Chapter 18 — charades; the stranger Mason arrives

The house party invents amusements. On the third evening they play charades. The party divides into two teams and acts out scenes for the others to guess. Blanche and Rochester pair off and perform together; their first scene is a bridal scene — Blanche veiled in a long table-cloth, Rochester at the altar, the rest of the party as the wedding guests. The scene is meant to be playful. To Jane, watching from the corner, it is not playful at all. She accepts the discipline of having to watch it. She does not let herself look away.

The performance ends; the party turns to dancing. The footman enters and announces that a stranger has arrived — a gentleman who has just dismounted in the drive and asks to see Mr. Rochester on private business. The footman gives a name: Mr. Richard Mason, from the West Indies, by way of London. The drawing-room turns at the announcement. Rochester, at the card-table near the fire, turns visibly white. He sets down his glass; he steadies himself on the table's edge for a fraction of a second. Then he composes his face, excuses himself politely from the company, and goes out into the hall.

Jane is the only person in the room who has watched him register the name. She is in the corner with Adèle; her eye has been on him as it has been most of the evening. The pallor, the steadying hand, the careful composure — she has seen all of them. Rochester is gone for some minutes. He returns, brings Mason briefly into the drawing-room to introduce him to the company — a soft-faced, well-dressed gentleman of about thirty, ill-suited to the cold British climate — and announces that Mason will be staying the night. Jane, going up to bed, has the strong sense that the household has been entered by something it cannot easily refuse. The chapter ends with the lamps still burning in the gallery.