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Jane Eyre: Rochester

If Mr. Rochester had been a handsome, heroic-looking young gentleman, Jane could never have felt at ease with him. But he was a somber, moody man, with broad and jetty eyebrows, decisive nose, and grim, square mouth and jaw; and in his presence the plain little governess felt somehow happy. Yet his character was beyond her penetration; she felt a vague sense of insecurity. He confided to her that Adela Varens was not his child, but the daughter of a Parisian dancer who had deceived him and deserted the little girl. So much he told her; but of the strange shadows that passed over his happiest moments, of his apparent affection for Jane Eyre along with his withholding from her some secret grief, she could make nothing.

Then there came most mysterious happenings to Thornfield. One night Jane Eyre found the door of Mr. Rochester's room open, and his bed on fire. She managed with great difficulty to quench the flames and rouse him from the stupor into which the smoke had plunged him. He advised her to remain silent as to the affair.