prompt:
Chapter: A charming introduction to a hermit's life!  Four weeks' torture,
tossing, and sickness!  Oh, these bleak winds and bitter northern skies,
and impassable roads, and dilatory country surgeons!  And oh, this dearth
of the human physiognomy! and, worse than all, the terrible intimation of
Kenneth that I need not expect to be out of doors till spring!

Mr. Heathcliff has just honoured me with a call.  About seven days ago he
sent me a brace of grouse--the last of the season.  Scoundrel!  He is not
altogether guiltless in this illness of mine; and that I had a great mind
to tell him.  But, alas! how could I offend a man who was charitable
enough to sit at my bedside a good hour, and talk on some other subject
than pills and draughts, blisters and leeches?  This is quite an easy
interval.  I am too weak to read; yet I feel as if I could enjoy
something interesting.  Why not have up Mrs. Dean to finish her tale?  I
can recollect its chief incidents, as far as she had gone.  Yes: I
remember her hero had run off, and never been heard of for three years;
and the heroine was married.  I'll ring: she'll be delighted to find me
capable of talking cheerfully.  Mrs. Dean came.

'It wants twenty minutes, sir, to taking the medicine,' she commenced.

'Away, away with it!' I replied; 'I desire to have--'

'The doctor says you must drop the powders.'

'With all my heart!  Don't interrupt me.  Come and take your seat here.
Keep your fingers from that bitter phalanx of vials.  Draw your knitting
out of your pocket--that will do--now continue the history of Mr.
Heathcliff, from where you left off, to the present day.  Did he finish
his education on the Continent, and come back a gentleman? or did he get
a sizar's place at college, or escape to America, and earn honours by
drawing blood from his foster-country? or make a fortune more promptly on
the English highways?'

'He may have done a little in all these vocations, Mr. Lockwood; but I
couldn't give my word for any.  I stated before that I didn't know how he
gained his money; neither am I aware of the means he took to raise his
mind from the savage ignorance into which it was sunk: but, with your
leave, I'll proceed in my own fashion, if you think it will amuse and not
weary you.  Are you feeling better this morning?'

'Much.'

'That's good news.'

* * * * *

I got Miss Catherine and myself to Thrushcross Grange; and, to my
agreeable disappointment, she behaved infinitely better than I dared to
expect.  She seemed almost over-fond of Mr. Linton; and even to his
sister she showed plenty of affection.  They were both very attentive to
her comfort, certainly.  It was not the thorn bending to the
honeysuckles, but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn.  There were no
mutual concessions: one stood erect, and the others yielded: and who can
be ill-natured and bad-tempered when they encounter neither opposition
nor indifference?  I observed that Mr. Edgar had a deep-rooted fear of
ruffling her humour.  He concealed it from her; but if ever he heard me
answer sharply, or saw any other servant grow cloudy at some imperious
order of hers, he would show his trouble by a frown of displeasure that
never darkened on his own account.  He many a time spoke sternly to me
about my pertness; and averred that the stab of a knife could not inflict
a worse pang than he suffered at seeing his lady vexed.  Not to grieve a
kind master, I learned to be less touchy; and, for the space of half a
year, the gunpowder lay as harmless as sand, because no fire came near to
explode it.  Catherine had seasons of gloom and silence now and then:
they were respected with sympathising silence by her husband, who
ascribed them to an alteration in her constitution, produced by her
perilous illness; as she was never subject to depression of spirits
before.  The return of sunshine was welcomed by answering sunshine from
him.  I believe I may assert that they were really in possession of deep
and growing happiness.

It ended.  Well, we _must_ be for ourselves in the long run; the mild and
generous are only more justly selfish than the domineering; and it ended
when circumstances caused each to feel that the one's interest was not
the chief consideration in the other's thoughts.  On a mellow evening in
September, I was coming from the garden with a heavy basket of apples
which I had been gathering.  It had got dusk, and the moon looked over
the high wall of the court, causing undefined shadows to lurk in the
corners of the numerous projecting portions of the building.  I set my
burden on the house-steps by the kitchen-door, and lingered to rest, and
drew in a few more breaths of the soft, sweet air; my eyes were on the
moon, and my back to the entrance, when I heard a voice behind me
say,--'Nelly, is that you?'

It was a deep voice, and foreign in tone; yet there was something in the
manner of pronouncing my name which made it sound familiar.  I turned
about to discover who spoke, fearfully; for the doors were shut, and I
had seen nobody on approaching the steps.  Something stirred in the
porch; and, moving nearer, I distinguished a tall man dressed in dark
clothes, with dark face and hair.  He leant against the side, and held
his fingers on the latch as if intending to open for himself.  'Who can
it be?' I thought.  'Mr. Earnshaw?  Oh, no!  The voice has no resemblance
to his.'

'I have waited here an hour,' he resumed, while I continued staring; 'and
the whole of that time all round has been as still as death.  I dared not
enter.  You do not know me?  Look, I'm not a stranger!'

A ray fell on his features; the cheeks were sallow, and half covered with
black whiskers; the brows lowering, the eyes deep-set and singular.  I
remembered the eyes.

'What!' I cried, uncertain whether to regard him as a worldly visitor,
and I raised my hands in amazement.  'What! you come back?  Is it really
you?  Is it?'

'Yes, Heathcliff,' he replied, glancing from me up to the windows, which
reflected a score of glittering moons, but showed no lights from within.
'Are they at home? where is she?  Nelly, you are not glad! you needn't be
so disturbed.  Is she here?  Speak!  I want to have one word with
her--your mistress.  Go, and say some person from Gimmerton desires to
see her.'

'How will she take it?' I exclaimed.  'What will she do?  The surprise
bewilders me--it will put her out of her head!  And you _are_ Heathcliff!
But altered!  Nay, there's no comprehending it.  Have you been for a
soldier?'

'Go and carry my message,' he interrupted, impatiently.  'I'm in hell
till you do!'

He lifted the latch, and I entered; but when I got to the parlour where
Mr. and Mrs. Linton were, I could not persuade myself to proceed.  At
length I resolved on making an excuse to ask if they would have the
candles lighted, and I opened the door.

They sat together in a window whose lattice lay back against the wall,
and displayed, beyond the garden trees, and the wild green park, the
valley of Gimmerton, with a long line of mist winding nearly to its top
(for very soon after you pass the chapel, as you may have noticed, the
sough that runs from the marshes joins a beck which follows the bend of
the glen).  Wuthering Heights rose above this silvery vapour; but our old
house was invisible; it rather dips down on the other side.  Both the
room and its occupants, and the scene they gazed on, looked wondrously
peaceful.  I shrank reluctantly from performing my errand; and was
actually going away leaving it unsaid, after having put my question about
the candles, when a sense of my folly compelled me to return, and mutter,
'A person from Gimmerton wishes to see you ma'am.'

'What does he want?' asked Mrs. Linton.

'I did not question him,' I answered.

'Well, close the curtains, Nelly,' she said; 'and bring up tea.  I'll be
back again directly.'

She quitted the apartment; Mr. Edgar inquired, carelessly, who it was.

'Some one mistress does not expect,' I replied.  'That Heathcliff--you
recollect him, sir--who used to live at Mr. Earnshaw's.'

'What! the gipsy--the ploughboy?' he cried.  'Why did you not say so to
Catherine?'

'Hush! you must not call him by those names, master,' I said.  'She'd be
sadly grieved to hear you.  She was nearly heartbroken when he ran off.  I
guess his return will make a jubilee to her.'

Mr. Linton walked to a window on the other side of the room that
overlooked the court.  He unfastened it, and leant out.  I suppose they
were below, for he exclaimed quickly: 'Don't stand there, love!  Bring
the person in, if it be anyone particular.'  Ere long, I heard the click
of the latch, and Catherine flew up-stairs, breathless and wild; too
excited to show gladness: indeed, by her face, you would rather have
surmised an awful calamity.

'Oh, Edgar, Edgar!' she panted, flinging her arms round his neck.  'Oh,
Edgar darling!  Heathcliff's come back--he is!'  And she tightened her
embrace to a squeeze.

'Well, well,' cried her husband, crossly, 'don't strangle me for that!  He
never struck me as such a marvellous treasure.  There is no need to be
frantic!'

'I know you didn't like him,' she answered, repressing a little the
intensity of her delight.  'Yet, for my sake, you must be friends now.
Shall I tell him to come up?'

'Here,' he said, 'into the parlour?'

'Where else?' she asked.

He looked vexed, and suggested the kitchen as a more suitable place for
him.  Mrs. Linton eyed him with a droll expression--half angry, half
laughing at his fastidiousness.

'No,' she added, after a while; 'I cannot sit in the kitchen.  Set two
tables here, Ellen: one for your master and Miss Isabella, being gentry;
the other for Heathcliff and myself, being of the lower orders.  Will
that please you, dear?  Or must I have a fire lighted elsewhere?  If so,
give directions.  I'll run down and secure my guest.  I'm afraid the joy
is too great to be real!'

She was about to dart off again; but Edgar arrested her.

'_You_ bid him step up,' he said, addressing me; 'and, Catherine, try to
be glad, without being absurd.  The whole household need not witness the
sight of your welcoming a runaway servant as a brother.'

I descended, and found Heathcliff waiting under the porch, evidently
anticipating an invitation to enter.  He followed my guidance without
waste of words, and I ushered him into the presence of the master and
mistress, whose flushed cheeks betrayed signs of warm talking.  But the
lady's glowed with another feeling when her friend appeared at the door:
she sprang forward, took both his hands, and led him to Linton; and then
she seized Linton's reluctant fingers and crushed them into his.  Now,
fully revealed by the fire and candlelight, I was amazed, more than ever,
to behold the transformation of Heathcliff.  He had grown a tall,
athletic, well-formed man; beside whom my master seemed quite slender and
youth-like.  His upright carriage suggested the idea of his having been
in the army.  His countenance was much older in expression and decision
of feature than Mr. Linton's; it looked intelligent, and retained no
marks of former degradation.  A half-civilised ferocity lurked yet in the
depressed brows and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued; and his
manner was even dignified: quite divested of roughness, though stern for
grace.  My master's surprise equalled or exceeded mine: he remained for a
minute at a loss how to address the ploughboy, as he had called him.
Heathcliff dropped his slight hand, and stood looking at him coolly till
he chose to speak.

'Sit down, sir,' he said, at length.  'Mrs. Linton, recalling old times,
would have me give you a cordial reception; and, of course, I am
gratified when anything occurs to please her.'

'And I also,' answered Heathcliff, 'especially if it be anything in which
I have a part.  I shall stay an hour or two willingly.'

He took a seat opposite Catherine, who kept her gaze fixed on him as if
she feared he would vanish were she to remove it.  He did not raise his
to her often: a quick glance now and then sufficed; but it flashed back,
each time more confidently, the undisguised delight he drank from hers.
They were too much absorbed in their mutual joy to suffer embarrassment.
Not so Mr. Edgar: he grew pale with pure annoyance: a feeling that
reached its climax when his lady rose, and stepping across the rug,
seized Heathcliff's hands again, and laughed like one beside herself.

'I shall think it a dream to-morrow!' she cried.  'I shall not be able to
believe that I have seen, and touched, and spoken to you once more.  And
yet, cruel Heathcliff! you don't deserve this welcome.  To be absent and
silent for three years, and never to think of me!'

'A little more than you have thought of me,' he murmured.  'I heard of
your marriage, Cathy, not long since; and, while waiting in the yard
below, I meditated this plan--just to have one glimpse of your face, a
stare of surprise, perhaps, and pretended pleasure; afterwards settle my
score with Hindley; and then prevent the law by doing execution on
myself.  Your welcome has put these ideas out of my mind; but beware of
meeting me with another aspect next time!  Nay, you'll not drive me off
again.  You were really sorry for me, were you?  Well, there was cause.
I've fought through a bitter life since I last heard your voice; and you
must forgive me, for I struggled only for you!'

'Catherine, unless we are to have cold tea, please to come to the table,'
interrupted Linton, striving to preserve his ordinary tone, and a due
measure of politeness.  'Mr. Heathcliff will have a long walk, wherever
he may lodge to-night; and I'm thirsty.'

She took her post before the urn; and Miss Isabella came, summoned by the
bell; then, having handed their chairs forward, I left the room.  The
meal hardly endured ten minutes.  Catherine's cup was never filled: she
could neither eat nor drink.  Edgar had made a slop in his saucer, and
scarcely swallowed a mouthful.  Their guest did not protract his stay
that evening above an hour longer.  I asked, as he departed, if he went
to Gimmerton?

'No, to Wuthering Heights,' he answered: 'Mr. Earnshaw invited me, when I
called this morning.'

Mr. Earnshaw invited _him_! and _he_ called on Mr. Earnshaw!  I pondered
this sentence painfully, after he was gone.  Is he turning out a bit of a
hypocrite, and coming into the country to work mischief under a cloak?  I
mused: I had a presentiment in the bottom of my heart that he had better
have remained away.

About the middle of the night, I was wakened from my first nap by Mrs.
Linton gliding into my chamber, taking a seat on my bedside, and pulling
me by the hair to rouse me.

'I cannot rest, Ellen,' she said, by way of apology.  'And I want some
living creature to keep me company in my happiness!  Edgar is sulky,
because I'm glad of a thing that does not interest him: he refuses to
open his mouth, except to utter pettish, silly speeches; and he affirmed
I was cruel and selfish for wishing to talk when he was so sick and
sleepy.  He always contrives to be sick at the least cross!  I gave a few
sentences of commendation to Heathcliff, and he, either for a headache or
a pang of envy, began to cry: so I got up and left him.'

'What use is it praising Heathcliff to him?' I answered.  'As lads they
had an aversion to each other, and Heathcliff would hate just as much to
hear him praised: it's human nature.  Let Mr. Linton alone about him,
unless you would like an open quarrel between them.'

'But does it not show great weakness?' pursued she.  'I'm not envious: I
never feel hurt at the brightness of Isabella's yellow hair and the
whiteness of her skin, at her dainty elegance, and the fondness all the
family exhibit for her.  Even you, Nelly, if we have a dispute sometimes,
you back Isabella at once; and I yield like a foolish mother: I call her
a darling, and flatter her into a good temper.  It pleases her brother to
see us cordial, and that pleases me.  But they are very much alike: they
are spoiled children, and fancy the world was made for their
accommodation; and though I humour both, I think a smart chastisement
might improve them all the same.'

'You're mistaken, Mrs. Linton,' said I.  'They humour you: I know what
there would be to do if they did not.  You can well afford to indulge
their passing whims as long as their business is to anticipate all your
desires.  You may, however, fall out, at last, over something of equal
consequence to both sides; and then those you term weak are very capable
of being as obstinate as you.'

'And then we shall fight to the death, sha'n't we, Nelly?' she returned,
laughing.  'No! I tell you, I have such faith in Linton's love, that I
believe I might kill him, and he wouldn't wish to retaliate.'

I advised her to value him the more for his affection.

'I do,' she answered, 'but he needn't resort to whining for trifles.  It
is childish and, instead of melting into tears because I said that
Heathcliff was now worthy of anyone's regard, and it would honour the
first gentleman in the country to be his friend, he ought to have said it
for me, and been delighted from sympathy.  He must get accustomed to him,
and he may as well like him: considering how Heathcliff has reason to
object to him, I'm sure he behaved excellently!'

'What do you think of his going to Wuthering Heights?' I inquired.  'He
is reformed in every respect, apparently: quite a Christian: offering the
right hand of fellowship to his enemies all around!'

'He explained it,' she replied.  'I wonder as much as you.  He said he
called to gather information concerning me from you, supposing you
resided there still; and Joseph told Hindley, who came out and fell to
questioning him of what he had been doing, and how he had been living;
and finally, desired him to walk in.  There were some persons sitting at
cards; Heathcliff joined them; my brother lost some money to him, and,
finding him plentifully supplied, he requested that he would come again
in the evening: to which he consented.  Hindley is too reckless to select
his acquaintance prudently: he doesn't trouble himself to reflect on the
causes he might have for mistrusting one whom he has basely injured.  But
Heathcliff affirms his principal reason for resuming a connection with
his ancient persecutor is a wish to install himself in quarters at walking
distance from the Grange, and an attachment to the house where we lived
together; and likewise a hope that I shall have more opportunities of
seeing him there than I could have if he settled in Gimmerton.  He means
to offer liberal payment for permission to lodge at the Heights; and
doubtless my brother's covetousness will prompt him to accept the terms:
he was always greedy; though what he grasps with one hand he flings away
with the other.'

'It's a nice place for a young man to fix his dwelling in!' said I.  'Have
you no fear of the consequences, Mrs. Linton?'

'None for my friend,' she replied: 'his strong head will keep him from
danger; a little for Hindley: but he can't be made morally worse than he
is; and I stand between him and bodily harm.  The event of this evening
has reconciled me to God and humanity!  I had risen in angry rebellion
against Providence.  Oh, I've endured very, very bitter misery, Nelly!  If
that creature knew how bitter, he'd be ashamed to cloud its removal with
idle petulance.  It was kindness for him which induced me to bear it
alone: had I expressed the agony I frequently felt, he would have been
taught to long for its alleviation as ardently as I.  However, it's over,
and I'll take no revenge on his folly; I can afford to suffer anything
hereafter!  Should the meanest thing alive slap me on the cheek, I'd not
only turn the other, but I'd ask pardon for provoking it; and, as a
proof, I'll go make my peace with Edgar instantly.  Good-night!  I'm an
angel!'

In this self-complacent conviction she departed; and the success of her
fulfilled resolution was obvious on the morrow: Mr. Linton had not only
abjured his peevishness (though his spirits seemed still subdued by
Catherine's exuberance of vivacity), but he ventured no objection to her
taking Isabella with her to Wuthering Heights in the afternoon; and she
rewarded him with such a summer of sweetness and affection in return as
made the house a paradise for several days; both master and servants
profiting from the perpetual sunshine.

Heathcliff--Mr. Heathcliff I should say in future--used the liberty of
visiting at Thrushcross Grange cautiously, at first: he seemed estimating
how far its owner would bear his intrusion.  Catherine, also, deemed it
judicious to moderate her expressions of pleasure in receiving him; and
he gradually established his right to be expected.  He retained a great
deal of the reserve for which his boyhood was remarkable; and that served
to repress all startling demonstrations of feeling.  My master's
uneasiness experienced a lull, and further circumstances diverted it into
another channel for a space.

His new source of trouble sprang from the not anticipated misfortune of
Isabella Linton evincing a sudden and irresistible attraction towards the
tolerated guest.  She was at that time a charming young lady of eighteen;
infantile in manners, though possessed of keen wit, keen feelings, and a
keen temper, too, if irritated.  Her brother, who loved her tenderly, was
appalled at this fantastic preference.  Leaving aside the degradation of
an alliance with a nameless man, and the possible fact that his property,
in default of heirs male, might pass into such a one's power, he had
sense to comprehend Heathcliff's disposition: to know that, though his
exterior was altered, his mind was unchangeable and unchanged.  And he
dreaded that mind: it revolted him: he shrank forebodingly from the idea
of committing Isabella to its keeping.  He would have recoiled still more
had he been aware that her attachment rose unsolicited, and was bestowed
where it awakened no reciprocation of sentiment; for the minute he
discovered its existence he laid the blame on Heathcliff's deliberate
designing.

We had all remarked, during some time, that Miss Linton fretted and pined
over something.  She grew cross and wearisome; snapping at and teasing
Catherine continually, at the imminent risk of exhausting her limited
patience.  We excused her, to a certain extent, on the plea of
ill-health: she was dwindling and fading before our eyes.  But one day,
when she had been peculiarly wayward, rejecting her breakfast,
complaining that the servants did not do what she told them; that the
mistress would allow her to be nothing in the house, and Edgar neglected
her; that she had caught a cold with the doors being left open, and we
let the parlour fire go out on purpose to vex her, with a hundred yet
more frivolous accusations, Mrs. Linton peremptorily insisted that she
should get to bed; and, having scolded her heartily, threatened to send
for the doctor.  Mention of Kenneth caused her to exclaim, instantly,
that her health was perfect, and it was only Catherine's harshness which
made her unhappy.

'How can you say I am harsh, you naughty fondling?' cried the mistress,
amazed at the unreasonable assertion.  'You are surely losing your
reason.  When have I been harsh, tell me?'

'Yesterday,' sobbed Isabella, 'and now!'

'Yesterday!' said her sister-in-law.  'On what occasion?'

'In our walk along the moor: you told me to ramble where I pleased, while
you sauntered on with Mr. Heathcliff!'

'And that's your notion of harshness?' said Catherine, laughing.  'It was
no hint that your company was superfluous?  We didn't care whether you
kept with us or not; I merely thought Heathcliff's talk would have
nothing entertaining for your ears.'

'Oh, no,' wept the young lady; 'you wished me away, because you knew I
liked to be there!'

'Is she sane?' asked Mrs. Linton, appealing to me.  'I'll repeat our
conversation, word for word, Isabella; and you point out any charm it
could have had for you.'

'I don't mind the conversation,' she answered: 'I wanted to be with--'

'Well?' said Catherine, perceiving her hesitate to complete the sentence.

'With him: and I won't be always sent off!' she continued, kindling up.
'You are a dog in the manger, Cathy, and desire no one to be loved but
yourself!'

'You are an impertinent little monkey!' exclaimed Mrs. Linton, in
surprise.  'But I'll not believe this idiotcy!  It is impossible that you
can covet the admiration of Heathcliff--that you consider him an
agreeable person!  I hope I have misunderstood you, Isabella?'

'No, you have not,' said the infatuated girl.  'I love him more than ever
you loved Edgar, and he might love me, if you would let him!'

'I wouldn't be you for a kingdom, then!' Catherine declared,
emphatically: and she seemed to speak sincerely.  'Nelly, help me to
convince her of her madness.  Tell her what Heathcliff is: an unreclaimed
creature, without refinement, without cultivation; an arid wilderness of
furze and whinstone.  I'd as soon put that little canary into the park on
a winter's day, as recommend you to bestow your heart on him!  It is
deplorable ignorance of his character, child, and nothing else, which
makes that dream enter your head.  Pray, don't imagine that he conceals
depths of benevolence and affection beneath a stern exterior!  He's not a
rough diamond--a pearl-containing oyster of a rustic: he's a fierce,
pitiless, wolfish man.  I never say to him, "Let this or that enemy
alone, because it would be ungenerous or cruel to harm them;" I say, "Let
them alone, because _I_ should hate them to be wronged:" and he'd crush
you like a sparrow's egg, Isabella, if he found you a troublesome charge.
I know he couldn't love a Linton; and yet he'd be quite capable of
marrying your fortune and expectations: avarice is growing with him a
besetting sin.  There's my picture: and I'm his friend--so much so, that
had he thought seriously to catch you, I should, perhaps, have held my
tongue, and let you fall into his trap.'

Miss Linton regarded her sister-in-law with indignation.

'For shame! for shame!' she repeated, angrily.  'You are worse than
twenty foes, you poisonous friend!'

'Ah! you won't believe me, then?' said Catherine.  'You think I speak
from wicked selfishness?'

'I'm certain you do,' retorted Isabella; 'and I shudder at you!'

'Good!' cried the other.  'Try for yourself, if that be your spirit: I
have done, and yield the argument to your saucy insolence.'--

'And I must suffer for her egotism!' she sobbed, as Mrs. Linton left the
room.  'All, all is against me: she has blighted my single consolation.
But she uttered falsehoods, didn't she?  Mr. Heathcliff is not a fiend:
he has an honourable soul, and a true one, or how could he remember her?'

'Banish him from your thoughts, Miss,' I said.  'He's a bird of bad omen:
no mate for you.  Mrs. Linton spoke strongly, and yet I can't contradict
her.  She is better acquainted with his heart than I, or any one besides;
and she never would represent him as worse than he is.  Honest people
don't hide their deeds.  How has he been living? how has he got rich? why
is he staying at Wuthering Heights, the house of a man whom he abhors?
They say Mr. Earnshaw is worse and worse since he came.  They sit up all
night together continually, and Hindley has been borrowing money on his
land, and does nothing but play and drink: I heard only a week ago--it
was Joseph who told me--I met him at Gimmerton: "Nelly," he said, "we's
hae a crowner's 'quest enow, at ahr folks'.  One on 'em 's a'most getten
his finger cut off wi' hauding t' other fro' stickin' hisseln loike a
cawlf.  That's maister, yeah knaw, 'at 's soa up o' going tuh t' grand
'sizes.  He's noan feared o' t' bench o' judges, norther Paul, nur Peter,
nur John, nur Matthew, nor noan on 'em, not he!  He fair likes--he langs
to set his brazened face agean 'em!  And yon bonny lad Heathcliff, yah
mind, he's a rare 'un.  He can girn a laugh as well 's onybody at a
raight divil's jest.  Does he niver say nowt of his fine living amang us,
when he goes to t' Grange?  This is t' way on 't:--up at sun-down: dice,
brandy, cloised shutters, und can'le-light till next day at noon: then,
t'fooil gangs banning und raving to his cham'er, makking dacent fowks dig
thur fingers i' thur lugs fur varry shame; un' the knave, why he can
caint his brass, un' ate, un' sleep, un' off to his neighbour's to gossip
wi' t' wife.  I' course, he tells Dame Catherine how her fathur's goold
runs into his pocket, and her fathur's son gallops down t' broad road,
while he flees afore to oppen t' pikes!"  Now, Miss Linton, Joseph is an
old rascal, but no liar; and, if his account of Heathcliff's conduct be
true, you would never think of desiring such a husband, would you?'

'You are leagued with the rest, Ellen!' she replied.  'I'll not listen to
your slanders.  What malevolence you must have to wish to convince me
that there is no happiness in the world!'

Whether she would have got over this fancy if left to herself, or
persevered in nursing it perpetually, I cannot say: she had little time
to reflect.  The day after, there was a justice-meeting at the next town;
my master was obliged to attend; and Mr. Heathcliff, aware of his
absence, called rather earlier than usual.  Catherine and Isabella were
sitting in the library, on hostile terms, but silent: the latter alarmed
at her recent indiscretion, and the disclosure she had made of her secret
feelings in a transient fit of passion; the former, on mature
consideration, really offended with her companion; and, if she laughed
again at her pertness, inclined to make it no laughing matter to her.  She
did laugh as she saw Heathcliff pass the window.  I was sweeping the
hearth, and I noticed a mischievous smile on her lips.  Isabella,
absorbed in her meditations, or a book, remained till the door opened;
and it was too late to attempt an escape, which she would gladly have
done had it been practicable.

'Come in, that's right!' exclaimed the mistress, gaily, pulling a chair
to the fire.  'Here are two people sadly in need of a third to thaw the
ice between them; and you are the very one we should both of us choose.
Heathcliff, I'm proud to show you, at last, somebody that dotes on you
more than myself.  I expect you to feel flattered.  Nay, it's not Nelly;
don't look at her!  My poor little sister-in-law is breaking her heart by
mere contemplation of your physical and moral beauty.  It lies in your
own power to be Edgar's brother!  No, no, Isabella, you sha'n't run off,'
she continued, arresting, with feigned playfulness, the confounded girl,
who had risen indignantly.  'We were quarrelling like cats about you,
Heathcliff; and I was fairly beaten in protestations of devotion and
admiration: and, moreover, I was informed that if I would but have the
manners to stand aside, my rival, as she will have herself to be, would
shoot a shaft into your soul that would fix you for ever, and send my
image into eternal oblivion!'

'Catherine!' said Isabella, calling up her dignity, and disdaining to
struggle from the tight grasp that held her, 'I'd thank you to adhere to
the truth and not slander me, even in joke!  Mr. Heathcliff, be kind
enough to bid this friend of yours release me: she forgets that you and I
are not intimate acquaintances; and what amuses her is painful to me
beyond expression.'

As the guest answered nothing, but took his seat, and looked thoroughly
indifferent what sentiments she cherished concerning him, she turned and
whispered an earnest appeal for liberty to her tormentor.

'By no means!' cried Mrs. Linton in answer.  'I won't be named a dog in
the manger again.  You _shall_ stay: now then!  Heathcliff, why don't you
evince satisfaction at my pleasant news?  Isabella swears that the love
Edgar has for me is nothing to that she entertains for you.  I'm sure she
made some speech of the kind; did she not, Ellen?  And she has fasted
ever since the day before yesterday's walk, from sorrow and rage that I
despatched her out of your society under the idea of its being
unacceptable.'

'I think you belie her,' said Heathcliff, twisting his chair to face
them.  'She wishes to be out of my society now, at any rate!'

And he stared hard at the object of discourse, as one might do at a
strange repulsive animal: a centipede from the Indies, for instance,
which curiosity leads one to examine in spite of the aversion it raises.
The poor thing couldn't bear that; she grew white and red in rapid
succession, and, while tears beaded her lashes, bent the strength of her
small fingers to loosen the firm clutch of Catherine; and perceiving that
as fast as she raised one finger off her arm another closed down, and she
could not remove the whole together, she began to make use of her nails;
and their sharpness presently ornamented the detainer's with crescents of
red.

'There's a tigress!' exclaimed Mrs. Linton, setting her free, and shaking
her hand with pain.  'Begone, for God's sake, and hide your vixen face!
How foolish to reveal those talons to him.  Can't you fancy the
conclusions he'll draw?  Look, Heathcliff! they are instruments that will
do execution--you must beware of your eyes.'

'I'd wrench them off her fingers, if they ever menaced me,' he answered,
brutally, when the door had closed after her.  'But what did you mean by
teasing the creature in that manner, Cathy?  You were not speaking the
truth, were you?'

'I assure you I was,' she returned.  'She has been dying for your sake
several weeks, and raving about you this morning, and pouring forth a
deluge of abuse, because I represented your failings in a plain light,
for the purpose of mitigating her adoration.  But don't notice it
further: I wished to punish her sauciness, that's all.  I like her too
well, my dear Heathcliff, to let you absolutely seize and devour her up.'

'And I like her too ill to attempt it,' said he, 'except in a very
ghoulish fashion.  You'd hear of odd things if I lived alone with that
mawkish, waxen face: the most ordinary would be painting on its white the
colours of the rainbow, and turning the blue eyes black, every day or
two: they detestably resemble Linton's.'

'Delectably!' observed Catherine.  'They are dove's eyes--angel's!'

'She's her brother's heir, is she not?' he asked, after a brief silence.

'I should be sorry to think so,' returned his companion.  'Half a dozen
nephews shall erase her title, please heaven!  Abstract your mind from
the subject at present: you are too prone to covet your neighbour's
goods; remember _this_ neighbour's goods are mine.'

'If they were _mine_, they would be none the less that,' said Heathcliff;
'but though Isabella Linton may be silly, she is scarcely mad; and, in
short, we'll dismiss the matter, as you advise.'

From their tongues they did dismiss it; and Catherine, probably, from her
thoughts.  The other, I felt certain, recalled it often in the course of
the evening.  I saw him smile to himself--grin rather--and lapse into
ominous musing whenever Mrs. Linton had occasion to be absent from the
apartment.

I determined to watch his movements.  My heart invariably cleaved to the
master's, in preference to Catherine's side: with reason I imagined, for
he was kind, and trustful, and honourable; and she--she could not be
called _opposite_, yet she seemed to allow herself such wide latitude,
that I had little faith in her principles, and still less sympathy for
her feelings.  I wanted something to happen which might have the effect
of freeing both Wuthering Heights and the Grange of Mr. Heathcliff
quietly; leaving us as we had been prior to his advent.  His visits were
a continual nightmare to me; and, I suspected, to my master also.  His
abode at the Heights was an oppression past explaining.  I felt that God
had forsaken the stray sheep there to its own wicked wanderings, and an
evil beast prowled between it and the fold, waiting his time to spring
and destroy.

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

completion: Lockwood becomes sick after his traumatic experience at Wuthering Heights, and--as he writes in his diary--spends four weeks in misery. Heathcliff pays him a visit, and afterward Lockwood summons Nelly Dean and demands to know the rest of her story. How did Heathcliff, the oppressed and reviled outcast, make his fortune and acquire both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Nelly says that she does not know how Heathcliff spent the three years that he was away and that it was at this time that he apparently acquired his wealth. But she agrees to continue with her tale. About six months after Catherine's marriage to Edgar Linton, Heathcliff returns home, surprising Nelly at Thrushcross Grange. When he comes indoors, Catherine becomes almost giddy with happiness at the sight of him, and their obvious affection for one another makes Edgar uncomfortable and jealous. Heathcliff has grown into a polished, gentlemanly, and physically impressive man, though some hint of savagery remains in his eyes. He announces that Hindley has invited him to stay at Wuthering Heights. This surprises both Catherine and Nelly, but Heathcliff tells Catherine that when he sought Nelly at Wuthering Heights earlier that day, he came across Hindley in a card game with his rough friends. Heathcliff joined them in the gambling, and, because his reckless bids seemed to bespeak a great wealth, Hindley excitedly invited him to return. Catherine and Isabella begin to visit Wuthering Heights quite often, and Heathcliff returns the favor by calling at the Grange. Isabella begins to fall in love with Heathcliff, who, despite his obvious love for Catherine, does nothing to discourage her sister-in-law's affections. Nelly suspects that he harbors wicked and vengeful motives, and vows to watch him closely


prompt:
Chapter: Sometimes, while meditating on these things in solitude, I've got up in a
sudden terror, and put on my bonnet to go see how all was at the farm.
I've persuaded my conscience that it was a duty to warn him how people
talked regarding his ways; and then I've recollected his confirmed bad
habits, and, hopeless of benefiting him, have flinched from re-entering
the dismal house, doubting if I could bear to be taken at my word.

One time I passed the old gate, going out of my way, on a journey to
Gimmerton. It was about the period that my narrative has reached: a
bright frosty afternoon; the ground bare, and the road hard and dry. I
came to a stone where the highway branches off on to the moor at your
left hand; a rough sand-pillar, with the letters W. H. cut on its north
side, on the east, G., and on the south-west, T. G. It serves as a
guide-post to the Grange, the Heights, and village. The sun shone yellow
on its grey head, reminding me of summer; and I cannot say why, but all
at once a gush of child's sensations flowed into my heart. Hindley and I
held it a favourite spot twenty years before. I gazed long at the
weather-worn block; and, stooping down, perceived a hole near the bottom
still full of snail-shells and pebbles, which we were fond of storing
there with more perishable things; and, as fresh as reality, it appeared
that I beheld my early playmate seated on the withered turf: his dark,
square head bent forward, and his little hand scooping out the earth
with a piece of slate. 'Poor Hindley!' I exclaimed, involuntarily. I
started: my bodily eye was cheated into a momentary belief that the
child lifted its face and stared straight into mine! It vanished in a
twinkling; but immediately I felt an irresistible yearning to be at the
Heights. Superstition urged me to comply with this impulse: supposing he
should be dead! I thought--or should die soon!--supposing it were a sign
of death! The nearer I got to the house the more agitated I grew; and on
catching sight of it I trembled in every limb. The apparition had
outstripped me: it stood looking through the gate. That was my first
idea on observing an elf-locked, brown-eyed boy setting his ruddy
countenance against the bars. Further reflection suggested this must be
Hareton, _my_ Hareton, not altered greatly since I left him, ten months
since.

'God bless thee, darling!' I cried, forgetting instantaneously my
foolish fears. 'Hareton, it's Nelly! Nelly, thy nurse.'

He retreated out of arm's length, and picked up a large flint.

'I am come to see thy father, Hareton,' I added, guessing from the
action that Nelly, if she lived in his memory at all, was not recognised
as one with me.

He raised his missile to hurl it; I commenced a soothing speech, but
could not stay his hand: the stone struck my bonnet; and then ensued,
from the stammering lips of the little fellow, a string of curses, which,
whether he comprehended them or not, were delivered with practised
emphasis, and distorted his baby features into a shocking expression of
malignity.  You may be certain this grieved more than angered me.  Fit to
cry, I took an orange from my pocket, and offered it to propitiate him.
He hesitated, and then snatched it from my hold; as if he fancied I only
intended to tempt and disappoint him.  I showed another, keeping it out
of his reach.

'Who has taught you those fine words, my bairn?' I inquired.  'The
curate?'

'Damn the curate, and thee!  Gie me that,' he replied.

'Tell us where you got your lessons, and you shall have it,' said I.
'Who's your master?'

'Devil daddy,' was his answer.

'And what do you learn from daddy?' I continued.

He jumped at the fruit; I raised it higher.  'What does he teach you?' I
asked.

'Naught,' said he, 'but to keep out of his gait.  Daddy cannot bide me,
because I swear at him.'

'Ah! and the devil teaches you to swear at daddy?' I observed.

'Ay--nay,' he drawled.

'Who, then?'

'Heathcliff.'

'I asked if he liked Mr. Heathcliff.'

'Ay!' he answered again.

Desiring to have his reasons for liking him, I could only gather the
sentences--'I known't: he pays dad back what he gies to me--he curses
daddy for cursing me.  He says I mun do as I will.'

'And the curate does not teach you to read and write, then?' I pursued.

'No, I was told the curate should have his--teeth dashed down his--throat,
if he stepped over the threshold--Heathcliff had promised that!'

I put the orange in his hand, and bade him tell his father that a woman
called Nelly Dean was waiting to speak with him, by the garden gate.  He
went up the walk, and entered the house; but, instead of Hindley,
Heathcliff appeared on the door-stones; and I turned directly and ran
down the road as hard as ever I could race, making no halt till I gained
the guide-post, and feeling as scared as if I had raised a goblin.  This
is not much connected with Miss Isabella's affair: except that it urged
me to resolve further on mounting vigilant guard, and doing my utmost to
check the spread of such bad influence at the Grange: even though I
should wake a domestic storm, by thwarting Mrs. Linton's pleasure.

The next time Heathcliff came my young lady chanced to be feeding some
pigeons in the court.  She had never spoken a word to her sister-in-law
for three days; but she had likewise dropped her fretful complaining, and
we found it a great comfort.  Heathcliff had not the habit of bestowing a
single unnecessary civility on Miss Linton, I knew.  Now, as soon as he
beheld her, his first precaution was to take a sweeping survey of the
house-front.  I was standing by the kitchen-window, but I drew out of
sight.  He then stepped across the pavement to her, and said something:
she seemed embarrassed, and desirous of getting away; to prevent it, he
laid his hand on her arm.  She averted her face: he apparently put some
question which she had no mind to answer.  There was another rapid glance
at the house, and supposing himself unseen, the scoundrel had the
impudence to embrace her.

'Judas!  Traitor!' I ejaculated.  'You are a hypocrite, too, are you?  A
deliberate deceiver.'

'Who is, Nelly?' said Catherine's voice at my elbow: I had been
over-intent on watching the pair outside to mark her entrance.

'Your worthless friend!' I answered, warmly: 'the sneaking rascal yonder.
Ah, he has caught a glimpse of us--he is coming in!  I wonder will he
have the heart to find a plausible excuse for making love to Miss, when
he told you he hated her?'

Mrs. Linton saw Isabella tear herself free, and run into the garden; and
a minute after, Heathcliff opened the door.  I couldn't withhold giving
some loose to my indignation; but Catherine angrily insisted on silence,
and threatened to order me out of the kitchen, if I dared to be so
presumptuous as to put in my insolent tongue.

'To hear you, people might think you were the mistress!' she cried.  'You
want setting down in your right place!  Heathcliff, what are you about,
raising this stir?  I said you must let Isabella alone!--I beg you will,
unless you are tired of being received here, and wish Linton to draw the
bolts against you!'

'God forbid that he should try!' answered the black villain.  I detested
him just then.  'God keep him meek and patient!  Every day I grow madder
after sending him to heaven!'

'Hush!' said Catherine, shutting the inner door!  'Don't vex me.  Why
have you disregarded my request?  Did she come across you on purpose?'

'What is it to you?' he growled.  'I have a right to kiss her, if she
chooses; and you have no right to object.  I am not _your_ husband: _you_
needn't be jealous of me!'

'I'm not jealous of you,' replied the mistress; 'I'm jealous for you.
Clear your face: you sha'n't scowl at me!  If you like Isabella, you
shall marry her.  But do you like her?  Tell the truth, Heathcliff!
There, you won't answer.  I'm certain you don't.'

'And would Mr. Linton approve of his sister marrying that man?' I
inquired.

'Mr. Linton should approve,' returned my lady, decisively.

'He might spare himself the trouble,' said Heathcliff: 'I could do as
well without his approbation. And as to you, Catherine, I have a mind to
speak a few words now, while we are at it. I want you to be aware that I
_know_ you have treated me infernally--infernally! Do you hear? And if
you flatter yourself that I don't perceive it, you are a fool; and if
you think I can be consoled by sweet words, you are an idiot: and if you
fancy I'll suffer unrevenged, I'll convince you of the contrary, in a
very little while! Meantime, thank you for telling me your
sister-in-law's secret: I swear I'll make the most of it. And stand you
aside!'

'What new phase of his character is this?' exclaimed Mrs. Linton, in
amazement.  'I've treated you infernally--and you'll take your revenge!
How will you take it, ungrateful brute?  How have I treated you
infernally?'

'I seek no revenge on you,' replied Heathcliff, less vehemently.  'That's
not the plan.  The tyrant grinds down his slaves and they don't turn
against him; they crush those beneath them.  You are welcome to torture
me to death for your amusement, only allow me to amuse myself a little in
the same style, and refrain from insult as much as you are able.  Having
levelled my palace, don't erect a hovel and complacently admire your own
charity in giving me that for a home.  If I imagined you really wished me
to marry Isabel, I'd cut my throat!'

'Oh, the evil is that I am _not_ jealous, is it?' cried Catherine.  'Well,
I won't repeat my offer of a wife: it is as bad as offering Satan a lost
soul.  Your bliss lies, like his, in inflicting misery.  You prove it.
Edgar is restored from the ill-temper he gave way to at your coming; I
begin to be secure and tranquil; and you, restless to know us at peace,
appear resolved on exciting a quarrel.  Quarrel with Edgar, if you
please, Heathcliff, and deceive his sister: you'll hit on exactly the
most efficient method of revenging yourself on me.'

The conversation ceased.  Mrs. Linton sat down by the fire, flushed and
gloomy.  The spirit which served her was growing intractable: she could
neither lay nor control it.  He stood on the hearth with folded arms,
brooding on his evil thoughts; and in this position I left them to seek
the master, who was wondering what kept Catherine below so long.

'Ellen,' said he, when I entered, 'have you seen your mistress?'

'Yes; she's in the kitchen, sir,' I answered.  'She's sadly put out by
Mr. Heathcliff's behaviour: and, indeed, I do think it's time to arrange
his visits on another footing.  There's harm in being too soft, and now
it's come to this--.'  And I related the scene in the court, and, as near
as I dared, the whole subsequent dispute.  I fancied it could not be very
prejudicial to Mrs. Linton; unless she made it so afterwards, by assuming
the defensive for her guest.  Edgar Linton had difficulty in hearing me
to the close.  His first words revealed that he did not clear his wife of
blame.

'This is insufferable!' he exclaimed.  'It is disgraceful that she should
own him for a friend, and force his company on me!  Call me two men out
of the hall, Ellen.  Catherine shall linger no longer to argue with the
low ruffian--I have humoured her enough.'

He descended, and bidding the servants wait in the passage, went,
followed by me, to the kitchen.  Its occupants had recommenced their
angry discussion: Mrs. Linton, at least, was scolding with renewed
vigour; Heathcliff had moved to the window, and hung his head, somewhat
cowed by her violent rating apparently.  He saw the master first, and
made a hasty motion that she should be silent; which she obeyed,
abruptly, on discovering the reason of his intimation.

'How is this?' said Linton, addressing her; 'what notion of propriety
must you have to remain here, after the language which has been held to
you by that blackguard?  I suppose, because it is his ordinary talk you
think nothing of it: you are habituated to his baseness, and, perhaps,
imagine I can get used to it too!'

'Have you been listening at the door, Edgar?' asked the mistress, in a
tone particularly calculated to provoke her husband, implying both
carelessness and contempt of his irritation.  Heathcliff, who had raised
his eyes at the former speech, gave a sneering laugh at the latter; on
purpose, it seemed, to draw Mr. Linton's attention to him.  He succeeded;
but Edgar did not mean to entertain him with any high flights of passion.

'I've been so far forbearing with you, sir,' he said quietly; 'not that I
was ignorant of your miserable, degraded character, but I felt you were
only partly responsible for that; and Catherine wishing to keep up your
acquaintance, I acquiesced--foolishly.  Your presence is a moral poison
that would contaminate the most virtuous: for that cause, and to prevent
worse consequences, I shall deny you hereafter admission into this house,
and give notice now that I require your instant departure.  Three
minutes' delay will render it involuntary and ignominious.'

Heathcliff measured the height and breadth of the speaker with an eye
full of derision.

'Cathy, this lamb of yours threatens like a bull!' he said.  'It is in
danger of splitting its skull against my knuckles.  By God!  Mr. Linton,
I'm mortally sorry that you are not worth knocking down!'

My master glanced towards the passage, and signed me to fetch the men: he
had no intention of hazarding a personal encounter.  I obeyed the hint;
but Mrs. Linton, suspecting something, followed; and when I attempted to
call them, she pulled me back, slammed the door to, and locked it.

'Fair means!' she said, in answer to her husband's look of angry
surprise.  'If you have not courage to attack him, make an apology, or
allow yourself to be beaten.  It will correct you of feigning more valour
than you possess.  No, I'll swallow the key before you shall get it!  I'm
delightfully rewarded for my kindness to each!  After constant indulgence
of one's weak nature, and the other's bad one, I earn for thanks two
samples of blind ingratitude, stupid to absurdity!  Edgar, I was
defending you and yours; and I wish Heathcliff may flog you sick, for
daring to think an evil thought of me!'

It did not need the medium of a flogging to produce that effect on the
master.  He tried to wrest the key from Catherine's grasp, and for safety
she flung it into the hottest part of the fire; whereupon Mr. Edgar was
taken with a nervous trembling, and his countenance grew deadly pale.  For
his life he could not avert that excess of emotion: mingled anguish and
humiliation overcame him completely.  He leant on the back of a chair,
and covered his face.

'Oh, heavens!  In old days this would win you knighthood!' exclaimed Mrs.
Linton.  'We are vanquished! we are vanquished!  Heathcliff would as soon
lift a finger at you as the king would march his army against a colony of
mice.  Cheer up! you sha'n't be hurt!  Your type is not a lamb, it's a
sucking leveret.'

'I wish you joy of the milk-blooded coward, Cathy!' said her friend.  'I
compliment you on your taste.  And that is the slavering, shivering thing
you preferred to me!  I would not strike him with my fist, but I'd kick
him with my foot, and experience considerable satisfaction.  Is he
weeping, or is he going to faint for fear?'

The fellow approached and gave the chair on which Linton rested a push.
He'd better have kept his distance: my master quickly sprang erect, and
struck him full on the throat a blow that would have levelled a slighter
man.  It took his breath for a minute; and while he choked, Mr. Linton
walked out by the back door into the yard, and from thence to the front
entrance.

'There! you've done with coming here,' cried Catherine.  'Get away, now;
he'll return with a brace of pistols and half-a-dozen assistants.  If he
did overhear us, of course he'd never forgive you.  You've played me an
ill turn, Heathcliff!  But go--make haste!  I'd rather see Edgar at bay
than you.'

'Do you suppose I'm going with that blow burning in my gullet?' he
thundered.  'By hell, no!  I'll crush his ribs in like a rotten hazel-nut
before I cross the threshold!  If I don't floor him now, I shall murder
him some time; so, as you value his existence, let me get at him!'

'He is not coming,' I interposed, framing a bit of a lie.  'There's the
coachman and the two gardeners; you'll surely not wait to be thrust into
the road by them!  Each has a bludgeon; and master will, very likely, be
watching from the parlour-windows to see that they fulfil his orders.'

The gardeners and coachman were there: but Linton was with them.  They
had already entered the court.  Heathcliff, on the second thoughts,
resolved to avoid a struggle against three underlings: he seized the
poker, smashed the lock from the inner door, and made his escape as they
tramped in.

Mrs. Linton, who was very much excited, bade me accompany her up-stairs.
She did not know my share in contributing to the disturbance, and I was
anxious to keep her in ignorance.

'I'm nearly distracted, Nelly!' she exclaimed, throwing herself on the
sofa.  'A thousand smiths' hammers are beating in my head!  Tell Isabella
to shun me; this uproar is owing to her; and should she or any one else
aggravate my anger at present, I shall get wild.  And, Nelly, say to
Edgar, if you see him again to-night, that I'm in danger of being
seriously ill.  I wish it may prove true.  He has startled and distressed
me shockingly!  I want to frighten him.  Besides, he might come and begin
a string of abuse or complainings; I'm certain I should recriminate, and
God knows where we should end!  Will you do so, my good Nelly?  You are
aware that I am no way blamable in this matter.  What possessed him to
turn listener?  Heathcliff's talk was outrageous, after you left us; but
I could soon have diverted him from Isabella, and the rest meant nothing.
Now all is dashed wrong; by the fool's craving to hear evil of self, that
haunts some people like a demon!  Had Edgar never gathered our
conversation, he would never have been the worse for it.  Really, when he
opened on me in that unreasonable tone of displeasure after I had scolded
Heathcliff till I was hoarse for him, I did not care hardly what they did
to each other; especially as I felt that, however the scene closed, we
should all be driven asunder for nobody knows how long!  Well, if I
cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend--if Edgar will be mean and jealous,
I'll try to break their hearts by breaking my own.  That will be a prompt
way of finishing all, when I am pushed to extremity!  But it's a deed to
be reserved for a forlorn hope; I'd not take Linton by surprise with it.
To this point he has been discreet in dreading to provoke me; you must
represent the peril of quitting that policy, and remind him of my
passionate temper, verging, when kindled, on frenzy.  I wish you could
dismiss that apathy out of that countenance, and look rather more anxious
about me.'

The stolidity with which I received these instructions was, no doubt,
rather exasperating: for they were delivered in perfect sincerity; but I
believed a person who could plan the turning of her fits of passion to
account, beforehand, might, by exerting her will, manage to control
herself tolerably, even while under their influence; and I did not wish
to 'frighten' her husband, as she said, and multiply his annoyances for
the purpose of serving her selfishness.  Therefore I said nothing when I
met the master coming towards the parlour; but I took the liberty of
turning back to listen whether they would resume their quarrel together.
He began to speak first.

'Remain where you are, Catherine,' he said; without any anger in his
voice, but with much sorrowful despondency.  'I shall not stay.  I am
neither come to wrangle nor be reconciled; but I wish just to learn
whether, after this evening's events, you intend to continue your
intimacy with--'

'Oh, for mercy's sake,' interrupted the mistress, stamping her foot, 'for
mercy's sake, let us hear no more of it now!  Your cold blood cannot be
worked into a fever: your veins are full of ice-water; but mine are
boiling, and the sight of such chillness makes them dance.'

'To get rid of me, answer my question,' persevered Mr. Linton.  'You must
answer it; and that violence does not alarm me.  I have found that you
can be as stoical as anyone, when you please.  Will you give up
Heathcliff hereafter, or will you give up me?  It is impossible for you
to be _my_ friend and _his_ at the same time; and I absolutely _require_
to know which you choose.'

'I require to be let alone!' exclaimed Catherine, furiously.  'I demand
it!  Don't you see I can scarcely stand?  Edgar, you--you leave me!'

She rang the bell till it broke with a twang; I entered leisurely.  It
was enough to try the temper of a saint, such senseless, wicked rages!
There she lay dashing her head against the arm of the sofa, and grinding
her teeth, so that you might fancy she would crash them to splinters!  Mr.
Linton stood looking at her in sudden compunction and fear.  He told me
to fetch some water.  She had no breath for speaking.  I brought a glass
full; and as she would not drink, I sprinkled it on her face.  In a few
seconds she stretched herself out stiff, and turned up her eyes, while
her cheeks, at once blanched and livid, assumed the aspect of death.
Linton looked terrified.

'There is nothing in the world the matter,' I whispered.  I did not want
him to yield, though I could not help being afraid in my heart.

'She has blood on her lips!' he said, shuddering.

'Never mind!' I answered, tartly. And I told him how she had resolved,
previous to his coming, on exhibiting a fit of frenzy. I incautiously
gave the account aloud, and she heard me; for she started up--her hair
flying over her shoulders, her eyes flashing, the muscles of her neck
and arms standing out preternaturally. I made up my mind for broken
bones, at least; but she only glared about her for an instant, and then
rushed from the room. The master directed me to follow; I did, to her
chamber-door: she hindered me from going further by securing it against
me.

As she never offered to descend to breakfast next morning, I went to ask
whether she would have some carried up.  'No!' she replied, peremptorily.
The same question was repeated at dinner and tea; and again on the morrow
after, and received the same answer.  Mr. Linton, on his part, spent his
time in the library, and did not inquire concerning his wife's
occupations.  Isabella and he had had an hour's interview, during which
he tried to elicit from her some sentiment of proper horror for
Heathcliff's advances: but he could make nothing of her evasive replies,
and was obliged to close the examination unsatisfactorily; adding,
however, a solemn warning, that if she were so insane as to encourage
that worthless suitor, it would dissolve all bonds of relationship
between herself and him.

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

completion: Nelly travels to Wuthering Heights to talk with Hindley, but instead she finds Hareton, who throws stones at her and curses. Nelly learns from Hareton that Heathcliff has taught the boy to swear at his father, Hindley, and has forbidden the curate, who offered to educate Hareton, to set foot on the property. Heathcliff appears, and Nelly flees. The next day, at the Grange, Nelly observes Heathcliff embracing Isabella. In the kitchen, Catherine demands that Heathcliff tell her his true feelings about Isabella. She offers to convince Edgar to permit the marriage if Heathcliff truly loves the woman. Heathcliff scorns this idea, however, declaring that Catherine has wronged him by marrying Edgar, and that he intends to exact revenge. Nelly informs Edgar of the encounter occurring between Catherine and Heathcliff in the kitchen, and Edgar storms in and orders Heathcliff off of his property. When Heathcliff refuses to leave, Edgar summons his servants for help. However, Catherine locks herself and the two men inside the kitchen and throws the key into the fire, forcing Edgar to confront Heathcliff without the help of additional men. Overcome with fear and shame, Edgar hides his face. Still, Catherine's taunts goad Edgar into striking Heathcliff a blow to the throat, after which Edgar exits through the garden. In terror of the larger and stronger Heathcliff, Edgar hurries to find help, and Heathcliff, deciding that he cannot fight three armed servants, departs. In a rage, Edgar declares that Catherine must choose between Heathcliff and himself. Catherine refuses to speak to him, locking herself in a room and refusing to eat. Two days pass in this way, and Edgar warns Isabella that if she pursues Heathcliff, he will cast her out of the Linton family


prompt:
Chapter: While Miss Linton moped about the park and garden, always silent, and
almost always in tears; and her brother shut himself up among books that
he never opened--wearying, I guessed, with a continual vague expectation
that Catherine, repenting her conduct, would come of her own accord to
ask pardon, and seek a reconciliation--and _she_ fasted pertinaciously,
under the idea, probably, that at every meal Edgar was ready to choke for
her absence, and pride alone held him from running to cast himself at her
feet; I went about my household duties, convinced that the Grange had but
one sensible soul in its walls, and that lodged in my body.  I wasted no
condolences on Miss, nor any expostulations on my mistress; nor did I pay
much attention to the sighs of my master, who yearned to hear his lady's
name, since he might not hear her voice.  I determined they should come
about as they pleased for me; and though it was a tiresomely slow
process, I began to rejoice at length in a faint dawn of its progress: as
I thought at first.

Mrs. Linton, on the third day, unbarred her door, and having finished the
water in her pitcher and decanter, desired a renewed supply, and a basin
of gruel, for she believed she was dying.  That I set down as a speech
meant for Edgar's ears; I believed no such thing, so I kept it to myself
and brought her some tea and dry toast.  She ate and drank eagerly, and
sank back on her pillow again, clenching her hands and groaning.  'Oh, I
will die,' she exclaimed, 'since no one cares anything about me.  I wish
I had not taken that.'  Then a good while after I heard her murmur, 'No,
I'll not die--he'd be glad--he does not love me at all--he would never
miss me!'

'Did you want anything, ma'am?' I inquired, still preserving my external
composure, in spite of her ghastly countenance and strange, exaggerated
manner.

'What is that apathetic being doing?' she demanded, pushing the thick
entangled locks from her wasted face.  'Has he fallen into a lethargy, or
is he dead?'

'Neither,' replied I; 'if you mean Mr. Linton.  He's tolerably well, I
think, though his studies occupy him rather more than they ought: he is
continually among his books, since he has no other society.'

I should not have spoken so if I had known her true condition, but I
could not get rid of the notion that she acted a part of her disorder.

'Among his books!' she cried, confounded.  'And I dying!  I on the brink
of the grave!  My God! does he know how I'm altered?' continued she,
staring at her reflection in a mirror hanging against the opposite wall.
'Is that Catherine Linton?  He imagines me in a pet--in play, perhaps.
Cannot you inform him that it is frightful earnest?  Nelly, if it be not
too late, as soon as I learn how he feels, I'll choose between these two:
either to starve at once--that would be no punishment unless he had a
heart--or to recover, and leave the country.  Are you speaking the truth
about him now?  Take care.  Is he actually so utterly indifferent for my
life?'

'Why, ma'am,' I answered, 'the master has no idea of your being deranged;
and of course he does not fear that you will let yourself die of hunger.'

'You think not?  Cannot you tell him I will?' she returned.  'Persuade
him! speak of your own mind: say you are certain I will!'

'No, you forget, Mrs. Linton,' I suggested, 'that you have eaten some
food with a relish this evening, and to-morrow you will perceive its good
effects.'

'If I were only sure it would kill him,' she interrupted, 'I'd kill
myself directly!  These three awful nights I've never closed my lids--and
oh, I've been tormented!  I've been haunted, Nelly!  But I begin to fancy
you don't like me.  How strange!  I thought, though everybody hated and
despised each other, they could not avoid loving me.  And they have all
turned to enemies in a few hours: they have, I'm positive; the people
here.  How dreary to meet death, surrounded by their cold faces!
Isabella, terrified and repelled, afraid to enter the room, it would be
so dreadful to watch Catherine go.  And Edgar standing solemnly by to see
it over; then offering prayers of thanks to God for restoring peace to
his house, and going back to his _books_!  What in the name of all that
feels has he to do with _books_, when I am dying?'

She could not bear the notion which I had put into her head of Mr.
Linton's philosophical resignation.  Tossing about, she increased her
feverish bewilderment to madness, and tore the pillow with her teeth;
then raising herself up all burning, desired that I would open the
window.  We were in the middle of winter, the wind blew strong from the
north-east, and I objected.  Both the expressions flitting over her face,
and the changes of her moods, began to alarm me terribly; and brought to
my recollection her former illness, and the doctor's injunction that she
should not be crossed.  A minute previously she was violent; now,
supported on one arm, and not noticing my refusal to obey her, she seemed
to find childish diversion in pulling the feathers from the rents she had
just made, and ranging them on the sheet according to their different
species: her mind had strayed to other associations.

'That's a turkey's,' she murmured to herself; 'and this is a wild duck's;
and this is a pigeon's.  Ah, they put pigeons' feathers in the pillows--no
wonder I couldn't die!  Let me take care to throw it on the floor when I
lie down.  And here is a moor-cock's; and this--I should know it among a
thousand--it's a lapwing's.  Bonny bird; wheeling over our heads in the
middle of the moor.  It wanted to get to its nest, for the clouds had
touched the swells, and it felt rain coming.  This feather was picked up
from the heath, the bird was not shot: we saw its nest in the winter,
full of little skeletons.  Heathcliff set a trap over it, and the old
ones dared not come.  I made him promise he'd never shoot a lapwing after
that, and he didn't.  Yes, here are more!  Did he shoot my lapwings,
Nelly?  Are they red, any of them?  Let me look.'

'Give over with that baby-work!' I interrupted, dragging the pillow away,
and turning the holes towards the mattress, for she was removing its
contents by handfuls.  'Lie down and shut your eyes: you're wandering.
There's a mess!  The down is flying about like snow.'

I went here and there collecting it.

'I see in you, Nelly,' she continued dreamily, 'an aged woman: you have
grey hair and bent shoulders.  This bed is the fairy cave under Penistone
crags, and you are gathering elf-bolts to hurt our heifers; pretending,
while I am near, that they are only locks of wool.  That's what you'll
come to fifty years hence: I know you are not so now.  I'm not wandering:
you're mistaken, or else I should believe you really _were_ that withered
hag, and I should think I _was_ under Penistone Crags; and I'm conscious
it's night, and there are two candles on the table making the black press
shine like jet.'

'The black press? where is that?' I asked.  'You are talking in your
sleep!'

'It's against the wall, as it always is,' she replied.  'It _does_ appear
odd--I see a face in it!'

'There's no press in the room, and never was,' said I, resuming my seat,
and looping up the curtain that I might watch her.

'Don't _you_ see that face?' she inquired, gazing earnestly at the
mirror.

And say what I could, I was incapable of making her comprehend it to be
her own; so I rose and covered it with a shawl.

'It's behind there still!' she pursued, anxiously.  'And it stirred.  Who
is it?  I hope it will not come out when you are gone!  Oh!  Nelly, the
room is haunted!  I'm afraid of being alone!'

I took her hand in mine, and bid her be composed; for a succession of
shudders convulsed her frame, and she would keep straining her gaze
towards the glass.

'There's nobody here!' I insisted.  'It was _yourself_, Mrs. Linton: you
knew it a while since.'

'Myself!' she gasped, 'and the clock is striking twelve!  It's true,
then! that's dreadful!'

Her fingers clutched the clothes, and gathered them over her eyes.  I
attempted to steal to the door with an intention of calling her husband;
but I was summoned back by a piercing shriek--the shawl had dropped from
the frame.

'Why, what is the matter?' cried I.  'Who is coward now?  Wake up!  That
is the glass--the mirror, Mrs. Linton; and you see yourself in it, and
there am I too by your side.'

Trembling and bewildered, she held me fast, but the horror gradually
passed from her countenance; its paleness gave place to a glow of shame.

'Oh, dear!  I thought I was at home,' she sighed.  'I thought I was lying
in my chamber at Wuthering Heights.  Because I'm weak, my brain got
confused, and I screamed unconsciously.  Don't say anything; but stay
with me.  I dread sleeping: my dreams appal me.'

'A sound sleep would do you good, ma'am,' I answered: 'and I hope this
suffering will prevent your trying starving again.'

'Oh, if I were but in my own bed in the old house!' she went on bitterly,
wringing her hands.  'And that wind sounding in the firs by the lattice.
Do let me feel it--it comes straight down the moor--do let me have one
breath!'  To pacify her I held the casement ajar a few seconds.  A cold
blast rushed through; I closed it, and returned to my post.  She lay
still now, her face bathed in tears.  Exhaustion of body had entirely
subdued her spirit: our fiery Catherine was no better than a wailing
child.

'How long is it since I shut myself in here?' she asked, suddenly
reviving.

'It was Monday evening,' I replied, 'and this is Thursday night, or
rather Friday morning, at present.'

'What! of the same week?' she exclaimed.  'Only that brief time?'

'Long enough to live on nothing but cold water and ill-temper,' observed I.

'Well, it seems a weary number of hours,' she muttered doubtfully: 'it
must be more. I remember being in the parlour after they had quarrelled,
and Edgar being cruelly provoking, and me running into this room
desperate. As soon as ever I had barred the door, utter blackness
overwhelmed me, and I fell on the floor. I couldn't explain to Edgar how
certain I felt of having a fit, or going raging mad, if he persisted in
teasing me! I had no command of tongue, or brain, and he did not guess
my agony, perhaps: it barely left me sense to try to escape from him and
his voice. Before I recovered sufficiently to see and hear, it began to
be dawn, and, Nelly, I'll tell you what I thought, and what has kept
recurring and recurring till I feared for my reason. I thought as I lay
there, with my head against that table leg, and my eyes dimly discerning
the grey square of the window, that I was enclosed in the oak-panelled
bed at home; and my heart ached with some great grief which, just
waking, I could not recollect. I pondered, and worried myself to
discover what it could be, and, most strangely, the whole last seven
years of my life grew a blank! I did not recall that they had been at
all. I was a child; my father was just buried, and my misery arose from
the separation that Hindley had ordered between me and Heathcliff. I was
laid alone, for the first time; and, rousing from a dismal doze after a
night of weeping, I lifted my hand to push the panels aside: it struck
the table-top! I swept it along the carpet, and then memory burst in: my
late anguish was swallowed in a paroxysm of despair. I cannot say why I
felt so wildly wretched: it must have been temporary derangement; for
there is scarcely cause. But, supposing at twelve years old I had been
wrenched from the Heights, and every early association, and my all in
all, as Heathcliff was at that time, and been converted at a stroke into
Mrs. Linton, the lady of Thrushcross Grange, and the wife of a stranger:
an exile, and outcast, thenceforth, from what had been my world. You may
fancy a glimpse of the abyss where I grovelled! Shake your head as you
will, Nelly, you have helped to unsettle me! You should have spoken to
Edgar, indeed you should, and compelled him to leave me quiet! Oh, I'm
burning! I wish I were out of doors! I wish I were a girl again, half
savage and hardy, and free; and laughing at injuries, not maddening
under them! Why am I so changed? why does my blood rush into a hell of
tumult at a few words? I'm sure I should be myself were I once among the
heather on those hills. Open the window again wide: fasten it open!
Quick, why don't you move?'

'Because I won't give you your death of cold,' I answered.

'You won't give me a chance of life, you mean,' she said, sullenly.
'However, I'm not helpless yet; I'll open it myself.'

And sliding from the bed before I could hinder her, she crossed the room,
walking very uncertainly, threw it back, and bent out, careless of the
frosty air that cut about her shoulders as keen as a knife.  I entreated,
and finally attempted to force her to retire.  But I soon found her
delirious strength much surpassed mine (she was delirious, I became
convinced by her subsequent actions and ravings).  There was no moon, and
everything beneath lay in misty darkness: not a light gleamed from any
house, far or near all had been extinguished long ago: and those at
Wuthering Heights were never visible--still she asserted she caught their
shining.

'Look!' she cried eagerly, 'that's my room with the candle in it, and the
trees swaying before it; and the other candle is in Joseph's garret.
Joseph sits up late, doesn't he?  He's waiting till I come home that he
may lock the gate.  Well, he'll wait a while yet.  It's a rough journey,
and a sad heart to travel it; and we must pass by Gimmerton Kirk to go
that journey!  We've braved its ghosts often together, and dared each
other to stand among the graves and ask them to come.  But, Heathcliff,
if I dare you now, will you venture?  If you do, I'll keep you.  I'll not
lie there by myself: they may bury me twelve feet deep, and throw the
church down over me, but I won't rest till you are with me.  I never
will!'

She paused, and resumed with a strange smile.  'He's considering--he'd
rather I'd come to him!  Find a way, then! not through that kirkyard.  You
are slow!  Be content, you always followed me!'

Perceiving it vain to argue against her insanity, I was planning how I
could reach something to wrap about her, without quitting my hold of
herself (for I could not trust her alone by the gaping lattice), when, to
my consternation, I heard the rattle of the door-handle, and Mr. Linton
entered.  He had only then come from the library; and, in passing through
the lobby, had noticed our talking and been attracted by curiosity, or
fear, to examine what it signified, at that late hour.

'Oh, sir!' I cried, checking the exclamation risen to his lips at the
sight which met him, and the bleak atmosphere of the chamber.  'My poor
mistress is ill, and she quite masters me: I cannot manage her at all;
pray, come and persuade her to go to bed.  Forget your anger, for she's
hard to guide any way but her own.'

'Catherine ill?' he said, hastening to us.  'Shut the window, Ellen!
Catherine! why--'

He was silent.  The haggardness of Mrs. Linton's appearance smote him
speechless, and he could only glance from her to me in horrified
astonishment.

'She's been fretting here,' I continued, 'and eating scarcely anything,
and never complaining: she would admit none of us till this evening, and
so we couldn't inform you of her state, as we were not aware of it
ourselves; but it is nothing.'

I felt I uttered my explanations awkwardly; the master frowned.  'It is
nothing, is it, Ellen Dean?' he said sternly.  'You shall account more
clearly for keeping me ignorant of this!'  And he took his wife in his
arms, and looked at her with anguish.

At first she gave him no glance of recognition: he was invisible to her
abstracted gaze.  The delirium was not fixed, however; having weaned her
eyes from contemplating the outer darkness, by degrees she centred her
attention on him, and discovered who it was that held her.

'Ah! you are come, are you, Edgar Linton?' she said, with angry
animation.  'You are one of those things that are ever found when least
wanted, and when you are wanted, never!  I suppose we shall have plenty
of lamentations now--I see we shall--but they can't keep me from my
narrow home out yonder: my resting-place, where I'm bound before spring
is over!  There it is: not among the Lintons, mind, under the
chapel-roof, but in the open air, with a head-stone; and you may please
yourself whether you go to them or come to me!'

'Catherine, what have you done?' commenced the master.  'Am I nothing to
you any more?  Do you love that wretch Heath--'

'Hush!' cried Mrs. Linton.  'Hush, this moment!  You mention that name
and I end the matter instantly by a spring from the window!  What you
touch at present you may have; but my soul will be on that hill-top
before you lay hands on me again.  I don't want you, Edgar: I'm past
wanting you.  Return to your books.  I'm glad you possess a consolation,
for all you had in me is gone.'

'Her mind wanders, sir,' I interposed.  'She has been talking nonsense
the whole evening; but let her have quiet, and proper attendance, and
she'll rally.  Hereafter, we must be cautious how we vex her.'

'I desire no further advice from you,' answered Mr. Linton.  'You knew
your mistress's nature, and you encouraged me to harass her.  And not to
give me one hint of how she has been these three days!  It was heartless!
Months of sickness could not cause such a change!'

I began to defend myself, thinking it too bad to be blamed for another's
wicked waywardness.  'I knew Mrs. Linton's nature to be headstrong and
domineering,' cried I: 'but I didn't know that you wished to foster her
fierce temper!  I didn't know that, to humour her, I should wink at Mr.
Heathcliff.  I performed the duty of a faithful servant in telling you,
and I have got a faithful servant's wages!  Well, it will teach me to be
careful next time.  Next time you may gather intelligence for yourself!'

'The next time you bring a tale to me you shall quit my service, Ellen
Dean,' he replied.

'You'd rather hear nothing about it, I suppose, then, Mr. Linton?' said
I.  'Heathcliff has your permission to come a-courting to Miss, and to
drop in at every opportunity your absence offers, on purpose to poison
the mistress against you?'

Confused as Catherine was, her wits were alert at applying our
conversation.

'Ah!  Nelly has played traitor,' she exclaimed, passionately.  'Nelly is
my hidden enemy.  You witch!  So you do seek elf-bolts to hurt us!  Let
me go, and I'll make her rue!  I'll make her howl a recantation!'

A maniac's fury kindled under her brows; she struggled desperately to
disengage herself from Linton's arms.  I felt no inclination to tarry the
event; and, resolving to seek medical aid on my own responsibility, I
quitted the chamber.

In passing the garden to reach the road, at a place where a bridle hook
is driven into the wall, I saw something white moved irregularly,
evidently by another agent than the wind.  Notwithstanding my hurry, I
stayed to examine it, lest ever after I should have the conviction
impressed on my imagination that it was a creature of the other world.  My
surprise and perplexity were great on discovering, by touch more than
vision, Miss Isabella's springer, Fanny, suspended by a handkerchief, and
nearly at its last gasp.  I quickly released the animal, and lifted it
into the garden.  I had seen it follow its mistress up-stairs when she
went to bed; and wondered much how it could have got out there, and what
mischievous person had treated it so.  While untying the knot round the
hook, it seemed to me that I repeatedly caught the beat of horses' feet
galloping at some distance; but there were such a number of things to
occupy my reflections that I hardly gave the circumstance a thought:
though it was a strange sound, in that place, at two o'clock in the
morning.

Mr. Kenneth was fortunately just issuing from his house to see a patient
in the village as I came up the street; and my account of Catherine
Linton's malady induced him to accompany me back immediately.  He was a
plain rough man; and he made no scruple to speak his doubts of her
surviving this second attack; unless she were more submissive to his
directions than she had shown herself before.

'Nelly Dean,' said he, 'I can't help fancying there's an extra cause for
this.  What has there been to do at the Grange?  We've odd reports up
here.  A stout, hearty lass like Catherine does not fall ill for a
trifle; and that sort of people should not either.  It's hard work
bringing them through fevers, and such things.  How did it begin?'

'The master will inform you,' I answered; 'but you are acquainted with
the Earnshaws' violent dispositions, and Mrs. Linton caps them all.  I
may say this; it commenced in a quarrel.  She was struck during a tempest
of passion with a kind of fit.  That's her account, at least: for she
flew off in the height of it, and locked herself up.  Afterwards, she
refused to eat, and now she alternately raves and remains in a half
dream; knowing those about her, but having her mind filled with all sorts
of strange ideas and illusions.'

'Mr. Linton will be sorry?' observed Kenneth, interrogatively.

'Sorry? he'll break his heart should anything happen!' I replied.  'Don't
alarm him more than necessary.'

'Well, I told him to beware,' said my companion; 'and he must bide the
consequences of neglecting my warning!  Hasn't he been intimate with Mr.
Heathcliff lately?'

'Heathcliff frequently visits at the Grange,' answered I, 'though more on
the strength of the mistress having known him when a boy, than because
the master likes his company.  At present he's discharged from the
trouble of calling; owing to some presumptuous aspirations after Miss
Linton which he manifested.  I hardly think he'll be taken in again.'

'And does Miss Linton turn a cold shoulder on him?' was the doctor's next
question.

'I'm not in her confidence,' returned I, reluctant to continue the
subject.

'No, she's a sly one,' he remarked, shaking his head.  'She keeps her own
counsel!  But she's a real little fool.  I have it from good authority
that last night (and a pretty night it was!) she and Heathcliff were
walking in the plantation at the back of your house above two hours; and
he pressed her not to go in again, but just mount his horse and away with
him!  My informant said she could only put him off by pledging her word
of honour to be prepared on their first meeting after that: when it was
to be he didn't hear; but you urge Mr. Linton to look sharp!'

This news filled me with fresh fears; I outstripped Kenneth, and ran most
of the way back.  The little dog was yelping in the garden yet.  I spared
a minute to open the gate for it, but instead of going to the house door,
it coursed up and down snuffing the grass, and would have escaped to the
road, had I not seized it and conveyed it in with me.  On ascending to
Isabella's room, my suspicions were confirmed: it was empty.  Had I been
a few hours sooner Mrs. Linton's illness might have arrested her rash
step.  But what could be done now?  There was a bare possibility of
overtaking them if pursued instantly.  _I_ could not pursue them,
however; and I dared not rouse the family, and fill the place with
confusion; still less unfold the business to my master, absorbed as he
was in his present calamity, and having no heart to spare for a second
grief!  I saw nothing for it but to hold my tongue, and suffer matters to
take their course; and Kenneth being arrived, I went with a badly
composed countenance to announce him.  Catherine lay in a troubled sleep:
her husband had succeeded in soothing the excess of frenzy; he now hung
over her pillow, watching every shade and every change of her painfully
expressive features.

The doctor, on examining the case for himself, spoke hopefully to him of
its having a favourable termination, if we could only preserve around her
perfect and constant tranquillity.  To me, he signified the threatening
danger was not so much death, as permanent alienation of intellect.

I did not close my eyes that night, nor did Mr. Linton: indeed, we never
went to bed; and the servants were all up long before the usual hour,
moving through the house with stealthy tread, and exchanging whispers as
they encountered each other in their vocations.  Every one was active but
Miss Isabella; and they began to remark how sound she slept: her brother,
too, asked if she had risen, and seemed impatient for her presence, and
hurt that she showed so little anxiety for her sister-in-law.  I trembled
lest he should send me to call her; but I was spared the pain of being
the first proclaimant of her flight.  One of the maids, a thoughtless
girl, who had been on an early errand to Gimmerton, came panting
up-stairs, open-mouthed, and dashed into the chamber, crying: 'Oh, dear,
dear!  What mun we have next?  Master, master, our young lady--'

'Hold your noise!' cried, I hastily, enraged at her clamorous manner.

'Speak lower, Mary--What is the matter?' said Mr. Linton.  'What ails
your young lady?'

'She's gone, she's gone!  Yon' Heathcliff's run off wi' her!' gasped the
girl.

'That is not true!' exclaimed Linton, rising in agitation.  'It cannot
be: how has the idea entered your head?  Ellen Dean, go and seek her.  It
is incredible: it cannot be.'

As he spoke he took the servant to the door, and then repeated his demand
to know her reasons for such an assertion.

'Why, I met on the road a lad that fetches milk here,' she stammered,
'and he asked whether we weren't in trouble at the Grange.  I thought he
meant for missis's sickness, so I answered, yes.  Then says he, "There's
somebody gone after 'em, I guess?"  I stared.  He saw I knew nought about
it, and he told how a gentleman and lady had stopped to have a horse's
shoe fastened at a blacksmith's shop, two miles out of Gimmerton, not
very long after midnight! and how the blacksmith's lass had got up to spy
who they were: she knew them both directly.  And she noticed the
man--Heathcliff it was, she felt certain: nob'dy could mistake him,
besides--put a sovereign in her father's hand for payment.  The lady had
a cloak about her face; but having desired a sup of water, while she
drank it fell back, and she saw her very plain.  Heathcliff held both
bridles as they rode on, and they set their faces from the village, and
went as fast as the rough roads would let them.  The lass said nothing to
her father, but she told it all over Gimmerton this morning.'

I ran and peeped, for form's sake, into Isabella's room; confirming, when
I returned, the servant's statement.  Mr. Linton had resumed his seat by
the bed; on my re-entrance, he raised his eyes, read the meaning of my
blank aspect, and dropped them without giving an order, or uttering a
word.

'Are we to try any measures for overtaking and bringing her back,' I
inquired.  'How should we do?'

'She went of her own accord,' answered the master; 'she had a right to go
if she pleased.  Trouble me no more about her.  Hereafter she is only my
sister in name: not because I disown her, but because she has disowned
me.'

And that was all he said on the subject: he did not make single inquiry
further, or mention her in any way, except directing me to send what
property she had in the house to her fresh home, wherever it was, when I
knew it.

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

completion: At last, Catherine permits the servants to bring her food. Hysterical, she believes that she is dying, and cannot understand why Edgar has not come to her. She rants about her childhood with Heathcliff on the moors, and speaks obsessively about death. Nelly, worried that her mistress will catch a chill, refuses to open the window. Catherine manages to stumble to the window and force it open; from the window, she believes she can see Wuthering Heights. Catherine says that even though she will die, her spirit will never be at rest until she can be with Heathcliff. Edgar arrives and is shocked to find Catherine in such a weak condition. Nelly goes to fetch a doctor. The doctor professes himself cautiously optimistic for a successful recovery. That very night, Isabella and Heathcliff elope. Furious, Edgar declares that Isabella is now his sister only in name. Yet he does not disown her, saying instead that she has disowned him