I advertised for a place as a governess, and an answer came from Thornfield Hall. Mrs Fairfax, the housekeeper, met me with a kindness I had never known, and I slept that night without fear. My pupil was Adèle, a lively French child who danced instead of studying and forgave me for making her sit still. The house was large and silent, with long corridors and a staircase of dark oak. On the third storey I sometimes heard a laugh that belonged to nobody, low and strange and quite distinct. Mrs Fairfax said it was Grace Poole, a servant who sewed upstairs. Grace Poole came down for her dinner and said very little, and I began to watch the third storey door.