[00:00.21] Chapter 27, Decision.
[00:02.40] I stayed there all day.
[00:04.97] When at last I raised my head, it was nearly sunset.
[00:09.41] I stood up, knowing that I had to leave Thornfield and Edward Rochester.
[00:17.20] Standing made me dizzy.
[00:21.52] I had eaten nothing since the previous night.
[00:26.07] I stumbled unsteadily out of my room, and fell into the arms of Mr. Rochester.
[00:34.39] Aren't you angry, Jane?"
[00:37.94] he asked gently as he held me.
[00:41.92] I have waited here all day and you haven't made a sound.
[00:47.41] I never meant to make you suffer.
[00:51.59] Can you forgive me?
[00:57.62] Of course, I forgave him.
[01:00.98] I knew he meant every word.
[01:06.09] He took me downstairs and brought me something to eat and drink, and I began to revive.
[01:14.59] He would have kissed me, but I turned my face away.
[01:24.51] Everything is changed now, sir, I said.
[01:29.05] You have a wife.
[01:31.41] I must leave.
[01:34.69] I was wrong to keep you here at all, he said.
[01:39.81] Thornfield is tainted by that fearful hag.
[01:44.92] Do you no longer love me?
[01:48.84] I love you more than ever, I said, and could not restrain my tears.
[01:57.60] That's why I have to leave.
[02:01.24] I can't stay with you knowing you are married to someone else.
[02:07.90] I don't regard that as a marriage.
[02:12.38] You shall be my wife, Jane.
[02:17.58] Come with me to my villa in France.
[02:21.61] You will be known as Mrs. Rochester, and I promise to be faithful to you as a husband.
[02:28.46] I will regard you as my wife.
[02:34.28] But it would be a lie, for I would only be your mistress.
[02:39.72] I cannot live that way.
[02:42.63] Jane, have pity, he implored.
[02:48.67] With pale face and blazing eyes, he took my hand.
[02:52.95] Listen to me, and you will understand everything.
[03:00.59] He talked for a long time, telling me how the Mason family had tricked him into marriage, and about the appalling life he had led with Bertha.
[03:14.66] Her rages and unspeakable behavior had almost driven him to take his own life, but he had resolved at last to keep her at Thornfield.
[03:28.16] Years of travel and love affairs had followed, but nothing had made him happy.
[03:37.43] Then I came home and found you, the tiny elf at the style offering to help me.
[03:48.06] You are the only true love I have ever known, my good angel, the center of my life.
[03:56.59] Won't you stay with me as if you were my wife?
[04:01.64] No, sir, because I am not your wife.
[04:07.89] Do you mean it?
[04:11.91] I do, I said.
[04:15.59] He took me in his arms and kissed me.
[04:20.66] Do you mean it now?
[04:24.70] I do.
[04:26.33] I pushed him away.
[04:32.67] What will I become without you?
[04:37.22] This is cruel, Jane.
[04:39.91] It is wicked.
[04:44.01] Trust God and yourself.
[04:46.82] You will survive this, I said.
[04:51.51] But he was in tears as I walked to the door.
[04:56.86] How can you be so frail and so strong?
[05:01.31] Think of me, Jane.
[05:06.04] I tried to walk out, but with a cry he flung himself on the sofa and I could not bear his passionate sobbing.
[05:18.00] I went back, kissed him once more and smoothed his hair.
[05:24.53] God bless you, I said, and reward you for your kindness to me.
[05:36.20] Your love would be the best reward of all, he said, and reached out towards me, but I hurried away.
[05:47.60] In the morning, before anyone else was up, I left Thornfield.
[05:54.08] I carried only what was my own.
[05:57.81] The jewels and clothes he had bought for me, I left behind.
[06:06.57] I took the first coach that came, and paid the driver all the money I had to take me as far away from Thornfield as possible.
[06:20.56] I knew the pain I would give Mr. Rochester by leaving him.
[06:26.49] That was the worst sorrow of all, and I hated myself for it.