[00:00.29] Chapter 31.
[00:01.41] Rosamund.
[00:03.79] I found myself with a small pleasant cottage and a school full of country girls.
[00:09.64] Some were rough, some were gentle.
[00:12.73] Most had received no education at all, but all of them were teachable.
[00:18.31] I had a home and work and should have been happy, but I could not help comparing my village school and my new companions with Thornfield, Adele, and Mr. Rochester.
[00:29.59] I could have been living in France as his mistress, wealthy, comfortable, and above all, living my life with a man I loved so much.
[00:39.17] When I thought about it, though, I knew I would have felt guilty, ashamed, and dishonest all the time.
[00:48.97] I had more freedom as a village school mistress.
[00:55.54] Sinjin called on the evening of my first day, as I was standing at the door of my cottage.
[01:03.26] He said he had no time to come in, but he talked more freely than ever before.
[01:10.79] And what he said surprised me.
[01:16.74] My life here as a village priest has been wretched, he said.
[01:21.94] It is not my calling.
[01:24.89] I know God wills me to be a missionary, and it is the thing I hope for with all my heart.
[01:34.03] I have vowed to leave and go to the east.
[01:41.51] His intensity troubled me.
[01:44.65] I was relieved when a bright, sweet voice interrupted us.
[01:52.07] I looked up to see a young woman, very beautiful, who introduced herself as Rosamund Oliver.
[02:01.29] This was the wealthy lady who had helped Sinjin to open the school.
[02:07.15] She was friendly and pleasant, and I liked her.
[02:12.21] But Mr. Rivers, who had known her for some time, remained cold and dignified towards her.
[02:22.64] She bent to make a fuss of his dog, old Carlo, and as she did so, a look of love and hope crossed Sinjin's face.
[02:34.44] By the time she straightened up, he was as reserved as ever.
[02:41.79] I hope you will come and visit my father, she said to him.
[02:47.27] You rarely come to our home now.
[02:50.69] He is alone this evening and not very well.
[02:56.33] Will you return with me?
[02:59.95] It cannot be a good time of day to intrude on Mr. Oliver, he replied stiffly.
[03:08.40] It is the very best time, she insisted, and you must be lonely too, and missing the company of your sisters.
[03:17.50] Do come and see Papa.
[03:21.03] She could not persuade him.
[03:23.86] He became so pale that she asked if he was well.
[03:29.78] She went away at last, turning twice more to look back at him.
[03:37.26] So that was the way of things.
[03:41.68] She clearly loved him, and he found her fascinating.
[03:49.61] But there was no room in his heart for anything but his calling as a missionary.