CHAPTER XXI 285
I declined accepting more than was my due . He scowled at first ; then , as if recollecting something , he said -
" Right , right ! Better not give you all now : you would , perhaps , stay away three months if you had fifty pounds . There are ten ; is it not plenty ?"
" Yes , sir , but now you owe me five ." " Come back for it , then ; I am your banker for forty pounds ."
" Mr . Rochester , I may as well mention another matter of business to you while I have the opportunity ."
" Matter of business ? I am curious to hear it ."
" You have as good as informed me , sir , that you are going shortly to be married ?"
" Yes ; what then ?"
" In that case , sir , Adele ought to go to school : I am sure you will perceive the necessity of it ."
" To get her out of my bride ' s way , who might otherwise walk over her rather too emphatically ? There ' s sense in the suggestion ; not a doubt of it . Adele , as you say , must go to school ; and you , of course , must march straight to -- the devil ?"
" I hope not , sir ; but I must seek another situation somewhere ."
" In course !" he exclaimed , with a twang of voice and a distortion of features equally fantastic and ludicrous . He looked at me some minutes .
" And old Madam Reed , or the Misses , her daughters , will be solicited by you to seek a place , I suppose ?"