“Bride!” Mr. Rochester bowed, and the curtain fell.

A considerable interval elapsed before it again rose. Its second rising displayed a more elaborately prepared scene than the last. The drawing-room, as I have before observed, was raised two steps above the dining-room, and on the top of the upper step, placed a yard or two back within the room, appeared a large marble basin⁠—which I recognised as an ornament of the conservatory⁠—where it usually stood, surrounded by exotics, and tenanted by gold fish⁠—and whence it must have been transported with some trouble, on account of its size and weight.