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Is there a little girl called jane eyre here she asked
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I answered “Yes,” and was then lifted out; my trunk was handed down, and the coach
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instantly drove away.
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I was stiff with long sitting, and bewildered with the noise and motion of the coach.
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Gathering my faculties, I looked about me. Rain, wind, and darkness filled the air;
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nevertheless, I dimly discerned a wall before me and a door open in it; through this
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door I passed with my new guide: she shut and locked it behind her. There was now
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visible a house or houses—for the building spread far—with many windows, and
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lights burning in some; we went up a broad pebbly path, splashing wet, and were
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admitted at a door; then the servant led me through a passage into a room with a fire,
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where she left me alone.
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I stood and warmed my numbed fingers over the blaze, then I looked round; there was
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no candle, but the uncertain light from the hearth showed, by intervals, papered walls,
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carpet, curtains, shining mahogany furniture: it was a parlour, not so spacious or
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splendid as the drawing-room at Gateshead, but comfortable enough. I was puzzling
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to make out the subject of a picture on the wall, when the door opened, and an
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individual carrying a light entered; another followed close behind.
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The first was a tall lady with dark hair, dark eyes, and a pale and large forehead; her
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figure was partly enveloped in a shawl, her countenance was grave, her bearing erect.
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the child is very young to be sent alone said she putting her candle down on the
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table
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She considered me attentively for a minute or two, then further added—
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“She had better be put to bed soon; she “looks tired: are you tired?” she asked, placing
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her hand on my shoulder.
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“A little, ma’am.”
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“And hungry too, no doubt: let her have some supper before she goes to bed, Miss
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Miller. Is this the first time you have left your parents to come to school, my little
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girl?”
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I explained to her that I had no parents. She inquired how long they had been dead:
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then how old I was, what was my name, whether I could read, write, and sew a little:
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then she touched my cheek gently with her forefinger, and saying, “She hoped I
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should be a good child,” dismissed me along with Miss Miller.
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The lady I had left might be about twenty-nine; the one who went with me appeared
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some years younger: the first impressed me by her voice, look, and air. Miss Miller
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was more ordinary; ruddy in complexion, though of a careworn countenance; hurried
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in gait and action, like one who had always a multiplicity of tasks on hand: she
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looked, indeed, what I afterwards found she really was, an under-teacher. Led by her,
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I passed from compartment to compartment, from passage to passage, of a large and
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irregular building; till, emerging from the total and somewhat dreary silence pervading
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that portion of the house we had traversed, we came upon the hum of many voices,
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and presently entered a wide, long room, with great deal tables, two at each end, on
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each of which burnt a pair of candles, and seated all round on benches, a congregation
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of girls of every age, from nine or ten to twenty. Seen by the dim light of the candles,
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their number to me appeared countless, though not in reality exceeding eighty; they
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were uniformly dressed in brown stuff frocks of quaint fashion, and long Holland
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pinafores. It was the hour of study; they were engaged in conning over their
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to-morrow’s task, and the hum I had heard was the combined result of their whispered
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repetitions.
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Miss Miller signed to me to sit on a bench near the door, then walking up to the top of
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the long room she cried out—
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“Monitors, collect the lesson-books and put them away!”
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Four tall girls arose from different tables, and going round, gathered the books and
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removed them. Miss Miller again gave the word of command—
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“Monitors, fetch the supper-trays!”
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The tall girls went out and returned presently, each bearing a tray, with portions of
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something, I knew not what, arranged thereon, and a pitcher of water and mug in the
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middle of each tray. The portions were handed round; those who liked took a draught
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of the water, the mug being common to all. When it came to my turn, I drank, for I
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was thirsty, but did not touch the food, excitement and fatigue rendering me incapable
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of eating: I now saw, however that it was a thin oaten cake shared into fragments.
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The meal over, prayers were read by Miss Miller, and the classes filed off, two and
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two, upstairs. Overpowered by this time with weariness, I scarcely noticed what sort
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of a place the bedroom was, except that, like the schoolroom, I saw it was very long.
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To-night I was to be Miss Miller’s bed-fellow; she helped me to undress: when laid
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down I glanced at the long rows of beds, each of which was quickly filled with two
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occupants; in ten minutes the single light was extinguished, and amidst silence and
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complete darkness I fell asleep.
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