Chapter 27 Chapter Twenty-Three

Night rain brought a misty morning—frost and drizzle—and a makeshift brook crossed our trail—babbling down from the heights.My feet were all wet; I was in a bad mood and listless, just for the most unpleasant things of this kind.We entered by the kitchen passage, and arrived at the farmhouse, first ascertaining whether Mr. Heathcliff was really not at home: for I doubt much of his own affirmations. Joseph seemed to be sitting alone in a kind of bliss, beside a roaring fire; on the table next to him was a glass of ale, in which stood a large toast; pipe.Catherine ran to the fire to warm herself.I asked the master if he was at home?I didn't get an answer to my question for a long time. I thought the old man was a little deaf, so I repeated it even louder.

"No-yes!" he growled, the sound coming out of his nose rather. "No—yes! Go back wherever you came from." "Joseph!" cried a complaining voice from the back room at the same time as I did. "How many times shall I call you? There is only a little red ashes left. Joseph! Come at once." He puffed vigorously, and stared fixedly at the grate to show that he hadn't heard the request at all.Neither the butler nor Hareton were to be seen; the one was presumably out on business, and the other was busy with his.We recognized Linton's voice, and entered.

"Oh, I wish you were dead in the garret, starving!" said the boy, who mistook us for his insolent footman when he heard us come in. He stopped as soon as he saw his mistake, and his cousin ran towards him. "Is that you, Miss Linton?" he said, looking up from the arm of the large chair on which he leaned. "Don't—don't kiss me; it's taking my breath away. My God! Daddy said you'd come," he went on, recovering a little after Catherine embraced; I look very regretful. "Close the door, will you, please? You left the door open; those—those damned things won't add coal to the fire. It's so cold!"

I stirred the embers, and fetched a scuttle of coal myself.The sick man complained of soot all over him; but he coughed and looked as if he were sick with a fever, so I didn't reprimand him for his temper. "Hello, Linton," murmured Catherine, when his frown had parted, "do you like to see me? What can I do for you?" "Why didn't you come before?" he asked. "You should have come, no need to write. I'm sick of writing these long letters. I'd rather talk to you. I can't stand talking now, and I can't get anything done. Don't know where Zira is ! Could you (look at me) go into the kitchen and have a look?"

I have been doing this and that for him, but I have not heard him thank you; I do not want to run around under his orders anymore, and I replied-- "No one was there except Joseph." "I want a drink of water," he cried annoyedly, turning away. "Zillah's been swinging up to Gimmerton a lot since papa left, what a pity! I've had to come down here and stay—they're always trying not to hear me upstairs." "Is your father taking good care of you, Master Heathcliff?" I asked, seeing Catherine's friendly gestures thwarted. "Nursing? At least he told them to take too much care," he yelled. "Those scoundrels! Do you know, Miss Linton, that wild Hareton still laughs at me! I hate him! I hate them all, indeed: they're a lot of nasty fellows."

Katie started looking for water; she found a bottle of water in the cupboard, filled a mug, and brought it.He ordered her to add a spoonful of wine from a bottle on the table; after drinking a little, he grew calmer, and said she was very kind. "Do you like to see me?" she repeated her old question, and was pleased to see a slight smile on his face. "Yes, I do, and it's a novelty to hear a voice like yours!" he replied. "But I was troubled because you wouldn't come. Father swore it was because of me; he called me a poor, grotesque, worthless thing, and said you despised me; and said that if he was in In my position, he'll be more of the Grange than your father is then. But you don't despise me, do you, miss—?"

"I would like you to call me Catherine, or Katie," my lady interrupted him. "Despise you? No! I love you more than any man alive, save papa and Ellen. I don't love Mr. Heathcliff, though; and when he comes back, I dare not come. He's going to go away a lot." God?" "Not many days," answered Linton; "but he has been out often in the moor since the season began; and you can keep me an hour or two in his absence, and promise me you will come. I don't think I will." You don't get me mad by losing your temper with you, and you always want to help me, don't you?"

"Yes," Catherine said, stroking his long, soft hair. "If I can get papa's permission, I will spend half my time with you. Pretty Linton! I wish you were my brother." "Then you'll like me as much as your father?" he said, more cheerfully than before. "But Dad said, if you were my wife, you'd love me more than him and the world, so I'd rather you be my wife." "No, I'll never love anyone more than Dad," she retorted sternly. "Sometimes people hate their wives, but not their brothers and sisters. If you're the younger brother, you can live with us and Daddy will like you as much as he likes me."

Linton denied that people could hate their wives; but Katie was sure they would, and, in a moment of wit, cited as an example his own father's dislike of her aunt.I tried to stop her thoughtless babbling, but couldn't, she poured out all she knew.Master Heathcliff was greatly annoyed, and insisted that her account was all false. "Dad told me. Dad doesn't tell lies." She said abruptly. "My father despises your father," cried Linton. "He called him a sneaky nerd." "Your father is a vicious man," retorted Catherine. "It is abominable that you dare repeat what he said. He must have been very vicious to make Aunt Isabella leave him."

"She didn't leave him," said the boy, "don't contradict me." "She is," cried my lady. "Well, I'll tell you something too!" said Linton. "Your mother hates your father, so what?" "Ah!" exclaimed Catherine, too angry to speak. "And she loves my father," he added. "You little liar! I hate you now!" she gasped, her face flushed with excitement. "She is! She is!" cried Linton.Slumped in his chair, his head was thrown back to admire the excitement of the debater standing behind him. "Shut up, Master Heathcliff?" said I. "I reckon that's your father's story, too."

"No: you shut up!" he replied. "She is, she is, Catherine! She is, she is! " Cathy, unable to restrain herself, gave Linton's chair a sudden push, which threw him down on one of the arms.He immediately had a choking cough that quickly ended his victory.He coughed for so long that even I was frightened.As for his cousin, she burst into tears, terrified at what she had done; though she said nothing.I held him and waited until he had had enough of coughing.Then he pushed me away and silently hung his head.Catherine, too, stifled her weeping, and sat down on the opposite chair, looking solemnly at the fire. "How do you feel now, Master Heathcliff?" I asked after waiting ten minutes. "I wish she could feel what I've been through," he answered. "Damn, cruel thing! Hareton never touched me; he never beat me. I'm better today than-- ’ His voice died away in a whimper. "I didn't hit you!" Katie grunted, biting her lip to prevent another outburst. He sighed and groaned like a man in great pain.He hummed for a quarter of an hour; evidently on purpose to upset his cousin, for every time he heard her choking sobs he added a little more pain and sorrow to his cadence. "I'm sorry I hurt you, Linton," she said at last, overwhelmed. "But a little push like that, and I shouldn't be hurt, and I didn't think you would. You're not badly hurt, are you, Linton? Don't let me go home thinking I hurt you. Pay attention to me." Come on! Talk to me." "I can't talk to you," he grumbled. "You hurt me, and I'll be up all night coughing and gasping for breath. If you've got it, you'll know what it's like; but I When you were suffering, you slept comfortably, and no one was with me. I wonder how you would feel if you lived through those dreadful long nights!" He began to cry out of pity for himself. "Since you are in the habit of passing dreadful nights," said I, "it is not Miss who has disturbed your peace; if she does not come, you will. At any rate, she will not disturb you again; perhaps You'll be quieter when we leave you." "Must I go?" asked Catherine, bending over him sadly. "Would you like me to go, Linton?" "You can't change what you've done," he replied impatiently, avoiding her, "unless you change it for the worse and drive me into a fever." "Well, then, I must go," she repeated. "At least, leave me here alone," he said. "I can't stand talking to you." She hesitated, and I tried to persuade her to go, but she just didn't listen.But since he didn't look up or speak, she finally walked towards the door, and I followed.We were called back by a scream.Linton slid from his chair onto the hearth-stone, and lay writhing there like a wayward, stalking child, deliberately trying to look as sad and tormented as possible.His behavior made me see through his character, and I saw immediately that it would be foolish to accommodate him.My companion didn't think so: she ran back in terror, knelt down, screamed, comforted and begged, until he grew quiet, in no way from remorse at seeing her distressed. "I'll take him to the settee," I said, "and he can roll all he likes. We can't stop and watch him. I hope you're satisfied, Miss Catty, because you can't He's a good man; and his health isn't made of any attachment to you. Now, well, let him be there! Come on, and as soon as he knows his nonsense is ignored, he'll Lie quietly." She put a cushion under his head and gave him a little water to drink.He refused to drink water and tossed and turned uncomfortably on the cushion as if it were a rock or a piece of wood.She tried to make it more comfortable. "I don't want that," he said. "It's not tall enough." Catherine brought another cushion and added it to it. "Too high," grumbled the obnoxious thing. "So what am I supposed to do?" she asked desperately. He leaned on her, and since she was half kneeling by the bench, he used her shoulder as a kind of leaning. "No, that won't do," said I; "you will be content with the cushions, Master Heathcliff. Miss has wasted too much time on you: we can't stay five minutes longer." "No, no, we can!" Katie replied. "Now he's well enough to bear it. He's beginning to think that if I think it's my visit that made him so ill, I'm sure I'll have a worse night than him. Then I won't Dare to come again. Tell the truth, Linton; if I hurt you, I cannot come. " "You must come and heal me," he replied. "You ought to come because you hurt me: you know you hurt me badly! I wasn't so sick when you came in—did I?" "But you made yourself ill with your crying and fussing—it wasn't me," said his cousin. "Anyway, now we're going to be friends. And you need me: You also like to see me sometimes, is it true? " "I already told you I would," he replied impatiently. "Sit on the bench and let me on your lap. Mother always does that, all afternoon. Sit still and don't talk: but if you can sing you can sing; or you can Say a long, good, funny ballad—you promised to teach me; or tell a story. I'd rather have a ballad, though! Come on." Catherine recited the longest one she could remember.This incident pleased them both.Linton would have another, and another, when it was over, and another, in spite of my strenuous objections; and thus they went on till the clock struck twelve, and we heard Hareton in the yard, returning to lunch. "To-morrow, Catherine, will you come tomorrow?" asked little Heathcliff, tugging at her dress as she barely rose. "No," I replied, "not the day after tomorrow." She obviously gave a different answer, for his forehead brightened as she leaned over to whisper something in his ear. "You can't come tomorrow, remember, miss!" I said as we walked out of the house. "You're not dreaming, are you?" she smiles. "Oh, I'm going to be very careful," I went on, "I'm going to fix that lock, so you can't get away." "I can climb walls," she said, laughing. "The Grange is not a prison, Ellen, and you are not my guard. Besides, I am nearly seventeen, and I am a woman. I promise if Linton has me to look after her." He, he'll get better soon. I'm older, you know, wiser and less boyish, aren't I? A little sweet talk and he'll listen to me. When he's all right, he He's a pretty little baby. If he was in my family, I'd take him like a baby. We never quarrel, and when we get to know each other, will we? Don't you like him, Ellen?" "Love him!" I yelled. "A very ill-tempered little invalid who barely made it into his teens. Happily, as Heathcliff expected, he won't live to be twenty. Really, I doubt he'll ever see spring. Whenever he died, it was not a loss to his family. It was good luck for us, because his father took him away: the more kindly he was treated, the more troublesome and selfish he was. I am sorry Glad you didn't have the chance of having him as your husband, Miss Catherine." My companion became serious as he listened to this passage.To speak of his death so casually hurt her feelings. "He's younger than I am," she answered, after a moment's thought, "and he ought to live a long time, if he--he must live as long as I do. He's as strong now as he was when he first came to the North, that's all." I'm sure. He just had a cold, just like Dad, and you said Dad would be fine, so why wouldn't he?" "Well, well," I cried, "we needn't trouble ourselves anyhow; listen, miss—remember, I mean what I say—if you're going to Wuthering Heights again, I'll be with you. With or without me, I will tell Mr. Linton that your intimacy with your cousin must never be restored unless he gives his permission." "Healed," Katie purred stubbornly. "Then it must not go on," I said. "We'll see," was her answer, and she galloped off, leaving me to toil behind. We were all home before dinner; my master thought we were wandering in the garden, and asked no explanation of our absence.I hastened to change my soaked shoes and stockings as soon as I came in; but sitting so long at the Heights has led to trouble.I could not rise the next morning, and for three weeks I was unable to perform my duties: a calamity such as had never been experienced before then, and, thank God, has not been since. My little mistress behaved like an angel, to attend to me, and to cheer me up when I was lonely.This confinement made me very depressed.For a busy and active person, it is really boring.But compared with others, I have almost no reason to complain.Catherine appeared at my bedside as soon as she left Mr. Linton's room.Her day was divided between the two of us; no minute was lost: meals, books, and games were all she neglected, and she was a rare and agreeable nurse.When she loves her father so much, she can still care about me so much, she must have a passionate heart.I said she divided the whole of her day between us; but the master went to bed early, and I usually didn't need anything after six o'clock, so that the evening was her own.poor thing!It never occurred to me what she did after tea.Though now and then, when she came in to look at me and say goodnight, I saw a bright color in her face, and a slight flush in her slender fingers.But I didn't expect that the color came from riding a horse across the wilderness in the severe cold, but I thought it was from warming up in the study.