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nature to doubt the reality and under…value the worth of modesty; 

affection; disinterestedness—to regard these qualities as foibles of 

character—so         it  was   equally    her   tendency      to  consider     pride; 

hardness; selfishness; as proofs of strength。 She would trample on 

the   neck   of   humility;   she   would   kneel   at   the   feet   of   disdain;   she 

would     meet    tenderness      with   secret    contempt;     indifference     she 

would   woo   with   ceaseless   assiduities。   Benevolence;   devotedness; 

enthusiasm;        were    her   antipathies;     for   dissimulation      and    self… 



Charlotte Bronte                                                      ElecBook Classics 


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                                   The Professor                                    154 



interest she had a preference—they were real wisdom in her eyes; 

moral and physical degradation; mental and bodily inferiority; she 

regarded with indulgence; they were foils capable of being turned 

to good account as set…offs for her own endowments。 To violence; 

injustice;     tyranny;      she    succumbed—they            were     her    natural 

masters; she had no propensity to hate; no impulse to resist them; 

the indignation their behests awake in some hearts was unknown 

in   hers。   From   all   this   it   resulted   that   the   false   and   selfish   called 

her    wise;   the   vulgar    and    debased      termed     her   charitable;     the 

insolent   and   unjust   dubbed   her   amiable;   the   conscientious   and 

benevolent   generally   at   first   accepted   as       valid   her   claim    to  be 

considered        one    of  themselves;       but   ere    long    the   plating    of 

pretension   wore   off;   the   real   material   appeared   below;   and   they 

laid her aside as a deception。 



Charlotte Bronte                                                      ElecBook Classics 


… Page 155…

                                  The Professor                                   155 



                                Chapter XVI 



      n   the   course    of  another    fortnight    I  had   seen   sufficient   of 

      Frances   Evans   Henri;   to   enable   me   to   form   a   more   definite 

I 

      opinion of her character。 I found her possessed in a somewhat 

remarkable degree of at least two good points;   viz。;  perseverance 

and a sense of duty; I found she was really capable of applying to 

study;   of   contending   with   difficulties。   At   first   I  offered   her   the 

same help which I had always found it necessary to confer on the 

others;   I   began   with   unloosing   for   her   each   knotty   point;   but   I 

soon discovered that such help was regarded by my new pupil as 

degrading;   she   recoiled   from   it   with   a   certain   proud   impatience。 

Hereupon I appointed her long lessons; and left her to solve alone 

any    perplexities     they   might    present。    She   set   to  the  task   with 

serious     ardour;    and    having    quickly    accomplished       one    labour; 

eagerly demanded more。 So much for her perseverance; as to her 

sense of duty; it evinced itself thus: she liked to learn; but hated to 

teach;   her  progress   as a   pupil  depended   upon   herself; and   I saw 

that on herself she could calculate with certainty; her success as a 

teacher   rested   partly;   perhaps   chiefly;   upon   the   will   of   others;   it 

cost her a most painful effort to enter into conflict with this foreign 

will; to endeavour to bend it into subjection to her own; for in what 

regarded people in general the action of her will was impeded by 

many scruples; it was as unembarrassed as strong where her own 

affairs were concerned; and to it she could at any time subject her 

inclination;   if   that   inclination   went   counter   to   her   convictions   of 

right;   yet  when   called   upon   to   wrestle   with   the   propensities;   the 

habits; the faults of others; of children especially; who are deaf to 



Charlotte Bronte                                                     ElecBook Classics 


… Page 156…

                                     The Professor                                      156 



reason;   and;   for   the   most   part;   insensate   to   persuasion;   her   will 

sometimes almost refused to act; then came in the sense of  duty; 

and forced the reluctant will into operation。 A wasteful expense of 

energy and labour was frequently the consequence; Frances toiled 

for   and   with   her   pupils   like   a   drudge;   but   it   was   long   ere   her 

conscientious   exertions   were   rewarded   by   anything   like   docility 

on   their   part;   because   they   saw   that   they   had   power   over   her; 

inasmuch         as   by   resisting     her    painful     attempts      to   convince; 

persuade;  control—by  forcing  her  to  the   employment   of   coercive 

measures—they could inflict upon her exquisite suffering。 Human 

beings—human children   especially—seldom deny  themselves   the 

pleasure       of  exercising      a   power     which     they    are    conscious      of 

possessing;   even   though   that   power   consist   only   in   a   capacity   to 

make   others   wretched;   a   pupil   whose   sensations   are   duller   than 

those of his instructor; while his nerves are tougher and his bodily 

strength   perhaps   greater;   has   an   immense   advantage   over   that 

instructor;   and   he   will   generally   use   it   relentlessly;   because   the 

very  young;   very  healthy;   very   thoughtless;   know   neither   how   to 

sympathize   nor   how   to   spare。   Frances;   I   fear;   suffered   much;   a 

continual weight seemed to oppress her spirits; I have said she did 

not   live   in   the   house;   and   whether   in   her   own   abode;   wherever 

that     might     be;   she    wore     the    same      preoccupied;       unsmiling; 

sorrowfully resolved air that always shaded her features under the 

roof of Mdlle Reuter; I could not tell。 

    One   day   I   gave;   as   a   devoir;   the   trite   little   anecdote   of   Alfred 

tending       cakes     in   the    herdsman’s         hut;    to   be    related     with 

amplifications。   A       singular   affair   most   of     the   pupils   made      of  it; 

brevity   was      what   they   had     chiefly   studied;     the   majority     of  the 

narratives were perfectly unintelligible; those of Sylvie and Léonie 



Charlotte Bronte                                                          ElecBook Classics 


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                                  The Professor                                   157 



Ledru   alone      pretended     to  anything     like  sense    and   connection。 

Eulalie;    indeed;    had    hit;  upon    a  clever   expedient     for   at  once 

ensuring   accuracy   and   saving   trouble;   she   had   obtained   access 

somehow  to  an abridged   history  of  England;   and   had   copied   the 

anecdote out fair。 I wrote on the margin of her production “Stupid 

and deceitful;” and then tore it down the middle。 

    Last in the pile of single…leaved devoirs; I found one of several 

sheets; neatly written out and stitched together; I knew the hand; 

and scarcely needed the evidence of the signature “Frances Evans 

Henri” to confirm my conjecture as to the writer’s identity。 

    Night   was   my   usual   time   for   correcting   devoirs;   and   my   own 

room   the   usual   scene   of   such   task—task   most   onerous   hitherto; 

and it seemed strange to me to feel rising within me an incipient 

sense of interest; as I snuffed the candle and addressed myself to 

the perusal of the poor teacher’s manuscript。 

    “Now;” thought I; “I shall see a glimpse of what she really is; I 

shall get an idea of the nature and extent of her powers; not that 

she can be expected to express herself well in a foreign tongue; but 

still; if she has any mind; here will be a reflection of it。” 

    The narrative commenced by a description of a Saxon peasant’s 

hut; situated within the confines of a great; leafless; winter forest; 

it  represented       an  evening     in  December;       flakes   of  snow     were 

falling; and   the  herdsman   foretold   a   heavy   storm;   he   summoned 

his wife to aid him in collecting  their  flock;   roaming  far away  on 

the pastoral banks of the Thone; he warns her that it will be late 

ere    they    return。    The    good    woman      is  reluctant     to  quit   her 

occupation        of   baking      cakes     for   the    evening      meal;     but 

acknowledging the primary importance of securing the herds and 

flocks;    she   puts   on   her   sheep…skin     mantle;    and;    addressing     a 



Charlotte Bronte                   

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