and with few pauses, the opening chapter of "Jane Eyre."
At last, after her return to Haworth, came a piece of good fortune. Messrs. Smith & Elder, to whom she had sent "The Professor" (omitting, in her innocence, even to obliterate upon the parcel the names of the publishing houses to whom it had previously been addressed), sent her a letter in which, to be sure, the unlucky tale was once more rejected, but in which, as she afterwards declared, its merits and demerits were discussed "so courteously, so considerately, in a spirit so rational, with a discrimination so enlightened, that this very refusal cheered the author better than a vulgarly-worded acceptance would have done." In addition, they stated that a work in three volumes from her pen would receive careful attention. She sent them "Jane Eyre."
This famous novel, begun in such gloomy circumstances, was written amid difficulties of every kind. For long periods, sometimes for weeks, even months at a time, Charlotte would find herself unable to write; then, suddenly, the inspiration would seize her and she would write for as long a time as her duties permitted, holding her paper close to her eyes upon a bit of board. She wrote in a cramped, minute hand, in pencil, upon loose scraps of paper, sometimes sitting before the fire at twilight, often in her own room at night, when her restless imagination forbade her to sleep. In the day-time household affairs frequently interrupted her at the most critical moment. Tabby, the servant, who had been in the family for many years, was so old that she could not see to remove the "eyes" from the potatoes which she peeled for dinner; yet Charlotte was unwilling to hurt her feelings by asking the younger servant maid to look them over. Often, therefore, while under the full force of inspiration, she would lay aside her manuscript and glid-
