第64页
《简·爱(英文版)》章节:第64页,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
fact. Any one may serve: I have served here eight years; now all I
want is to serve elsewhere. Can I not get so much of my own will? Is
not the thing feasible? Yes- yes- the end is not so difficult; if I
had only a brain active enough to ferret out the means of attaining
it.'
I sat up in bed by way of arousing this said brain: it was a chilly
night; I covered my shoulders with a shawl, and then I proceeded to
think again with all my might.
'What do I want? A new place, in a new house, amongst new faces,
under new circumstances: I want this because it is of no use wanting
anything better. How do people do to get a new place? They apply to
friends, I suppose: I have no friends. There are many others who
have no friends, who must look about for themselves and be their own
helpers; and what is their resource?'
I could not tell: nothing answered me; I then ordered my brain to
find a response, and quickly. It worked and worked faster: I felt
the pulses throb in my head and temples; but for nearly an hour it
worked in chaos; and no result came of its efforts. Feverish with vain
labour, I got up and took a turn in the room; undrew the curtain,
noted a star or two, shivered with cold, and again crept to bed.
A kind fairy, in my absence, had surely dropped the required
suggestion on my pillow; for as I lay down, it came quietly and
naturally to my mind:- 'Those who want situations advertise; you
'How? I know nothing about advertising.'
Replies rose smooth and prompt now:-
'You must enclose the advertisement and the money to pay for it
under a cover directed to the editor of the Herald; you must put it,
the first opportunity you have, into the post at Lowton; answers
must be addressed to J. E., at the post-office there; you can go and
inquire in about a week after you send your letter, if any are come,
and act accordingly.'
This scheme I went over twice, thrice; it was then digested in my
mind; I had it in a clear practical form: I felt satisfied, and fell
asleep.
With earliest day, I was up: I had my advertisement written,
enclosed, and directed before the bell rang to rouse the school; it
ran thus:-
'A young lady accustomed to tuition' (had I not been a teacher
two years?) 'is desirous of meeting with a situation in a private
family where the children are under fourteen' (I thought that as I was
barely eighteen, it would not do to undertake the guidance of pupils
nearer my own age). 'She is qualified to teach the usual branches of a
good English education, together with French, Drawing, and Music'
(in those days, reader, this now narrow catalogue of
accomplishments, would have been held tolerably comprehensive).
This document remained locked in my drawer all day: after tea, I
asked leave of the new superintendent to go to Lowton, in order to
perform some small commissions for myself and one or two of my
fellow-teachers; permission was readily granted; I went. It was a walk