No severe or prolonged bodily illness followed this incident of the

red-room; it only gave my nerves a shock of which I feel the

reverberation to this day. Yes, Mrs. Reed, to you I owe some fearful

pangs of mental suffering, but I ought to forgive you, for you knew

not what you did: while rending my heart-strings, you thought you were

only uprooting my bad propensities.

Next day, by noon, I was up and dressed, and sat wrapped in a shawl

by the nursery hearth. I felt physically weak and broken down: but