Reader, I Married Him — Jane Eyre

Jane opens with the line that defines her agency: she married him. The wedding is quiet, only the parson, clerk, Rochester, and Jane. Back at Ferndean she tells Mary and John in the kitchen while dinner cooks and knives are cleaned. Mary barely pauses from basting; John grins and says he always knew. Jane gives them a five-pound note and leaves them praising her in the dialect of honest servants.

She writes to Moor House; Diana and Mary approve. Rochester reads Diana's letter and declares their honeymoon will last their whole lives. St. John never answers the wedding announcement; six months later he writes as if the marriage barely happened, grave and kind, hoping she has not forgotten God.

Jane visits Adèle at her school, finds the regime too harsh, and places her in a gentler school nearby. Adèle grows into a grateful companion. Ten years pass. Jane describes marriage as complete mutuality: constant talk, shared inner life, freedom together. For two years Rochester stays blind and Jane is his eyes, reading and describing the world without shame on either side. Then one morning he notices her watch-chain and pale blue dress: sight returns in one eye. In London an oculist confirms it. He can see enough to walk unaided and to recognise their son's inherited eyes. He thanks God for mercy mixed with judgment.

Diana and Mary marry well and visit yearly. St. John labours in India, unmarried, clearing a path through prejudice with warrior sternness. His last letter anticipates death as reward. Jane weeps and rejoices at once, knowing a stranger's hand will soon report him gone. He closes the novel with Revelation on his lips: Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus.