Thinking over a proposal of marriage that she knows is about duty, not love, on both sides, Jane Eyre prays for guidance. The man who has made it, St John Rivers, thinks God’s answer is clear enough already, but in the stillness of late evening, Jane is suddenly gripped by some wordless conviction of her own.

St John is startled by Jane’s behaviour: evidently, she had heard or seen something. Jane herself knows that what she has heard is the disembodied, anguished voice of the only man she has ever loved, Edward Rochester, but a frantic search of the house and lands around yields nothing.

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