[dramatic music playing] -[Young Jane panting] -[heavy footsteps] [Young Jane] No, no!

Not the red room!

Not the red room!

I won't be wicked!

[crying] No!

Not the red room, no!

Don't take me to the red room!

[dramatic music playing] [John] Jane Eyre?

[Young Eliza] She's not part of the family.

Miss Eyre?

You have not grown tall.

How is Mrs. Reed?

[Georgiana] Mrs. Reed?

Oh, you mean Mama.

She's extremely unwell.

I doubt you can see her tonight.

If you would just step upstairs and tell her I've come, I would be much obliged to you.

She's asked for me to come.

I would not like to keep her waiting.

Missus, is awake.

I've told her that you're here.

[raspy breathing] Who are you?

[Jane] I am Jane Eyre.

How are you, aunt?

You are not Jane Eyre.

I have had such trouble with that child.

[inhales sharply] She was mad.

A fiend.

[gasps weakly] I sent her away to Lowood where the fever broke out and many died.

But she didn't die.

I wish she had.

[raspy breathing] Why do you hate Jane Eyre so?

I hated her mother.

She was my husband's favorite sister.

When she died, he cried like a baby.

And he insisted on sending for the child, sickly, whining thing.

It wailed in its cradle all night long, and Reed doted on it, the fool.

Even in his last illness, he called for it rather than his own children.

[raspy breathing] Where's John?

He always wants money.

He's a fine boy and he loves me, but I don't know where to get the money.

Where's John?

[footsteps approaching] [crying] Where's John?

She knows well enough he's gone.

That's why she'll never leave this bed.

Where's John?

-[raspy breathing] -[Bessie shushes] [Bessie] She doesn't mean it, Miss Jane, half what she says.

It's all right, Bessie.

I don't mind.

No, really, I don't.

You used to get upset.

More than upset.

But now you've grown into such a confident young woman.

Who could have known it?

I suppose you have friends now to confide in, so your troubles don't plague you so much.

That must be it.

Yes, I do have a friend.

Someone who, when I talk to them, they understand everything I say.

They would laugh if I told them about Mrs. Reed.

They are so in tune with me.

They know my thoughts before I even think them, certainly before I put them into words.

I always said you'd do well.

I'm pleased that when you leave here, you can go home to such people.

My friend is to be married soon.

It's almost certain.

But she will not live far away.

Maybe you can visit.

Yes, of course.

That may be so.

[birds tweeting] [Lady Ingram laughing] Eshton here says that that swallow there heads south at the merest shiver of winter.

Travels all the way to the most southern tip of Africa, and then comes back here to this precise spot.

And I say, how do you know?

[laughs] As they all look exactly the same.

And why would they come back here and not stay where it is warm?

It is in their nature.

It is what they must do.

They must come home.

What do you think, Edward?

Is there a problem?

Not at all.

I was just taking a stroll through the hall before dinner.

And did you like what you saw?

Naturally.

It could, of course, do with a little management.

A few new furnishings here and there.

And you think you'd like to, uh, take all this on?

What do you really want, Blanche?

[raspy breathing] [paper rustling] Who is that?

It is I, Aunt Reed.

Jane Eyre.

You asked to see me.

Yes, I did.

I am very ill, you know.

I need to ease my mind before I die.

I have done you wrong twice, Jane Eyre.

One was to break the promise I made to my husband... to bring you up as my own child.

You know that.

Go to my dressing table.

Open it.

Take out and read the letter you find there.

"Madam, will you have the goodness to send me the address of my... niece, Jane Eyre?

I wish her to join me in Madeira.

Fortune has blessed me, and as I'm unmarried and childless, I wish to adopt her and bequeath to her all I have when I die.

I am, madam, sincerely yours, John Eyre."

But this was written three years ago.

Why did you never tell me I had an uncle who was alive?

Because I hated you too much.

I could not forgive you.

Forgive me--?

For your conduct.

I take you on and you treat me with contempt.

You talked to me like a vile, wild animal.

Forgive me my passionate nature.

I was a child, aunt.

Let us forgive each other now.

I could not forget.

I took my revenge.

I wrote to your uncle.

I told him Jane Eyre was dead.

That she had died of a fever at Lowood School.

See?

I have my revenge.

Now you may have yours.

You can tell him of my falsehood.

I will be dead by morning, so I don't care.

[dry coughing] Please.

Water.

Quick.

[shallow coughs] [slurps] [raspy breathing] [groans] I forgive you, Aunt Reed.

Whether you wish it or not, I do truly forgive you.

[dramatic music playing] Whoa.

Take my trunk on up to Thornfield, would you?

Won't you ride, Miss?

You've had a very long journey.

No.

I'm nearly home.

It is my favorite walk.

[dramatic music playing] There you are.

You're back.

Ungrateful thing.

I give you leave for a week and you're gone a whole month.

I want my money back, since you've had me so little in your thoughts.

I said I would be gone for as long as I was needed.

And I was.

And you still owe me wages.

Come, let's get you home.

Adele will scream and shout, "Bienvenue."

Thank you... for your great kindness.

I'm...

I'm strangely glad to get back again to you, and wherever you are is my home.

Is my true home.

Are you going?

[Rochester] See, Eshton?

Our swallow has come home.

Eshton is using my coach to pursue some unusual twins.

Yes, one, a Belgian, has been in sort of a deep sleep for some eight months, and he has been woken by a twin now living in Toulouse, by the way, that he never even knew existed.

It's amazing.

What, you don't think it possible that two minds can be so in tune that they communicate across the country and call out to each other across space and time?

You're one of the world's most curious people, Eshton.

And you're one of the world's most cynical, Rochester.

Nonsense!

I'm the most romantic person I know.

[Eshton laughs] Be off with you.

-Amazing minds... -Miss Eyre, Miss Eyre!

...await your magnifying glass.

Miss Eyre.

Oh, Jane!

[laughs] You're back!

-[Adele] Miss Eyre, Miss Eyre!

-Hello!

Oh!

Ah, at last, the governess has returned from her travels.

Can't you teach that child something so she won't be under our feet?

It's just such a pity we can't stay for longer.

But it's the Warreners' summer ball next week.

Well, Blanche and I, we won't be there.

We will be occupied with a more important event, I am certain.

[dramatic music playing] Don't worry.

You'll see her again soon.

Ingram Park is a short journey for an enthusiastic rider.

Indeed.

Safe journey.

[door opens] Ah, there you are.

Is Adele in bed?

You're back to our routine very quickly.

Now that all our houseguests are gone, it's like it has always been.

What's that?

It is a book I used to read as a child.

My escape book.

-[chuckles] -I used to imagine that one day I could go anywhere I wanted.

I took it with me to Lowood.

And now?

Now, I think it can go here very well.

Now, Miss Eyre, if we are very lucky, we might see some dragonflies.

Did I ever tell you of my travels in the Blue Mountains of Mongolia?

And you can tell me of your travels in the black and gloomy forests of your childhood memories.

So the vain, facetious cousin Georgiana... found a mate within days of your aunt's funeral?

So it seems.

[Rochester] And what of the nun?

[Jane] I believe Eliza will settle in her French convent, never to return to worldly pleasures.

I give her but a few years to become Mother Superior.

[both laugh] So you returned to Gateshead half knowing that you wouldn't find the old lady repentant, or forgiving, or in the least bit pleased to see Jane Eyre, and this is how things transpired.

And yet Jane Eyre doesn't seem to be troubled that she has no family.

No one in the world outside of Thornfield who wishes her well.

No.

I have no family to speak of.

But I hear you have been making plans of your own.

I assume Miss Blanche's departure from Thornfield is only temporary.

I mean, as Adele's governess, it is my duty to help you decide on a suitable school.

Yes.

Yes, indeed, and we mustn't forget that when I do finally relinquish my bachelor ways, we must find you a suitable position.

What do you think of Ireland?

We don't have to worry about that now.

Not for a good while yet.

Oh, look, look.

See the emerald wings.

Come.

[lulling music playing] [birds chirping] Monsieur Rochester, I want you to tell me about the Caribbean Islands again.

Sophie has taught me a song.

[singing in French] All right.

All right, incorrigible one.

[inhales deeply and exhales sharply] You must imagine a restaurant.

No, let's say a meeting place.

And many respectable people come here at night to socialize.

You must imagine brilliant reds, pinks, The most exotic perfumed flowers.

Delightful, passionate music.

The women are, of course, very beautiful.

They wear bright silks.

Ambers.

Sapphires.

Emeralds.

They're very seductive.

But they are also mysterious.

Tantalizing.

Dangerous.

[Adele] ♪ La ♪ ♪ La, la, la ♪ ♪ La, la ♪ ♪ La ♪ Stop that noise or I'll send you to school in the morning.

You're like a wild animal.

The Caribbean is not as beautiful as it seems, Adele.

I came back to escape.

[woman humming] [Mrs. Fairfax] Summer's been with us forever this year.

I can't remember when it stayed so long.

And Mr. Rochester has stayed with it.

[chuckles] He has never been here at Thornfield for this length of time.

[sighs] He's found something to keep him from his travels.

Mind you, I think there must have been a little disagreement.

Really?

Well, Ingram Park is not very far away.

Not for an ardent suitor.

Yet he has not saddled a horse for several weeks.

He spends his evenings either talking to you or prowling the lower gardens like a bear, the gardener says.

[Mrs. Fairfax sighs] He's got the household business to worry about.

What do you mean?

Well, he'll be wanting to find us suitable positions.

For after the wedding.

Oh, no, he will take care over that, I'm sure.

I told you, he's a good master.

[teacups clattering] [birds tweeting] Thornfield is pleasant in the summer, isn't it, Jane?

Yes, sir.

You've become attached to the place?

Yes, sir.

And you'll be sad to leave?

Yes.

Must I leave, sir?

-Must I leave Thornfield?

-Yes, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you must.

You're to be married?

Exactly.

Precisely.

As you with your usual acuteness have already predicted, when I do marry, Adele must go to school and you must find a new situation.

Yes, sir, I'll advertise immediately.

No, you won't.

I already found you a place.

Ireland is a long way away, sir.

From Thornfield, it is a long way away from you, sir.

We've been good friends, haven't we, Jane?

It's difficult to part from a friend and know you will never meet them again.

And you and I-- It's like we're a pair of Eshton's twins... bound together in some unworldly way, sharing a spirit.

We're so alike.

When we are parted, when you... leave me, I believe that bond will snap and I will bleed inwardly.

But you'll forget me after a while.

I would never forget you.

How can you imagine that?

What do you think I am?

Oh, I wish I'd never been born.

I wish I'd never come here.

[Jane crying] I wish I'd never grown to love Thornfield.

I love Thornfield.

I love it because I have lived a full life.

I...

I have not been trampled on.

I have been treated as an equal.

You have treated me as an equal.

You are the best person I know, and I cannot bear the thought of having to leave you.

Must you leave me, Jane?

Of course I must, because you have a wife.

What do you mean?

Blanche Ingram, of course.

You're as good as married to her.

You promised her.

I have not promised Blanche anything.

To someone who is inferior to you.

Someone who you have no sympathy with.

Of course I must go.

Do you think that I'm a machine?

That I can bear it?

Do you think because I'm poor, plain, obscure and little, that I have no heart?

That I am without soul?

I have as much heart as you and as much soul.

And if God had given me some beauty and wealth, I would make it as hard for you to leave me as it is now for me to leave you.

-You will not leave me, Jane.

-[sobbing] Let me go.

Jane, Jane, don't struggle so.

I'm a free person, and I'll go and do as I please!

Yes, yes, yes, you will.

[sniffles] You will decide your own destiny.

Jane, I offer you my hand, my heart, and all my possessions.

-You laugh at me.

-No, no.

Jane, I want you to live with me.

To pass through life as my second self, my best earthly companion.

Jane, have you no faith in me?

None whatsoever.

-You doubt me?

-Absolutely.

Jane, you know I don't love Blanche.

I love you like my own flesh.

Jane, say that you will marry me.

Say it quickly.

Jane, do you accept me?

Are you in earnest?

I can hardly believe you.

I swear.

Then, sir...

Call me by my name.

Call me Edward.

Then, Edward...

I will marry you.

[romantic music playing] [sighs] God forgive me.

And let no man meddle with me.

I aim to keep her.

There is no one to meddle.

I have no family to interfere.

No.

[thunder rumbles] [Rochester] Come on.

[sweeping music playing] [both panting] Run and take off those wet things.

Good night.

Good night, my darling.

[thunder rumbles] [tender music playing] [gasps softly] [footsteps approaching] I feel so astonished.

I hardly know what to say to you, Miss Eyre.

Mr. Rochester came in here about five minutes ago to tell me that he had asked you to marry him.

God, this cannot be true.

But why?

I'm sorry to offend you, Jane, but you are so young.

You know nothing of men.

I have noticed that Mr. Rochester seemed to make you a favorite.

-But I thought-- -I was too monstrous to love?

No.

I meant I thought you too levelheaded.

Too sensible a young woman to be so overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed?

Well, are you overwhelmed?

[Rochester laughs] I believe the good woman thought I'd forgotten my station.

And you yours.

Little does she know that I am the servant and you the mistress.

I'm sorry.

I know that look.

She thinks I do not know myself.

And that you are doing as all men must.

Jane, she doesn't know us.

All the same, sir.

Sir?

When did I become sir again?

Last night, you stood before the heavens and pronounced yourself my equal.

That's the Jane I want to marry.

To share my life.

Will you dine with me tonight?

-No, sir.

-Edward.

You promised to call me Edward.

Until we marry, if we marry...

In one month, one short month, you'll be Mrs. Rochester or I'll be damned.

Then until that morning, I will call you Mr. Rochester.

That is halfway between Edward and sir.

-[Rochester sighs] -I'll continue to teach Adele.

-Ugh!

-We will go on as before.

Then it will be seen that this idea, this... marriage... is a sensible proposition.

I'm not interested in pleasing Mrs. Fairfax.

But for you... For you, I will obey.

Now, hurry up and get your bonnet or we'll be late.

For what?

We're going to town.

[laughs] [laid-back piano music playing] No.

I'll send her to school yet.

Will I go without Mademoiselle?

Absolutely sans Mademoiselle.

I'm gonna take Mademoiselle away to Europe first, where I will take her to all the grand palaces and present her to all the kings and queens.

You cannot do that because she has no jewels.

[Rochester] Oh, she will have.

In London there's a very special box filled with jewels.

I will send for them immediately, and Mademoiselle will be covered in them from head to toe while she teaches you mathematics.

-[Adele giggles] -And when Madame, as she will be then, when Madame is tired of all these kings and queens, I will take her to a villa whitewashed and secluded on the edge of the emerald Mediterranean.

[bird chirping] You will really be going the minute after the wedding?

[Jane] Yes.

You will stay the night at the grand London hotel and then take the steamboat to France?

[Jane] Yes.

I wish I could go with you.

You must stay here.

But don't worry, Mr. Rochester... We will pick out a good school for you.

They will hit me and starve me.

No.

I promise I won't let that happen.

[baby crying] Go.

[tense music playing] [gate rattling] [no audio] [whispering] Who's there?

Who is it?

George, what time did your master say he'd be home?

Don't worry, Miss.

He has been away one night already.

He will not stay away another.

[thunder rumbling] So I'm only gone for 24 hours and I return to this.

Can't do without me, clearly.

[chuckles] Is anything wrong?

It was not Sophie.

It was not Mrs. Fairfax.

It was not even Grace Poole.

But you were dreaming.

I had been dreaming, but then I awoke.

Thank God nothing worse happened.

Thank God you're safe.

It was not Grace Poole.

Who else could it have been?

I was not dreaming.

And the rest of your dream?

Is Thornfield a neglected ruin?

Have I left you without so much as a word?

No.

So...

Put it down to your anxieties.

Your natural anxieties.

About the new life you're about to enter.

Yesterday I was very busy and happy packing.

I...

I was not worried about the future.

I think it a glorious thing to have the hope of living with you because I love you.

It was a fine day yesterday.

Look.

The storm has gone.

[birds chirping] [heartfelt music playing] At last, there you are.

How could I have thought that that gaudy veil would have suited you better?

Is John getting the carriage ready?

-Yes, sir.

-Is the luggage bought down?

-Yes, sir.

-Good.

Have it strapped and ready on the carriage.

We're leaving the moment we return from the church.

[George] Yes, sir.

[dramatic music playing] [Jane breathing heavily] I'm sorry, Jane.

Are you ready?

[clergyman] I require and charge you both as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed that if either of you know any impediment why ye may not lawfully be joined in matrimony, ye do now confess it.

Be ye well assured that so many as are coupled together otherwise than God's word doth allow are not joined together by God.

Neither is their matrimony lawful.

The marriage cannot go on.

I declare the existence of an impediment.

Proceed.

I said, proceed.

I cannot proceed without some investigation.

Perhaps it might be got over, explained away?

I hardly think so.

It is insuperable.

Mr. Rochester has a wife now living.

-[Rochester] Who are you?

-[Briggs] My name's Briggs.

A solicitor.

And you would thrust on me a wife?

[Briggs] I would remind you of her existence, sir, which the law recognizes if you do not.

I have no wife.

Edward Fairfax Rochester of Thornfield Hall was married to Bertha Antoinetta Mason at San Benedictus Church in Spanish Town, Jamaica, on the 18th day of March, 1825.

If that is a genuine document, it doesn't prove that the woman mentioned there is still living.

[Briggs] She was living three months ago.

I have a witness to the fact.

What have you to say?

What have you to say?

Gentlemen, this is a place of God!

[sighs] My sister is living at Thornfield Hall.

I saw her there last June.

Impossible.

I'm an old resident to this neighborhood, sir, and I've never heard of a Mrs. Rochester at Thornfield Hall.

No, by God.

I took care that none would.

[scoffs] Enough.

That is enough.

Clear the church.

There will be no wedding today.

Before you go, however...

I bid you come up to the house.

I have someone I wish you to meet.

[dramatic music playing] Do you remember this room, Mason, where you almost lost your life?

[door lock rattling] Morning, Mrs. Poole.

-How's your charge this morning?

-A little touchy, sir.

We're having some breakfast, but she's calm now.

-Be very careful, sir.

-[Rochester] Aren't I always?

We'd better leave.

[Rochester] Why, Richard?

Why?

Are you frightened?

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to my wife?

Puta.

Puta.

Puta!

[screaming] [Grace] Come!

Come!

Just leave quickly, sir.

She will be calm again.

-I will handle her, sir.

-[sobbing and groaning] [door lock tumbles] [sighs] That was my wife.

[Rochester breathing heavily] As some of you know, my father was a greedy man... who wanted to preserve his estate by marrying his younger son off to a wife who would bring him a rich dowry.

I was sent to the Caribbean where, knowing my predilection for dark, handsome women...

I was tricked by Mason and his father into pursuing his sister Bertha, who was as beautiful as the glittering stars and just as tantalizing.

I was married before I knew it.

Before I had met the mother, who was, I found out later, at that time and had been for many years, incarcerated in a mental asylum.

And that insanity ran through the family like a black river of disease.

[laughing] It was but half a day before I realized what manner of wife I'd been tricked into.

[Bertha laughing] It was but a few weeks before the full extent of her illness was made clear to me, -[yelling] -Bertha!

-Calm down.

-[Bertha grunting] An illness which has grown... Bertha!

...in violence and foulness at an ever-increasing pace.

[straining] Then serves him right for his wickedness, my father died.

And my brother straight behind, so I, uh... [scoffs] I inherited everything anyway.

The Rochester fortune intact.

[wind gusting] I brought her back with me to England... intending to make Thornfield a comfortable prison for her and for me.

I have another house.

Hidden away.

I could've kept her there.

Where the damp inclement air might have rid me of her burden.

I could have done that and no one would have blamed me.

[Bertha grunting and groaning] [objects clattering] But I left her here with Grace... while I traveled the world trying to forget the horrors at home.

Until one day... one day this girl appeared who knew nothing of this this...

This girl... who stands so quiet and grave at the mouth of hell.

This girl... who is all quietness.

And sanity.

And innocence.

-[Bertha shrieks] -[loud banging] You wonder why I wanted her?

Why I risked the wrath of God to get her?

And now I must ask you to leave.

I must see to my wife.

[door lock tumbles] [somber music playing] -[knock on door] -[Rochester] Jane?

[knocking] Jane?

Forgive me.

I couldn't tell you.

I knew you'd never stay.

Jane, come away with me.

We'll go and live together in that whitewashed villa away from everyone.

You have no family to care, to interfere with us.

[knocks] Jane?

[knocking persists] Jane, can you hear me?

Jane.

[somber music playing] [dramatic music playing]