CHAPTER XXIV 329
myself clad in a court-lady ' s robe ; and I don ' t call you handsome , sir , though I love you most dearly : far too dearly to flatter you . Don ' t flatter me ."
He pursued his theme , however , without noticing my deprecation . " This very day I shall take you in the carriage to Millcote , and you must choose some dresses for yourself . I told you we shall be married in four weeks . The wedding is to take place quietly , in the church down below yonder ; and then I shall waft you away at once to town . After a brief stay there , I shall bear my treasure to regions nearer the sun : to French vineyards and Italian plains ; and she shall see whatever is famous in old story and in modern record : she shall taste , too , of the life of cities ; and she shall learn to value herself by just comparison with others ."
" Shall I travel ? -- and with you , sir ?"
" You shall sojourn at Paris , Rome , and Naples : at Florence , Venice , and Vienna : all the ground I have wandered over shall be re-trodden by you : wherever I stamped my hoof , your sylph ' s foot shall step also . Ten years since , I flew through Europe half mad ; with disgust , hate , and rage as my companions : now I shall revisit it healed and cleansed , with a very angel as my comforter ."
I laughed at him as he said this . " I am not an angel ," I asserted ; " and I will not be one till I die : I will be myself . Mr . Rochester , you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me -- for you will not get it , any more than I shall get it of you : which I do not at all anticipate ."
" What do you anticipate of me ?"
" For a little while you will perhaps be as you are now , -- a very little while ; and then you will turn cool ; and then you will be capricious ; and then you will be stern , and I shall have much ado to please you : but when you get well used to me , you will perhaps like me again , -- LIKE me , I say , not LOVE me . I suppose your love will effervesce in six months , or less . I have observed in books written by men , that period assigned as the farthest to