Er war in Geschäftsangelegenheiten nach einigen kleinen Pachthöfen, die ungefähr dreißig Meilen von Thornfield entfernt lagen, gerufen; Geschäftsangelegenheiten, die er durchaus noch persönlich vor seiner beabsichtigten Abreise von England ordnen mußte.
Mr. Rochester that night was absent from home; nor was he yet returned: business had called him to a small estate of two or three farms he possessed thirty miles off--business it was requisite he should settle in person, previous to his meditated departure from England.