ROCHESTER
What the deuce is to do now!? You great brute, how the devil did you.. Agh! Get away Pilot! Oh dear heaven.

JANE voiceover
Had he been a handsome, heroic young gentleman, I should not have dared to address him. But his frown and the roughness of his manner set me at once at my ease.
(aloud)
If you are injured, sir, I can fetch help either from Thornfield Hall or the village.

ROCHESTER
Thank you, I shall do, I have no broken bones, only a sprain. Agh! You may go on.

JANE
I cannot think of leaving you sir, until I see you are fit to mount your horse.

ROCHESTER
I should think you ought to be at home; if you have a home in this neighbourhood. Are you a sprite or an elf to be out so late?

JANE
I'm a governess, sir

ROCHESTER
Where?

JANE
From just below. And I am not at all afraid of being out late, when it is moonlight.

ROCHESTER
The devil you're not.

JANE
I'll gladly run over to Hay for you. Indeed I was going there to post a letter.

ROCHESTER
You live just below, the house with the battlements?

JANE
Yes.

ROCHESTER
Whose house is it?

JANE
Mr. Rochester's.

ROCHESTER
Do you know him?

JANE
No, I've never seen him.

ROCHESTER
Hmm, the governess. Deuce take me if I had not forgotten. The governess. No I cannot commission you to fetch help, but you may help me a little if you'll be so kind. Your shoulder. Only necessity you understand compels me to make you useful. (Jane helps Rochester to his horse) Hey, hold still! (mounts up with a groan) Thank you. Now make haste to post your letter and return as fast as you can.

JANE voiceover
All three vanished. The incident had occurred and was gone for me. An incident of no moment. Yet it marked a change. My help had been needed and claimed. Trivial, transitory though the deed was, it was yet an active thing. And I was weary of an existence all passive.

(Thornfield Hall. Jane enters the main hall)

JANE
Pilot? (rings bell and Leah enters)

LEAH
Yes, Miss?

JANE
Who's dog is this?

LEAH
It came with Master. Mr. Rochester. He's just arrived.

JANE
Indeed? And is Mrs. Fairfax with him?

LEAH
And Miss Adela. They are in the drawing room now. John's gone for the surgeon for Master's had an accident. His horse fell and his ankle's sprained. Slipped on some ice, they say.

JANE
Did it? Oh Leah, fetch me a candle will you?

LEAH
Directly Miss. (curtseys and exits)

MRS. FAIRFAX
Leah? Where's Leah? Oh Miss Jane, have you heard, Mr. Rochester is come home, so unexpected.

JANE
Yes, so I believe.

MRS. FAIRFAX
He's had an accident and I'm going to get him some brandy. Oh such a to-do! Leah! Leah!

(The next day, in the classroom with Adele)

ADELE
Mais mon ami, Edouard de Rochester, il a parle a vous, mademoiselle.
[My friend, Edward de Rochester, he spoke of you, Miss.]

JANE
Adele we are speaking English today.

ADELE
He ask me the name of my governess.

JANE
"He asked me", not "ask". "Asked" is the past tense.

ADELE
Ecoutez-moi, mademoiselle Jeanette! Il a demande si vous etes une petite personne. J'ai reponde qu'oui- for it is true you are little, are you not?
[Listen to me, Miss Janet! He asked if you were a little person. I replied that, yes- for it is true you are little, are you not?]

JANE
Yes, now Adele, I want you...

ADELE
Wait, he is coming out of the library, I hear him. (runs to open the door)

(Mrs. Fairfax is at the door)

MRS. FAIRFAX
Oh! Adela! (Laughs)

ADELE Excusez-moi!

JANE
She is so excited today, she can speak of nothing but Mr. Rochester.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Hush child, you'll see Mr. Rochester soon enough.

JANE
He's promised her a present apparently. Her `boite' as she calls it.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Mr. Rochester will be glad if you and your pupil will take tea with him. He has been so much engaged today that he couldn't as to see you before.

JANE
When is his tea time?

MRS. FAIRFAX
Six o'clock. He keeps early hours in the country. You'd better change your frock.

JANE
Adele! You must not speak so. (to Mrs. Fairfax) Is it necessary to change?

MRS. FAIRFAX
Oh yes. I always dress for the evening when Mr. Rochester is here.

(Drawing room. Adele and Pilot are by the fireplace with Mr. Rochester seated on the sofa. Jane and Mrs. Fairfax enter)

JANE voiceover
This additional ceremony seemed somewhat stately. However, I replaced my black stuff dress by another of black silk. The best and only additional one I had, except for one of light grey, which in my Lowood notions of toilette I thought to be too fine to be worn except on first rate occasions.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Here is Miss Eyre, sir.

ROCHESTER
Let Miss Eyre be seated.

JANE voiceover
I sat down quite disembarrassed. A reception of finished politeness would probably have confused me. But harsh caprice such as this, laid me under no obligation.

(Mrs. Fairfax pointedly clears her throat)

JANE voiceover
The eccentricity of the proceedings was piquant. I simply studied my traveller of the night before.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Pray accept my condolences, sir, on the pressures of business you have had to endure today. Particularly as your ankle must have pained you. (sits down)

JANE voiceover
Clearly Mrs. Fairfax's kindly, but trite observations pained him more.

ROCHESTER
Madam, I should like some tea.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Oh, of course, sir.

ROCHESTER
You've been resident of my house three months. Miss Eyre.

JANE
Yes, sir.

ADELE
N'est pas, monsieur de Rochester, il y a cadeaux?
[Are there not presents, Mr de Rochester?]

ROCHESTER
Mrs. Fairfax have the goodness to amuse this child. She thinks of nought but presents.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Come Adele.

ROCHESTER
Do you expect a present, Miss Eyre?

JANE
No sir, I have little experience of them. Unlike Adele, I have less confidence of my desserts, and no claim being a stranger to you.

ROCHESTER
Oh, don't fall back on over modesty. I've examined Adele and found you've taken great pains with her. She has no talents but she's made much improvement.

JANE
Sir, you have given me my present. The meed teachers covet most, praise for their pupil's progress.

ROCHESTER
Hmm. And you come from? Where?

JANE
Lowood School sir. In West Riding.

ROCHESTER
Ah, a charitable concern. How long were you there?

JANE
Eight years.

ROCHESTER
Eight? You must be tenacious of life. I would have thought half the time in such a place would have done up any constitution. No wonder you have the look of another world. (Mrs. Fairfax hands Mr. Rochester a cup of tea) Oh, bring Miss. Eyre her cup too, if you please.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Adela?

ROCHESTER
When you came on me in Hay Lane last night I though unaccountably of fairy tales. I had half a mind to demand whether you had bewitched my horse. Had you?

JANE
No, sir.

ROCHESTER
Promptly spoken. But do I believe you? Who are your parents?

JANE
I have none.

ROCHESTER
Nor ever had I suppose. Do you remember them?

JANE
No, sir.

ROCHESTER
I thought not. So you were waiting for your people when I saw you in the lane.

JANE
For whom sir?

ROCHESTER
For the men in green. It was a proper moonlit evening for them. Did I break through one of your rings that you spread that damned ice on the causeway?
JANE
The men in green all forsook England a hundred years ago. Not even in Hay Lane or the fields about it would you find a trace of them. I don't think summer, harvest, or winter moon will ever shine on their revels more.

ROCHESTER
So no kinsfolk of any sort?

JANE
No sir.

ROCHESTER
No aunts, uncles, cousins?

JANE
No.

ROCHESTER
Who recommended you to come here?

JANE
I advertised and Mrs. Fairfax answered my advertisement.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Yes, and I am daily thankful for the choice providence lead me to make. Miss Eyre has been an invaluable companion to me and a kind and careful teacher to Adele.

ROCHESTER
Oh don't trouble yourself to give her a character. I shall judge for myself. She began by felling my horse.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Sir?

ROCHESTER
I have to thank her for this sprain.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Oh I'm sure not.

ROCHESTER
Oh, but I am.

ADELE
Monsieur Rochester, vous prom-
[Mr Rochester, you prom- (promised)]

ROCHESTER
Mrs. Fairfax, I charged you to amuse Adele.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Oh yes, come come, child.

ROCHESTER
I cannot endure her prattle. Too like her mother. Miss Eyre, have you ever lived in a town?

JANE
No sir.

ROCHESTER
Have you seen much society?

JANE
None, but the pupils and teachers at Lowood. And now the inmates of Thornfield.

ROCHESTER
Hmmm. Have you read much?

JANE
Only such books as came my way. And they have not been numerous or very learned.

ROCHESTER
You've lived the life of a nun. No doubt you're well drilled in religious forms. Brocklehurst, who I understand directs Lowood, is a parson is he not?

JANE
Yes.

ROCHESTER
You girls probably worshipped him. As a convent of religieuses would worship their director.

JANE
Oh no!

ROCHESTER
You're very cool. No? What a novice not worship her priest? That sounds blasphemous.

JANE
He starved us when he had sole superintendenc of the school, before the committee was appointed. And he bored us with long lectures once a week. He is a harsh man, at once pompous and meddling, I disliked him. And I was not alone in the feeling.

MRS. FAIRFAX (To Adèle) Hold it straight child, hold it straight.

ROCHESTER
How old are you, Miss Eyre?

JANE
Eighteen, sir.

ROCHESTER
Hmmm. A point difficult to fix in your case. Such freshness of feature belies so decisive a spirit. Now, what did you learn in school? Can you play the piano?

JANE
A little sir.

ROCHESTER
The established answer. Go into the library. I mean if you please. You must excuse my tone of command. I'm used to saying "Do this" and it's done. I cannot alter my customary habits for one new inmate of Thornfield. And take a candle with you; leave the door open, sit down at the piano and play a tune.

(Jane follows directions and plays for a bit)

ROCHESTER
Enough! (Jane stops playing) You play like any other English schoolgirl. (Jane returns to the drawing room) Perhaps you play better than some schoolgirls, but not well.

JANE
I said I played a little sir.

ROCHESTER
Yes. Adele showed me some sketches this morning. She said they were yours. I don't know whether they were entirely your doing. Probably a master aided you.

JANE
No indeed.

ROCHESTER
Ah, that pricks pride. Well fetch your portfolio, if you can vouch for its contents being original. (Jane heads for the door) I warn you I can recognise patchwork.

JANE voiceover
I did not doubt him. He seemed at some pains to expose his worldliness to my inexperience.

(Grace comes downstairs and stares disconcertingly at Jane) (Small time elapse and we are back in the drawing room.)

ROCHESTER
No crowding. Mrs. Fairfax take these others to the table. You may look at them with Adele.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Thank you.

ROCHESTER
Where did you get your copies?

JANE
Out of my head sir.

ROCHESTER
That head I see on your shoulders?

JANE
I have no other.

ROCHESTER
Has it more furniture of the same kind within?

JANE
I should think it may have. I should hope better.

ROCHESTER
Hmmm. Did you sit long each day painting these?

JANE
Yes, it was the vacation. And I sat at them from morning to noon, and from noon to night. The length of the midsummer days favoured my inclination to apply.

ROCHESTER
And were you happy?

JANE
I was absorbed, sir. Yes, I was happy. To paint them was to enjoy one of the keenest pleasures I've ever known.

ROCHESTER
Humph, that is not saying much, your pleasures by your own account have been few. I daresay you did exist in a kind of artist's dreamland. Did you feel self-satisfied with the results of your long labours?

JANE
Far from it. I was tormented by my idea and my handiwork. In each case I had imagined something. something I was quiet powerless to realise.

ROCHESTER
Not quite, you secured the shadow of your thought, but you've not enough skill to give it full being. Yet these are, for a schoolgirl, peculiar. As to the thoughts they are elfish. And who taught you to paint wind? There's a high gale in that sky. And that hilltop is Latmos. Where did you see Latmos? (Mr. Rochester gazes intensely at Jane) There. Put them away. (clock chimes) It's nine o'clock, what are you about Miss Eyre to let Adele sit up so long. Take her to bed. I wish you all goodnight.

ADELE
Bon soir cher Monsieur de Rochester.

ROCHESTER
Off with you!

(Adele, Jane, and Mrs. Fairfax exit. Adele runs to Sophie)

SOPHIE
Ma cherie... [...] a demain
[My dear...]

MRS. FAIRFAX
I am so accustomed to his manner, I never think of it. You find him changeful and abrupt?

JANE
Very

MRS. FAIRFAX
No doubt to a stranger he would appear so. But allowances should be made.

JANE
Why?

MRS. FAIRFAX
He has had family troubles which no doubt harass him.

JANE
But he has no family.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Not now. He lost both his father and his elder brother a few years since.

JANE
His elder brother?

MRS. FAIRFAX
Yes, the present Mr. Rochester hasn't been long in possession of the property. Some nine years.

JANE
But nine years is a tolerable time. Was he so very fond of his brother as to be inconsolable for his loss?

MRS. FAIRFAX
Well, perhaps not. I believe there were some misunderstandings between them. His brother, Mr. Rowland Rochester, was not quite just to our Mr. Edward. And perhaps he prejudiced his father against him. The old gentleman was fond of money and anxious to keep the family estate together. He didn't like to diminish the property by division and yet he was anxious that Mr. Edward should have wealth too. So soon after he came of age, some steps were taken which weren't quite fair to Mr. Edward, and greatly affected his future.

JANE
In what way?

MRS. FAIRFAX
I've never clearly known. He broke with his family. Lead an unsettled life. I don't think he's been resident here for a fortnight together since he became master of the estate. He shuns the old place.

JANE
But why should he shun it?

MRS. FAIRFAX
Perhaps he finds it gloomy. Good night Miss Eyre.

(Mrs. Fairfax leaves Jane outside of her bedroom. Jane hears the mysterious laughing again and, puzzled, looks to the third story stairway. Time elapse and Jane and Adele are walking outside with Mr. Rochester coming up behind them on horseback)

ADELE
Monsieur de Rochester! Monsieur de Rochester!

JANE voiceover
Sometimes he acknowledged my presence. Sometimes not. His changes of mood did not offend me because I saw that I had nothing to do with their alteration.

ADELE
He did not see me.

JANE
Oh he had company. Adele you mustn't cry.

ADELE
He is not my friend anymore and next time I see him, I won't see him!

(Later that day- Jane and Adele enter the drawing room)

ADELE
Ma boite! Ma boite!
[My box! My box!]

ROCHESTER
Yes, your cadeau at last, you genuine daughter of Paris. Take it into a corner and amuse yourself with disemboweling it and don't bother me with any of the anatomical details now, or the condition of the entrails. Tiens toi tranquille enfant! [You understand, quietly, child!]
(Adele runs off to another part of the room)
Come forward Miss Eyre, why hang back? Be seated. Old bachelor that I am, I do not care for the sole company of children. Don't draw that chair farther off. Sit down exactly where I placed it. If you please that is. (Jane moves the chair back) Confound these civilities, I am continually forgetting them. Nor do I affect simple minded old ladies but it won't do to neglect Mrs. Fairfax. (rings bell) I daresay you believe in propriety Miss Eyre, you've not spoken once.

JANE
No, sir.

ROCHESTER
And why not?

JANE
You did not appear to require an answer. Till now.

(Mrs. Fairfax enters the drawing room)

ROCHESTER
Madam, I sent for you to a charitable purpose. I've forbidden Adele to talk to me about her presents and she is bursting with repletion. Have the goodness to entertain and absorb her enthusiasms. It will be one of the most benevolent acts you've ever performed.

MRS. FAIRFAX
With pleasure sir.

ADELE
Mrs. Fairfax, please, you must help me.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Oh yes, child , yes.

(Jane scoots her chair back)

ROCHESTER
(turning to Jane) Now, having performed the part of host, I ought to be at liberty to attend to my own pleasures. Miss Eyre, you are yet to far back. I cannot see you without disturbing my position in this comfortable chair, which I have no mind to do. (Jane moves the chair forward) Yes, there. You've been examining me all this while, have you not? Do not demur, you have. Well? Do you find me handsome?

JANE
Oh no, sir.

ROCHESTER
Hmmm. By my word there is something singular about you. You have the air of a little nonnette, quaint, quiet, grave. You sit there, your hands before you and your eyes generally bent upon the carpet. Except just now, when they were directed piercingly to my face. And when one asks a question or makes a remark to which you are bound to reply, you rap out a rejoinder, which if not blunt is at least brusque. What do you mean by it?

JANE
Sir, I was too plain. I beg your pardon.

ROCHESTER
Do you? Hmmm.

JANE
I ought to have replied that it is not easy to give an impromptu answer about appearances. That tastes mostly differ and beauty is of little consequence. Something of that sort.

ROCHESTER
You ought to have replied no such thing. Beauty of little consequence? So, instead of softening the previous outrage, of stroking and soothing me into placidity, you stick a sly penknife under my dear. Oh go on, what fault do you find with me, pray? I suppose I have all my limbs and features, like any other man.

JANE
Mr. Rochester, allow me to disown my first answer. I intended no pointed repartee, it was only a blunder.

ROCHESTER
Just so, and you shall be answerable to it. (Gets up to get some wine)

JANE (voiceover)
`Decidedly he has had too much wine,' I thought. He's more expansive and genial than his frigid and rigid temper of the mornings. He still looked preciously grim, however.

ROCHESTER
Criticise me. Does my forehead please you or not? Is it low enough to prove me a fool?

JANE
Far from it sir. You would perhaps think me rude if I enquired whether those bumps indicate that you're a philanthrope?

ROCHESTER
There again. Another stick of the penknife. When she pretended to pat my head and that because, low be it spoken, I said I did not like the society of children and old women. No young lady, I am not a general philanthropist. Though I do bear a conscience. And I once had a kind of rude tenderness of heart, when I was... as old as you. But fortune has since kneaded me with her knuckles. And now I flatter myself, I am as tough as an Indian rubber ball. But with one point of feeling left in the middle of the lump. Yes. Does that leave hope for me?

JANE
Hope of what, sir?

ROCHESTER
A puzzled air becomes you. Though you are no more pretty than I am handsome. Miss Eyre you puzzled me the first evening I invited you down. I'd almost forgotten you since. Other ideas have driven yours from my head. But tonight I am resolved to be at ease. Gregarious, communicative. To dismiss what importunes and to recall what pleases. It would please me now to draw you out. To learn more of you, therefore speak.

JANE (voiceover)
Instead of speaking, I smiled. And not a very submissive smile either.

ROCHESTER
Speak.

JANE
What about sir?

ROCHESTER
Whatever you like. I leave the choice of subject and the manner of treating it entirely up to yourself.

JANE (voiceover)
Accordingly I sat and said nothing. If he expects me to talk for the mere sake of talking and showing off, he will find he has addressed the wrong person.
ROCHESTER
You are dumb Miss Eyre.

ADELE
Quelle est belle! (exit with a pink frock)
[How beautiful it is!]

MRS. FAIRFAX
(laughs)

ROCHESTER
Hmmm. Stubborn and annoyed. It is consistent. Miss Eyre, I beg your pardon. The fact is I don't wish to treat you as an inferior. Or at least I only claim such superiority as must result from twenty years difference in age and a century's advance in experience. That is legitimate, surely.

JANE (voiceover)
He had designed an explanation, almost an apology. To such I will reply.
(aloud)
Sir, I am willing to amuse you if I can, but I cannot introduce a topic since I do not know what will interest you. Ask me questions and I will do my best to answer.

ROCHESTER
Yes, I shall. In the first place do you agree that my superiority in age and experience grants me the right to be a little masterful. Abrupt sometimes.

JANE
Do as you please sir.

ROCHESTER
That's not answer. At least if it is, it is irritating and evasive. Reply clearly.

JANE
I do not think you have the right to command me merely because you are older than I.

ROCHESTER
Do you not?

JANE
No, nor because you have seen more of the world than I have. Your claim to superiority must depend on the use you have made of that time and experience.

ROCHESTER
Hmmm. Pointedly spoken. But it will never suit my case to allow it. Since I have made an indifferent, not to say bad use of both advantages. Or leaving superiority to one side, do you agree to receive my orders without being piqued by the tone of the command.

JANE (voiceover)
(smiles) Mr. Rochester was certainly peculiar. He seemed to forget he paid me thirty pounds per annum for receiving his orders.

ROCHESTER
The smile is all very well, but speak to.

JANE
I was thinking that few masters would trouble to inquire whether their paid subordinate were hurt or piqued by their orders, sir.

ROCHESTER
Paid subordinate?!
(Mr. Rochester looks at Mrs. Fairfax. Mrs. Fairfax looks at Mr. Rochester)
I'd forgotten your salary. Well on that mercenary ground, will you agree to let me hector you a little?

JANE
No not on that ground, but on the other that you did forget the salary and that you do care whether or not a dependent is comfortable in his dependency, I agree heartily.

ROCHESTER
Then you consent to dispense with a great many conventional forms and phrases without thinking the omission arises from insolence?

JANE
Oh, I'm sure sir, I should never mistake informality for insolence. One I rather like, the other nothing freeborn would submit to. Even for a salary.

ROCHESTER
Humbug! Most things freeborn would submit to anything for a salary.

JANE
That may be your experience sir. It will not be mine.

ROCHESTER
You venture on generalities of which you are intensely ignorant, keep them to yourself. But I mentally shake hands with you for your answer despite its inaccuracy. Not three in three thousand raw schoolgirl governesses would have answered me as you have just done. Stupid coarse-minded misunderstanding is the usual reward of candour. Or affectation. But your manner was frank and sincere. But I don't mean to flatter you. If you are cast in a different mould from the majority it is no merit of yours, nature did it.

JANE
Oh of course sir. Naturally.

ROCHESTER
Ah, the penknife again. Perhaps I go too fast in my conclusions about you. For all I yet know you ay have intolerable defects to counterbalance your good points.

JANE (voiceover)
`And so may you,' I thought.
(aloud)
Sir, it is past Adele's bedtime.

ROCHESTER
But she's gone.

JANE
But she would not go back.

ROCHESTER
And I can tell you where and what to do. Her "toilette" as she calls it. She pulled out of the box a few moments ago, a pink frock. Rapture lit her face, coquetry runs in her blood, blends with her brains and seasons the marrow of her bones. She's now with Sophie undergoing a robing process. Soon she will reenter, a miniature of her mother, Celine Varens, as she used to appear on the boards at the rising of. But never mind that. However, my tenderest feelings are about to receive a shock. I'd require you if you will to help me support it.

JANE
Is that an order sir?

ROCHESTER
Yes, but put as considerately as I am able.

JANE
Then I will stay.

ROCHESTER
Thank you. You were thinking that I too might have defects were you not? Ah yes, I begin to read you, Miss Eyre. You're right, I have plenty. Like other defaulters, I like to lay the blame on ill fortune. Adverse circumstances. I was thrust on the wrong track at one and twenty, and have never recovered the right course since. I envy you your peace of mind, your unpolluted memory, your clean conscience.

JANE
How was your memory when you were eighteen sir?

ROCHESTER
Limpid. No gush of bilge water had turned it into a fetid puddle. I was your equal at eighteen. Quite your equal. Miss Eyre. You would say, I should have been superior to my circumstances. At least I see as much in your eye. Beware by the way what you express with that organ, I'm quick to interpret its language. And so I should have been superior to my circumstances, but I was not. When fate wronged me, I had not the wisdom to remain cool. I turned desperate, then degenerate. Dread remorse when you are tempted to err. Remorse is the poison of life, Miss Eyre.

JANE
Repentance is said to be its cure.

ROCHESTER
Reformation, maybe. Yes, what is the use of thinking of it, burdened, cursed as I am. But since happiness is denied me, I have the right to get pleasure out of life, and I will get it cost what it may.

JANE
Then you will degenerate still more sir.

ROCHESTER
Possibly. Yet why should I when I can get fresh sweet pleasure, as sweet and fresh as the honey the wild bee gathers on the moor.

JANE
It will sting, it will taste bitter.

ROCHESTER
How do you know? You've never tried it.

JANE
I only remind you of your own words- you said error brings remorse.

ROCHESTER
Who talks of error now? I scarcely think the notion that flitted across my mind was an error. No it's an inspiration, not a temptation. No devil, or if it be it has put on the robes of an angel of light.

JANE
It is not a true angel sir. Distrust it.

ROCHESTER
No, I must admit ... so fair a guest to my heart. Come in, bonny wanderer. (folds his arms, which he had half extended, on his chest)

JANE>
To speak truth, sir, I don’t understand you at all.

ROCHESTER
(laughs harshly) I'm sure not. Yet from this moment Miss Eyre, my pursuits and associates will be other, better than they have been. I know now what my aim is and what my motives are. And I pass a law unalterable that both are right.

JANE
They can not be sir, if they require a new statute to legalise them.

ROCHESTER
Unheard of circumstances demand unheard of rules.

JANE
It is a dangerous maxim. One can see at once it is liable to abuse. We are human, and fallible sir, and should not arrogate a power.

ROCHESTER
Power? What power?

JANE
That of saying of any strange, unsanctioned line of action "Let it be right". Such power belongs only to God.

ROCHESTER
"Let it be right!" The very words you have pronounced them. You shrink Miss. Eyre. Are you afraid of me because I talk like a sphinx?

JANE
You are enigmatical sir, your words bewildered me. But I am not afraid.

ROCHESTER
You are? You are. Your self love dreads a blunder.

JANE
In that sense I do feel apprehensive. I have no wish to talk nonsense.

ROCHESTER
If you did it would be such a quiet grave manner, I should probably mistake it for sense. Do you never laugh Miss. Eyre? Believe me you are not naturally austere. Your schooling clings to you. But I believe in time you will be natural with me. I see in you at intervals a vivid restless soul, now caged about with closed set bars, but were it set free it would soar cloud high.

(Adele enters)

ROCHESTER
The deuce.

ROCHESTER
Precisely. And "comme cela" your mother charmed my English gold out of my British breeches pocket. Goodnight ladies. (leaves the room)
ADELE
I took so much care to please him. (All leave the room)

(Jane is heading to her bedroom, but sees Mr. Rochester and Grace Poole talking just outside of the entrance to the third story stairway)

ROCHESTER
Goodnight Grace.

GRACE POOLE
Goodnight sir.

(Jane quickly retreats into her room. Mr. Rochester stares after her)

JANE (voiceover)
Though Mr. Rochester talked strangely at times, I always felt I understood him. Not in the mere matter of his words- there I was frequently at a loss. But in their innermost beginnings. His manner to Adele certainly puzzled me. He appeared to abhor an object he had succoured. And his talk of his earlier life was an enigma still. He did not seem to be a good man, and yet.

(The schoolroom. Adele is working on a painting)

JANE
Oui, c'est jolie Mais ou est [...]

(Mysterious laughter. Jane leaves the schoolroom and sees Leah sweeping in the hallway. There is more laughter and Jane walks partway up the third story staircase)
(Mrs. Fairfax enters the hallway)

JANE
Did you hear that strange laugh, Mrs. Fairfax? It seem to come from above and then a door slammed.

MRS. FAIRFAX
Leah and Grace Poole probably.

JANE
But Leah's behind you.

MRS. FAIRFAX
(laughs) Oh so she is.

JANE
There's no. there's no ghost at Thornfield?

MRS. FAIRFAX
None that I've ever heard of.

JANE
Nor any traditions of one, no legends or stories?

MRS. FAIRFAX
I believe not. Though it is said that the Rochesters have been rather violent in their time.

Grace comes down the stairway with some linen)

MRS. FAIRFAX
Grace, too much noise, remember your directions.

GRACE POOLE
Yes, ma'am. (Dumps the linen on the floor and goes to the third story.)

JANE
Mrs. Poole sleeps above? I thought all the servants.

MRS. FAIRFAX
She's not popular with the other servants. Though she does well enough- plain sewing.

JANE
Would she laugh in that fashion?

MRS. FAIRFAX
I daresay. Leah, take Mrs. Poole's bedding down.

ADELE
Mdlle. Jeanette, c'est finis. (holds up a painting of a woman)

(Time elapse. Mr. Rochester and Jane are waking in the garden. Sophie and Adele are nearby.)

ROCHESTER
Her mother deceived me. As she deceived others before me. My rival for her costly charms was, I discovered, a young roue of a vicomte. Brainless, vicious. I encountered him the following morning in the Bois de Boulogne, where I had the pleasure of leaving a bullet in one of his poor etiolated arms.

JANE
And then you left Paris?

ROCHESTER
Yes. You will doubtless think differently of your post and protegee. Governess to the illegitimate offspring of a French opera girl.

JANE
No, Adele is not answerable for her mother's faults or yours, sir.

ROCHESTER
She is not my fault, Miss. Eyre. I disclaim paternity. No blood of mine runs in that child's vein. I'm not her father. But her mother abandoned her to the slime and mud of Paris. I, merely for Charity's sake, implanted her to grow up clean here. So, do you now beg me to look out for a new governess?

JANE
Why sir? Which should I prefer? Some spoiled pet of a wealthy family who will despise her governess or an orphan such as Adele abandoned by her mother and disowned by you.

ROCHESTER
Is that how you view it?

JANE
It is sir.

ROCHESTER
Hmmm. I like this day. That sky of steel. I like Thornfield, its antiquity, its grey facade.
And yet how long have I abhorred the very thought of it. Shunned it like a great plague house. How I do still abhor it, loathe it.

JANE (voiceover)
He was silent. Within him, pain, or was it shame and disgust seemed to hold a quivering conflict.

ROCHESTER
I will like it, I dare like it. I will break every obstacle to happiness, and... yes, to goodness. Forgive me, Miss Eyre, I was arranging a point with my destiny. She stood there like a witch. "You like Thornfield?" she said, pointing a finger. And then wrote in air in lurid hieroglyphics all along the house front. "Like it if you dare."

JANE
Do you dare, sir?

ROCHESTER
I do.

JANE
Despite her warning?

ROCHESTER
Though hell should gape before me, Miss Eyre. Good day. (walks away)

JANE (voiceover)
And was Mr. Rochester now ugly in my eyes? No, the confidence he had thought fit to repose in me seemed a tribute to my discretion. His changes of mood, his harshnesses were never directed at me, but at his former faults and associates. Yet what alienated him from the house? Would he leave it again soon? Mrs. Fairfax said he rarely stayed longer than a fortnight. He had now remained eight weeks.

ADELE
Mdlle Eyre! Mdlle. Eyre!

(Night time. Jane is getting ready for bed)

JANE (voiceover)
Suppose he were to go. How joyless Thornfield would become.

(Gets ready for bed and hears shuffling noises)

JANE
Who is it? Pilot?

(Creaking noises. Jane gets into bed as bells chime)
(Time elapse)

JANE (voiceover)
But sleep remained far from me that night, even though an unbroken hush, (clock chimes) save the clock in the hall below, now reigned throughout the house.

(Creaking and low laughter)

JANE
Who's there?

(Laughing turns into moaning, there is more creaking and then a door slams)

JANE (voiceover)
Was that Grace Poole? Was she possessed with the devil? (Jane goes out and sees a candle on the floor and then sees smoke coming from Mr. Rochester's room.)

JANE
Mr. Rochester! Wake! Wake, sir! (She shakes his arm then throws jug of water on Mr. Rochester)

ROCHESTER
Is there a flood?

JANE
No sir, but there is a fire! Get up!

(Jane and Mr. Rochester puts out the flames)

ROCHESTER
In the name of all the elves in Christendom, is that Jane Eyre? Have you plotted to burn or drown me?

JANE
I'll fetch a candle sir. (Jane goes out)

(Mr. Rochester opens a window and puts on a robe)

ROCHESTER
What have you done with me you witch? You sorceress.

JANE
I heard a strange laugh. I. Shall I call Mrs. Fairfax?

ROCHESTER
What the deuce could she do?

JANE
But you must discover who did it sir!

ROCHESTER
Yes. Can you remain still without a candle?

JANE
Yes, sir.

ROCHESTER
Don't move or call anyone. I shall not be long.

(Mr. Rochester goes out and down the hallway up to the third story. Jane is sitting quietly at first, but realising how cold she is, she get up and closes the window.)

JANE (voiceover)
I did not see the use of staying. I was on the point of risking Mr. Rochester's displeasure by disobeying.
(Mr. Rochester enters)

ROCHESTER
I have found it all out, it is as I thought.

JANE
How sir?

ROCHESTER
I forget whether you said you saw anything when you opened your door?

JANE
Only a candle.

ROCHESTER
But you heard an odd laugh. You've heard that laugh before I should think, or something like it.

JANE
Yes, there's a woman who sews here- Grace Poole- she laughs in that fashion. She is a singular person.

ROCHESTER
Just so, you've guessed it. Grace Poole. Now you're no talking fool are you, so say nothing of this. I will account for it. Return to your room. I shall do very well on the sofa in the library.

JANE
Goodnight then sir.

ROCHESTER
What, you're quitting me already?

JANE
But you said I might go.

ROCHESTER
But not without a word or two of goodwill, not in that short, brief, dry fashion. Why, you've saved my life. Saved me from a horrible and excruciating death. And now you propose to go as if we were mutual strangers. At least shake hands. (Mr. Rochester takes Jane's hand) I have pleasure in owing you so immense a debt.

JANE
Goodnight sir. There is no debt.

ROCHESTER
I knew, I saw it in your eyes when I first beheld you.

JANE
What sir?

ROCHESTER
That you would revive some goodness in me. Your eyes. their expression did not. did not strike delight to my inmost heart for nothing. People talk of natural sympathies, I've heard of good genii and there are grains of truth in the wildest fable. My cherished preserver, goodnight. You're cold. Go then.

JANE
I will sir, when you release my hand.

ROCHESTER
Your hand.

JANE
Goodnight sir.

ROCHESTER
Yes. (releases her hand) Goodnight.

(Jane leaves)

ROCHESTER
Jane.

(Jane, in the hall, looks back at the closed door.)