CHAPTER XXXIII 484
" No , indeed ! I remember now seeing the letter E . comprised in your initials written in books you have at different times lent me ; but I never asked for what name it stood . But what then ? Surely -- "
I stopped : I could not trust myself to entertain , much less to express , the thought that rushed upon me -- that embodied itself , -- that , in a second , stood out a strong , solid probability . Circumstances knit themselves , fitted themselves , shot into order : the chain that had been lying hitherto a formless lump of links was drawn out straight , -- every ring was perfect , the connection complete . I knew , by instinct , how the matter stood , before St . John had said another word ; but I cannot expect the reader to have the same intuitive perception , so I must repeat his explanation .
" My mother ' s name was Eyre ; she had two brothers ; one a clergyman , who married Miss Jane Reed , of Gateshead ; the other , John Eyre , Esq ., merchant , late of Funchal , Madeira . Mr . Briggs , being Mr . Eyre ' s solicitor , wrote to us last August to inform us of our uncle ' s death , and to say that he had left his property to his brother the clergyman ' s orphan daughter , overlooking us , in consequence of a quarrel , never forgiven , between him and my father . He wrote again a few weeks since , to intimate that the heiress was lost , and asking if we knew anything of her . A name casually written on a slip of paper has enabled me to find her out . You know the rest ." Again he was going , but I set my back against the door .
" Do let me speak ," I said ; " let me have one moment to draw breath and reflect ." I paused -- he stood before me , hat in hand , looking composed enough . I resumed -
" Your mother was my father ' s sister ?" " Yes ." " My aunt , consequently ?" He bowed .