'My prayers are heard!' He pressed his hand firmer on my head, as if he claimed me; he surrounded me with his arm, _almost_ as if he loved me ["That priest had arms which could influence me; he was naturally kind, with a sentimental French kindness, to whose softness I knew myself not wholly impervious. Without respecting some sorts of affection, there was hardly any sort having a fibre of root in reality, which I could rely on my force wholly to withstand."--Charlotte Brontë speaking of her Brussels Fénélon in _Villette_, Chapter XV.], I say _almost_--I knew the difference--for I had felt what it was to be loved; but, like him, I now ... thought only of duty;... I sincerely, ... fervently longed to do what was right.... 'Show me, show me the path!' I entreated of Heaven.... My heart beat fast and thick.... I heard a voice somewhere cry 'Jane! Jane! Jane!' nothing more.... I had heard it--where or whence, for ever impossible to know! And it was ... a known, loved, well-remembered voice--that of Edward Fairfax Rochester.... 'I am coming!' I cried.... 'Wait for me! Oh, I will come!' I broke from St. John, who would have detained me. It was _my_ time to assume ascendency. _My_ powers were in play, and in force. I told him to forbear question or remark.... I mounted to my chamber ... fell on my knees, and prayed in my way--a different way to St. John's, but effective in its own fashion.... I rose from the thanksgiving--took a resolve--and lay down ... eager but for the daylight. Mrs. Gaskell related that Charlotte Brontë in private conversation in reference to this preternatural crying of a voice, replied with much gravity and without further enlightenment that such an incident really did occur in her experience. Whether it occurred in connection with her Brussels Fénélon and immediately preceded a reconciliation between herself and M. Héger I know not. As, however, Charlotte Brontë's expression of gratitude to this priest and the whole fervent story of thankfulness for the deliverance from dangerous temptation were written subsequently to her return from Brussels, it is clear there was never a reconciliation which cost either her or M. Héger honour. I do not urge this as an advocate; I state it upon the strength of unmistakable evidence. Miss Brontë believed it better to leave Brussels and avoid the possibilities of the peculiar situation--a situation always fraught with temptation. Hence her sudden resolve to return to England.