Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Chapter 1

"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been

wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning;

but since dinner (Mrs Reed, when there was no company, dined early)

the cold winter winds had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a

rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of

the question.

I was glad of it; I never liked long walks, especially on chilly

afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight,

with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings

of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my

physical inferiority to Eliza, John and Georgiana Reed."