Chapter 16 Chapter Twelve

As Miss Linton paced up and down the park and garden morosely, it was always silent, and almost always in tears.Her brother buried himself in books which he never opened--I suppose he was constantly agonizing over the hope that Catherine would repent of her actions and automatically ask for forgiveness and reconciliation--while she was stubborn He went on a hunger strike, probably thinking that Edgar would not be able to swallow her absence at every meal, and it was only out of pride that he did not come and kneel at her feet.I went about my business as usual, convinced that there was but one sane soul within the walls of the Grange, and that soul was in my body.I have not abused consolation to my lady, nor exhortation to my mistress; nor have I paid much heed to my master's sighs, Since he cannot hear his lady's voice, he longs to hear her name.I figured they would come to me if they wanted to.While it's been a tiresomely slow process, I'm beginning to appreciate a glimmer of progress in the end: just as I thought it would at first.

On the third day Mrs. Linton unbolted the deadbolt, and her water-jug and carafe were all empty, and asked me to fill them up again, and a bowl of porridge, as she believed she was dying.I think this was addressed to Edgar.I didn't believe it, so I didn't tell, and got her some tea and toast.She ate and drank vigorously, and lay back on her pillow, clenching her fists and moaning. "Oh, I'm dying," she cried, "since no one cares about me a bit. I wish I hadn't eaten just now. " After a long time, I heard her purring again: "No, I don't want to die—he'll be happy—he doesn't love me at all—he'll never miss me!"

"Do you have any orders, ma'am?" I asked, maintaining my outward composure in spite of her ghostly countenance and oddly exaggerated manner. "What's that heartless thing doing?" she asked, pushing her thick, unkempt curls back from her emaciated face. "Has he got sleeping sickness, or is he dead?" "Neither," I answered, "if you mean Mr. Linton. I think he is in good health, though his studies take up too much of his time: he has been buried in his books, Because he has no other friends for company." If I knew the truth about her I shouldn't have said that, but I can't shake the thought.Part of her illness was feigned.

"Burn your head in the pile of books!" she cried, bewildered. "When I was dying! I was on the brink of the grave! My God! Does he know what I've become?" she went on, staring at her own reflection in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. "Is that Catherine Linton? He may think I'm being coquettish--a joke. Can't you tell him it's very serious? Nelly, if it's not too late, as soon as I know what he thinks So I'll choose between these two: either starve to death right away--that won't count as punishment, unless he has a heart--or get back to health and get out of the country, say, what you said about him Is it true? Be careful. Is he really so completely indifferent to my life?"

"Why, ma'am," I answered, "the master never thought of your madness, and certainly he is not afraid that you will starve yourself to death." "You don't think so? Can't you tell him I must die?" she retorted. "Persuade him to go! Say it's your own idea: say you're sure I'm going to die!" "No, you forget, Mrs. Linton," I reminded you, "you have eaten something very well to-night, and you will see you to-morrow." "As soon as I know I can kill him," she interrupted me, "I'll kill myself at once! I didn't close my eyes during these three dreadful nights—oh, I've been tortured! I gave Haunted, Nelly! But I began to suspect that you didn't like me. How strange! I thought that though everyone hated and despised each other, they couldn't help loving me. But in a few hours they all became Enemies: they have changed, and I am sure the people here have changed. Surrounded by their cold faces, how miserable it is to meet death! Isabella is afraid and disgusted, afraid to come here ;How dreadful it would be to watch Catherine die. Edgar stood solemnly watching it finish, then prayed and thanked God for peace in his house, and went back to his books! I am dying At that time, he was still dealing with books, what kind of heart did he have?"

I made her understand that Mr. Linton maintained the philosopher's resignation, and she could not stand it.She tossed and turned, became febrile and comatose, even to the point of madness, and bit the pillow with her teeth, and then stood up hot all over, asking me to open the window.We were then in the middle of winter, and the northeast wind was blowing hard, and I objected.The flashes of expression and changes in her face began to frighten me to death; and it reminded me of her last illness, and the doctor's warning that she must not be angry with her.She was fierce a minute ago, and now, throwing up one arm, and despite my refusal to obey her, she seemed to have found the childish relief of pulling feathers out of the slit she had just bitten in the pillow, sorting them. Arrange them one by one on the sheet: her mind has wandered to other associations.

"That's turkey's," she grumbled to herself, "and that's mallard's, and that's dove's. Oh, they put dove's feathers in the pillow—that's why I can't die! When I lie down, I'll be careful to throw it on the floor. It's a grouse's, and this - I'd know it among a thousand other feathers - is a lapwing. Beautiful bird, in the moor flying over our heads. He was going to his nest, because the clouds were rising, and he thought it was going to rain. This feather was picked up from the heath heath, and the bird missed. : We saw its nest in winter, and it was full of little bones. Heathcliff set a bird-trap on it, and the big birds didn't dare to come. I made him promise not to kill him after that time. There's a lapwing, and he hasn't shot it. Yes, there's more here! Didn't he kill any of my lapwings, Nelly? Are they red, or any of them? Let me see."

"Give up this childish trick!" I interrupted, dragging the pillow away and pressing the hole against the bedding, as she was plucking the contents out by the handful. "Lie down and close your eyes, you're dazed. What a mess! The hairs are flying like snowflakes." I pick hair everywhere. "I see, Nelly, you," she went on dreamily, "are an elderly woman: you have gray hair and sloping shoulders. This bed is a fairy cave under Peniston Rock, and you are Gather stone arrowheads used by imps to hurt our heifers; pretend they're wool when I'm near. That's what you'll be like in fifty years: I know you're not like that now. I'm not fainting: You're mistaken, or I'll have to believe you're really that dry old hag, and I'll think I'm really under Peniston Rock; I know it's night, and there's two candles on the table, Make that black cabinet as bright as black jade."

"Black cabinet? Where is it?" I asked. "You are talking in your sleep!" "It's against the wall, it's always been there," she answered. "It's queer--I see a face in it!" "There's no locker in this room, there never was," I said, and sat down in my seat again, drawing the curtains so I could stare at her. "Did you see that face?" she pressed, staring earnestly at the mirror. Anyway, I couldn't get her to understand that it was her own face.So I stood up and covered it with a scarf. "Still behind that!" She pestered endlessly. "It's moving. Who's that? I hope it won't come out when you're gone! Ah! Nelly, the house is haunted! I'm afraid to be alone!"

I took her hand and told her to be calm, for she was convulsed with shivering, and she was staring at the mirror. "There's no one else here!" I insisted. "That's yourself, Mrs. Linton, as you just now knew." "Myself!" she gasped, "the clock strikes twelve! There, it's true! That's terrible! " She gripped the dress tightly with her fingers and pulled it back over her eyes.I was about to sneak up to the door to call her husband, but a piercing scream called me back—the scarf fell from the frame. "Oh, what's going on?" I shouted. "Who's a coward now? Wake up! It's glass—a mirror, Mrs. Linton, and it's yourself you see in it, and I beside you."

Trembling and terrified, she hugged me tightly, but gradually the terror faded from her face; the pallor faded, and a flush of shame faded. "Oh, dear! I thought I was at home," she sighed. "I thought I was lying in my bedroom at Wuthering Heights. Because I was weak and my mind was confused, I screamed without knowing it. Don't say anything, just stay with me. I am afraid of sleep: my Dreams scare me." "A good night's sleep will do you good, ma'am," I answered, "and I hope you won't want to starve yourself any more after this ordeal." "Oh, if only I were in my own bed at home!" she went on bitterly, wringing her hands. "And the wind howling outside the window among the firs. Do let me feel the wind--it's blowing straight from the moor--don't let me breathe!" To calm her down, I opened the window for a few seconds.A cold wind rushed in; I closed the window and returned to my original position.She now lies peacefully, her face washed with tears.Physical weariness had completely subdued her spirit: our fierce Catherine was no better than a crying child. "How long have I shut myself here?" she asked, suddenly recovering. "That was Monday night," I answered, "and today is Thursday night, or rather Friday morning." "What! Is it still this week?" she called. "Is it such a short time?" "That's long enough to live on cold water and a bad temper," I said. "Well, it seems like an infinite number of hours have passed," she murmured doubtfully, "and there must be more. I remember being in the living room after their quarrel, and Edgar pissing me off so cruelly, I I ran as fast as I could into the room. As soon as I bolted the door, the darkness overwhelmed me, and I fell on the floor. I could not explain to Edgar how exactly I felt that if he had to mock me, I'll be sick, or crazy! I can't control my tongue or my mind anymore. He may not guess my grief. I just feel that I want to hide from him and his voice. Before I'm fully recovered I can see and hear It's dawn before I can. Nelly, I'm going to tell you what I've thought and what thoughts keep coming and coming and driving me crazy. I'm lying there with my head on the table leg , my eyes could see dimly the gray window-panes, and I thought I was at home on my oak-panelled bed. My heart ached with some terrific sorrow, but I had just woken up and Can't remember what the sadness was. I thought, struggling to find out what it was. The strangest thing is that the past seven years of my life have gone blank! I can't remember if there was a time. I was a child, my father was buried, and I began to mourn because Hindley ordered me to be separated from Heathcliff. For the first time, I was left alone, crying all night, and fainting Waking up from a sudden doze, I reached out to push the panels away: my hand touched the tabletop! I flicked along the rug, and the memory followed: my old grief was swallowed up by a sudden burst of despair. I can't tell why I feel so unlucky: it must be a temporary insanity, for there is hardly any reason. But if I were forced to leave the Hill at the age of twelve, every association of the past, everything about me , as Heathcliff was then, and at once was Lady Linton, matron of Thrushcross Grange, wife of a stranger: henceforth banished from my old world, a vagabond. You Imagine the abyss in which I sink! Shake your head and shake it, Nelly, you help him make me restless! You should tell Edgar that you really should, and tell him not to mess with me! Ah, My heart is on fire! Wish I was outside! Wish I was a girl again, savage, tough, free, any hurt would just make me laugh, not drive me crazy! Why did I get so bad? Why A few words make my blood so hot? I promise I'll wake up if I'm in the heath up there in the hills. Open the window again, open it and hook it! Come on, why don't you move?" "Because I don't want you to freeze to death," I replied. "You mean you don't want to give me a chance to live," she said angrily. "Anyway, I'm not helpless, I want to open it myself." I didn't have time to stop her, she had already slipped off the bed, she walked from one side of the room to the other, her footsteps were extremely unsteady, she leaned out after pushing the window open, and didn't care that the cold wind was cutting her shoulders like a sharp knife.I begged, and finally tried to pull her back by force.But I immediately found that her physical strength when she was insane greatly exceeded my physical strength (she was indeed insane, I only believed it after seeing her actions and nonsense).There is no moon, and everything below is hidden in dim darkness: not a ray of light shines from any house, far or near - all light has long been extinguished: the candlelight of Wuthering Heights, which is never seen here - —she still insisted that she saw them lighted. "Look!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, "that's my house, with candles in it, trees swinging in front of it, and a candle in Joseph's garret... Joseph sleeps late, doesn't he? He'll lock the gate when I get home. Well, he'll have to wait a while. It's a tough road, and it takes courage. And we'll have to pass Gimmerton Church on that road! We used to be together a lot Go, don't be afraid of the ghosts there, compare your guts with each other, stand among those graves and invite the ghosts to come. But, Heathcliff, if I challenge you now, will you dare? If you dare, I will accompany you. I Don't lie there alone: ​​they won't bury me a foot or two in the ground, and put the church on top of me, but I won't rest unless you're with me. I never will!" She stopped, and then began again with a strange smile: "He's thinking—he wants me to go to him! Find a way, then! Not through that church yard. you are too slow!You should be satisfied, you always follow me! " It seemed futile to argue with her madness, and I figured out how I could find some clothes to put on her without letting go.Because I worry about her alone in front of the open window.At this moment, to my great surprise, I heard the knock of the door handle, and Mr. Linton entered.He had just come out of his study, was walking down the corridor, heard us talking, and was driven by curiosity or fear to see what we were talking about in the middle of the night. "Ah, sir!" I exclaimed, and he was about to exclaim at the sight of the room, and the desolation, but I stopped him. "My poor mistress is sick, and she's got me! I can't help her. Come, please, and put her to bed. Forget your anger, for she's hard to listen to." of." "Is Catherine ill?" he said, coming hastily. "Close the window, Ellen! Catherine!how--" He was silent: Mrs. Linton's haggard look made him speechless with grief, and he could only look horribly at her and at me. "She's pissed right here," I went on, "and hardly eats, and never complains: she doesn't let anybody in, and I haven't been here until this evening. So we can't report her to you either, Because we don't know ourselves. But that's okay. " I thought I was explaining clumsily; the master frowned. "Nothing, is it, Alan Ding?" he said sternly. "You have to make it clear, why are you completely hiding it from me!" He put his arms around his wife and looked at her mournfully. At first she looked at him as if she did not know him: there was no such thing as him in her blank stare.The insanity wasn't constant, though, and her eyes stopped looking out into the darkness and gradually brought her attention to him, discovering who had her arms around her. "Ah! here you come, is it you, Edgar Linton?" said she, agitated with indignation. "You're one of those things that come out when you're least needed and never come when you're needed! I see we're going to have a lot of mourning these days—I see we're going to— But mourning can't keep me from going yonder to my little home: my resting place. I'll be there before spring is over, right there, remember, not in the middle of the Lintons under the church roof , but erect a tombstone in the open air. Would you like to go to their place or come to mine, it's up to you!" "Catherine, what's the matter with you?" said the master. "I don't matter to you anymore? Do you love that wretch Heath—" "Shut up!" cried Mrs. Linton. "Shut up now! If you mention that name again, I'll jump out of the window immediately and end this matter! What you meet before you can still possess it, but before you put your hand on me again, my soul is gone. Up there to the top of the hill. I don't want you, Edgar, the time for me to want you is past. Go back to your books. I'm glad you found comfort in them, because you're in my There is nothing in my heart." "Her mind is disturbed, sir," I put in. "She's been babbling all night. Let her rest and get proper care. She'll recover. From now on, we must be careful not to mess with her." "I don't want any more advice from you," replied Mr. Linton. "You know the character of your mistress, and you encouraged me to make her angry. You didn't give me any hints about how she has been for the past three days! What a heartless person! Months of illness can't cause such a thing. A change!" I started to justify myself.It is too much for me to be blamed for the waywardness of others. "I knew Mrs. Linton was obstinate and domineering," I cried, "but I didn't know you were willing to let her go! I didn't know I should pretend I didn't see Mr. Heathcliff in order to obey her. I tried my best." I have done my duty as a loyal servant to tell you that I am now paid to be a loyal servant, well, this will teach me to be more careful next time. Next time you go and find out by yourself!" "Next time you want to tell me the truth again, I will fire you, Ailun Ding." He replied. "Then, Mr. Linton, I suppose you would rather not know about it?" said I. "You allow Heathcliff to come and woo the lady, and to come in every time you The mistress dislikes you, doesn't she?" Although Catherine was disturbed, her mind followed our conversation sharply. "Ah! Nelly is a spy," she exclaimed excitedly. "Nelly's our hidden enemy. You witch! You're looking for the imp's stone arrowhead to hurt us! Let me go, I'll make her repent! I'll make her howl to correct what she said!" The lunatic's anger flared up under her brow.She struggled desperately to free herself from Mr. Linton's arms.Not wanting to wait for something to go wrong, I decided to make up my own mind: I went to the doctor for help, and left the bedroom. As I was passing through the garden to the road, at a place where a bridle hook was driven into the wall, I saw a white something move, evidently not caused by the wind, but by something else. move.In spite of my haste, I stopped to examine it carefully, otherwise I would later have left an idea in my imagination that it was a ghost.When I touched it, I was much more surprised and perplexed than I had been by looking at it, for I found that it was Miss Isabella's little dog, Fanny, hanging by a handkerchief, the last of which was left. out of breath.I hastened to release the animal and lift it into the garden.I have seen it go upstairs to sleep with its mistress, and wondered how it came outside, and what kind of villain treated it like this.While I was untying the knot on the hook, I seemed to hear again and again the sound of galloping horses' hoofs in the distance; but so many things occupied my thoughts that I was not allowed to think about it: although at two o'clock in the morning, in that place, The sound is strange. I was walking into the street when Mr. Kenneth had just come out of his house to see a sick man in the village.I reported Catherine Linton's condition, and he returned with me at once.He is a frank and simple person.He did not hesitate to say that he doubted whether she would survive this second blow unless she obeyed his instructions more than before. "Nelly Dean," said he, "I can't help thinking that there must be some other reason for this illness, and what's the matter at the Grange? We've heard strange stories here. A strong, vivacious woman like Catherine is Don't get sick over trifles. And people like that shouldn't. But it's not easy to get her fever down. How did it start?" "My master will tell you," I replied, "but you are acquainted with the Earnshaws' irascibility, and Mrs. Linton's are exceptional. All I can say is that it was caused by a quarrel. She was in a fit of rage It was like going mad. At least, that's what she said: because she ran away during the climax and locked herself up. Later, she refused to eat, and now she is babbling and sinking. In a semi-comatose state. She still recognizes people around her, but her mind is full of all kinds of strange thoughts and hallucinations." "Mr. Linton must be very sorry?" said Kenneth, inquiringly. "Sad? If anything happens, his heart will be broken!" I replied. "Don't frighten him if you don't have to." "Well, I told him to be careful," said my companion, "and he must suffer the same result by ignoring my warnings! Hasn't he been quite intimate with Mr. Heathcliff lately?" "Heathcliff often comes to the Grange," I answered, "but mostly by virtue of his mistress, who knew him when he was a boy, and not necessarily because she likes his company. He has no need of it at present." Calling again, because he has some fantasies about Miss Linton. I don't think he will come again." "Has Miss Linton ignored him?" asked the doctor again. "I'm not her confidant," I replied, unwilling to continue the matter. "No, she's a smart one," he said, shaking his head. "She's got her own ideas! But she's a real little fool. I've got word from reliable sources that she and Heathcliff were in the field behind your house last night (what a night!) Walked for more than two hours. He forced her not to go in again, and just got on his horse and walked with him! According to the person who reported to me, she promised to prepare and leave after the next meeting. Even if you fend him off, as for the next time, he didn't hear, but you must advise Mr. Linton to be careful!" The news filled me with new fears, and I ran ahead of Kenneth and almost all the way back.The puppy was still barking in the garden.I gave him a minute to open the door, but instead of going in, he sniffed up and down the grass, and would slip out to the road if I didn't catch him and bring him in.As soon as I went upstairs to Isabella's room, my suspicions were confirmed: there was no one there.If I had come an hour or two sooner, Mrs Linton's illness might have prevented her from this recklessness.But what else can you do now?If I go after them immediately, I may not be able to catch up with them.Anyway, I can't chase them.And I dared not alarm the whole family, and make them all bewildered; still less dared to reveal the matter to my master, who was too immersed in his present calamity to bear another grief!I couldn't see what to do but to keep quiet and let things be; Kenneth arrived, and I went to announce him with an ugly look.Catherine was in restless sleep: her husband had pacified her excessive frenzy, and now, leaning over her pillow, he watched every shadow, every change of her distressed face. The doctor, after examining the condition himself, told him hopefully that if only we could continue to maintain complete peace around her, the disease would be cured.But he predicted to me that the danger was not so much death as permanent insanity. I did not close my eyes that night, nor did Mr. Linton.Indeed, we never slept at all.The servants were up much earlier than usual, and they moved quietly about the house, talking in low tones when they met in business.Everyone was moving except Miss Isabella.They started talking about how soundly she slept.Her brother also asked her if she was up, as if anxious for her presence, and as if sad that she had shown such indifference to her sister-in-law.I trembled lest he send me to fetch her.But I spared the pain of being the first to announce her flight.A maid, a careless girl, who had been dispatched to Gimmerton early in the morning, ran up the stairs, panting heavily, and rushed into the bedroom, crying: "Oh, it's terrible, it's terrible! What kind of trouble are we going to make? My master, our lady—" "Stop making noise!" I yelled hastily, furious at her yelling. "Hold down, Mary—what's the matter?" said Mr. Linton. "What's the matter with you ladies?" "She's gone, she's gone! That Heathcliff has taken her away!" gasped the girl. "That can't be true!" cried Linton, rising excitedly. "It can't be true. How can you have this idea in your mind? Ding Ailun, go to her. This is unbelievable: impossible." As he spoke, he led the servant to the door, and repeatedly asked her why she had said such a thing. "Well, I met a boy on the way here for milk," she stammered, "and he asked if there was any trouble at our farm. I thought he meant the lady's illness, so I answered, Yeah. And he said, 'I suppose they've been chased?' I froze. He saw I didn't know anything about it, and he told me not long after midnight that there was a gentleman and a lady How horseshoeing at a smithy two miles from Gimmerton! And how the smith's girl got up and peeped to see who they were: she recognized them at once. She noticed the man—it was Heath Cliff, she's sure: no one would misjudge him, and—he paid a pound, and put it in his father's hand. The lady hid her face with her cloak; but she wanted to drink The cloak fell back in the water, and she had a good view of her. They rode on, Heathcliff took hold of the reins of both horses, and they turned away from the village, and in the rough Run as fast as you can on the road. The girl didn't tell her father, but she told it all over Gimmerton this morning." To make an appearance of perfunctory, I ran to look at Isabella's house; and when I returned, I confirmed the servant's statement.Mr. Linton sat down in his chair beside the bed.As soon as I came in, he raised his eyes, saw the meaning from my blank expression, then lowered his eyes, without ordering anything, and without saying a word. "Are we trying to chase her back?" I asked. "What shall we do?" "She will go of her own accord," answered the master, "and she may go where she has a right to love. Don't bother me about her. From now on she will be my sister only in name; It's not that I don't recognize her, it's because she doesn't recognize me." That was all he said on the matter: he asked no more questions, never mentioned her at all, except to order me, when I knew her new home, wherever Send them all to her.