Brontë Apology Is Reported
The letters recount how the description of the school in "Jane Eyre" upset the Rev. William Carus-Wilson, who wrote to Brontë — his former student — and threatened her with legal action. But Brontë dissuaded him by sending a 1,400-word sketch, expurgated of the offending passages. Even so, she never changed the original book and the headmaster never pursued a legal case. The letters, discovered in a pile of documents sent by a book dealer to the auctioneer, are expected to fetch up to 100 pounds, or $185.