CHAPTER XXXVI 536
" She was kept in very close confinement , ma ' am : people even for some years was not absolutely certain of her existence . No one saw her : they only knew by rumour that such a person was at the Hall ; and who or what she was it was difficult to conjecture . They said Mr . Edward had brought her from abroad , and some believed she had been his mistress . But a queer thing happened a year since -- a very queer thing ."
I feared now to hear my own story . I endeavoured to recall him to the main fact .
" And this lady ?"
" This lady , ma ' am ," he answered , " turned out to be Mr . Rochester ' s wife ! The discovery was brought about in the strangest way . There was a young lady , a governess at the Hall , that Mr . Rochester fell in -- "
" But the fire ," I suggested .
" I ' m coming to that , ma ' am -- that Mr . Edward fell in love with . The servants say they never saw anybody so much in love as he was : he was after her continually . They used to watch him -- servants will , you know , ma ' am -- and he set store on her past everything : for all , nobody but him thought her so very handsome . She was a little small thing , they say , almost like a child . I never saw her myself ; but I ' ve heard Leah , the house-maid , tell of her . Leah liked her well enough . Mr . Rochester was about forty , and this governess not twenty ; and you see , when gentlemen of his age fall in love with girls , they are often like as if they were bewitched . Well , he would marry her ."
" You shall tell me this part of the story another time ," I said ; " but now I have a particular reason for wishing to hear all about the fire . Was it suspected that this lunatic , Mrs . Rochester , had any hand in it ?"
" You ' ve hit it , ma ' am : it ' s quite certain that it was her , and nobody but her , that set it going . She had a woman to take care of her called Mrs . Poole -- an able woman in her line , and very trustworthy , but for one fault -- a fault