Chapter 32

Summary

Jane and her pupils soon warm up to each other, and Jane soon finds some very intelligent, academically inclined young ladies. She makes good friends with several of them, and visits their families. She becomes a popular figure in the village due to her consideration and kindness. Jane is happy, but at night, she has torturous dreams of Mr. Rochester. Rosamond visits the school often during the day, often when St. John is there, teaching the girls the catechism. She visibly affects him, no matter how hard he tries not to show it. After hanging out with Rosamond for a while, Jane thinks that she is very charming and sweet, if a bit frivolous. Rosamond asks Jane to paint a picture of her, and Jane has a delightful time painting such a beautiful model. While she is just adding the finishing touches on the painting, St. John stops by. He starts some small talk, then suddenly looks startled when he sees the painting. Jane decides to be as blunt as only she can be, and ask him why he does not marry Rosamond.

St. John, because he is weird, decides to imagine what might be for precisely 15 minutes. In that time, he looks happy and mumbles about being married to Rosamond. When the time is up, however, he puts all thoughts of her out of his head. He says that he cannot give up his dream of being a missionary, and he know that Rosamond would make a terrible missionary’s wife, so he must try to stop loving her. He is also surprised at Jane’s boldness, because his iciness is usually so off-putting that most people do not confront him as Jane does.  As he is about to leave, he suddenly seems to notice something on a piece of scrap paper on Jane’s desk. He tears off a piece from the paper, and leaves. Jane is rightfully astonished, but she can’t find anything special about what is left of the paper.

Reaction

Well! St. John is unintentionally hilarious. His reactions to Rosamond’s presence are kind of over-the-top, because he actually trembles. The poor children he is talking to must think he’s insane. Also, he actually takes out a watch to measure out the 15 minutes of daydreaming time. And then he doesn’t explain why he dramatically stole a tiny piece of paper from Jane. I really don’t know what to make of that man.