Mr. Rochester; »and
in the interim I shall myself look out for employment and an asylum for you.«
    »Thank you, sir; I am sorry to give -«
    »Oh, no need to apologize! I consider that when a dependant does her duty as
well as you have done yours, she has a sort of claim upon her employer for any
little assistance he can conveniently render her; indeed I have already, through
my future mother-in-law, heard of a place that I think will suit: it is to
undertake the education of the five daughters of Mrs. Dionysius O'Gall of
Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught, Ireland. You'll like Ireland, I think: they're such
warm-hearted people there, they say.«
    »It is a long way off, sir.«
    »No matter - a girl of your sense will not object to the voyage or the
distance.«
    »Not the voyage, but the distance: and then the sea is a barrier -«
    »From what, Jane?«
    »From England and from Thornfield: and -«
    »Well?«
    »From you, sir.«
    I said this almost involuntarily; and, with as little sanction of free will,
my tears gushed out. I did not cry so as to be heard, however; I avoided
sobbing. The thought of Mrs. O'Gall and Bitternutt Lodge struck cold to my
heart; and colder the thought of all the brine and foam, destined, as it seemed,
to rush between me and the master at whose side I now walked; and coldest the
remembrance of the wider ocean - wealth, caste, custom intervened between me and
what I naturally and inevitably loved.
    »It is a long way,« I again said.
    »It is to be sure; and when you get to Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught, Ireland,
I shall never see you again, Jane: that's morally certain. I never go over to
Ireland, not having myself much of a fancy for the country. We have been good
friends, Jane; have we not?«
    »Yes, sir.«
    »And when friends are on the eve of separation, they like to spend the
little time that remains to them close to each other. Come - we'll talk over the
voyage and the parting quietly, half an hour or so, while the stars enter into
their shining life up in heaven yonder: here is the chestnut tree; here is the
bench at its old roots. Come, we