I…was thrust on to a wrong track at the age of one-and-twenty, and have never recovered the right course since: but I might have been very different; I might have been as good as you – wiser – almost as stainless. I envy you your peace of mind, your clean conscience, your unpolluted memory. Little girl, a memory without blot of contamination must be an exquisite treasure – an inexhaustible source of pure refreshment: is it not?
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 14. Rochester becomes particularly chatty with Jane while they are sitting by the fire, helped by the wine he drank earlier with dinner. In a conversation about morality, he admits to faults and mistakes and mentions his murky past. He tells Jane that had he not been put on a wrong path at 21, he might have been different and “almost as stainless” as her. He is envious of Jane’s untroubled conscience and unpolluted memories.