CHAPTER XXII 312 one of his queer looks , and she could not tell what to make of him .
One thing specially surprised me , and that was , there were no journeyings backward and forward , no visits to Ingram Park : to be sure it was twenty miles off , on the borders of another county ; but what was that distance to an ardent lover ? To so practised and indefatigable a horseman as Mr . Rochester , it would be but a morning ' s ride . I began to cherish hopes I had no right to conceive : that the match was broken off ; that rumour had been mistaken ; that one or both parties had changed their minds . I used to look at my master ' s face to see if it were sad or fierce ; but I could not remember the time when it had been so uniformly clear of clouds or evil feelings . If , in the moments I and my pupil spent with him , I lacked spirits and sank into inevitable dejection , he became even gay . Never had he called me more frequently to his presence ; never been kinder to me when there -- and , alas ! never had I loved him so well .