -- what mystery , that broke out now in fire and now in blood , at the deadest hours of night ? What creature was it , that , masked in an ordinary woman ' s face and shape , uttered the voice , now of a mocking demon , and anon of a carrion-seeking bird of prey ?
And this man I bent over -- this commonplace , quiet stranger -- how had he become involved in the web of horror ? and why had the Fury flown at him ? What made him seek this quarter of the house at an untimely season , when he should have been asleep in bed ? I had heard Mr . Rochester assign him an apartment below -- what brought him here ! And why , now , was he so tame under the violence or treachery done him ? Why did he so quietly submit to the concealment Mr . Rochester enforced ? Why DID Mr . Rochester enforce this concealment ? His guest had been outraged , his own life on a former occasion had been hideously plotted against ; and both attempts he smothered in secrecy and sank in oblivion ! Lastly , I saw Mr . Mason was submissive to Mr . Rochester ; that the impetuous will of the latter held complete sway over the inertness of the former : the few words which had passed between them assured me of this . It was evident that in their former intercourse , the passive disposition of the one had been habitually influenced by the active energy of the other : whence then had arisen Mr . Rochester ' s dismay when he heard of Mr . Mason ' s arrival ? Why had the mere name of this unresisting individual -- whom his word now