I listened long: suddenly I discovered that my ear was wholly intent on analysing the mingled sounds, and trying to discriminate amidst the confusion of accents those of Mr. Rochester; and when it caught them, which it soon did, it found a further task in framing the tones, rendered by distance inarticulate, into words.
J'écoutai longtemps, étudiant toutes les voix et cherchant à distinguer au milieu de ce bruit confus les accents de M. Rochester, ce qui me fut facile; puis je m'efforçai de comprendre ces sons que la distance rendait vagues.