JANE EYRE (CHARLOTTE BRONTË) AND ARITHMETIC AS A METHOD TO IMPRESS AN ENGLISH BACHELORETTE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

‘What age were you when you went to Lowood?’

‘About ten.’

‘And you stayed there eight years: you are now, then, eighteen?’

I assented.

‘Arithmetic, you see, is useful; without its aid, I should hardly have been able to guess your age. It is a point difficult to fix where the features and countenance are so much at variance as in your case

There he goes! Nothing in his pockets, nothing up his sleeves...and he determines her age. Nowadays, Mr Rochester would be accused of doing mansplaining, but I recognize his merit of setting out nimbly the ecuation 10+8=18.

I wonder whether this skill will help him to manage to flirt with her. I´ll find out when I finish the book.