The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-28

You can please stand to one side, replied the man, and, getting to his | feet, he helped up the fallen horse. The stranger had evidently hurt one
 of his legs for he limped badly Again
 Jane offered her help and finally the horseman. saying, necessity compels
 me to make you useful" allowed her
 to assist him in remounting his steed.
 after which he rode away without a | word. When she reached the Hall.. Jane | learned that MT. Rochester had arrived
 unexpectedly shortly before That evening the governess was summoned to the presence of her employer. He was half reclining on sofa before a fire in the library when she entered. At once Jane recognized him as the stranger whose horse had fallen. .Jae | noted his broad, jetty eyebrows, his l square forehead, made squarer by the | horizontal sweep of his black hair. She recognized the decisive nose. more remarkable for character than beauty, 1 his full nostrils denoting choler; his grim mouth. chin and jaw. The squareness of his shape harmonized with his physiognomy.
 Here is Miss Eyre. sir" announced | Mrs Fairfax.
 Let Miss Eyre me seated" replied l the owner of Thornfield with a stiff. | impatient bow which said plainly What | the deuce Is 1t to me if she isT' Jane, who had been much embar- rassed at first. now sat down quite at her ease. A reception of finished | po1iteness would have confused her, but harsh caprice laid her under no | obligations. It merely gave a piquancy | to the situation, and she felt much interested to see how her employer | would go on. At first he did not go | on at all. Finally in response to the | vo1uble condolences of Mrs Fairfax,
 he said sharply: Madam, I would like some tea.'
 Little Adele asked him in her child
 ish way if he had brought any presents for her land Mile. Eyre"
 Who talks of pregentsr said MT
 a present. Miss EyreT Are you fond | of presents?" and he searched Jane's face with eyes that were dark. irate | and piercing.
 T should be obliged to take time sir" replied Jane, before I could give
 you an answer worthy of your accept
 ance; present has so many faces to | it. has 1t not?"
 You are less frank than Adele" re-
 piled MT. Rochester. "She asked frank | ly for her present: you beat about the | bush. Don't fall back on overmodesty;"
 and then Jane was subjected to a short sharp Catechism as to who she was, | where she came from. her relatives
 and her accomplishments.
 l MT Rochester demanded to see some of her drawings, and pronounced them good. Then he told her to go into the | next room and play on the piano. When she had played a few minutes | he called out: Enough! You play | like any other English schoolgirl;
 rather better. perhaps. but not we'll" MT. Rochester stayed at Thornfield. | and at first Jane saw but little of him.
 Then she began to see him daily. He | would send for her in the evening, and | always there was that same peculiar, | abrupt manner, that same frahkness | almost brutal, on his part, and on the part of Jane careful selection of her
 answers, though she sometimes almost 1 flatly contradicted him when his views
 did not agree with hers. It was soon
 evident that he liked the society of Jane, and she on her part was fascina- ted with the originality of her em- | ployer. .,%
 One night, when they had sat for
 some time before the fire in silence.
 MT. Rochester suddenly said; Miss
 Eyre. do you think me handsome?' ''No," replied Jane promptly.
 By my word" rejoined the master | of Thornfield, there is something
 singular about you! You sit there
 with the air of a nonnette-quiet, grave
 simple-and when one asks you a ques- l tion or makes a remark to which you | object you rap out an answer which,
 if not blunt, Is at least brusque. What do you mean by it?' Sir, l was too plain. beg your
 pardon" said Jane quietly. T should
 have replied that 1t is easy to give an
 impromptu answer to a question of appearances; that tastes differ; that
 beauty is of little consequence"
 You ought to have done nothing of
 the sort" retorted Rochester. Soon
 after he took an opportunity to tell
 Jane that she was no more pretty than
 he was handsome" But they got on 1 very well together, nevertheless, and 1 talked there far into the night. | Their daily conversations were all l of this nature, and they seemed to enjoy | them immensely. Unrealized by either
 of them, these two strange people were
 making love to each other in their
 strange way.
 There was a mystery about a part of MT. Rochester's past life; so much
 Jane learned from Mrs. Fairfax by
 persistent questioning after that gen | tleman's arrival at Thornfield All
 that Mrs. Fairfax knew about it was l that early in his career. as a young | man, Rochester had been wronged, as | ne thought by some act or hlS rather
 and elder brother, both now dead. Rochester himself would often hint at | some wrong he had once suffered at | the hands of others.
 Concerning that wild portion of his l life which he had spent on the Con l tinent, Rochester was amazingly frank. 1 telling Jane all the details and giving names and dates in a perfect matter of fact manner. Then he would ask the little governess if she thought
 there was any hope for him--if he could be reformed permanently and come,
 at last. to know real happiness. To
 one of these outbursts of confidence
 Jane replied "It seems to me sir, that if you tried hard you would. fin time, find 1t possible to become what you yourself would approve; and that if | from this day you began with a resolu- ton to correct your thoughts and ac- tions you would, in few years. have laid up a new and stainless store O. recollections to which you might re-
 vert with pleasure"
 These words of wisdom seemed to | effect deeply Rochester He replied:
 Justly thought; rightly said. Ger | tainly my associations and pursuits | shall be other than they have been.
 One night Jane was awakened by | smell of something burning. Hastily l throwing on a wrap she went into the
 hall and saw smoke coming from MT. ! Rochesters room. Entering that room