prompt:
Chapter: At the close of three weeks I was able to quit my chamber and move about
the house.  And on the first occasion of my sitting up in the evening I
asked Catherine to read to me, because my eyes were weak.  We were in the
library, the master having gone to bed: she consented, rather
unwillingly, I fancied; and imagining my sort of books did not suit her,
I bid her please herself in the choice of what she perused.  She selected
one of her own favourites, and got forward steadily about an hour; then
came frequent questions.

'Ellen, are not you tired?  Hadn't you better lie down now?  You'll be
sick, keeping up so long, Ellen.'

'No, no, dear, I'm not tired,' I returned, continually.

Perceiving me immovable, she essayed another method of showing her
disrelish for her occupation.  It changed to yawning, and stretching,
and--

'Ellen, I'm tired.'

'Give over then and talk,' I answered.

That was worse: she fretted and sighed, and looked at her watch till
eight, and finally went to her room, completely overdone with sleep;
judging by her peevish, heavy look, and the constant rubbing she
inflicted on her eyes.  The following night she seemed more impatient
still; and on the third from recovering my company she complained of a
headache, and left me.  I thought her conduct odd; and having remained
alone a long while, I resolved on going and inquiring whether she were
better, and asking her to come and lie on the sofa, instead of up-stairs
in the dark.  No Catherine could I discover up-stairs, and none below.
The servants affirmed they had not seen her.  I listened at Mr. Edgar's
door; all was silence.  I returned to her apartment, extinguished my
candle, and seated myself in the window.

The moon shone bright; a sprinkling of snow covered the ground, and I
reflected that she might, possibly, have taken it into her head to walk
about the garden, for refreshment.  I did detect a figure creeping along
the inner fence of the park; but it was not my young mistress: on its
emerging into the light, I recognised one of the grooms.  He stood a
considerable period, viewing the carriage-road through the grounds; then
started off at a brisk pace, as if he had detected something, and
reappeared presently, leading Miss's pony; and there she was, just
dismounted, and walking by its side.  The man took his charge stealthily
across the grass towards the stable.  Cathy entered by the
casement-window of the drawing-room, and glided noiselessly up to where I
awaited her.  She put the door gently too, slipped off her snowy shoes,
untied her hat, and was proceeding, unconscious of my espionage, to lay
aside her mantle, when I suddenly rose and revealed myself.  The surprise
petrified her an instant: she uttered an inarticulate exclamation, and
stood fixed.

'My dear Miss Catherine,' I began, too vividly impressed by her recent
kindness to break into a scold, 'where have you been riding out at this
hour?  And why should you try to deceive me by telling a tale?  Where
have you been?  Speak!'

'To the bottom of the park,' she stammered.  'I didn't tell a tale.'

'And nowhere else?' I demanded.

'No,' was the muttered reply.

'Oh, Catherine!' I cried, sorrowfully.  'You know you have been doing
wrong, or you wouldn't be driven to uttering an untruth to me.  That does
grieve me.  I'd rather be three months ill, than hear you frame a
deliberate lie.'

She sprang forward, and bursting into tears, threw her arms round my
neck.

'Well, Ellen, I'm so afraid of you being angry,' she said.  'Promise not
to be angry, and you shall know the very truth: I hate to hide it.'

We sat down in the window-seat; I assured her I would not scold, whatever
her secret might be, and I guessed it, of course; so she commenced--

'I've been to Wuthering Heights, Ellen, and I've never missed going a day
since you fell ill; except thrice before, and twice after you left your
room.  I gave Michael books and pictures to prepare Minny every evening,
and to put her back in the stable: you mustn't scold him either, mind.  I
was at the Heights by half-past six, and generally stayed till half-past
eight, and then galloped home.  It was not to amuse myself that I went: I
was often wretched all the time.  Now and then I was happy: once in a
week perhaps.  At first, I expected there would be sad work persuading
you to let me keep my word to Linton: for I had engaged to call again
next day, when we quitted him; but, as you stayed up-stairs on the
morrow, I escaped that trouble.  While Michael was refastening the lock
of the park door in the afternoon, I got possession of the key, and told
him how my cousin wished me to visit him, because he was sick, and
couldn't come to the Grange; and how papa would object to my going: and
then I negotiated with him about the pony.  He is fond of reading, and he
thinks of leaving soon to get married; so he offered, if I would lend him
books out of the library, to do what I wished: but I preferred giving him
my own, and that satisfied him better.

'On my second visit Linton seemed in lively spirits; and Zillah (that is
their housekeeper) made us a clean room and a good fire, and told us
that, as Joseph was out at a prayer-meeting and Hareton Earnshaw was off
with his dogs--robbing our woods of pheasants, as I heard afterwards--we
might do what we liked.  She brought me some warm wine and gingerbread,
and appeared exceedingly good-natured, and Linton sat in the arm-chair,
and I in the little rocking chair on the hearth-stone, and we laughed and
talked so merrily, and found so much to say: we planned where we would
go, and what we would do in summer.  I needn't repeat that, because you
would call it silly.

'One time, however, we were near quarrelling.  He said the pleasantest
manner of spending a hot July day was lying from morning till evening on
a bank of heath in the middle of the moors, with the bees humming
dreamily about among the bloom, and the larks singing high up overhead,
and the blue sky and bright sun shining steadily and cloudlessly.  That
was his most perfect idea of heaven's happiness: mine was rocking in a
rustling green tree, with a west wind blowing, and bright white clouds
flitting rapidly above; and not only larks, but throstles, and
blackbirds, and linnets, and cuckoos pouring out music on every side, and
the moors seen at a distance, broken into cool dusky dells; but close by
great swells of long grass undulating in waves to the breeze; and woods
and sounding water, and the whole world awake and wild with joy.  He
wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and
dance in a glorious jubilee.  I said his heaven would be only half alive;
and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and
he said he could not breathe in mine, and began to grow very snappish.  At
last, we agreed to try both, as soon as the right weather came; and then
we kissed each other and were friends.

'After sitting still an hour, I looked at the great room with its smooth
uncarpeted floor, and thought how nice it would be to play in, if we
removed the table; and I asked Linton to call Zillah in to help us, and
we'd have a game at blindman's-buff; she should try to catch us: you used
to, you know, Ellen.  He wouldn't: there was no pleasure in it, he said;
but he consented to play at ball with me.  We found two in a cupboard,
among a heap of old toys, tops, and hoops, and battledores and
shuttlecocks.  One was marked C., and the other H.; I wished to have the
C., because that stood for Catherine, and the H. might be for Heathcliff,
his name; but the bran came out of H., and Linton didn't like it.  I beat
him constantly: and he got cross again, and coughed, and returned to his
chair.  That night, though, he easily recovered his good humour: he was
charmed with two or three pretty songs--_your_ songs, Ellen; and when I
was obliged to go, he begged and entreated me to come the following
evening; and I promised.  Minny and I went flying home as light as air;
and I dreamt of Wuthering Heights and my sweet, darling cousin, till
morning.

'On the morrow I was sad; partly because you were poorly, and partly that
I wished my father knew, and approved of my excursions: but it was
beautiful moonlight after tea; and, as I rode on, the gloom cleared.  I
shall have another happy evening, I thought to myself; and what delights
me more, my pretty Linton will.  I trotted up their garden, and was
turning round to the back, when that fellow Earnshaw met me, took my
bridle, and bid me go in by the front entrance.  He patted Minny's neck,
and said she was a bonny beast, and appeared as if he wanted me to speak
to him.  I only told him to leave my horse alone, or else it would kick
him.  He answered in his vulgar accent, "It wouldn't do mitch hurt if it
did;" and surveyed its legs with a smile.  I was half inclined to make it
try; however, he moved off to open the door, and, as he raised the latch,
he looked up to the inscription above, and said, with a stupid mixture of
awkwardness and elation: "Miss Catherine!  I can read yon, now."

'"Wonderful," I exclaimed.  "Pray let us hear you--you _are_ grown
clever!"

'He spelt, and drawled over by syllables, the name--"Hareton Earnshaw."

'"And the figures?" I cried, encouragingly, perceiving that he came to a
dead halt.

'"I cannot tell them yet," he answered.

'"Oh, you dunce!" I said, laughing heartily at his failure.

'The fool stared, with a grin hovering about his lips, and a scowl
gathering over his eyes, as if uncertain whether he might not join in my
mirth: whether it were not pleasant familiarity, or what it really was,
contempt.  I settled his doubts, by suddenly retrieving my gravity and
desiring him to walk away, for I came to see Linton, not him.  He
reddened--I saw that by the moonlight--dropped his hand from the latch,
and skulked off, a picture of mortified vanity.  He imagined himself to
be as accomplished as Linton, I suppose, because he could spell his own
name; and was marvellously discomfited that I didn't think the same.'

'Stop, Miss Catherine, dear!'--I interrupted.  'I shall not scold, but I
don't like your conduct there.  If you had remembered that Hareton was
your cousin as much as Master Heathcliff, you would have felt how
improper it was to behave in that way.  At least, it was praiseworthy
ambition for him to desire to be as accomplished as Linton; and probably
he did not learn merely to show off: you had made him ashamed of his
ignorance before, I have no doubt; and he wished to remedy it and please
you.  To sneer at his imperfect attempt was very bad breeding.  Had you
been brought up in his circumstances, would you be less rude?  He was as
quick and as intelligent a child as ever you were; and I'm hurt that he
should be despised now, because that base Heathcliff has treated him so
unjustly.'

'Well, Ellen, you won't cry about it, will you?' she exclaimed, surprised
at my earnestness.  'But wait, and you shall hear if he conned his A B C
to please me; and if it were worth while being civil to the brute.  I
entered; Linton was lying on the settle, and half got up to welcome me.

'"I'm ill to-night, Catherine, love," he said; "and you must have all the
talk, and let me listen.  Come, and sit by me.  I was sure you wouldn't
break your word, and I'll make you promise again, before you go."

'I knew now that I mustn't tease him, as he was ill; and I spoke softly
and put no questions, and avoided irritating him in any way.  I had
brought some of my nicest books for him: he asked me to read a little of
one, and I was about to comply, when Earnshaw burst the door open: having
gathered venom with reflection.  He advanced direct to us, seized Linton
by the arm, and swung him off the seat.

'"Get to thy own room!" he said, in a voice almost inarticulate with
passion; and his face looked swelled and furious.  "Take her there if she
comes to see thee: thou shalln't keep me out of this.  Begone wi' ye
both!"

'He swore at us, and left Linton no time to answer, nearly throwing him
into the kitchen; and he clenched his fist as I followed, seemingly
longing to knock me down.  I was afraid for a moment, and I let one
volume fall; he kicked it after me, and shut us out.  I heard a
malignant, crackly laugh by the fire, and turning, beheld that odious
Joseph standing rubbing his bony hands, and quivering.

'"I wer sure he'd sarve ye out!  He's a grand lad!  He's getten t' raight
sperrit in him!  _He_ knaws--ay, he knaws, as weel as I do, who sud be t'
maister yonder--Ech, ech, ech!  He made ye skift properly!  Ech, ech,
ech!"

'"Where must we go?" I asked of my cousin, disregarding the old wretch's
mockery.

'Linton was white and trembling.  He was not pretty then, Ellen: oh, no!
he looked frightful; for his thin face and large eyes were wrought into
an expression of frantic, powerless fury.  He grasped the handle of the
door, and shook it: it was fastened inside.

'"If you don't let me in, I'll kill you!--If you don't let me in, I'll
kill you!" he rather shrieked than said.  "Devil! devil!--I'll kill
you--I'll kill you!"

Joseph uttered his croaking laugh again.

'"Thear, that's t' father!" he cried.  "That's father!  We've allas
summut o' either side in us.  Niver heed, Hareton, lad--dunnut be
'feard--he cannot get at thee!"

'I took hold of Linton's hands, and tried to pull him away; but he
shrieked so shockingly that I dared not proceed.  At last his cries were
choked by a dreadful fit of coughing; blood gushed from his mouth, and he
fell on the ground.  I ran into the yard, sick with terror; and called
for Zillah, as loud as I could.  She soon heard me: she was milking the
cows in a shed behind the barn, and hurrying from her work, she inquired
what there was to do?  I hadn't breath to explain; dragging her in, I
looked about for Linton.  Earnshaw had come out to examine the mischief
he had caused, and he was then conveying the poor thing up-stairs.  Zillah
and I ascended after him; but he stopped me at the top of the steps, and
said I shouldn't go in: I must go home.  I exclaimed that he had killed
Linton, and I _would_ enter.  Joseph locked the door, and declared I
should do "no sich stuff," and asked me whether I were "bahn to be as mad
as him."  I stood crying till the housekeeper reappeared.  She affirmed
he would be better in a bit, but he couldn't do with that shrieking and
din; and she took me, and nearly carried me into the house.

'Ellen, I was ready to tear my hair off my head!  I sobbed and wept so
that my eyes were almost blind; and the ruffian you have such sympathy
with stood opposite: presuming every now and then to bid me "wisht," and
denying that it was his fault; and, finally, frightened by my assertions
that I would tell papa, and that he should be put in prison and hanged,
he commenced blubbering himself, and hurried out to hide his cowardly
agitation.  Still, I was not rid of him: when at length they compelled me
to depart, and I had got some hundred yards off the premises, he suddenly
issued from the shadow of the road-side, and checked Minny and took hold
of me.

'"Miss Catherine, I'm ill grieved," he began, "but it's rayther too bad--"

'I gave him a cut with my whip, thinking perhaps he would murder me.  He
let go, thundering one of his horrid curses, and I galloped home more
than half out of my senses.

'I didn't bid you good-night that evening, and I didn't go to Wuthering
Heights the next: I wished to go exceedingly; but I was strangely
excited, and dreaded to hear that Linton was dead, sometimes; and
sometimes shuddered at the thought of encountering Hareton.  On the third
day I took courage: at least, I couldn't bear longer suspense, and stole
off once more.  I went at five o'clock, and walked; fancying I might
manage to creep into the house, and up to Linton's room, unobserved.
However, the dogs gave notice of my approach.  Zillah received me, and
saying "the lad was mending nicely," showed me into a small, tidy,
carpeted apartment, where, to my inexpressible joy, I beheld Linton laid
on a little sofa, reading one of my books.  But he would neither speak to
me nor look at me, through a whole hour, Ellen: he has such an unhappy
temper.  And what quite confounded me, when he did open his mouth, it was
to utter the falsehood that I had occasioned the uproar, and Hareton was
not to blame!  Unable to reply, except passionately, I got up and walked
from the room.  He sent after me a faint "Catherine!"  He did not reckon
on being answered so: but I wouldn't turn back; and the morrow was the
second day on which I stayed at home, nearly determined to visit him no
more.  But it was so miserable going to bed and getting up, and never
hearing anything about him, that my resolution melted into air before it
was properly formed.  It had appeared wrong to take the journey once; now
it seemed wrong to refrain.  Michael came to ask if he must saddle Minny;
I said "Yes," and considered myself doing a duty as she bore me over the
hills.  I was forced to pass the front windows to get to the court: it
was no use trying to conceal my presence.

'"Young master is in the house," said Zillah, as she saw me making for
the parlour.  I went in; Earnshaw was there also, but he quitted the room
directly.  Linton sat in the great arm-chair half asleep; walking up to
the fire, I began in a serious tone, partly meaning it to be true--

'"As you don't like me, Linton, and as you think I come on purpose to
hurt you, and pretend that I do so every time, this is our last meeting:
let us say good-bye; and tell Mr. Heathcliff that you have no wish to see
me, and that he mustn't invent any more falsehoods on the subject."

'"Sit down and take your hat off, Catherine," he answered.  "You are so
much happier than I am, you ought to be better.  Papa talks enough of my
defects, and shows enough scorn of me, to make it natural I should doubt
myself.  I doubt whether I am not altogether as worthless as he calls me,
frequently; and then I feel so cross and bitter, I hate everybody!  I am
worthless, and bad in temper, and bad in spirit, almost always; and, if
you choose, you may say good-bye: you'll get rid of an annoyance.  Only,
Catherine, do me this justice: believe that if I might be as sweet, and
as kind, and as good as you are, I would be; as willingly, and more so,
than as happy and as healthy.  And believe that your kindness has made me
love you deeper than if I deserved your love: and though I couldn't, and
cannot help showing my nature to you, I regret it and repent it; and
shall regret and repent it till I die!"

'I felt he spoke the truth; and I felt I must forgive him: and, though we
should quarrel the next moment, I must forgive him again.  We were
reconciled; but we cried, both of us, the whole time I stayed: not
entirely for sorrow; yet I _was_ sorry Linton had that distorted nature.
He'll never let his friends be at ease, and he'll never be at ease
himself!  I have always gone to his little parlour, since that night;
because his father returned the day after.

'About three times, I think, we have been merry and hopeful, as we were
the first evening; the rest of my visits were dreary and troubled: now
with his selfishness and spite, and now with his sufferings: but I've
learned to endure the former with nearly as little resentment as the
latter.  Mr. Heathcliff purposely avoids me: I have hardly seen him at
all.  Last Sunday, indeed, coming earlier than usual, I heard him abusing
poor Linton cruelly for his conduct of the night before.  I can't tell
how he knew of it, unless he listened.  Linton had certainly behaved
provokingly: however, it was the business of nobody but me, and I
interrupted Mr. Heathcliff's lecture by entering and telling him so.  He
burst into a laugh, and went away, saying he was glad I took that view of
the matter.  Since then, I've told Linton he must whisper his bitter
things.  Now, Ellen, you have heard all.  I can't be prevented from going
to Wuthering Heights, except by inflicting misery on two people; whereas,
if you'll only not tell papa, my going need disturb the tranquillity of
none.  You'll not tell, will you?  It will be very heartless, if you do.'

'I'll make up my mind on that point by to-morrow, Miss Catherine,' I
replied.  'It requires some study; and so I'll leave you to your rest,
and go think it over.'

I thought it over aloud, in my master's presence; walking straight from
her room to his, and relating the whole story: with the exception of her
conversations with her cousin, and any mention of Hareton.  Mr. Linton
was alarmed and distressed, more than he would acknowledge to me.  In the
morning, Catherine learnt my betrayal of her confidence, and she learnt
also that her secret visits were to end.  In vain she wept and writhed
against the interdict, and implored her father to have pity on Linton:
all she got to comfort her was a promise that he would write and give him
leave to come to the Grange when he pleased; but explaining that he must
no longer expect to see Catherine at Wuthering Heights.  Perhaps, had he
been aware of his nephew's disposition and state of health, he would have
seen fit to withhold even that slight consolation.

'These things happened last winter, sir,' said Mrs. Dean; 'hardly more
than a year ago.  Last winter, I did not think, at another twelve months'
end, I should be amusing a stranger to the family with relating them!
Yet, who knows how long you'll be a stranger?  You're too young to rest
always contented, living by yourself; and I some way fancy no one could
see Catherine Linton and not love her.  You smile; but why do you look so
lively and interested when I talk about her? and why have you asked me to
hang her picture over your fireplace? and why--?'

'Stop, my good friend!' I cried.  'It may be very possible that _I_
should love her; but would she love me?  I doubt it too much to venture
my tranquillity by running into temptation: and then my home is not here.
I'm of the busy world, and to its arms I must return.  Go on.  Was
Catherine obedient to her father's commands?'

'She was,' continued the housekeeper.  'Her affection for him was still
the chief sentiment in her heart; and he spoke without anger: he spoke in
the deep tenderness of one about to leave his treasure amid perils and
foes, where his remembered words would be the only aid that he could
bequeath to guide her.  He said to me, a few days afterwards, "I wish my
nephew would write, Ellen, or call.  Tell me, sincerely, what you think
of him: is he changed for the better, or is there a prospect of
improvement, as he grows a man?"

'"He's very delicate, sir," I replied; "and scarcely likely to reach
manhood: but this I can say, he does not resemble his father; and if Miss
Catherine had the misfortune to marry him, he would not be beyond her
control: unless she were extremely and foolishly indulgent.  However,
master, you'll have plenty of time to get acquainted with him and see
whether he would suit her: it wants four years and more to his being of
age."'

Edgar sighed; and, walking to the window, looked out towards Gimmerton
Kirk. It was a misty afternoon, but the February sun shone dimly, and we
could just distinguish the two fir-trees in the yard, and the
sparely-scattered gravestones.

'I've prayed often,' he half soliloquised, 'for the approach of what is
coming; and now I begin to shrink, and fear it.  I thought the memory of
the hour I came down that glen a bridegroom would be less sweet than the
anticipation that I was soon, in a few months, or, possibly, weeks, to be
carried up, and laid in its lonely hollow!  Ellen, I've been very happy
with my little Cathy: through winter nights and summer days she was a
living hope at my side.  But I've been as happy musing by myself among
those stones, under that old church: lying, through the long June
evenings, on the green mound of her mother's grave, and wishing--yearning
for the time when I might lie beneath it.  What can I do for Cathy?  How
must I quit her?  I'd not care one moment for Linton being Heathcliff's
son; nor for his taking her from me, if he could console her for my loss.
I'd not care that Heathcliff gained his ends, and triumphed in robbing me
of my last blessing!  But should Linton be unworthy--only a feeble tool
to his father--I cannot abandon her to him!  And, hard though it be to
crush her buoyant spirit, I must persevere in making her sad while I
live, and leaving her solitary when I die.  Darling!  I'd rather resign
her to God, and lay her in the earth before me.'

'Resign her to God as it is, sir,' I answered, 'and if we should lose
you--which may He forbid--under His providence, I'll stand her friend and
counsellor to the last.  Miss Catherine is a good girl: I don't fear that
she will go wilfully wrong; and people who do their duty are always
finally rewarded.'

Spring advanced; yet my master gathered no real strength, though he
resumed his walks in the grounds with his daughter.  To her inexperienced
notions, this itself was a sign of convalescence; and then his cheek was
often flushed, and his eyes were bright; she felt sure of his recovering.
On her seventeenth birthday, he did not visit the churchyard: it was
raining, and I observed--'You'll surely not go out to-night, sir?'

He answered,--'No, I'll defer it this year a little longer.'  He wrote
again to Linton, expressing his great desire to see him; and, had the
invalid been presentable, I've no doubt his father would have permitted
him to come.  As it was, being instructed, he returned an answer,
intimating that Mr. Heathcliff objected to his calling at the Grange; but
his uncle's kind remembrance delighted him, and he hoped to meet him
sometimes in his rambles, and personally to petition that his cousin and
he might not remain long so utterly divided.

That part of his letter was simple, and probably his own.  Heathcliff
knew he could plead eloquently for Catherine's company, then.

'I do not ask,' he said, 'that she may visit here; but am I never to see
her, because my father forbids me to go to her home, and you forbid her
to come to mine?  Do, now and then, ride with her towards the Heights;
and let us exchange a few words, in your presence!  We have done nothing
to deserve this separation; and you are not angry with me: you have no
reason to dislike me, you allow, yourself.  Dear uncle! send me a kind
note to-morrow, and leave to join you anywhere you please, except at
Thrushcross Grange.  I believe an interview would convince you that my
father's character is not mine: he affirms I am more your nephew than his
son; and though I have faults which render me unworthy of Catherine, she
has excused them, and for her sake, you should also.  You inquire after
my health--it is better; but while I remain cut off from all hope, and
doomed to solitude, or the society of those who never did and never will
like me, how can I be cheerful and well?'

Edgar, though he felt for the boy, could not consent to grant his
request; because he could not accompany Catherine.  He said, in summer,
perhaps, they might meet: meantime, he wished him to continue writing at
intervals, and engaged to give him what advice and comfort he was able by
letter; being well aware of his hard position in his family.  Linton
complied; and had he been unrestrained, would probably have spoiled all
by filling his epistles with complaints and lamentations: but his father
kept a sharp watch over him; and, of course, insisted on every line that
my master sent being shown; so, instead of penning his peculiar personal
sufferings and distresses, the themes constantly uppermost in his
thoughts, he harped on the cruel obligation of being held asunder from
his friend and love; and gently intimated that Mr. Linton must allow an
interview soon, or he should fear he was purposely deceiving him with
empty promises.

Cathy was a powerful ally at home; and between them they at length
persuaded my master to acquiesce in their having a ride or a walk
together about once a week, under my guardianship, and on the moors
nearest the Grange: for June found him still declining.  Though he had
set aside yearly a portion of his income for my young lady's fortune, he
had a natural desire that she might retain--or at least return in a short
time to--the house of her ancestors; and he considered her only prospect
of doing that was by a union with his heir; he had no idea that the
latter was failing almost as fast as himself; nor had any one, I believe:
no doctor visited the Heights, and no one saw Master Heathcliff to make
report of his condition among us.  I, for my part, began to fancy my
forebodings were false, and that he must be actually rallying, when he
mentioned riding and walking on the moors, and seemed so earnest in
pursuing his object.  I could not picture a father treating a dying child
as tyrannically and wickedly as I afterwards learned Heathcliff had
treated him, to compel this apparent eagerness: his efforts redoubling
the more imminently his avaricious and unfeeling plans were threatened
with defeat by death.

Summer was already past its prime, when Edgar reluctantly yielded his
assent to their entreaties, and Catherine and I set out on our first ride
to join her cousin.  It was a close, sultry day: devoid of sunshine, but
with a sky too dappled and hazy to threaten rain: and our place of
meeting had been fixed at the guide-stone, by the cross-roads.  On
arriving there, however, a little herd-boy, despatched as a messenger,
told us that,--'Maister Linton wer just o' this side th' Heights: and
he'd be mitch obleeged to us to gang on a bit further.'

'Then Master Linton has forgot the first injunction of his uncle,' I
observed: 'he bid us keep on the Grange land, and here we are off at
once.'

'Well, we'll turn our horses' heads round when we reach him,' answered my
companion; 'our excursion shall lie towards home.'

But when we reached him, and that was scarcely a quarter of a mile from
his own door, we found he had no horse; and we were forced to dismount,
and leave ours to graze.  He lay on the heath, awaiting our approach, and
did not rise till we came within a few yards.  Then he walked so feebly,
and looked so pale, that I immediately exclaimed,--'Why, Master
Heathcliff, you are not fit for enjoying a ramble this morning.  How ill
you do look!'

Catherine surveyed him with grief and astonishment: she changed the
ejaculation of joy on her lips to one of alarm; and the congratulation on
their long-postponed meeting to an anxious inquiry, whether he were worse
than usual?

'No--better--better!' he panted, trembling, and retaining her hand as if
he needed its support, while his large blue eyes wandered timidly over
her; the hollowness round them transforming to haggard wildness the
languid expression they once possessed.

'But you have been worse,' persisted his cousin; 'worse than when I saw
you last; you are thinner, and--'

'I'm tired,' he interrupted, hurriedly.  'It is too hot for walking, let
us rest here.  And, in the morning, I often feel sick--papa says I grow
so fast.'

Badly satisfied, Cathy sat down, and he reclined beside her.

'This is something like your paradise,' said she, making an effort at
cheerfulness.  'You recollect the two days we agreed to spend in the
place and way each thought pleasantest?  This is nearly yours, only there
are clouds; but then they are so soft and mellow: it is nicer than
sunshine.  Next week, if you can, we'll ride down to the Grange Park, and
try mine.'

Linton did not appear to remember what she talked of and he had evidently
great difficulty in sustaining any kind of conversation.  His lack of
interest in the subjects she started, and his equal incapacity to
contribute to her entertainment, were so obvious that she could not
conceal her disappointment.  An indefinite alteration had come over his
whole person and manner.  The pettishness that might be caressed into
fondness, had yielded to a listless apathy; there was less of the peevish
temper of a child which frets and teases on purpose to be soothed, and
more of the self-absorbed moroseness of a confirmed invalid, repelling
consolation, and ready to regard the good-humoured mirth of others as an
insult.  Catherine perceived, as well as I did, that he held it rather a
punishment, than a gratification, to endure our company; and she made no
scruple of proposing, presently, to depart.  That proposal, unexpectedly,
roused Linton from his lethargy, and threw him into a strange state of
agitation.  He glanced fearfully towards the Heights, begging she would
remain another half-hour, at least.

'But I think,' said Cathy, 'you'd be more comfortable at home than
sitting here; and I cannot amuse you to-day, I see, by my tales, and
songs, and chatter: you have grown wiser than I, in these six months; you
have little taste for my diversions now: or else, if I could amuse you,
I'd willingly stay.'

'Stay to rest yourself,' he replied.  'And, Catherine, don't think or say
that I'm _very_ unwell: it is the heavy weather and heat that make me
dull; and I walked about, before you came, a great deal for me.  Tell
uncle I'm in tolerable health, will you?'

'I'll tell him that _you_ say so, Linton.  I couldn't affirm that you
are,' observed my young lady, wondering at his pertinacious assertion of
what was evidently an untruth.

'And be here again next Thursday,' continued he, shunning her puzzled
gaze.  'And give him my thanks for permitting you to come--my best
thanks, Catherine.  And--and, if you _did_ meet my father, and he asked
you about me, don't lead him to suppose that I've been extremely silent
and stupid: don't look sad and downcast, as you are doing--he'll be
angry.'

'I care nothing for his anger,' exclaimed Cathy, imagining she would be
its object.

'But I do,' said her cousin, shuddering.  '_Don't_ provoke him against
me, Catherine, for he is very hard.'

'Is he severe to you, Master Heathcliff?' I inquired.  'Has he grown
weary of indulgence, and passed from passive to active hatred?'

Linton looked at me, but did not answer; and, after keeping her seat by
his side another ten minutes, during which his head fell drowsily on his
breast, and he uttered nothing except suppressed moans of exhaustion or
pain, Cathy began to seek solace in looking for bilberries, and sharing
the produce of her researches with me: she did not offer them to him, for
she saw further notice would only weary and annoy.

'Is it half-an-hour now, Ellen?' she whispered in my ear, at last.  'I
can't tell why we should stay.  He's asleep, and papa will be wanting us
back.'

'Well, we must not leave him asleep,' I answered; 'wait till he wakes,
and be patient.  You were mighty eager to set off, but your longing to
see poor Linton has soon evaporated!'

'Why did _he_ wish to see me?' returned Catherine.  'In his crossest
humours, formerly, I liked him better than I do in his present curious
mood.  It's just as if it were a task he was compelled to perform--this
interview--for fear his father should scold him.  But I'm hardly going to
come to give Mr. Heathcliff pleasure; whatever reason he may have for
ordering Linton to undergo this penance.  And, though I'm glad he's
better in health, I'm sorry he's so much less pleasant, and so much less
affectionate to me.'

'You think _he is_ better in health, then?' I said.

'Yes,' she answered; 'because he always made such a great deal of his
sufferings, you know.  He is not tolerably well, as he told me to tell
papa; but he's better, very likely.'

'There you differ with me, Miss Cathy,' I remarked; 'I should conjecture
him to be far worse.'

Linton here started from his slumber in bewildered terror, and asked if
any one had called his name.

'No,' said Catherine; 'unless in dreams.  I cannot conceive how you
manage to doze out of doors, in the morning.'

'I thought I heard my father,' he gasped, glancing up to the frowning nab
above us.  'You are sure nobody spoke?'

'Quite sure,' replied his cousin.  'Only Ellen and I were disputing
concerning your health.  Are you truly stronger, Linton, than when we
separated in winter?  If you be, I'm certain one thing is not
stronger--your regard for me: speak,--are you?'

The tears gushed from Linton's eyes as he answered, 'Yes, yes, I am!'
And, still under the spell of the imaginary voice, his gaze wandered up
and down to detect its owner.

Cathy rose.  'For to-day we must part,' she said.  'And I won't conceal
that I have been sadly disappointed with our meeting; though I'll mention
it to nobody but you: not that I stand in awe of Mr. Heathcliff.'

'Hush,' murmured Linton; 'for God's sake, hush!  He's coming.'  And he
clung to Catherine's arm, striving to detain her; but at that
announcement she hastily disengaged herself, and whistled to Minny, who
obeyed her like a dog.

'I'll be here next Thursday,' she cried, springing to the saddle.
'Good-bye. Quick, Ellen!'

And so we left him, scarcely conscious of our departure, so absorbed was
he in anticipating his father's approach.

Before we reached home, Catherine's displeasure softened into a perplexed
sensation of pity and regret, largely blended with vague, uneasy doubts
about Linton's actual circumstances, physical and social: in which I
partook, though I counselled her not to say much; for a second journey
would make us better judges.  My master requested an account of our
ongoings.  His nephew's offering of thanks was duly delivered, Miss Cathy
gently touching on the rest: I also threw little light on his inquiries,
for I hardly knew what to hide and what to reveal.

Q: Can you write an appropriate summary of the above paragraphs?
A:

completion: Nelly 'recovers' her health and becomes aware of Catherine's strange behavior of retiring early to bed. One night she goes into Catherine's room and finds her missing and waits for her return. Catherine tries to lie her way out of her predicament, but eventually she tells Nelly the truth. On one of the occasions when she is at Wuthering Heights, Hareton stops Catherine and says that he can read the name above the door. Catherine says to him &#8216do you know what the numbers are?' and he is unable to respond. This angers Hareton and he takes his anger out on Linton. Later Hareton apologies to Catherine regarding his behavior, but she refuses to listen to him. Linton blames Catherine for angering Hareton so Catherine leaves and doesn't return for some time. When she does go back, she tells Linton that she cannot visit him any more, so he apologizes for his behavior. It is at this time that Nelly decides to tell Edgar what has been happening and he forbids Catherine to visit Linton, but says that he will write inviting Linton to visit the Grange. Catherine agrees to abide by her father's wishes. He only wants Catherine to be happy, and would even allow her to marry Linton if she really desired this, even although it would mean that Heathcliff would achieve his perverted aims. Linton does not accept the invitation, and eventually Edgar allows Catherine to visit Linton on the moors. As arranged, Nelly and Catherine go onto the moors to meet with Linton, but he is not at the meeting place. They eventually find him within view of Wuthering Heights and he seems to be apprehensive about venturing far from his home. Both Catherine and Nelly are concerned about Linton's health, but they agree to meet again in a few days.


prompt:
Chapter: Seven days glided away, every one marking its course by the henceforth
rapid alteration of Edgar Linton's state.  The havoc that months had
previously wrought was now emulated by the inroads of hours.  Catherine
we would fain have deluded yet; but her own quick spirit refused to
delude her: it divined in secret, and brooded on the dreadful
probability, gradually ripening into certainty.  She had not the heart to
mention her ride, when Thursday came round; I mentioned it for her, and
obtained permission to order her out of doors: for the library, where her
father stopped a short time daily--the brief period he could bear to sit
up--and his chamber, had become her whole world.  She grudged each moment
that did not find her bending over his pillow, or seated by his side.  Her
countenance grew wan with watching and sorrow, and my master gladly
dismissed her to what he flattered himself would be a happy change of
scene and society; drawing comfort from the hope that she would not now
be left entirely alone after his death.

He had a fixed idea, I guessed by several observations he let fall, that,
as his nephew resembled him in person, he would resemble him in mind; for
Linton's letters bore few or no indications of his defective character.
And I, through pardonable weakness, refrained from correcting the error;
asking myself what good there would be in disturbing his last moments
with information that he had neither power nor opportunity to turn to
account.

We deferred our excursion till the afternoon; a golden afternoon of
August: every breath from the hills so full of life, that it seemed
whoever respired it, though dying, might revive.  Catherine's face was
just like the landscape--shadows and sunshine flitting over it in rapid
succession; but the shadows rested longer, and the sunshine was more
transient; and her poor little heart reproached itself for even that
passing forgetfulness of its cares.

We discerned Linton watching at the same spot he had selected before.  My
young mistress alighted, and told me that, as she was resolved to stay a
very little while, I had better hold the pony and remain on horseback;
but I dissented: I wouldn't risk losing sight of the charge committed to
me a minute; so we climbed the slope of heath together.  Master
Heathcliff received us with greater animation on this occasion: not the
animation of high spirits though, nor yet of joy; it looked more like
fear.

'It is late!' he said, speaking short and with difficulty.  'Is not your
father very ill?  I thought you wouldn't come.'

'_Why_ won't you be candid?' cried Catherine, swallowing her greeting.
'Why cannot you say at once you don't want me?  It is strange, Linton,
that for the second time you have brought me here on purpose, apparently
to distress us both, and for no reason besides!'

Linton shivered, and glanced at her, half supplicating, half ashamed; but
his cousin's patience was not sufficient to endure this enigmatical
behaviour.

'My father _is_ very ill,' she said; 'and why am I called from his
bedside?  Why didn't you send to absolve me from my promise, when you
wished I wouldn't keep it?  Come!  I desire an explanation: playing and
trifling are completely banished out of my mind; and I can't dance
attendance on your affectations now!'

'My affectations!' he murmured; 'what are they?  For heaven's sake,
Catherine, don't look so angry!  Despise me as much as you please; I am a
worthless, cowardly wretch: I can't be scorned enough; but I'm too mean
for your anger.  Hate my father, and spare me for contempt.'

'Nonsense!' cried Catherine in a passion.  'Foolish, silly boy!  And
there! he trembles: as if I were really going to touch him!  You needn't
bespeak contempt, Linton: anybody will have it spontaneously at your
service.  Get off!  I shall return home: it is folly dragging you from
the hearth-stone, and pretending--what do we pretend?  Let go my frock!
If I pitied you for crying and looking so very frightened, you should
spurn such pity.  Ellen, tell him how disgraceful this conduct is.  Rise,
and don't degrade yourself into an abject reptile--_don't_!'

With streaming face and an expression of agony, Linton had thrown his
nerveless frame along the ground: he seemed convulsed with exquisite
terror.

'Oh!' he sobbed, 'I cannot bear it!  Catherine, Catherine, I'm a traitor,
too, and I dare not tell you!  But leave me, and I shall be killed!
_Dear_ Catherine, my life is in your hands: and you have said you loved
me, and if you did, it wouldn't harm you.  You'll not go, then? kind,
sweet, good Catherine!  And perhaps you _will_ consent--and he'll let me
die with you!'

My young lady, on witnessing his intense anguish, stooped to raise him.
The old feeling of indulgent tenderness overcame her vexation, and she
grew thoroughly moved and alarmed.

'Consent to what?' she asked.  'To stay! tell me the meaning of this
strange talk, and I will.  You contradict your own words, and distract
me!  Be calm and frank, and confess at once all that weighs on your
heart.  You wouldn't injure me, Linton, would you?  You wouldn't let any
enemy hurt me, if you could prevent it?  I'll believe you are a coward,
for yourself, but not a cowardly betrayer of your best friend.'

'But my father threatened me,' gasped the boy, clasping his attenuated
fingers, 'and I dread him--I dread him!  I _dare_ not tell!'

'Oh, well!' said Catherine, with scornful compassion, 'keep your secret:
_I'm_ no coward.  Save yourself: I'm not afraid!'

Her magnanimity provoked his tears: he wept wildly, kissing her
supporting hands, and yet could not summon courage to speak out.  I was
cogitating what the mystery might be, and determined Catherine should
never suffer to benefit him or any one else, by my good will; when,
hearing a rustle among the ling, I looked up and saw Mr. Heathcliff
almost close upon us, descending the Heights.  He didn't cast a glance
towards my companions, though they were sufficiently near for Linton's
sobs to be audible; but hailing me in the almost hearty tone he assumed
to none besides, and the sincerity of which I couldn't avoid doubting, he
said--

'It is something to see you so near to my house, Nelly.  How are you at
the Grange?  Let us hear.  The rumour goes,' he added, in a lower tone,
'that Edgar Linton is on his death-bed: perhaps they exaggerate his
illness?'

'No; my master is dying,' I replied: 'it is true enough.  A sad thing it
will be for us all, but a blessing for him!'

'How long will he last, do you think?' he asked.

'I don't know,' I said.

'Because,' he continued, looking at the two young people, who were fixed
under his eye--Linton appeared as if he could not venture to stir or
raise his head, and Catherine could not move, on his account--'because
that lad yonder seems determined to beat me; and I'd thank his uncle to
be quick, and go before him!  Hallo! has the whelp been playing that game
long?  I _did_ give him some lessons about snivelling.  Is he pretty
lively with Miss Linton generally?'

'Lively? no--he has shown the greatest distress,' I answered.  'To see
him, I should say, that instead of rambling with his sweetheart on the
hills, he ought to be in bed, under the hands of a doctor.'

'He shall be, in a day or two,' muttered Heathcliff.  'But first--get up,
Linton!  Get up!' he shouted.  'Don't grovel on the ground there up, this
moment!'

Linton had sunk prostrate again in another paroxysm of helpless fear,
caused by his father's glance towards him, I suppose: there was nothing
else to produce such humiliation.  He made several efforts to obey, but
his little strength was annihilated for the time, and he fell back again
with a moan.  Mr. Heathcliff advanced, and lifted him to lean against a
ridge of turf.

'Now,' said he, with curbed ferocity, 'I'm getting angry and if you don't
command that paltry spirit of yours--_damn_ you! get up directly!'

'I will, father,' he panted.  'Only, let me alone, or I shall faint.  I've
done as you wished, I'm sure.  Catherine will tell you that I--that
I--have been cheerful.  Ah! keep by me, Catherine; give me your hand.'

'Take mine,' said his father; 'stand on your feet.  There now--she'll
lend you her arm: that's right, look at her.  You would imagine I was the
devil himself, Miss Linton, to excite such horror.  Be so kind as to walk
home with him, will you?  He shudders if I touch him.'

'Linton dear!' whispered Catherine, 'I can't go to Wuthering Heights:
papa has forbidden me.  He'll not harm you: why are you so afraid?'

'I can never re-enter that house,' he answered.  'I'm _not_ to re-enter
it without you!'

'Stop!' cried his father.  'We'll respect Catherine's filial scruples.
Nelly, take him in, and I'll follow your advice concerning the doctor,
without delay.'

'You'll do well,' replied I.  'But I must remain with my mistress: to
mind your son is not my business.'

'You are very stiff,' said Heathcliff, 'I know that: but you'll force me
to pinch the baby and make it scream before it moves your charity.  Come,
then, my hero.  Are you willing to return, escorted by me?'

He approached once more, and made as if he would seize the fragile being;
but, shrinking back, Linton clung to his cousin, and implored her to
accompany him, with a frantic importunity that admitted no denial.
However I disapproved, I couldn't hinder her: indeed, how could she have
refused him herself?  What was filling him with dread we had no means of
discerning; but there he was, powerless under its grip, and any addition
seemed capable of shocking him into idiotcy.  We reached the threshold;
Catherine walked in, and I stood waiting till she had conducted the
invalid to a chair, expecting her out immediately; when Mr. Heathcliff,
pushing me forward, exclaimed--'My house is not stricken with the plague,
Nelly; and I have a mind to be hospitable to-day: sit down, and allow me
to shut the door.'

He shut and locked it also.  I started.

'You shall have tea before you go home,' he added.  'I am by myself.
Hareton is gone with some cattle to the Lees, and Zillah and Joseph are
off on a journey of pleasure; and, though I'm used to being alone, I'd
rather have some interesting company, if I can get it.  Miss Linton, take
your seat by _him_.  I give you what I have: the present is hardly worth
accepting; but I have nothing else to offer.  It is Linton, I mean.  How
she does stare!  It's odd what a savage feeling I have to anything that
seems afraid of me!  Had I been born where laws are less strict and
tastes less dainty, I should treat myself to a slow vivisection of those
two, as an evening's amusement.'

He drew in his breath, struck the table, and swore to himself, 'By hell!
I hate them.'

'I am not afraid of you!' exclaimed Catherine, who could not hear the
latter part of his speech.  She stepped close up; her black eyes flashing
with passion and resolution.  'Give me that key: I will have it!' she
said.  'I wouldn't eat or drink here, if I were starving.'

Heathcliff had the key in his hand that remained on the table.  He looked
up, seized with a sort of surprise at her boldness; or, possibly,
reminded, by her voice and glance, of the person from whom she inherited
it.  She snatched at the instrument, and half succeeded in getting it out
of his loosened fingers: but her action recalled him to the present; he
recovered it speedily.

'Now, Catherine Linton,' he said, 'stand off, or I shall knock you down;
and, that will make Mrs. Dean mad.'

Regardless of this warning, she captured his closed hand and its contents
again.  'We _will_ go!' she repeated, exerting her utmost efforts to cause
the iron muscles to relax; and finding that her nails made no impression,
she applied her teeth pretty sharply.  Heathcliff glanced at me a glance
that kept me from interfering a moment.  Catherine was too intent on his
fingers to notice his face.  He opened them suddenly, and resigned the
object of dispute; but, ere she had well secured it, he seized her with
the liberated hand, and, pulling her on his knee, administered with the
other a shower of terrific slaps on both sides of the head, each
sufficient to have fulfilled his threat, had she been able to fall.

At this diabolical violence I rushed on him furiously. 'You villain!' I
began to cry, 'you villain!' A touch on the chest silenced me: I am
stout, and soon put out of breath; and, what with that and the rage, I
staggered dizzily back and felt ready to suffocate, or to burst a
blood-vessel. The scene was over in two minutes; Catherine, released,
put her two hands to her temples, and looked just as if she were not
sure whether her ears were off or on. She trembled like a reed, poor
thing, and leant against the table perfectly bewildered.

'I know how to chastise children, you see,' said the scoundrel, grimly,
as he stooped to repossess himself of the key, which had dropped to the
floor.  'Go to Linton now, as I told you; and cry at your ease!  I shall
be your father, to-morrow--all the father you'll have in a few days--and
you shall have plenty of that.  You can bear plenty; you're no weakling:
you shall have a daily taste, if I catch such a devil of a temper in your
eyes again!'

Cathy ran to me instead of Linton, and knelt down and put her burning
cheek on my lap, weeping aloud.  Her cousin had shrunk into a corner of
the settle, as quiet as a mouse, congratulating himself, I dare say, that
the correction had alighted on another than him.  Mr. Heathcliff,
perceiving us all confounded, rose, and expeditiously made the tea
himself.  The cups and saucers were laid ready.  He poured it out, and
handed me a cup.

'Wash away your spleen,' he said.  'And help your own naughty pet and
mine.  It is not poisoned, though I prepared it.  I'm going out to seek
your horses.'

Our first thought, on his departure, was to force an exit somewhere.  We
tried the kitchen door, but that was fastened outside: we looked at the
windows--they were too narrow for even Cathy's little figure.

'Master Linton,' I cried, seeing we were regularly imprisoned, 'you know
what your diabolical father is after, and you shall tell us, or I'll box
your ears, as he has done your cousin's.'

'Yes, Linton, you must tell,' said Catherine.  'It was for your sake I
came; and it will be wickedly ungrateful if you refuse.'

'Give me some tea, I'm thirsty, and then I'll tell you,' he answered.
'Mrs. Dean, go away.  I don't like you standing over me.  Now, Catherine,
you are letting your tears fall into my cup.  I won't drink that.  Give
me another.'  Catherine pushed another to him, and wiped her face.  I
felt disgusted at the little wretch's composure, since he was no longer
in terror for himself.  The anguish he had exhibited on the moor subsided
as soon as ever he entered Wuthering Heights; so I guessed he had been
menaced with an awful visitation of wrath if he failed in decoying us
there; and, that accomplished, he had no further immediate fears.

'Papa wants us to be married,' he continued, after sipping some of the
liquid.  'And he knows your papa wouldn't let us marry now; and he's
afraid of my dying if we wait; so we are to be married in the morning,
and you are to stay here all night; and, if you do as he wishes, you
shall return home next day, and take me with you.'

'Take you with her, pitiful changeling!' I exclaimed.  '_You_ marry?  Why,
the man is mad! or he thinks us fools, every one.  And do you imagine
that beautiful young lady, that healthy, hearty girl, will tie herself to
a little perishing monkey like you?  Are you cherishing the notion that
anybody, let alone Miss Catherine Linton, would have you for a husband?
You want whipping for bringing us in here at all, with your dastardly
puling tricks: and--don't look so silly, now!  I've a very good mind to
shake you severely, for your contemptible treachery, and your imbecile
conceit.'

I did give him a slight shaking; but it brought on the cough, and he took
to his ordinary resource of moaning and weeping, and Catherine rebuked
me.

'Stay all night?  No,' she said, looking slowly round.  'Ellen, I'll burn
that door down but I'll get out.'

And she would have commenced the execution of her threat directly, but
Linton was up in alarm for his dear self again.  He clasped her in his
two feeble arms sobbing:--'Won't you have me, and save me? not let me
come to the Grange?  Oh, darling Catherine! you mustn't go and leave,
after all.  You _must_ obey my father--you _must_!'

'I must obey my own,' she replied, 'and relieve him from this cruel
suspense.  The whole night!  What would he think?  He'll be distressed
already.  I'll either break or burn a way out of the house.  Be quiet!
You're in no danger; but if you hinder me--Linton, I love papa better
than you!'  The mortal terror he felt of Mr. Heathcliff's anger restored
to the boy his coward's eloquence.  Catherine was near distraught: still,
she persisted that she must go home, and tried entreaty in her turn,
persuading him to subdue his selfish agony.  While they were thus
occupied, our jailor re-entered.

'Your beasts have trotted off,' he said, 'and--now Linton! snivelling
again?  What has she been doing to you?  Come, come--have done, and get
to bed.  In a month or two, my lad, you'll be able to pay her back her
present tyrannies with a vigorous hand.  You're pining for pure love, are
you not? nothing else in the world: and she shall have you!  There, to
bed!  Zillah won't be here to-night; you must undress yourself.  Hush!
hold your noise!  Once in your own room, I'll not come near you: you
needn't fear.  By chance, you've managed tolerably.  I'll look to the
rest.'

He spoke these words, holding the door open for his son to pass, and the
latter achieved his exit exactly as a spaniel might which suspected the
person who attended on it of designing a spiteful squeeze.  The lock was
re-secured.  Heathcliff approached the fire, where my mistress and I
stood silent.  Catherine looked up, and instinctively raised her hand to
her cheek: his neighbourhood revived a painful sensation.  Anybody else
would have been incapable of regarding the childish act with sternness,
but he scowled on her and muttered--'Oh! you are not afraid of me?  Your
courage is well disguised: you seem damnably afraid!'

'I _am_ afraid now,' she replied, 'because, if I stay, papa will be
miserable: and how can I endure making him miserable--when he--when
he--Mr. Heathcliff, let _me_ go home!  I promise to marry Linton: papa
would like me to: and I love him.  Why should you wish to force me to do
what I'll willingly do of myself?'

'Let him dare to force you,' I cried.  'There's law in the land, thank
God! there is; though we be in an out-of-the-way place.  I'd inform if he
were my own son: and it's felony without benefit of clergy!'

'Silence!' said the ruffian.  'To the devil with your clamour!  I don't
want _you_ to speak.  Miss Linton, I shall enjoy myself remarkably in
thinking your father will be miserable: I shall not sleep for
satisfaction.  You could have hit on no surer way of fixing your
residence under my roof for the next twenty-four hours than informing me
that such an event would follow.  As to your promise to marry Linton,
I'll take care you shall keep it; for you shall not quit this place till
it is fulfilled.'

'Send Ellen, then, to let papa know I'm safe!' exclaimed Catherine,
weeping bitterly.  'Or marry me now.  Poor papa!  Ellen, he'll think
we're lost.  What shall we do?'

'Not he!  He'll think you are tired of waiting on him, and run off for a
little amusement,' answered Heathcliff.  'You cannot deny that you
entered my house of your own accord, in contempt of his injunctions to
the contrary.  And it is quite natural that you should desire amusement
at your age; and that you would weary of nursing a sick man, and that man
_only_ your father.  Catherine, his happiest days were over when your
days began.  He cursed you, I dare say, for coming into the world (I did,
at least); and it would just do if he cursed you as _he_ went out of it.
I'd join him.  I don't love you!  How should I?  Weep away.  As far as I
can see, it will be your chief diversion hereafter; unless Linton make
amends for other losses: and your provident parent appears to fancy he
may.  His letters of advice and consolation entertained me vastly.  In
his last he recommended my jewel to be careful of his; and kind to her
when he got her.  Careful and kind--that's paternal.  But Linton requires
his whole stock of care and kindness for himself.  Linton can play the
little tyrant well.  He'll undertake to torture any number of cats, if
their teeth be drawn and their claws pared.  You'll be able to tell his
uncle fine tales of his _kindness_, when you get home again, I assure
you.'

'You're right there!' I said; 'explain your son's character.  Show his
resemblance to yourself: and then, I hope, Miss Cathy will think twice
before she takes the cockatrice!'

'I don't much mind speaking of his amiable qualities now,' he answered;
'because she must either accept him or remain a prisoner, and you along
with her, till your master dies.  I can detain you both, quite concealed,
here.  If you doubt, encourage her to retract her word, and you'll have
an opportunity of judging!'

'I'll not retract my word,' said Catherine.  'I'll marry him within this
hour, if I may go to Thrushcross Grange afterwards.  Mr. Heathcliff,
you're a cruel man, but you're not a fiend; and you won't, from _mere_
malice, destroy irrevocably all my happiness.  If papa thought I had left
him on purpose, and if he died before I returned, could I bear to live?
I've given over crying: but I'm going to kneel here, at your knee; and
I'll not get up, and I'll not take my eyes from your face till you look
back at me!  No, don't turn away! _do look_! you'll see nothing to
provoke you.  I don't hate you.  I'm not angry that you struck me.  Have
you never loved _anybody_ in all your life, uncle? _never_?  Ah! you must
look once.  I'm so wretched, you can't help being sorry and pitying me.'

'Keep your eft's fingers off; and move, or I'll kick you!' cried
Heathcliff, brutally repulsing her.  'I'd rather be hugged by a snake.
How the devil can you dream of fawning on me?  I _detest_ you!'

He shrugged his shoulders: shook himself, indeed, as if his flesh crept
with aversion; and thrust back his chair; while I got up, and opened my
mouth, to commence a downright torrent of abuse.  But I was rendered dumb
in the middle of the first sentence, by a threat that I should be shown
into a room by myself the very next syllable I uttered.  It was growing
dark--we heard a sound of voices at the garden-gate.  Our host hurried
out instantly: _he_ had his wits about him; _we_ had not.  There was a
talk of two or three minutes, and he returned alone.

'I thought it had been your cousin Hareton,' I observed to Catherine.  'I
wish he would arrive!  Who knows but he might take our part?'

'It was three servants sent to seek you from the Grange,' said
Heathcliff, overhearing me.  'You should have opened a lattice and called
out: but I could swear that chit is glad you didn't.  She's glad to be
obliged to stay, I'm certain.'

At learning the chance we had missed, we both gave vent to our grief
without control; and he allowed us to wail on till nine o'clock.  Then he
bid us go upstairs, through the kitchen, to Zillah's chamber; and I
whispered my companion to obey: perhaps we might contrive to get through
the window there, or into a garret, and out by its skylight.  The window,
however, was narrow, like those below, and the garret trap was safe from
our attempts; for we were fastened in as before.  We neither of us lay
down: Catherine took her station by the lattice, and watched anxiously
for morning; a deep sigh being the only answer I could obtain to my
frequent entreaties that she would try to rest.  I seated myself in a
chair, and rocked to and fro, passing harsh judgment on my many
derelictions of duty; from which, it struck me then, all the misfortunes
of my employers sprang.  It was not the case, in reality, I am aware; but
it was, in my imagination, that dismal night; and I thought Heathcliff
himself less guilty than I.

At seven o'clock he came, and inquired if Miss Linton had risen.  She ran
to the door immediately, and answered, 'Yes.'  'Here, then,' he said,
opening it, and pulling her out.  I rose to follow, but he turned the
lock again.  I demanded my release.

'Be patient,' he replied; 'I'll send up your breakfast in a while.'

I thumped on the panels, and rattled the latch angrily and Catherine
asked why I was still shut up?  He answered, I must try to endure it
another hour, and they went away.  I endured it two or three hours; at
length, I heard a footstep: not Heathcliff's.

'I've brought you something to eat,' said a voice; 'oppen t' door!'

Complying eagerly, I beheld Hareton, laden with food enough to last me
all day.

'Tak' it,' he added, thrusting the tray into my hand.

'Stay one minute,' I began.

'Nay,' cried he, and retired, regardless of any prayers I could pour
forth to detain him.

And there I remained enclosed the whole day, and the whole of the next
night; and another, and another.  Five nights and four days I remained,
altogether, seeing nobody but Hareton once every morning; and he was a
model of a jailor: surly, and dumb, and deaf to every attempt at moving
his sense of justice or compassion.

On the fifth morning, or rather afternoon, a different step
approached--lighter and shorter; and, this time, the person entered the
room.  It was Zillah; donned in her scarlet shawl, with a black silk
bonnet on her head, and a willow-basket swung to her arm.

'Eh, dear!  Mrs. Dean!' she exclaimed.  'Well! there is a talk about you
at Gimmerton.  I never thought but you were sunk in the Blackhorse marsh,
and missy with you, till master told me you'd been found, and he'd lodged
you here!  What! and you must have got on an island, sure?  And how long
were you in the hole?  Did master save you, Mrs. Dean?  But you're not so
thin--you've not been so poorly, have you?'

'Your master is a true scoundrel!' I replied.  'But he shall answer for
it.  He needn't have raised that tale: it shall all be laid bare!'

'What do you mean?' asked Zillah.  'It's not his tale: they tell that in
the village--about your being lost in the marsh; and I calls to Earnshaw,
when I come in--"Eh, they's queer things, Mr. Hareton, happened since I
went off.  It's a sad pity of that likely young lass, and cant Nelly
Dean."  He stared.  I thought he had not heard aught, so I told him the
rumour.  The master listened, and he just smiled to himself, and said,
"If they have been in the marsh, they are out now, Zillah.  Nelly Dean is
lodged, at this minute, in your room.  You can tell her to flit, when you
go up; here is the key.  The bog-water got into her head, and she would
have run home quite flighty; but I fixed her till she came round to her
senses.  You can bid her go to the Grange at once, if she be able, and
carry a message from me, that her young lady will follow in time to
attend the squire's funeral."'

'Mr. Edgar is not dead?' I gasped.  'Oh! Zillah, Zillah!'

'No, no; sit you down, my good mistress,' she replied; 'you're right
sickly yet.  He's not dead; Doctor Kenneth thinks he may last another
day.  I met him on the road and asked.'

Instead of sitting down, I snatched my outdoor things, and hastened
below, for the way was free.  On entering the house, I looked about for
some one to give information of Catherine.  The place was filled with
sunshine, and the door stood wide open; but nobody seemed at hand.  As I
hesitated whether to go off at once, or return and seek my mistress, a
slight cough drew my attention to the hearth.  Linton lay on the settle,
sole tenant, sucking a stick of sugar-candy, and pursuing my movements
with apathetic eyes.  'Where is Miss Catherine?' I demanded sternly,
supposing I could frighten him into giving intelligence, by catching him
thus, alone.  He sucked on like an innocent.

'Is she gone?' I said.

'No,' he replied; 'she's upstairs: she's not to go; we won't let her.'

'You won't let her, little idiot!' I exclaimed.  'Direct me to her room
immediately, or I'll make you sing out sharply.'

'Papa would make you sing out, if you attempted to get there,' he
answered.  'He says I'm not to be soft with Catherine: she's my wife, and
it's shameful that she should wish to leave me.  He says she hates me and
wants me to die, that she may have my money; but she shan't have it: and
she shan't go home!  She never shall!--she may cry, and be sick as much
as she pleases!'

He resumed his former occupation, closing his lids, as if he meant to
drop asleep.

'Master Heathcliff,' I resumed, 'have you forgotten all Catherine's
kindness to you last winter, when you affirmed you loved her, and when
she brought you books and sung you songs, and came many a time through
wind and snow to see you?  She wept to miss one evening, because you
would be disappointed; and you felt then that she was a hundred times too
good to you: and now you believe the lies your father tells, though you
know he detests you both.  And you join him against her.  That's fine
gratitude, is it not?'

The corner of Linton's mouth fell, and he took the sugar-candy from his
lips.

'Did she come to Wuthering Heights because she hated you?' I continued.
'Think for yourself!  As to your money, she does not even know that you
will have any.  And you say she's sick; and yet you leave her alone, up
there in a strange house!  You who have felt what it is to be so
neglected!  You could pity your own sufferings; and she pitied them, too;
but you won't pity hers!  I shed tears, Master Heathcliff, you see--an
elderly woman, and a servant merely--and you, after pretending such
affection, and having reason to worship her almost, store every tear you
have for yourself, and lie there quite at ease.  Ah! you're a heartless,
selfish boy!'

'I can't stay with her,' he answered crossly.  'I'll not stay by myself.
She cries so I can't bear it.  And she won't give over, though I say I'll
call my father.  I did call him once, and he threatened to strangle her
if she was not quiet; but she began again the instant he left the room,
moaning and grieving all night long, though I screamed for vexation that
I couldn't sleep.'

'Is Mr. Heathcliff out?' I inquired, perceiving that the wretched
creature had no power to sympathize with his cousin's mental tortures.

'He's in the court,' he replied, 'talking to Doctor Kenneth; who says
uncle is dying, truly, at last.  I'm glad, for I shall be master of the
Grange after him.  Catherine always spoke of it as her house.  It isn't
hers!  It's mine: papa says everything she has is mine.  All her nice
books are mine; she offered to give me them, and her pretty birds, and
her pony Minny, if I would get the key of our room, and let her out; but
I told her she had nothing to give, they were all, all mine.  And then
she cried, and took a little picture from her neck, and said I should
have that; two pictures in a gold case, on one side her mother, and on
the other uncle, when they were young.  That was yesterday--I said they
were mine, too; and tried to get them from her.  The spiteful thing
wouldn't let me: she pushed me off, and hurt me.  I shrieked out--that
frightens her--she heard papa coming, and she broke the hinges and
divided the case, and gave me her mother's portrait; the other she
attempted to hide: but papa asked what was the matter, and I explained
it.  He took the one I had away, and ordered her to resign hers to me;
she refused, and he--he struck her down, and wrenched it off the chain,
and crushed it with his foot.'

'And were you pleased to see her struck?' I asked: having my designs in
encouraging his talk.

'I winked,' he answered: 'I wink to see my father strike a dog or a
horse, he does it so hard.  Yet I was glad at first--she deserved
punishing for pushing me: but when papa was gone, she made me come to the
window and showed me her cheek cut on the inside, against her teeth, and
her mouth filling with blood; and then she gathered up the bits of the
picture, and went and sat down with her face to the wall, and she has
never spoken to me since: and I sometimes think she can't speak for pain.
I don't like to think so; but she's a naughty thing for crying
continually; and she looks so pale and wild, I'm afraid of her.'

'And you can get the key if you choose?' I said.

'Yes, when I am up-stairs,' he answered; 'but I can't walk up-stairs
now.'

'In what apartment is it?' I asked.

'Oh,' he cried, 'I shan't tell _you_ where it is.  It is our secret.
Nobody, neither Hareton nor Zillah, is to know.  There! you've tired
me--go away, go away!'  And he turned his face on to his arm, and shut
his eyes again.

I considered it best to depart without seeing Mr. Heathcliff, and bring a
rescue for my young lady from the Grange.  On reaching it, the
astonishment of my fellow-servants to see me, and their joy also, was
intense; and when they heard that their little mistress was safe, two or
three were about to hurry up and shout the news at Mr. Edgar's door: but
I bespoke the announcement of it myself.  How changed I found him, even
in those few days!  He lay an image of sadness and resignation awaiting
his death.  Very young he looked: though his actual age was thirty-nine,
one would have called him ten years younger, at least.  He thought of
Catherine; for he murmured her name.  I touched his hand, and spoke.

'Catherine is coming, dear master!' I whispered; 'she is alive and well;
and will be here, I hope, to-night.'

I trembled at the first effects of this intelligence: he half rose up,
looked eagerly round the apartment, and then sank back in a swoon.  As
soon as he recovered, I related our compulsory visit, and detention at
the Heights.  I said Heathcliff forced me to go in: which was not quite
true.  I uttered as little as possible against Linton; nor did I describe
all his father's brutal conduct--my intentions being to add no
bitterness, if I could help it, to his already over-flowing cup.

He divined that one of his enemy's purposes was to secure the personal
property, as well as the estate, to his son: or rather himself; yet why
he did not wait till his decease was a puzzle to my master, because
ignorant how nearly he and his nephew would quit the world together.
However, he felt that his will had better be altered: instead of leaving
Catherine's fortune at her own disposal, he determined to put it in the
hands of trustees for her use during life, and for her children, if she
had any, after her.  By that means, it could not fall to Mr. Heathcliff
should Linton die.

Having received his orders, I despatched a man to fetch the attorney, and
four more, provided with serviceable weapons, to demand my young lady of
her jailor.  Both parties were delayed very late.  The single servant
returned first.  He said Mr. Green, the lawyer, was out when he arrived
at his house, and he had to wait two hours for his re-entrance; and then
Mr. Green told him he had a little business in the village that must be
done; but he would be at Thrushcross Grange before morning.  The four men
came back unaccompanied also.  They brought word that Catherine was ill:
too ill to quit her room; and Heathcliff would not suffer them to see
her.  I scolded the stupid fellows well for listening to that tale, which
I would not carry to my master; resolving to take a whole bevy up to the
Heights, at day-light, and storm it literally, unless the prisoner were
quietly surrendered to us.  Her father _shall_ see her, I vowed, and
vowed again, if that devil be killed on his own doorstones in trying to
prevent it!

Happily, I was spared the journey and the trouble.  I had gone
down-stairs at three o'clock to fetch a jug of water; and was passing
through the hall with it in my hand, when a sharp knock at the front door
made me jump.  'Oh! it is Green,' I said, recollecting myself--'only
Green,' and I went on, intending to send somebody else to open it; but
the knock was repeated: not loud, and still importunately.  I put the jug
on the banister and hastened to admit him myself.  The harvest moon shone
clear outside.  It was not the attorney.  My own sweet little mistress
sprang on my neck sobbing, 'Ellen, Ellen!  Is papa alive?'

'Yes,' I cried: 'yes, my angel, he is, God be thanked, you are safe with
us again!'

She wanted to run, breathless as she was, up-stairs to Mr. Linton's room;
but I compelled her to sit down on a chair, and made her drink, and
washed her pale face, chafing it into a faint colour with my apron.  Then
I said I must go first, and tell of her arrival; imploring her to say,
she should be happy with young Heathcliff.  She stared, but soon
comprehending why I counselled her to utter the falsehood, she assured me
she would not complain.

I couldn't abide to be present at their meeting.  I stood outside the
chamber-door a quarter of an hour, and hardly ventured near the bed,
then.  All was composed, however: Catherine's despair was as silent as
her father's joy.  She supported him calmly, in appearance; and he fixed
on her features his raised eyes that seemed dilating with ecstasy.

He died blissfully, Mr. Lockwood: he died so.  Kissing her cheek, he
murmured,--'I am going to her; and you, darling child, shall come to us!'
and never stirred or spoke again; but continued that rapt, radiant gaze,
till his pulse imperceptibly stopped and his soul departed.  None could
have noticed the exact minute of his death, it was so entirely without a
struggle.

Whether Catherine had spent her tears, or whether the grief were too
weighty to let them flow, she sat there dry-eyed till the sun rose: she
sat till noon, and would still have remained brooding over that deathbed,
but I insisted on her coming away and taking some repose.  It was well I
succeeded in removing her, for at dinner-time appeared the lawyer, having
called at Wuthering Heights to get his instructions how to behave.  He
had sold himself to Mr. Heathcliff: that was the cause of his delay in
obeying my master's summons.  Fortunately, no thought of worldly affairs
crossed the latter's mind, to disturb him, after his daughter's arrival.

Mr. Green took upon himself to order everything and everybody about the
place.  He gave all the servants but me, notice to quit.  He would have
carried his delegated authority to the point of insisting that Edgar
Linton should not be buried beside his wife, but in the chapel, with his
family.  There was the will, however, to hinder that, and my loud
protestations against any infringement of its directions.  The funeral
was hurried over; Catherine, Mrs. Linton Heathcliff now, was suffered to
stay at the Grange till her father's corpse had quitted it.

She told me that her anguish had at last spurred Linton to incur the risk
of liberating her.  She heard the men I sent disputing at the door, and
she gathered the sense of Heathcliff's answer.  It drove her desperate.
Linton who had been conveyed up to the little parlour soon after I left,
was terrified into fetching the key before his father re-ascended.  He
had the cunning to unlock and re-lock the door, without shutting it; and
when he should have gone to bed, he begged to sleep with Hareton, and his
petition was granted for once.  Catherine stole out before break of day.
She dared not try the doors lest the dogs should raise an alarm; she
visited the empty chambers and examined their windows; and, luckily,
lighting on her mother's, she got easily out of its lattice, and on to
the ground, by means of the fir-tree close by.  Her accomplice suffered
for his share in the escape, notwithstanding his timid contrivances.

Q: Can you write an appropriate summary of the above paragraphs?
A:

completion: Edgar's health continues to fail, but Catherine still visits Linton by horse. Heathcliff is now worried that Linton might die before Edgar does, so he confronts Catherine asking how ill Edgar is. Heathcliff then asks her to walk Linton back to Wuthering Heights, but she refuses, stating that her father has forbidden her to go to the farmhouse. Linton cries out in anguish and with Heathcliff threatening to lose his temper, Catherine consents to go to Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff imprisons Catherine and Nelly and he will not release them until the couple is married. Nelly is held in a locked room and Hareton acts as her jailer. After five days, Zillah tells Nelly that the whole village is gossiping about the missing women from the Grange, believing them to be lost in the marshes. Linton tells Nelly that Catherine is being held prisoner and, therefore, Nelly returns to the Grange. Nelly advises Edgar that Catherine is safe and will be home shortly. She sends servants to Wuthering Heights to bring Catherine home, but they are unsuccessful. Edgar now sees the danger and sends for his lawyer in order to change his Will. Before the lawyer arrives Catherine comes in. She has escaped with Linton's help. She goes to the dying Edgar who is deluded by thinking that his daughter is happily married. When the lawyer arrives, he takes charge of the Grange, dismissing all the servants with the exception of Nelly. He arranges for Edgar to be buried in the chapel, but Nelly knows that his Will clearly states that he wished to be buried next to Cathy.