[00:00.12] Chapter 24, Preparations for a wedding.
[00:05.98] After the stormy night came a beautiful morning, and I felt for the first time in my life that I was worth looking at.
[00:15.26] Mr. Rochester thought so too, when instead of his usual, good morning, he took me in his arms and kissed me.
[00:23.87] Is this my pale elf?
[00:26.45] He said, this bright faced girl.
[00:30.99] I shall send for the family jewels from London for you.
[00:37.90] I am still only Jane Air, I said.
[00:42.98] I could not imagine myself adorned as a great lady.
[00:48.90] Jane Rochester in four weeks time, he said.
[00:54.14] And the thought of my new name startled me.
[00:57.87] Somehow it even made me afraid.
[01:03.88] He suggested a quiet wedding and a honeymoon in Europe.
[01:09.97] Ask me for anything, Jane, he pleaded.
[01:13.70] Please, ask.
[01:19.44] Then please do not send for the jewels, I said smiling.
[01:26.68] If that is what you want, Jane, he said.
[01:30.92] But that isn't asking for anything.
[01:36.59] Ask again.
[01:39.99] Then tell me a secret, I said.
[01:45.39] He frowned darkly for the first time that day.
[01:49.93] A dangerous request, he said.
[01:54.46] I don't promise an answer.
[01:59.74] Do I have to plead and cry and sulk, I teased him?
[02:05.57] Don't try it, he warned.
[02:09.47] What do you want to know?
[02:15.78] Why did you pretend you would marry Blanche Ingram?
[02:24.84] He relaxed and smiled again.
[02:27.98] Is that all?
[02:30.49] I did it to make you as much in love with me as I was with you.
[02:37.78] I wanted to make you jealous.
[02:41.43] That was cruel to her feelings.
[02:45.83] She has none, except pride.
[02:51.17] Come with me to town.
[02:54.13] While you fetch your bunnet, I'll tell Mrs. Fairfax the good news.
[03:03.53] It was not good news at all to Mrs. Fairfax.
[03:08.31] I went into her room later.
[03:14.45] Are you really going to marry Mr. Rochester? she asked.
[03:21.28] He is almost old enough to be your father.
[03:27.42] I hope all will be well, but I doubt it.
[03:34.94] In town, Mr. Rochester bought silk for a dozen new dresses, but I insisted that I would not wear them until we were married.
[03:47.02] Until that day, I wanted us to be master and governess.
[03:53.68] I would teach Adele, eat with her, and wear the old dresses I had brought from Lowood.
[04:04.45] Mr. Rochester grumbled at this, but I knew he liked my independence and the way I stood up to him.
[04:14.63] At 7:00 every evening he would send for me.
[04:23.67] Soon there was less darling, and more provoking puppet and elf, the teasing names he had always used, which I liked much more.
[04:38.39] He was more likely now to tweak my ear than to kiss me, and this suited me very well.
[04:45.89] Intense devotion alarmed me, but as long as I teased and provoked him, he could not regard me as an angel.
[04:58.54] Having at last learned of my uncle in Madeira, I wrote to tell him that Mrs. Reed had lied to him.
[05:09.73] He was the only relation I had, and I wanted him to know that I was alive and about to be married.
[05:20.13] Mrs. Fairfax changed her mind about our marriage when she saw how happy I made Mr. Rochester.
[05:29.26] At that time, he was all I cared about.
[05:33.82] He was my whole world.