Quotation from: Villette

Written by: Charlotte Bronte


I replied that I did not quite know what my ailment had been, but that
I had certainly suffered a good deal especially in mind. Further, on
this subject, I did not consider it advisable to dwell, for the
details of what I had undergone belonged to a portion of my existence
in which I never expected my godmother to take a share. Into what a
new region would such a confidence have led that hale, serene nature!
The difference between her and me might be figured by that between the
stately ship cruising safe on smooth seas, with its full complement of
crew, a captain gay and brave, and venturous and provident; and the
life-boat, which most days of the year lies dry and solitary in an
old, dark boat-house, only putting to sea when the billows run high in
rough weather, when cloud encounters water, when danger and death
divide between them the rule of the great deep. No, the "Louisa
Bretton" never was out of harbour on such a night, and in such a
scene: her crew could not conceive it; so the half-drowned life-boat
man keeps his own counsel, and spins no yarns.

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