While a snowstorm whirls outside, Jane sits reading Marmion. Suddenly, she hears a noise at the door: it’s St. John. After a long delay, he tells Jane’s own story, ending by saying that finding Jane Eyre has become a matter of serious urgency. St. John explains that he discovered her true identity from the paper he tore from her art supplies, which had the name Jane Eyre inscribed on it. The reason everyone has been looking for Jane is that her uncle, Mr. Eyre of Madeira, is dead and has left his entire fortune to her, so she is now rich. Jane is astonished to learn she has inherited twenty thousand pounds and wishes she had a family to share it with.
As St. John prepares to leave, Jane asks why Mr. Briggs, Eyre’s attorney, sent him a letter inquiring about Jane’s whereabouts. St. John completes the story: his full name is St. John Eyre Rivers, so the Rivers are Jane’s cousins. Jane feels she’s found a brother and two sisters to love and admire; relatives, in her opinion, are real wealth, “wealth to the heart.” Now she has the opportunity to benefit those who saved her life. She decides to share her legacy with them, to divide it into four pieces, making five thousand pounds each. That way, justice will be done, and Jane will have a home and family. St. John reminds her of the lofty place should could take in society with twenty thousand pounds, but Jane insists that she’d rather have love.
