I have not yet said anything condemnatory of Mr. Rochester"s project of marrying for interest and connections. It surprised me when I first discovered that such was his intention: I had thought him a man unlikely to be influenced by motives so monplace in his choice of a wife; but the longer I considered the position，education，etc.，of the parties，the less I felt justified in judging and blaming either him or Miss Ingram for acting in conformity to ideas and principles instilled into them，doubtless，from their childhood. All their class held these principles: I supposed，then，they had reasons for holding them such as I could not fathom. It seemed to me that，were I a gentleman like him，I would take to my bosom only such a wife as I could love; but the very obviousness of the advantages to the husband"s own happiness offered by this plan convinced me that there must be arguments against its general adoption of which I was quite ignorant: otherwise I felt sure all the world would act as I wished to act.

But in other points，as well as this，I was growing very lenient to my master: I was forgetting all his faults，for which I had once kept a sharp look-out. It had formerly been my endeavour to study all sides of his character: to take the bad with the good; and from the just weighing of both，to form an equitable judgment. Now I saw no bad. The sarcasm that had repelled，the harshness that had startled me once，were only like keen condiments in a choice dish: their presence was pungent，but their absence would be felt as paratively insipid. And as for the vague something- was it a sinister or a sorrowful，a designing or a desponding expression?- that opened upon a careful observer，now and then，in his eye，and closed again before one could fathom the strange depth partially disclosed; that something which used to make me fear and shrink，as if I had been wandering amongst volcanic-looking hills，and had suddenly felt the ground quiver and seen it gape: that something，I，at intervals，beheld still; and with throbbing heart，but not with palsied nerves.