Set at a time in which Jane is attempting to educate her young student amidst the distractions of the summer heat and the party of guests in Mr. Rochester's household.
A strange quiet had fallen over all of Thornfield on a hot midsummer afternoon. Mr. Rochester's guests were taking repose in the dining hall and chambers on the eastern side of the manor to avoid the heat in the main hall and out of doors. The silence reminded Jane and her student of their days before the guests had arrived, even before their master had returned home. It was much colder then. Jane came out of her thoughts when a warm gust of wind took hold of the open window in their little study room and it creaked all the way back on its hinges.
"Ooh, Miss Eyre, the breeze feels pleasant, n'est-ce pas?"
Adele commented as she scurried to catch various leaves that were scattered out across her table.
"It doesn't do much for this room which faces west. Let me help you with those." Jane picked up a couple leaves from the edge of the table.
"I am almost finished now. Once I have identified these leaves can we go outside for a while?"
"It will be hot out there too."
"Please Miss Eyre, I did not get to go with you this morning when you gathered these leaves to test me on the English trees. You can show me where they came from."
"It is a fair walk to find some of these, Adele."
"I can do it."
The wind slapped the window back hard on its hinges and Jane made to close it for fear of damaging the lattice work panes that seemed ancient to her.
"Very well."
Adele clapped her hands.
"If you can correctly name at least fifteen of the twenty leaves that I have given you to identify."
"Je suis d'accord, Mademoiselle Eyre."
Adele turned her completed test in and Jane quickly ascertained that the child had got sixteen of the leaves correct.
In less than a quarter of an hour later, the girls were venturing out across the Rochester estate. Jane had wanted to inform Mrs. Fairfax that they would be out for the afternoon although she was not easily found in the household. Jane wished not to look for her where the Ingrams were lounging in repose, perhaps Mr. Rochester was with them. She did not want to disturb them. Adele had brought along drawing pencils and a small tablet, Jane would teach her how to make leaf impressions and then title each by their scientific names.
"I have a plan Miss Eyre." The child explained. "I will present Monsieur Rochester with the leaf impressions as un cadeau — a gift when we see him tonight in the great hall."
"I should think that he would appreciate that."
"Moi aussi. I mean to say, so do I."
The teacher and student laughed as they reached the babbling creek ahead of them. Jane sighed as she lifted her skirt enough to step from rock to rock to cross it. Adele followed her lead.
"You are not already tired?" The child had heard Jane sigh.
"No, I was thinking."
"About how hot it is out here?"
"No, this is where I first met Mr. Rochester, at this brook."
"And Pilot the dog?"
"Of course."
"This is where his horse fell?"
"Yes."
"I remember that too. Will we be going over this big hill ahead of us?"
"We will. The trees that you should see are on the other side of it. There is also a beautiful waterfall there."
"Did you find it on one of your morning walks, Miss Eyre?"
Jane paused with careful consideration.
"No. Mr. Rochester took me to see it during an afternoon walk."
"Monsieur Rochester likes to take you to see beautiful places. I wish that he would take me to see them too."
"In time, when you are older, perhaps he will."
"I think not." Adele huffed her way up to the hilltop. "He treats you differently from all the rest of us here, even Miss Blanche. Have you not noticed Miss Eyre?"
"This talk is nonsense. We shall start with your lesson here, Adele. See those trees at the foot of the hill? They are the oaks."
Jane knew that Adele's musings were innocent observations, nonsense with only mere elements of truth to them. She had even once thought herself a favored companion to Mr. Rochester when no other diversion was available but now, things were very different as perhaps they should be.
"There is the waterfall that I told you about."
Jane directed Adele's attention to the rocks on hill that were decorated by bubbling white cascades.
"Que c'est beau!"
"It is beautiful." Jane agreed.
They found a shady place to sit and make pencil impressions with the leaves that Adele had gathered. They even had a good laugh when some of Adele's papers were picked up by the wind and she had to chase them down. Jane had brought along biscuits and a little bottle of tea for a light snack. The shade was so pleasant that they did not notice how much time had passed.
"Look Miss Eyre. This leaf looks like Madame Ingram's hair in the morning."
As the girls were laughing, Jane thought that she might have heard thunder.
"Come, we need to return to the house now."
"The wind is getting stronger, no?" Adele observed.
"Let's make haste." Jane ordered.
At halfway up the great hill that they had to climb, another rumble of thunder startled Adele, she dropped her papers and Jane took extra time to help her gather them up. Upon reaching the top of the hill, the girls were alarmed to see that the sky on this side had darkened with heavy purple and gray clouds.
"Miss Eyre, can we run back before the storm is upon us?"
"No, Adele, you must not run down a hillside, it is too dangerous."
Jane ordered as the first light drops of rain began to fall. They were careful to take their time even though the rain was getting heavier. Around the bend awaited the brook that they had crossed earlier. It was now a raging flood of a current from where the storm had already begun way off in the distance.
"The brook is too deep now. How may we cross it?" Adele asked.
"I shall go in first to test it and then I will give you my hand to cross it." Jane explained as she raised her skirts to the level of her knees.
She placed her left foot on an exposed rock, then the right into the cool water current to steady her stance.
"Adele, wait."
Lightening flashed overhead. Jane's submerged foot slid from the slick rock and she fell to her knees.
"Miss Eyre!" Adele screamed.
"Stay where you are, child. Its no longer safe to cross here."
Jane was soaked up to her waist which did not matter for now the rain was coming down in torrents.
"Is there another way to get home?" Adele wrapped her arms around herself.
"There is although it requires a longer walk to the bridge." Jane was leading the child towards a fallen oak near the creek bank. "We must wait until the rain is not so heavy before we can go there. I regret that we must wait, I should not have brought you here."
"I am not afraid so long as I stay with you, Miss Eyre"
The girls crouched into a nook under the fallen oak tree. Even though the soil beneath was turning to mud, they were sheltered from the downpour momentarily.