I was so amazed that I could not speak for a few minutes. I had been poor all my life. Now, someone wanted to give me money and property! "Aunt, I never knew of this letter. Why?"
Mrs. Reed tried to sit up in bed, looking at me angrily. "I wrote to your uncle and told him you had died, died of fever at the Lowood School!" [-----1-----] "That was my revenge on you, child. My family always hated your father, for taking my sister away--and I always disliked you! YOu were always so angry and violent, such a bad child... but now I am dying... I thought you should know the truth," she said.
"[-----2-----], aunt," I said gently. "It is true I was angry at you, but I would have loved you, if you had let me. Forget it all, and kiss me now, dear aunt."
But she had disliked me for too many years, or she was ashamed at what she had done. [-----3-----] After a moment I left the room. She died that night, and no one at Gateshead missed her |