My sisters, you see, have a pleasure in keeping you…as they would have a pleasure in keeping and cherishing a half-frozen bird, some wintry wind might have driven through their casement.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 29. St. John Rivers tells Jane how welcome she is at the Rivers family home. His sisters wish her to stay, he reveals. He uses a metaphor to compare Jane to a half-frozen bird.