Chapter 41 Blind

1 I had to have some answer to the questions that rushed through my mind. I could find it nowhere except at the inn, and there I returned.

2 The innkeeper himself brought the meal that I had ordered.

3 'You know Thornfield Hall, of course?' I managed to ask him at last.

4 'Yes, ma'am, I was in the late Mr Rochester's service.'

5 'The late!' I exclaimed. 'Is he dead?'

6 'I mean the father of the present gentleman, Mr Edward.'

7 I breathed again.

8 'Is Mr Rochester living at the Hall now?'

9 'Oh, no, ma'am! Thornfield Hall was burnt down last autumn. A terrible happening! Such an immense amount of valuable property was destroyed. The fire broke out in the middle of the night. It was a fearful sight. I saw it myself.'

10 In the middle of the night! That was always the hour of fate at Thornfield.

11 'Do they know how it started?'

12 'They guessed, ma'am, they guessed. You may not perhaps know,' he continued, approaching a little closer, and speaking low, 'that there was a lady ... a ... a madwoman, kept in the house?'

13 'I have heard something of it.'

14 'This lady, ma'am,' he went on, 'was found to be Mr Rochester's wife. It was discovered in the strangest way. There was a young lady, a governess at the Hall, that Mr Rochester was in ... '

15 'But the fire,' I suggested.

16 'I'm coming to that, ma'am—a governess that Mr Rochester was in love with. The servants say they never saw anyone so much in love as he was. She was a small thing, they say, almost like a child. Well, he was determined to marry her.'

17 'You shall tell me this part of the story another time,' I said, 'but now I especially wish to hear about the fire. Was it suspected that this madwoman was the cause of it?'

18 'It's quite certain, ma'am, that she started it. She had a woman to take care of her, called Mrs Poole, very dependable, except for one fault—she sometimes took strong drink, and fell asleep, and then her patient would steal her keys and escape. On this night the madwoman set fire first to the curtains in her own room, and then got down to a lower storey and burnt the bed in the room that had belonged to the governess, but it was empty, fortunately. The governess had run away two months before, and although Mr Rochester searched for her as if she were the most precious thing in the world, he could never hear a word of her, and he became quite bitter with his disappointment. He wanted to be alone. He sent Mrs Fairfax, his housekeeper, away to her friends at a distance. Miss Adèle, a little girl who was in his charge, was put to school. He refused to visit any of his neighbours, and shut himself up in the house.'

19 'What! Didn't he leave England?'

20 'Leave England! He would not move out of doors, except at night, when he walked like a ghost about the garden, as if he were out of his mind—which it is my opinion he was, because I never saw a prouder, bolder gentleman than he was before that governess upset him. He was not very good looking, but he had a courage and a will of his own.'

21 'Then Mr Rochester was at home when the fire broke out?'

22 'Yes, indeed he was. He went up to the back rooms when all was burning above and below, and got the servants out safely, and then went back to get his mad wife out of her room. They called out to him that she was on the roof, where she was standing, waving her arms and shouting. She was a big woman, with long black hair. We could see it blown against the flames as she stood. We saw him climb up to the roof. We heard him call, "Bertha!" We saw him approach her, and then, ma'am, she screamed and leapt and the next minute she lay motionless on the ground below.'

23 'Dead?'

24 'Dead! Yes, as dead as the stones on which her brains and blood lay scattered. It was terrible!'

25 'Were any other lives lost?'

26 'No. Perhaps it would have been better if there had been.'

27 'What do you mean?'

28 'Poor Mr Edward! Some say it was a just judgment on him for keeping his first marriage secret, and wanting to take another wife while he had one living: but I pity him, myself.'

29 'You said he was alive?'

30 'Yes, he is alive, but many think he would be better dead.'

31 'Why? How?' My blood was again running cold.

32 'He is blind.'

33 I had feared worse. I had feared that he was mad. I called up my strength to ask the cause of his suffering.

34 'It was all his own courage and kindness. He wouldn't leave the house till everyone else was out before him. As he came down the great stairs, the roof fell in. He was taken out from under the ruins, alive, but badly hurt. One eye was knocked out, and one hand so crushed that the doctor had to take it off immediately. He lost the sight of the other eye as well.'

35 'Where is he? Where does he live now?'

36 'At Ferndean, a country house on a farm that he owns, about thirty miles away.'

37 'Who is with him?'

38 'Two old servants. He refused to have more. He is quite broken down, they say.'

39 'Have you any sort of carriage?'

40 'We have a very fine one, ma'am.'

41 'Let it be got ready instantly, and if the driver can get me to Ferndean before dark today, I'll pay both you and him twice the money you usually demand.'