fe opened for me.

"Mary," I said, "how are you?"

She started as if she had seen a ghost. I calmed her, and followed her
into the kitchen, where I explained in a few words that I should stay
for the night, and that John must fetch my trunk from the turnpike
house. At this moment the parlour bell rang.

Mary proceeded to fill a glass with water and place it on a tray,
together with candles.

"Give the tray to me; I will carry it in."

The old dog Pilot pricked up his ears as I entered the room; then he
jumped up with a yelp, and bounded towards me, almost knocking the tray
from my hands.

"What is the matter?" inquired Mr. Rochester.

He put out his hand with a quick gesture. "Who is this?" he demanded
imperiously.

"Will you have a little more water, sir? I spilt half of what was in the
glass," I said.

"What is it? Who speaks?"

"Pilot knows me, and John and Mary know I am here," I answered.

He groped, and, arresting his wandering hand, I prisoned it in both
mine.

"Her very fingers! Her small, slight fingers! Is it Jane--Jane Eyre?" he
cried.

"My dear master, I am Jane Eyre. I have found you out; I am come back to
you!"

* * * * *

Shirley

"Shirley," Charlotte Bronte's second novel, was published two
years after "Jane Eyre"--on October 26, 1849. The writing of
it was a tragedy. When the book was begun, her brother,
Branwell, and her two sisters, Emily and Anne Bronte, were
alive. When it was finished all were dead, and Charlotte was
left alone with her aged father. In the character of Shirley
Keeldar the novelist tried to depict her sister Emily as she
would have been had she been placed in health and prosperity.
Nearly all the characters were drawn from life, and drawn so
vividly that they were recognised locally. Caroline Helstone
was sketched from Ellen Nussey, Charlotte Bronte's dearest
friend, who furnished later much of the material for the best
biographies of the novelist. "Shirley" fully sustained at the
time of its publication, the reputation won through "Jane
Eyre"; but under the test of time the story--owing, no doubt,
to the conditions under which it was written--has not taken
rank with that first-fruit of genius, "Jane Eyre," or that
consummation of genius, "Villette."

_I.--In the Dark Days of the War_

Released from the business yoke, Robert M