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第4章 救救公子

　　I was in the mood for being useful, or at least officious, I think,for I now drew near him again.

　　The red-room was a square chamber, very seldom slept in, I mightsay never, indeed, unless when a chance influx of visitors atGateshead Hall rendered it necessary to turn to account all theaccommodation it contained: yet it was one of the largest andstateliest chambers in the mansion. A bed supported on massive pillarsof mahogany, hung with curtains of deep red damask, stood out like atabernacle in the centre; the two large windows, with their blindsalways drawn down, were half shrouded in festoons and falls of similardrapery; the carpet was red; the table at the foot of the bed wascovered with a crimson cloth; the walls were a soft fawn colour with ablush of pink in it; the wardrobe, the toilet-table, the chairs wereof darkly polished old mahogany. Out of these deep surroundingshades rose high, and glared white, the piled-up mattresses andpillows of the bed, spread with a snowy Marseilles counterpane.Scarcely less prominent was an ample cushioned easy-chair near thehead of the bed, also white, with a footst

　　Thus relieved of a grievous load, I from that hour set to workafresh, resolved to pioneer my way through every difficulty: Itoiled hard, and my success was proportionate to my efforts; mymemory, not naturally tenacious, improved with practice; exercisesharpened my wits; in a few weeks I was promoted to a higher class; inless than two months I was allowed to commence French and drawing. Ilearned the first two tenses of the verb Etre, and sketched my firstcottage (whose walls, by the bye, outrivalled in slope those of theleaning tower of Pisa), on the same day. That night, on going tobed, I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper of hotroast potatoes, or white bread and new milk, with which I was wontto amuse my inward cravings: I feasted instead on the spectacle ofideal drawings, which I saw in the dark; all the work of my own hands:freely pencilled houses and trees, picturesque rocks and ruins,Cuyp-like groups of cattle, sweet paintings of butterflies hoveringover unblown roses, of birds picki

　　'Are there any letters for J. E.?' I asked.

　　I had my own reasons for being dismayed at this apparition; toowell I remembered the perfidious hints given by Mrs. Reed about mydisposition, etc.; the promise pledged by Mr. Brocklehurst toapprise Miss Temple and the teachers of my vicious nature. All along Ihad been dreading the fulfilment of this promise,- I had beenlooking out daily for the 'Coming Man,' whose information respectingmy past life and conversation was to brand me as a bad child for ever:now there he was.

　　'Master! How is he my master? Am I a servant?'

　　'And you girls probably worshipped him, as a convent full ofreligieuses would worship their director.'

　　'Jane, you don't understand these things: children must becorrected for their faults.'

　　'The child is very young to be sent alone,' said she, putting hercandle down on the table. She considered me attentively for a minuteor two, then further added-