CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO I Am No longer Poor
After St. John left me, it began to snow. It snowed all night and the next day. In the evening, I was sitting by the fire and had just begun to read when I heard a knock at the door. St. John came inside the house, covered in snow. “Is something wrong?” I asked. “No one should be outside in this terrible weather.”
“There’s nothing wrong,” he answered calmly. “ I just came to talk to you. Besides, I’d like to hear the rest of your story.” He sat sown. I had no idea what he meant. I wondered if this was connected to his strange actions with the piece of paper on my table. But he looked normal, and we talked of ordinary things for a while. However, he always seemed to be thinking of something else.
Finally he said, ”Jane, when I arrived I said I wanted to hear the rest of your story. But perhaps it’s better if I tell you a story. I think you have heard it before. Twenty years ago, a poor churchman and a rich man’s daughter loved one another. She married him, and her family never spoke to her again. Sadly, less than two years later they were both dead. I have seen their graves. Their baby daughter was taken to live with her aunt, a Mrs. Reed of Gateshead. I don’t know jf the child was happy living with Mrs. Reed, but she stayed at Gateshead for almost ten years, until she went to lowood School. You went to Lowood School yourself. In fact, it seems her life was just like yours,” he said, looking at me closely. “This girl became a teacher at Lowood, as you did, and then became a governess in the house of a man named Mr. Rochester.”
“St. John!” I cried. I could not stay quiet.
“I can imagine how you feel,” he said, holding up his hand. “But wait until I’m done with the story. I don’t know anything about this Mr. Rochester, but I do know that he wanted to marry this young girl. But during the wedding, she learned that he already had a wife! And, his wife was mad. After this, the girl disappeared. Many people have tried to find her, but no one knows where she is. But she must be found! A lawyer named Briggs needs to talk to her, about something very important.”
“Just tell her one thing,” I said desperately. “What about Mr. Rochester? Where is he? What is he doing? Is he well?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask me the girl’s name, and why people are looking for her?”
“Did Mr. Briggs write to Mr. Rochester?” I asked.
“He did, but Rochester didn’t write back. Instead a woman named Mrs. Fairfax answered his letter.”
I felt cold and miserable. Probably Mr. Rochester had left England to live an exciting life in Europe. He would look for a new woman to love.
“You won’t ask the girl’s name, so I’ll tell you,” said St. John. “I have it right here.” He took out a little piece of paper and showed it to me. The paper came from my drawing book, and said “JANE EYRE” in my own writing. I had written my real name on Miss Oliver’s drawing, without thinking!
“You see, Mr. Briggs spoke of a Jane Eyre, but I only knew a Jane Elliott.” Said St. John, “Are you Jane Eyre?”
“Well--- yes,” I cried. “But doesn’t Mr. Briggs know anything at all about Mr. Rochester?”
“Briggs isn’t interested in Mr. Rochester. He’s interested in you. Don’t you want to know why?”
“Well, what did he want?” I asked, almost rudely.
“He wanted to tell you that your uncle, John Eyre of Maderia, is dead. He has left you all his money, and you are now rich. That is all.” I sat down in a chair, my legs shaking. Rich! One moment I was poor, the next moment I was wealthy. I could not believe it. I was very sorry that my uncle was dead, because he was the only family I had left. However, I would never have to worry about money again! I was independent for life!
“Wouldn’t you like to know how much money you have, Jane Eyre?” said St. John. “It’s only a little bit--- just twenty thousand pounds. I think.”
“Twenty thousand pounds!” I thought I would faint from surprise. I had never heard St. John laugh before, but when he saw my face, he could not help it. “Perhaps… perhaps you’ve made a mistake.” I cried nervously.
“No, there’s no mistake,” he said, smiling. “Now I must go. Good night.” He was about to leave when I said suddenly, “Wait! Stop! Why did Mr. Briggs write to you, if he wanted to find me?”
“Oh, I’m a church man,” he laughed. “I have ways of discovering interesting things1”
“Oh, St. John, I know that isn’t the reason. Tell me the truth!” I said. “Well, I’d rather not tell you just now, but I suppose you’ll find out sooner or later. So I’ll tell you a little something about myself. Did you know that my full name is St. John Eyre Rivers?”
“No, I didn’t! But then what…” And I stopped, as I had begun to make a connection. Could it be true? But St. John continued to talk.
“You weren’t told very much about your family, were you, Jane?” I shook my head. “My mother’s last name was Eyre,” he said. “She had two brothers. One was a church man, who married a Miss Jane Reed of Gateshead. The other brother was John Eyre of Madeira. Mr. Briggs, Mr. Eyre’s lawyer, wrote us a letter. The letter said that our uncle had died, but he had left all his money to his brother’s daughter. Then Mr. Briggs wrote again later, saying that no one could find this girl. But I’ve found her!” he went towards the door, ready to leave.
“Wait--- I have to think!” I said. “So this means that you, Diana and Mary are my cousins!”
“That’s right,” he said. All my life I had been alone. Now I had found family to love and be proud of, for the rest of my life! These people, who had saved my life, were my cousins. This knowledge made me happier than any money ever could.
“Oh, St. John, I’m glad--- I’m so glad!” I cried, laughing.
St. john smiled. “You looked so worried and serious when I told you about the money. And now you’re happy about something ordinary!”
“No, you don’t understand. This means everything to me! You see. You already have some family. But I had no one, and now I suddenly have three wonderful cousins!” I walked quickly around the room. My head was full of wonderful ideas. I could now help the Rivers family by sharing the money with them! There were the four of us cousins. If we shared my money equally, there would be five thousand pounds for each of us. That was plenty of money. It was a fair answer to money problems, and we would all be happy. If they did not want to , Diana and Mary would never have to work again. We would all be able to spend more time together at Moor House.
Of course, when I told my cousins what I wanted to do, they did not agree at first. But they knew that I was serious about sharing the money, so finally they agreed to each take five thousand pounds. Mr. Briggs the lawyer gave the money to each of us. |