Ext. A midsummer dawn. Thornfield the grounds

JANE

I'm not afraid.

ROCHESTER

Yes you are.

JANE

I've simply no wish to talk

nonsense.

ROCHESTER

If you did it would be in such a

grave, quiet manner that I would

mistake it for sense. Do you

never laugh, Miss Eyre?

This question cuts Jane to the quick.

ROCHESTER (CONT'D)

Only rarely, perhaps. But you're

not naturally austere, any more

than I'm naturally vicious. I can

see in you the glance of a curious

sort of bird through the close set

bars of a cage: a vivid, restless,

resolute captive. Were it but free,

it would soar. Cloud high.

Jane opens her mouth to speak - but she cannot.

Jane Eyre adapted by Moira Buffini March 2008 50.