[00:00.00]Jane Air, chapter one.
[00:03.89]At Gates Head Hall.
[00:07.88]It was a cold, wet day in November, so we were indoors.
[00:13.49]My aunt, Mrs. Reed, was on the fireside sofa in the drawing room with my cousins, Eliza, John, and Georgiana around her.
[00:24.23]But I was not allowed to join them.
[00:28.97]Mrs. Reed was displeased with me.
[00:32.98]Your behavior is not natural, and childlike, she had said.
[00:43.47]But when I asked her exactly what I had done, she told me I should not question my elders.
[00:52.92]At least my cousin John was leaving me alone for a little while.
[00:59.92]I slipped into the breakfast room next door, chose a book, and curled up on the window seat behind a curtain.
[01:09.56]I loved books, even when they were difficult to understand, and I was happy until I heard John's voice.
[01:19.94]Where the dickens is Jane? he demanded.
[01:25.47]She's gone running off like a bad animal.
[01:30.71]I kept very still behind the curtain, but he found me.
[01:37.71]I was only 10 and he was 14, a big, heavy bully who never left me alone.
[01:45.59]Complaining was no use.
[01:48.36]He was his mother's darling.
[01:52.65]The maids, Bessie and Miss Abbott, knew he was greedy and spoilt, but Mrs. Reed would hear nothing against him.
[02:05.70]He snatched the book from my hands and ordered me out of my hiding place.
[02:13.77]As always, I was so terrified that I obeyed him.
[02:19.09]He seated himself, glared at me from his fat, flabby face with its heavy features, stuck out his tongue, and hit me so hard I staggered.
[02:36.32]That's for sneaking away, he said, and for the look on your face.
[02:46.23]What were you doing behind the curtain?
[02:51.63]Reading, I said, wondering when he would hit me again.
[02:59.93]You have no right to touch the books, announced John.
[03:08.10]You ought to beg, and not live here with a gentleman's family like us, and eat the same meals as we do, and wear clothes at our mama's expense.
[03:21.95]I'll teach you to behave.
[03:25.84]Stand by the door.
[03:31.90]I saw him lift the book to throw it and I flinched away, but not soon enough.
[03:40.50]It hit me so violently that I stumbled against the door.
[03:47.18]There was a sting of pain in my head, and blood trickled down my face.
[03:56.57]Anger overcame me.
[04:00.48]I had never stood up to John before, but this time I screamed out all the things I thought about him until he ran to grab me.
[04:10.31]I fought him off.
[04:13.60]Rat, rat, he shouted and yelled for help.
[04:21.19]My aunt and the maids rushed in.
[04:25.36]Poor Master John, cried the servants.
[04:33.06]Take her to the red room, ordered Aunt Reed, lock her in.