chapter 28 of Jane air this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by Elizabeth clet Jane air by Charlotte Bronte chapter 28 2 days have passed it is a summer evening The Coachman has set me down at a place called witc cross he could take me no farther for the sum I had given and I was not possessed of another Shilling in the world the coach is a mile off by this time I'm alone at this moment I discover that I forgot to take my parcel out of the pocket of the coach where I had placed it for safety there it remains there it must remain and now I am absolutely destitute witc cross is no Town nor even a Hamlet it is but a stone pillar set up where four roads meet whitewashed I suppose to be more obvious at a distance and in darkness fourarms spring from its Summit the nearest town to which this point is according to the inscription distant 10 miles the farthest above 20 from the well-known names of these towns I learn in what county I have lighted a North Midland Shire dusk with Morland ridged with mountains this I see there are great Moors behind and on each hand of me there are waves of mountains far beyond that deep valley at my feet the population here must be thin and I see no passengers on these roads they stretch out east west north and south white broad lonely they are all cut in the mo and the Heather grows deep and wild to their very Verge yet a chance traveler might pass by and I wish no eye to see me now strangers would wonder what I'm doing lingering here at the signpost evidently objectless and lost I might be questioned I could give no answer but what would sound incredible and excite suspicion not a tie holds me to Human Society at this moment not a charm or hope calls me where my fellow creatures are none that saw me would have a kind thought or a good wish for me I have no relative but the universal mother Mother Nature I will seek her breast and ask Repose I struck straight into the heath I held on to a hollow I saw deeply furrowing the brown mide I wed knee deep in its dark growth I turned with its turnings and finding a moss blackened Granite Crag in a hidden angle I sat down under it high Banks of Mo were about me the Crag protected my head the sky was over that some some time passed before I felt tranquil even here I had vague dread that wild cattle might be near or that some Sportsman or poacher might discover me if a gust of wind swept the waste I looked up fearing it was the rush of a bull if a plover whistled I imagined it a man finding my apprehensions unfounded however and calmed by the Deep silence that rained as evening declined at nightfall I took confidence as yet I had not thought I had only listened watched dreaded now I regained The Faculty of reflection what was I to do where to go oh intolerable questions when I could do nothing and go nowhere when a long way must yet be measured by my weary trembling limbs before I could reach human habitation when cold charity must be intreated before I could get a lodging reluctant sympathy importuned almost certain pulse and curred before my tale could be listened to or one of my wants relieved I touched the heath it was dry and yet warm with the heat of the summer day I looked at the sky it was pure a kindly star twinkled just above the chasm Ridge the Dew fell but with pricious softness no Breeze whispered nature seemed to me benign and good I thought she loved me Outcast as as I was and I who from man could anticipate only mistrust rejection insult clung to her with filial fondness tonight at least I would be her guest as I was her child my mother would Lodge me without money and without price I had one morsel of bread yet the remnant of a roll I had bought in a town we passed through at noon with a stray Penny my last coin I saw ripe B silures gleaming here and there like jet beads in the heath I gathered a handful and ate them with the bread my Hunger sharp before was if not satisfied appeased by this hermit's meal I said my evening prayers at its conclusion and then chose my couch beside the Crag the heath was very deep when I lay down my feet were buried in it Rising high on each side it left only a narrow space for the night air to invade I folded my Shaw double and spread it over me for a couet a low Mossy swell was my pillow thus lodged I was not at least at the commencement of the night cold my rest might have been Blissful enough only a sad heart broke it it plained of its gaping wounds its inward bleeding its Riven cords it trembled for Mr Rochester and his Doom it bemoaned him with bitter pity it demanded him with ceaseless longing and impotent as a bird with both Wings broken it still quivered its shattered pinions and vain attempts to seek Him worn out with this torture of thought I Rose to my knees night was come and her planets were risen a safe still night too Serene for the companionship of fear we know that God is everywhere but certainly we feel his presence most when his works are on the grandest scale spread before us and it is in the unclouded night sky where his world wield their silent course that we read clearest his infinitude his omnipotence his omnipresence I had risen to my knees to pray for Mr Rochester looking up I with tear dimmed eyes saw the mighty Milky Way remembering what it was what countless systems there swept space like a soft trace of light I felt the might and strength of God sure was I of his efficiency to save what he had made convinced I grew that neither Earth should perish nor one of the souls it treasured I turned my prayer to Thanksgiving the source of life was also the savior of spirits Mr Rochester was safe he was God's and by God would he be guarded I again nestled to the breast of the hill and air long in sleep deep forgot sorrow but next day want came to me pale and bare long after the little birds had left their nests long after bees had come in the sweet Prime of day to gather the heath honey before the Dew was dried when the long morning Shadows were ciled and the sun filled Earth and Sky I got up and I looked around me what a still hot Perfect Day what a gold golden desert the spreading Mo everywhere sunshine I wished I could live in it and on it I saw a lizard run over the Crag I saw a bee busy among the sweet bilberries I would Fain at the moment have become bee or lizard that I might have found fitting nutriment permanent shelter here but I was a human being and had a human beings wants I must not linger where there was nothing to supply them I Rose I looked back at the bed I had left hopeless of the future I wished but this that my maker had that night thought good to require my soul of me while I slept and that this weary frame absolved by Death from further conflict with fate had now but to Decay quietly and mingle in peace with the soil of this Wilderness life however was yet in my possession with all its requirements and pains and responsibilities the burden must be carried the want provided for the suffering endured the responsibility fulfilled I set out whitcross regained I followed a road which led from the Sun now fervent and high by no other circumstance had I will to decide my choice I walked a long time and when I thought I had nearly done enough and might conscientiously yield to the fatigue that had almost overpowered me might relax this forced action and sitting down on a stone I saw near submit resistlessly to the apathy that clogged heart and limb I heard a bell chime a church bell I turned in the direction of the sound and there amongst the Romantic Hills whose changes and aspect I had ceased to note an hour ago I saw a Hamlet and a Spire all the valley at my right hand was full of pasture fields and corn fields and wood and a glittering stream ran zigzag through the vared ch shades of green the mellowing grain the somber Woodland the clear and sunny Lee recalled by the rumbling of Wheels to the road before me I saw a heavily Laden wagon laboring up the hill and not far beyond were two cows and their drover human life and human labor with near I must struggle on strive to live and bend toil like the rest about 2:00 p.m. I entered the village at the bottom of its one street there was a little shop with some cakes of bread in the window I coveted a cake of bread with that refreshment I could perhaps regain a degree of energy without it it would be difficult to proceed the wish to have some strength and some Vigor returned to me soon as I was amongst my fellow beings I felt it would be degrading to faint with hunger on the causeway of a hamlet had I nothing about me I could offer an exchange for one of those roles I considered I had a small silk handkerchief tied around my throat I had my gloves I could hardly tell how men and women in extremities of destitution proceeded I did not know whether either of these articles would be accepted probably they would not but I must try I entered the shop a woman was there seeing a respectably dressed person a lady as she supposed she came forward with civility how could she serve me I was seized with shame my tongue would not utter the request I had prepared I dared not offer her the half-worn gloves the creased handkerchief besides I felt it would be absurd I only begged permission to sit down a moment as I was tired disappointed in the expectation of a customer she coolly acceded to my request she pointed to a seat I sank into it I felt sorely urged to weep but conscious how unreasonable such a manifestation would be I restrained it soon I asked her if there were any dress maker or plain workwoman in the The Village yes two or three quite as many as there was employment for I reflected I was driven to the point now I was brought face to face with necessity I stood in the position of one without a resource without a friend without a coin I must do something what I must apply somewhere where did she know of any place in the neighborhood where a servant was wanted nay she couldn't say what was the chief trade in this place what did most of the people do some were Farm laborers a good deal worked at Mr Oliver's needle Factory and at The Foundry did Mr Oliver employ women nay it was men's work and what do the women do an not was the answer some does one thing and some another poor folk must get on as they can she seemed to be tired of my questions and indeed what claim had I to importune her a neighbor or two came in my chair was evidently wanted I took leave I passed up the street looking as I went at all the houses to the right hand and to the left but I could discover no pretext nor see an inducement to enter any I rambled round the Hamlet going sometimes to a little distance and returning again for an hour or more much exhausted and suffering great LLY now for want of food I turned aside into a lane and sat down under the Hedge a many minutes had elapsed I was again on my feet however and again searching something a resource or at least an informant a pretty little house stood at the top of the lane with a garden before it exquisitely neat and brilliantly blooming I stopped at it what business had I to approach the white door or touch the glittering knocker in what way could it possibly be the interest of the inhab Abit an of that dwelling to serve me yet I drew near and knocked a mild looking cleanly attired young woman opened the door in such a voice as might be expected from a hopeless heart and fainting frame a voice wretchedly low and faltering I asked if a servant was wanted here no said she we do not keep a servant can you tell me where I could get employment of any kind I continued I am a stranger without acquaintance in this place I want some work no matter what but it was not her business to think for me or to seek a place for me besides in her eyes how doubtful must have appeared my character position tale she shook her head she was sorry she could give me no information and the white door closed quite gently and civil but it shut me out if she had held it open a little longer I believe I should have begged a piece of bread for I was now brought low I could not bear to return to the sworded village where besides no Prospect of Aid was visible I should have longed rather to deviate to a wood I saw not far off which appeared in its thick shade to offer inviting shelter but I was so sick so weak so gwed with Nature's Cravings Instinct kept me roaming round abodes where there was a chance of food Solitude would be no Solitude rest no rest while the vulture hunger thus sank be and Talons in my side I drew near houses I left them and came back again and again I wandered away always repelled by the consciousness of having no claim to ask no right to expect interest in my isolated lot meantime the afternoon Advanced while I thus wandered about like a lost and starving dog in crossing a field I saw the church Spire before me I hastened towards it near the churchard in the middle of a garden stood a well-built those small house which I had no doubt was the parsonage I remembered that strangers who arrived to place where they have no friends and who want employment sometimes apply to the clergyman for introduction and Aid it is the clergyman's function to help at least with advice those who wish to help themselves I seem to have something like a right to seek counsel here renewing then my courage and Gathering my feeble remains of strength I pushed on I reached the house and knocked at the kitchen door an old woman opened I asked was this the parsonage yes was the clergyman in no would he be in soon no he was gone from home to a distance not so far happen three mile he'd been called Away by the sudden death of his father he was at Marsh end now and would very likely stay there a for Night Longer was there any Lady of the house nay there was not but her and she was housekeeper and of her reader I could not bear to ask the relief for want of which I was sinking I could not yet beg and again I crawled away once more I took off my handkerchief once more I thought of the cakes of bread in the little shop oh for but a crust for but one mouthful to lay the Pang of famine in instinctively I turned my face again to the Village I found the shop again and I went in and though others were there besides the woman I ventured the request would she give me a roll for this handkerchief she looked at me with evident suspicion nay she never sold stuff it that way almost desperate I asked for half a cake she again refused how could she tell where I'd got the handkerchief she said would she take my gloves no what could she do with them reader it is not pleasant to dwell on these details some say there is enjoyment and looking back to painful experience past but at this day I can scarcely bear to review the times to which I allude the moral degradation blent with the physical suffering formed too distressing a recollection ever to be willingly dwelt on I blamed none of those who repulsed me I felt it was what was to be expected and what could not be helped an ordinary beggar is frequently an object of Suspicion A well-dressed beggar inevitably so to be sure what I begged was employment but whose business was it to provide me with employment not certainly that of persons who saw me then for the first time and who knew nothing about my character and as to the woman who would not take my handkerchief in exchange for her bread why she was right if the offer appeared to her Sinister or the exchange unprofitable let me condense now I am sick of the subject a little before dark I passed a farmhouse at the open door of which the farmer was sitting eating his supper of bread and cheese I stopped and said will you give me a piece of bread for I'm very hungry he cast on me a glance of surprise but without answering he cut a thick slice from his Loaf and gave it to me I imagine he did not think I was a beggar but only an eccentric sort of lady who had taken a fancy to his brown loaf as as soon as I was out of sight of his house I sat down and ate it I could not hope to get a lodging under a roof and sort it in the wood I had before alluded to but my night was wretched my rest broken the ground was damp the air cold besides Intruders passed near me more than once and I had again and again to change my quarters no sense of safety or Tranquility befriended me towards morning it rained the whole of the following day was wet do not ask me reader to give a minute account of that day as before I sought work as before I was repulsed as before I starved but once did food pass my lips at the door of a cottage I saw a little girl about to throw a mess of cold porridge into a pig trough will you give me that I asked she stared at me mother she exclaimed there is a woman wants me to give her these porridge well Lass replied a voice within give it her if she's a beggar to Pig don't want it the girl emptied the stiffened mold into my hand and I devoured it ravenously as the wet Twilight deepened I stopped in a solitary Bridal path which I had been pursuing an hour or more my strength is quite failing me I said in a soliloquy I feel I cannot go much farther shall I be an outcast again this night while the rain descends so must I lay my head on the cold drenched ground I fear I cannot do otherwise for who will receive me but it will be very Dreadful with this feeling of hunger faintness chill and this sense of desolation this total prostration of Hope in all likelihood though I should die before mourning and why cannot I reconcile myself to the prospect of death why do I struggle to retain a valueless life because I know or believe Mr Rochester is living and then to die of want and cold is a fate to which nature cannot submit passively oh Providence sustain me a little longer aid direct me my glazed eye wandered over the dim and Misty landscape I saw I had strayed far from the village it was quite out of sight the very cultivation surrounding it had disappeared I had by Crossways and by by paaths once more drawn near the tract of moland and now only a few Fields almost as wild and unproductive as the heath from which they were scarcely reclaimed lay between me in the Dusky Hill well I would rather die Yonder than in a street or a frequented road I reflected and far better that crows and ravens if any Ravens there be in these regions should pick my flesh from my bones than that they should be prisoned in a workhouse coffin and Boulder in a ppus grave to the hill then I turned I reached it it remained now only to find a hollow where I could lie down and feel at least hidden if not secure but all the surface of the waste looked level it showed no variation but of tint green where Russ and Moss overgrew the marshes black where the dry soil bore only Heath dark as it was getting I could still see these changes though but as mere alternations of life and shade for color had faded with the daylight my eyes still roved over the suen swell and along the mo Edge Vanishing amidst the wildest scenery when at one dim Point far in among the marshes and The Ridges a light sprang up that is an ignis Fus was my first thought and I expected it would soon vanish it burnt on however quite steadily neither receding nor advancing is it then a bonfire just k kindled I questioned I watched to see whether it would spread but no as it did not diminish so it did not enlarge it may be a candle and a house I then conjectured but if so I can never reach it it is much too far away and were it within a yard of me what would it Avail I should but knock at the door to have it shut in my face and I sank down Where I Stood and hid my face against the ground I lay still a while the night wind swept over the hill and over me and died moaning in the distance the rain fell fast wetting me aresh to the skin could I but have stiffened to the still Frost the friendly numbness of death it might have pelted on I should not have felt it but my yet living flesh shuddered at its chilling influence I Rose air long the light was yet there shining dim but constant through the rain I tried to walk again I dragged my exhausted limbs slowly towards it it led me a slant over the hill through a wide bog which would have been impassible in Winter and was splashy and shaking even now in the height of Summer here I fell twice but as often I Rose and rallied my faculties this light was my forlorn hope I must gain it having crossed the marsh I saw a trace of white over the moall I approached it it was a road or track it led straight up to the light which now beam from a sort of null amidst of clump of trees Furs apparently from what I could distinguish of the character of their forms and foliage to the Gloom my star vanished as I drew near some obstacle had intervened between me and it I put out my hand to feel the dark Mass before me I discriminated the rough stones of a low wall above it something like Palisades and within a high and prickly Hedge I groped on again a whitish object gleamed before me it was a gate a wicket it moved on its hinges as I touched it on each side stood a sabled bush Holly or you entering the gate and passing the shrubs the silhouette of a house Rose to view black low and rather long but The Guiding Light shown nowhere all was obscurity were the inmates retired to rest I feared it must be so in in seeking the door I turned an angle there shot out the friendly gleam again from the lenged paines of a very small LED window within a foot of the ground made still smaller by the growth of Ivy or some other creeping plant whose leaves clustered thick over the portion of the house wall in which it was set the aperture was so screened and narrow that curtain or shutter had been deemed unnecessary and when I stooped down and put aside the spray of foliage shooting over it I could see all within I could see clearly a room with a sanded floor clean scoured her dresser of Walnut with put plates ranged in rows reflecting the redness and Radiance of a glowing Pete fire I could see a clock a white deal table some chairs the candle whose Ray had been my beacon burnt on the table and by its light an elderly woman somewhat roughl looking but scrupulously clean like all about her was knitting a stocking I noticed these objects cursorily only in them there was nothing extraordinary a group of more interest appeared near the Hearth sitting still amidst The Rosy pieace and warmth suffusing it two young graceful women ladies in every Point Sat one in a low rocking chair the other on a lower stool both wore deep mourning of crepe and bombazine which somber Garb singularly set off very fair necks and faces a large old poed dog rested its massive head on the knee of one girl in the lap of the other was cushioned a black cat a strange place was this humble kitchen for such occupants who were they they could not be the daughters of the elderly person at the table for she looked like a rustic and they were all delicacy and cultivation I had nowhere seen such faces as theirs and yet as I gazed on them I seemed intimate with every lineament I cannot call them handsome they were too pale and grave for the word as they each bent over a book they looked thoughtful almost to severity a stand between them supported a second candle and two great volumes to which they frequently referred comparing them seemingly with the smaller books they held in their hands like people Consulting a dictionary to Aid them in the task of translation this scene was as silent as if all the figures had been shadows and the filet apartment a picture so hushed was it I could hear hear the Cinders fall from the grate the clock tick in its obscure corner and I even fancied I could distinguish The Click Click of the woman's knitting needles when therefore a voice broke the strange Stillness at last it was audible enough to me listen Diana said one of the absorbed students France and old Daniel are together in the nighttime and France is telling a Dream from which he is awakened in Terror listen and in a low voice she read something of which not one word was intelligible to me for it was in an unknown tongue neither French nor Latin whether it were Greek or German I could not tell that is strong she said when she had finished I relish it the other girl who had lifted her head to listen to her sister repeated while she gazed at the fire a line of what had been read at a later day I knew the language and the book therefore I will here quote the line though when I first heard it it was only like a stroke on sounding brass to me conveying no meaning good good she exclaimed while her dark and deep eyes sparkled there you have a dim and mighty Archangel fitly set before you the line is with a 100 pages of fustin Vaga I like it both were again silent is there only country where they talk it that way said the old woman looking up from her knitting yes Hannah a far larger country than England where they talk in no other way well for sure case I not how they can understand to one other and if either of you went over there you could tell what they said I guess we could probably tell something of what they said but not all for we are not as clever as you think us Hannah we don't speak German and we cannot read it without a dictionary to help us and what good does it do you we mean to teach it sometime or at least the elements as they say and then we shall get more money than we do now very like but give over study and you've done enough for tonight I think we have at least I'm tired Mary are you mortally after all it's tough work fagging away at to language with no master but alexicon it is especially such a language as this crabbed but glorious Deutch I wonder when singen will come home surely he will not be long now it is just 10 looking at a little gold watch she Drew from her girdle it rains fast Hannah will you have the goodness to look at the fire in The Parlor the woman woman Rose she opened a door through which I dimly saw a passage soon I heard her stir a fire in an inner room she presently came back ah Cher said she it fair troubles me to go into y room now it looks so lonesome with a chair empty and set back in a corner she wiped her eyes with her apron the two girls grave before looked sad now but he is in a better place continued Hannah we shouldn't wish him here again and then nobody need to have a quieter death nor he had you say he never mentioned us inquired one of the ladies he hadn't Time bar he was gone in a minute was your father he'd been a bit ailing like the day before but not to signify and when Mr singen asked if he would like either of you to be sent for he Fair laughed at him he began again with a bit of heaviness in his head the next day that is a fortnight sin and he went to sleep and never awakened he were almost stark when your brother went into the chamber and found him oh Cher that's the last the old stock for ye and Mr singen is of like a different sort to them it's gone for all your mother wore Mitch your way and all must as book learned she were to picture ye Mary Diana is more like your father I thought them so similar I could not tell where the old servant for such I now concluded her to be saw the difference both were fair complexioned and slenderly made made both possessed faces full of Distinction than intelligence one to be sure had hair a shade darker than the other and there was a difference in their style of wearing it Mary's pale Brown locks were parted and braided smooth Diana's duskier dresses covered her neck with thick curls the Clock Struck 10 you'll want your supper I'm sure observed Hannah and so will Mr singen when he comes in and she proceeded to prepare the meal the ladies Rose they seemed about to withdraw to The Parlor till this moment I had been so intent on watching them their appearance and conversation had excited in me so Keen an interest I had half forgotten my own wretched position now it recurred to me more desolate more desperate than ever it seemed from contrast and how impossible did it appear to touch the inmates of this house with concern on my behalf to make them believe in the truth of my wants and woes to induce them to vouch sa a rest for my wonderings as I groped out the door and knocked at it hesitatingly I felt that last idea to me a mere Cima Hannah opened what do you want she inquired in a voice of surprise as she surveyed Me By the Light of the candle she held may I speak to your Mistresses I said you'd better tell me what you have to say to them where do you come from I am a stranger what is your business business here at this hour I want a night's shelter in an ouse or anywhere and a morsel of bread to eat distrust the very feeling I dreaded appeared in Hannah's face I'll give you a piece of bread she said after a pause but we can't take in a vagrant to Lodge it isn't likely do let me speak to your Mistresses no not I what can they do for you you should not be roving about now it looks very ill but where shall I go if you drive me away what shall I do oh I'll warrant you know where to go and what to do mind you don't do wrong that's all here is a penny now go a penny cannot feed me and I have no strength to go farther don't shut the door oh don't for God's sake I must the rain is driving in tell the young ladies let me see them indeed I will not you are not what you ought to be you wouldn't make such a noise Bo move off but I must die if I am turned away not you I'm feared you'd have some ill plans aate that brings you about folks houses at this time of night if you have any followers house Breakers or such like anywhere near you may tell them we are not by ourselves in the house we have a gentleman and dogs and guns here the honest but inflexible servant clapped the door too and bolted it within this was the climax a Pang of Exquisite suffering a throw of true despair rent and heaved my heart worn out indeed I was not another step could I stir I sank on the wet doorstep I groaned I rung my hands I wept in utter anguish oh this Spectre of death oh this last hour approaching in such horror alas this isolation this banishment from my kind not only the anchor of Hope but the footing of fortitude was gone at least for a moment but the last I soon endeavored to regain I can but die I said and I believe in God let me try to wait his will in silence these words I not only thought but uttered and thrusting back all my misery into my heart I made an effort to compel it to remain there dumb and still all men must die said a voice quite close at hand but all are not condemned to meet a lingering and premature Doom such as yours would be if you perished here of want who or what speaks I asked terrified at the unexpected sound and incapable now of deriving from any occurrence a hope of Aid a form was near what form the pitch dark night in my enfeebled vision prevented me from distinguishing with a loud long knock the newcomer appealed to the door is it you Mr singen cried cried Hannah yes yes open quickly well how wet and cold you must be such a wild night as it is come in your sisters are quite uneasy about you and I believe there are bad folks about there has been a beggar woman I declare she is not gone yet lay down there get up for shame move off I say hush Hannah I have a word to say to the woman you have done your duty in excluding now let me do mine in admitting her I was near and listen to both you and her I think this is a peculiar case I must at least examine into it young woman rise and pass before me into the house with difficulty I obeyed him presently I stood within that clean bright kitchen on the very halfth trembling sickening conscious of an aspect in the last degree ghastly Wild and weather-beaten the two ladies their brother Mr singen the old servant were all gazing at me singen who is it I heard one ask I cannot tell I found her at the door was the reply she does look white said Hannah as white as clay or death was responded she will fall let her sit and indeed my head swam I dropped but a chair received me I still possessed my senses though just now I could not speak perhaps a little water would restore her Hannah fetch some but she is worn to nothing how very thin and how very bloodless a mere Spectre is she ill or only famished famished I think Hannah is that milk give it me and a piece of bread Diana I knew her by the long curls which I saw drooping between me and the fire as she bent over me broke some bread dipped it in milk milk and put it to my lips her face was near mine I saw there was pity in it and I felt sympathy in her hurried breathing in her simple words too the same balm likee emotion spoke try tweet yes try repeated Mary gently and Mary's hand removed my Soden Bonnet and lifted my head I tasted what they offered me feebly at first eagerly soon not too much at first restrain her said the brother she has had enough and he withdrew the cup of milk and the plate of bread a little more singen look at the avidity in her eyes no more at present sister try if she can speak now ask her her name I felt I could speak and I answered my name is Jane Elliot anxious as ever to avoid Discovery I had before resolved to assume an alias and where do you live where are your friends I was silent can we send for anyone you know I shook my head what account can you give of yourself somehow now that I had once crossed the threshold of this house and once was brought face to face with its owners I felt no longer Outcast vagrant and disowned by the wide world I dared to put off the mendicant to resume my natural Manner and character I began Once More To Know Myself And when Mr singen demanded an account which at present I was far too weak to render I said after a brief pause sir I can give you no details tonight but what then said he do you expect me to do for you nothing I replied my strength sufficed but for short answers Diana took the word do you mean she asked that we have now given you what Aid you require and that we may dismiss you to the more in the rainy night I looked at her she had I thought a remarkable countenance Instinct both with power and goodness I took sudden courage answering her compassionate gaze with a smile I said I will trust you if I were a masterless and stray dog I know that she would not turn me from your Hearth tonight as it is I really have no fear do with me and for me as you like but excuse me for much discourse my breath is short I feel a spasm when I speak all three surveyed me and all three were silent Hannah said Mr singen at last let us sit there at present and ask her no questions in 10 minutes more give her the remainder of that milk and bread Mary and Diana let us go into the Parlor and talk the matter over they withdrew very soon one of the ladies returned I could not tell which a kind of pleasant stuper was stealing over me as I sat by the genial fire in an undertone she gave some directions to Hannah airong long with the servants Aid I contrived to mount a staircase my dripping clothes were removed soon a warm dry bed received me I thanked God experienced amidst unutterable exhaustion a glow of grateful joy and slept end of chapter 28