I have made study of you for ten months. I have proved you in that time by sundry tests: and what have I seen and elicited? In the village school, I found that you could perform well, punctually, uprightly, labour uncongenial to your habits and inclinations; I saw you could perform it with capacity and tact: you could win while you controlled. In the calm with which you learnt you had become suddenly rich, I read a mind clear of the vice of Demas: – lucre had no undue power over you…Jane, you are docile, diligent, disinterested, faithful, constant, and courageous; very gentle, and very heroic: cease to mistrust yourself – I can trust you unreservedly. As a conductress of Indian schools, and a helper amongst Indian women, your assistance will be to me invaluable.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 34. In a marriage proposal to Jane that can only crash and burn, St. John expresses no love or passion. For him it is all about a job, not a relationship. He has made a study of Jane teaching at the village school and feels that she has all the qualities necessary to help others. He believes that she should come with him to India to be a missionary’s wife. The qualities St. John admires in Jane include her lack of interest in personal riches, her constancy and her courage. But lacking in the relationship is St. John’s love for Jane, and also feelings on Jane’s part for him.