Desolation and Divine Providence — Jane Eyre

Two days after leaving Thornfield, the coach sets Jane down at Whitcross with no money left and no parcel; she is utterly destitute at a lonely crossroads on the moors. With no tie to human society, she strikes into the heath, eats her last bread with wild bilberries, and sleeps under a granite crag. Her heart breaks for Rochester, but looking at the Milky Way she turns prayer to thanksgiving and trusts he is in God's keeping.

The next morning Want drives her toward a village revealed by a church bell. She cannot bring herself to barter her gloves or handkerchief for bread; inquiries about dressmaking and service lead nowhere. At the parsonage the clergyman is absent mourning his father. A farmer gives her a slice of cheese and bread. That night in a wood is miserable; the following rainy day she is repulsed again and eats cold porridge meant for a pig. Starving, she turns back toward the moor, sees a distant light, crosses a bog toward it, and peers through a kitchen window at two grave young women reading German by candlelight with their servant Hannah.

Jane knocks and begs shelter; Hannah offers a penny and shuts the door. Collapsed on the step in despair, Jane says she can but die and will wait God's will. Then St. John Rivers arrives, overhears, and admits her. Diana feeds her milk and bread; Mary lifts her sodden bonnet. Jane gives the alias Jane Elliott and, once inside, feels human again. They put her to bed dry and warm, and she sleeps in grateful exhaustion.