in theory, I felt would be terrible if realized; with all my
might I endeavoured to stifle it -- I endeavoured to be firm.
Shaking my hair from my eyes, I lifted my head and tried to
look boldly round the dark room: at this moment a light
gleamed on the wall. Was it, I asked myself, a ray from the
moon penetrating some aperture in the blind? No; moon-
light was still, and this stirred; while I gazed, it glided up to
the ceiling and quivered over my head. I can now con-
jecture readily that this streak of light was, in all likelihood,
a gleam from a lantern, carried by someone across the lawn;
but then, prepared as my mind was for horror, shaken as my
nerves were by agitation, I thought the swift-darting beam
was a herald of some coming vision from another world. My
heart beat thick, my head grew hot; a sound filled my ears,
which I deemed the rushing of wings; something seemed near
me; I was oppressed, suffocated: endurance broke down; I
rushed to the door and shook the lock in desperate effort.
Steps came running along the outer passage; the key turned.
Bessie and Abbot entered.

" Miss Eyre, are you ill?" said Bessie.

"What a dreadful noise! It went quite through me!" ex-
claimed Abbot.

"Take me out! Let me go into the nursery!" was my cry.

"What for? Are you hurt? Have you seen something?"
again demanded Bessie.

"Oh! I saw a light, and I thought a ghost would come."
I had now got hold of Bessie's hand, and she did not snatch it
from me.

"She has screamed out on purpose," declared Abbot, in
some disgust. "And what a scream! If she had been in
great pain one would have excused it, but she only wanted to
bring us all here: I know her naughty tricks."

"What is all this?" demanded another voice, peremptorily;
and Mrs. Reed came along the corridor, her cap flying wide,
her gown rustling stormily. " Abbot and Bessie, I believe I
gave orders that Jane Eyre should be left in the red-room
till I came to her myself."

" Miss Jane screamed so loud, ma'am," pleaded Bessie.

"Let her go," was the only answer. "Loose Bessie's hand,
child; you cannot succeed in getting out by these means, be

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