CHAPTER VII 83 such , I grieve to say , is the case ."
A pause -- in which I began to steady the palsy of my nerves , and to feel that the Rubicon was passed ; and that the trial , no longer to be shirked , must be firmly sustained .
" My dear children ," pursued the black marble clergyman , with pathos , " this is a sad , a melancholy occasion ; for it becomes my duty to warn you , that this girl , who might be one of God ' s own lambs , is a little castaway : not a member of the true flock , but evidently an interloper and an alien . You must be on your guard against her ; you must shun her example ; if necessary , avoid her company , exclude her from your sports , and shut her out from your converse . Teachers , you must watch her : keep your eyes on her movements , weigh well her words , scrutinise her actions , punish her body to save her soul : if , indeed , such salvation be possible , for ( my tongue falters while I tell it ) this girl , this child , the native of a Christian land , worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma and kneels before Juggernaut -- this girl is -- a liar !"
Now came a pause of ten minutes , during which I , by this time in perfect possession of my wits , observed all the female Brocklehursts produce their pocket-handkerchiefs and apply them to their optics , while the elderly lady swayed herself to and fro , and the two younger ones whispered , " How shocking !" Mr . Brocklehurst resumed .
" This I learned from her benefactress ; from the pious and charitable lady who adopted her in her orphan state , reared her as her own daughter , and whose kindness , whose generosity the unhappy girl repaid by an ingratitude so bad , so dreadful , that at last her excellent patroness was obliged to separate her from her own young ones , fearful lest her vicious example should contaminate their purity : she has sent her here to be healed , even as the Jews of old sent their diseased to the troubled pool of Bethesda ; and , teachers , superintendent , I beg of you not to allow the waters to stagnate round her ."