CHAPTER IX 96
garden , too , glowed with flowers : hollyhocks had sprung up tall as trees , lilies had opened , tulips and roses were in bloom ; the borders of the little beds were gay with pink thrift and crimson double daisies ; the sweetbriars gave out , morning and evening , their scent of spice and apples ; and these fragrant treasures were all useless for most of the inmates of Lowood , except to furnish now and then a handful of herbs and blossoms to put in a coffin .
But I , and the rest who continued well , enjoyed fully the beauties of the scene and season ; they let us ramble in the wood , like gipsies , from morning till night ; we did what we liked , went where we liked : we lived better too . Mr . Brocklehurst and his family never came near Lowood now : household matters were not scrutinised into ; the cross housekeeper was gone , driven away by the fear of infection ; her successor , who had been matron at the Lowton Dispensary , unused to the ways of her new abode , provided with comparative liberality . Besides , there were fewer to feed ; the sick could eat little ; our breakfast-basins were better filled ; when there was no time to prepare a regular dinner , which often happened , she would give us a large piece of cold pie , or a thick slice of bread and cheese , and this we carried away with us to the wood , where we each chose the spot we liked best , and dined sumptuously .
My favourite seat was a smooth and broad stone , rising white and dry from the very middle of the beck , and only to be got at by wading through the water ; a feat I accomplished barefoot . The stone was just broad enough to accommodate , comfortably , another girl and me , at that time my chosen comrade -- one Mary Ann Wilson ; a shrewd , observant personage , whose society I took pleasure in , partly because she was witty and original , and partly because she had a manner which set me at my ease . Some years older than I , she knew more of the world , and could tell me many things I liked to hear : with her my curiosity found gratification : to my faults also she gave ample indulgence , never imposing curb or rein on anything I said . She had a turn for narrative , I for analysis ; she liked to inform , I to question ; so we got on swimmingly together , deriving much entertainment , if not much improvement , from our mutual intercourse .