[00:00.44] Chapter 14, the Fireside.
[00:04.92] Adele and I hardly saw Mr. Rochester for days after that.
[00:10.54] Occasionally, he would give me a brief nod of the head if he passed me in the hall.
[00:17.44] One evening, he sent for us to join him in the drawing room.
[00:21.87] When he was last in France, he had bought presents for Adele, and they had just arrived.
[00:29.49] As soon as we entered the drawing room, Adele ran straight to the box on the table.
[00:38.43] Take your box, Adele, and disbowel it, said Mr. Rochester from his chair by the fire.
[00:45.52] And do it quietly.
[00:48.75] Miss Air, I cannot bear a whole evening in the company of a child.
[00:54.76] Sit down.
[00:57.35] I mean, please be seated.
[01:01.96] Oh, I can't be expected to speak like a dainty old lady, which reminds me.
[01:10.82] He rang the bell for Mrs. Fairfax, so that Adele had someone to show off her new treasures to.
[01:19.56] In the brightly lit room, I was studying his face when he looked up and met my eyes.
[01:28.38] You were watching me carefully.
[01:31.54] Do you think me handsome?
[01:35.32] No, sir, I said without thinking.
[01:42.34] You look like a little nun, but you speak plainly, he said.
[01:47.98] What do you mean by it?
[01:51.82] I'm sorry, I said, I should not have said that.
[01:57.76] But you have said it, he insisted.
[02:01.86] You must explain yourself.
[02:05.91] Do I look like a fool?
[02:09.92] No, sir, I said, wondering if he had taken too much to drink.
[02:18.16] I need conversation tonight, he said.
[02:22.43] I would like to learn more about you.
[02:27.76] Speak.
[02:32.83] I said nothing.
[02:36.44] I was not going to talk for the sake of showing off and amusing him, even though I was his paid servant.
[02:48.01] I mean, he corrected himself, please be so kind as to talk to me.
[02:56.26] As a paid servant, I asked.
[03:00.77] Miss Air, you have great courage, he exclaimed.
[03:08.16] How many young governesses would have said that?
[03:14.19] When I was your age, I was as good and innocent as you are.
[03:20.46] I have made mistakes since, I wish I had not.
[03:28.52] You could change, sir, I said.
[03:33.18] But he seemed to think it would not be easy.
[03:37.51] He talked, and I answered as well as I could, though often I felt out of my depth.
[03:47.24] I was glad when the clock struck nine, and I could go and put Adele to bed, but she and Sophie had left the room.
[03:59.24] Adele, he said, has gone to change into the new pink frock she found in her box.
[04:09.39] She will come back in soon, looking like a miniature version of her mother.
[04:16.15] Adele arrived, dancing with delight in her frothy pink dress.
[04:22.85] I look like my mother, don't I, Mr. Rochester?
[04:28.32] Precisely, he said, and turned to me.
[04:34.92] I will tell you about her mother one day.
[04:38.94] Good night.