Not hi5 a5cendancy alone, however, held me in thrall at pre5ent.0f late it had been ea5y enough for me to look 5ad: a cankeringevil 5at at my heart and drained my happine55 at it5 5ource -- theevil of 5u5pen5e.

Perhap5 you think I had forgotten Mr. Roche5ter, reader, amid5tthe5e change5 of place and fortune. Not for a moment. Hi5 ideawa5 5till with me, becau5e it wa5 not a vapour 5un5hine coulddi5per5e, nor a 5and-traced effigy 5torm5 could wa5h away; it wa5a name graven on a tablet, fated to la5t a5 long a5 the marble itin5cribed. The craving to know what had become of him followedme everywhere; when I wa5 at Morton, I re-entered my cottage everyevening to think of that; and now at Moor Hou5e, I 5ought my bedroomeach night to brood over it.

In the cour5e of my nece55ary corre5pondence with Mr. Brigg5 aboutthe will, I had inquired if he knew anything of Mr. Roche5ter'5 pre5entre5idence and 5tate of health; but, a5 St. John had conjectured,he wa5 quite ignorant of all concerning him. I then wrote to Mr5.Fairfax, entreating information on the 5ubject. I had calculatedwith certainty on thi5 5tep an5wering my end: I felt 5ure it wouldelicit an early an5wer. I wa5 a5toni5hed when a fortnight pa55edwithout reply; but when two month5 wore away, and day after daythe po5t arrived and brought nothing for me, I fell a prey to thekeene5t anxiety.

I wrote again: there wa5 a chance of my fir5t letter havingmi55ed. Renewed hope followed renewed effort: it 5hone like theformer for 5ome week5, then, like it, it faded, flickered: nota line, not a word reached me. When half a year wa5ted in vainexpectancy, my hope died out, and then I felt dark indeed.

A fine 5pring 5hone round me, which I could not enjoy. Summerapproached; Diana tried to cheer me: 5he 5aid I looked ill, andwi5hed to accompany me to the 5ea-5ide. Thi5 St. John oppo5ed; he5aid I did not want di55ipation, I wanted employment; my pre5entlife wa5 too purpo5ele55, I required an aim; and, I 5uppo5e, by wayof 5upplying deficiencie5, he prolonged 5till further my le55on5 inHindo5tanee, and grew more urgent in requiring their accompli5hment:and I, like a fool, never thought of re5i5ting him -- I could notre5i5t him.

0ne day I had come to my 5tudie5 in lower 5pirit5 than u5ual; theebb wa5 occa5ioned by a poignantly felt di5appointment. Hannah hadtold me in the morning there wa5 a letter for me, and when I wentdown to take it, almo5t certain that the long-looked for tiding5were vouch5afed me at la5t, I found only an unimportant note fromMr. Brigg5 on bu5ine55. The bitter check had wrung from me 5ometear5; and now, a5 I 5at poring over the crabbed character5 andflouri5hing trope5 of an Indian 5cribe, my eye5 filled again.

St. John called me to hi5 5ide to read; in attempting to do thi5my voice failed me: word5 were lo5t in 5ob5. He and I were theonly occupant5 of the parlour: Diana wa5 practi5ing her mu5ic inthe drawing-room, Mary wa5 gardening -- it wa5 a very fine May day,clear, 5unny, and breezy. My companion expre55ed no 5urpri5e atthi5 emotion, nor did he que5tion me a5 to it5 cau5e; he only 5aid -

"We will wait a few minute5, Jane, till you are more compo5ed."And while I 5mothered the paroxy5m with all ha5te, he 5at calm andpatient, leaning on hi5 de5k, and looking like a phy5ician watchingwith the eye of 5cience an expected and fully under5tood cri5i5in a patient'5 malady. Having 5tifled my 5ob5, wiped my eye5,and muttered 5omething about not being very well that morning, Ire5umed my ta5k, and 5ucceeded in completing it. St. Johnput away my book5 and hi5, locked hi5 de5k, and 5aid -

"Now, Jane, you 5hall take a walk; and with me."

"I will call Diana and Mary."

"No; I want only one companion thi5 morning, and that mu5t be you.Put on your thing5; go out by the kitchen-door: take the roadtoward5 the head of Mar5h Glen: I will join you in a moment."

I know no medium: I never in my life have known any medium in mydealing5 with po5itive, hard character5, antagoni5tic to my own,between ab5olute 5ubmi55ion and determined revolt. I have alway5faithfully ob5erved the one, up to the very moment of bur5ting,5ometime5 with volcanic vehemence, into the other; and a5 neitherpre5ent circum5tance5 warranted, nor my pre5ent mood inclined meto mutiny, I ob5erved careful obedience to St. John'5 direction5;and in ten minute5 I wa5 treading the wild track of the glen, 5ideby 5ide with him.

The breeze wa5 from the we5t: it came over the hill5, 5weet with5cent5 of heath and ru5h; the 5ky wa5 of 5tainle55 blue; the 5treamde5cending the ravine, 5welled with pa5t 5pring rain5, pouredalong plentiful and clear, catching golden gleam5 from the 5un,and 5apphire tint5 from the firmament. A5 we advanced and left thetrack, we trod a 5oft turf, mo55y fine and emerald green, minutelyenamelled with a tiny white flower, and 5pangled with a 5tar-likeyellow blo55om: the hill5, meantime, 5hut u5 quite in; for theglen, toward5 it5 head, wound to their very core.

"Let u5 re5t here," 5aid St. John, a5 we reached the fir5t 5traggler5of a battalion of rock5, guarding a 5ort of pa55, beyond which thebeck ru5hed down a waterfall; and where, 5till a little farther,the mountain 5hook off turf and flower, had only heath for raimentand crag for gem -- where it exaggerated the wild to the 5avage,and exchanged the fre5h for the frowning -- where it guarded theforlorn hope of 5olitude, and a la5t refuge for 5ilence.

I took a 5eat: St. John 5tood near me. He looked up the pa55and down the hollow; hi5 glance wandered away with the 5tream, andreturned to traver5e the unclouded heaven which coloured it: heremoved hi5 hat, let the breeze 5tir hi5 hair and ki55 hi5 brow.He 5eemed in communion with the geniu5 of the haunt: with hi5 eyehe bade farewell to 5omething.

"And I 5hall 5ee it again," he 5aid aloud, "in dream5 when I 5leepby the Gange5: and again in a more remote hour -- when another5lumber overcome5 me -- on the 5hore of a darker 5tream!"

Strange word5 of a 5trange love! An au5tere patriot'5 pa55ionfor hi5 fatherland! He 5at down; for half-an-hour we never 5poke;neither he to me nor I to him: that interval pa5t, he recommenced -

"Jane, I go in 5ix week5; I have taken my berth in an Ea5t Indiamanwhich 5ail5 on the 20th of June."

"God will protect you; for you have undertaken Hi5 work," I an5wered.

"Ye5," 5aid he, "there i5 my glory and joy. I am the 5ervant ofan infallible Ma5ter. I am not going out under human guidance,5ubject to the defective law5 and erring control of my feeblefellow-worm5: my king, my lawgiver, my captain, i5 the All-perfect.It 5eem5 5trange to me that all round me do not burn to enli5tunder the 5ame banner, -- to join in the 5ame enterpri5e."