He knew that he had broken the conditions of his uncle’s will by marrying Salome; and even had he realized that he could still marry Miss Rochester, or given it any thought whatever, he probably would have imagined that she would not now entertain any desire for the union, knowing that he had already chosen some one in preference to her and given the affection of his heart to another. He had been struck with Miss Rochester’s exceeding beauty that morning when he was introduced to her, while the quick flush which had mantled her cheek on being presented to him told him that she at once associated him with the strange contract which Mr. Rochester and his uncle had made in connection with them. He had been a little surprised, too, by her graciousness of manner, by the smile of pleasure and glance of admiration with which she had greeted him. He had always pictured her as meeting him with coldness, if not with hauteur. Almost any refined and sensitive woman, he thought, would resent being so summarily disposed of to a man whom she had never seen, and of whose character she was in total ignorance. She certainly would be indignant, he told himself, when, after failing to keep his appointment a year ago, or to notify either herself or her father that he had violated the conditions of his uncle’s will, she should learn of his marriage. “I ought to have written to Mr. Rochester and explained the affair to him,” he mused, after returning to his hotel that day; “but so many things crowded themselves upon me that I did not think anything about the matter. I must acquaint him now, and formally renounce all claim to Miss Rochester’s hand, so that he can change the provisions of his will in her favor if he wishes; for of course, with my crushed heart and broken life, I cannot marry any woman. What an unpleasant position for her! for her flush to-day told me that she imagined my errand abroad was to seek her. She is truly a beautiful girl. I wonder who she is in mourning for?—her mother, perhaps. I will write at once, state plainly just how I am situated, and then take myself away from Paris with all possible dispatch.” He put his resolution into effect at once. He wrote a full account of the past year; told what had prevented his keeping his appointment for the previous year, of his visit to Boston, and the events which led to his marriage, and the sad incidents that had since so embittered his life. He stated that he had fully intended to meet Miss Rochester, and, if they had been mutually pleased with each other, comply with his uncle’s wishes by asking her to be his wife; but now, under the circumstances, he felt obliged to waive all claims to her hand, since it would be but a mockery and an insult to any woman to offer her his hand when his heart was so filled with the image of another, his life and his hopes so blighted by the loss of his wife, even if he himself did not recoil from such a union.