On Midsummer Eve Mr Rochester found me in the orchard and walked with me under the great chestnut tree. He said that Miss Ingram would be mistress of Thornfield, and that he had found me a place in Ireland. I told him that I grieved to leave, and that I was not a machine without feelings. Do you think I can stay to be nothing to you, I said. I have as much soul as you, and quite as much heart. Then he took my hand and asked me to marry him, and I did not believe a word of it until he swore it three times. That night lightning split the chestnut tree in two down the middle, and in the morning half of it was black and standing.