CHAPTER XXV 354 charged?"
" This is hypochondria, Jane. You have been over-excited, or over-fatigued."
" Do you, sir, feel calm and happy?" " Calm?-- no: but happy-- to the heart ' s core."
I looked up at him to read the signs of bliss in his face: it was ardent and flushed.
" Give me your confidence, Jane," he said: " relieve your mind of any weight that oppresses it, by imparting it to me. What do you fear?--that I shall not prove a good husband?"
" It is the idea farthest from my thoughts."
" Are you apprehensive of the new sphere you are about to enter?-- of the new life into which you are passing?"
" No."
" You puzzle me, Jane: your look and tone of sorrowful audacity perplex and pain me. I want an explanation."
" Then, sir, listen. You were from home last night?"
" I was: I know that; and you hinted a while ago at something which had happened in my absence:- nothing, probably, of consequence; but, in short, it has disturbed you. Let me hear it. Mrs. Fairfax has said something, perhaps? or you have overheard the servants talk?-- your sensitive self-respect has been wounded?"
" No, sir." It struck twelve-- I waited till the time-piece had concluded its silver chime, and the clock its hoarse, vibrating stroke, and then I