जेन आयर

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had wandered for an hour in the bare garden that morning, but after dinner a cold winter wind brought dark clouds and a rain so heavy that nobody could go out again.

I was glad of it. I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons. I hated coming home in the grey dusk with frozen fingers, scolded by Bessie the nurse and made to feel small beside my cousins.

There were three of them, Eliza, John and Georgiana Reed. They were now gathered round their mother by the drawing room fire, and Mrs. Reed lay on the sofa looking perfectly happy. I was not allowed to join them. Until Bessie reported that I had become a more cheerful and childlike girl, she said, I must keep my distance.

"What does Bessie say I have done?" I asked.

"Jane, I don't like questioners," she replied. "A child should not speak to her elders like that. Sit down somewhere, and until you can speak pleasantly, be silent."