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hitherto; while gathering up the discourse of mr。 brocklehurst and miss temple; i had not; at the same time; neglected precautions to secure my personal safety; which i thought would be effected; if i could only elude observation。 to this end; i had sat well back on the form; and while seeming to be busy with my sum; had held my slate in such a manner as to conceal my face: i might have escaped notice; had not my treacherous slate somehow happened to slip from my hand; and falling with an obtrusive crash; directly drawn every eye upon me; i knew it was all over now; and; as i stooped to pick up the two fragments of slate; i rallied my forces for the worst。 it came。
“a careless girl!” said mr。 brocklehurst; and immediately after—“it is the new pupil; i perceive。” and before i could draw breath; “i must not forget i have a word to say respecting her。” then aloud: how loud it seemed to me! “let the child who broke her slate e forward!”
of my own accord i could not have stirred; i was paralysed: but the two great girls who sit on each side of me; set me on my legs and pushed me towards the dread judge; and then miss temple gently assisted me to his very feet; and i caught her whispered counsel—
“don’t be afraid; jane; i saw it was an accident; you shall not be punished。”
the kind whisper went to my heart like a dagger。
“another minute; and she will despise me for a hypocrite;” thought i; and an impulse of fury against reed; brocklehurst; and co。 bounded in my pulses at the conviction。 i was no helen burns。
“fetch that stool;” said mr。 brocklehurst; pointing to a very high one from which a monitor had just risen: it was brought。
“place the child upon it。”
and i was placed there; by whom i don’t know: i was in no condition to note particulars; i was only aware that they had hoisted me up to the height of mr。 brocklehurst’s nose; that he was within a yard of me; and that a spread of shot orange and purple silk pelisses and a cloud of silvery plumage extended and waved below me。
mr。 brocklehurst hemmed。
“ladies;” said he; turning to his family; “miss temple; teachers; and children; you all see this girl?”
of course they did; for i felt their eyes directed like burning… glasses against my scorched skin。
“you see she is yet young; you observe she possesses the ordinary form of childhood; god has graciously given her the shape that he has given to all of us; no signal deformity points her out as a marked character。 who would think that the evil one had already found a servant and agent in her? yet such; i grieve to say; is the case。”
a pause—in which i began to steady the palsy of my nerves; and to feel that the rubicon was passed; and that the trial; no longer to be shirked; must be firmly sustained。
“my dear children;” pursued the black marble clergyman; with pathos; “this is a sad; a melancholy occasion; for it bees my duty to warn you; that this girl; who might be one of god’s own lambs; is a little castaway: not a member of the true flock; but evidently an interloper and an alien。 you must be on your guard against her; you must shun her example; if necessary; avoid her pany; exclude her from your sports; and shut her out from your converse。 teachers; you must watch her: keep your eyes on her movements; weigh well her words; scrutinise her actions; punish her body to save her soul: if; indeed; such salvation be possible; for (my tongue falters while i tell it) this girl; this child; the native of a christian land; worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to brahma and kneels before juggernaut—this girl is—a liar!”
now came a pause of ten minutes; during which i; by this time in perfect possession of my wits; observed all the female brocklehursts produce their pocket…handkerchiefs and apply them to their optics; while the elderly lady swayed herself to and fro; and the two younger ones whispered; “how shocking!” mr。 brocklehurst resumed。
“this i learned from her benefactress; from the pious and charitable lady who adopted her in her orphan state; reared her as her own daughter; and whose kindness; whose generosity the unhappy girl repaid by an ingratitude so bad; so dreadful; that at last her excellent patroness was obliged to separate her from her own young ones; fearful lest her vicious example should contaminate their purity: she has sent her here to be healed; even as the jews of old sent their diseased to the troubled pool of bethesda; and; teachers; superintendent; i beg of you not to allow the waters to stagnate round her。”
with this sublime conclusion; mr。 brocklehurst adjusted the top button of his surtout; muttered something to his family; who rose; bowed to miss temple; and then all the great people sailed in state from the room。 turning at the door; my judge said—
“let her stand half…an…hour longer on that stool; and let no one speak to her during the remainder of the day。”
there was i; then; mounted aloft; i; who had said i could not bear the shame of standing on my natural feet in the middle of the room; was now exposed to general view on a pedestal of infamy。 what my sensations were no language can describe; but just as they all rose; stifling my breath and constricting my throat; a girl came up and passed me: in passing; she lifted her eyes。 what a strange light inspired them! what an extraordinary sensation that ray sent through me! how the new feeling bore me up! it was as if a martyr; a hero; had passed a slave or victim; and imparted strength in the transit。 i mastered the rising hysteria; lifted up my head; and took a firm stand on the stool。 helen burns asked some slight question about her work of miss smith; was chidden for the triviality of the inquiry; returned to her place; and smiled at me as she again went by。 what a smile! i remember it now; and i know that it was the effluence of fine intellect; of true courage; it lit up her marked lineaments; her thin face; her sunken grey eye; like a reflection from the aspect of an angel。 yet at that moment helen burns wore on her arm “the untidy badge;” scarcely an hour ago i had heard her condemned by miss scatcherd to a dinner of bread and water on th