Not quite: you have secured the shadow of your thought; but no more, probably. You had not enough of the artist's skill and science to give it full being: yet the drawings are, for a school-girl, peculiar. As to the thoughts, they are elfish.
Chapter 13 · Edward Rochester
Context
Rochester evaluates Jane's paintings after she has expressed dissatisfaction with them. He acknowledges their limitations while finding them strikingly unusual for a schoolgirl, calling the imaginative content 'elfish.'
Analysis
Rochester's metaphor 'you have secured the shadow of your thought' is both dismissive (only the shadow, not the substance) and surprisingly respectful—it credits Jane with having 'thoughts' substantial enough to cast shadows. The qualifier 'for a school-girl, peculiar' syntactically subordinates praise to condescension, but the word 'elfish' reverses this: it's the only term he offers without hedging, and it echoes his earlier attempt to cast Jane as fairy-like. By applying it to her 'thoughts' rather than her appearance, he shifts the otherworldliness from her body (where she can't control it) to her mind (where she can claim it as hers).
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Rochester's assessment of Jane's art reveals his attraction to her unconventionality—by calling her thoughts 'elfish,' he acknowledges an imaginative intensity that exceeds the feminine norm, previewing the intellectual equality their relationship will require.