The first time she left her chamber was at the commencement of
the following March. Mr Linton had put on her pillow, in the morning, a
handful of golden crocuses; her eye, long stranger to any gleam of pleasure,
caught them in waking, and shone delighted as she gathered them eagerly
together.
`These are the earliest flowers at the Heights,' she exclaimed.
`They remind me of soft thaw winds, and warm sunshine, and nearly melted
snow. Edgar, is there not a south wind, and is not the snow almost gone?'
`The snow is quite gone down here, darling,' replied her husband;
`and I only see two white spots on the whole range of moors: the sky is
blue, and the larks are singing, and the becks and brooks are all brim
full. Catherine, last spring at this time, I was longing to have you under
this roof, now, I wish you were a mile or two up those hills: the air blows
so sweetly, I feel that it would cure you.
`I shall never be there but once more,' said the invalid; `and
then you'll leave me, and I shall remain for ever. Next spring you'll long
again to have me under this roof, and you'll look back and think you were
happy today.
Linton lavished on her the kindest caresses, and tried to cheer
her by the fondest words; but, vaguely regarding the flowers, she let the
tears collect on her lashes and stream down her cheeks unheeding. We knew
she was really better, and, therefore, decided that long confinement to
a single place produced much of this despondency, and it might be partially
removed by a change of scene. The master told me to light a fire in the
many-weeks-deserted parlour, and to set an easy chair in the sunshine by
the window; and then he brought her down, and she sat a long while enjoying
the genial heat, and, as we expected, revived by the objects round her:
which, though familiar, were free from the dreary associations investing
her hated sick chamber. By evening, she seemed greatly exhausted; yet no
arguments could persuade her to return to that apartment, and I had to
arrange the 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 of the dead is precious,
if they were valued living.
DEAR ELLEN, it begins:--
I came last night to Wuthering Heights, and heard, for the first
time, that Catherine has been, and is yet, very ill. I must not write to
her, I suppose, and my brother is either too angry or too distressed to
answer what I sent him. Still, I must write to somebody, and the only choice
left me is you.
Inform Edgar that I'd give the world to see his face again--that
my heart returned to Thrushcross Grange in twenty-four hours after I left
it, and is there at this moment, full of warm feelings for him, and Catherine!
I can't follow it, though--(those words are underlined) they need
not expect me, and they may draw what conclusions they please; taking care,
however, to lay nothing at the door of my weak will or deficient affection.
The remainder of the letter is for yourself alone. I want to ask
you two questions: the first is--How did you contrive to preserve the common
sympathies of human nature when you resided here? I cannot recognize any
sentiment which those around share with me.
The second question, I have great interest in; it is this--Is
Mr Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil? I shan't
tell my reasons for making this inquiry; but, I beseech you to explain,
if you can, what I have married: that is, when you call to see me; and
you must call, Ellen, very soon. Don't write, but come, and bring me something
from Edgar.
Now, you shall hear how I have been received in my new home, as
I am led to imagine the Heights will be. It is to amuse myself that I dwell
on such subjects as the lack of external comforts: they never occupy my
thoughts, except at the moment when I miss them. I should laugh and dance
for joy, if I found their absence was the total of my miseries, and the
rest was an unnatural dream!
The sun set behind the Grange, as we turned on to the moors; by
that, I judged it to be six o'clock; and my companion halted half an hour,
to inspect the park, and the gardens, and, probably, the place itself,
as well as he could; so it was dark when we dismounted in the paved yard
of the farmhouse, and your old fellow-servant, Joseph, issued out to receive
us by the light of a dip candle. He did it with a courtesy that redounded
to his credit. His first act was to elevate his torch to a level with my
face, squint malignantly, project his under lip, and turn away. Then he
took the two horses, and led them into the stables; reappearing for the
purpose of locking the outer gate, as if we lived in an ancient castle.
Heathcliff stayed to speak to him, and I entered the kitchen--a
dingy, untidy hole; I dare say you would not know it, it is so changed
since it was in your charge. By the fire stood a ruffianly child, strong
in limb and dirty in garb, with a look of Catherine in his eyes and about
his mouth.
`This is Edgar's legal nephew,' I reflected--`mine in a manner;
I must shake hands, and--yes--I must kiss him. It is right to establish
a good understanding at the beginning.'
I approached, and, attempting to take his chubby fist, said: `How
do you do, my dear?' He replied in a jargon I did not comprehend. `Shall
you and I be friends, Hareton?' was my next essay at conversation.
An oath, and a threat to set Throttler on me if I did not `frame
off', rewarded my perseverance.
`Hey, Throttler, lad!' whispered the little wretch, rousing a
half-bred bulldog from its lair in a corner. Now, wilt tuh be ganging?'
he asked authoritatively.
Love for my life urged a compliance; I stepped over the threshold
to wait till the others should enter. Mr Heathcliff was nowhere visible;
and Joseph, whom I followed to the stables, and requested to accompany
me in, after staring and muttering to himself, screwed up his nose, and
replied:
`Mim! mim! mim! Did iver Christian body hear aught like it? Minching
Un' munching! How can Aw tell whet ye say?'
`I say, I wish you to come with me into the house!' I cried, thinking
him deaf, yet highly disgusted at his rudeness.
`Nor nuh me! I getten summat else to do,' he answered, and continued
his work; moving his lantern jaws meanwhile, and surveying my dress and
countenance (the former a great deal too fine, but the latter, I'm sure,
as sad as he could desire) with sovereign contempt.
I walked round the yard, and through a wicket, to another door,
at which I took the liberty of knocking, in hopes some more civil servant
might show himself. After a short suspense, it was opened by a tall, gaunt
man, without neckerchief, and otherwise extremely slovenly; his features
were lost in masses of shaggy hair that hung on his shoulders; and his
eyes, too, were like a ghostly Catherine's with all their beauty annihilated.
`What's your business here?' he demanded grimly. `Who are you?'
`My name was Isabella Linton,' I replied. `You've seen
me before, sir. I'm lately married to Mr Heathcliff, and he has brought
me here--I suppose by your permission.'
`Is he come back, then?' asked the hermit, glaring like a hungry
wolf.
`Yes--we came just now,' I said; `but he left me by the kitchen
door; and when I would have gone in, your little boy played sentinel over
the place, and frightened me off by the help of a bulldog.'
`It's well the hellish villain has kept his word!' growled my
future host, searching the darkness beyond me in expectation of discovering
Heathcliff; and then he indulged in a soliloquy of execrations, and threats
of what he would have done had the `fiend' deceived him.
I repented having tried this second entrance, and was almost inclined
to slip away before he finished cursing, but ere I could execute that intention,
he ordered me in, and shut and refastened the door. There was a great fire,
and that was all the light in the huge apartment, whose floor had grown
a uniform grey; and the once brilliant pewter dishes, which used to attract
my gaze when I was a girl, partook of a similar obscurity, created by tarnish
and dust. I inquired whether I might call the maid, and be conducted to
a bedroom? Mr Earnshaw vouchsafed no answer. He walked up and down, with
his hands in his pockets, apparently quite forgetting my presence; and
his abstraction was evidently so deep, and his whole aspect so misanthropical,
that I shrank from disturbing him again.
You'll not be surprised, Ellen, at my feeling particularly cheerless,
seated in worse than solitude on that inhospitable hearth, and remembering
that four miles distant lay my delightful home, containing the only people
I loved on earth; and there might as well be the Atlantic to part us, instead
of those four miles: I could not overpass them! I questioned with myself--where
must I turn for comfort? and--mind you don't tell Edgar, or Catherine--above
every sorrow beside, this rose pre-eminent: despair at finding nobody who
could or would be my ally against Heathcliff! I had sought shelter at Wuthering
Heights, almost gladly, because I was secured by that arrangement from
living alone with him; but he knew the people we were coming amongst, and
he did not fear their intermeddling.
I sat and thought a doleful time: the clock struck eight, and
nine, and still my companion paced to and fro, his head bent on his breast,
and perfectly silent, unless a groan or a bitter ejaculation forced itself
out at intervals. I listened to detect a woman's voice in the house, and
filled the interim with wild regrets and dismal anticipations, which, at
last, spoke audibly in irrepressible sighing and weeping. I was not aware
how openly I grieved, till Earnshaw halted opposite, in his measured walk,
and gave me a stare of newly-awakened surprise. Taking advantage of his
recovered attention, I exclaimed:
`I'm tired with my journey, and I want to go to bed! Where is
the maidservant? Direct me to her, as she won't come to me!'
`We have none,' he answered; `you must wait on yourself!'
`Where must I sleep, then?' I sobbed: I was beyond regarding self-respect,
weighed down by fatigue and wretchedness.
`Joseph will show you Heathcliff's chamber,' said he; `open that
door--he's in there.'
I was going to obey, but he suddenly arrested me, and added in
the strangest tone:
`Be so good as to turn your lock, and draw your bolt--don't omit
it!'
`Well!' I said. `But why, Mr Earnshaw?' I did not relish the notion
of deliberately fastening myself in with Heathcliff.
`Look here!' he replied, pulling from his waistcoat a curiously
constructed pistol, having a double-edged spring knife attached to the
barrel. `That's a great tempter to a desperate man, is it not? I cannot
resist going up with this every night, and trying his door. If once I find
it open he's done for! I do it invariably, even though the minute before
I have been recalling a hundred reasons that should make me refrain: it
is some devil that urges me to thwart my own schemes by killing him. You
fight against that devil for love as long as you may; when the times comes,
not all the angels in heaven shall save him!'
I surveyed the weapon inquisitively. A hideous notion struck me:
how powerful I should be possessing such an instrument! I took it from
his hand, and touched the blade. He looked astonished at the expression
my face assumed during a brief second: it was not horror, it was covetousness.
He snatched the pistol back, jealously; shut the knife, and returned it
to its concealment.
`I don't care if you tell him,' said he. `Put him on his guard,
and watch for him. You know the terms we are on, I see: his danger does
not shock you.'
`What has Heathcliff done to you?' I asked. `In what has he wronged
you, to warrant this appalling hatred? Wouldn't it be wiser to bid him
quit the house?'
`No!' thundered Earnshaw, `should he offer to leave me, he's a
dead man: persuade him to attempt it, and you are a murderess! Am I to
lose all, without a chance of retrieval? Is Hareton to be a beggar?
Oh, damnation! I will have it back; and I'll have his gold
too; and then his blood; and hell shall have his soul! It will be ten times
blacker with that guest than ever it was before!'
You've acquainted me, Ellen, with your old master's habits. He
is clearly on the verge of madness: he was so last night at least. I shuddered
to be near him, and thought on the servant's ill-bred moroseness as comparatively
agreeable. He now recommenced his moody walk, and I raised the latch, and
escaped into the kitchen. Joseph was bending over the fire, peering into
a large pan that swung above it; and a wooden bowl of oatmeal stood on
the settle close by. The contents of the pan began to boil, and he turned
to plunge his hand into the bowl; I conjectured that this preparation was
probably for our supper, and, being hungry, I resolved it should be eatable;
so, crying out sharply, `I'll make the porridge!' I removed the
vessel out of his reach, and proceeded to take off my hat and riding habit.
`Mr Earnshaw', I continued, `directs me to wait on myself: I will. I'm
not going to act the lady among you, for fear I should starve.'
`Gooid Lord!' he muttered, sitting down, and stroking his ribbed
stockings from the knee to the ankle. `If they's tuh be fresh ortherings--just
when Aw gettin used tuh two maisters, if Aw mun hev a mistress set
o'er my heead, it's loike time tuh be flitting. Aw niver did think tuh
say t' day ut Aw mud lave th' owld place--but Aw daht it's nigh at hend!'
This lamentation drew no notice from me: I went briskly to work,
sighing to remember a period when it would have been all merry fun; but
compelled speedily to drive off the remembrance. It racked me to recall
past happiness, and the greater peril there was of conjuring up its apparition,
the quicker the thible ran round, and the faster the handfuls of meal fell
into the water. Joseph beheld my style of cookery with growing indignation.
`Thear!' he ejaculated, `Hareton, thah willut sup thy porridge
tuh neight; they'll be nowt bud lumps as big as maw nave. Thear, agean!
Aw'd fling in bowl un all, if Aw wer yah! There, pale t' guilp off, un'
then yah'll hae done wi't. Bang, bang. It's a marcy t' bothom isn't deaved
aht!'
It was rather a rough mess, I own, when poured into the
basins; four had been provided, and a gallon pitcher of new milk was brought
from the dairy, which Hareton seized and commenced drinking and spilling
from the expansive lip. I expostulated, and desired that he should have
his in a mug; affirming that I could not taste the liquid treated so dirtily.
The old cynic chose to be vastly offended at this nicety; assuring me,
repeatedly, that `the barn was every bit as good' as I, `and every bit
as wollsome', and wondering how I could fashion to be so conceited. Meanwhile,
the infant ruffian continued sucking; and glowered at me defyingly, as
he slavered into the jug.
`I shall have my supper in another room,' I said. `Have you no
place you call a parlour?'
`Parlour!' he echoed sneeringly, `parlour! Nay,
we've noa parlours. If yah dunnut loike wer company, there's maister's;
un' if yah dunnut loike maister, there's us.
`Then I shall go upstairs!' I answered; `show me a chamber.' I
put my basin on a tray, and went myself to fetch some more milk. With great
grumblings, the fellow rose, and preceded me in my ascent: we mounted to
the garrets; he opening a door, now and then, to look into the apartments
we passed.
`Here's a rahm,' he said, at last, flinging back a cranky board
on hinges. `It's weel eneugh tuh ate a few porridge in. They's a pack o'
corn i' t' corner, thear, meeterly clane; if yah're feared uh muckying
yer grand silk cloes, spread yer hankerchir o' t' top on't.'
The `rahm' was a kind of lumber-hole smelling strong of malt and
grain; various sacks of which articles were piled around, leaving a wide,
bare space in the middle.
`Why, man!' I exclaimed, facing him angrily, `this is not a place
to sleep in. I wish to see my bedroom.
`Bed-rume!' he repeated, in a tone of mockery. `Yah's see
all t' bed-rumes thear is--yon's mine.'
He pointed into the second garret, only differing from the first
in being more naked about the walls, and having a large, low, curtainless
bed, with an indigo-coloured quilt at one end.
`What do I want with yours?' I retorted. `I suppose Mr Heathcliff
does not lodge at the top of the house, does he?'
`Oh! it's Maister Hathecliff's yah're wenting!' cried he,
as if making a new discovery. `Couldn't ye uh said soa, at onst? un then,
Aw mud uh telled ye, baht all this wark, ut that's just one yah cannut
sea--he alIas keeps it locked, un nob'dy iver mells on't but hisseln.'
`You've a nice house, Joseph,' I could not refrain from observing,
`and pleasant inmates; and I think the concentrated essence of all the
madness in the world took up its abode in my brain the day I linked my
fate with theirs! However, that is not to the present purpose--there are
other rooms. For heaven's sake be quick, and let me settle somewhere!'
He made no reply to this adjuration; only plodding doggedly down
the wooden steps, and halting before an apartment which, from that halt
and the superior quality of its furniture, I conjectured to be the best
one. There was a carpet: a good one, but the pattern was obliterated by
dust; a fireplace hung with cut paper, dropping to pieces; a handsome oak
bedstead with ample crimson curtains of rather expensive material and modern
make; but they had evidently experienced rough usage: the valances hung
in festoons, wrenched from their rings, and the iron rod supporting them
was bent in an arc on one side, causing the drapery to trail upon the floor.
The chairs were also damaged, many of them severely; and deep indentations
deformed the panels of the walls. I was endeavouring to gather resolution
for entering and taking possession, when my fool of a guide announced,
`This here is t' maister's.' My supper by this time was cold, my appetite
gone, and my patience exhausted. I insisted on being provided instantly
with a place of refuge, and means of repose.
`Whear the divil?' began the religious elder. `The Lord bless
us! The Lord forgie us! Whear the hell wold ye gang? ye marred,
wearisome nowt! Yah seen all bud Hareton's bit uf a cham'er. They's not
another hoile tuh lig dahn in i' th' hahse!'
I was so vexed, I flung my tray and its contents on the ground;
and then seated myself at the stairs-head, hid my face in my hands, and
cried.
`Ech! ech!' exclaimed Joseph. `Weel done, Miss Cathy! weel done,
Miss Cathy! Hahsiver, t' maister saIl just tum'le o'er them brocken pots;
un' then we's hear summut; we's hear hah it's tuh be. Gooid-for-nowt madling!
yah desarve pining froo this to Churstmas, flinging t' precious gifts uh
God under fooit i' yer flaysome rages! Bud Aw'm mista'en if yah shew yer
sperrit lang. Will Hathecliff bide sich bonny ways, think ye? Aw nobbut
wish he muh cotch ye i' that plisky. Aw nobbut wish he may.'
And so he went on scolding to his den beneath, taking the candle
with him; and I remained in the dark. The period of reflection succeeding
this silly action, compelled me to admit the necessity of smothering my
pride and choking my wrath, and bestirring myself to remove its effects.
An unexpected aid presently appeared in the shape of Throttler, whom I
now recognized as a son of our old Skulker: it had spent its whelphood
at the Grange, and was given by my father to Mr Hindley. I fancy it knew
me: it pushed its nose against mine by way of salute, and then hastened
to devour the porridge; while I groped from step to step, collecting the
shattered earthenware, and drying the spatters of milk from the banister
with my pocket handkerchief. Our labours were scarcely over when I heard
Earnshaw's tread in the passage; my assistant tucked in his tail, and pressed
to the wall; I stole into the nearest doorway. The dog's endeavour to avoid
him was unsuccessful; as I guessed by a scutter downstairs, and a prolonged,
piteous yelping. I had better luck! he passed on, entered his chamber,
and shut the door. Directly after Joseph came up with Hareton, to put him
to bed. I had found shelter in Hareton's room, and the old man, on seeing
me, said:
`They's rahm for boath ye un yer pride, now, I sud think, i' the
hahse. It's empty; ye may hev it all to yerseln, un Him as allas maks a
third, i' such ill company!'
Gladly did I take advantage of this intimation; and the minute
I flung myself into a chair, by the fire, I nodded, and slept. My slumber
was deep and sweet, though over far too soon. Mr Heathcliff awoke me; he
had just come in, and demanded, in his loving manner, what I was doing
there? I told him the cause of my staying up so late--that he had the key
of our room in his pocket. The adjective our gave mortal offence.
He swore it was not, nor ever should be, mine; and he'd--But I'll not repeat
his language, nor describe his habitual conduct: he is ingenious and unresting
in seeking to gain my abhorrence! I sometimes wonder at him with an intensity
that deadens my fear: yet, I assure you, a tiger or a venomous serpent
could not rouse terror in me equal to that which he wakens. He told me
of Catherine's illness, and accused my brother of causing it; promising
that I should be Edgar's proxy in suffering, till he could get hold of
him.
I do hate him--I am wretched--I have been a fool! Beware of uttering
one breath of this to anyone at the Grange. I shall expect you every day--don't
disappoint me!
