"Gaskell, Elizabeth C - The Life Of Charlotte Bronte - vol 2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gaskell Elizabeth C)

wrong--in making their heroines beautiful as a matter of course.
They replied that it was impossible to make a heroine interesting
on any other terms. Her answer was, 'I will prove to you that you
are wrong; I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as
myself, who shall be as interesting as any of yours.' Hence 'Jane
Eyre,' said she in telling the anecdote: 'but she is not myself,
any further than that.' As the work went on, the interest
deepened to the writer. When she came to 'Thornfield' she could
not stop. Being short-sighted to excess, she wrote in little
square paper-books, held close to her eyes, and (the first copy)
in pencil. On she went, writing incessantly for three weeks; by
which time she had carried her heroine away from Thornfield, and
was herself in a fever which compelled her to pause."

This is all, I believe, which can now be told respecting the
conception and composition of this wonderful book, which was,
however, only at its commencement when Miss Bronte returned with
her father to Haworth, after their anxious expedition to
Manchester.

They arrived at home about the end of September. Mr. Bronte was
daily gaining strength, but he was still forbidden to exercise
his sight much. Things had gone on more comfortably while she was
away than Charlotte had dared to hope, and she expresses herself
thankful for the good ensured and the evil spared during her
absence.

Soon after this some proposal, of which I have not been able to
gain a clear account, was again mooted for Miss Bronte's opening
a school at some place distant from Haworth. It elicited the
following fragment of a characteristic reply:--

"Leave home!--I shall neither be able to find place nor
employment, perhaps, too, I shall be quite past the prime of
life, my faculties will be rusted, and my few acquirements in a
great measure forgotten. These ideas sting me keenly sometimes;
but, whenever I consult my conscience, it affirms that I am doing
right in staying at home, and bitter are its upbraidings when I
yield to an eager desire for release. I could hardly expect
success if I were to err against such warnings. I should like to
hear from you again soon. Bring ---- to the point, and make him
give you a clear, not a vague, account of what pupils he really
could promise; people often think they can do great things in
that way till they have tried; but getting pupils is unlike
getting any other sort of goods."

Whatever might be the nature and extent of this negotiation, the
end of it was that Charlotte adhered to the decision of her
conscience, which bade her remain at home, as long as her
presence could cheer or comfort those who were in distress, or