Connecticut western news., 1920-12-30

the clergyman's lips were unclosed to ask, "Wilt thou have this woman for thy welded wife?" in the gray old house of God, distinct and near voice spoke in the silence of the empty church: fE .'f N -= #+T 'f .
 'The marriage cannot go on: de clare the existence of an impeachment"
 Asked by the clergyman for the facts, the speaker showed document to prove that MT. Rochester had mar ried Bertha Mason, fifteen years be- fore, in Spanish Town, Jamaica; and produced MT. Mason to witness that the woman was alive and at Thorn field.
 Edward Rochester confessed hardly and recklessly that he had married. as the lawyer asserted; that his wife was still living; and that he had kept her secretly at Thornfield for years. She was mad; and she came of a mad family; idiots and maniacs for three generations. He had been inveigled into the marriage by her family. with the connivance of his father and broth CT, who had desired him to marry fortune. He invited the clergyman, the lawyer, and Mir. Mason to come up to Thornfeld and see what sort of be- ing he had been cheated into espous- ing. and judge whether or not he had a right to break the compact.
 At Thornfield he took them to the third story. In room without a win dow, there burnt a fire, guarded by high and strong fender, and a lamp suspended from the ceiling by a chain. A trusty maid servant bent over the fire. apparently cooking something. In the deep shade, at the further end of the room, figure ran backwards and forwards. What 1t was, at first sight. one could not tell; 1t grovelled. seem ingiy. on all fours; 1t snatched and growied like some strange wild ani- nal: but 1t was covered with clothing and quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face.
 "That is my wife," said MT. Roches- ter. .-.-t.' ..
 Then all withdrew
 That night Jane stole away from Thornfeld. The few shillings that she possessed she gave to the driver of the first coach she saw, to take her as far as he would for the money. Thirty six hours later he let her off at crossroads In the moorlands. Into the heather she walked. That night she ate bilberries, and slept under a crag.
 Two days later, famished and drenched, she was taken into Marsh End, the house of Rev. St. John Rivers, a young and ambitious clergyman in the neighboring village of Morton. His two sisters, Mary and Diana, were more than kinS to Jane. They were soon to return to their work as gov ernesses in a large England city.
 St. John secured employment for Jane as mistress of the new girls school in Morton. His plan was to be- come missionary In India. He asked Jane to. become his wife and go with him. But something kept her from consenting: he did not really love her; he felt the call to missionary work, but she did not.
 Then he discovered for her that her uncle had died, leaving her f20,0OO. This was confirmed by Mir. Briggs. the solicitor In London. She discovered, too, that the mother of St. John and Mary and Diana had been her fathers sister. so that they too should have been heirs to her uncle In Madeira. She insisted on a division of the legacy with them.
 One night St. John was pressing her for her final decision. The one candle was dying out: the room was full of moonlight. She heard a voice from somewhere cry
 "Jane! Janet Jane"
 Next day she was on her way to Thornfield h thirty-six hours she ar rived at "The Rochester Arms" two miles away. With much misgiving she walked up to Thornfeld-to find only q blackened ruin.
 Back at the inn she learned that Thornfield Hall had burned down about harvest time in the previous year. The fire had broken out in the dead of night. MT. Rochester had tried to res cue his wife. She had climbed onto the roof, where she had stood, waving her arms. and shouting out till they could hear her a mile off. Mir. Roches- ter had ascended through the skylight. The crowd had heard him call, Ser thai" They had seen him approach her; and then she had yelled. and giv- en a spring. and the next minute she had lain dead on the pavement.
 Mir. Rochester had been taken from the ruins, alive, but sadly hurt; one eye had been knocked out, and one hand so crushed that the surgeon had had to amputate 1t directly. The other eye inflamed: he lost the sight of that also. f s@ H- r# a1t
 He was now at Ferndean. a manor house on farm he had. about thirty miles off quite desolate spot. There