If I were to marry, you would kill me. You are killing me now.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 35. As St. John persists in his efforts to persuade Jane to marry him, Jane tells him that his icy manner and cold behavior are killing her. St. John’s lips and cheeks turn white when Jane says this. He objects, saying that her words are “violent, unfeminine, and untrue.”