第59页
《简·爱(英文版)》章节:第59页,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
what room she lay.
'She is in Miss Temple's room,' said the nurse.
'May I go up and speak to her?'
'Oh no, child! It is not likely; and now it is time for you to come
in; you'll catch the fever if you stop out when the dew is falling.'
The nurse closed the front door; I went in by the side entrance
which led to the schoolroom: I was just in time; it was nine
o'clock, and Miss Miller was calling the pupils to go to bed.
It might be two hours later, probably near eleven, when I- not
having been able to fall asleep, and deeming, from the perfect silence
of the dormitory, that my companions were all wrapt in profound
repose- rose softly, put on my frock over my night-dress, and, without
shoes, crept from the apartment, and set off in quest of Miss Temple's
room. It was quite at the other end of the house; but I knew my way;
and the light of the unclouded summer moon, entering here and there at
passage windows, enabled me to find it without difficulty. An odour of
camphor and burnt vinegar warned me when I came near the fever room:
and I passed its door quickly, fearful lest the nurse who sat up all
night should hear me. I dreaded being discovered and sent back; for
I must see Helen,- I must embrace her before she died,- I must give
her one last kiss, exchange with her one last word.
Having descended a staircase, traversed a portion of the house
below, and succeeded in opening and shutting, without noise, two
doors, I reached another flight of steps; these I mounted, and then
just opposite to me was Miss Temple's room. A light shone through
the keyhole and from under the door; a profound stillness pervaded the
vicinity. Coming near, I found the door slightly ajar; probably to
admit some fresh air into the close abode of sickness. Indisposed to
hesitate, and full of impatient impulses- soul and senses quivering
with keen throes- I put it back and looked in. My eye sought Helen,
and feared to find death.
Close by Miss Temple's bed, and half covered with its white
curtains, there stood a little crib. I saw the outline of a form under
the clothes, but the face was hid by the hangings: the nurse I had
spoken to in the garden sat in an easy-chair asleep; an unsnuffed
candle burnt dimly on the table. Miss Temple was not to be seen: I
knew afterwards that she had been called to a delirious patient in the
fever-room. I advanced; then paused by the crib side: my hand was on
the curtain, but I preferred speaking before I withdrew it. I still
recoiled at the dread of seeing a corpse.
'Helen!' I whispered softly, 'are you awake?'
She stirred herself, put back the curtain, and I saw her face,
pale, wasted, but quite composed: she looked so little changed that my
fear was instantly dissipated.
'Can it be you, Jane?' she asked, in her own gentle voice.
'Oh!' I thought, 'she is not going to die; they are mistaken: she
could not speak and look so calmly if she were.'