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Reverting to the subject of Alex's original post, it seems to me that what we have is simply some indirect speech punctuated in a way that is not now done.
- The novel was written in 1846 when maybe punctuation conventions were not quite as fixed as they are now.
- The 'Note on the Text' in my own copy of 'The Professor' (Penguin Classics 1989), specifically refers to Charlotte Bronte's 'somewhat idiosyncratic punctuation'.
I have an irritating feeling that I have seen another example of this in another novel from the period, but haven't managed to remember anything concrete enough to check.
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