Джейн Эйр / Jane Eyre

Bessie, having pressed me in vain to take a few spoonfuls of the boiled milk and bread she had prepared for me, wrapped up some biscuits in a paper and put them into my bag; then she helped me on with my pelisse and bonnet, and wrapping herself in a shawl, she and I left the nursery. As we passed Mrs. Reed’s bed-room, she said, —

�Will you go in and bid Missis good-bye?’

�No, Bessie; she came to my crib last night when you were gone down to supper, and said I need not disturb her in the morning, or my cousins either; and she told me to remember that she had always been my best friend, and to speak of her and be grateful to her accordingly.

�What did you say, Miss?’

�Nothing: I covered my face with the bedclothes, and turned from her to the wall.’

�That was wrong, Miss Jane.’

�It was quite right, Bessie; your Missis has not been my friend: she has been my foe.’

�O Miss Jane! don’t say so!’

�Good-bye to Gateshead!’ cried I, as we passed through the hall and went out at the front door.

The moon was set, and it was very dark. Bessie carried a lantern, whose light glanced on wet steps and gravel road sodden by a recent thaw. Raw and chill was the winter morning; my teeth chattered as I hastened down the drive. There was a light in the porter’s lodge; when we reached it, we found the porter’s wife just kindling her fire; my trunk, which had been carried down the evening before, stood corded at the door. It wanted but a few minutes of six, and shortly after that hour had struck, the distant roll of wheels announced the coming coach; I went to the door and watched its lamps approach rapidly through the gloom.

�Is she going by herself?’ asked the porter’s wife.

�Yes.’

�And how far is it?’

�Fifty miles.’

�What a long way! I wonder Mrs. Reed is not afraid to trust her so far alone.’

The coach drew up; there it was at the gates with its four horses and its top laden with passengers; the guard and coachman loudly urged haste; my trunk was hoisted up; I was taken from Bessie’s neck to which I clung with kisses.

�Be sure and take good care of her,’ cried she to the guard, as he lifted me into the inside.

�Ay, ay!’ was the answer: the door was slapped to, a voice exclaimed �All right,’ and on we drove. Thus was I severed from Bessie and Gateshead; thus whirled away to unknown, and as I then deemed, remote and mysterious regions.