CHAPTER XXIV 338
neighbour was too restrictive to him, in his present fractious mood, she dared whisper no observations, nor ask of him any information.
" Let her come to me," I entreated: " she will, perhaps, trouble you, sir: there is plenty of room on this side."
He handed her over as if she had been a lapdog. " I ' ll send her to school yet," he said, but now he was smiling.
Adele heard him, and asked if she was to go to school " sans mademoiselle?"
" Yes," he replied, " absolutely sans mademoiselle; for I am to take mademoiselle to the moon, and there I shall seek a cave in one of the white valleys among the volcano-tops, and mademoiselle shall live with me there, and only me."
" She will have nothing to eat: you will starve her," observed Adele.
" I shall gather manna for her morning and night: the plains and hillsides in the moon are bleached with manna, Adele."
" She will want to warm herself: what will she do for a fire?"
" Fire rises out of the lunar mountains: when she is cold, I ' ll carry her up to a peak, and lay her down on the edge of a crater."
" Oh, qu ' elle y sera mal-- peu comfortable! And her clothes, they will wear out: how can she get new ones?"
Mr. Rochester professed to be puzzled. " Hem!" said he. " What would you do, Adele? Cudgel your brains for an expedient. How would a white or a pink cloud answer for a gown, do you think? And one could cut a pretty enough scarf out of a rainbow."