CHAPTER XXVII 384
" For how long , Jane ? For a few minutes , while you smooth your hair -- which is somewhat dishevelled ; and bathe your face -- which looks feverish ?"
" I must leave Adele and Thornfield . I must part with you for my whole life : I must begin a new existence among strange faces and strange scenes ."
" Of course : I told you you should . I pass over the madness about parting from me . You mean you must become a part of me . As to the new existence , it is all right : you shall yet be my wife : I am not married . You shall be Mrs . Rochester -- both virtually and nominally . I shall keep only to you so long as you and I live . You shall go to a place I have in the south of France : a whitewashed villa on the shores of the Mediterranean . There you shall live a happy , and guarded , and most innocent life . Never fear that I wish to lure you into error -- to make you my mistress . Why did you shake your head ? Jane , you must be reasonable , or in truth I shall again become frantic ."
His voice and hand quivered : his large nostrils dilated ; his eye blazed : still I dared to speak .
" Sir , your wife is living : that is a fact acknowledged this morning by yourself . If I lived with you as you desire , I should then be your mistress : to say otherwise is sophistical -- is false ."
" Jane , I am not a gentle-tempered man -- you forget that : I am not long-enduring ; I am not cool and dispassionate . Out of pity to me and yourself , put your finger on my pulse , feel how it throbs , and -- beware !"
He bared his wrist , and offered it to me : the blood was forsaking his cheek and lips , they were growing livid ; I was distressed on all hands . To agitate him thus deeply , by a resistance he so abhorred , was cruel : to yield was out of the question . I did what human beings do instinctively when they are driven to utter extremity -- looked for aid to one higher than man : the words " God help me !" burst involuntarily from my lips .