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Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
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21425,17.6
ARVAR
DEM
DIANA
E
ACA
ECCLEST
HRISTO
וד
יפ IN
ל
CO NOVA
T N
FRANKLIN HAVEN
OF BOSTON
AND OF
GIFT OF
MARY E. HAVEN
July 2 , 1914
A
WUTHERING HEIGHTS ,
BY EMILY BRONTË ;
AND
AGNES GREY,
BY ANNE BRONTË ;
BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË.
A NEW EDITION.
LONDON :
SMITH , ELDER & CO. , 15 , WATERLOO PLACE .
1870.
HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY
GIFT OF
MARY E. HAVEN
JULY 2, 1914.
HWF 812. B- 75
KD36003
21425.17.6
HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
NOV 24 196 9
37
CONTENTS.
PAGE
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF ELLIS AND ACTON BELL, BY
CURRER BELL V
OF
Harvard College
HA Library
RV
AR
DI
AN
ACADE
A
NO N
UM
VA
I
LL
FRANKLIN HAVEN
OF BOSTON
AND OF •
GIFT OF
MARY E. HAVEN
July 2 , 1914
A
WUTHERING HEIGHTS ,
BY EMILY BRONTË ;
AND
AGNES GREY,
BY ANNE BRONTË ;
BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË.
A NEW EDITION.
LONDON :
KD36003-
21425.17.6
HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
NOV 24 1969
1
-1
38
CONTENTS.
PAGE
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF ELLIS AND ACTON BELL, BY
CURRER BELL
OF
1
ELLIS AND ACTON BELL. vii
WUTHERING HEIGHTS .
WUTHERING HEIGHTS ;
BY ELLIS BELL.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
, a sudden inspiration
ise and denounce Jabez
that no Christian need
add " The truth is, sir, I passed the first part of the night
in-" Here I stopped afresh-I was about to say " perusing
those old volumes," then it would have revealed my knowledge
of their written, as well as their printed, contents ; so, cor-
recting myself, I went on, " In spelling over the name scratched
on that window-ledge. A monotonous occupation, calculated
to set me asleep, like counting, or
"What can you mean by talking in this way to me ! " thun-
dered Heathcliff with savage vehemence. " How- how dare
you, under my roof ? —God ! he's mad to speak so ! " And he
struck his forehead with rage.
I did not know whether to resent this language or pursue
my explanation ; but he seemed so powerfully affected that I
took pity and proceeded with my dreams ; affirming I had
never heard the appellation of " Catherine Linton " before,
but reading it often over produced an impression which per-
sonified itself when I had no longer my imagination under
control. Heathcliff gradually fell back into the shelter of the
bed, as I spoke ; finally sitting down almost concealed behind
it. I guessed , however, by his irregular and intercepted
breathing, that he struggled to vanquish an excess of violent
emotion . Not liking to show him that I had heard the conflict,
I continued my toilette rather noisily, looked at my watch,
and soliloquised on the length of the night : " Not three
o'clock yet ! I could have taken oath it had been six. Time
stagnates here : we must surely have retired to rest at eight ! "
" Always at nine in winter, and rise at four," said my host,
suppressing a groan : and, as I fancied, by the motion of his
arm's shadow, dashing a tear from his eyes. "Mr Lockwood,"
he added, “ you may go into my room : you'll only be in the
way, coming down-stairs so early ; and your childish outcry
has sent sleep to the devil for me.'
" And for me, too," I replied . " I'll walk in the yard till day-
light, and then I'll be off; and you need not dread a repetition
of my intrusion. I'm now quite cured of seeking pleasure in
society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find
sufficient company in himself."
"Delightful company ! " muttered Heathcliff. " Take the
candle, and go where you please. I shall join you directly.
Keep out of the yard, though, the dogs are unchained ; and
the house-Juno mounts sentinel there, and- nay, you
can only ramble about the steps and passages. But, away
with you ! I'll come in two minutes ! "
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 23
CHAPTER IV.
money, at first. And Hareton has been cast out like an un-
fledged dunnock ! The unfortunate lad is the only one in all
this parish that does not guess how he has been cheated ."
" Well, Mrs Dean, it will be a charitable deed to tell me
something of my neighbours : I feel I shall not rest, if I go to
bed ; so be good enough to sit and chat an hour."
" Oh, certainly, sir ! I'll just fetch a little sewing, and then
I'll sit as long as you please. But you've caught cold : I saw
you shivering, and you must have some gruel to drive it out."
The worthy woman bustled off, and I crouched nearer the
fire ; my head felt hot, and the rest of me chill : moreover, I
was excited, almost to a pitch of foolishness, through my
nerves and brain. This caused me to feel , not uncomfortable,
but rather fearful (as I am still) of serious effects from the
incidents of to-day and yesterday. She returned presently,
bringing a smoking basin and a basket of work; and, having
placed the former on the hob, drew in her seat, evidently
pleased to find me so companionable.
However, I will say this, he was the quietest child that ever
nurse watched over. The difference between him and the
others forced me to be less partial. Cathy and her brother
harassed me terribly ; he was as uncomplaining as a lamb ;
though hardness, not gentleness, made him give little trouble.
He got through, and the doctor affirmed it was in a great
measure owing to me, and praised me for my care. I was
vain of his commendations, and softened towards the being by
whose means I earned them, and thus Hindley lost his last
ally : still I couldn't dote on Heathcliff, and I wondered often
what my master saw to admire so much in the sullen boy ;
who never, to my recollection, repaid his indulgence by any
sign of gratitude. He was not insolent to his benefactor, he
was simply insensible ; though knowing perfectly the hold he
had on his heart, and conscious he had only to speak and all
the house would be obliged to bend to his wishes. As an
instance, I remember Mr Earnshaw once bought a couple of
colts at the parish fair, and gave the lads each one. Heathcliff
took the handsomest , but it soon fell lame, and when he dis-
covered it, he said to Hindley-
"You must exchange horses with me : I don't like mine ;
and if you won't I shall tell your father of the three thrashings
you've given me this week, and show him my arm , which is
black to the shoulder." Hindley put out his tongue, and cuffed
him over the ears. " You'd better do it at once," he persisted ,
escaping to the porch (they were in the stable) : " you will
have to ; and if I speak of these blows, you'll get them
again with interest." " Off, dog ! " cried Hindley, threatening
him with an iron weight used for weighing potatoes and hay.
" Throw it," he replied , standing still, " and then I'll tell how
you boasted that you would turn me out of doors as soon as
he died, and see whether he will not turn you out directly."
Hindley threw it, hitting him on the breast, and down he fell,
but staggered up immediately, breathless and white ; and,
had not I prevented it, he would have gone just so to the
master, and got full revenge by letting his condition plead for
him , intimating who had caused it. "Take my colt, gipsy,
then ! " said young Earnshaw. " And I pray that he may
break your neck : take him, and be damned, you beggarly
interloper ! and wheedle my father out of all he has only
afterwards show him what you are, imp of Satan.— And take
that, I hope he'll kick out your brains ! "
Heathcliff had gone to loose the beast, and shift it to his
32 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
but lurk glinting under them, like devil's spies ? Wish and
learn to smooth away the surly wrinkles, to raise your lids
frankly, and change the fiends to confident, innocent angels,
suspecting and doubting nothing, and always seeing friends
where they are not sure of foes. Don't get the expression of
a vicious cur that appears to know the kicks it gets are its
desert, and yet hates all the world, as well as the kicker, for
what it suffers."
" In other words, I must wish for Edgar Linton's great blue
eyes and even forehead," he replied. " I do and that won't
help me to them."
" A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad," I
continued, " if you were a regular black ; and a bad one will
turn the bonniest into something worse than ugly. And now
that we've done washing, and combing, and sulking-tell me
whether you don't think yourself rather handsome ? I'll tell
you, I do. You 're fit for a prince in disguise. Who knows
but your father was Emperor of China, and your mother an
Indian queen, each of them able to buy up, with one week's
income, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange together?
And you were kidnapped by wicked sailors and brought to
England. Were I in your place, I would frame high notions of
my birth ; and the thoughts of what I was should give me
courage and dignity to support the oppressions of a little
farmer ! "
So I chattered on ; and Heathcliff gradually lost his frown
and began to look quite pleasant, when all at once our con-
versation was interrupted by a rumbling sound moving up the
road and entering the court. He ran to the window and I to
the door, just in time to behold the two Lintons descend from
the family carriage, smothered in cloaks and furs , and the
Earnshaws dismount from their horses : they often rode to
church in winter. Catherine took a hand of each of the
children, and brought them into the house and set them before
the fire, which quickly put colour into their white faces.
I urged my companion to hasten now and show his amiable
humour, and he willingly obeyed ; but ill luck would have it
that, as he opened the door leading from the kitchen on one
side, Hindley opened it on the other. They met, and the
master irritated at seeing him clean and cheerful ; or, perhaps,
eager to keep his promise to Mrs Linton, shoved him back
with a sudden thrust, and angrily bade Joseph " keep the
fellow out of the room-send him into the garret till dinner is
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 47
of the other, and it was with the utmost difficulty I could coax
her out again. When she did come, Heathcliff came with her,
and she insisted that I should take him into the kitchen, as
my fellow-servant had gone to a neighbour's to be removed
from the sound of our " devil's psalmody," as it pleased him
to call it. I told them I intended by no means to encourage
their tricks ; but as the prisoner had never broken his fast
since yesterday's dinner, I would wink at his cheating Mr
Hindley that once. He went down ; I set him a stool by the
fire, and offered him a quantity of good things ; but he was
sick and could eat little, and my attempts to entertain him
were thrown away. He leant his two elbows on his knees,
and his chin on his hands, and remained wrapt in dumb medi-
tation. On my inquiring the subject of his thoughts, he
answered gravely-
" I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I
don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last. I hope
he will not die before I do ! "
" For shame, Heathcliff ! " said I. "It is for God to punish
wicked people ; we should learn to forgive."
" No, God won't have the satisfaction that I shall," he
returned. " I only wish I knew the best way! Let me alone,
and I'll plan it out : while I'm thinking of that I don't feel
pain."
But, Mr Lockwood, I forget these tales cannot divert you.
I'm annoyed how I should dream of chattering on at such a
rate ; and your gruel cold, and you nodding for bed ! I could
have told Heathcliff's history, all that you need hear, in half
a dozen words. Thus interrupting herself, the housekeeper
rose, and proceeded to lay aside her sewing ; but I felt inca-
pable of moving from the hearth, and I was very far from
nodding. " Sit still, Mrs Dean," I cried , " do sit still , another
half hour ! You've done just right to tell the story leisurely.
That is the method I like ; and you must finish it in the same
style. I am interested in every character you have mentioned,
more or less."
" The clock is on the stroke of eleven, sir."
" No matter- I'm not accustomed to go to bed in the long
hours. One or two is early enough for a person who lies till ten."
" You shouldn't lie till ten. There's the very prime of the
morning gone long before that time. A person who has not
done one half his day's work by ten o'clock, runs a chance of
leaving the other half undone."
4
50 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
and now, I must tell you, the winter will probably finish her.
Don't take on, and fret about it too much it can't be helped.
And besides, you should have known better than to choose
such a rush of a lass !' 19
" And what did the master answer ? " I inquired.
" I think he swore : but I didn't mind him , I was straining
to see the bairn," and she began again to describe it rapturously.
I, as zealous as herself, hurried eagerly home to admire, on
my part ; though I was very sad for Hindley's sake. He had
room in his heart only for two idols-his wife and himself: he
doted on both, and adored one, and I couldn't conceive how
he would bear the loss.
When we got to Wuthering Heights, there he stood at the
front door ; and, as I passed in , I asked , " how was the baby ? "
" Nearly ready to run about, Nell ! " he replied, putting on
a cheerful smile.
" And the mistress ? " I ventured to inquire ; " the doctor
says she's 99
" Damn the doctor ! " he interrupted, reddening. " Frances
is quite right : she 'll be perfectly well by this time next week.
Are you going up-stairs ? will you tell her that I'll come, if
she'll promise not to talk. I left her because she would not
hold her tongue ; and she must-tell her Mr Kenneth says
she must be quiet."
I delivered this message to Mrs Earnshaw ; she seemed in
flighty spirits, and replied merrily—
66
I hardly spoke a word , Ellen, and there he has gone out
twice, crying. Well, say I promise I won't speak : but that
does not bind me not to laugh at him ! "
Poor soul ! Till within a week of her death that gay heart
never failed her ; and her husband persisted doggedly, nay,
furiously, in affirming her health improved every day. When
Kenneth warned him that his medicines were useless at that
stage of the malady, and he needn't put him to further expense
by attending her, he retorted—
"I know you need not- she's well-she does not want any
more attendance from you ! She never was in a consumption.
It was a fever ; and it is gone : her pulse is as slow as mine now,
and her cheek as cool."
He told his wife the same story, and she seemed to believe
him ; but one night, while leaning on his shoulder, in the act
of saying she thought she should be able to get up to-morrow,
of coughing took her—a very slight one-he raised her
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 53
in his arms ; she put her two hands about his neck, her face
changed, and she was dead.
As the girl had anticipated, the child Hareton fell wholly
into my hands. Mr Earnshaw, provided he saw him healthy
and never heard him cry, was contented, as far as regarded
him . For himself, he grew desperate : his sorrow was of that
kind that will not lament. He neither wept nor prayed ; he
cursed and defied : execrated God and man, and gave himself
up to reckless dissipation. The servants could not bear his
tyrannical and evil conduct long : Joseph and I were the only
two that would stay. I had not the heart to leave my charge ;
and besides, you know, I had been his foster -sister, and ex-
cused his behaviour more readily than a stranger would.
Joseph remained to hector over tenants and labourers ; and
because it was his vocation to be where he had plenty of
wickedness to reprove.
The master's bad ways and bad companions formed a pretty
example for Catherine and Heathcliff. His treatment of the
latter was enough to make a fiend of a saint. And, truly, it
appeared as if the lad were possessed of something diabolical
at that period. He delighted to witness Hindley degrading
himself past redemption ; and became daily more notable for
savage sullenness and ferocity. could not half tell what an
infernal house we had. The curate dropped calling, and
nobody decent came near us, at last ; unless Edgar Linton's
visits to Miss Cathy might be an exception. At fifteen she
was the queen of the country-side ; she had no peer ; and she
did turn out a haughty, headstrong creature ! I own I did
not like her, after her infancy was past ; and I vexed her fre-
quently by trying to bring down her arrogance : she never
took an aversion to me, though. She had a wondrous con-
stancy to old attachments : even Heathcliff kept his hold on
her affections unalterably ; and young Linton, with all his
superiority, found it difficult to make an equally deep impres-
sion. He was my late master : that is his portrait over the
fireplace. It used to hang on one side, and his wife's on the
other; but hers has been removed, or else you might see
something of what she was. Can you make that out ?
Mrs Dean raised the candle and I discerned a soft-featured
face, exceedingly resembling the young lady at the Heights,
but more pensive and amiable in expression. It formed a
sweet picture. The long light hair curled slightly on the
temples ; the eyes were large and serious ; the figure almost
54 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
She never had power to conceal her passion , it always set her
whole complexion in a blaze.
"What's that, then ? " I retorted, showing a decided purple
witness to refute her.
She stamped her foot, wavered a moment, and then , irre-
sistibly impelled by the naughty spirit within her, slapped
me on the cheek : a stinging blow that filled both eyes with
water.
" Catherine, love ! Catherine ! " interposed Linton, greatly
shocked at the double fault of falsehood and violence which
his idol had committed .
" Leave the room, Ellen ! " she repeated , trembling all over.
Little Hareton, who followed me everywhere, and was
sitting near me on the floor, at seeing my tears commenced
crying himself, and sobbed out complaints against " wicked
aunt Cathy," which drew her fury on to his unlucky head :
she seized his shoulders, and shook him till the poor child
waxed livid, and Edgar thoughtlessly laid hold of her hands
to deliver him. In an instant one was wrung free, and the
astonished young man felt it applied over his own ear in a
way that could not be mistaken for jest. He drew back in
consternation. I lifted Hareton in my arms, and walked off
to the kitchen with him, leaving the door of communication
open, for I was curious to watch how they would settle their
disagreement . The insulted visitor moved to the spot where
he had laid his hat, pale and with a quivering lip.
" That's right ! " I said to myself. " Take warning and
begone ! It's a kindness to let you have a glimpse of her
genuine disposition."
"Where are you going ? " demanded Catherine, advancing
to the door.
He swerved aside, and attempted to pass.
" You must not go ! " she exclaimed, energetically.
" I must and shall ! " he replied in a subdued voice.
" No," she persisted , grasping the handle ; " not yet, Edgar
Linton : sit down ; you shall not leave me in that temper. I
should be miserable all night, and I won't be miserable for
you !"
" Can I stay after you have struck me ? " asked Linton .
Catherine was mute. 19T
" You've made me afraid and ashamed of you," he con-
tinued ; " I'll not come here again ! "
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 59
CHAPTER IX.
will be a novelty : but she may come to the point as she will
-I shan't help her ! No, she felt small trouble regarding any
subject, save her own concerns.
" Oh, dear! " she cried at last. " I'm very unhappy! "
"A pity," observed I. " You're hard to please : so many
friends and so few cares, and can't make yourself content ! "
" Nelly, will you keep a secret for me ? " she pursued ,
kneeling down by me, and lifting her winsome eyes to my face
with that sort of look which turns off bad temper, even when
one has all the right in the world to indulge it.
" Is it worth keeping? " I inquired , less sulkily.
" Yes, and it worries me, and I must let it out ! I want to
know what I should do. To-day, Edgar Linton has asked me
to marry him, and I've given him an answer. Now, before I
tell you whether it was a consent or denial, you tell me which
it ought to have been. "
66
Really, Miss Catherine, how can I know? " I replied .
" To be sure, considering the exhibition you performed in his
presence this afternoon, I might say it would be wise to refuse
him since he asked you after that, he must either be hope-
lessly stupid or a venturesome fool."
" If you talk so, I won't tell you any more," she returned,
peevishly, rising to her feet. " I accepted him, Nelly. Be
quick, and say whether I was wrong! "
" You accepted him ! then what good is it discussing the
matter? You have pledged your word, and cannot retract? ”
"But, say whether I should have done so-do ! " she exclaimed
in an irritated tone ; chafing her hands together, and frowning.
" There are many things to be considered before that ques-
tion can be answered properly," I said , sententiously. "First
and foremost, do you love Mr Edgar ?"
"Who can help it ? Of course I do," she answered.
Then I put her through the following catechism : for a girl
oftwenty-two, it was not injudicious.
"Why do you love him, Miss Cathy ? "
"Nonsense, I do-that's sufficient."
" By no means ; you must say why ? "
"Well, because he is handsome, and pleasant to be with."
" Bad ! " was my commentary.
"And because he is young and cheerful."
" Bad, still."
" And because he loves me."
" Indifferent, coming there."
64 WUTHERING HEIGHTS .
" This is nothing," cried she : " I was only going to say that
heaven did not seem to be my home ; and I broke my heart
with weeping to come back to earth ; and the angels were so
angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on
the top of Wuthering Heights ; where I woke sobbing for
joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other.
I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to
be in heaven ; and if the wicked man in there had not brought
Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would
degrade me to marry Heathcliff now ; so he shall never know
how I love him : and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly,
but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our
souls are made of, his and mine are the same ; and Linton's is
as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from
fire."
Ere this speech ended, I became sensible of Heathcliff's
presence. Having noticed a slight movement, I turned my
head , and saw him rise from the bench, and steal out noise-
lessly. He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would
degrade her to marry him, and then he stayed to hear no
further. My companion, sitting on the ground, was prevented
by the back of the settle from remarking his presence or
departure ; but I started, and bade her hush !
"Why?" she asked, gazing nervously round.
" Joseph is here," I answered, catching opportunely the
roll of his cartwheels up the road ; " and Heathcliff will come
in with him. I'm not sure whether he were not at the door
this moment."
66 Oh, he couldn't overhear me at the door ! " said she.
"Give me Hareton, while you get the supper, and when it is
ready ask me to sup with you. I want to cheat my uncom-
fortable conscience, and be convinced that Heathcliff has no
notion of these things. He has not, has he ? He does not
know what being in love is ? "
" I see no reason that he should not know, as well as you,"
I returned ; and if you are his choice, he 'll be the most unfor-
tunate creature that ever was born ! As soon as you become
Mrs Linton, he loses friend, and love, and all ! Have you
considered how you'll bear the separation, and how he'll
bear to be quite deserted in the world ? Because, Miss
Catherine
" He quite deserted ! we separated ! " she exclaimed , with an
accent of indignation. "Who is to separate us, pray?
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 67
nip up and bolt into th' house, t' minute yah heard t' maister's
horse fit clatter up t' road."
" Silence, eavesdropper ! " cried Catherine ; " none of your
insolence before me ! Edgar Linton came yesterday by
chance, Hindley ; and it was I who told him to be off :
because I knew you would not like to have met him as you
were."
" You lie, Cathy, no doubt," answered her brother, “ and
you are a confounded simpleton ! But never mind Linton at
present : tell me, were you not with Heathcliff last night ?
Speak the truth , now. You need not be afraid of harming
him : though I hate him as much as ever, he did me a good
turn a short time since, that will make my conscience tender
of breaking his neck. To prevent it, I shall send him about
his business, this very morning ; and after he's gone, I'd
advise you all to look sharp : I shall only have the more
humour for you."
" I never saw Heathcliff last night," answered Catherine,
beginning to sob bitterly : " and if you do turn him out of
doors, I'll go with him. But, perhaps, you'll never have an
opportunity: perhaps, he 's gone." Here she burst into
uncontrollable grief, and the remainder of her words were
inarticulate.
Hindley lavished on her a torrent of scornful abuse, and
bade her get to her room immediately, or she shouldn't cry
for nothing ! I obliged her to obey ; and I shall never forget
what a scene she acted when we reached her chamber : it
terrified me. I thought she was going mad, and I begged
Joseph to run for the doctor. It proved the commencement of
delirium : Mr Kenneth, as soon as he saw her, pronounced her
dangerously ill ; she had a fever. He bled her, and he told
me to let her live on whey and water-gruel, and take care she
did not throw herself down-stairs or out of the window ; and
then he left : for he had enough to do in the parish , where
two or three miles was the ordinary distance between cottage
and cottage.
Though I cannot say I made a gentle nurse , and Joseph and
the master were no better ; and though our patient was as
wearisome and headstrong as a patient could be, she weathered
it through. Old Mrs Linton paid us several visits, to be sure,
and set things to rights, and scolded and ordered us all ; and
when Catherine was convalescent, she insisted on conveying
her to Thrushcross Grange : for which deliverance we were
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 73
CHAPTER X.
had seasons of gloom and silence now and then they were
respected with sympathizing 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 con-
tinued 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
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 77
" 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
any one 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. 66 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 trea-
sure. 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.
66
' 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
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 79
fast, 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 occa-
sion ?"
" In our walk along the moor : you told me to ramble
where I pleased, while you sauntered on with Mr Heath-
cliff?"
" And that's your notion of harshness ? " said Catherine,
laughing. " It was no hint that your company was super-
fluous : we didn't care whether you kept with us or not ; I
merely thought Heathcliff's talk would have nothing enter-
taining 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 com-
plete 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 idiocy ! 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
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 85
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 refine-
ment, 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-
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
86 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
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 Earn-
shaw 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, yah 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 Mathew, 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 un 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
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 87
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 orna-
mented the detainer's with crescents of red.
" There's a tigress ! " exclaimed Mrs Linton, setting her
free, and shaking her hand with pain. 66 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."
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 89
CHAPTER XI.
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 dis-
torted his baby features into a shocking expression of malig-
nity. 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 dis-
appoint 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.
แ Who, then ? "
" Heathcliff."
" I asked if he liked Mr Heathcliff."
66
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
92 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
" 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 have 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 acqui-
esced-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 delight-
fully 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
96 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XII.
WHILE Miss Linton moped about the park and garden, always
silent, and almost always in tears ; and her brother shut him-
selfup among books that he never opened-wearying, I guessed,
with a continual vague expectation that Catherine, repenting
190 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
her conduct, would come of her own accord to ask pardon, and
seek a reconciliation- and she fasted pertinacicusly, 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
(l
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 pre-
serving my external composure, in spite of her ghastly counte-
nance 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 con-
dition , 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. Can-
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 101
"Don't you see that face ? " she inquired, gazing earnestly
at the mirror.
And say what I could, I was incapable of making her com-
prehend 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.
66 Why, what is the matter? " cried I. "Who is coward
now ? Wake up ! That is the glass-the mirror, Mrs Lin-
ton ; 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
19
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
104 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XIII.
parlour sofa for her bed, till another room could be prepared.
To obviate the fatigue of mounting and descending the stairs,
we fitted up this, where you lie at present : on the same floor
with the parlour ; and she was soon strong enough to move
from one to the other, leaning on Edgar's arm. Ah, I thought
myself, she might recover, so waited on as she was. And
there was double cause to desire it, for on her existence
depended that of another : we cherished the hope that in a
little while, Mr Linton's heart would be gladdened, and his
lands secured from a stranger's gripe, by the birth of an heir.
I should mention that Isabella sent to her brother, some
six weeks from her departure, a short note, announcing her
marriage with Heathcliff. It appeared dry and cold ; but at
the bottom was dotted in with pencil an obscure apology, and
an entreaty for kind remembrance and reconciliation, if her
proceeding had offended him : asserting that she could not
help it then, and being done, she had now no power to repeal
it. Linton did not reply to this, I believe ; and, in a fortnight
more, I got a long letter which I considered odd, coming from
the pen of a bride just out of the honeymoon. I'll read it :
for I keep it yet. Any relic ofthe dead is precious, if they
were valued living.
CHAPTER XIV.
9
130 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XV.
Heathcliff went to the back of her chair, and leant over, but
not so far as to let her see his face, which was livid with
emotion. She bent round to look at him ; he would not per-
mit it : turning abruptly, he walked to the fireplace, where he
stood, silent, with his back towards us. Mrs Linton's glance
followed him suspiciously : every movement woke a new
sentiment in her. After a pause and a prolonged gaze, she
resumed ; addressing me in accents of indignant disappoint-
ment :-
" Oh, you see, Nelly, he would not relent a moment to keep
me out of the grave. That is how I'm loved ! Well , never
mind. That is not my Heathcliff. I shall love mine yet ; and
take him with me : he's in my soul. And ," added she musingly,
"the thing that irks me most is this shattered prison, after all.
I'm tired of being enclosed here. I'm wearying to escape
into that glorious world, and to be always there : not seeing it
dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of
an aching heart ; but really with it, and in it. Nelly, you
think you are better and more fortunate than I ; in full health
and strength : you are sorry for me-very soon that will be
altered . I shall be sorry for you. I shall be incomparably
beyond and above you all. I wonder he won't be near me ! "
She went on to herself. " I thought he wished it. Heathcliff,
dear ! you should not be sullen now. Do come to me,
Heathcliff."
In her eagerness she rose and supported herself on the arm
of the chair. At that earnest appeal he turned to her, looking
absolutely desperate. His eyes, wide and wet, at last flashed
fiercely on her ; his breast heaved convulsively. An instant
they held asunder, and then how they met I hardly saw,
but Catherine made a spring, and he caught her, and they
were locked in an embrace from which I thought my mistress
would never be released alive : in fact, to my eyes, she seemed
directly insensible. He flung himself into the nearest seat,
and on my approaching hurriedly to ascertain if she had
fainted, he gnashed at me, and foamed like a mad dog, and
gathered her to him with greedy jealousy. I did not feel as
if I were in the company of a creature of my own species :
it appeared that he would not understand, though I spoke
to him ; so I stood off, and held my tongue, in great per-
plexity.
A movement of Catherine's relieved me a little presently :
she put up her hand to clasp his neck, and bring her cheek to
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 135
his as he held her ; while he, in return, covering her with frantic
caresses, said wildly-
" You teach me now how cruel you've been-cruel and
false. Why did you despise me ? Why did you betray your
own heart, Cathy ? I have not one word of comfort. You
deserve this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss
me, and cry ; and ring out my kisses and tears : they'll blight
you-they'll damn you. You loved me-then what right had
you to leave me ? What right-answer me-for the poor
fancy you felt for Linton ? Because misery and degradation ,
and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would
have parted us, you, of your own will, did it . I have not
broken your heart-you have broken it ; and in breaking it,
you have broken mine. So much the worse for me, that I am
strong. Do I want to live ? What kind of living will it be
when you-oh, God ! would you like to live with your soul in
the grave ? "
" Let me alone. Let me alone," sobbed Catherine. " If
I've done wrong, I'm dying for it. It is enough ! You
left me too but I won't upbraid you ! I forgive you. For-
give me ! "
" It is hard to forgive, and to look at those eyes, and feel
those wasted hands," he answered. " Kiss me again ; and don't
let me see your eyes ! I forgive what you have done to me.
I love my murderer-but yours ! How can I ?"
They were silent-their faces hid against each other, and
washed by each other's tears. At least, I suppose the weeping
was on both sides ; as it seemed Heathcliff could weep on a
great occasion like this.
I grew very uncomfortable, meanwhile ; for the afternoon
wore fast away, the man whom I had sent off returned from
his errand, and I could distinguish, by the shine of the
western sun up the valley, a concourse thickening outside
Gimmerton chapel porch.
" Service is over," I announced. " My master will be here
in half an hour."
Heathcliff groaned a curse, and strained Catherine closer :
she never moved.
Ere long I perceived a group of the servants passing up
the road towards the kitchen wing. Mr Linton was not far
behind; he opened the gate himself and sauntered slowly up,
probably enjoying the lovely afternoon that breathed as soft as
summer.
136 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
"Look there !" he said, " Unless you be a fiend, help her
first-then you shall speak to me ! "
He walked into the parlour, and sat down . Mr Linton
summoned me, and with great difficulty, and after resorting to
many means, we managed to restore her to sensation ; but she
was all bewildered ; she sighed , and moaned , and knew nobody.
Edgar, in his anxiety for her, forgot her hated friend . I did
not. I went, at the earliest opportunity, and besought him to
depart ; affirming that Catherine was better, and he should
hear from me in the morning how she passed the night.
" I shall not refuse to go out of doors," he answered ; " but
I shall stay in the garden : and , Nelly, mind you keep your
word to-morrow. I shall be under those larch trees. Mind !
or I pay another visit, whether Linton be in or not."
He sent a rapid glance through the half-open door of the
chamber, and, ascertaining that what I stated was apparently
true, delivered the house of his luckless presence.
CHAPTER XVI.
ABOUT twelve o'clock that night, was born the Catherine you
saw at Wuthering Heights : a puny, seven months' child ; and
two hours after the mother died , having never recovered suffi-
cient consciousness to miss Heathcliff, or know Edgar . The
latter's distraction at his bereavement is a subject too painful
to be dwelt on ; its after effects showed how deep the sorrow
sunk. A great addition, in my eyes, was his being left with-
out an heir. I bemoaned that, as I gazed on the feeble
orphan ; and I mentally abused old Linton for (what was
only natural partiality) the securing his estate to his own
daughter, instead of his son's. An unwelcomed infant it was,
poor thing ! It might have wailed out of life, and nobody
cared a morsel, during those first hours of existence. We
redeemed the neglect afterwards ; but its beginning was as
friendless as its end is likely to be.
Next morning-bright and cheerful out of doors- stole
softened in through the blinds of the silent room, and suffused
the couch and its occupant with a mellow, tender glow. Edgar
Linton had his head laid on the pillow, and his eyes shut. His
young and fair features were almost as deathlike as those of
138 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
the form beside him, and almost as fixed : but his was the
hush of exhausted anguish, and hers of perfect peace. Her
brow smooth, her lids closed , her lips wearing the expression
of a smile ; no angel in heaven could be more beautiful than
she appeared. And I partook of the infinite calm in which
she lay my mind was never in a holier frame than while
I gazed on that untroubled image of Divine rest. I instinc-
tively echoed the words she had uttered a few hours before :
66
Incomparably beyond and above us all ! Whether still on
earth or now in heaven, her spirit is at home with God ! "
I don't know if it be a peculiarity in me, but I am seldom
otherwise than happy while watching in the chamber of death ,
should no frenzied or despairing mourner share the duty with
me. I see a repose that neither earth nor hell can break, and
I feel an assurance of the endless and shadowless hereafter-
the Eternity they have entered- where life is boundless in its
duration, and love in its sympathy, and joy in its fulness. I
noticed on that occasion how much selfishness there is even in
a love like Mr Linton's, when he so regretted Catherine's
blessed release ! To be sure, one might have doubted , after
the wayward and impatient existence she had led, whether she
merited a haven of peace at last. One might doubt in seasons
of cold reflection ; but not then, in the presence of her corpse.
It asserted its own tranquillity, which seemed a pledge of equal
quiet to its former inhabitants.
Do you believe such people are happy in the other world,
sir ? I'd give a great deal to know.
I declined answering Mrs Dean's question, which struck
me as something heterodox. She proceeded :
Retracing the course of Catherine Linton , I fear we have
no right to think she is ; but we'll leave her with her Maker.
The master looked asleep , and I ventured soon after sunrise
to quit the room and steal out to the pure refreshing air .
The servants thought me gone to shake off the drowsiness of
my protracted watch ; in reality, my chief motive was seeing
Mr Heathcliff. If he had remained among the larches all
night, he would have heard nothing of the stir at the Grange ;
unless, perhaps , he might catch the gallop of the messenger
going to Gimmerton. If he had come nearer, he would pro-
bably be aware, from the lights flitting to and fro, and the
opening and shutting of the outer doors, that all was not
right within. I wished , yet feared, to find him. I felt the
terrible news must be told, and I longed to get it over ; but
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 139
CHAPTER XVII.
THAT Friday made the last of our fine days for a month. In
the evening, the weather broke : the wind shifted from south
to north-east, and brought rain first, and then sleet and snow.
On the morrow one could hardly imagine that there had been
three weeks of summer : the primroses and crocuses were
hidden under wintry drifts ; the larks were silent, the young
leaves of the early trees smitten and blackened . And dreary ,
and chill, and dismal, that morrow did creep over ! My
master kept his room ; I took possession of the lonely parlour,
converting it into a nursery : and there I was, sitting with
the moaning doll of a child laid on my knee ; rocking it to
and fro, and watching, meanwhile, the still driving flakes
build up the uncurtained window, when the door opened, and
some person entered , out of breath and laughing ! My anger
142 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
tea before her, " you sit down opposite me, and put poor
Catherine's baby away : I don't like to see it ! You mustn't
think I care little for Catherine, because I behaved so foolishly
on entering : I've cried, too, bitterly-yes, more than any one
else has reason to cry. We parted unreconciled , you remem-
ber, and I shan't forgive myself. But, for all that, I was not
going to sympathize with him— the brute beast ! O, give me
the poker ! This is the last thing of his I have about me : "
she slipped the gold ring from her third finger , and threw it
on the floor. " I'll smash it ! " she continued , striking it with
childish spite, " and then I'll burn it ! " and she took and
dropped the misused article among the coals. " There ! he
shall buy another, if he gets me back again. He'd be capable
of coming to seek me, to tease Edgar. I dare not stay, lest
that notion should possess his wicked head ! And besides,
Edgar has not been kind, has he ? And I won't come suing
for his assistance ; nor will I bring him into more trouble.
Necessity compelled me to seek shelter here ; though , if I had
not learned he was out of the way, I'd have halted at the
kitchen, washed my face, warmed myself, got you to bring
what I wanted, and departed again to anywhere out of the
reach of my accursed-of that incarnate goblin ! Ah , he
was in such a fury ! If he had caught me ! It's a pity
Earnshaw is not his match in strength : I wouldn't have run
till I'd seen him all but demolished , had Hindley been able
to do it ! "
"Well, don't talk so fast, miss ! " I interrupted, " you'll
disorder the handkerchief I have tied round your face, and
make the cut bleed again. Drink your tea, and take breath
and give over laughing : laughter is sadly out of place under
this roof, and in your condition ! "
" An undeniable truth," she replied. " Listen to that child !
It maintains a constant wail- send it out of my hearing for an
hour ; I shan't stay any longer."
I rang the bell, and committed it to a servant's care ; and
then I inquired what had urged her to escape from Wuther-
ing Heights in such an unlikely plight, and where she meant
to go, as she refused remaining with us.
"I ought, and I wish to remain," answered she, " to cheer
Edgar and take care of the baby, for two things , and because
the Grange is my right home. But I tell you he wouldn't let
me ! Do you think he could bear to see me grow fat and
merry-could bear to think that we were tranquil, and not
!
144 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
low spirits, as fit for the church as for a dance ; and instead ,
he sat down by the fire and swallowed gin or brandy by
tumblerfuls.
" Heathcliff-I shudder to name him ! has been a stranger
in the house from last Sunday till to-day. Whether the angels
have fed him, or his kin beneath , I cannot tell ; but he has
not eaten a meal with us for nearly a week. He has just
come home at dawn, and gone up- stairs to his chamber ;
locking himself in-as if anybody dreamt of coveting his
company ! There he has continued, praying like a methodist :
only the deity he implored is senseless dust and ashes ; and
God, when addressed, was curiously confounded with his own
black father ! After concluding these precious orisons- and
they lasted generally till he grew hoarse and his voice was
strangled in his throat-he would be off again ; always
straight down to the Grange ! I wonder Edgar did not send
for a constable, and give him into custody ! For me, grieved
as I was about Catherine, it was impossible to avoid regarding
this season of deliverance from degrading oppression as a
holiday.
" I recovered spirits sufficient to hear Joseph's eternal
lectures without weeping, and to move up and down the
house less with the foot of a frightened thief than formerly.
You wouldn't think that I should cry at anything Joseph
could say ; but he and Hareton are detestable companions.
I'd rather sit with Hindley, and hear his awful talk, than with
' t' little maister ' and his stanch supporter, that odious old
man ! When Heathcliff is in, I'm often obliged to seek the
kitchen and their society, or starve among the damp unin- *
habited chambers ; when he is not, as was the case this week,
I establish a table and chair at one corner of the house fire,
and never mind how Mr Earnshaw may occupy himself ; and
he does not interfere with my arrangements. He is quieter
now than he used to be, if no one provokes him : more sullen
and depressed, and less furious. Joseph affirms he's sure he's
an altered man : that the Lord has touched his heart, and he
is saved ' so as by fire.' I'm puzzled to detect signs of the
favourable change : but it is not my business.
" Yester-evening I sat in my nook reading some old books
till late on towards twelve. It seemed so dismal to go up-
stairs, with the wild snow blowing outside, and my thoughts
continually reverting to the kirkyard andthe new-made
grave ! I dared hardly lift my eyes from the page before
10
146 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
security. His hair and clothes were whitened with snow, and
his sharp cannibal teeth, revealed by cold and wrath, gleamed
through the dark.
“ ❝Isabella , let me in, or I'll make you repent ! ' he ' girned,'
as Joseph calls it.
" I cannot commit murder,' I replied . ' Mr Hindley
stands sentinel with a knife and loaded pistol.'
" Let me in by the kitchen door,' he said.
" Hindley will be there before me,' I answered : ' and
that's a poor love of yours that cannot bear a shower of
snow ! We were left at peace in our beds as long as the
summer moon shone, but the moment a blast of winter
returns, you must run for shelter ! Heathcliff, if I were you,
I'd go stretch myself over her grave and die like a faithful
dog. The world is surely not worth living in now, is it ?
You had distinctly impressed on me the idea that Catherine
was the whole joy of your life : I can't imagine how you think
of surviving her loss."
" He's there, is he ? ' exclaimed my companion, rushing to
the gap. If I can get my arm out I can hit him ! '
“ I'm afraid, Ellen, you'll set me down as really wicked ;
but you don't know all , so don't judge. I wouldn't have aided
or abetted an attempt on even his life for anything. Wish
that he were dead , I must ; and therefore I was fearfully dis-
appointed, and unnerved by terror for the consequences of my
taunting speech, when he flung himself on Earnshaw's weapon
and wrenched it from his grasp.
" The charge exploded, and the knife, in springing back,
closed into its owner's wrist. Heathcliff pulled it away by
main force, slitting up the flesh as it passed on, and thrust it
dripping into his pocket. He then took a stone, struck down
the division between two windows, and sprang in. His
adversary had fallen senseless with excessive pain and the flow
of blood, that gushed from an artery or a large vein. The
ruffian kicked and trampled on him, and dashed his head
repeatedly against the flags, holding me with one hand , mean-
time, to prevent me summoning Joseph. He exerted preter-
human self-denial in abstaining from finishing him completely ;
but getting out of breath he finally desisted, and dragged the
apparently inanimate body on to the settle. There he tore off
the sleeve of Earnshaw's coat, and bound up the wound with
brutal roughness ; spitting and cursing during the operation
as energetically as he had kicked before. Being at liberty, I
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 149
wanted some water, and I handed him a glass , and asked him
how he was .
" Not as ill as I wish,' he replied . ' But leaving out my
arm , every inch of me is as sore as if I had been fighting
with a legion of imps !'
" Yes, no wonder,' was my next remark. Catherine used
to boast that she stood between you and bodily harm : she
meant that certain persons would not hurt you for fear of
offending her. It's well people don't really rise from their
grave, or, last night, she might have witnessed a repulsive
scene ! Are not you bruised, and cut over your chest and
shoulders ? "
" I can't say,' he answered : ' but what do you mean ? Did
he dare to strike me when I was down ?'
“ He trampled on and kicked you, and dashed you on the
ground,' I whispered . And his mouth watered to tear you
with his teeth ; because he's only half man : not so much, and
the rest fiend.'
"Mr Earnshaw looked up, like me, to the countenance of
our mutual foe ; who, absorbed in his anguish, seemed in-
sensible to anything around him : the longer he stood, the
plainer his reflections revealed their blackness through his
features.
666
Oh, if God would but give me strength to strangle him
in my last agony, I'd go to hell with joy,' groaned the im-
patient man, writhing to rise, and sinking back in despair,
convinced of his inadequacy for the struggle.
666
" Nay, it's enough that he has murdered one of you,' I
observed aloud. ' At the Grange, every one knows your
sister would have been living now, had it not been for Mr
Heathcliff. After all, it is preferable to be hated than loved
by him. When I recollect how happy we were— -how happy
Catherine was before he came —I'm fit to curse the day.'
"Most likely, Heathcliff noticed more the truth of what was
said , than the spirit of the person who said it. His attention
was roused, I saw, for his eyes rained down tears among the
ashes, and he drew his breath in suffocating sighs . I stared
full at him , and laughed scornfully. The clouded windows of
hell flashed a moment towards me ; the fiend which usually
looked out, however, was so dimmed and drowned that I did
not fear to hazard another sound of derision.
666 Get up, and begone out of my sight,' said the mourner.
152 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
cousins and of all sorts, Miss Cathy, without being any the
worse for it ; only they needn't keep their company, if they
be disagreeable and bad."
"He's not-he's not my cousin, Ellen ! " she went on,
gathering fresh grief from reflection, and flinging herself into
my arms for refuge from the idea.
I was much vexed at her and the servant for their mutual
revelations ; having no doubt of Linton's approaching arrival,
communicated by the former, being reported to Mr Heath-
cliff ; and feeling as confident that Catherine's first thought
on her father's return, would be to seek an explanation of the
latter's assertion concerning her rude-bred kindred . Hareton,
recovering from his disgust at being taken for a servant,
seemed moved by her distress ; and, having fetched the pony
round to the door, he took, to propitiate her, a fine crooked-
legged terrier whelp from the kennel, and putting it into her
hand bid her whist ! for he meant nought. Pausing in her
lamentations, she surveyed him with a glance of awe and
horror, then burst forth anew.
I could scarcely refrain from smiling at this antipathy to
the poor fellow ; who was a well-made, athletic youth, good
looking in features, and stout and healthy, but attired in
garments befitting his daily occupations of working on the
farm, and lounging among the moors after rabbits and game.
Still, I thought I could detect in his physiognomy a mind
owning better qualities than his father ever possessed. Good
things lost amid a wilderness of weeds, to be sure, whose
rankness far over-topped their neglected growth ; yet, not-
withstanding, evidence of a wealthy soil, that might yield
luxuriant crops under other and favourable circumstances.
Mr Heathcliff, I believe, had not treated him physically ill ;
thanks to his fearless nature, which offered no temptation to
that course of oppression : he had none of the timid suscep-
tibility that would have given zest to ill-treatment, in Heath-
cliff's judgment. He appeared to have bent his malevolence
on making him a brute : he was never taught to read or
write ; never rebuked for any bad habit which did not annoy
his keeper ; never led a single step towards virtue, or guarded
by a single precept against vice. And from what I heard,
Joseph contributed much to his deterioration, by a narrow-
minded partiality which prompted him to flatter and pet him,
as a boy, because he was the head of the old family. And as
he had been in the habit of accusing Catherine Earnshaw and
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 165
CHAPTER XIX.
my sober footsteps reached the gate, and then she seated her-
self on the grassy bank beside the path, and tried to wait
patiently ; but that was impossible : she couldn't be still a
minute.
" How long they are ! " she exclaimed . " Ah, I see some
dust on the road-they are coming ! No ! When will they
be here ? May we not go a little way-half a mile, Ellen :
only just half a mile ? Do say Yes : to that clump of birches
at the turn ! "
I refused stanchly. At length her suspense was ended :
the travelling carriage rolled in sight. Miss Cathy shrieked
and stretched out her arms, as soon as she caught her father's
face looking from the window. He descended , nearly as eager
as herself ; and a considerable interval elapsed ere they had
a thought to spare for any but themselves. While they
exchanged caresses, I took a peep in to see after Linton. He
was asleep in a corner, wrapped in a warm, fur-lined cloak,
as if it had been winter. A pale, delicate, effeminate boy,
who might have been taken for my master's younger brother,
so strong was the resemblance : but there was a sickly
peevishness in his aspect, that Edgar Linton never had. The
latter saw me looking ; and having shaken hands, advised me
to close the door, and leave him undisturbed ; for the journey
had fatigued him. Cathy would fain have taken one glance,
but her father told her to come, and they walked together up
the park, while I hastened before to prepare the servants.
" Now, darling," said Mr Linton, addressing his daughter,
66
as they halted at the bottom of the front steps : your cousin
is not so strong or so merry as you are, and he has lost his
mother, remember, a very short time since ; therefore, don't
expect him to play and run about with you directly. And
don't harass him much by talking : let him be quiet this
evening, at least, will you ? "
" Yes, yes, papa," answered Catherine : " but I do want to
see him ; and he hasn't once looked out."
The carriage stopped ; and the sleeper being roused, was
lifted to the ground by his uncle.
" This is your cousin Cathy, Linton ," he said, putting their
little hands together. " She's fond of you already ; and mind
you don't grieve her by crying to-night. Try to be cheerful
now; the travelling is at an end, and you have nothing to do
but rest and amuse yourself as you please."
" Let me go to bed, then," answered the boy, shrinking
168 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
" Noa ! " said Joseph, giving a thud with his prop on the
floor, and assuming an authoritative air : " Noa ! that means
naught. Hathecliff maks noa ' count o' t' mother, nor ye
norther ; but he'll hev his lad ; und I mun tak him- soa now
ye knaw ! "
" You shall not to-night ! " answered Linton decisively.
"Walk down-stairs at once, and repeat to your master what I
have said. Ellen, show him down. Go 19
And, aiding the indignant elder with a lift by the arm, he
rid the room of him, and closed the door.
"Varrah weell ! " shouted Joseph, as he slowly drew off.
" To morn, he's come hisseln, and thrust him out, if ye darr ! "
CHAPTER XX.
And you will have such nice rambles on the moors. Hareton
Earnshaw-that is Miss Cathy's other cousin, and so yours in
a manner will show you all the sweetest spots ; and you can
bring a book in fine weather, and make a green hollow your
study ; and, now and then, your uncle may join you in a
walk he does, frequently, walk out on the hills."
" And what is my father like ? " he asked. " Is he as
young and handsome as uncle ? "
" He's as young," said I ; " but he has black hair and eyes,
and looks sterner ; and he is taller and bigger altogether.
He'll not seem to you so gentle and kind at first, perhaps,
because it is not his way still, mind you, be frank and
cordial with him ; and naturally he'll be fonder of you than
19
any uncle, for you are his own.'
" Black hair and eyes ! " mused Linton. " I can't fancy
him. Then I am not like him, am I ?"
“ Not much,” I answered : not a morsel , I thought, survey-
ing with regret the white complexion and slim frame of my
companion, and his large languid eyes-his mother's eyes,
save that, unless a morbid touchiness kindled them a moment,
they had not a vestige of her sparkling spirit.
"How strange that he should never come to see mamma
and me !" he murmured. " Has he ever seen me ? If he
has, I must have been a baby. I remember not a single
thing about him !"
66 Why, Master Linton," said I, " three hundred miles is
a great distance ; and ten years seem very different in length
to a grown up person compared with what they do to you.
It is probable Mr Heathcliff proposed going from summer to
summer, but never found a convenient opportunity ; and now
it is too late. Don't trouble him with questions on the
subject : it will disturb him, for no good."
The boy was fully occupied with his own cogitations for
the remainder of the ride, till we halted before the farm-
house garden gate. I watched to catch his impressions in
his countenance. He surveyed the carved front and low-
browed lattices, the straggling gooseberry bushes and crooked
firs, with solemn intentness , and then shook his head : his
private feelings entirely disapproved of the exterior of his new
abode. But he had sense to postpone complaining : there
might be compensation within. Before he dismounted , I went
and opened the door. It was half-past six ; the family had
just finished breakfast : the servant was clearing and wiping
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 173
CHAPTER XXI.
We had sad work with little Cathy that day : she rose in high
glee, eager to join her cousin, and such passionate tears and
lamentations followed the news of his departure, that Edgar
himself was obliged to soothe her, by affirming he should
come back soon: he added , however, " if I can get him ; " and
ere were no hopes of that. This promise poorly pacified
176 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
her but time was more potent ; and though still at intervals
she inquired of her father when Linton would return, before
she did see him again his features had waxed so dim in her
memory that she did not recognise him.
When I chanced to encounter the housekeeper of Wuthering
Heights, in paying business-visits to Gimmerton, I used to
ask how the young master got on ; for he lived almost as
secluded as Catherine herself, and was never to be seen. I
could gather from her that he continued in weak health, and
was a tiresome inmate. She said Mr Heathcliff seemed to
dislike him ever longer and worse, though he took some
trouble to conceal it : he had an antipathy to the sound of his
voice, and could not do at all with his sitting in the same room
with him many minutes together. There seldom passed much
talk between them : Linton learnt his lessons and spent his
evenings in a small apartment they called the parlour : or else
lay in bed all day: for he was constantly getting coughs, and
colds, and aches , and pains of some sort.
" And I never knew such a faint-hearted creature," added
the woman ; 66 nor one so careful of hisseln. He will go on ,
if I leave the window open a bit late in the evening. Oh ! it's
killing, a breath of night air ! And he must have a fire in the
middle of summer ; and Joseph's bacca pipe is poison ; and he
must always have sweets and dainties, and always milk, milk
for ever-heeding naught how the rest of us are pinched in
winter ; and there he 'll sit, wrapped in his furred cloak in his
chair by the fire , with some toast and water or other slop on
the hob to sip at ; and if Hareton, for pity, comes to amuse
him-Hareton is not bad-natured, though he's rough-
they 're sure to part, one swearing and the other crying. I
believe the master would relish Earnshaw's thrashing him
to a mummy, if he were not his son ; and I'm certain he
would be fit to turn him out of doors, if he knew half the
nursing he gives hisseln. But then, he won't go into danger
of temptation : he never enters the parlour, and should Linton
show those ways in the house where he is, he sends him up-
stairs directly."
I divined, from this account, that utter lack of sympathy
had rendered young Heathcliff selfish and disagreeable, if he
were not so originally ; and my interest in him, consequently,
decayed : though still I was moved with a sense of grief at his
lot, and a wish that he had been left with us. Mr Edgar
encouraged me to gain information : he thought a great deal
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 177
about him, I fancy, and would have run some risk to see him ;
and he told me once to ask the housekeeper whether he ever
came into the village ? She said he had only been twice, on
horseback, accompanying his father ; and both times he pre-
tended to be quite knocked up for three or four days after-
wards. That housekeeper left, if I recollect rightly, two
years after he came ; and another, whom I did not know, was
her successor : she lives there still.
Time wore on at the Grange in its former pleasant way, till
Miss Cathy reached sixteen. On the anniversary of her birth
we never manifested any signs of rejoicing, because it was also
the anniversary of my late mistress's death . Her father
invariably spent that day alone in the library ; and walked,
at dusk, as far as Gimmerton kirkyard, where he would
frequently prolong his stay beyond midnight. Therefore
Catherine was thrown on her own resources for amusement.
This twentieth of March was a beautiful spring day, and when
her father had retired , my young lady came down dressed for
going out, and said she asked to have a ramble on the edge of
the moor with me : Mr Linton had given her leave , if we went
only a short distance and were back within the hour.
" So make haste , Ellen ! " she cried. " I know where I
wish to go ; where a colony of moor game are settled : I want
to see whether they have made their nests yet. "
" That must be a good distance up," I answered ; "they
don't breed on the edge of the moor."
" No, it's not," she said. " I've gone very near with
papa."
I put on my bonnet and sallied out, thinking nothing more
of the matter. She bounded before me, and returned to my
side, and was off again like a young greyhound ; and, at first,
I found plenty of entertainment in listening to the larks singing
far and near, and enjoying the sweet, warm sunshine ; and
watching her, my pet, and my delight, with her golden ringlets
flying loose behind, and her bright cheek, as soft and pure in
its bloom as a wild rose, and her eyes radiant with cloudless
pleasure. She was a happy creature, and an angel , in those
days. It's a pity she could not be content.
" Well," said I, " where are your moor-game, Miss Cathy ?
We should be at them : the Grange park-fence is a great way
off now."
“ Oh, a little further-only a little further, Ellen," was her
answer, continually. " Climb to that hillock, pass that bank,
12
178 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
and by the time you reach the other side I shall have raised
the birds."
But there were so many hillocks and banks to climb and
pass, that, at length, I began to be weary, and told her we
must halt, and retrace our steps. I shouted to her, as she
had outstripped me a long way ; she either did not hear or did
not regard, for she still sprang on, and I was compelled to
follow. Finally, she dived into a hollow ; and before I came
in sight of her again, she was two miles nearer Wuthering
Heights than her own home ; and I beheld a couple of persons
arrest her, one of whom I felt convinced was Mr Heathcliff
himself.
Cathy had been caught in the fact of plundering, or, at
least, hunting out the nests of the grouse. The Heights were
Heathcliff's land, and he was reproving the poacher.
" I've neither taken any nor found any," she said, as I
toiled to them , expanding her hands in corroboration of the
statement. " I didn't mean to take them ; but papa told me
there were quantities up here, and I wished to see the eggs."
Heathcliff glanced at me with an ill-meaning smile, ex-
pressing his acquaintance with the party, and, conse-
quently, his malevolence towards it, and demanded who
"papa " was ?
" Mr Linton of Thrushcross Grange," she replied . " I
thought you did not know me, or you wouldn't have spoken
in that way."
" You suppose papa is highly esteemed and respected then? "
he said, sarcastically.
" And what are you ?" inquired Catherine, gazing curiously
on the speaker. " That man I've seen before. Is he your
son ?"
She pointed to Hareton, the other individual, who had
gained nothing but increased bulk and strength by the
addition of two years to his age : he seemed as awkward and
rough as ever.
" Miss Cathy," I interrupted, " it will be three hours
instead of one that we are out, presently. We really must go
back."
" No, that man is not my son," answered Heathcliff, pushing
me aside. " But I have one, and you have seen him before
too; and, though your nurse is in a hurry, I think both you
and she would be the better for a little rest. Will you just
turn this nab of heath, and walk into my house ? You'll get
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 179
home earlier for the ease ; and you shall receive a kind
welcome."
I whispered Catherine that she mustn't, on any account,
accede to the proposal : it was entirely out of the question.
66
Why ?" she asked , aloud. " I'm tired of running, and
the ground is dewy : I can't sit here. Let us go , Ellen.
Besides , he says I have seen his son. He's mistaken, I think ;
but I guess where he lives : at the farm-house I visited in
coming from Penistone Crags. Don't you ?"
" I do. Come, Nelly, hold your tongue-it will be a treat
for her to look in on us. Hareton, get forwards with the lass.
You shall walk with me, Nelly."
"No, she's not going to any such place," I cried , struggling
to release my arm, which he had seized : but she was almost
at the door-stones already, scampering round the brow at full
speed. Her appointed companion did not pretend to escort
her: he shied off by the road-side, and vanished.
" Mr Heathcliff, it's very wrong," I continued : " you know
you mean no good. And there she'll see Linton , and all will
be told as soon as ever we return ; and I shall have the blame."
"I want her to see Linton," he answered ; " he's looking
better these few days : it's not often he's fit to be seen. And
we'll soon persuade her to keep the visit secret : where is the
harm of it ?"
" The harm of it is, that her father would hate me if he
found I suffered her to enter your house ; and I am convinced
you have a bad design in encouraging her to do so," I replied.
66 My design is as honest as possible. I'll inform you of
its whole scope," he said. " That the two cousins may fall in
love, and get married. I'm acting generously to your master :
his young chit has no expectations, and should she second my
wishes, she'll be provided for at once as joint successor with
Linton."
" If Linton died," I answered , " and his life is quite uncer-
tain, Catherine would be the heir."
" No, she would not," he said. " There is no clause in the
will to secure it so : his property would go to me ; but, to
prevent disputes, I desire their union, and am resolved to
bring it about.”
" And I'm resolved she shall never approach your house
with me again," I returned, as we reached the gate, where
Miss Cathy waited our coming.
Heathcliff bade me be quiet ; and, preceding us up the
180 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
" Worse," I replied, " because more sullen with it. "
" I've a pleasure in him," he continued reflecting aloud.
" He has satisfied my expectations . If he were a born fool
I should not enjoy it half so much. But he's no fool ; and
I can sympathise with all his feelings, having felt them my-
self. I know what he suffers now, for instance, exactly : it
is merely a beginning of what he shall suffer, though . And
he'll never be able to emerge from his bathos of coarseness
and ignorance. I've got him faster than his scoundrel of a
father secured me, and lower ; for he takes a pride in his
brutishness. I've taught him to scorn everything extra-
animal as silly and weak. Don't you think Hindley would
be proud of his son, if he could see him ? almost as proud as
I am of mine. But there's this difference ; one is gold put
to the use of paving-stones, and the other is tin polished to
ape a service of silver. Mine has nothing valuable about it ;
yet I shall have the merit of making it go as far as such poor
stuff can go. His had first-rate qualities, and they are lost :
rendered worse than unavailing. I have nothing to regret ; he
would have more than any but I are aware of. And the best
of it is, Hareton is damnably fond of me ! You'll own that
I've out-matched Hindley there. If the dead villain could
rise from his grave to abuse me for his offspring's wrongs, I
should have the fun of seeing the said offspring fight him back
again, indignant that he should dare to rail at the one friend
he has in the world !"
Heathcliff chuckled a fiendish laugh at the idea . I made
no reply, because I saw that he expected none. Meantime, our
young companion, who sat too removed from us to hear what
was said, began to evince symptoms of uneasiness, probably
repenting that he had denied himself the treat of Catherine's
society for fear of a little fatigue. His father remarked the
restless glances wandering to the window, and the hand irre-
solutely extended towards his cap.
"Get up, you idle boy ! " he exclaimed, with assumed hear-
tiness. 66 Away after them ! they are just at the corner, by
the stand of hives."
Linton gathered his energies, and left the hearth. The
lattice was open, and, as he stepped out, I heard Cathy in-
quiring of her unsociable attendant, what was that inscription
over the door ? Hareton stared up, and scratched his head like
a true clown.
184 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
accompanied him into the grounds, and the whole day passed
as usual : but in the evening, when she had retired to her
room, and I went to help her to undress, I found her crying,
on her knees by the bedside.
" Oh, fie, silly child ! " I exclaimed . " Iff you had any real
griefs, you'd be ashamed to waste a tear on this little con-
trariety. You never had one shadow of substantial sorrow,
Miss Catherine. Suppose, for a minute, that master and I
were dead, and you were by yourself in the world : how
would you feel, then ? Compare the present occasion with
such an affliction as that, and be thankful for the friends you
have, instead of coveting more."
" I'm not crying for myself, Ellen," she answered, " it's for
him. He expected to see me again to-morrow, and there he'll
be so disappointed : and he 'll wait for me, and I shan't come! "
"Nonsense ! " said I, " do you imagine he has thought as
much of you as you have of him ? Hasn't he Hareton for a
companion ? Not one in a hundred would weep at losing a
relation they had just seen twice, for two afternoons. Linton
will conjecture how it is, and trouble himself no further about
you."
66' But may I not write a note to tell him why I cannot
come ?" she asked, rising to her feet. " And just send those
books, I promised to lend him ? His books are not as nice
as mine, and he wanted to have them extremely, when I told
him how interesting they were. May I not, Ellen ? "
"No, indeed ! no, indeed !" replied I with decision. " Then
he would write to you, and there'd never be an end of it.
No, Miss Catherine, the acquaintance must be dropped entirely:
so papa expects, and I shall see that it is done ."
"But how can one little note " she recommenced , putting
on an imploring countenance.
" Silence ! " I interrupted. " We'll not begin with your
little notes. Get into bed."
She threw at me a very naughty look, so naughty that I
would not kiss her good-night at first : I covered her up, and
shut her door, in great displeasure ; but, repenting half-way,
I returned softly, and lo ! there was miss standing at the table
with a bit of blank paper before her and a pencil in her
hand, which she guiltily slipped out of sight, on my entrance.
" You'll get nobody to take that, Catherine," I said , “ if
you write it ; and at present I shall put out your candle."
I set the extinguisher on the flame, receiving as I did so a
188 WUTHERING HEIGHTS .
filled his can, she tucked something into his jacket pocket, and
plucked something out. I went round by the garden, and
laid wait for the messenger ; who fought valorously to defend
his trust, and we spilt the milk between us ; but I succeeded
in abstracting the epistle ; and, threatening serious conse-
quences if he did not look sharp home, I remained under the
wall and perused Miss Cathy's affectionate composition. It
was more simple and more eloquent than her cousin's : very
pretty and very silly. I shook my head, and went meditating
into the house. The day being wet, she could not divert
herself with rambling about the park ; so , at the conclusion
of her morning studies, she resorted to the solace of the
drawer. Her father sat reading at the table ; and I, on
purpose, had sought a bit of work in some unripped fringes
of the window curtain, keeping my eye steadily fixed on her
proceedings. Never did any bird flying back to a plundered
nest which it had left brimful of chirping young ones, express
more complete despair in its anguished cries and flutterings,
than she by her single " Oh !" and the change that transfigured
her late happy countenance. Mr Linton looked up.
"What is the matter, love ? Have you hurt yourself ? "
he said.
His tone and look assured her he had not been the discoverer
of the hoard.'
" No, papa !" she gasped. " Ellen ! Ellen ! come up stairs
-I'm sick !"
I obeyed her summons, and accompanied her out.
" Oh, Ellen ! you have got them," she commenced imme-
diately, dropping on her knees, when we were enclosed alone.
" Oh, give them to me, and I'll never, never do so again !
Don't tell papa . You have not told papa, Ellen ? say you
have not ? I've been exceedingly naughty, but I won't do it
any more !"
With a grave severity in my manner, I bade her stand up.
" So," I exclaimed, " Miss Catherine, you are tolerably far
on, it seems : you may well be ashamed of them ! A fine
bundle of trash you study in your leisure hours, to be sure :
why it's good enough to be printed ! And what do you
suppose the master will think, when I display it before him ?
I hav'n't shown it yet, but you needn't imagine I shall keep
your ridiculous secrets. For shame ! and you must have led
the way in writing such absurdities : he would not have
thought of beginning, I'm certain.”
190 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
" I didn't ! I didn't ! " sobbed Cathy, fit to19 break her heart.
"I didn't once think of loving him till
Loving! " cried I, as scornfully as I could utter the word.
"Loving! Did anybody ever hear the like ! I might just
as well talk of loving the miller who comes once a year to buy
our corn. Pretty loving, indeed ! and both times together
you have seen Linton hardly four hours in your life ! Now
here is the babyish trash. I'm going with it to the library ;
and we'll see what your father says to such loving."
She sprang at her precious epistles, but I held them above
my head ; and then she poured out further frantic entreaties
that I would burn them—do anything rather than show them.
And being really fully as much inclined to laugh as scold—
for I esteemed it all girlish vanity—I at length relented in a
measure, and asked,—
"If I consent to burn them, will you promise faithfully,
neither to send nor receive a letter again, nor a book (for I
perceive you have sent him books), nor locks of hair, nor
rings, nor playthings ? "
"We don't send playthings ! " cried Catherine, her pride
overcoming her shame.
" Nor anything at all, then, my lady," I said. " Unless you
will, here I go. "
" I promise, Ellen ! " she cried, catching my dress. " Oh,
put them in the fire, do, do ! "
But when I proceeded to open a place with the poker, the
sacrifice was too painful to be borne. She earnestly suppli-
cated that I would spare her one or two.
" One or two, Ellen, to keep for Linton's sake ! "
I unknotted the handkerchief, and commenced dropping
them in from an angle, and the flame curled up the chimney.
" I will have one, you cruel wretch ! " she screamed , darting
her hand into the fire, and drawing forth some half consumed
fragments , at the expense of her fingers .
66
Very well- and I will have some to exhibit to papa ! " I
answered, shaking back the rest into the bundle, and turning
anew to the door.
She emptied her blackened pieces into the flames, and
motioned me to finish the immolation. It was done ; I stirred
up the ashes, and interred them under a shovelfull of coals ;
and she mutely, and with a sense of intense injury, retired to
her private apartment. I descended to tell my master that
the young lady's qualm of sickness was almost gone, but I
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 191
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
where Zillah is ! Will you (looking at me) step into the kitchen
and see ? "
I had received no thanks for my other service ; and being
unwilling to run to and fro at his behest, I replied—
" Nobody is out there but Joseph."
" I want to drink," he exclaimed fretfully, turning away.
" Zillah is constantly gadding off to Gimmerton since papa
went : it's miserable ! And I'm obliged to come down here-
they resolved never to hear me up-stairs."
" Is your father attentive to you, Master Heathcliff ? "
I asked, perceiving Catherine to be checked in her friendly
advances.
" Attentive ? He makes them a little more attentive at
least," he cried. " The wretches ! Do you know, Miss Linton,
that brute Hareton laughs at me ! I hate him ! indeed, I
hate them all they are odious beings."
Cathy began searching for some water ; she lighted on a
pitcher in the dresser, filled a tumbler, and brought it. He
bid her add a spoonful of wine from a bottle on the table ;
and having swallowed a small portion , appeared more tranquil,
and said she was very kind.
" And are you glad to see me ? " asked she, reiterating
her former question, and pleased to detect the faint dawn of
a smile.
"Yes, I am. It's something new to hear a voice like
yours !" he replied. " But I have been vexed , because you
wouldn't come. And papa swore it was owing to me : he
called me a pitiful, shuffling, worthless thing ; and said you
despised me ; and if he had been in my place, he would be
more the master of the Grange than your father, by this time.
But you don't despise me , do you Miss
"I wish you would say Catherine, or Cathy," interrupted
my young lady. "Despise you ? No ! Next to papa and
Ellen, I love you better than anybody living. I don't love
Mr Heathcliff, though ; and I dare not come when he returns :
will he stay away many days ?"
" Not many," answered Linton ; " but he goes on to the
moors frequently, since the shooting season commenced ; and
you might spend an hour or two with me in his absence.
Do say you will. I think I should not be peevish with
you : you'd not provoke me, and you'd always be ready
to help me, wouldn't you ? "
" Yes," said Catherine, stroking his long soft hair ; "if I
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 199
could only get papa's consent, I'd spend half my time with
you. Pretty Linton ! I wish you were my brother."
" And then you would like me as well as your father ? "
observed he, more cheerfully. " But papa says you would
love me better than him and all the world, if you were my
wife ; so I'd rather you were that."
" No, I should never love anybody better than papa," she
returned gravely. " And people hate their wives, sometimes ;
but not their sisters and brothers : and if you were the latter,
you would live with us, and papa would be as fond of you as
he is of me."
Linton denied that people ever hated their wives ; but Cathy
affirmed they did, and, in her wisdom, instanced his own
father's aversion to her aunt. I endeavoured to stop her
thoughtless tongue. I couldn't succeed till everything she
knew was out. Master Heathcliff, much irritated, asserted
her relation was false.
" Papa told me ; and papa does not tell falsehoods," she
answered pertly.
" My papa scorns yours ! " cried Linton. " He calls him a
sneaking fool."
" Yours is a wicked man," retorted Catherine ; " and you
are very naughty to dare to repeat what he says. He must be
wicked to have made Aunt Isabella leave him as she did."
" She didn't leave him," said the boy: 66 you shan't contra-
dict me."
" She did," cried my young lady.
" Well, I'll tell you something ! " said Linton. " Your
mother hated your father: now then."
" Oh ! " exclaimed Catherine, too enraged to continue.
" And she loved mine," added he.
" You little liar ! I hate you now ! " She panted, and her
face grew red with passion.
" She did ! she did ! " sang Linton, sinking into the recess
of his chair, and leaning back his head to enjoy the agitation.
of the other disputant, who stood behind.
66
Hush, Master Heathcliff ! " I said ; " that's your father's
tale, too, I suppose."
" It isn't: you hold your tongue ! " he answered. " She
did, she did , Catherine ! she did, she did ! "
Cathy, beside herself, gave the chair a violent push, and
caused him to fall against one arm. He was immediately
seized by a suffocating cough that soon ended his triumph.
200 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
took him the kinder he was treated, the more tedious and
selfish he'd be. I'm glad you have no chance of having him
for a husband, Miss Catherine."
My companion waxed serious at hearing this speech . To
speak of his death so regardlessly, wounded her feelings.
" He's younger than I," she answered, after a protracted
pause of meditation, " and he ought to live the longest : he
will--he must live as long as I do. He's as strong now as
when he first came into the north ; I'm positive of that. It's
only a cold that ails him, the same as papa has. You say
papa will get better, and why shouldn't he ?"
"Well, well," I cried, " after all, we needn't trouble our-
selves ; for listen, miss , —and mind , I'll keep my word,—if
you attempt going to Wuthering Heights again, with or with-
out me, I shall inform Mr Linton , and, unless he allow it,
the intimacy with your cousin must not be revived."
"It has been revived," muttered Cathy, sulkily.
"Must not be continued, then," I said.
" We'll see," was her reply, and she set off at a gallop,
leaving me to toil in the rear.
We both reached home before our dinner-time ; my master
supposed we had been wandering through the park, and
therefore he demanded no explanation of our absence. As
soon as I entered , I hastened to change my soaked shoes and
stockings ; but sitting such a while at the Heights had done
the mischief. On the succeeding morning I was laid up, and
during three weeks I remained incapacitated for attending to
my duties : a calamity never experienced prior to that period,
and never, I am thankful to say, since.
My little mistress behaved like an angel, in coming to wait
on me, and cheer my solitude : the confinement brought me
exceedingly low. It is wearisome, to a stirring active body :
but few have slighter reasons for complaint than I had . The
moment Catherine left Mr Linton's room, she appeared at my
bed-side. Her day was divided between us ; no amusement
usurped a minute : she neglected her meals, her studies, and
her play ; and she was the fondest nurse that ever watched.
She must have had a warm heart, when she loved her father
so, to give so much to me. I said her days were divided
between us ; but the master retired early, and I generally
needed nothing after six o'clock, thus the evening was her
own. Poor thing ! I never considered what she did with her-
self after tea. And though frequently, when she looked in to
204 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XXIV.
mė. I was sure you wouldn't break your word, and I'll
make you promise again, before you go.'
" I knew now that I mustn't tease him, as he was ill ; and
I spoke softly and put no questions , and avoided irritating
him in any way. I had brought some of my nicest books
for him ; he asked me to read a little of one, and I was about
to comply, when Earnshaw burst the door open : having
gathered venom with reflection. He advanced direct to us,
seized Linton by the arm, and swung him off the seat .
" Get to thy own room ! ' he said , in a voice almost inarti-
culate with passion ; and his face looked swelled and furious.
' Take her there if she comes to see thee : thou shalln't keep
me out of this. Begone wi' ye both ! '
"He swore at us, and left Linton no time to answer, nearly
throwing him into the kitchen ; and he clenched his fist as I
followed, seemingly longing to knock me down. I was afraid
for a moment, and I let one volume fall ; he kicked it after
me, and shut us out. I heard a malignant , crackly laugh by
the fire, and turning, beheld that odious Joseph standing
rubbing his bony hands, and quivering.
" I wer sure he'd sarve ye out ! He's a grand lad !
He's getten t'raight sperrit in him ! He knaws --Ay, he
knaws , as weel as I do, who sud be t'maister yonder - Ech ,
ech , ech ! He made ye skift properly ! Ech , ech, ech !'
" Where must we go ? ' I asked of my cousin, disregarding
the old wretch's mockery.
" Linton was white and trembling. He was not pretty
then, Ellen : oh no ! he looked frightful ; for his thin face
and large eyes were wrought into an expression of frantic ,
powerless fury. He grasped the handle of the door, and
shook it : it was fastened inside.
" If you don't let me in I'll kill you ! -If you don't let
me in, I'll kill you ! ' he rather shrieked than said . ' Devil !
devil !-I'll kill you-I'll kill you !'
66 Joseph uttered his croaking laugh again.
" Thear, that's t'father !' he cried. That's father !
We've allas summut o' either side in us. Niver heed
Hareton, lad-dunnut be 'feard - he cannot get at thee !'
" I took hold of Linton's hands, and tried to pull him
away; but he shrieked so shockingly that I dared not proceed.
At last his cries were choked by a dreadful fit of coughing ;
blood gushed from his mouth, and he fell on the ground. I
ran into the yard, sick with terror ; and called for Zillah, as
14
210 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XXV.
" THESE things happened last winter, sir," said Mrs Dean ;
" hardly more than a year ago. Last winter, I did not think,
at another twelve months' end, I should be amusing a stranger
to the family with relating them! Yet, who knows how long
you 'll be a stranger ? You're too young to rest always con-
tented, living by yourself ; and I some way fancy no one could
see Catherine Linton and not love her. You smile ; but why
do you look so lively and interested , when I talk about her?
and why have you asked me to hang her picture over your
""
fireplace ? and why-
66
Stop, my good friend ! " I cried. " It may be very possi-
ble that I should love her ; but would she love me ? I doubt
it too much to venture my tranquillity by running into temp-
tation : and then my home is not here. I'm of the busy world,
and to its arms I must return. Go on. Was Catherine obe .
dient to her father's commands ? "
" She was," continued the housekeeper . " Her affection for
him was still the chief sentiment in her heart ; and he spoke
without anger : he spoke in the deep tenderness of one about
to leave his treasure amid perils and foes, where his remem-
bered words would be the only aid that he could bequeath to
guide her. He said to me, a few days afterwards,
" I wish my nephew would write, Ellen, or call. Tell me,
sincerely, what you think of him : is he changed for the
better, or is there a prospect of improvement, as he grows a
man ?'
" He's very delicate , sir,' I replied ; and scarcely likely
to reach manhood : but this I can say, he does not resemble his
father ; and if Miss Catherine had the misfortune to marry him ,
he would not be beyond her control : unless she were extremely
and foolishly indulgent. However, master, you'll have plenty
214 WUTHERING HEIGHTS
CHAPTER XXVI.
of her researches with me : she did not offer them to him, for
she saw further notice would only weary and annoy.
" Is it half an hour now, Ellen ? " she whispered in my ear,
at last. " I can't tell why we should stay. He's asleep , and
papa will be wanting us back. "
66
Well, we must not leave him asleep," I answered ; " wait
till he wakes , and be patient. You were mighty eager to set
off, but your longing to see poor Linton has soon evaporated ! "
"Why did he wish to see me ? " returned Catherine. " In
his crossest humours , formerly, I liked him better than I do
in his present curious mood. It's just as if it were a task he
was compelled to perform- this interview-for fear his father
should scold him . But I'm hardly going to come to give
Mr Heathcliff pleasure ; whatever reason he may have for
ordering Linton to undergo this penance. And, though I'm
glad he's better in health, I'm sorry he's 39 so much less
pleasant, and so much less affectionate to me.'
"You think he is better in health, then ?" I said.
66 Yes," she answered ; " because he always made such a
great deal of his sufferings, you know. He is not tolerably
well, as he told me to tell papa ; but he 's better, very likely."
" There you differ with me, Miss Cathy," I remarked ; " I
should conjecture him to be far worse."
Linton here started from his slumber in bewildered terror,
and asked if any one had called his name.
"No," said Catherine ; " unless in dreams. I cannot conceive
how you manage to dose out of doors, in the morning."
" I thought I heard my father," he gasped, glancing up to
the frowning nab above us. " You are sure nobody spoke ? '
แ
"Quite sure," replied his cousin. " Only Ellen and I were
disputing concerning your health. Are you truly stronger,
Linton, than when we separated in winter ? If you be, I'm
certain one thing is not stronger-your regard for me : speak,
—are you ? "
The tears gushed from Linton's eyes as he answered, " Yes,
yes, I am !" And, still under the spell of the imaginary
voice, his gaze wandered up and down to detect its owner.
Cathy rose. "For to-day we must part," she said. " And I
won't conceal that I have been sadly disappointed with our
meeting ; though I'll mention it to nobody but you : not that
I stand in awe of Mr Heathcliff."
" Hush," murmured Linton ; " for God's sake, hush ! He's
coming." And he clung to Catherine's arm, striving to detain
220 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XXVII.
SEVEN days glided away, every one marking its course by the
henceforth rapid alteration of Edgar Linton's state. The
havoc that months had previously wrought was now emulated
by the inroads of hours. Catherine, we would fain have
deluded yet ; but her own quick spirit refused to delude her:
it divined in secret, and brooded on the dreadful probability,
gradually ripening into certainty. She had not the heart to
mention her ride, when Thursday came round ; I mentioned it
for her, and obtained permission to order her out of doors : for
the library, where her father stopped a short time daily—the
brief period he could bear to sit up-and his chamber, had
become her whole world. She grudged each moment that
did not find her bending over his pillow, or seated by his side.
Her countenance grew wan with watching and sorrow, and
my master gladly dismissed her to what he flattered himself
would be a happy change of scene and society ; drawing com-
fort from the hope that she would not now be left entirely
alone after his death.
He had a fixed idea, I guessed by several observations he
let fall, that, as his nephew resembled him in person, he would
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 221
can't be scorned enough ; but I'm too mean for your anger.
Hate my father, and spare me for contempt."
" Nonsense!" cried Catherine, in a passion. " Foolish, silly
boy ! And there ! he trembles, as if I were really going to
touch him ! You needn't bespeak contempt, Linton : any-
body will have it spontaneously at your service. Get off! I
shall return home : it is folly dragging you from the hearth-
stone, and pretending-what do we pretend ? Let go my
frock ! If I pitied you for crying and looking so very fright-
ened, you should spurn such pity. Ellen, tell him how
disgraceful this conduct is. Rise, and don't degrade yourself
into an abject reptile- don't!"
With streaming face and an expression of agony, Linton
had thrown his nerveless frame along the ground : he seemed
convulsed with exquisite terror.
" Oh ! " he sobbed, " I cannot bear it ! Catherine, Cathe-
rine, I'm a traitor , too , and I dare not tell youu ! But leave
me, and I shall be killed ! Dear Catherine, my life is in your
hands : and you have said you loved me, and if you did, it
wouldn't harm you. You'll not go, then ? kind, sweet, good
Catherine ! And perhaps you will consent— and he'll let me
die with you !"
My young lady, on witnessing his intense anguish, stooped
to raise him. The old feeling of indulgent tenderness over-
came her vexation , and she grew thoroughly moved and
alarmed.
" Consent to what ? " she asked. " To stay ! Tell me the
meaning of this strange talk, and I will. You contradict your
own words, and distract me ! Be calm and frank, and confess
at once all that weighs on your heart. You wouldn't injure
me, Linton, would you ? You wouldn't let any enemy hurt
me, if you could prevent it ? I'll believe you are a cow-
ard for yourself, but not a cowardly betrayer of your best
friend."
66 But my father threatened me," gasped the boy, clasping
his attenuated fingers, " and I dread him- I dread him ! I
dare not tell !"
" Oh, well ! " said Catherine, with scornful compassion,
"keep your secret : I'm no coward. Save yourself: I'm not
afraid !"
Her magnanimity provoked his tears : he wept wildly,
kissing her supporting hands, and yet could not summon
courage to speak out. I was cogitating what the mystery
WUTHERING HEIGHTS . 223
faint. I've done as you wished , I'm sure. Catherine will tell
you that I-that I have been cheerful. Ah ! keep by me,
Catherine ; give me your hand."
" Take mine," said his father ; " stand on your feet. There
now- she'll lend you her arm : that's right, look at her. You
would imagine I was the devil himself, Miss Linton, to excite
such horror. Be so kind as to walk home with him, will you?
He shudders if I touch him."
"Linton, dear ! " whispered Catherine, " I can't go to
Wuthering Heights : papa has forbidden me. He'll not harm
you: why are you so afraid ? "
" I can never re-enter that house," he answered. " I'm not
to re- enter it without you ! "
" Stop ! " cried his father. "We'll respect Catherine's filial
scruples. Nelly, take him in, and I'll follow your advice
concerning the doctor, without delay."
" You'll do well," replied I. " But I must remain with my
mistress : to mind your son is not my business."
"You are very stiff," said Heathcliff, " I know that but
you 'll force me to pinch the baby and make it scream before
it moves your charity. Come, then, my hero. Are you willing
to return, escorted by me ? "
He approached once more, and made as if he would seize
the fragile being ; but, shrinking back, Linton clung to his
cousin, and implored her to accompany him, with a frantic
importunity that admitted no denial. However I disapproved ,
I couldn't hinder her : indeed , how could she have refused him
herself ? What was filling him with dread we had no means
of discerning ; but there he was, powerless under its gripe, and
any addition seemed capable of shocking him into idiocy.
We reached the threshold ; Catherine walked in, and I stood
waiting till she had conducted the invalid to a chair, expecting
her out immediately ; when Mr Heathcliff, pushing me forward,
exclaimed-
"My house is not stricken with the plague, Nelly ; and I
have a mind to be hospitable to-day : sit down, and allow me
to shut the door."
He shut and locked it also. I started.
" You shall have tea before you go home," he added. " I
am by myself. Hareton is gone with some cattle to the Lees,
and Žillah and Joseph are off on a journey of pleasure ; and,
though I'm used to being alone, I'd rather have some inter-
esting company, if I can get it. Miss Linton, take your seat
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 225
like a reed, poor thing, and leant against the table perfectly
bewildered.
" I know how to chastise children, you see," said the
scoundrel, grimly, as he stooped to repossess himself of the key,
which had dropped to the floor. " Go to Linton now, as I
told you ; and cry at your ease ! I shall be your father, to-
morrow- all the father you'll have in a few days-and you
shall have plenty of that. You can bear plenty ; you're no
weakling : you shall have a daily taste, if I catch such a devil
of a temper in your eyes again !"
Cathy ran to me instead of Linton, and knelt down and put
her burning cheek on my lap, weeping aloud. Her cousin
had shrunk into a corner of the settle, as quiet as a mouse,
congratulating himself, I dare say, that the correction had
lighted on another than him. Mr Heathcliff, perceiving us all
confounded, rose, and expeditiously made the tea himself. The
cups and saucers were laid ready. He poured it out, and
handed me a cup .
"Wash away your spleen,” he said. " And help your own
naughty pet and mine. It is not poisoned, though I prepared
it. I'm going out to seek your horses."
Our first thought, on his departure, was to force an exit
somewhere. We tried the kitchen door, but that was fastened
outside : we looked at the windows-they were too narrow for
even Cathy's little figure.
"Master Linton," I cried, seeing we were regularly im-
prisoned ; " you know what your diabolical father is after, and
you shall tell us, or I'll box your ears, as he has done your
cousin's."
" Yes, Linton, you must tell," said Catherine. " It was for
your sake I came ; and it will be wickedly ungrateful if you
refuse."
"Give me some tea , I'm thirsty, and then I'll tell you," he
answered. "Mrs Dean, go away . I don't like you standing
over me. Now, Catherine, you are letting your tears fall into
my cup. I won't drink that. Give me another."
Catherine pushed another to him, and wiped her face. I
felt disgusted at the little wretch's composure, since sno
longer in terror for himself. The anguish he had Site d
on the moor subsided as soon as ever he entered ing
Heights ; so I guessed he had been menaced wit ✓ful
visitation of wrath if he failed in decoying us there hat
accomplished , he had no further immediate fears.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 227
that man only your father. Catherine, his happiest days were
over when your days began. He cursed you, I dare say, for
coming into the world (I did, at least) ; and it would just do
if he cursed you as he went out of it. I'd join him . I don't
love you ! How should I ? Weep away. As far as I can
see, it will be your chief diversion hereafter ; unless Linton
make amends for other losses : and your provident parent
appears to fancy he may. His letters of advice and conso-
lation entertained me vastly. In his last he recommended my
jewel to be careful of his ; and kind to her when he got her.
Careful and kind- that's paternal. But Linton requires his
whole stock of care and kindness for himself. Linton can
play the little tyrant well. He'll undertake to torture any
number of cats, if their teeth be drawn and their claws pared.
You'll be able to tell his uncle fine tales of his kindness, when
you get home again , I assure you."
" You're right there ! " I said ; " explain your son's cha-
racter. Show his resemblance to yourself ; and then , I hope,
Miss Cathy will think twice before she takes the cockatrice ! "
" I don't much mind speaking of his amiable qualities
now," he answered ; " because she must either accept him or
remain a prisoner, and you along with her, till your master
you
dies. I can detain you both, quite concealed , here. If
doubt, encourage her to retract her word, and you ' ll have an
opportunity of judging ! "
marry
" I'll not retract my word," said Catherine. " I'll
him within this hour, if I may go to Thrushcross Grange
afterwards. Mr Heathcliff, you're a cruel man, but you're
not a fiend ; and you won't, from mere malice, destroy irre-
vocably all my happiness. If papa thought I had left him on
purpose, and if he died before I returned, could I bear to
live ? I've given over crying : but I'm going to kneel here,
at your knee ; and I'll not get up , and I'll not take my eyes
from your face till you look back at me ! No , don't turn
away ! do look ! You'll see nothing to provoke you . I don't
hate you. I'm not angry that you struck me. Have you
never loved anybody in all your life, uncle ? never? Ah ! you
must look once. I'm so wretched, you can't help being sorry
and pitying me."
66
Keep your eft's fingers off ; and move, or I'll kick you ! "
cried Heathcliff, brutally repulsing her. " I'd rather be
hugged by a snake. How the devil can you dream of fawn-
ing on me ? I detest you ! "
230 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
mine. And then she cried , and took a little picture from her
neck, and said I should have that ; two pictures in a gold case,
on one side her mother, and on the other, uncle , when they
were young . That was yesterday I said they were mine,
too ; and tried to get them from her. The spiteful thing
wouldn't let me : she pushed me off, and hurt me. I shrieked
out that frightens her-she heard papa coming, and she
broke the hinges and divided the case, and gave me her
mother's portrait ; the other she attempted to hide : but рара
asked what was the matter, and I explained it. He took the
one I had away, and ordered her to resign hers to me ; she
refused, and he-he struck her down, and wrenched it off the
chain , and crushed it with his foot.”
" And were you pleased to see her struck ? " I asked : having
my designs in encouraging his talk.
66 I winked," he answered : " I wink to see my father strike
a dog or a horse, he does it so hard. Yet I was glad at first
-she deserved punishing for pushing me : but when papa was
gone, she made me come to the window and showed me her
cheek cut on the inside, against her teeth, and her mouth
filling with blood ; and then she gathered up the bits of the
picture, and went and sat down with her face to the wall, and
she has never spoken to me since : and I sometimes think she
can't speak for pain. I don't like to think so ; but she's a
naughty thing for crying continually ; and she looks so pale
and wild, I'm afraid of her."
" And you can get the key if you choose ? " I said.
(6
Yes, when I am up-stairs," he answered ; " but I can't
walk up-stairs now."
" In what apartment is it ? " I asked .
" Oh," he cried, " I shan't tell you where it is ! It is our
secret. Nobody, neither Hareton nor Zillah, is to know.
There ! youI've tired me—go away, go away ! " And he
turned his face on to his arm, and shut his eyes again.
I considered it best to depart without seeing Mr Heathcliff,
and bring a rescue for my young lady from the Grange . On
reaching it, the astonishment of my fellow-servants to see me,
and their joy also , was intense ; and when they heard that
their little mistress was safe , two or three were about to hurry
up and shout the news at Mr Edgar's door : but I bespoke the
announcement of it, myself. How changed I found him, even
in those few days ! He lay an image of sadness and resigna-
tion waiting his death . Very young he looked : though his
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 235
actual age was thirty-nine, one would have called him ten
years younger, at least. He thought of Catherine ; for he
murinured her name. I touched his hand, and spoke.
" Catherine is coming, dear master ! " I whispered ; " she is
alive and well ; and will be here, I hope, to-night."
I trembled at the first effects of this intelligence : he half
rose up, looked eagerly round the apartment, and then sank
back in a swoon. As soon as he recovered, I related our
compulsory visit, and detention at the Heights. I said Heath-
cliff forced me to go in : which was not quite true. I uttered
as little as possible against Linton ; nor did I describe all his
father's brutal conduct- my intentions being to add no bitter-
ness, if I could help it, to his already overflowing cup.
He divined that one of his enemy's purposes was to secure
the personal property, as well as the estate, to his son : or
rather himself ; yet why he did not wait till his decease was
a puzzle to my master, because ignorant how nearly he and
his nephew would quit the world together. However, he felt
that his will had better be altered : instead of leaving Cathe-
rine's fortune at her own disposal, he determined to put it in
the hands of trustees for her use during life, and for her
children, if she had any, after her. By that means, it could
not fall to Mr. Heathcliff should Linton die.
Having received his orders, I despatched a man to fetch
the attorney, and four more, provided with serviceable weapons ,
to demand my young lady of her jailer. Both parties were
delayed very late. The single servant returned first. He said
Mr. Green, the lawyer, was out when he arrived at his house,
and he had to wait two hours for his re-entrance ; and then
Mr. Green told him he had a little business in the village that
must be done ; but he would be at Thrushcross Grange before
morning. The four men came back unaccompanied also.
They brought word that Catherine was ill : too ill to quit her
rocm ; and Heathcliff would not suffer them to see her. I
scolded the stupid fellows well for listening to that tale, which
I would not carry to my master ; resolving to take a whole
bevy up to the Heights, at daylight, and storm it literally,
unless the prisoner were quietly surrendered to us. Her father
shall see her, I vowed, and vowed again, if that devil be killed
on his own doorstones in trying to prevent it !
Happily, I was spared the journey and the trouble. I had
gone down-stairs at three o'clock to fetch a jug of water ; and
was passing through the hall with it in my hand, when a sharp
236 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XXIX.
her darling head on the same pillow as she did when a child ;
and I must open my lids to see. And so I opened and closed
them a hundred times a night—to be always disappointed !
It racked me ! I've often groaned aloud, till that old rascal
Joseph no doubt believed that my conscience was playing the
fiend inside of me. Now, since I've seen her, I'm pacified-
a little. It was a strange way of killing : not by inches, but
by fractions of hairbreadths, to beguile me with the spectre of
a hope, through eighteen years ! "
Mr Heathcliff paused and wiped his forehead ; his hair
clung to it, wet with perspiration ; his eyes were fixed on the
red embers of the fire, the brows not contracted , but raised
next the temples ; diminishing the grim aspect of his counte-
nance, but imparting a peculiar look of trouble, and a painful
appearance of mental tension towards one absorbing subject.
He only half addressed me , and I maintained silence. I
didn't like to hear him talk ! After a short period he resumed
his meditation on the picture, took it down and leant it against
the sofa to contemplate it at better advantage ; and while so
occupied Catherine entered, announcing that she was ready,
when her pony should be saddled .
" Send that over to-morrow," said Heathcliff to me ; then
turning to her, he added. " You may do without your pony :
it is a fine evening, and you'll need no ponies at Wuthering
Heights ; for what journeys you take, your own feet will serve
you. Come along. "
"Good-bye, Ellen ! " whispered my dear little mistress. As
she kissed me, her lips felt like ice. " Come and see me,
Ellen ; don't forget."
" Take care you do no such thing, Mrs Dean ! " said her
new father. "When I wish to speak to you I'll come here.
I want none of your prying at my house !"
He signed her to precede him ; and casting back a look that
cut my heart, she obeyed . I watched them from the window,
walk down the garden. Heathcliff fixed Catherine's arm
under his though she disputed the act at first evidently ; and
with rapid strides he hurried her into the alley, whose trees
concealed them.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 243
CHAPTER XXX.
I HAVE paid a visit to the Heights, but I have not seen her
since she left : Joseph held the door in his hand when I called
to ask after her, and wouldn't let me pass. He said Mrs Linton
was " thrang," and the master was not in. Zillah has told
me something of the way they go on, otherwise I should hardly
know who was dead and who living. She thinks Catherine
haughty, and does not like her, I can guess by her talk. My
young lady asked some aid of her when she first came ; but
Mr Heathcliff told her to follow her own business, and let
his daughter-in-law look after herself ; and Zillah willingly
acquiesced, being a narrow-minded selfish woman. Catherine
evinced a child's annoyance at this neglect ; repaid it with
contempt, and thus enlisted my informant among her enemies,
as securely as if she had done her some great wrong. I had
a long talk with Zillah about six weeks ago, a little before you
came, one day when we foregathered on the moor ; and this is
what she told me.
" The first thing Mrs Linton did," she said , " on her arrival
at the Heights, was to run up-stairs, without even wishing
good evening to me and Joseph ; she shut herself into Linton's
room , and remained till morning. Then, while the master
and Earnshaw were at breakfast, she entered the house, and
asked all in a quiver if the doctor might be sent for ? her
cousin was very ill.
" We know that ! ' answered Heathcliff ; but his life is
not worth a farthing, and I won't spend a farthing on him.'
" But I cannot tell how to do,' she said ; and if nobody
will help me, he'll die !'
" Walk out of the room,' cried the master, ' and let me
never hear a word more about him ! None here care what
becomes of him ; if you do, act the nurse ; if you do not, lock
him up and leave him.'
" Then she began to bother me, and I said I'd had enough
plague with the tiresome thing ; we each had our tasks, and
hers was to wait on Linton, Mr Heathcliff bid me leave that
labour to her.
" How they managed together, I can't tell. I fancy he
fretted a great deal, and moaned hisseln night and day ; and
she had precious little rest : one could guess by her white face
244 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
and heavy eyes. She sometimes came into the kitchen all
wildered like, and looked as if she would fain beg assistance ;
but I was not going to disobey the master : I never dare disobey
him, Mrs Dean ; and , though I thought it wrong that Kenneth
should not be sent for, it was no concern of mine either to
advise or complain, and I always refused to meddle. Once or
twice , after we had gone to bed, I've happened to open my
door again and seen her sitting crying on the stairs' top ; and
then I've shut myself in quick, for fear of being moved to
interfere. I did pity her then, I'm sure : still I didn't wish
to lose my place , you know.
" At last, one night she came boldly into my chamber, and
frightened me out of my wits, by saying,-
" Tell Mr Heathcliff that his son is dying-I'm sure he is,
this time. Get up, instantly, and tell him.'
" Having uttered this speech, she vanished again. I lay
a quarter of an hour listening and trembling. Nothing
stirred-the house was quiet.
" She's mistaken, I said to myself. He's got over it. I
needn't disturb them ; and I began to doze. But my sleep
was marred a second time by a sharp ringing of the bell-
the only bell we have, put up on purpose for Linton ; and the
master called to me to see what was the matter, and inform
them that he wouldn't have that noise repeated .
" I delivered Catherine's message. He cursed to himself,
and in a few minutes came out with a lighted candle, and
proceeded to their room. I followed. Mrs Heathcliff was
seated by the bedside, with her hands folded on her knees.
Her father-in-law went up, held the light to Linton's face,
looked at him, and touched him ; afterwards he turned to her.
" Now- Catherine ,' he said, ' how do you feel ?'
" She was dumb.
" How do you feel , Catherine ? ' he repeated.
" He's safe, and I'm free,' she answered : ' I should feel
well- but,' she continued, with a bitterness she couldn't
conceal, ' you have left me so long to struggle against death
alone, that I feel and see only death ! I feel like death ! '
" And she looked like it, too ! I gave her a little wine.
Hareton and Joseph, who had been wakened by the ringing
and the sound of feet, and heard our talk from outside, now
entered. Joseph was fain, I believe, of the lad's removal ;
Hareton seemed a thought bothered : though he was more
taken up with staring at Catherine than thinking of Linton.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 245
But the master bid him get off to bed again : we didn't
want his help. He afterwards made Joseph remove the body
to his chamber, and told me to return to mine, and Mrs
Heathcliff remained by herself.
" In the morning, he sent me to tell her she must come
down to breakfast : she had undressed, and appeared going
to sleep, and said she was ill ; at which I hardly wondered. I
nformed Mr Heathcliff, and he replied,—
666
Well, let her be till after the funeral ; and go up now
and then to get her what is needful ; and , as soon as she seems
better, tell me. "
Cathy stayed up-stairs a fortnight , according to Zillah ; who
visited her twice a day, and would have been rather more
friendly, but her attempts at increasing kindness were proudly
and promptly repelled.
Heathcliff went up once, to show her Linton's will. He
had bequeathed the whole of his , and what had been her,
moveable property to his father : the poor creature was
threatened, or coaxed, into that act during her week's absence,
when his uncle died. The lands , being a minor, he could not
meddle with . However, Mr Heathcliff has claimed and kept
them in his wife's right and his also : I suppose legally : at
any rate, Catherine, destitute of cash and friends, cannot
disturb his possession .
"Nobody," said Zillah, " ever approached her door, except
that once, but I ; and nobody asked anything about her.
The first occasion of her coming down into the house was on
a Sunday afternoon . She had cried out, when I carried up
her dinner, that she couldn't bear any longer being in the
cold ; and I told her the master was going to Thrushcross
Grange, and Earnshaw and I needn't hinder her from descend-
ing ; so, as soon as she heard Heathcliff's horse trot off, she
made her appearance, donned in black, and her yellow curls
combed back behind her ears as plain as a quaker : she couldn't
comb them out.
Joseph and I generally go to chapel on Sundays : " the
kirk, you know, has no minister now, explained Mrs Dean ;
and they call the Methodists' or Baptists' place (I can't say
which it is) , at Gimmerton, a chapel. 66 Joseph had gone,"
she continued, " but I thought proper to bide at home. Young
folks are always the better for an elder's over-looking ; and
Hareton, with all his bashfulness, isn't a model of nice
behaviour. I let him know that his cousin would very likely
246 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
sit with us, and she had been always used to see the Sabbath
respected ; so he had as good leave his guns and bits of in-
door work alone , while she stayed . He coloured up at the
news , and cast his eyes over his hands and clothes . The
train-oil and gunpowder were shoved out of sight in a minute.
I saw he meant to give her his company ; and I guessed , by
his way, he wanted to be presentable ; so, laughing, as I durst
not laugh when the master is by, I offered to help him , if
he would , and joked at his confusion . He grew sullen , and
began to swear .
"Now, Mrs Dean," Zillah went on, seeing me not pleased
by her manner, " you happen think your young lady too fine
for Mr Hareton ; and happen you're right : but I own I
should love well to bring her pride a peg lower. And what
will all her learning and her daintiness do for her, now ?
She's as poor as you or I : poorer, I'll be bound : you're
saving, and I'm doing my little all that road."
Hareton allowed Zillah to give him her aid ; and she flattered
him into a good-humour ; so , when Catherine came, half for-
getting her former insults , he tried to make himself agreeable,
by the housekeeper's account.
" Missis walked in," she said, 66 as chill as an icicle, and as
high as a princess. I got up and offered her my seat in the
arm -chair. No, she turned up her nose at my civility. Earn-
shaw rose, too, and bid her come to the settle, and sit close by
the fire he was sure she was starved.
" I've been starved a month and more,' she answered,
resting on the word as scornful as she could.
" And she got a chair for herself, and placed it at a distance
from both of us. Having sat till she was warm, she began to
look round, and discovered a number of books in the dresser ;
she was instantly upon her feet again , stretching to reach
them but they were too high up. Her cousin, after watch-
ing her endeavours a while, at last summoned courage to help
her ; she held her frock, and he filled it with the first that
came to hand.
" That was a great advance for the lad. She didn't thank
him ; still, he felt gratified that she had accepted his assist-
ance, and ventured to stand behind as she examined them ,
and even to stoop and point out what struck his fancy in
certain old pictures which they contained ; nor was he daunted
by the saucy style in which she jerked the page from his
finger he contented himself with going a bit farther back,
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 247
CHAPTER XXXI.
sill, with half a yawn and half a sigh, and lapsed into an
aspect of abstracted sadness : neither caring nor knowing
whether we remarked her.
" Mrs. Heathcliff," I said, after sitting some time mute,
you are not aware that I am an acquaintance of yours ? so
intimate that I think it strange you won't come and speak to
me. My housekeeper never wearies of talking about and
praising you ; and she'll be greatly disappointed if I return
with no news of or from you, except that you received her
letter and said nothing !"
She appeared to wonder at this speech and asked ,—
" Does Ellen like you ? "
" Yes, very well," I replied hesitatingly.
"You must tell her," she continued , " that I would answer
her letter, but I have no materials for writing : not even a
book from which I might tear a leaf. "
" No books ! " I exclaimed. " How do you contrive to live
here without them ? if I may take the liberty to inquire.
Though provided with a large library, I'm frequently very
dull at the Grange ; take my books away, and I should be
desperate ! "
" I was always reading, when I had them," said Catherine ;
"and Mr. Heathcliff never reads ; so he took it into his head
to destroy my books. I have not had a glimpse of one for
weeks. Only once, I searched through Joseph's store of
theology, to his great irritation ; and once, Hareton , I came
upon a secret stock in your room-some Latin and Greek,
and some tales and poetry : all old friends. I brought the
last here and you gathered them, as a magpie gathers silver
spoons, for the mere love of stealing ! They are of no use to
you ; or else you concealed them in the bad spirit that as you
cannot enjoy them nobody else shall. Perhaps your envy
counselled Mr. Heathcliff to rob me of my treasures ? But
I've most of them written on my brain and printed in my
heart, and you cannot deprive me of those ! "
Earnshaw blushed crimson when his cousin made this
revelation of his private literary accumulations, and stam-
mered an indignant denial of her accusations.
" Mr. Hareton is desirous of increasing his amount of
knowledge," I said, coming to his rescue. " He is not envious
but emulous of your attainments. He'll be a clever scholar
in a few years ."
" And he wants me to sink into a dunce, meantime,"
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 251
her saucy tongue. The little wretch had done her utmost to
hurt her cousin's sensitive though uncultivated feelings, and a
physical argument was the only mode he had of balancing
the account, and repaying its effects on the inflictor. He
afterwards gathered the books and hurled them on the fire.
I read in his countenance what anguish it was to offer that
sacrifice to spleen . I fancied that as they consumed, he
recalled the pleasure they had already imparted , and the
triumph and ever-increasing pleasure he had anticipated from
them ; and I fancied I guessed the incitement to his secret
studies also . He had been content with daily labour and
rough animal enjoyments, till Catherine crossed his path.
Shame at her scorn , and hope of her approval, were his first
prompters to higher pursuits ; and, instead of guarding him
from one and winning him to the other, his endeavours to
raise himself had produced just the contrary result.
" Yes ; that's all the good that such a brute as you can get
from them ! " cried Catherine, sucking her damaged lip, and
watching the conflagration with indignant eyes.
" You'd better hold your tongue, now," he answered,
fiercely.
And his agitation precluded further speech ; he advanced
hastily to the entrance, where I made way for him to pass.
But ere he had crossed the door- stones, Mr Heathcliff, coming
up the causeway encountered him, and laying hold of his
shoulder asked,-
"What's to do now, my lad ? "
"Naught, naught," he said , and broke away to enjoy his
grief and anger in solitude.
Heathcliff gazed after him, and sighed.
" It will be odd if I thwart myself," he muttered, un-
conscious that I was behind him. " But when I look for his
father in his face , I find her every day more ! How the devil
is he so like ? I can hardly bear to see him."
He bent his eyes to the ground, and walked moodily in.
There was a restless , anxious expression in his countenance I
had never remarked there before ; and he looked sparer in
person. His daughter-in-law, on perceiving him through the
window, immediately escaped to the kitchen, so that I remained
alone.
" I'm glad to see you out of doors again, Mr Lockwood ,"
he said, in reply to my greeting ; " from selfish motives
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 253
CHAPTER XXXII.
the kitchen also, when the master wanted to have the house
to himself ; and though in the beginning she either left it at
his approach, or quietly joined in my occupations, and
shunned remarking or addressing him—and though he was
always as sullen and silent as possible-after a while, she
changed her behaviour, and became incapable of letting him
alone : talking at him ; commenting on his stupidity and idle-
ness ; expressing her wonder how he could endure the life he
lived-how he could sit a whole evening staring into the fire,
and dozing.
" He's just like a dog, is he not, Ellen ? " she once observed,
" or a cart-horse ? He does his work, eats his food, and
sleeps eternally ! What a blank, dreary mind he must have !
Do you ever dream , Hareton ? And, if you do, what is it
about ? But you can't speak to me ! "
Then she looked at him ; but he would neither open his
mouth nor look again.
" He's, perhaps, dreaming now," she continued. " He
twitched his shoulder as Juno twitches hers. Ask him ,
Ellen."
" Mr Hareton will ask the master to send you up-stairs, if
you don't behave ! " I said . He had not only twitched his
shoulder but clenched his fist, as if tempted to use it.
" I know why Hareton never speaks, when I am in the
kitchen," she exclaimed, on another occasion. " He is afraid
I shall laugh at him. Ellen, what do you think. He
begar to teach himself to read once ; and, because I laughed,
he burned his books, and dropped it : was he not a fool ? "
"Were not you naughty ? " I said ; 66 answer me that."
" Perhaps I was," she went on ; " but I did not expect him
to be so silly. Hareton, if I gave you a book , would you take
it now ? I'll try ! "
She placed one she had been perusing on his hand ; he flung
it off, and muttered, if she did not give over, he would break
her neck.
" Well, I shall put it here," she said , " in the table drawer ;
and I'm going to bed."
Then she whispered me to watch whether he touched it,
and departed. But he would not come near it ; and so I
informed her in the morning, to her great disappointment.
I saw she was sorry for his persevering sulkiness and indo-
lence : her conscience reproved her for frightening him off
improving himself : she had done it effectually. But her
260 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
yoak, and ye will-I noan used to 't, and an old man doesn't
sooin get used to new barthens. I'd rayther arn my bite an'
my sup wi' a hammer in th' road ! "
" Now, now, idiot ! " interrupted Heathcliff, " cut it short !
What's your grievance ? I'll interfere in no quarrels
between you and Nelly. She may thrust you into the
coal-hole for anything I care."
" It's noan Nelly !" answered Joseph . " I sudn't shift for
Nelly-nasty ill nowt as shoo is. Thank God ! shoo cannot
stale t' sowl o' nob'dy ! Shoo wer niver soa handsome, but
what a body mud look at her 'bout winking. It's yon flay-
some, graceless quean, that's witched our lad, wi' her bold
een and her forrard ways- till- Nay ! it fair brusts my heart!
He's forgotten all I've done for him, and made on him, and
goan and riven up a whole row o' t' grandest currant trees, i'
t' garden ! " and here he lamented outright ; unmanned by a
sense of his bitter injuries, and Earnshaw's ingratitude and
dangerous condition.
" Is the fool drunk ? " asked Mr Heathcliff. " Hareton, is
it you he 's finding fault with ? "
" I've pulled up two or three bushes," replied the young
man ; " but I'm going to set ' em again."
" And why have you pulled them up ? " said the master.
Catherine wisely put in her tongue.
"We wanted to plant some flowers there," she cried .
"I'm the only person to blame, for I wished him to do it."
" And who the devil gave you leave to touch a stick about
the place ? " demanded her father-in-law, much surprised.
"And who ordered you to obey her ! " he added, turning to
Hareton.
The latter was speechless ; his cousin replied—
" You shouldn't grudge a few yards of earth for me to
ornament, when you have taken all my land !"
" Your land, insolent slut ! You never had any," said
Heathcliff.
" And my money," she continued ; returning his angry
glare, and meantime biting a piece of crust, the remnant of
her breakfast.
" Silence ! " he exclaimed. " Get done, and begone ! "
" And Hareton's land , and his money," pursued the reck-
less thing. " Hareton and I are friends now ; and I shall
tell him all about you ! "
The master seemed confounded a moment : he grew pale,
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 267
ard rose up, eyeing her all the while, with an expression of
mortal hate.
66 If you strike me, Hareton will strike you," she said ;
แ so you may as well sit down."
"If Hareton does not turn you out of the room , I'll strike
him to hell," thundered Heathcliff. " Damnable witch ! dare
you pretend to rouse him against me ? Off with her ! Do
you hear ? Fling her into the kitchen ! I'll kill her, Ellen
Dean, if you let her come into my sight again ! "
Hareton tried, under his breath , to persuade her to go.
" Drag her away ! " he cried, savagely. " Are you staying
to talk ? " And he approached to execute his own command.
" He'll not obey you, wicked man, any more,” said Cathe-
rine ; "and he'll soon detest you as much as I do."
"Wisht ! wisht ! " muttered the young man, reproachfully.
" I will not hear you speak so to him. Have done."
"But you won't let him strike me ? " she cried.
" Come, then," he whispered, earnestly.
It was too late : Heathcliff had caught hold of her.
"Now, you go ! " he said to Earnshaw. " Accursed witch !
this time she has provoked me when I could not bear it ; and
I'll make her repent it for ever ! "
He had his hand in her hair ; Hareton attempted to release
her locks, entreating him not to hurt her that once. Heath-
cliff's black eyes flashed ; he seemed ready to tear Catherine
in pieces, and I was just worked up to risk coming to the
rescue, when of a sudden his fingers relaxed ; he shifted his
grasp from her head to her arm, and gazed intently in her
face. Then he drew his hand over her eyes, stood a moment
to collect himself apparently, and turning anew to Catherine,
said, with assumed calmness-" You must learn to avoid
putting me in a passion, or I shall really murder you some
time ! Go with Mrs Dean, and keep with her ; and confine
your insolence to her ears. As to Hareton Earnshaw, if I
see him listen to you , I'll send him seeking his bread where
he can get it ! Your love will make him an outcast and a
beggar. Nelly, take her ; and leave me, all of you ! Leave
me !"
I led my young lady out : she was too glad of her escape
to resist ; the other followed, and Mr Heathcliff had the room
to himself till dinner. I had counselled Catherine to dine
up-stairs ; but, as soon as he perceived her vacant seat, he
sent me to call her. He spoke to none of us, ate very little,
268 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
" Your dinner is here," I returned ; " why won't you get
it ? "
" I don't want it now," he muttered, hastily : " I'll wait till
supper. And, Nelly, once for all, let me beg you to warn
Hareton and the other away from me. I wish to be troubled
by nobody : I wish to have this place to myself."
" Is there some new reason for this banishment? " I inquired.
" Tell me why you are so queer, Mr Heathcliff? Where were
you last night ? I'm not putting the question through idle
curiosity, but-
"You are putting the question through very idle curiosity,"
he interrupted, with a laugh. " Yet I'll answer it. Last
night I was on the threshold of hell. To-day, I am within
sight of my heaven. I have my eyes on it : hardly three feet
to sever me ! And now you'd better go ! You'll neither
see nor hear anything to frighten you, if you refrain from
prying."
Having swept the hearth and wiped the table, I departed ;
more perplexed than ever.
He did not quit the house again that afternoon, and no one
intruded on his solitude ; till , at eight o'clock, I deemed it
proper, though unsummoned , to carry a candle and his supper
to him. He was leaning against the ledge of an open lattice,
but not looking out : his face was turned to the interior gloom .
The fire had smouldered to ashes ; the room was filled with
the damp, mild air of the cloudy evening ; and so still , that
not only the murmur of the beck down Gimmerton was dis-
tinguishable, but its ripples and its gurgling over the pebbles ,
or through the large stones which it could not cover. I uttered
an ejaculation of discontent at seeing the dismal grate, and
commenced shutting the casements, one after another, till I
came to his.
" Must I close this ? " I asked, in order to rouse him ; for he
would not stir.
The light flashed on his features as I spoke. Oh, Mr Lock-
wood, I cannot express what a terrible start I got by the
momentary view ! Those deep black eyes ! That smile, and
ghastly paleness ! It appeared to me, not Mr Heathcliff, but
a goblin; and, in my terror, I let the candle bend towards the
wall, and it left me in darkness.
66
Yes, close it," he replied, in his familiar voice. " Ther
that is pure awkwardness ! Why did you hold the candl
horizontally ? Be quick, and bring another."
WUTHERING HEIGHTS . 275
and almost entirely through your own fault. The way you ' V
passed these three last days might knock up a Titan. D
take some food, and some repose. You need only look a
yourself in a glass to see how you require both. Your cheek:
are hollow, and your eyes bloodshot, like a person starving
with hunger and going blind with loss of sleep ."
"It is not my fault that I cannot eat or rest," he replied.
" I assure you it is through no settled designs. I'll do both,
as soon as I possibly can. But you might as well bid a man
struggling in the water rest within arm's length of the shore !
I must reach it first, and then I'll rest. Well, never mind Mr
Green : as to repenting of my injustices, I've done no
injustice, and I repent of nothing. I'm too happy ; and yet
I'm not happy enough. My soul's bliss kills my body, but
does not satisfy itself."
" Happy, master ? " I cried. Strange happiness ! If you
would hear me without being angry, I might offer some advice
that would make you happier."
" What is that ?" he asked . " Give it."
" You are aware, Mr Heathcliff," I said, " that from the
time you were thirteen years old, you have lived a selfish,
unchristian life ; and probably hardly had a Bible in your
hands during all that period. You must have forgotten the
contents of the book, and you may not have space to search it
now. Could it be hurtful to send for some one---- some
minister of any denomination, it does not matter which—to
explain it, and show you how very far you have erred from
its precepts ; and how unfit you will be for its heaven, unless
a change takes place before you die ?"
" I'm rather obliged than angry, Nelly," he said, " for you
remind me of the manner in which I desire to be buried. It
is to be carried to the churchyard in the evening. You and
Hareton may , if you please, accompany me : and mind, par-
ticularly, to notice that the sexton obeys my directions con-
cerning the two coffins ! No minister need come ; nor need
anything be said over me.—I tell you I have nearly attained
my heaven; and that of others is altogether unvalued and
uncoveted by me."
" And supposing you persevered in your obstinate fast, and
died by that means, and they refused to bury you in the pre-
cincts of the Kirk ? " I said, shocked at his godless indifference.
" How would you like it ?"
" They won't do that," he replied : " if they did, you must
!
WUTHERING HEIGHTS. 279
Idle tales, you'll say, and so say I. Yet that old man by the
kitchen fire affirms he has seen two on 'em, looking out of his
chamber window, on every rainy night since his death :-and
an odd thing happened to me about a month ago. I was
going to the Grange one evening-a dark evening, threatening
thunder-and, just at the turn of the Heights, I encountered
a little boy with a sheep and two lambs before him ; he was
crying terribly ; and I supposed the lambs were skittish , and
would not be guided.
" What is the matter, my little man ? " I asked .
" There's Heathcliff and a woman, yonder, under t' Nab,"
he blubbered, " un' I darnut pass 'em."
I saw nothing ; but neither the sheep nor he would go on ;
so I bid him take the road lower down. He probably raised
the phantoms from thinking, as he traversed the moors alone,
on the nonsense he had heard his parents and companions
repeat. Yet, still , I don't like being out in the dark now ;
and I don't like being left by myself in this grim house : I
cannot help it ; I shall be glad when they leave it, and shift
to the Grange.
" They are going to the Grange, then," I said.
" Yes," answered Mrs Dean, " as soon as they are married,
and that will be on New Year's day."
" And who will live here then ?"
"Why, Joseph will take care of the house, and, perhaps, a
lad to keep him company. They will live in the kitchen, and
the rest will be shut up."
" For the use of such ghosts as choose to inhabit it," I
observed.
" No, Mr Lockwood," said Nelly, shaking her head. " I
believe the dead are at peace : but it is not right to speak of
them with levity."
At that moment the garden gate swung to ; the ramblers
were returning.
" They are afraid of nothing," I grumbled, watching their
approach through the window. "Together, they would
brave Satan and all his legions."
As they stepped on to the door-stones, and halted to take
a last look at the moon-or, more correctly, at each other by
her light-I felt irresistibly impelled to escape them again ;
and, pressing a remembrance into the hand of Mrs Dean , and
disregarding her expostulations at my rudeness, I vanished
through the kitchen as they opened the house-door : and so
282 WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
BY ACTON BELL.
AGNES GREY .
CHAPTER I.
THE PARSONAGE.
" Only think," said Mary, " what would you do in a house
full of strangers, without me or mamma to speak and act for
you-with a parcel of children, besides yourself, to attend to ;
and no one to look to for advice ? You would not even know
what clothes to put on."
"You think, because I always do as you bid me, I have no
judgment of my own : but only try me that is all I ask-and
you shall see what I can do."
At that moment my father entered, and the subject of our
discussion was explained to him.
"What, my little Agnes, a governess ! " cried he, and, in
spite of his dejection, he laughed at the idea.
" Yes, papa, don't you say anything against it : I should like
it so much ; and I am sure I could manage delightfully."
" But, my darling, we could not spare you." And a tear
glistened in his eye as he added-" No, no ! afflicted as we
are, surely we are not brought to that pass yet."
Oh, no ! " said my mother. " There is no necessity
whatever for such a step ; it is merely a whim of her own.
So you must hold your tongue, you naughty girl ; for, though
you are so ready to leave us, you know very well we cannot
part with you."
I was silenced for that day, and for many succeeding ones ;
but still I did not wholly relinquish my darling scheme.
Mary got her drawing materials, and steadily set to work. I
got mine too ; but while I drew, I thought of other things.
How delightful it would be to be a governess ! To go out
into the world ; to enter upon a new life ; to act for myself; to
exercise my unused faculties ; to try my unknown powers ; to
earn my own maintenance, and something to comfort and help
my father, mother, and sister, besides exonerating them from
the provision of my food and clothing ; to show papa what his
little Agnes could do ; to convince mamma and Mary that I
was not quite the helpless, thoughtless being they supposed.
And then, how charming to be entrusted with the care and
education of children ! Whatever others said, I felt I was
fully competent to the task : the clear remembrance of my own
thoughts in early childhood would be a surer guide than the
instructions of the most mature adviser. I had but to turn
from my little pupils to myself at their age, and I should
know, at once, how to win their confidence and affections :
how to waken the contrition of the erring ; how to embolden
the timid, and console the afflicted ; how to make Virtue
AGNES GREY. 293
CHAPTER II.
very gentle slope, which was rarely the case in those rugged
regions ; so that it was nearly one o'clock before we reached
the place of our destination. Yet, after all , when we entered
the lofty iron gateway, when we drove softly up the smooth,
well-rolled carriage road, with the green lawn on each side,
studded with young trees, and approached the new but
stately mansion of Wellwood , rising above its mushroom
poplar-groves, my heart failed me, and I wished it were a mile
or two farther off. For the first time in my life, I must stand
alone : there was no retreating now. I must enter that house,
and introduce myself among its strange inhabitants. But
how was it to be done ? True, I was near nineteen ; but,
thanks to my retired life and the protecting care of my mother
and sister, I well knew that many a girl of fifteen, or under,
was gifted with a more womanly address, and greater ease and
self-possession, than I was. Yet, if Mrs Bloomfield were a
kind, motherly woman, I might do very well, after all ; and
the children, of course, I should soon be at ease with them—
and Mr Bloomfield , I hoped, I should have but little to do
with.
" Be calm, be calm, whatever happens," I said within
myself ; and truly I kept this resolution so well, and was so
fully occupied in steadying my nerves and stilling the rebel-
lious flutter of my heart, that when I was admitted into the
hall, and ushered into the presence of Mrs Bloomfield, I
almost forgot to answer her polite salutation ; and it after-
wards struck me, that the little I did say was spoken in the
tone of one half-dead or half-asleep. The lady, too, was
somewhat chilly in her manner, as I discovered when I had
time to reflect. She was a tall, spare, stately woman, with
thick black hair, cold grey eyes, and extremely sallow com-
plexion.
With due politeness, however, she showed me my bedroom,
and left me there to take a little refreshment. I was somewhat
dismayed at my appearance on looking in the glass : the cold
wind had swelled and reddened my hands, uncurled and
entangled my hair, and dyed my face of a pale purple ; add
to this my collar was horridly crumpled, my frock splashed
with mud, my feet clad in stout new boots , and as the trunks
were not brought up, there was no remedy ; so having
smoothed my hair as well as I could , and repeatedly twitched
my obdurate collar, I proceeded to clomp down the two flights
of stairs, philosophising as I went ; and with some difficulty
AGNES GREY: 297
and dressing, and take charge of her clothes, she need have
nothing further to do with the nursery-maid."
I replied I was quite willing to do so ; and at that moment
my young pupils entered the apartment, with their two
younger sisters. Master Tom Bloomfield was a well-grown
boy of seven, with a somewhat wiry frame, flaxen hair, blue
eyes, small turned up nose, and fair complexion. Mary Ann
was a tall girl too , somewhat dark like her mother, but with
a round full face and a high colour in her cheeks. The
second sister was Fanny, a very pretty little girl ; Mrs
Bloomfield assured me she was a remarkably gentle child,
and required encouragement : she had not learned anything
yet ; but in a few days, she would be four years old, and then
she might take her first lesson in the alphabet, and be pro-
moted to the schoolroom. The remaining one was Harriet, a
little broad, fat, merry, playful thing of scarcely two, that
I coveted more than all the rest- but with her I had nothing
to do.
I talked to my little pupils as well as I could , and tried to
render myself agreeable ; but with little success I fear, for
their mother's presence kept me under an unpleasant restraint.
They, however, were remarkably free from shyness. They
seemed bold, lively children, and I hoped I should soon be on
friendly terms with them-the little boy especially, of whom
I had heard such a favourable character from his mamma.
In Mary Ann there was a certain affected simper, and a
craving for notice, that I was sorry to observe. But her
brother claimed all my attention to himself ; he stood bolt
upright between me and the fire, with his hands behind his
back, talking away like an orator, occasionally interrupting
his discourse with a sharp reproof to his sisters when they
made too much noise.
" O Tom, what a darling you are ! " exclaimed his mother.
"Come and kiss dear mamma ; and then won't you show Miss
Grey your schoolroom, and your nice new books ?"
"I won't kiss you, mamma ; but I will show Miss Grey my
schoolroom, and my new books."
" And my schoolroom, and my new books, Tom," said Mary
Ann. " They're mine too."
" They're mine," replied he decisively. " Come along, Miss
Grey-I'll escort you."
When the room and books had been shown, with some
bickerings between the brother and sister that I did my
AGNES GREY. 299
CHAPTER III.
" They must have cut it wrong in the kitchen, then, for
I'm sure I carved it quite properly here, yesterday."
"No doubt they cut it wrong in the kitchen-the savages !
Dear-dear ! Did ever any one see such a fine piece of beef
so completely ruined ? But remember that, in future , when a
decent dish leaves this table, they shall not touch it in the
kitchen. Remember that, Mrs Bloomfield ! "
Notwithstanding the ruinous state of the beef, the gentle-
man managed to cut himself some delicate slices , part of
which he ate in silence. When he next spoke, it was, in a
less querulous tone, to ask what there was for dinner.
" Turkey and grouse," was the concise reply.
" And what besides?"
" Fish."
" What kind of fish ?"
" I don't know."
"You don't know ? " cried he, looking solemnly up from his
plate, and suspending his knife and fork in astonishment.
" No. I told the cook to get some fish-I did not parti-
cularize what."
"Well, that beats everything ! A lady professes to keep
house, and doesn't even know what fish is for dinner ! pro-
fesses to order fish, and doesn't specify what! "
" Perhaps, Mr Bloomfield, you will order dinner yourself in
future."
Nothing more was said ; and I was very glad to get out of
the room with my pupils ; for I never felt so ashamed and
uncomfortable in my life for anything that was not my own
fault.
In the afternoon we applied to lessons again : then went out
again ; then had tea in the schoolroom ; then I dressed Mary
Ann for dessert ; and when she and her brother had gone
down to the dining-room, I took the opportunity of beginning
a letter to my dear friends at home : but the children came up
before I had half completed it. At seven I had to put Mary
Ann to bed ; then I played with Tom till eight, when he, too,
went ; and I finished my letter and unpacked my clothes,
which I had hitherto found no opportunity for doing, and,
finally, went to bed myself.
But this is a very favourable specimen of a day's pro-
ceedings.
My task of instruction and surveillance, instead of becoming
easier as my charges and I got better accustomed to each
AGNES GREY. 305
CHAPTER IV.
young people were at meals, and find them spilling their milk
over the table and themselves, plunging their fingers into their
own or each other's mugs, or quarrelling over their victuals
like a set of tiger's cubs. If I were quiet at the moment, I
was conniving at their disorderly conduct ; if (as was frequently
the case) I happened to be exalting my voice to enforce order,
I was using undue violence , and setting the girls a bad example
by such ungentleness of tone and language.
I remember one afternoon in spring when, owing to the
rain, they could not go out ; but, by some amazing good for-
tune, they had all finished their lessons, and yet abstained
from running down to tease their parents—a trick that annoyed
me greatly, but which , on rainy days, I seldom could prevent
their doing ; because, below, they found novelty and amuse-
ment-especially when visitors were in the house ; and their
mother, though she bid me keep them in the schoolroom,
would never chide them for leaving it, or trouble herself to
send them back. But this day they appeared satisfied with
their present abode, and what is more wonderful still, seemed
disposed to play together without depending on me for amuse-
ment, and without quarreling with each other. Their occu-
pation was a somewhat puzzling one : they were all squatted
together on the floor by the window, over a heap of broken
toys and a quantity of birds ' eggs-or rather eggshells, for
the contents had luckily been abstracted. These shells
they had broken up and were pounding into small fragments ,
to what end I could not imagine ; but so long as they were
quiet and not in positive mischief, I did not care ; and, with
a feeling of unusual repose, I sat by the fire, putting the
finishing stitches to a frock for Mary Ann's doll ; intending ,
when that was done, to begin a letter to my mother. Sud-
denly, the door opened, and the dingy head of Mr Bloomfield
looked in.
" All very quiet here ! What are you doing ? 99 said he.
" No harm to-day, at least," thought I. But he was of a
different opinion. Advancing to the window, and seeing the
children's occupations, he testily exclaimed-" What in the
world are you about ? "
"We're grinding egg-shells, papa ! " cried Tom.
" How dare you make such a mess, you little devils ? Don't
you see what confounded work you ' re making of the carpet ? "
(the carpet was a plain, brown drugget). " Miss Grey, did
you know what they were doing ? "
818 AGNES GREY.
CHAPTER V.
THE UNCLE .
BESIDES the old lady, there was another relative of the family,
whose visits were a great annoyance to me—this was " Uncle
Robson," Mrs Bloomfield's brother ; a tall, self-sufficient fel-
low, with dark hair and sallow complexion like his sister, a
nose that seemed to disdain the earth, and little grey eyes,
frequently half- closed, with a mixture of real stupidity and
affected contempt of all surrounding objects. He was a thick-
set, strongly-built man, but he had found some means of com-
pressing his waist into a remarkably small compass ; and that,
together with the unnatural stiffness of his form, showed that
the lofty-minded, manly Mr Robson, the scorner of the female
820 AGNES GREY.
that all parents were not like Mr and Mrs Bloomfield, and I
was certain all children were not like theirs. The next
family must be different, and any change must be for the
better. I had been seasoned by adversity, and tutored by
experience, and I longed to redeem my lost honour in the
eyes of those whose opinion was more than that of all the
world to me.
CHAPTER VI.
children are not like theirs ; for I and Mary were not we
always did as you bid us, didn't we ? "
" Generally : but then, I did not spoil you ; and you were
not perfect angels after all : Mary had a fund of quiet obsti-
nacy, and you were somewhat faulty in regard to temper ; but
you were very good children on the whole."
" I know I was sulky sometimes, and I should have been
glad to see these children sulky sometimes too ; for then I
could have understood them : but they never were, for they
could not be offended , nor hurt, nor ashamed : they could not
be unhappy in any way, except when they were in a passion."
" Well, if they could not, it was not their fault : you can-
not expect stone to be as pliable as clay."
" No, but still it is very unpleasant to live with such unim-
pressible, incomprehensible creatures. You cannot love them ;
and if you could , your love would be utterly thrown away :
they could neither return it, nor value, nor understand it.
But, however, even if I should stumble on such a family
again, which is quite unlikely, I have all this experience to
begin with, and I should manage better another time ; and
the end and aim of this preamble is, let me try again."
" Well, my girl, you are not easily discouraged , I see : I
am glad of that. But, let me tell you, you are a good deal
paler and thinner than when you first left home ; and we can-
not have you undermining your health to hoard up money,
either for yourself or others."
" Mary tells me I am changed too ; and I don't much
wonder at it, for I was in a constant state of agitation and
anxiety all day long but next time I am determined to take
things coolly."
After some further discussion, my mother promised once
more to assist me, provided I would wait and be patient ; and
I left her to broach the matter to my father, when and how
she deemed it most advisable : never doubting her ability to
obtain his consent. Meantime, I searched , with great inte-
rest, the advertising columns of the newspapers, and wrote
answers to every "Wanted a Governess," that appeared at
all eligible ; but all my letters, as well as the replies, when I
got any, were dutifully shown to my mother ; and she, to my
chagrin, made me reject the situations one after another :
these were low people, these were too exacting in their
demands, and these too niggardly in their remuneration.
" Your talents are not such as every poor clergyman's
328 AGNES GREY.
daughter possesses, Agnes," she would say, " and you must
not throw them away. Remember, you promised to be
patient there is no need of hurry : you have plenty of time
before you, and may have many chances yet."
At length, she advised me to put an advertisement, myself,
in the paper, stating my qualifications, &c .
" Music, singing, drawing, French, Latin , and German,"
said she , 66 are no mean assemblage : many will be glad to
have so much in one instructor ; and this time, you shall try
your fortune in a somewhat higher family- in that of some
genuine, thorough-bred gentleman ; for such are far more
likely to treat you with proper respect and consideration ,
than those purse-proud tradespeople and arrogant upstarts.
I have known several among the higher ranks who treated
their governesses quite as one of the family ; though some,
I allow, are as insolent and exacting as any one else can be :
for there are bad and good in all classes."
The advertisement was quickly written and despatched .
Of the two parties who answered it, but one would consent
to give me fifty pounds, the sum my mother bade me name
as the salary I should require ; and here, I hesitated about
engaging myself, as I feared the children would be too old,
and their parents would require some one more showy, or
more experienced , if not more accomplished than I. But my
mother dissuaded me from declining it on that account : I
should do vastly well , she said, if I would only throw aside
my diffidence, and acquire a little more confidence in myself.
I was just to give a plain, true statement of my acquirements
and qualifications, and name what stipulations I chose to
make, and then await the result. The only stipulation I
ventured to propose, was that I might be allowed two months
holidays during the year to visit my friends, at Midsummer
and Christmas. The unknown lady, in her reply, made no
objection to this, and stated that, as to my acquirements, she
had no doubt I should be able to give satisfaction ; but in the
engagement of governesses, she considered those things as but
subordinate points ; as, being situated in the neighbourhood
of O she could get masters to supply any deficiencies
in that respect : but, in her opinion, next to unimpeachable
morality, a mild and cheerful temper and obliging disposition
were the most essential requisites.
My mother did not relish this at all, and now made many
objections to my accepting the situation ; in which my sister
AGNES GREY. 329
CHAPTER VII.
HORTON LODGE.
long fast on a cup of tea and a little thin bread and butter, I
sat down beside the small, smouldering fire, and amused
myself with a hearty fit of crying ; after which, I said my
prayers, and then, feeling considerably relieved , began to pre-
pare for bed. Finding that none of my luggage was brought
up, I instituted a search for the bell ; and failing to discover
any signs of such a convenience in any corner of the room, I
took my candle and ventured through the long passage, and
down the steep stairs, on a voyage of discovery. Meeting a
well-dressed female on the way, I told her what I wanted ; but
not without considerable hesitation, as I was not quite sure
whether it was one of the upper servants, or Mrs Murray
herself : it happened, however, to be the lady's-maid. With
the air of one conferring an unusual favour, she vouchsafed to
undertake the sending up of my things ; and when I had
re-entered my room, and waited and wondered a long time
(greatly fearing that she had forgotten or neglected to perform
her promise, and doubting whether to keep waiting or go to
bed, or go down again) my hopes, at length, were revived by
the sound of voices and laughter, accompanied by the tramp
of feet along the passage ; and presently the luggage was
brought in by a rough-looking maid and a man, neither of
them very respectful in their demeanour to me. Having shut
the door upon their retiring footsteps, and unpacked a few of
my things, I betook myself to rest ; gladly enough , for I was
weary in body and mind.
It was with a strange feeling of desolation, mingled with
a strong sense of the novelty of my situation, and a joyless
kind of curiosity concerning what was yet unknown, that I
awoke the next morning ; feeling like one whirled away by
enchantment, and suddenly dropped from the clouds into a
remote and unknown land, widely and completely isolated from
all he had ever seen or known before ; or like a thistle- seed
borne on the wind to some strange nook of uncongenial soil,
where it must lie long enough before it can take root and
germinate, extracting nourishment from what appears so alien
to its nature : if, indeed , it ever can. But this gives no proper
idea of my feelings at all ; and no one that has not lived such
a retired, stationary life as mine, can possibly imagine what
they were : hardly even if he has known what it is to awake
some morning, and find himself in Port Nelson, in New
Zealand, with a world of waters between himself and all that
knew him.
AGNES GREY. 333
if I sat where she does -such a nasty, horrid place, Miss Grey ;
I wonder how you can bear it ! "
I am obliged to bear it, since no choice is left me—I might
have answered ; but in tenderness for their feelings I only re-
plied-" Oh ! it is but a short way, and if I am not sick in
church, I don't mind it."
If I were called upon to give a description of the usual
divisions and arrangements of the day, I should find it a very
difficult matter. I had all my meals in the schoolroom with
my pupils , at such times as suited their fancy : sometimes
they would ring for dinner before it was half-cooked ; some-
times they would keep it waiting on the table for above an
hour, and then be out of humour because the potatoes were
cold, and the gravy covered with cakes of solid fat ; some-
times they would have tea at four ; frequently, they would
storm at the servants because it was not in precisely at five ;
and when these orders were obeyed, by way of encourage-
ment to punctuality, they would keep it on the table till seven
or eight.
Their hours of study were managed in much the same way;
my judgment or convenience was never once consulted . Some-
times Matilda and John would determine " to get all the
plaguy business over before breakfast," and send the maid to
call me up at half-past five , without any scruple or apology ;
sometimes, I was told to be ready precisely at six, and, having
dressed in a hurry, came down to an empty room, and after
waiting a long time in suspense, discovered that they had
changed their minds, and were still in bed ; or, perhaps, if it
were a fine summer morning, Brown would come to tell me
that the young ladies and gentlemen had taken a holiday, and
were gone out ; and then, I was kept waiting for breakfast
till I was almost ready to faint : they having fortified them-
selves with something before they went.
Often they would do their lessons in the open air ; which I
had nothing to say against : except that I frequently caught
cold by sitting on the damp grass, or from exposure to the
evening dew, or some insidious draught, which seemed to have
no injurious effect on them . It was quite right that they
should be hardy ; yet, surely, they might have been taught
some consideration for others who were less so. But I must
not blame them for what was, perhaps , my own fault ; for I
never made any particular objections to sitting where they
pleased ; foolishly choosing to risk the consequences, rather
342 AGNES GREY.
CHAPTER VIII .
note from any of them ; and I thought you were too much of
a lady yourself, Miss Murray, to talk about the ' vulgarity ' of
writing on a large sheet of paper."
66 Well, I only said it to tease you. But now I want to
talk about the ball ; and to tell you that you positively must
put off your holidays till it is over."
66
Why so ?—I shall not be present at the ball.”
66
No, but you will see the rooms decked out before it
begins, and hear the music, and, above all, see me in my
splendid new dress. I shall be so charming, you'll be ready
to worship me-you really must stay."
" I should like to see you very much ; but I shall have
many opportunities of seeing you equally charming, on the
occasion of some of the numberless balls and parties that are
to be, and I cannot disappoint my friends by postponing my
return so long."
“ Oh99, never mind your friends ! Tell them we won't let
you go. "
" But, to say the truth, it would be a disappointment to
myself : I long to see them as much as they to see me--
perhaps more.
"Well, but it is such a short time."
แ
Nearly a fortnight by my computation ; and, besides, I
cannot bear the thoughts of a Christmas spent from home :
and, moreover, my sister is going to be married."
" Is she when ? "
" Not till next month ; but I want to be there to assist her
in making preparations, and to make the best of her company
while we have her."
“ Why didn't you tell me before ? "
" I've only got the news in this letter, which you stigmatize
as dull and stupid, and won't let me read."
" To whom is she to be married ?
" To Mr Richardson , the vicar of a neighbouring parish. "
" Is he rich ? "
" No ; only comfortable."
" Is he handsome ? "
" No, only decent. "
" Young ? "
" No ; only middling."
“ O mercy ! what a wretch ! What sort of a house is it ? ”
" A quiet little vicarage, with an ivy-clad porch, an old-
fashioned garden , and-
AGNES GREY. 345
" Oh stop !--you'll make me sick. How can she bear it ? "
" I expect she 'll not only be able to bear it, but to be very
happy. You did not ask me if Mr Richardson were a good,
wise, or amiable man ; I could have answered Yes , to all these
questions at least so Mary thinks, and I hope she will not
find herself mistaken."
" But- miserable creature ! how can she think of spending
her life there, cooped up with that nasty old man ; and no
hope of change ? "
" He is not old : he's only six or seven and thirty ; and she
herself is twenty -eight, and as sober as if she were fifty."
" Oh ! that's better then-they're well matched : but do
they call him the ' worthy vicar' ? ”
" I don't know ; but if they do, I believe he merits the
epithet."
66
Mercy, how shocking ! and will she wear a white apron,
and make pies and puddings ? "
" I don't know about the white apron , but I dare say she
will make pies and puddings now and then ; but that will be
no great hardship, as she has done it before."
" And will she go about in a plain shawl, and a large
straw bonnet, carrying tracts and bone soup to her husband's
poor parishioners ?"
" I'm not clear about that ; but I dare say she will do her
best to make them comfortable in body and mind, in accord-
ance with our mother's example."
CHAPTER IX.
THE BALL .
" No, no, Rosalie ; you'll be such a damned long time over
it she shall hear me first--I'll be hanged if she doesn't ! "
" I'm sorry to hear, Miss Matilda , that you've not got rid
of that shocking habit yet."
Well, I can't help it : but I'll never say a wicked word
again, if you'll only listen to me, and tell Rosalie to hold her
confounded tongue ."
Rosalie remonstrated , and I thought I should have been torn
in pieces between them ; but Miss Matilda having the loudest
voice, her sister at length gave in, and suffered her to tell her
story first : so I was doomed to hear a long account of her
splendid mare, its breeding and pedigree, its paces, its action ,
its spirit, &c., and of her own amazing skill and courage in
riding it ; concluding with an assertion that she could clear a
five-barred gate " like winking," that papa said she might
hunt the next time the hounds met, and mamma had ordered
a bright scarlet hunting-habit for her.
“ Oh , Matilda ! what stories you are telling ! " exclaimed
her sister.
" Well," answered she, no whit abashed, " I know I could
clear a five-barred gate, if I tried , and papa will say I may
hunt, and mamma will order the habit when I ask it."
"Well, now get along," replied Miss Murray; " and do,
dear Matilda, try to be a little more lady-like. Miss Grey , I
wish you would tell her not to use such shocking words ; she
will call her horse a mare : it is so inconceivably shocking !
and then she uses such dreadful expressions in describing it :
she must have learned it from the grooms. It nearly puts me
into fits when she begins."
" I learned it from papa, you ass ! and his jolly friends,"
said the young lady, vigorously cracking a hunting-whip,
which she habitually carried in her hand. " I'm as good a
judge of horseflesh as the best of ' m."
"Well, now get along, you shocking girl ! I really shall
take a fit if you go on in such a way. And now, Miss Grey,
attend to me ; I'm going to tell you about the ball. You
must be dying to hear about it, I know. Oh, such a ball !
You never saw or heard , or read, or dreamt of anything like
it in all your life ! The decorations , the entertainment, the
supper, the music were indescribable ! and then the guests !
There were two noblemen, three baronets, and five titled
ladies, and other ladies and gentlemen innumerable. The
ladies, of course, were of no consequence to me, except to put
AGNES GREY. 347
CHAPTER X.
THE CHURCH.
" WELL, Miss Grey, what do you think of the new curate ? "
asked Miss Murray, on our return from church the Sunday
after the recommencement of our duties.
" I can scarcely tell," was my reply : " I have not even
heard him preach . "
" Well, but you saw him, didn't you ? "
" Yes, but I cannot pretend to judge of a man's character
by a single, cursory glance at his face."
" But isn't he ugly ? "
" He did not strike me as being particularly so ; I don't
dislike that cast of countenance : but the only thing I parti-
cularly noticed about him was his style of reading ; which
appeared to me good- infinitely better, at least, than Mr
Hatfield's. He read the Lessons as if he were bent on giving
full effect to every passage : it seemed as if the most careless
person could not have helped attending, nor the most ignorant
have failed to understand ; and the prayers he read as if he
were not reading at all, but praying earnestly and sincerely
from his own heart."
350 AGNES GREY.
แ Oh , ye , th
s at's all he is good for : he can plod through
the service well enough ; but he has not a single idea beyond
it."
"How do you know ? "
" Oh ! I know perfectly well ; I am an excellent judge in
such matters. Did you see how he went out of church ?
stumping along-as if there were nobody there but himself—
never looking to the right hand or the left, and evidently
thinking of nothing but just getting out of the church, and,
perhaps, home to his dinner : his great stupid head could con-
tain no other idea."
" I suppose you would have had him cast a glance into the
squire's pew," said I, laughing at the vehemence of her
hostility.
" Indeed ! I should have been highly indignant if he had
dared to do such a thing ! " replied she, haughtily tossing her
head ; then , after a moment's reflection , she added—“ Well,
well ! I suppose he's good enough for his place : but I'm
glad I'm not dependent on him for amusement- that's all.
Did you see how Mr Hatfield hurried out to get a bow from
me, and be in time to put us into the carriage ? "
66
Yes," answered I ; internally adding, " and I thought it
somewhat derogatory to his dignity as a clergyman to come
flying from the pulpit in such eager haste to shake hands
with the squire, and hand his wife and daughters into their
carriage : and, moreover, I owe him a grudge for nearly shut-
ting me out of it ; " for , in fact, though I was standing before
his face , close beside the carriage steps, waiting to get in, he
would persist in putting them up and closing the door, till
one of the family stopped him by calling out that the gover
ness was not in yet ; then, without a word of apology , he
departed, wishing them good -morning, and leaving the foot-
man to finish the business.
Nota bene.- Mr Hatfield never spoke to me, neither did
Sir Hugh or Lady Meltham, nor Mr Harry or Miss Meltham,
nor Mr Green or his sisters, nor any other lady or gentleman
who frequented that church : nor, in fact, any one that visite !
at Horton Lodge.
Miss Murray ordered the carriage again, in the afternoon,
for herself and her sister she said it was too cold for them
to enjoy themselves in the garden : and besides, she believed
Harry Meltham would be at church . " For," said she, smiling
slily at her own fair image in the glass, " he has been a most
AGNES GREY. 351
23
354 AGNES GREY.
CHAPTER XI.
THE COTTAGERS.
and all this without meaning to offend. I could see that the
people were often hurt and annoyed by such conduct, though
their fear ofthe " grand ladies " prevented them from testifying
any resentment ; but they never perceived it. They thought
that, as these cottagers were poor and untaught, they must be
stupid and brutish ; and as long as they, their superiors , con-
descended to talk to them, and to give them shillings and half-
crowns, or articles of clothing , they had a right to amuse
themselves, even at their expense ; and the people must adore
them as angels of light, condescending to minister to their
necessities, and enlighten their humble dwellings.
I made many and various attempts to deliver my pupils
from these delusive notions without alarming their pride-
which was easily offended, and not soon appeased—but with
little apparent result ; and I know not which was the more
reprehensible of the two : Matilda was more rude and bois-
terous ; but from Rosalie's womanly age and lady- like exterior
better things were expected : yet she was as provokingly care-
less and inconsiderate as a giddy child of twelve.
One bright day in the last week of February, I was walking
in the park, enjoying the threefold luxury of solitude , a book,
and pleasant weather ; for Miss Matilda had set out on her
daily ride, and Miss Murray was gone in the carriage with her
mamma to pay some morning calls. But it struck me that I
ought to leave these selfish pleasures, and the park with its
glorious canopy of bright blue sky, the west wind sounding
through its yet leafless branches, the snow-wreaths still linger-
ing in its hollows, but melting fast beneath the sun, and the
graceful deer browsing on its moist herbage already assuming
the freshness and verdure of spring -and go to the cottage of
one Nancy Brown, a widow, whose son was at work all day in
the fields, and who was afflicted with an inflammation in the
eyes ; which had for some time incapacitated her from reading :
to her own great grief, for she was a woman of a serious,
thoughtful turn of mind. I accordingly went, and found her
alone, as usual, in her little, close, dark cottage, redolent of
smoke and confined air, but as tidy and clean as she could
make it. She was seated beside her little fire (consisting of a
few red cinders and a bit of stick), busily knitting, with a
small sackcloth cushion at her feet, placed for the accommo-
dation of her gentle friend the cat ; who was seated thereon
with her long tail half encircling her velvet paws, and her
half-closed eyes dreamily gazing on the low, crooked fender.
356 AGNES GREY.
for th' best, though he had a queer way with him. But you
know, miss, he's rich an' young, and such like cannot right
understand the thoughts of a poor old woman such as me.
But, howsever, I did my best to do all as he bade me— but
maybe I'm plaguing you, miss, wi' my chatter."
" Oh no, Nancy ! Go on, and tell me all. "
"Well, my rheumatiz got better-I know not whether wi'
going to church or not, but one frosty Sunday I got this cold
i' my eyes. Th' inflammation didn't come on all at once like ,
but bit by bit--but I wasn't going to tell you about my eyes,
I was talking about my trouble o' mind ; -and to tell the
truth, Miss Grey, I don't think it was anyways eased by
coming to church-nought to speak on, at least : I like got
my health better ; but that didn't mend my soul. I hearkened
and hearkened the ministers, and read an' read at my prayer-
book ; but it was all like sounding brass, and a tinkling
cymbal : the sermons I couldn't understand , an' th' prayer-
book only served to show me how wicked I was, that I could
read such good words an' never be no better for it, and oftens
feel it a sore labour an' a heavy task beside , instead of a
blessing and a privilege as all good Christians does. It seemed
like as all were barren an' dark to me. And then, them
dreadful words, ' Many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be
able.' They like as they fair dried up my sperrit.
" But one Sunday, when Maister Hatfield gave out about
the sacrament, I noticed where he said , ' If there be any of you
that cannot quiet his own conscience, but requireth further
comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or some other discreet
and learned minister of God's word , and open his grief !' So,
next Sunday morning, afore service, I just looked into the
vestry, an' began a talking to th' Rector again. I hardly could
fashion to take such a liberty, but I thought when my soul
was at stake I shouldn't stick at a trifle. But he said he hadn't
time to attend to me then.
" And, indeed,' says he, ' I've nothing to say to you but
what I've said before. Take the sacrament, of course, and go
on doing your duty ; and if that won't serve you, nothing will.
So don't bother me any more.'
" So then, I went away. But I heard Maister Weston-
Maister Weston was there, Miss -this was his first Sunday at
Horton, you know, an' he was i' th' vestry in his surplice,
helping th' Rector on with his gown."
"Yes, Nancy."
360 AGNES GREY.
" And I heard him ask Maister Hatfield who I was ; an' he
says, ' Oh, she's a canting old fool . '
" And I was very ill grieved , Miss Grey ; but I went to my
seat, and I tried to do my duty as aforetime : but I like got no
peace. An' I even took the sacrament ; but I felt as though I
were eating and drinking to my own damnation all th' time.
So I went home, sorely troubled .
" But next day, afore I'd gotten fettled up-for indeed,
Miss, I'd no heart to sweeping an' fettling, an' washing pots ;
so I sat me down i' th' muck-who should come in but Maister
Weston! I started siding stuff then, an' sweeping an' doing ;
and I expected he'd begin a calling me for my idle ways, as
Maister Hatfield would a' done ; but I was mista'en : he only
bid me good mornin' like, in a quiet dacent way. So I dusted
him a chair, an' fettled up th' fireplace a bit ; but I hadn't for-
gotten th' Rector's words, so says I , ' I wonder, sir,it you should
give yourself that trouble, to come so far to see a " canting old
fool," such as me.'
"He seemed taken aback at that ; but he would fain persuade
me ' at the Rector was only in jest ; and when that wouldn't do,
6
he says, Well, Nancy, you shouldn't think so much about it :
Mr Hatfield was a little out of humour just then : you know
we 're none of us perfect-even Moses spoke unadvisedly with
his lips. But now sit down a minute, if you can spare the
time, and tell me all your doubts and fears ; and I'll try to
remove them."
" So I sat me down anent him. He was quite a stranger,
you know, Miss Grey, and even younger nor Maister Hatfield ,
I believe ; an' I had thought him not so pleasant looking as
him, and rather a bit crossish , at first to look at ; but he spake
so civil like—and when th' cat, poor thing, jumped on to his
knee, he only stroked her, and gave a bit of a smile : so I
thought that was a good sign ; for once, when she did so to th'
Rector, he knocked her off, like as it might be in scorn and
anger, poor thing. But you can't expect a cat to know
manners like a Christian, you know, Miss Grey."
"No ; of course not, Nancy. But what did Mr Weston say
then ? "
" He said naught ; but he listened to me as steady an'
patient as could be, an' never a bit o' scorn about him ; so I
went on, an' telled him all, just as I've telled you-an' more
too.
" Well,' says he, ' Mr Hatfield was quite right in telling
AGNES GREY. 361
the good you can to those about you. And if you accustom
yourself to this, Nancy, the very effort itself will make you
love them in some degree-to say nothing of the goodwill
your kindness would beget in them , though they might have
little else that is good about them. If we love God and wish
to serve him, let us try to be like Him, to do His work, to
labour for His glory-which is the good of man—to hasten
the coming of His kingdom , which is the peace and happiness
of all the world : however powerless we may seem to be, in
doing all the good we can through life , the humblest of us
may do much towards it ; and let us dwell in love, that He
may dwell in us and we in Him. The more happiness we
bestow, the more we shall receive, even here ; and the greater
will be our reward in heaven when we rest from our labours.'
I believe, miss , them is his very words, for I've thought 'em I
ower many a time. An' then he took that Bible, an' read bits I
here and there, an' explained ' em as clear as the day : and it
seemed like as a new light broke in on my soul ; an' I felt
fair a glow about my heart, an' only wished poor Bill an' all
the world could ha' been there, an' heard it all, and rejoiced
wi' me.
" After he was gone, Hannah Rogers, one o' th' neighbours,
came in and wanted me to help her to wash. I telled her I
couldn't just then , for I hadn't set on th' potaties for th'
dinner, nor washed up th' breakfast stuff yet. So then she
began a calling me for my nasty idle ways. I was a little
bit vexed at first, but I never said nothing wrong to her : I
only telled her, like all in a quiet way, ' at I'd had th' new
parson to see me ; but I'd get done as quick as ever I could,
an' then come an' help her. So then she softened down ; and
my heart like as it warmed towards her, an' in a bit we was
very good friends. An' so it is, Miss Grey, ' a soft answer
turneth away wrath ; but grievous words stir up anger. It
isn't only in them you speak to, but in yourself."
66
Very true, Nancy, if we could always remember it."
" Ay, if we could !"
" And did Mr Weston ever come to see you again ? "
“ Yes, many a time ; and since my eyes has been so bad,
he's sat an' read to me by the half-hour together : but you
know, miss , he has other folks to see, and other things to do
-God bless him ! An' that next Sunday he preached such
a sermon ! His text was, 6 Come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,' and them two
AGNES GREY. 363
blessed verses that follows. You wasn't there, miss , you was
with your friends then-but it made me so happy ! And I
am happy now, thank God ! an' I take a pleasure, now, in
doing little bits o' jobs for my neighbours-such as a poor old
body 'a 'ts half blind can do ; and they take it kindly of me,
just as he said. You see, miss , I'm knitting a pair o' stockings
now ; they're for Thomas Jackson : he's a queerish old body,
an' we've had many a bout at threaping , one anent t'other ;
an' at times we've differed sorely. So I thought I couldn't do
better nor knit him a pair o' warm stockings ; an' I've felt to
like him a deal better, poor old man , sin' I began. It's turned
out66 just as Maister Weston said."
Well, I'm very glad to see you so happy, Nancy, and
so wise : but I must go now ; I shall be wanted at the Hall,"
said I ; and bidding her good-bye, I departed , promising to
come again when I had time, and feeling nearly as happy as
herself.
At another time, I went to read to a poor labourer who
was in the last stage of consumption. The young ladies had
been to see him, and somehow a promise of reading had been
extracted from them ; but it was too much trouble, so they
begged me to do it instead. I went, willingly enough ; and
there too I was gratified with the praises of Mr Weston, both
from the sick man and his wife. The former told me that he
derived great comfort and benefit from the visits of the new
parson, who frequently came to see him, and was " another
guess sort of man," to Mr Hatfield ; who before the other's
arrival at Horton had now and then paid him a visit ; on
which occasions he would always insist upon having the
cottage door kept open, to admit the fresh air for his own
convenience, without considering how it might injure the
sufferer; and having opened his Prayer book and hastily read
over a part of the Service for the sick, would hurry away
again if he did not stay to administer some harsh rebuke to
the afflicted wife , or to make some thoughtless , not to say
heartless, observation, rather calculated to increase than
diminish the troubles of the suffering pair.
"Whereas," said the man, " Maister Weston 'ull pray with
me quite in a different fashion, an' talk to me as kind as owt ;
an' oft read to me too, an' sit beside me just like a brother."
" Just for all the world ! " exclaimed his wife ; " an' about
a three wik sin', when he seed how poor Jem shivered wi'
cold, an' what pitiful fires we kept, he axed if wer stock of
364 AGNES GREY.
coals was nearly done. I telled him it was, an' we was ill
set to get more : but you know mum I didn't think o' him
helping us ; but howsever, he sent us a sack o' coals next
day ; an' we've had good fires ever sin : an' a great blessing
it is, this winter time. But that's his way, Miss Grey : when
he comes into a poor body's house a seein' sick folk, he like
notices what they most stand i' need on ; an' if he thinks
they can't readily get it therseln, he never says nowt about
it, but just gets it for 'em. An' it isn't everybody 'at ' ud do
that, 'at has as little as he has : for you know, mum , he's
now't at all to live on but what he gets fra' th' rector, an'
that's little enough they say."
I remembered then , with a species of exultation , that he
had frequently been styled a vulgar brute by the amiable
Miss Murray, because he wore a silver watch , and clothes not
quite so bright and fresh as Mr Hatfield's.
In returning to the lodge I felt very happy , and thanked
God that I had now something to think about ; something to
dwell on as a relief from the weary monotony, the lonely
drudgery, of my present life : for I was lonely. Never, from
month to month, from year to year, except during my brief
intervals of rest at home, did I see one creature to whom I
could open my heart, or freely speak my thoughts with any
hope of sympathy, or even comprehension : never one, unless
it were poor Nancy Brown, with whom I could enjoy a single
moment of real social intercourse, or whose conversation was
calculated to render me better, wiser, or happier than before ;
or who, as far as I could see, could be greatly benefited by
mine. My only companions had been unamiable children,
and ignorant, wrong-headed girls ; from whose fatiguing folly,
unbroken solitude was often a relief most earnestly desired
and dearly prized . But to be restricted to such associates
was a serious evil, both in its immediate effects and the conse-
quences that were likely to ensue. Never a new idea or
stirring thought came to me from without ; and such as rose
within me were, for the most part, miserably crushed at once,
or doomed to sicken and fade away, because they could not
see the light.
Habitual associates are known to exercise a great influence
over each other's minds and manners. Those whose actions
are for ever before our eyes, whose words are ever in our
ears, will naturally lead us, albeit against our will, slowly,
gradually, imperceptibly, perhaps , to act and speak as they
AGNES GREY. 365
do. I will not presume to say how far this irresistible power
of assimilation extends ; but if one civilized man were doomed
to pass a dozen years amid a race of intractable savages,
unless he had power to improve them, I greatly question
whether, at the close of that period, he would not have
become, at least, a barbarian himself. And I, as I could not
make my young companions better, feared exceedingly that
they would make me worse-would gradually bring my
feelings, habits, capacities, to the level of their own ; with-
out, however, imparting to me their light-heartedness and
cheerful vivacity.
Already, I seemed to feel my intellect deteriorating, my
heart petrifying, my soul contracting ; and I trembled lest
my very moral perceptions should become deadened, my
distinctions of right and wrong confounded, and all my better
faculties be sunk, at last, beneath the baneful influence of
such a mode of life. The gross vapours of earth were
gathering around me, and closing in upon my inward heaven ;
and thus it was that Mr Weston rose at length upon me,
appearing like the morning-star in my horizon, to save me
from the fear of utter darkness ; and I rejoiced that I had now
a subject for contemplation that was above me, not beneath.
I was glad to see that all the world was not made up of
Bloomfields, Murrays , Hatfields , Ashbys , &c .; and that human
excellence was not a mere dream of the imagination. When
we hear a little good and no harm of a person, it is easy and
pleasant to imagine more : in short, it is needless to analyze
all my thoughts ; but Sunday was now become a day of pecu-
liar delight to me (I was now almost broken- in to the back
corner in. the carriage) , for I liked to hear him— and I liked
to see him, too ; though I knew he was not handsome, or even
what is called agreeable, in outward aspect : but, certainly, he
was not ugly.
In stature he was a little, a very little, above the middle
size ; the outline of his face would be pronounced too square
for beauty, but to me it announced decision of character ; his
dark brown hair was not carefully curled , like Mr Hatfield's,
but simply brushed aside over a broad white forehead ; the
eyebrows, I suppose, were too projecting, but from under
those dark brows there gleamed an eye of singular power,
brown in colour, not large, and somewhat deepset, but
strikingly brilliant, and full of expression ; there was cha-
racter, too, in the mouth, something that bespoke a man of
366 AGNES GREY.
CHAPTER XII.
THE SHOWER.
THE next visit I paid to Nancy Brown was in the second week
in March : for, though I had many spare minutes during the
day, I seldom could look upon an hour as entirely my own;
since, where everything was left to the caprices of Miss
Matilda and her sister, there could be no order or regularity.
Whatever occupation I chose, when not actually busied about
hem or their concerns, I had , as it were , to keep my loins
girded, my shoes on my feet, and my staff in my hand ; for
not to be immediately forthcoming when called for, was
regarded as a grave and inexcusable offence : not only by my
pupils and their mother, but by the very servant, who came
in breathless haste to call me, exclaiming, " You're to go to
the schoolroom directly, mum-the young ladies is WAITING !! ”
Climax of horror ! actually waiting for their governess !!!
But this time I was pretty sure of an hour or two to my-
self ; for Matilda was preparing for a long ride, and Rosalie
was dressing for a dinner party at Lady Ashby's : so I took
the opportunity of repairing to the widow's cottage, where I
found her in some anxiety about her cat, which had been
absent all day. I comforted her with as many anecdotes of
that animal's roving propensities as I could recollect. " I'm
feared o' th' gamekeepers," said she, " that's all ' at I think on.
AGNES GREY. 367
24
E
1
370 AGNES GREY.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE PRIMROSES.
already started at the sight ; but they grew so high above me,
that I tried in vain to gather one or two, to dream over and
to carry with me : I could not reach them unless I climbed
the bank, which I was deterred from doing by hearing a
footstep at that moment behind me, and was, therefore, about
to turn away, when I was startled by the words, " Allow me
to gather them for you, Miss Grey," spoken in the grave, low
tones of a well-known voice. Immediately the flowers were
gathered, and in my hand. It was Mr Weston, of course—
who else would trouble himself to do so much for me ? "
I thanked him ; whether warmly or coldly, I cannot tell
but certain I am that I did not express half the gratitude I
felt. It was foolish, perhaps, to feel any gratitude at all ; but
it seemed to me, at that moment, as if this were a remarkable
instance of his good nature : an act of kindness which I could
not repay, but never should forget : so utterly unaccustomed
was I to receive such civilities, so little prepared to expect
them from any one within fifty miles of Horton Lodge. Yet
this did not prevent me from feeling a little uncomfortable in
his presence ; and I proceeded to follow my pupils at a much
quicker pace than before ; though, perhaps, if Mr Weston had
taken the hint and let me pass without another word, I might
have repented it an hour after : but he did not. A somewhat
rapid walk for me, was but an ordinary pace for him.
" Your young ladies have left you alone," said he.
" Yes, they are occupied with more agreeable company."
" Then don't trouble yourself to overtake them."
I slackened my pace ; but next moment regretted having
done so my companion did not speak ; and I had nothing
in the world to say, and feared he might be in the same predi-
cament. At length, however, he broke the pause by asking,
with a certain quiet abruptness peculiar to himself, if I liked
flowers.
" Yes ; very much," I answered : " wild flowers espe-
cially."
" I like wild flowers," said he ; " others I don't care about,
because I have no particular associations connected with them
-except one or two. What are your favourite flowers ?"
66
Primroses, blue-bells, and heath-blossoms."
" Not violets ?"
" No ; because, as you say, I have no particular associa-
tions connected with them ; for there are no sweet violets
among the hills and valleys round my home."
AGNES GREY. 373
leave of me, crossed the style, and traversed the path with his
usual firm , elastic tread , leaving me to ponder his words as I
continued my course alone. I had heard before that he had
lost his mother not many months before he came. She then
was the last and dearest of his early friends ; and he had no
home. I pitied him from my heart : I almost wept for sym-
pathy. And this, I thought, accounted for the shade of pre-
mature thoughtfulness that so frequently clouded his brow,
and obtained for him the reputation of a morose and sullen
disposition with the charitable Miss Murray and all her kin.
" But," thought I, " he is not so miserable as I should be
under such a deprivation : he leads an active life ; and a wide
field for useful exertion lies before him. He can make friends ;
and he can make a home too, if he pleases ; and, doubtless , he
will please some time. God grant the partner of that home
may be worthy of his choice , and make it a happy one- such
a home as he deserves to have ! And how delightful it would
be to " But no matter what I thought.
I began this book with the intention of concealing nothing ;
that those who liked might have the benefit of perusing a
fellow-creature's heart : but we have some thoughts that all
the angels in heaven are welcome to behold, but not our
brother-men- not even the best and kindest amongst them.
By this time the Greens had taken themselves to their own
abode, and the Murrays had turned down the private road,
whither I hastened to follow them. I found the two girls
warm in an animated discussion on the respective merits of
the two young officers ; but on seeing me Rosalie broke off in
the middle of a sentence to exclaim, with malicious glee—
" Oh, ho, Miss Grey ! you're come at last, are you ? No
wonder you lingered so long behind ; and no wonder you
always stand up so vigorously for Mr. Weston when I abuse
him. Ah, ha ! I see it all now ! "
" Now, come, Miss Murray, don't be foolish," said I, attempt-
ing a good-natured laugh ;29 " you know such nonsense can
make no impression on me.'
But she still went on talking such intolerable stuff-her
sister helping her with appropriate fiction coined for the occa-
sion-that I thought it necessary to say something in my
own justification.
"What folly all this is !" I exclaimed. " If Mr Weston's
road happened to be the same as mine for a few yards, and if
he chose to exchange a word or two in passing, what is there
AGNES GREY. 375
CHAPTER XIV.
THE RECTOR.
dear ! I can't tell you all about it now, for there's Matilda, I
see, in the park, and I must go and open my budget to her.
But, however, Hatfield was most uncommonly audacious ,
unspeakably complimentary, and unprecedentedly tender- tried
to be so, at least he didn't succeed very well in that, because
it's not his vein. I'll tell you all he said another time."
" But what did you say- I'm more interested in that ? "
" I'll tell you that, too, at some future period . I happened
to be in a very good humour just then ; but, though I was
complaisant and gracious enough, I took care not to compro-
mise myself in any possible way. But, however, the conceited
wretch chose to interpret my amiability of temper his own
way, and at length presumed upon my indulgence so far—
what do you think ?—he actually-made me an offer ! "
" And you ""
" I proudly drew myself up, and with the greatest coolness
expressed my astonishment at such an occurrence, and hoped
he had seen nothing in my conduct to justify his expectations.
You should have seen how his countenance fell ! He went
perfectly white in the face. I assured him that I esteemed
him and all that, but could not possibly accede to his pro-
posals ; and if I did , papa and mamma could never be brought
to give their consent."
" But if they could ,' said he, ' would yours be wanting ? '
" Certainly, Mr Hatfield,' I replied, with a cool decision
which quelled all hope at once. Oh, if you had seen how
dreadfully mortified he was- how crushed to the earth by his
disappointment ! really, I almost pitied him myself.
" One more desperate attempt, however, he made. After a
silence of considerable duration, during which he struggled to
be calm, and I to be grave-for I felt a strong propensity to
laugh- which would have ruined all- he said , with the ghost
of a smile-
" But tell me plainly, Miss Murray , if I had the wealth of
Sir Hugh Meltham, or the prospects of his eldest son , would
you still refuse me ? answer me truly, upon your honour.'
" Certainly,' said I. ' That would make no difference
whatever.'
" It was a great lie, but he looked so confident in his own
attractions still, that I determined not to leave him one stone
upon another. He looked me full in the face ; but I kept my
countenance so well that he could not imagine I was saying
anything more than the actual truth.
834 AGNES GREY.
your sister ; and she will tell your brothers when they come
home, and Brown immediately, if you do not tell her yourself;
and Brown will blazon it, or be the means of blazoning it
throughout the country. "
" No, indeed, she won't. We shall not tell her at all, unless
it be under the promise of the strictest secresy."
" But how can you expect her to keep her promises better
than her more enlightened mistress ? "
" Well, well, she shan't hear it then," said Miss Murray,
somewhat snappishly.
" But you will tell your mamma, of course," pursued I ;
" and she will tell your papa.”
" Of course, I shall tell mamma, that is the very thing that
pleases me so much. I shall now be able to convince her how
mistaken she was in her fears about me."
Oh, that's it, is it ? I was wondering what it was that
delighted you so much."
66 Yes ; and another thing is, that I've humbled Mr Hatfield
so charmingly ; and another-why, you must allow me some
share of female vanity : I don't pretend to be without that
most essential attribute of our sex-and if you had seen poor
Hatfield's intense eagerness in making his ardent declaration,
and his flattering proposal, and his agony of mind, that no
effort of pride could conceal, on being refused, you would have
allowed I had some cause to be gratified."
" The greater his agony, I should think, the less your cause
for gratification."
" Oh, nonsense ! " cried the young lady, shaking herself
with vexation. " You either can't understand me or you
won't. If I had not confidence in your magnanimity, I should
think you envied me. But you will, perhaps, comprehend
this cause of pleasure-which is as great as any- namely,
that I am delighted with myself for my prudence, my self-
command, my heartlessness, if you please. I was not a bit
taken by surprise, not a bit confused , or awkward, or foolish ;
I just acted and spoke as I ought to have done, and was
completely my own mistress throughout. And here was a
man, decidedly good-looking - Jane and Susan Green call
him bewitchingly handsome -I suppose they're two of the
ladies he pretends would be so glad to have him ; but,
however, he was certainly a very clever, witty, agreeable
companion- not what you call clever, but just enough to
make him entertaining ; and a man one needn't be ashamed
AGNES GREY. 387
CHAPTER XV.
THE WALK.
and I suspect you liked him after all. I hoped you would
have taken him for your beau, and left dear Harry to me."
"Humph ! my beau must be an Adonis indeed , Matilda,
the admired of all beholders, if I am to be contented with
him alone. I'm sorry to lose Hatfield , I confess ; but the first
decent man, or number of men, that come to supply his place,
will be more than welcome. It's Sunday to-morrow- I do
wonder how he 'll look, and whether he'll be able to go
through the service. Most likely he'll pretend he's got a cold
and make Mr. Weston do it all."
" Not he!" exclaimed Matilda, somewhat contemptuously.
" Fool as he is, he 's not so soft as that comes to."
Her sister was slightly offended ; but the event proved
Matilda was right : the disappointed lover performed his
pastoral duties as usual. Rosalie, indeed, affirmed he looked
very pale and dejected : he might be a little paler ; but the
difference, if any, was scarcely perceptible. As for his dejec-
tion , I certainly did not hear his laugh ringing from the
vestry as usual, nor his voice loud in hilarious discourse ;
though I did hear it uplifted in rating the sexton in a manner
that made the congregation stare ; and, in his transits to and
from the pulpit and the communion-table there was more of
solemn pomp, and less of that irreverent, self-confident, or
rather self-delighted imperiousness with which he usually
swept along that air that seemed to say, " You all reverence
and adore me, I know ; but if any one does not, I defy him to
the teeth ! " But the most remarkable change was, that he
never once suffered his eyes to wander in the direction of Mr
Murray's pew, and did not leave the church till we were gone.
Mr Hatfield had doubtless received a very severe blow;
but his pride impelled him to use every effort to conceal the
effects of it. He had been disappointed in his certain hope
of obtaining not only a beautiful, and , to him, highly attractive
wife, but one whose rank and fortune might give brilliance to
far inferior charms : he was likewise, no doubt, intensely
mortified by his repulse, and deeply offended at the conduct of
Miss Murray throughout. It would have given him no little.
consolation to have known how disappointed she was to find
him apparently so little moved , and to see that he was able
to refrain from casting a single glance at her throughout
both services ; though, she declared, it showed he was think-
ing of her all the time, or his eyes would have fallen upon
her, if it were only by chance ; but if they had so chanced to
AGNES GREY. 389
fall, she would have affirmed it was because they could not
resist the attraction. It might have pleased him too, in some
degree, to have seen how dull and dissatisfied she was through-
out that week (the greater part of it, at least) , for lack of her
usual source of excitement ; and how often she regretted
having " used him up so soon," like a child that, having
devoured its plum-cake too hastily, sits sucking its fingers,
and vainly lamenting its greediness.
At length I was called upon, one fine morning, to accom-
pany her in a walk to the village. Ostensibly she went to
get some shades of Berlin wool, at a tolerably respectable
shop that was chiefly supported by the ladies of the vicinity :
really-I trust there is no breach of charity in supposing that
she went with the idea of meeting either with the Rector him-
self, or some other admirer by the way ; for as we went
along, she kept wondering " what Hatfield would do or say, if
we met him," &c. , &c.; as we passed Mr. Green's park-gates,
she " wondered whether he was at home-great stupid block-
head ; " as Lady Meltham's carriage passed us, she " wondered
what Mr Harry was doing this fine day ;" and then began to
abuse his elder brother for being " such a fool as to get
married and go and live in London ."
"Why," said I, " I thought you wanted to live in London
yourself."
" Yes, because it's so dull here : but then he makes it still
duller by taking himself off ; and if he were not married I
might have him instead of that odious Sir Thomas."
Then, observing the prints of a horse's feet on the some-
what miry road, she " wondered whether it was a gentleman's
horse," and finally concluded it was, for the impressions were
too small to have been made by a (6 great, clumsy cart-horse ;"
and then she “ wondered who the rider could be," and whether
we should meet him coming back, for she was sure he had
only passed that morning ; and lastly, when we entered the
village and saw only a few of its humble inhabitants moving
about, she " wondered why the stupid people couldn't keep in
their houses ; she was sure she didn't want to see their ugly
faces, and dirty, vulgar clothes-it wasn't for that she came
to Horton !"
Amid all this, I confess , I wondered, too, in secret, whether
we should meet, or catch a glimpse of somebody else ; and as
we passed his lodgings, I even went so far as to wonder
whether he was at the window. On entering the shop, Miss
890 AGNES GREY.
" I suppose it's these things, Miss Grey, that make you
think you could not live without a home ?"
"Not exactly. The fact is I am too socially disposed to
be able to live contentedly without a friend ; and as the only
friends I have, or am likely to have, are at home , if it—or
rather, if they were gone-I will not say I could not live—
but I would rather not live in such a desolate world."
" But why do you say the only friends you are likely
to have ? Are you so unsociable that you cannot make
friends ?"
66
No, but I never made one yet ; and in my present posi-
tion there is no possibility of doing so, or even of forming a
common acquaintance. The fault may be partly in myself,
but I hope not altogether."
" The fault is partly in society, and partly, I should think,
in your immediate neighbours : and partly, too, in yourself ;
for many ladies, in your position, would make themselves be
noticed and accounted of. But your pupils should be com-
panions for you in some degree ; they cannot be many years
younger than yourself."
66
Oh, yes, they are good company sometimes ; but I cannot
call them friends, nor would they think of bestowing such a
name on me- they have other companions better suited to
their tastes."
Perhaps you are too wise for them. How do you amuse
yourself when alone-do you read much ? ”
" Reading is my favourite occupation, when I have leisure
for it and books to read."
From speaking of books in general, he passed to different
books in particular, and proceeded by rapid transitions from
topic to topic, till several matters, both of taste and opinion,
had been discussed considerably within the space of half an
hour, but without the embellishment of many observations
from himself ; he being evidently less bent upon communicat-
ing his own thoughts and predilections, than on discovering
mine. He had not the tact, or the art, to effect such a pur-
pose by skilfully drawing out my sentiments or ideas through
the real or apparent statement of his own, or leading the
conversation by imperceptible gradations to such topics as he
wished to advert to : but such gentle abruptness, and such
single-minded straightforwardness could not possibly offend
me.
"And why should he interest himself at all in my moral
£92 AGNES GREY.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE SUBSTITUTION.
time the carriage was ready, and the footman was waiting,
with an open umbrella, to escort Miss Murray through the
churchyard. I was about to follow ; but Mr Weston had an
umbrella too , and offered me the benefit of its shelter, for it
was raining heavily.
" No, thank you, I don't mind the rain,” I said . I always
lacked common sense when taken by surprise.
" But you don't like it, I suppose ?-an umbrella will do
you no harm at any rate," he replied , with a smile that showed
he was not offended ; as a man of worse temper or less pene-
tration would have been at such a refusal of his aid. I could
not deny the truth of his assertion, and so went with him to
the carriage ; he even offered me his hand on getting in : an
unnecessary piece of civility, but I accepted that too, for fear
of giving offence. One glance he gave, one little smile at
parting it was but for a moment ; but therein I read , or
thought I read, a meaning that kindled in my heart a brighter
flame of hope than had ever yet arisen.
"I would have sent the footman back for you , Miss Grey, if
you'd waited a moment-you needn't have taken Mr Weston's
umbrella," observed Rosalie, with a very unamiable cloud
upon her pretty face.
" I would have come without an umbrella, but Mr Weston
offered me the benefit of his , and I could not have refused it
more than I did without offending him," replied I, smiling
placidly ; for my inward happiness made that amusing, which
would have wounded me at another time.
The carriage was now in motion. Miss Murray bent for-
wards, and looked out of the window as we were passing Mr
Weston. He was pacing homewards along the causeway, and
did not turn his head.
" Stupid ass ! " cried she, throwing herself back again in the
seat. "You don't know what you've lost by not looking this
way !"
" What has he lost ?"
"A bow from me, that would have raised him to the seventh
heaven ! "
I made no answer. I saw she was out of humour, and I
derived a secret gratification from the fact, not that she was
vexed, but that she thought she had reason to be so . It made
me think my hopes were not entirely the offspring of my wishes
and imagination.
" I mean to take up Mr Weston instead of Mr Hatfield,"
396 AGNES GREY.
CHAPTER XVII.
CONFESSIONS.
vice versa with her whose angel form conceals a vicious heart,
or sheds a false, deceitful charm over defects and foibles that
would not be tolerated in another. They that have beauty,
let them be thankful for it, and make a good use of it, like
any other talent ; they that have it not, let them console them-
selves, and do the best they can without it : certainly, though
liable to be over-estimated, it is a gift of God, and not to be
despised. Many will feel this who have felt that they could
love, and whose hearts tell them that they are worthy to be
loved again ; while yet they are debarred by the lack of this
or some such seeming trifle, from giving and receiving that
happiness they seem almost made to feel and to impart. As
well might the humble glow-worm despise that power of
giving light without which the roving fly might pass her and
repass her a thousand times, and never rest beside her she
might hear her winged darling buzzing over and around her ;
he vainly seeking her, she longing to be found, but with no
power to make her presence known, no voice to call him, no
wings to follow his flight ;—the fly must seek another mate,
the worm must live and die alone.
Such were some of my reflections about this period. I
might go on prosing more and more, I might dive much
deeper, and disclose other thoughts, propose questions the
reader might be puzzled to answer, and deduce arguments
that might startle his prejudices, or, perhaps, provoke his
ridicule, because he could not comprehend them ; but I
forbear.
Now, therefore, let us return to Miss Murray. She accom-
panied her mamma to the ball on Tuesday ; of course splendidly
attired, and delighted with her prospects and her charms. As
Ashby Park was nearly ten miles distant from Horton Lodge,
they had to set out pretty early, and I intended to have spent
the evening with Nancy Brown, whom I had not seen for a
long time ; but my kind pupil took care I should spend it
neither there nor anywhere else beyond the limits of the
schoolroom, by giving me a piece of music to copy, which
kept me closely occupied till bed-time. About eleven next
morning, as soon as she had left her room , she came to tell me
her news. Sir Thomas had indeed proposed to her at the ball :
an event which reflected great credit on her mamma's sagacity,
if not upon her skill in contrivance. I rather incline to the
belief that she had first laid her plans, and then predicted their
success. The offer had been accepted, of course, and the
AGNES GREY. 399
would have done ; and old Lady Ashby's haughty, sour spirit
of reserve withheld her from spreading the news , while her
indifferent health prevented her coming to visit her future
daughter-in-law ; so that, altogether, this affair was kept far
closer than such things usually are.
Rosalie would sometimes show her lover's epistles to me,
to convince me what a kind , devoted husband he would make.
She showed me the letters of another individual, too, the un-
fortunate Mr Green, who had not the courage, or, as she ex-
pressed it, the " spunk," to plead his cause in person, but
whom one denial would not satisfy : he must write again and
again. He would not have done so if he could have seen the
grimaces his fair idol made over his moving appeals to her
feelings, and heard her scornful laughter, and the opprobrious
epithets she heaped upon him for his perseverance.
66
Why don't you tell him , at once , that you are engaged ? "
I asked.
" Oh, I don't want him to know that," replied she. " If
he knew it, his sisters and everybody would know it, and then
there would be an end of my— ahem ! And , besides , if I
told him that, he would think my engagement was the only
obstacle, and that I would have him if I were free ; which I
could not bear that any man should think, and he, of all
others , at least. Besides, I don't care for his letters ," she
added, contemptuously; " he may write as often as he pleases,
and look as great a calf as he likes when I meet him ; it only
amuses me."
Meantime, young Meltham was pretty frequent in his visits
to the house or transits past it ; and, judging by Matilda's
execrations and reproaches, her sister paid more attention to
him than civility required : in other words , she carried on as
animated a flirtation as the presence of her parents would
admit. She made some attempts to bring Mr Hatfield once
more to her feet ; but finding them unsuccessful, she repaid
his haughty indifference with still loftier scorn, and spoke of
him with as much disdain and detestation as she had formerly
done of his curate. But, amid all this, she never for a moment
lost sight of Mr Weston. She embraced every opportunity of
meeting him, tried every art to fascinate him, and pursued
him with as much perseverance as if she really loved him and
no other, and the happiness of her life depended upon eliciting
a return of affection. Such conduct was completely beyond
my comprehension . Had I seen it depicted in a novel, I
AGNES GREY. 401
CHAPTER XVIII.
" I was told," said he, " that you were a perfect bookworm,
Miss Grey so completely absorbed in your studies that you
were lost to every other pleasure."
" Yes, and it's quite true ! " cried Matilda.
" No, Mr Weston ; don't believe it : it's a scandalous libel.
These young ladies are too fond of making random assertions
at the expense of their friends ; and you ought to be careful
how you listen to them."
" I hope this assertion is groundless, at any rate."
"Why? Do you particularly object to ladies' studying ?"
" No ; but I object to any one so devoting himself or her-
self to study, as to lose sight of everything else. Except
under peculiar circumstances, I consider very close and con-
stant study as a waste of time, and an injury to the mind as
well as the body."
" Well, I have neither the time nor the inclination for such
transgressions."
We parted again.
"Well ! what is there remarkable in all this ? Why have
I recorded it ? Because, reader, it was important enough to
give me a cheerful evening, a night of pleasing dreams, and
a morning of felicitous hopes. Shallow-brained cheerfulness,
foolish dreams, unfounded hopes, you would say ; and I will
not venture to deny it : suspicions to that effect arose too fre-
quently in my own mind. But our wishes are like tinder :
the flint and steel of circumstances are continually striking
out sparks, which vanish immediately, unless they chance to
fall upon the tinder of our wishes ; then, they instantly
ignite, and the flame of hope is kindled in a moment.
But alas ! that very morning, my flickering flame of hope
was dismally quenched by a letter from my mother, which
spoke so seriously of my father's increasing illness, that I
feared there was little or no chance of his recovery ; and ,
close at hand as the holidays were, I almost trembled lest
they should come too late for me to meet him in this world.
Two days after, a letter from Mary told me his life was de-
spaired of, and his end seemed fast approaching. Then, im-
mediately, I sought permission to anticipate the vacation, and
go without delay. Mrs Murray stared, and wondered at the
unwonted energy and boldness with which I urged the request,
and thought there was no occasion to hurry ; but finally gave
me leave stating, however, that there was no need to be in
such agitation about the matter—it might prove a false alarm
AGNES GREY. 413
CHAPTER XIX.
THE LETTER.
ten times what they were, I could not regret having watched
over and laboured to relieve them ; -that, if he had married a
richer wife, misfortunes and trials would no doubt have come
upon him still ; while I am egotist enough to imagine that no
other woman could have cheered him through them so well :
not that I am superior to the rest, but I was made for him,
and he for me ; and I can no more repent the hours, days,
years of happiness we have spent together, and which neither
could have had without the other, than I can the privilege of
having been his nurse in sickness, and his comfort in affliction.
"Will this do , children?-or shall I say we are all very
sorry for what has happened during the last thirty years , and
my daughters wish they had never been born ; but since
they have had that misfortune, they will be thankful for any
trifle their grandpapa will be kind enough to bestow? "
Of course, we both applauded our mother's resolution ;
Mary cleared away the breakfast things ; I brought the desk ;
the letter was quickly written and despatched ; and, from that
day, we heard no more of our grandfather, till we saw his
death announced in the newspaper a considerable time after-
all his worldly possessions, of course, being left to our wealthy,
unknown cousins.
CHAPTER XX.
THE FAREWELL.
rest only to weep in silence : but is not labour better than the
rest we covet? and are not those petty, tormenting cares less
hurtful than a continual brooding over the great affliction
that oppresses us ? Besides, we cannot have cares, and
anxieties, and toil, without hope-if it be but the hope of ful-
filling our joyless task, accomplishing some needful project,
or escaping some further annoyance. At any rate, I was glad
my mother had so much employment for every faculty of her
action-loving frame. Our kind neighbours lamented that she,
once so exalted in wealth and station , should be reduced to
such extremity in her time of sorrow ; but I am persuaded that
she would have suffered thrice as much had she been left in
affluence, with liberty to remain in that house, the scene of her
early happiness and late affliction, and no stern necessity to
prevent her from incessantly brooding over and lamenting her
bereavement.
I will not dilate upon the feelings with which I left the old
house, the well-known garden, the little village church - then
doubly dear to me, because my father, who, for thirty years,
had taught and prayed within its walls, lay slumbering now
beneath its flags and the old bare hills , delightful in their
very desolation, with the narrow vales between, smiling in
green wood and sparkling water-the house where I was born,
the scene of all my early associations , the place where through-
out life my earthly affections had been centred ;-and left
them to return no more ! True, I was going back to Horton
Lodge, where, amid many evils, one source of pleasure yet
remained : but it was pleasure mingled with excessive pain ;
and my stay, alas ! was limited to six weeks. And even of
that precious time, day after day slipped by and I did not see
him : except at church, I never saw him for a fortnight after
my return. It seemed a long time to me : and, as I was often
out with my rambling pupil, of course hopes would keep
rising, and disappointments would ensue ; and, then, I would
say to my own heart, " Here is a convincing proof—if you
would but have the sense to see it, or the candour to acknow-
ledge it that he does not care for you. If he only thought
half as much about you as you do about him, he would have
contrived to meet you many times ere this : you must know
that, by consulting your own feelings . Therefore, have done
with this nonsense : you have no ground for hope : dismiss,
at once, these hurtful thoughts and foolish wishes from your
mind, and turn to your own duty, and the dull blank life that
27
418 AGNES GREY.
lies before you. You might have known such happiness was
not for you."
But I saw him at last. He came suddenly upon me as I was
crossing a field in returning from a visit to Nancy Brown,
which I had taken the opportunity of paying while Matilda
Murray was riding her matchless mare. He must have heard
of the heavy loss I had sustained : he expressed no sympathy,
offered no condolence : but almost the first words he uttered
were,-" How is your mother ? " And this was no matter-of-
course question, for I never told nim that I had a mother : he
must have learned the fact from others, if he knew it at all ;
and, besides, there was sincere good-will, and even deep,
touching, unobtrusive sympathy in the tone and manner of
the inquiry. I thanked him with due civility, and told him
she was as well as could be expected. "What will she do ?"
was the next question. Many would have deemed it an
impertinent one, and given an evasive reply ; but such an
idea never entered my head, and I gave a brief but plain
statement of mother's plans and prospects.
" Then you will leave this place shortly ? " said he.
"Yes, in a month."
He paused a minute, as if in thought. When he spoke
again, I hoped it would be to express his concern at my
departure ; but it was only to say " I should think you will
be willing enough to go ? "
" Yes-for some things," I replied.
" For some things only-I wonder what should make you
regret it !"
I was annoyed at this in some degree ; because it embarrassed
me : I had only one reason for regretting it ; and that was a
profound secret, which he had no business to trouble me
about.
66 Why," said I-" why should you suppose that I dislike
the place ?"
"You told me so yourself," was the decisive reply. " You
said, at least, that you could not live contentedly, without &
friend ; and that you had no friend here, and no possibility of
making one—and besides, I know you must dislike it.”
" But if you remember rightly, I said, or meant to say, I
could not live contentedly without a friend in the world : I was
not so unreasonable as to require one always near me. Ithink
I could be happy in a house full of enemies , if " but no ;
that sentence must not be continued-I paused , and hastily
AGNES GREY. 419
CHAPTER XXI.
THE SCHOOL.
a very dissipated life, and J should think her very wicked and
very thoughtless ; but, notwithstanding that, she thought a
great deal, and, among other things, that she should vastly
like to see me. "We have been several days here already,"
wrote she. "We have not a single friend with us, and
are likely to be very dull. You know I never had a
fancy for living with my husband like two turtles in a nest,
were he the most delightful creature that ever wore a coat ;
so do take pity upon me and come. I suppose your Mid-
summer holidays commence in June, the same as other
people's, therefore you cannot plead want of time ; and
you must and shall come- in fact, I shall die if you don't.
I want you to visit me as a friend, and stay a long time.
There is nobody with me, as I told you before, but Sir
Thomas and old Lady Ashby : but you needn't mind them
-they'll trouble us but little with their company. And
you shall have a room to yourself, whenever you like to
retire to it, and plenty of books to read when my company
is not sufficiently amusing. I forget whether you like babies ;
if you do, you may have the pleasure of seeing mine-the
most charming child in the world , no doubt ; and all the
more so, that I am not troubled with nursing it—I was deter-
mined I wouldn't be bothered with that. Unfortunately, it
is a girl, and Sir Thomas has never forgiven me : but, how-
ever, if you will only come, I promise you shall be its gover-
ness as soon as it can speak ; and you shall bring it up in
the way it should go, and make a better woman of it than
its mamma. And you shall see my poodle, too : a splendid
little charmer imported from Paris : and two fine Italian
paintings of great value-I forget the artist. Doubtless you
will be able to discover prodigious beauties in them , which
you must point out to me, as I only admire by hearsay ; and
many elegant curiosities besides, which I purchased at Rome
and elsewhere ; and, finally, you shall see my new home-
the splendid house and grounds I used to covet so greatly.
Alas ! how far the promise of anticipation exceeds the plea-
sure of possession ! There's a fine sentiment ! I assure you
I am become quite a grave old matron : pray come, if it be
only to witness the wonderful change. Write by return of
post, and tell me when your vacation commences, and say
that you will come the day after, and stay till the day before
it closes-in mercy to, Yours affectionately ,
ROSALIE ASHBY."
426 AGNES GREY.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE VISIT.
to live here still, and direct the affairs of the house for me ;
because, in the first place, I hoped we should spend the
greater part of the year in town, and in the second place,
being so young and inexperienced, I was frightened at the
idea of having a houseful of servants to manage, and dinners
to order, and parties to entertain, and all the rest of it, and I
thought she might assist me with her experience ; never
dreaming she would prove a usurper, a tyrant, an incubus,
a spy, and everything else that's detestable. I wish she was
dead !"
She then turned to give her orders to the footman, who had
been standing bolt upright within the door for the last half
minute, and had heard the latter part of her animadversions ;
and, of course, made his own reflections upon them , notwith-
standing the inflexible, wooden countenance he thought proper
to preserve in the drawing-room. On my remarking after-
wards that he must have heard her, she replied—
" Oh, no matter ! I never care about the footmen ; they're
mere automatons : it's nothing to them what their superiors
say or do ; they won't dare to repeat it ; and as to what they
think-if they presume to think at all- of course, nobody
cares for that. It would be a pretty thing indeed , if we were
to be tongue-tied by our servants !"
So saying, she ran off to make her hasty toilet, leaving me
to pilot my way back to my sitting-room , where, in due time,
I was served with a cup of tea. After that, I sat musing on
Lady Ashby's past and present condition ; and on what little
information I had obtained respecting Mr Weston, and the
small chance there was of ever seeing or hearing anything
more of him throughout my quiet, drab-colour life : which,
henceforth, seemed to offer no alternative between positive
rainy days, and days of dull grey clouds without downfall.
At length, however, I began to weary of my thoughts, and to
wish I knew where to find the library my hostess had spoken
of; and to wonder whether I was to remain there doing
nothing till bedtime.
As I was not rich enough to possess a watch , I could not
tell how time was passing, except by observing the slowly
lengthening shadows from the window ; which presented a
side view, including a corner of the park, a clump of trees,
whose topmost branches had been colonized by an innu-
merable company of noisy rooks, and a high wall with a
massive wooden gate : no doubt communicating with the
432 AGNES GREY.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE PARK.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE SANDS.
" You can't suppose I'm rich enough to come for my own
pleasure."
" I heard you had left Horton."
" You didn't hear, then, that I had got the living of
F ?"
F― was a village about two miles distant from A-
แ " No," said I ; " we live so completely out of the world,
even here, that news seldom reaches me through any quarter ;
except through the medium of the Gazette. But, I hope
you like your new parish ; and that I may congratulate you
on the acquisition ? "
"I expect to like my parish better a year or two hence,
when I have worked certain reforms I have set my heart upon
-or, at least, progressed some steps towards such an achieve-
ment. But you may congratulate me now ; for I find it very
agreeable to have a parish all to myself, with nobody to inter-
fere with me to thwart my plans or cripple my exertions :
and besides, I have a respectable house in a rather pleasant
neighbourhood, and three hundred pounds a year ; and, in fact,
I have nothing but solitude to complain of, and nothing but
a companion to wish for.
He looked at me as he concluded ; and the flash of his dark
eyes seemed to set my face on fire : greatly to my own discom-
fiture, for to evince confusion at such a juncture was intole-
rable. I made an effort, therefore, to remedy the evil, and
disclaim all personal application of the remark by a hasty,
ill-expressed reply, to the effect that, if he waited till he was
well known in the neighbourhood, he might have numerous
opportunities for supplying his want among the residents of
F— and its vicinity, or the visitors of A- if he required
so ample a choice : not considering the compliment implied by
such an assertion , till his answer made me aware of it.
" I am not so presumptuous as to believe that," said he,
"though you tell it me ; but if it were so, I am rather particu-
lar in my notions of a companion for life, and perhaps I might
not find one to suit me among the ladies you mention."
"If you require perfection, you never will."
" I do not-I have no right to require it, as being so far
from perfect myself."
Here the conversation was interrupted by a water-cart
lumbering past us, for we were now come to the busy part of
the sands ; and, for the next eight or ten minutes, between
carts and horses, and asses, and men, there was little room for
AGNES GREY. 441
social intercourse, till we had turned our backs upon the sea,
and began to ascend the precipitous road leading into the town.
Here my companion offered me his arm, which I accepted,
though not with the intention of using it as a support.
" You don't often come on to the sands, I think," said he,
" for I have walked there many times, both morning and even-
ing, since I came, and never seen you till now ; and several
times, in passing through the town, too, I have looked about
for your school- but I did not think of the Road ; and
once or twice I made inquiries, but without obtaining the
requisite information.
When we had surmounted the acclivity, I was about to
withdraw my arm from his, but by a slight tightening of the
elbow was tacitly informed that such was not his will, and
accordingly desisted . Discoursing on different subjects , we
entered the town, and passed through several streets. I saw
that he was going out of his way to accompany me, notwith-
standing the long walk that was yet before him ; and, fearing
that he might be inconveniencing himself from motives of
politeness, I observed-
“ I fear I am taking you out of your way, Mr Weston- I
believe the road to F- lies quite in another direction."
" I'll leave you at the end of the next street," said he.
" And when will you come to see mamma ? "
" To-morrow- God willing."
The end of the next street was nearly the conclusion of my
journey. He stopped there, however, bid me good-morning,
and called Snap, who seemed a little doubtful whether to follow
his old mistress or his new master, but trotted away upon
being summoned by the latter.
" I won't offer to restore him to you, Miss Grey," said Mr
Weston, smiling, " because I like him."
" Oh, I don't want him," replied I, 66 now that he has a good
master ; I'm quite satisfied."
" You take it for granted that I am a good one, then ? "
The man and the dog departed , and I returned home, full
of gratitude to Heaven for so much bliss, and praying that
my hopes might not again be crushed.
442 AGNES GREY.
CHAPTER XXV.
CONCLUSION.
“ WELL, Agnes, you must not take such long walks again
before breakfast," said my mother, observing that I drank an
extra cup of coffee and ate nothing—pleading the heat of the
weather, and the fatigue of my long walk as an excuse. I
certainly did feel feverish, and tired too.
"You always do things by extremes : now, if you had
taken a short walk every morning, and would continue to do
so, it would do you good."
" Well, mamma, I will.”
" But this is worse than lying in bed or bending over your
books : you have quite put yourself into a fever. ”
" I won't do it again ,” said I.
I was racking my brains with thinking how to tell her
about Mr Weston, for she must know he was coming to-morrow.
However , I waited till the breakfast things were removed , and
I was more calm and cool ; and then , having sat down to my
drawing, I began—
" I met an old friend on the sands to-day, mamma.”
" An old friend ! Who could it be ? "
" Two old friends , indeed . One was a dog ; " and then I
reminded her of Snap, whose history I had recounted before,
and related the incident of his sudden appearance and remark-
able recognition ; " and the other," continued I, was Mr
Weston, the curate of Horton."
" Mr Weston ! I never heard of him before."
" Yes, you have : I've mentioned him several times , I be-
lieve but you don't remember."
" I've heard you speak of Mr Hatfield."
" Mr Hatfield was the rector, and Mr Weston the curate :
I used to mention him sometimes in contradistinction to Mr
Hatfield, as being a more efficient clergyman. However, he
was on the sands this morning with the dog-he had bought
it, I suppose, from the ratcatcher ; and he knew me as well
as it did-probably through its means : and I had a little
conversation with him, in the course of which, as he asked
about our school, I was led to say something about you and
your good management ; and he said he should like to know
you, and asked if I would introduce him to you, if he should
AGNES GREY. 443
65
5465
CAN
WID
7
BOOK
197
77H 96
3 2
MAR
24. 1
Y 8
9
A 7
9
M
7
M 1 71
A
9
636
MAK 1979
6797368
BOOK DUE WAD
MAY 81980
BOOK DU WID MAY 2 8 1980
6408657
1979
21425.17.6
Wuthering Heights /
Widener Library 002949098