Chapter 37 Chapter Thirty-Three

After that Monday, Earnshaw was still unable to do his usual work, and so lingered in the house, I soon found it impossible to assume the duties of my lady's care, as I had done before.She went downstairs before me, and ran into the garden, where she had seen her cousin doing some light work; and when I called them for breakfast, I saw that she had persuaded him A large clearing was cleared among the trees.Together they were busy planting plants that had been brought from the farm. I was terrified at the devastation that could be accomplished in half an hour; these blackcurrant trees were Joseph's treasure, and among them she chose the place for her flower-bed.

"Okay! Once this kind of thing is discovered," I cried, "it will be discovered by the master. What excuse do you have for disposing of the garden like this? When it comes to the end, we will have a big scene: if there is no How strange, Mr. Hareton, I don't understand how you can be so foolish as to do your mischief at her bidding!" "I forgot it was Joseph's," answered Earnshaw, a little petrified, "but I'll tell him I did it." We always dined with Mr. Heathcliff.Instead of the hostess, I poured tea and cut the meat.So I can't be missing at the dinner table.Catherine usually sat next to me, but today she stole closer to Hareton; and I saw at once that she was less cautious in friendship than she had been in hostility.

"Now, just remember not to talk too much to your cousin, and not to pay too much attention to him," was my whispered instruction as we entered the house. "That's sure to annoy Mr. Heathcliff, and he'll be angry with you both." "I wouldn't," she replied. A minute later, she leaned close to him, and planted some primroses in his porridge bowl. He dared not speak to her there—he hardly dared look at her; but she teased him, and twice he almost laughed.I frowned, and then she glanced at the master, who was thinking of other things and was not paying attention to the person with him, as could be seen from his face; He looked at him seriously.After this she turned her face away, and resumed her mischief; at last Hareton let out a suppressed laugh.Heathcliff started; his eyes scanned our faces quickly.Catherine looked back at him with her accustomed nervous yet contemptuous expression, which he hated most.

"It's a good thing I can't reach you," he called. "What's wrong with you, you keep staring at me with those fierce eyes? Lower your eyelids! Don't remind me that you still exist. I thought I had cured your laugh. " "It's me," murmured Hareton. "What did you say?" asked the host. Hareton, looking at his plate, did not repeat the words, and Mr. Heathcliff looked at him, and then resumed his breakfast in silence, thinking of his interrupted thoughts.We were almost done eating, and the two young men moved cautiously a little, so I expect there will be no more trouble then.Then Joseph appeared at the door, with trembling lips and fiery eyes showing that he had discovered the plunder of his precious bush.He must have seen Katie and her cousin there before he inspected the place, for then his jaws moved like a cow chewing its cud, and, in a difficult way of speaking, he began:

"Give me my wages, and I must go; I meant to die where I served sixty years; I thought I'd taken my books and all my odds and ends to the attic, and gave them the kitchen; Just for the sake of peace, it would be hard to leave my own fireside, but I think I could do it, but she took my garden too, in good conscience! Sir, I can't bear it Well, you can get hurt all you want--I'm not used to it; an old man can't get used to these new troubles all at once. I'd rather go out on the street with a hammer!" "Well, well, fool!" interrupted Heathcliff, "be quick! What are you complaining about? I don't care if you quarrel with Nelly, she can throw you in the coal-hole, I don't care."

"Nothing about Nelly!" replied Joseph. "I wouldn't go away for Nelly—she's pretty bad now. Thank God! She can't steal anybody's soul! She's never been pretty, who You can only blink to see her. That's your mischievous, impertinent queen, captivating our children with her bold eyes and her usual willful ways--until--no! It's breaking my heart! He's completely forgotten what I've done for him and how I've looked after him, and he's uprooted a whole row of the best currant trees in the garden!" Weeping aloud; the wrong he felt, combined with Earnshaw's ingratitude and his sense of danger, made him unmanly.

"Is the idiot drunk?" asked Mr. Heathcliff. "Hareton, is he picking on you?" "I've uprooted two or three trees," answered the young man, "but I'm going to plant them." "Why did you unplug them?" said the master. Catherine intervened intelligently. "We want to grow some flowers there," she called. "Just blame me, because I asked him to pull it out." "Which ghost allowed you to move a branch in that place?" her father-in-law asked.Very surprised. "And who told you to obey her?" she said, turning to Hareton again.

The latter was speechless; his cousin replied— "You shouldn't spare a few yards to beautify me, you've got all my land!" "Your land, you arrogant bitch! You never had any land!" said Heathcliff. "And my money," she went on, staring back at him, nibbling at a piece of bread she had left from her breakfast. "Shut up—" he cried, "it's over, get out of here!" "And Hareton's land and his money," followed the rambunctious thing. "Hareton and I are friends now, and I'll tell him all about you!" The master seemed to be taken aback for a moment.He grew pale, stood up, and kept looking at her with an expression of mortal hatred.

"If you hit me, Hareton will hit you," said she, "so sit down." "If Hareton doesn't get you out of this room, I'll blow him to hell," raged Heathcliff. "Damn the goblin! You find an excuse to provoke him against me? Let her go! Did you hear me? Throw her into the kitchen! Ding Ailun, if you let me see her again, I will kill her!" Hareton tried humbly to persuade her to go away. "Take her away!" he yelled wildly. "Are you going to stay here and talk?" He came closer to carry out his own orders. "He won't obey you, wicked man, never again!" said Catherine. "Soon he'll hate you as much as I do."

"Hush! Shh!" murmured the young man reproachfully. "I don't want you to talk to him like that. Come on." "But you won't let him hit me," she called. "Forget it, don't talk!" he whispered eagerly. Too late.Heathcliff had caught her. "Now, go away!" he said to Earnshaw. "Curse the goblin! This time she has pissed me off, and I will make her regret it forever!" He grabbed her by the hair.Hareton tried to release her curls from his grasp, and begged him to spare her this once.Heathcliff's dark eyes blazed.It seemed as though he intended to tear Catherine to pieces; and I had scarcely summoned up courage to risk my rescue when suddenly his fingers let go; his hand moved from her head to her shoulder, and gazed intently into her face.Then he stood for a moment with his hands over his eyes, evidently to collect himself, and turning again to Catherine, said with strained composure—"You must learn not to make me lose my temper, Or I'll really kill you some day! Go with Mrs Dean, stay with her, and tell her all your haughty things. As for Hareton Earnshaw, if I see him listening to you Yes, I'm going to drive him out, and leave him to fend for himself! Your love will make him a tramp and a beggar. Nelly, take her away; get away from me, all of you! Let me go!"

I took my lady out.Glad she had escaped, she made no attempt to resist; the other followed, and Mr. Heathcliff himself remained till lunchtime.I had persuaded Catherine to dine upstairs, but, as soon as he saw her vacant place, he sent me to her.He didn't speak to any of us, ate very little, and then went straight out, saying he wouldn't be back before evening. These two new friends occupied the hall in his absence; there I heard Hareton gravely preventing his cousin from exposing her father-in-law's conduct to his father.He said he would not suffer to speak a word against Heathcliff; if he were the devil, that did not matter, he was on his side; Mr. Heathcliff provoked, and Catherine was a little annoyed by the remark; but he managed to silence her, by asking Catherine if she would like it if he spoke ill of her father too.Thus she understood that Earnshaw regarded his master's honor as much as his own; that there was no tie between them which reason could break--it was a chain, forged by habit, which would be cruel to break.From that time she showed kindness, avoided complaints and objections to Heathcliff; and confessed to me that she was sorry for having tried to sow discord between him and Hareton.Indeed, I believe she never afterwards uttered a single word against her tyrant in Hareton's presence. After this slight feud passed, they became close again and kept busy with their various jobs as students and teachers.When I had finished my business, I went in and sat with them; I looked at them, so reassured and soothed that I did not notice how the time passed.They are both, you know, more or less my children: I have long been pleased with the one; and now, I dare say, the other will please me as well.His honest, gentle, and sensible nature quickly got rid of the ignorance and depravity with which he had been brought up; Catherine's sincere praise was an encouragement to his industry.The openness of his mind also graced his countenance, and added vigor and nobility to his countenance. I could hardly imagine this man on the day I found my lady at Wuthering Heights, after Catherine's expedition to the Rocks. The same person I saw.While I was admiring them and they were still working hard, the dusk was getting darker, and the master came back with him.He came to us quite unexpectedly, coming in through the front door, and before we had time to look up at him, he had all three of us in sight.Well, nothing could have been happier, or more harmless, I think; and it would be a great shame to scold them, for the red fires that shone on their fair heads both showed their A face full of youthful enthusiasm and childish interest.Because, although he is twenty-three years old and she is eighteen years old, they both still have a lot of new things to experience and learn, and neither of them has experienced or expressed calm and sober mature emotions. Together they raised their eyes to Mr. Heathcliff.Perhaps you have never noticed that their eyes are so much alike, Catherine Earnshaw's eyes.There was nothing like her in Catherine now except her broad forehead and slightly arched nose, which made her seem almost haughty, whether she wanted to or not.As for Hareton, the look was still further similar: it was marked at all times, but it was still more pronounced now; for his senses were being sharpened, and his intellect was awakening to a very active state.I suppose the resemblance softened Heathcliff: he came to the fire with evident agitation; but that agitation soon died away as he looked at the young man: or, I might say, it became It has changed its nature, because the excitement still exists.He took the book from Hareton's hand, glanced at the open page, and returned it to him without a word, and gestured to Catherine to go away.Her partner didn't stay long after she left either; I was about to leave too, but he told me to sit still. "It's a bad end, isn't it?" he said, after a moment's contemplation of what he had just witnessed. "Isn't it a funny end to the atrocities I've committed? Destroy both houses, and train myself to work like Hercules, and when all was ready and in my power, I found the will to lift a tile of either house Gone! My old enemies did not defeat me; now is the time for me to avenge their representatives: I can do it; no one can stop me. But what is the use? I do not want to strike; I It's too much trouble to even raise my hand! It's as if I've suffered all my life just to show magnanimity. Not so: I've lost the ability to appreciate their destruction, and I'm too lazy to do unnecessary destruction. "Nellie, there is a strange change approaching; I am in its shadow at present. I am so disinterested in my daily life that I hardly remember eating and drinking. The two who just came out of this room , for me, is the only thing that still retains a clear, substantial image; that image pains me, even hurts me. I don't want to say anything about her; Her presence can only evoke maddening sensations. He makes me feel differently; but if I can act like I'm not mentally ill, I'd rather never see him again! If I try to describe what he arouses With all the thousands of past associations and ideas I have or embody, you might think I am downright insane," he went on, with a forced smile, "but don't tell me what I tell you: my The heart has always been hidden like this, but in the end it has to be opened to another person. "Five minutes ago Hareton seemed an embodiment of my youth rather than a person, and he gave me so many feelings that it was impossible to treat him rationally. "In the first place, his astonishing resemblance to Catherine united him to her. That which you might think most excited my imagination, was in fact the least; for to me, which is not What is connected with her? What does not remind me of her: I can't look down at the floor of this room without seeing her face appear among the stones! In every cloud, every tree—filling the air at night, visible in everything by day—I am surrounded by her image! The most common faces of men and women—even my own— —all like her, all laughing at me. The whole world has become an astonishing collection of memorabilia, reminding me that she existed, and I've lost her! "Yes, Hareton's form is a phantom of my immortal love; and a phantom of my mad efforts to keep my power, my corruption, my pride, my happiness, and my sorrow— "But it is also madness to repeat these thoughts to you: but this will show you why, I do not like to be alone forever, and his company is useless: it simply adds to the constant torment I endure: it also So much so that I don't care how he gets on with his cousin afterward. I can't pay any more attention to them." "But what do you call a change, Mr. Heathcliff?" I said, terrified by his manner; though he did not appear to be in danger of insanity, nor would he die.As far as I can judge, he is quite strong; as for his reason, from his childhood he has been fond of thinking about strange things, full of strange fancies.He may have been a little paranoid about his dead idol; but in other respects he was as sound as I was. "I didn't know it until it came," he said. "I'm only vaguely aware of it now." "You don't feel sick, do you?" I asked. "No, Nelly, I'm not sick," he answered. "Then you are not afraid of death?" I asked again. "Afraid of death? No!" he replied. "I have no fear, no premonition, no longing for death. Why should I? With my sturdy build, sober lifestyle, and unadventurous work, I should, probably will, stay Waiting on the ground until I can't find a single black hair on my head. But I can't let this go on! I have to remind myself to breathe - almost remind my heart to beat! It's like putting a It is as if a stiff spring is bent; every action, even the slightest, is compelled, so long as it is not directed by that thought; Connection, I too am compelled to pay attention. I have but one desire, and my whole being and all my faculties yearn for that desire, longing for so long, so unwaveringly, that I am sure that it must be attained—and soon— —for this wish has ruined my existence: I am exhausted in the presentiment of its imminent fulfillment. My confession does not make me easy; but these words can explain the emotion I express, otherwise it cannot be explained Yes. Oh, God! It's a long fight; I hope it's over!" He began to walk up and down the room, muttering horrible things to himself, which gradually convinced me (he said Joseph believed it too) that conscience had made his heart a hell on earth.I am very surprised how this will end.Although he seldom showed this state of mind before, and he didn't even show it on his face, but his usual mood must be like this, and I have no doubts.He himself admitted it; but from his general appearance no one would have guessed the fact.It did not occur to you, Mr. Lockwood, when you first met him, that even at the period of which I speak he was the same as ever, only more solitary, and less talkative perhaps.