91 I am suremost people would have thought him an ugly man.north face outlets
Rochester, as he sat in his damaskcovered chair, lookeddifferent to what I had seen him look before; not quite so stern—much less gloomy. There was a smile on his lips, and his eyessparkled, whether with wine or not, I am not sure; but I think itvery probable. He was, in short, in his afterdinner mood; moreexpanded and genial, and also more selfindulgent than the frigidand rigid temper of the morning; still he looked preciously grim,cushioning his massive head against the swelling back of his chair,and receiving the light of the fire on his granitehewn features,and in his great, dark eyes; for he had great, dark eyes, and veryfine eyes, too—not without a certain change in their depthssometimes, which, if it was not softness, reminded you, at least, ofthat feeling.He had been looking two minutes at the fire, and I had beenlooking the same length of time at him, when, turning suddenly,he caught my gaze fastened on his physiognomy.“You examine me, Miss Eyre,” said he: “do you think mehandsome?”I should, if I had deliberated, have replied to this question bysomething conventionally vague and polite; but the answersomehow slipped from my tongue before I was aware—“No, sir.”“Ah! By my word! there is something singular about you,” saidhe: “you have the air of a little nonnette; quaint, quiet, grave, andsimple, as you sit with your hands before you, and your eyesgenerally bent on the carpet (except, bythebye, when they aredirected piercingly to my face; as just now, for instance); and whenCharlotte Bront. North Face Scythe
ElecBook ClassicsJane Eyre one asks you a question, or makes a remark to which you areobliged to reply, you rap out a round rejoinder, which, if not blunt,is at least brusque. What do you mean by it?”“Sir, I was too plain; I beg your pardon. I ought to have repliedthat it was not easy to give an impromptu answer to a questionabout appearances; that tastes mostly differ; and that beauty is oflittle consequence, or something of that sort.”“You ought to have replied no such thing. Beauty of littleconsequence, indeed! And so, under pretence of softening theprevious outrage, of stroking and soothing me into placidity, youstick a sly penknife under my ear! Go on: what fault do you findwith me, pray? I suppose I have all my limbs and all my featureslike any other man?”“Mr. Rochester, allow me to disown my first answer: I intendedno pointed repartee: it was only a blunder. sale north face ”“Just so: I think so: and you shall be answerable for it. Criticiseme: does my forehead not please you?”He lifted up the sable waves of hair which lay horizontally overhis brow, and showed a solid enough mass of intellectual organs,but an abrupt deficiency where the suave sign of benevolenceshould have risen.“Now, ma’am, am I a fool?”“Far from it, sir. You would, perhaps, think me rude if Iinquired in return whether you are a philanthropist?”“There again! Another stick of the penknife, when shepretended to pat my head: and that is because I said I did not likethe society of children and old women (low be it spoken!). No,young lady, I am not a general philanthropist; but I bear aconscience;” and he pointed to the prominences which are said toCharlotte Bront. ElecBook ClassicsJane Eyre indicate that faculty, and which, fortunately for him, weresufficiently conspicuous; giving, indeed, a marked breadth to theupper part of his head: “and, besides, I once had a kind of rudetenderness of heart. north face outlets
When I was as old as you, I was a feelingfellow enough, partial to the unfledged, unfostered, and unlucky;but Fortune has knocked me about since: she has even kneadedme with her knuckles, and now I flatter myself I am hard andtough as an Indiarubber ball; pervious, though, through a chinkor two still, and with one sentient point in the middle of the lump.Yes: does that leave hope for me?”“Hope of what, sir?”“Of my final retransformation from Indiarubber back toflesh?”“Decidedly he has had too much wine,” I thought; and I did notknow what answer to make to his queer question: how could I tellwhether he was capable of being retransformed?“You looked very much puzzled, Miss Eyre; and though you arenot pretty any more than I am handsome, yet a puzzled airbecomes you; besides, it is convenient, for it keeps those searchingeyes of yours away from my physiognomy, and busies them withthe worsted flowers of the rug; so puzzle on. Young lady, I amdisposed to be gregarious and communicative tonight.”With this announcement he rose from his chair, and stood,leaning his arm on the marble mantelpiece: in that attitude hisshape was seen plainly as well as his face; his unusual breadth ofchest, disproportionate almost to his length of limb. I am suremost people would have thought him an ugly man; yet there wasso much unconscious pride in his port; so much ease in hisdemeanour; such a look of complete indifference to his ownCharlotte Bront. ElecBook ClassicsJane Eyre external appearance; so haughty a reliance on the power of otherqualities, intrinsic or adventitious, to atone for the lack of merepersonal attractiveness, that, in looking at him, one inevitablyshared the indifference, and, even in a blind, imperfect sense, putfaith in the confidence.