Chapter 33 Chapter Twenty Nine

The evening after the funeral my lady and I sat in the study; now brooding sadly on our loss--one of us brooding hopelessly, now speculating on the bleak future. We have just agreed that the best fate for Catherine is to allow her to remain at the Grange; at least as long as Linton lives; and to allow him to come and stay with her, while I remain housekeeper.That seemed too favorable an arrangement to have hoped for; yet I hoped for it, and thought of keeping my home, my office, and, above all, my lovely young mistress, I began to rejoice; but at this moment a servant--one who had been dismissed but not gone--hurried in hastily, saying that "that devil Heathcliff" was coming across the yard; would he Bar the door in his presence?

Even if we were really angry and ordered him to bolt the door, it would be too late.In spite of politeness, he did not knock at the door, or announce his name: he was the master, and taking advantage of his privilege, walked in without saying a word.The voice of our informant ushered him into the study; he entered, a sign made him go out, and closed the door. It was the same room he had been introduced to as a guest eighteen years earlier: the same moon shone in through the window; the same autumn landscape outside.We had not yet lighted a candle, but the whole room was plainly seen, even the portraits on the walls: Mrs Linton's handsome head, and her husband's elegant head.Heathcliff went to the fire.Time hadn't changed him much either.It was the same man: his darkened face was a little yellower and calmer, and his body, perhaps weighing a stone or two, was not different.Catherine stood up as soon as she saw him and wanted to rush out.

① Stone—the name of weight, often used to express weight, which is equal to fourteen pounds, and varies from object to object in practice. "Stop!" he said, taking her arm. "Don't run away again! Where are you going? I have come to bring you home; I want you to be a dutiful daughter-in-law and stop encouraging my son to be disobedient. When I found out he was involved in this I don't know how to punish him when it happened, he's such a spider's web that a catch would kill him; but when you see him you'll know he's got what he deserves! Someday In the evening, the day before yesterday, I brought him downstairs, and put him on a chair, and never touched him again. I told Hareton to go out, and we were both in the house. I called Joseph in two hours. Take him up-stairs again; I have been haunting his nerves since then like an inescapable ghost in his presence; and I reckon he can often see me, even when I am not there, said Hareton. He used to stay awake for hours at night, crying out to you to protect him from me; whether you liked your precious companion or not, you must go: now he is yours; I give you all my interest in him."

"Why don't you keep Catherine here," I begged, "and send Master Linton to her, for if you hate them both, you won't miss them in their absence; they will only harden your heart." It's just troubles every day." "I want a lodger for the Grange," he answered, "and of course I want my children to be with me. Besides, that girl has bread to eat and work to do. I don't intend to make her Pamper yourself and do nothing. Now, hurry up and get ready, don't make me force you." "I'm going," said Catherine. "Linton is all I could love in the world. Though you have tried to make him disgusting to me and me to him, you cannot make us hate each other. I am not afraid when I am around If you hurt him, I'm not afraid of you scaring me!"

"You are a boastful warrior," replied Heathcliff, "but I would not hurt him for liking you; and you will be tortured as long as you can. I did not make him disgusting to you." —It was his own good nature that disgusted you. He resented your abandonment and its consequences; expect no thanks for your noble love. I heard him describe very vividly to Qilah what would happen to him if he As strong as I am, he will do so; he already has the mind, and his weakness is making his wits sharper to seek a substitute for strength." "I know he's bad," said Catherine, "and he's your son. But I'm glad I'm better and can forgive him; and I know he loves me, and I love him. Mr. Heathcliff, You have no one to love you; however miserable you have made us, we are avenged when we think that your cruelty springs from your greater sorrow. You are miserable, are you not? Lonely, devilish, and devilishly jealous too? No one loves you—no one cries for you when you die! I wouldn't want to be you!"

Catherine spoke with a tone of bleak triumph.She seemed determined to enter into the spirit of her future family, and to take pleasure in the sorrow of her enemy. "If you stand there another minute, you'll be sorry for your airs," said her father-in-law. "Go away, goblin, and pack up your things!" She backed away contemptuously.When she was gone, I started demanding Zilla's place at the Heights, begging to give her mine; but he wouldn't grant it at all.He told me to be silent; then, for the first time, he allowed himself to look around the room, and at the portraits.After perusing Mrs. Linton's portrait, he said: "I'll take it home. Not because I need it, but—" He turned sharply to the fire with a kind of expression I couldn't find better. It must have been a sort of smile, for the sake of the word, and he went on: "I will tell you what I was doing yesterday! I found the sexton who dug Linton's grave, and told him to take her coffin The cover was parted, and I opened the coffin. I thought for a moment that I would be buried there, too; and I saw her face again—her likeness!—and it was with great difficulty that he moved away. Fuck me; but he said if the wind blows it'll change, so I knocked the side of the coffin loose, and covered it with earth; not by Linton's side, fuck him! I'd lead him Hold. I bribed the grave-digger to pull it out, and my body, when I was buried there; and I'll do it this way: When Linton comes to us, he won't be able to tell which Which one is it!"

"You are very vicious, Mr. Heathcliff!" I exclaimed. "Are you not ashamed to disturb the dead?" "I'm not disturbing anybody, Nelly," he answered, "I'm just giving myself a little peace. I'll be much more comfortable now; and you'll be able to keep me lying underground when I get there. Did she touch her? No! She disturbed me day and night, eighteen years—continuously—without mercy—until last night; last night I was at peace, and I dreamed that I leaned Sleeping my last, my heart stopped beating, my face cold against hers." "If she's melted into the dirt, or worse; what are you dreaming about?" I said.

"Dream of melting away with her, and being happier!" he replied. "Do you think I'm afraid of a change like that? When I lifted the lid, I was expecting a change like this: but I'm glad it hasn't started yet, until I change with it. And, unless it's in my head Clearly stamped the impression of her icy countenance, otherwise the strange feeling would have been hard to get rid of. It started weirdly. You know I went crazy after she died; every day I prayed for her forever The spirits come back to me! I believe in ghosts, I believe they can and do live among us! It snowed the day she was buried. I went to the cemetery at night. The wind was as cold as winter— It's desolate all around. I'm not afraid that her bastard husband is wandering into this glen so late; and no one else has business to go there. I'm alone, and I know that only two yards of loose soil are between us. The only obstacle in between, I said to myself—'I'll hold her in my arms again! If she's cold, I'll think it's the north wind that's blowing me cold; if she doesn't move, she's sleep.' I got a shovel from the tool-shed, and started digging with all my might—reached the coffin; I worked with my hands; the wood began to creak around the nail; I was about to get My target, when I thought I heard someone sigh above, right by the grave, and leaned down. 'If I could get this off' I murmured, 'I wish they'd cover us both with earth I pushed harder. In my ear, there was another sigh. I seemed to feel that the warmth of that sigh had replaced the wind with rain and snow. I knew that there were no living creatures of flesh and blood around me; but, Just as one feels something alive approaching in the dark without being able to discern what it was, so I felt Katie there with certainty: not at my feet, but on the ground. A sudden lightness. Feelings welled up from my heart and ran through my extremities. I gave up my mournful work, and immediately found consolation: unspeakable consolation. She was with me, she lingered while I filled the grave again, And led me home again. Laugh if you will; but I am sure I saw her there. I am sure she was with me, and I could not help talking to her. At the Heights, I rushed to the door Before. The door was locked; I remember that accursed Earnshaw and my wife would not let me in. I remember I stopped, kicked him out of breath, and hurried upstairs to my room and In her room. I looked around impatiently--I felt her beside me--I could almost see her, but I couldn't see her! I was about to bleed, out of agonizing longing-- —Just look at her, out of fanatical prayers! I can't even see her. Just as she did in life she played tricks on me! And, more or less, I've been more or less haunted by that intolerable Torment's teasing! Hell! My nerves are always so tense; if they hadn't been gut-gut, they would have loosened to Linton's feebleness. When I sat in the room with Hareton as if I would meet her as soon as I went out; as if I would meet her as soon as I went back .When I get out of the house, I'm busy going back; I'm sure!She must be somewhere on the estate, and while I was sleeping in her room—I had to come out.I could not lie down; for as soon as I closed my eyes she was either out of the window, or slipped through the pane, or came in, or even laid her lovely head on my pillow, as she did when she was a child.And I had to open my eyes and see.So I opened and closed my eyes a hundred times in one night - always disappointed!It tortures me!I used to moan so loudly that old hooligan Joseph must have thought it was my conscience playing tricks on me.Now that I've seen her, I'm calm -- a little calmer.That's a strange way of killing: not inch by inch, but cut by strands like strands of hair, which has been tempting me for eighteen years with ghostly hopes! "

Heathcliff stopped and wiped his brow; his hair stuck to it and was soaked with perspiration.His eyes were fixed on the red embers of the fireplace, his eyebrows were not furrowed, but were raised high close to his temples, reducing the gloomy look on his face, but there was a special troubled look, and there was a look on his face. That pained expression of inner tension when you are concentrating on something.He was only half talking to me and I kept silent.I don't like hearing him talk!After a moment he resumed his meditation on the portrait, took it down, leaned it against the sofa to contemplate it better, and was looking so intently when Catherine entered, announcing that she was ready , as soon as her pony was saddled.

"Bring it over to-morrow," said Heathcliff to me; then, turning to her, he added: "You don't need your pony: the weather isn't bad to-night, and you won't need one at Wuthering Heights." ;whatever journey you make, your own feet will serve you. Come." "Good-bye, Ellen!" whispered my dear little mistress.When she kissed me her lips were like ice. "Come and see me, Ellen, don't forget." "Be careful you don't do such things, Mrs. Dean!" said her new father. "When I want to talk to you, I will come here. I don't want you sneaking into my house!"

He gestured to her to go ahead of him; she glanced back, which pierced my heart, and she obeyed.I watched them from the window as they walked along the garden.Heathcliff took Catherine's arms between his; though she evidently objected at first; and he strode her into the path, where the trees hid them from view.