Ext. A midsummer dawn. Thornfield the grounds

EXT. DAY. FERNDEAN - THE GROUNDS.

Jane is walking through forest, along a grass grown track.

Her pace is fast; her journey almost at an end. She comes

to a pair of rusting iron gates hanging open between

granite pillars. She walks through them.

She finds herself in front of a decrepit Elizabethan manor

house; no garden, just a sweeping semi circle of meadow

grass, which someone has cut at with a scythe. Jane stops.

Standing on the threshold is Edward Fairfax Rochester. He

is in his shirtsleeves. He stands strong, stalwart,

brooding. His hair is still raven black. He is looking

sightlessly around his domain, with the concentration of a

hawk. His strength is undiminished.

He walks fifteen paces from the house. It brings him into

the middle of the semicircle of grass. He is close enough

for Jane to see his scarred eyes. She walks towards him,

silent.

A few drops of rain begin to fall. Rochester puts out his

right hand to feel them. He raises his face up to the sky

as if he is looking for something from there. He is

absolutely still; his expression, serene.

Jane is very close. She steps on a twig. It breaks with a

loud crack, shattering the silence. Rochester is

immediately on guard, his expression turning wary.

Jane Eyre adapted by Moira Buffini March 2008 118.

He suddenly swipes the air with his left arm; the ruin of

it passing an inch from her face. Jane steps back.

Rochester swipes again. She holds her breath.

He seems satisfied at last that nothing is there. He turns

and walks fifteen paces back to the house. He disappears

into the dark interior.

Jane starts to breathe again.