“I am,” he answered. “I thank God that I have none of that insane desire for probing and dissecting nature to discover things which we are not fit yet to understand, if, even, they do exist. It’s a sort of spiritual vivisection, Pauline, and it can bring nothing but disquiet and unhappiness. Grant for a moment that Naudheim, and that even this bounder Saton, are honest, what possible good can it do you or me to hang upon their lips, to become their disciples?”
“Oh, I don’t know!” she answered. “Yet it’s hideously fascinating, Henry—hideously! And the man himself—Bertrand Saton. I can’t tell what there is about him. I only know——”
She broke off in the middle of her sentence. Rochester caught her by the wrist.
“Pauline,” he said, “for God’s sake, don’t tell me that that fellow has dared to make love to you.”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “Sometimes I hate the very sight of him. Sometimes I feel almost as you do. And at others, well, I can’t explain it. It isn’t any use trying.”
“Pauline,” he said, “you see for yourself the state to which you have been reduced this afternoon. Tell me, is there happiness in being associated with any science or any form of knowledge the study of which upsets you so completely? There are better things in life. Forget this wretched little man, and his melodramatic talk.”
“If only I could!” she murmured.
They sat side by side in silence. Strong man though he was, Rochester was struggling fiercely with the wave of passionate anger which had swept in upon him. For years he had treated this woman as his dearest friend. The love which was a part of his life lay deep down in his heart, a thing with the seal of silence set upon it, zealously treasured, in its very voicelessness a splendid oblation to the man’s chivalry. And now this unmentionable creature, this Frankenstein of his own creation, the boy whom he had pitchforked into life, had dared to be guilty of this unspeakable sacrilege. It was hard, indeed, for Rochester to maintain his self-control.
“Pauline,” he said, “I cannot stand by and see your life wrecked. You are too sane, too reasonable a woman to become the prey of such a pitiful adventurer. Won’t you listen to me for a moment?”