A Christmas frost had come at midsummer; a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts crushed the blowing roses; on hayfield and cornfield lay a frozen shroud.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 26. After the secret of Rochester’s wife is revealed, Jane’s desolation is conveyed by a series of metaphorical weather images. Her hopes of happiness have now turned to ice, frost and storm. She is once again a lonely orphan.