FOR some days after that evening
Mr. Heathcliff shunned meeting
us at meals; yet he would not
consent formally to exclude Hareton
and Cathy. He had an aversion
to yielding so completely to
his feelings, choosing rather
to absent himself; and eating
once in twenty-four hours seemed
sufficient sustenance for him.
One night, after the family
were in bed, I heard him go downstairs,
and out at the front door. I
did not hear him re-enter, and
in the morning I found he was
still away. We were in April
then: the weather was sweet and
warm, the grass as green as showers
and sun could make it, and the
two dwarf apple-trees near the
southern wall in full bloom.
After breakfast, Catherine insisted
on my bringing a chair and sitting
with my work under the fir-trees
at the end of the house; and
she beguiled Hareton, who had
perfectly recovered from his
accident, to dig and arrange
her little garden, which was
shifted to that corner by the
influence of Joseph's complaints.
I was comfortably revelling in
the spring fragrance around,
and the beautiful soft blue overhead,
when my young lady, who had run
down near the gate to procure
some primrose roots for a border,
returned only half laden, and
informed us that Mr. Heathcliff
was coming in. 'And he spoke
to me,' she added, with a perplexed
countenance.
'What did he say?' asked Hareton.
'He told me to begone as fast
as I could,' she answered. 'But
he looked so different from his
usual look that I stopped a moment
to stare at him.'
'How?' he inquired.
'Why, almost bright and cheerful.
No, ALMOST nothing - VERY MUCH
excited, and wild, and glad!'
she replied.
'Night-walking amuses him,
then,' I remarked, affecting
a careless manner: in reality
as surprised as she was, and
anxious to ascertain the truth
of her statement; for to see
the master looking glad would
not be an every-day spectacle.
I framed an excuse to go in.
Heathcliff stood at the open
door; he was pale, and he trembled:
yet, certainly, he had a strange
joyful glitter in his eyes, that
altered the aspect of his whole
face.
'Will you have some breakfast?'
I said. 'You must be hungry,
rambling about all night!' I
wanted to discover where he had
been, but I did not like to ask
directly.
'No, I'm not hungry,' he answered,
averting his head, and speaking
rather contemptuously, as if
he guessed I was trying to divine
the occasion of his good humour.
I felt perplexed: I didn't
know whether it were not a proper
opportunity to offer a bit of
admonition.
'I don't think it right to
wander out of doors,' I observed,
'instead of being in bed: it
is not wise, at any rate this
moist season. I daresay you'll
catch a bad cold or a fever:
you have something the matter
with you now!'
'Nothing but what I can bear,'
he replied; 'and with the greatest
pleasure, provided you'll leave
me alone: get in, and don't annoy
me.'
I obeyed: and, in passing,
I noticed he breathed as fast
as a cat.
'Yes!' I reflected to myself,
'we shall have a fit of illness.
I cannot conceive what he has
been doing.'
That noon he sat down to dinner
with us, and received a heaped-up
plate from my hands, as if he
intended to make amends for previous
fasting.
'I've neither cold nor fever,
Nelly,' he remarked, in allusion
to my morning's speech; 'and
I'm ready to do justice to the
food you give me.'
He took his knife and fork,
and was going to commence eating,
when the inclination appeared
to become suddenly extinct. He
laid them on the table, looked
eagerly towards the window, then
rose and went out. We saw him
walking to and fro in the garden
while we concluded our meal,
and Earnshaw said he'd go and
ask why he would not dine: he
thought we had grieved him some
way.
'Well, is he coming?' cried
Catherine, when her cousin returned.
'Nay,' he answered; 'but he's
not angry: he seemed rarely pleased
indeed; only I made him impatient
by speaking to him twice; and
then he bid me be off to you:
he wondered how I could want
the company of anybody else.'
I set his plate to keep warm
on the fender; and after an hour
or two he re-entered, when the
room was clear, in no degree
calmer: the same unnatural -
it was unnatural - appearance
of joy under his black brows;
the same bloodless hue, and his
teeth visible, now and then,
in a kind of smile; his frame
shivering, not as one shivers
with chill or weakness, but as
a tight-stretched cord vibrates
- a strong thrilling, rather
than trembling.
I will ask what is the matter,
I thought; or who should? And
I exclaimed - 'Have you heard
any good news, Mr. Heathcliff?
You look uncommonly animated.'
'Where should good news come
from to me?' he said. 'I'm animated
with hunger; and, seemingly,
I must not eat.'
'Your dinner is here,' I returned;
'why won't you get it?'
'I don't want it now,' he muttered,
hastily: 'I'll wait till supper.
And, Nelly, once for all, let
me beg you to warn Hareton and
the other away from me. I wish
to be troubled by nobody: I wish
to have this place to myself.'
'Is there some new reason for
this banishment?' I inquired.
'Tell me why you are so queer,
Mr. Heathcliff? Where were you
last night? I'm not putting the
question through idle curiosity,
but - '
'You are putting the question
through very idle curiosity,'
he interrupted, with a laugh.
'Yet I'll answer it. Last night
I was on the threshold of hell.
To-day, I am within sight of
my heaven. I have my eyes on
it: hardly three feet to sever
me! And now you'd better go!
You'll neither see nor hear anything
to frighten you, if you refrain
from prying.'
Having swept the hearth and
wiped the table, I departed;
more perplexed than ever.
He did not quit the house again
that afternoon, and no one intruded
on his solitude; till, at eight
o'clock, I deemed it proper,
though unsummoned, to carry a
candle and his supper to him.
He was leaning against the ledge
of an open lattice, but not looking
out: his face was turned to the
interior gloom. The fire had
smouldered to ashes; the room
was filled with the damp, mild
air of the cloudy evening; and
so still, that not only the murmur
of the beck down Gimmerton was
distinguishable, but its ripples
and its gurgling over the pebbles,
or through the large stones which
it could not cover. I uttered
an ejaculation of discontent
at seeing the dismal grate, and
commenced shutting the casements,
one after another, till I came
to his.
'Must I close this?' I asked,
in order to rouse him; for he
would not stir.
The light flashed on his features
as I spoke. Oh, Mr. Lockwood,
I cannot express what a terrible
start I got by the momentary
view! Those deep black eyes!
That smile, and ghastly paleness!
It appeared to me, not Mr. Heathcliff,
but a goblin; and, in my terror,
I let the candle bend towards
the wall, and it left me in darkness.
'Yes, close it,' he replied,
in his familiar voice. 'There,
that is pure awkwardness! Why
did you hold the candle horizontally?
Be quick, and bring another.'
I hurried out in a foolish
state of dread, and said to Joseph
- 'The master wishes you to take
him a light and rekindle the
fire.' For I dared not go in
myself again just then.
Joseph rattled some fire into
the shovel, and went: but he
brought it back immediately,
with the supper-tray in his other
hand, explaining that Mr. Heathcliff
was going to bed, and he wanted
nothing to eat till morning.
We heard him mount the stairs
directly; he did not proceed
to his ordinary chamber, but
turned into that with the panelled
bed: its window, as I mentioned
before, is wide enough for anybody
to get through; and it struck
me that he plotted another midnight
excursion, of which he had rather
we had no suspicion.
'Is he a ghoul or a vampire?'
I mused. I had read of such hideous
incarnate demons. And then I
set myself to reflect how I had
tended him in infancy, and watched
him grow to youth, and followed
him almost through his whole
course; and what absurd nonsense
it was to yield to that sense
of horror. 'But where did he
come from, the little dark thing,
harboured by a good man to his
bane?' muttered Superstition,
as I dozed into unconsciousness.
And I began, half dreaming, to
weary myself with imagining some
fit parentage for him; and, repeating
my waking meditations, I tracked
his existence over again, with
grim variations; at last, picturing
his death and funeral: of which,
all I can remember is, being
exceedingly vexed at having the
task of dictating an inscription
for his monument, and consulting
the sexton about it; and, as
he had no surname, and we could
not tell his age, we were obliged
to content ourselves with the
single word, 'Heathcliff.' That
came true: we were. If you enter
the kirkyard, you'll read, on
his headstone, only that, and
the date of his death.
Dawn restored me to common
sense. I rose, and went into
the garden, as soon as I could
see, to ascertain if there were
any footmarks under his window.
There were none. 'He has stayed
at home,' I thought, 'and he'll
be all right to-day.' I prepared
breakfast for the household,
as was my usual custom, but told
Hareton and Catherine to get
theirs ere the master came down,
for he lay late. They preferred
taking it out of doors, under
the trees, and I set a little
table to accommodate them.
On my re-entrance, I found
Mr. Heathcliff below. He and
Joseph were conversing about
some farming business; he gave
clear, minute directions concerning
the matter discussed, but he
spoke rapidly, and turned his
head continually aside, and had
the same excited expression,
even more exaggerated. When Joseph
quitted the room he took his
seat in the place he generally
chose, and I put a basin of coffee
before him. He drew it nearer,
and then rested his arms on the
table, and looked at the opposite
wall, as I supposed, surveying
one particular portion, up and
down, with glittering, restless
eyes, and with such eager interest
that he stopped breathing during
half a minute together.
'Come now,' I exclaimed, pushing
some bread against his hand,
'eat and drink that, while it
is hot: it has been waiting near
an hour.'
He didn't notice me, and yet
he smiled. I'd rather have seen
him gnash his teeth than smile
so.
'Mr. Heathcliff! master!' I
cried, 'don't, for God's sake,
stare as if you saw an unearthly
vision.'
'Don't, for God's sake, shout
so loud,' he replied. 'Turn round,
and tell me, are we by ourselves?'
'Of course,' was my answer;
'of course we are.'
Still, I involuntarily obeyed
him, as if I was not quite sure.
With a sweep of his hand he cleared
a vacant space in front among
the breakfast things, and leant
forward to gaze more at his ease.
Now, I perceived he was not
looking at the wall; for when
I regarded him alone, it seemed
exactly that he gazed at something
within two yards' distance. And
whatever it was, it communicated,
apparently, both pleasure and
pain in exquisite extremes: at
least the anguished, yet raptured,
expression of his countenance
suggested that idea. The fancied
object was not fixed, either:
his eyes pursued it with unwearied
diligence, and, even in speaking
to me, were never weaned away.
I vainly reminded him of his
protracted abstinence from food:
if he stirred to touch anything
in compliance with my entreaties,
if he stretched his hand out
to get a piece of bread, his
fingers clenched before they
reached it, and remained on the
table, forgetful of their aim.
I sat, a model of patience,
trying to attract his absorbed
attention from its engrossing
speculation; till he grew irritable,
and got up, asking why I would
not allow him to have his own
time in taking his meals? and
saying that on the next occasion
I needn't wait: I might set the
things down and go. Having uttered
these words he left the house,
slowly sauntered down the garden
path, and disappeared through
the gate.
The hours crept anxiously by:
another evening came. I did not
retire to rest till late, and
when I did, I could not sleep.
He returned after midnight, and,
instead of going to bed, shut
himself into the room beneath.
I listened, and tossed about,
and, finally, dressed and descended.
It was too irksome to lie there,
harassing my brain with a hundred
idle misgivings.
I distinguished Mr. Heathcliff's
step, restlessly measuring the
floor, and he frequently broke
the silence by a deep inspiration,
resembling a groan. He muttered
detached words also; the only
one I could catch was the name
of Catherine, coupled with some
wild term of endearment or suffering;
and spoken as one would speak
to a person present; low and
earnest, and wrung from the depth
of his soul. I had not courage
to walk straight into the apartment;
but I desired to divert him from
his reverie, and therefore fell
foul of the kitchen fire, stirred
it, and began to scrape the cinders.
It drew him forth sooner than
I expected. He opened the door
immediately, and said - 'Nelly,
come here - is it morning? Come
in with your light.'
'It is striking four,' I answered.
'You want a candle to take up-
stairs: you might have lit one
at this fire.'
'No, I don't wish to go up-stairs,'
he said. 'Come in, and kindle
ME a fire, and do anything there
is to do about the room.'
'I must blow the coals red
first, before I can carry any,'
I replied, getting a chair and
the bellows
He roamed to and fro, meantime,
in a state approaching distraction;
his heavy sighs succeeding each
other so thick as to leave no
space for common breathing between.
'When day breaks I'll send
for Green,' he said; 'I wish
to make some legal inquiries
of him while I can bestow a thought
on those matters, and while I
can act calmly. I have not written
my will yet; and how to leave
my property I cannot determine.
I wish I could annihilate it
from the face of the earth.'
'I would not talk so, Mr. Heathcliff,'
I interposed. 'Let your will
be a while: you'll be spared
to repent of your many injustices
yet! I never expected that your
nerves would be disordered: they
are, at present, marvellously
so, however; and almost entirely
through your own fault. The way
you've passed these three last
days might knock up a Titan.
Do take some food, and some repose.
You need only look at yourself
in a glass to see how you require
both. Your cheeks are hollow,
and your eyes blood- shot, like
a person starving with hunger
and going blind with loss of
sleep.'
'It is not my fault that I
cannot eat or rest,' he replied.
'I assure you it is through no
settled designs. I'll do both,
as soon as I possibly can. But
you might as well bid a man struggling
in the water rest within arms'
length of the shore! I must reach
it first, and then I'll rest.
Well, never mind Mr. Green: as
to repenting of my injustices,
I've done no injustice, and I
repent of nothing. I'm too happy;
and yet I'm not happy enough.
My soul's bliss kills my body,
but does not satisfy itself.'
'Happy, master?' I cried. 'Strange
happiness! If you would hear
me without being angry, I might
offer some advice that would
make you happier.'
'What is that?' he asked. 'Give
it.'
'You are aware, Mr. Heathcliff,'
I said, 'that from the time you
were thirteen years old you have
lived a selfish, unchristian
life; and probably hardly had
a Bible in your hands during
all that period. You must have
forgotten the contents of the
book, and you may not have space
to search it now. Could it be
hurtful to send for some one
- some minister of any denomination,
it does not matter which - to
explain it, and show you how
very far you have erred from
its precepts; and how unfit you
will be for its heaven, unless
a change takes place before you
die?'
'I'm rather obliged than angry,
Nelly,' he said, 'for you remind
me of the manner in which I desire
to be buried. It is to be carried
to the churchyard in the evening.
You and Hareton may, if you please,
accompany me: and mind, particularly,
to notice that the sexton obeys
my directions concerning the
two coffins! No minister need
come; nor need anything be said
over me. - I tell you I have
nearly attained MY heaven; and
that of others is altogether
unvalued and uncovered by me.'
'And supposing you persevered
in your obstinate fast, and died
by that means, and they refused
to bury you in the precincts
of the kirk?' I said, shocked
at his godless indifference.
'How would you like it?'
'They won't do that,' he replied:
'if they did, you must have me
removed secretly; and if you
neglect it you shall prove, practically,
that the dead are not annihilated!'
As soon as he heard the other
members of the family stirring
he retired to his den, and I
breathed freer. But in the afternoon,
while Joseph and Hareton were
at their work, he came into the
kitchen again, and, with a wild
look, bid me come and sit in
the house: he wanted somebody
with him. I declined; telling
him plainly that his strange
talk and manner frightened me,
and I had neither the nerve nor
the will to be his companion
alone.
'I believe you think me a fiend,'
he said, with his dismal laugh:
'something too horrible to live
under a decent roof.' Then turning
to Catherine, who was there,
and who drew behind me at his
approach, he added, half sneeringly,
- 'Will YOU come, chuck? I'll
not hurt you. No! to you I've
made myself worse than the devil.
Well, there is ONE who won't
shrink from my company! By God!
she's relentless. Oh, damn it!
It's unutterably too much for
flesh and blood to bear - even
mine.'
He solicited the society of
no one more. At dusk he went
into his chamber. Through the
whole night, and far into the
morning, we heard him groaning
and murmuring to himself. Hareton
was anxious to enter; but I bid
him fetch Mr. Kenneth, and he
should go in and see him. When
he came, and I requested admittance
and tried to open the door, I
found it locked; and Heathcliff
bid us be damned. He was better,
and would be left alone; so the
doctor went away.
The following evening was very
wet: indeed, it poured down till
day-dawn; and, as I took my morning
walk round the house, I observed
the master's window swinging
open, and the rain driving straight
in. He cannot be in bed, I thought:
those showers would drench him
through. He must either be up
or out. But I'll make no more
ado, I'll go boldly and look.'
Having succeeded in obtaining
entrance with another key, I
ran to unclose the panels, for
the chamber was vacant; quickly
pushing them aside, I peeped
in. Mr. Heathcliff was there
- laid on his back. His eyes
met mine so keen and fierce,
I started; and then he seemed
to smile. I could not think him
dead: but his face and throat
were washed with rain; the bed-clothes
dripped, and he was perfectly
still. The lattice, flapping
to and fro, had grazed one hand
that rested on the sill; no blood
trickled from the broken skin,
and when I put my fingers to
it, I could doubt no more: he
was dead and stark!
I hasped the window; I combed
his black long hair from his
forehead; I tried to close his
eyes: to extinguish, if possible,
that frightful, life-like gaze
of exultation before any one
else beheld it. They would not
shut: they seemed to sneer at
my attempts; and his parted lips
and sharp white teeth sneered
too! Taken with another fit of
cowardice, I cried out for Joseph.
Joseph shuffled up and made a
noise, but resolutely refused
to meddle with him.
'Th' divil's harried off his
soul,' he cried, 'and he may
hev' his carcass into t' bargin,
for aught I care! Ech! what a
wicked 'un he looks, girning
at death!' and the old sinner
grinned in mockery. I thought
he intended to cut a caper round
the bed; but suddenly composing
himself, he fell on his knees,
and raised his hands, and returned
thanks that the lawful master
and the ancient stock were restored
to their rights.
I felt stunned by the awful
event; and my memory unavoidably
recurred to former times with
a sort of oppressive sadness.
But poor Hareton, the most wronged,
was the only one who really suffered
much. He sat by the corpse all
night, weeping in bitter earnest.
He pressed its hand, and kissed
the sarcastic, savage face that
every one else shrank from contemplating;
and bemoaned him with that strong
grief which springs naturally
from a generous heart, though
it be tough as tempered steel.
Mr. Kenneth was perplexed to
pronounce of what disorder the
master died. I concealed the
fact of his having swallowed
nothing for four days, fearing
it might lead to trouble, and
then, I am persuaded, he did
not abstain on purpose: it was
the consequence of his strange
illness, not the cause.
We buried him, to the scandal
of the whole neighbourhood, as
he wished. Earnshaw and I, the
sexton, and six men to carry
the coffin, comprehended the
whole attendance. The six men
departed when they had let it
down into the grave: we stayed
to see it covered. Hareton, with
a streaming face, dug green sods,
and laid them over the brown
mould himself: at present it
is as smooth and verdant as its
companion mounds - and I hope
its tenant sleeps as soundly.
But the country folks, if you
ask them, would swear on the
Bible that he WALKS: there are
those who speak to having met
him near the church, and on the
moor, and even within this house.
Idle tales, you'll say, and so
say I. Yet that old man by the
kitchen fire affirms he has seen
two on 'em looking out of his
chamber window on every rainy
night since his death:- and an
odd thing happened to me about
a month ago. I was going to the
Grange one evening - a dark evening,
threatening thunder - and, just
at the turn of the Heights, I
encountered a little boy with
a sheep and two lambs before
him; he was crying terribly;
and I supposed the lambs were
skittish, and would not be guided.
'What is the matter, my little
man?' I asked.
'There's Heathcliff and a woman
yonder, under t' nab,' he blubbered,
'un' I darnut pass 'em.'
I saw nothing; but neither
the sheep nor he would go on
so I bid him take the road lower
down. He probably raised the
phantoms from thinking, as he
traversed the moors alone, on
the nonsense he had heard his
parents and companions repeat.
Yet, still, I don't like being
out in the dark now; and I don't
like being left by myself in
this grim house: I cannot help
it; I shall be glad when they
leave it, and shift to the Grange.
'They are going to the Grange,
then?' I said.
'Yes,' answered Mrs. Dean,
'as soon as they are married,
and that will be on New Year's
Day.'
'And who will live here then?'
'Why, Joseph will take care
of the house, and, perhaps, a
lad to keep him company. They
will live in the kitchen, and
the rest will be shut up.'
'For the use of such ghosts
as choose to inhabit it?' I observed.
'No, Mr. Lockwood,' said Nelly,
shaking her head. 'I believe
the dead are at peace: but it
is not right to speak of them
with levity.'
At that moment the garden gate
swung to; the ramblers were returning.
'THEY are afraid of nothing,'
I grumbled, watching their approach
through the window. 'Together,
they would brave Satan and all
his legions.'
As they stepped on to the door-stones,
and halted to take a last look
at the moon - or, more correctly,
at each other by her light -
I felt irresistibly impelled
to escape them again; and, pressing
a remembrance into the hand of
Mrs. Dean, and disregarding her
expostulations at my rudeness,
I vanished through the kitchen
as they opened the house-door;
and so should have confirmed
Joseph in his opinion of his
fellow-servant's gay indiscretions,
had he not fortunately recognised
me for a respectable character
by the sweet ring of a sovereign
at his feet.
My walk home was lengthened
by a diversion in the direction
of the kirk. When beneath its
walls, I perceived decay had
made progress, even in seven
months: many a window showed
black gaps deprived of glass;
and slates jutted off here and
there, beyond the right line
of the roof, to be gradually
worked off in coming autumn storms.
I sought, and soon discovered,
the three headstones on the slope
next the moor: on middle one
grey, and half buried in the
heath; Edgar Linton's only harmonized
by the turf and moss creeping
up its foot; Heathcliff's still
bare.
I lingered round them, under
that benign sky: watched the
moths fluttering among the heath
and harebells, listened to the
soft wind breathing through the
grass, and wondered how any one
could ever imagine unquiet slumbers
for the sleepers in that quiet
earth.
End of The Project Gutenberg
Etext of Wuthering Heights by
Emily Bronte
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