CHAPTER XXIV 335
" I feel so astonished ," she began , " I hardly know what to say to you , Miss Eyre . I have surely not been dreaming , have I ? Sometimes I half fall asleep when I am sitting alone and fancy things that have never happened . It has seemed to me more than once when I have been in a doze , that my dear husband , who died fifteen years since , has come in and sat down beside me ; and that I have even heard him call me by my name , Alice , as he used to do . Now , can you tell me whether it is actually true that Mr . Rochester has asked you to marry him ? Don ' t laugh at me . But I really thought he came in here five minutes ago , and said that in a month you would be his wife ."
" He has said the same thing to me ," I replied . " He has ! Do you believe him ? Have you accepted him ?" " Yes ."
She looked at me bewildered . " I could never have thought it . He is a proud man : all the Rochesters were proud : and his father , at least , liked money . He , too , has always been called careful . He means to marry you ?"
" He tells me so ."
She surveyed my whole person : in her eyes I read that they had there found no charm powerful enough to solve the enigma .
" It passes me !" she continued ; " but no doubt , it is true since you say so . How it will answer , I cannot tell : I really don ' t know . Equality of position and fortune is often advisable in such cases ; and there are twenty years of difference in your ages . He might almost be your father ."
" No , indeed , Mrs . Fairfax !" exclaimed I , nettled ; " he is nothing like my father ! No one , who saw us together , would suppose it for an instant . Mr . Rochester looks as young , and is as young , as some men at five-and-twenty ."
" Is it really for love he is going to marry you ?" she asked .