CHAPTER XXVI 369
" Sir -- sir ," interrupted the clergyman , " do not forget you are in a sacred place ." Then addressing Mason , he inquired gently , " Are you aware , sir , whether or not this gentleman ' s wife is still living ?"
" Courage ," urged the lawyer , -- " speak out ."
" She is now living at Thornfield Hall ," said Mason , in more articulate tones : " I saw her there last April . I am her brother ."
" At Thornfield Hall !" ejaculated the clergyman . " Impossible ! I am an old resident in this neighbourhood , sir , and I never heard of a Mrs . Rochester at Thornfield Hall ."
I saw a grim smile contort Mr . Rochester ' s lips , and he muttered -
" No , by God ! I took care that none should hear of it -- or of her under that name ." He mused -- for ten minutes he held counsel with himself : he formed his resolve , and announced it -
" Enough ! all shall bolt out at once , like the bullet from the barrel . Wood , close your book and take off your surplice ; John Green ( to the clerk ), leave the church : there will be no wedding to-day ." The man obeyed .
Mr . Rochester continued , hardily and recklessly : " Bigamy is an ugly word ! -- I meant , however , to be a bigamist ; but fate has out- manoeuvred me , or Providence has checked me , -- perhaps the last . I am little better than a devil at this moment ; and , as my pastor there would tell me , deserve no doubt the sternest judgments of God , even to the quenchless fire and deathless worm . Gentlemen , my plan is broken up : - what this lawyer and his client say is true : I have been married , and the woman to whom I was married lives ! You say you never heard of a Mrs . Rochester at the house up yonder , Wood ; but I daresay you have many a time inclined your ear to gossip about the mysterious lunatic kept there under watch and ward . Some have whispered to you that she is my bastard half-sister : some , my cast-off mistress . I now inform you that she is my wife , whom I married fifteen years ago , -- Bertha Mason by name ; sister of this resolute personage , who