stretched out—he is blind—his hair streaming in the breeze.—The picture as before in the vision._

_Roch._ Jane! Jane! ah, if you but knew that sky and mountain, field and flower, are shut out from me for ever, you would not desert the proud, strong man in the day of his affliction. In the wickedness of my heart I spurned all control, and would have done thee wrong, angel of brightness and purity; but I am punished, sorely punished. In vain for me the day dawns and breaks, the sun rises and the seasons change. All is to me a blank; my existence shrouded in unending night. Twelve months—twelve long, leaden, fearful months have passed since that bright earthly vision fled from me—even as the pure and good will ever flee from the assassin of the soul; yet how often has the cruel delusion seized me that she was in my very presence, though unseen; just as I feel this fire’s genial glow, but cannot see the flames which causes it.

_Enter_ JANE, L. H., _with tray, tumbler of water on it_.

Even now my mocking sense would almost persuade me that I heard her breathe; out upon this heart-consuming deception—it almost drives me to despair. (_Sits._)

_Jane._ Ah, what a sight—what a sight! (_Very quietly._)

_Roch._ There is some one near me. Grace, have you brought the water. (_Jane hands it to him—he drinks._) Thanks. No news, I suppose; silent—ah, I knew it! I knew it. Thus for ever must I stretch the chord of expectation and of life until they snap together. Hush! did you not hear something—a small quiet murmuring sound like hers, so like Jane’s. I heard it but a short time since; it said, “_Rochester, I come! I come!_” as distinctly as ever sound reached my ear. Ah! malicious spirits that sport with human hearts, this is the cruelest pastime. I hear nothing. Oh! for one week’s eyesight. I would find her or a grave. (_Jane sighs._) Who is that? that wasn’t you, Grace? Is there anyone with you? answer me. Is that you, Grace?

_Jane._ Grace is in the kitchen, sir.

_Roch._ (_Starts up in violent agitation._) I know that voice, if the cheating demon is not practising on my sense once more. Who is this? What is it? Speak again, whoever you are.

_Jane._ Will you have a little more water, sir?

_Roch._ Again—great Heaven! this is distraction. Why don’t you tell me whether you are a living thing or another of those tantalizing fiends that worry me to the verge of madness? Who or what are you?

_Jane._ I come to wait on you.

_Roch._ Delusion, nothing but delusion! What sweet madness has seised me?

_Jane._ No delusion, sir, no madness; your mind is too strong for delusion, your health too sound for frenzy.

_Roch._ And where is this speaker? Is it only a voice? Oh! I cannot see, but I must touch you, or my heart will stop and my brain burst. (_Jane approaches him—He takes her hand._) Her very fingers—her small slight fingers; if so, there must be more. (_Touches, and finally clasps her in his arms._) Is it Jane? What is it? it has her shape and feature.

_Jane._ Yes, Rochester, and her voice and heart. Jane is here—here with you.

_Roch._ In truth and in flesh! my living Jane!

_Jane._ You hold me in your arms. I am not vacant like the air.

_Roch._ But if I let you go, will you not fade away, vanish as all the rest have done?

_Jame._ Never! never! from this day.

_Roch._ Never, says the vision; but don’t you know, unearthly thing, that bright as are these delicious moments, they must have an end. I know that in a moment this hand, which I foolishly deem real, will elude my grasp, and that voice which sounded to my enraptured sense like heavenly music, will die away upon the echoes and be heard no more. Gentle, soft dream, you will fly me like those who came before, many, oh, many a time.

_Jane._ Is it a dream to grasp your kind hand with the warm truthfulness of love; to tell you that I am here—I, Jane, your own Jane; to avow that love and glory in that avowal; to say that my life, hitherto dark and hopeless, is once more bathed in the brilliancy of an enduring joy; that my heart, which famished for your presence, is sated from the very fulness of its banquet?

_Roch._ It _is_ you, Jane—my living, breathing, loving, constant. Jane. Come near me, and let me fancy that I see you with these rayless orbs. I cannot! I cannot! but I feel your presence like a shower of sunlight on my heart; and you’ve come back to me again, and will you stay with me?

_Jane._ Unless you object! I will be your neighbour, your nurse, your housekeeper, your companion; to read to you, to walk with you, to sit with you, to be eyes and hands to you—that is, if you wish it, not otherwise. (_Disengaging herself a little._)

_Roch._ No, no, Jane. You must not go. I have touched you, heard you, felt the comfort of your presence, the sweetness of your consolation, and I cannot give up those joys; my very soul demands you, Jane. There are other thoughts within my brain which I dare not utter. What right has such a ruin as I to bid a budding woodbine cover its decay with freshness?

_Jane._ You are not a ruin, sir. Friends, troops of friends will cluster around you.

_Roch._ Friend! I want a nearer tie, Jane, my Jane; do you not comprehend me? You do, and I may speak the wish of my soul. Jane, will you be my wife?

_Jane._ I will.

_Roch._ What! wife to the poor blind man, whom you will have to lead by the hand?

_Jane._ Yes!

_Roch._ Truly, Jane?

_Jane._ Most truly, sir!

_Roch._ Oh, my darling! Heaven will bless and reward you for the sacrifice.

_Jane._ Sacrifice? If ever I did a good deed in my life, if ever I thought a good thought, if ever I prayed a sincere and blameless prayer, if ever I wished a sacred wish, I am rewarded now. To be your wife is to be as happy as I can be on earth.

(_Shout outside._)

_Roch._ What is that? John?

_Enter_ JOHN.

_Roch._ What means that shout?

_John._ Have you forgotten, sir, that this is your birthday?

_Roch._ Truly, I had, John. But now I accept the omen as a good one, for my life is again renewed through the heaven-gift of thy pure and true love, my earth-angel.

_John._ Your tenants, who love and respect you, sir, have brought their poor but honest gifts; it would make them and all of us so happy, sir, if you would accept them.

_Roch._ Let them approach. My wife, John, that is to be shortly, will accept them for me.

_John._ Hurrah! there will be another shout for that. Come, friends!

_Roch._ I cannot see their merriment, my love; but what will the sum of all their joy be, compared with mine?

_Enter_ PEASANTS.—_Jane and Rochester advance._

_John._ Don’t spare your lungs. A cheer for our kind master and his intended bride.

(_Hurrah all. Present bouquets to Jane._)

_Roch._ My good fellows—I—speak to them for me, Jane, the fulness of my joy chokes my very utterance.

_Jane._ I am myself too happy for many words. My friends, he whose ambition is to be the kind landlord, and the good adviser, cannot, alas! behold your kindly glances, but he thanks you for your generous sympathy, as I do from my heart.

(_Jane leads Rochester to seat, a device is fixed by the Peasants, having printed thereon in flowers, “The Farmer’s Friend.” Garlands depend from the centre, which are held up by Peasants, forming a canopy for Jane and Rochester—Music._)

_Curtain._

NOW READY, PRICE ONE SHILLING, PER POST 3d. EXTRA.

ENTRANCES AND EXITS.

BY MRS. E. WINSTANLEY.

A Pathetic Story of Theatrical Life, with Graphic Descriptions of the Trials and Vicissitudes of a Struggling Actor.

BEING No. 8 OF DICKS’ ENGLISH NOVELS.

JOHN DICKS, 313, Strand.

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MUSICAL TREASURES.—Full Music size, price Fourpence. Now Publishing Weekly. A Complete Repertory of the best English and Foreign Music, ancient and modern, vocal and instrumental, solo and concerted, with critical and biographical annotations, for the pianoforte.

1 My Normandy (Ballad) 2 Auld Robin Gray (Scotch Ballad) 3 La Sympathie Valse 4 The Pilgrim of Love (Romance) 5 Di Pescatore (Song) 6 To Far-off Mountain (Duet) 7 The Anchor’s Weigh’d (Ballad) 8 A Woman’s Heart (Ballad) 9 Oh, Mountain Home! (Duet) 10 Above, how Brightly Beams the Morning 11 The Marriage of the Roses (Valse) 12 Norma (Duet) 13 Lo! Heavenly Beauty (Cavatina) 14 In Childhood my Toys (Song) 15 While Beauty Clothes the Fertile Vale 16 The Harp that once through Tara’s Halls 17 The Manly Heart (Duet) 18 Beethoven’s “Andante and Variations” 19 In that Long-lost Home we Love (Song) 20 Where the Bee sucks (Song) 21 Ah, Fair Dream (“Marta”) 22 La Petit Fleur 23 Angels ever Bright and Fair 24 Naught e’er should Sever (Duet) 25 ’Tis but a little Faded Flow’r (Ballad) 26 My Mother bids me Bind my Hair (Canzonet) 27 Coming thro’ the Rye (Songs) 28 Beautiful Isle of the Sea (Ballad) 29 Tell me, my Heart (Song) 30 I know a Bank (Duet) 31 The Minstrel Boy (Irish Melody) 32 Hommage au Gente 33 See what Pretty Brooms I’ve Bought 34 Tom Bowling (Song) 35 Tell me, Mary, how to Woo Thee (Ballad) 36 When the Swallows Homeward Fly (Song) 37 Rock’d in the Cradle of the Deep (Song) 38 Beethoven’s Waltzes First Series 39 As it Fell upon a Day (Duet) 40 A Life on the Ocean Wave (Song) 41 Why are you Wandering here I pray? (Ballad) 42 A Maiden’s Prayer 43 Valse Brillante 44 Home, Sweet Home! (Song) 45 Oft in the Stilly Night (Song) 48 All’s Well (Duet) 47 The “Crown Diamonds” Fantasia 48 Hear me, dear One (Serenade) 49 Youth and Love at the Helm (Barcarolle) 50 Adelaide Beethoven (Song) 51 The Death of Nelson (Song) 52 Hark, hark, the Lark 53 The Last Rose of Summer (Irish Melody) 54 The Thorn (Song) 55 The Lads of the Village (Song) 56 There be none of Beauty’s Daughter (Song) 57 The Wanderer (Song) 58 I have Plucked the Fairest Flower 59 Bid Me Discourse (Song) 60 Fisher Maiden (Song) 61 Fair Agnes (Barcarolle) 62 How Calm and Bright (Song) 63 Woman’s Inconstancy (Song) 64 Echo Duet 65 The Meeting of the Waters (Irish melody) 66 Lo, Here the Gentle Lark 67 Beethoven’s Waltzes (Second Series) 68 Child of Earth with the Golden Hair (Song) 69 Should he Upbraid (Song)

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187. The Turnpike Gate 188. The Lady of Lyons 293. Oliver Twist 302. Woman’s Wit 306. Wild Oats 307. Rookwood 308. The Gambler’s Fate 309. Herne the Hunter 310. “Yes” and “No” 311. The Sea-Captain 312. Eugene Aram 313. The Wrecker’s Daughter 314. Alfred the Great 315. The Wandering Minstrel and Intrigue 316. My Neighbour’s Wife and The Married Bachelor 317. Richelieu 318. Money 319. Ion 320. The Bridal 321. Paul Pry 322. The Love Chase 323. Glencoe 324. The Spitalsfields Weaver and Stage Struck 325. Robert Macaire 326. The Country Squire 327. The Athenian Captive 328. Barney the Baron and the Happy Man 329. Der Frieschutz 330. Hush Money 331. East Lynne 332. The Robbers 333. The Bottle 334. Kenilworth 335. The Mountaineers 336. Simpson and Co. 337. A Roland for an Oliver 338. The Turned Head and The Siamese Twins 339. The Maid of Croissey 340. Rip Van Winkle 341. The Court Fool 342. Uncle Tom’s Cabin 343. Deaf as a Post and A Soldier’s Courtship 344. The Bride of Lammermoor 345. Gwynneth Vaughan 346. Esmeralda 347. Joan of Arc 348. Town and Country 349. The Middy Ashore and Matteo Falcone 350. Duchess of Malfi 351. Naval Engagements 352. Victorine, the Maid of Paris 353. The Spectre Bridegroom 354. Alice Grey 355. Fish Out of Water and Family Jars 356. Rory O’More 357. Zarah 358. Love in Humble Life and Fifteen Years of Labour Lost 359. A Dream of the Future 360. Mrs. White and Cherry Bounce 361. The Elder Brother 362. The Robber’s Wife 363. The Sleeping Draught and The Smoked Miser 364. Love 365. The Fatal Dowry 366. The Bengal Tiger and Kill or Cure 367. Paul Clifford 368. The Dumb Man of Manchester 369. The Sergeant’s Wife 370. Jonathan Bradford 371. Gilderoy 372. Diamond cut Diamond and Philippe 373. A Legend of Florence 374. David Copperfield 375. Dombey and Son 376. Wardock Kennilson 377. Night and Morning 378. Lucretia Borgia 379. Ernest Maltravera 380. The Dancing Barber and Turning the Tables 381. The Poor of New York 382. St. Mary’s Eve 383. Secrets worth Knowing 384. The Carpenter of Rouen 385. Ivanhoe 386. The Ladies’ Club 387. Hercules, King of Clubs, and Bears not Beasts 388. Bleak House; or, “Poor Jo” 389. The Colleen Bawn 390. The Shaughraun 391. The Octoroon 392. Sixteen String Jack 393. Barnaby Rudge

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