Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontai.

CHAPTER I

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.

We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery, an hour in the morning, but since

dinner Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early, the cold winter wind had brought

with it clouds, so somber, and a rain, so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise

was now out of the question.

I was glad of it.

I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoon's.

Dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes,

and a heart, sat in by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness

of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.

To set Eliza, John, and Georgiana, were now clustered round their mama in the drawing-room.

She lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside, and with her darlings about her, for the

time neither quarreling nor crying, looked perfectly happy.

Me, she had dispensed from joining the group, saying she regretted to be under the necessity

of keeping me at a distance, but that until she heard from Bessie and could discover by

her own observation that I was endeavouring in good earnest to acquire a more sociable

and childlike disposition, a more attractive and sprightly manner, something lighter, franker,

more natural, as it were.

She really must exclude me from privileges, intended only for her contented, happy little

children.

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