This was a return of Charlotte’s morbid depression and resulting hypochondria in the late spring of 1838, which drove her into resignation from Roe Head. Then she had convinced herself that she was suffering from consumption, as she imagined her sister, Anne, and her friend, Mary Taylor, to be. Now, she persuaded herself that she was going blind, like her father. It was certainly a good excuse for not writing a book but, had it been true, it would have made her intention of setting up school totally impractical. Charlotte was simply wallowing in misery and self-pity, unable to shake off her
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