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 Brontë and préfet des études at the Athénée, ultimately resigning his position because he was not allowed to introduce religious instruction. He soon perceived the talents of his new pupils, and, dispensing with the drudgery of grammar, set them to study pieces of classical French literature, and to practise original composition in French. Some of Charlotte's exercises, printed by Mrs. Gaskell, show that she soon obtained remarkable command of the language. Although the sisters profited by this instruction, the general tone of the school was uncongenial; they disliked the Belgians, and the experience only intensified their protestantism and patriotic prejudices. Mary and Martha Taylor, their old friends, were resident in Brussels at this time; but the death of Martha Taylor, the original of Jessie Yorke, in the autumn of 1842, was a severe blow. News of the last illness and death of their aunt, Miss Branwell, reached them soon after. They started immediately for Haworth, and passed the rest of the year at home. The aunt's will, made in 1833, left her money to four nieces, the three Brontës and Anne Kingston. The statement that she disinherited Branwell on account of his ill-conduct is erroneous (, ii. 31). M. Héger wrote a letter to their father, expressing a high opinion of their talents, and speaking of the possibility of his offering them a position. Charlotte had already begun to have lessons, and it was decided that she should return as a teacher, for a salary of 400 francs, out of which she was to pay for German lessons. She went in January 1843, and stayed till the end of the year. She felt the loneliness of her position, especially when left by herself during the vacation, and a coolness arose between her and Madame Héger, due partly at least to their religious differences. It is probable that she suffered at this time from some unfortunate attachment. Her father's failing eyesight gave an additional reason for her presence at home, and she finally reached Haworth 2 Jan. 1844, with a certificate of her powers of teaching French, signed by M. Héger, and with the seal of the Athénée Royal. Her experiences at Brussels were used in the 'Professor,' and with surprising power in 'Villette,' which is to so great an extent a literal reproduction of her own personal history that some of the persons described complained of minor inaccuracies as though it had been avowedly a matter-of-fact narrative.

The plan of setting up a school was again discussed by the sisters. They could not leave their father, but with the sum left by Miss Branwell they intended to fit the parsonage for receiving pupils. No pupils, however, would come to the remote village, and troubles were accumulating. Branwell's early promise was vanishing. After his visit to London he made some efforts to gain a living by painting portraits. He passed two or three years in desultory efforts, but his want of any serious training was fatal. A portrait of his sisters, described by Mrs. Gaskell, shows that he had some power of seizing a likeness, but was otherwise a mere dauber. He took lodgings at Bradford, joined the meetings of 'the artistic and literary celebrities of the neighbourhood' at the George Hotel (, i. 203), and rambled about the country. He was a member of the masonic 'Lodge of the Three Graces' at Haworth, of which John Brown, the sexton, was 'worshipful master.' He learnt to take opium, and occasionally drank to excess. On 1 Jan. 1840 he became tutor in the family of Mr. Postlethwaite of Broughton-in-Furness, and soon afterwards wrote a letter to his friend the sexton (ib. i. 255-9), which proves sufficiently that he was deeply tainted with vicious habits. He next got a place as clerk on the Leeds and Manchester railroad, being employed at Sowerby Bridge from October 1840, and a few months later at Luddenden Foot. At the beginning of 1842 he was dismissed for culpable negligence in his accounts and the defalcations of a subordinate. After the Christmas holidays in that year he became tutor in a family where Anne was already a governess. Here he appears to have fallen in love with the wife of his employer, seventeen years his senior, and to have misinterpreted her kindness into a return of his affection. When his behaviour became openly offensive, she spoke to her husband, and Branwell was summarily dismissed in July 1845. He bragged to all his friends of his supposed conquest in the fashion of a village Don Juan, and chose to say that the lady acted under compulsion, and was ready to marry him upon her husband's death. Meanwhile he stayed with his father, still writing occasional scraps, and making applications for employment. He became reckless, took opium, and had attacks of delirium tremens. Emily Brontë appears to have tolerated him, Anne suffered cruelly, and Charlotte was indignant and disgusted. She speaks of his 'frantic folly,' says (3 March 1846) that it is 'scarcely possible to stay in the room where he is,' and regards the case as 'hopeless.' If he got a sovereign he spent it at the public-house. In 1846 his late employer died, and Branwell hoped, if, as is charitably suggested, he was under an hallucination, that the widow would marry him. He told his story to every one who would listen, adding that he would mention it to no other human being.