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.





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.

 After her long absence from Wuthering Heights, Nelly decides to return in order to speak with Hindley. However, instead she meets Hareton who does not remember her and greets her with a hail of stones and curses. No doubt these actions have been copied from Heathcliff. Nelly runs away. The next day, Heathcliff comes to the Grange and embraces Isabella, much to the annoyance of Cathy. Heathcliff tells her 'I'm not your husband, you needn't be jealous of me.' Edgar challenges Cathy and Heathcliff regarding their relationship. Heathcliff takes the position that Cathy has wronged him and that he will be revenged. Cathy taunts Edgar encouraging him to fight with Heathcliff. Edgar strikes Heathcliff and then goes to get assistance in order to have him removed from the house. Heathcliff, realizing that he will be outnumbered, leaves. Cathy is asked to choose between Heathcliff and Edgar, but Cathy will not answer her husband. Instead, she locks herself in her room refusing to eat. Edgar then decides to persuade his sister Isabella to pursue Heathcliff, as their relationship would end the link between Cathy and Heathcliff. After a few days without food, Cathy calls for Edgar begging forgiveness. She is delirious and talks about her childhood with Heathcliff and she has a foreboding of her death. Nelly insists on keeping the windows in her bedroom closed, but Cathy staggers to them and throws them open claiming she can see Wuthering Heights. She goes on to speak about her death, but that she will wander the world until she is with Heathcliff. Edgar is appalled to find Cathy in such a weakened state and scolds Nelly for not telling him sooner. That night Isabella runs away with Heathcliff and Edgar disowns his sister for this scandal. The doctor arrives and predicts that Cathy will not survive the illness.

