The Keeper of Secrets

The girl asks too many questions. She hears the laughter — of course she does, the walls are thin and Grace drinks too much — and she asks, and I smile and say it is Grace Poole, and she believes me because she is young and wants to believe. I have kept this house for thirty years. I have kept its secrets longer. When Mr. Rochester looks at her with that hunger in his eyes, I want to take her by the shoulders and say: Run. But I don't. Because if she runs, he will need someone to blame. And I am too old to find another position.