Summary of Chapters 29-32

Jane spends three days recuperating in bed, after she is taken in by the Rivers siblings. On the fourth day, she feels healthy again and follows the smell of bread baking in the kitchen, where she finds Hannah.
Jane criticizes Hannah for judging her unfairly when she asked for help, and Hannah apologizes.
Hannah tells Jane the story of Mr. Rivers, the siblings’ father, who lost most of the family fortune in a bad business deal. As a result, Diana and Mary were forced to work as governesses—they are only at Marsh End (or Moor House) now because their father died three weeks ago. Jane then relates some of her own story and admits that Jane Elliott is not her real name.
St. John promises to find her a job.

Jane befriends Diana and Mary, who admire her drawings and give her books to read. St. John, on the other hand, remains distant and cold,even though he is not a nasty person. After a month, Diana and Mary must return to their posts as governesses. St. John has found a position for Jane, running a charity school for girls in the town of Morton. Jane accepts, but St. John presumes that she will soon leave the school out of restlessness, perhaps because he himself is quite restless. His sisters suspect he will soon leave England for a missionary post overseas. St. John tells his sisters that their Uncle John has died and left them nothing, because all his money went to another, unknown, relative. Jane learns that it was Uncle John who led Mr. Rivers into his disastrous business deal.
At Morton, the wealthy heiress Rosamond Oliver provides Jane with a cottage to reside in. Jane begins teaching, but to her own regret, she finds the work degrading and disappointing. St. John visits Jane and reveals that he, too, used to feel that he had made the wrong career choice, until one day he heard God’s call. Now he plans to become a missionary. Out of nowhere the beautiful Rosamond Oliver then appears, interrupting St. John and Jane’s conversation. From their interaction, Jane believes that Rosamond and St. John are in love.
Jane’s students become more familiar and attached to her, and Jane becomes quite popular amongst them. At night, though, she has troubling nightmares that involve Rochester. Jane continues to pay attention to the relationship between St. John and Rosamond, who often visits the school when she knows St. John will be there. Rosamond asks Jane to draw her portrait. one day she is working on it St. John pays her a visit. He gives her a new book of poetry (Sir Walter Scott’s Marmion) and looks at the drawing. She offers to draw him a duplicate, and then boldly declares that he ought to marry Rosamond. St. John admits that he loves her and is tempted by her beauty, but he explains that he refuses to allow worldly affection to interfere with his holy duties. The flirtatious, silly, and shallow Rosamond would make a terrible wife for a missionary. Suddenly, St. John notices something on the edge of Jane’s paper and tears off a tiny piece—Jane is not certain why. With a stangelook on his face, he hurries from the room.