CHAPTER XXI 296
Provided with a case of pencils , and some sheets of paper , I used to take a seat apart from them , near the window , and busy myself in sketching fancy vignettes , representing any scene that happened momentarily to shape itself in the ever-shifting kaleidoscope of imagination : a glimpse of sea between two rocks ; the rising moon , and a ship crossing its disk ; a group of reeds and water-flags , and a naiad ' s head , crowned with lotus-flowers , rising out of them ; an elf sitting in a hedge-sparrow ' s nest , under a wreath of hawthorn-bloom .
One morning I fell to sketching a face : what sort of a face it was to be , I did not care or know . I took a soft black pencil , gave it a broad point , and worked away . Soon I had traced on the paper a broad and prominent forehead and a square lower outline of visage : that contour gave me pleasure ; my fingers proceeded actively to fill it with features . Strongly-marked horizontal eyebrows must be traced under that brow ; then followed , naturally , a well-defined nose , with a straight ridge and full nostrils ; then a flexible- looking mouth , by no means narrow ; then a firm chin , with a decided cleft down the middle of it : of course , some black whiskers were wanted , and some jetty hair , tufted on the temples , and waved above the forehead . Now for the eyes : I had left them to the last , because they required the most careful working . I drew them large ; I shaped them well : the eyelashes I traced long and sombre ; the irids lustrous and large . " Good ! but not quite the thing ," I thought , as I surveyed the effect : " they want more force and spirit ;" and I wrought the shades blacker , that the lights might flash more brilliantly -- a happy touch or two secured success . There , I had a friend ' s face under my gaze ; and what did it signify that those young ladies turned their backs on me ? I looked at it ; I smiled at the speaking likeness : I was absorbed and content .
" Is that a portrait of some one you know ?" asked Eliza , who had approached me unnoticed . I responded that it was merely a fancy head , and hurried it beneath the other sheets . Of course , I lied : it was , in fact , a very faithful representation of Mr . Rochester . But what was that to her , or to any one but myself ? Georgiana also advanced to look . The other drawings pleased her much , but she called that " an ugly man ." They both seemed surprised at my skill . I offered to sketch their portraits ; and each , in turn , sat