CHAPTER XXVII 400
convenience I might break them , what would be their worth ? They have a worth -- so I have always believed ; and if I cannot believe it now , it is because I am insane -- quite insane : with my veins running fire , and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs . Preconceived opinions , foregone determinations , are all I have at this hour to stand by : there I plant my foot ."
I did . Mr . Rochester , reading my countenance , saw I had done so . His fury was wrought to the highest : he must yield to it for a moment , whatever followed ; he crossed the floor and seized my arm and grasped my waist . He seemed to devour me with his flaming glance : physically , I felt , at the moment , powerless as stubble exposed to the draught and glow of a furnace : mentally , I still possessed my soul , and with it the certainty of ultimate safety . The soul , fortunately , has an interpreter -- often an unconscious , but still a truthful interpreter -- in the eye . My eye rose to his ; and while I looked in his fierce face I gave an involuntary sigh ; his gripe was painful , and my over-taxed strength almost exhausted .
" Never ," said he , as he ground his teeth , " never was anything at once so frail and so indomitable . A mere reed she feels in my hand !" ( And he shook me with the force of his hold .) " I could bend her with my finger and thumb : and what good would it do if I bent , if I uptore , if I crushed her ? Consider that eye : consider the resolute , wild , free thing looking out of it , defying me , with more than courage -- with a stern triumph . Whatever I do with its cage , I cannot get at it -- the savage , beautiful creature ! If I tear , if I rend the slight prison , my outrage will only let the captive loose . Conqueror I might be of the house ; but the inmate would escape to heaven before I could call myself possessor of its clay dwelling-place . And it is you , spirit -- with will and energy , and virtue and purity -- that I want : not alone your brittle frame . Of yourself you could come with soft flight and nestle against my heart , if you would : seized against your will , you will elude the grasp like an essence -- you will vanish ere I inhale your fragrance . Oh ! come , Jane , come !"
As he said this , he released me from his clutch , and only looked at me . The look was far worse to resist than the frantic strain : only an idiot , however ,