Wuthering Heights, Page 6

  CHAPTER VI

  Mr. Hindley came home to the funeral; and--a thing that amazed us, andset the neighbours gossiping right and left--he brought a wife with him.What she was, and where she was born, he never informed us: probably, shehad neither money nor name to recommend her, or he would scarcely havekept the union from his father.

  She was not one that would have disturbed the house much on her ownaccount. Every object she saw, the moment she crossed the threshold,appeared to delight her; and every circumstance that took place abouther: except the preparing for the burial, and the presence of themourners. I thought she was half silly, from her behaviour while thatwent on: she ran into her chamber, and made me come with her, though Ishould have been dressing the children: and there she sat shivering andclasping her hands, and asking repeatedly--'Are they gone yet?' Then shebegan describing with hysterical emotion the effect it produced on her tosee black; and started, and trembled, and, at last, fell a-weeping--andwhen I asked what was the matter, answered, she didn't know; but she feltso afraid of dying! I imagined her as little likely to die as myself.She was rather thin, but young, and fresh-complexioned, and her eyessparkled as bright as diamonds. I did remark, to be sure, that mountingthe stairs made her breathe very quick; that the least sudden noise sether all in a quiver, and that she coughed troublesomely sometimes: but Iknew nothing of what these symptoms portended, and had no impulse tosympathise with her. We don't in general take to foreigners here, Mr.Lockwood, unless they take to us first.

  Young Earnshaw was altered considerably in the three years of hisabsence. He had grown sparer, and lost his colour, and spoke and dressedquite differently; and, on the very day of his return, he told Josephand me we must thenceforth quarter ourselves in the back-kitchen, andleave the house for him. Indeed, he would have carpeted and papered asmall spare room for a parlour; but his wife expressed such pleasure atthe white floor and huge glowing fireplace, at the pewter dishes anddelf-case, and dog-kennel, and the wide space there was to move about inwhere they usually sat, that he thought it unnecessary to her comfort,and so dropped the intention.

  She expressed pleasure, too, at finding a sister among her newacquaintance; and she prattled to Catherine, and kissed her, and ranabout with her, and gave her quantities of presents, at the beginning.Her affection tired very soon, however, and when she grew peevish,Hindley became tyrannical. A few words from her, evincing a dislike toHeathcliff, were enough to rouse in him all his old hatred of the boy. Hedrove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of theinstructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out ofdoors instead; compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on thefarm.

  Heathcliff bore his degradation pretty well at first, because Cathytaught him what she learnt, and worked or played with him in the fields.They both promised fair to grow up as rude as savages; the young masterbeing entirely negligent how they behaved, and what they did, so theykept clear of him. He would not even have seen after their going tochurch on Sundays, only Joseph and the curate reprimanded hiscarelessness when they absented themselves; and that reminded him toorder Heathcliff a flogging, and Catherine a fast from dinner or supper.But it was one of their chief amusements to run away to the moors in themorning and remain there all day, and the after punishment grew a merething to laugh at. The curate might set as many chapters as he pleasedfor Catherine to get by heart, and Joseph might thrash Heathcliff tillhis arm ached; they forgot everything the minute they were togetheragain: at least the minute they had contrived some naughty plan ofrevenge; and many a time I've cried to myself to watch them growing morereckless daily, and I not daring to speak a syllable, for fear of losingthe small power I still retained over the unfriended creatures. OneSunday evening, it chanced that they were banished from the sitting-room,for making a noise, or a light offence of the kind; and when I went tocall them to supper, I could discover them nowhere. We searched thehouse, above and below, and the yard and stables; they were invisible:and, at last, Hindley in a passion told us to bolt the doors, and sworenobody should let them in that night. The household went to bed; and I,too, anxious to lie down, opened my lattice and put my head out tohearken, though it rained: determined to admit them in spite of theprohibition, should they return. In a while, I distinguished stepscoming up the road, and the light of a lantern glimmered through thegate. I threw a shawl over my head and ran to prevent them from wakingMr. Earnshaw by knocking. There was Heathcliff, by himself: it gave me astart to see him alone.

  'Where is Miss Catherine?' I cried hurriedly. 'No accident, I hope?' 'AtThrushcross Grange,' he answered; 'and I would have been there too, butthey had not the manners to ask me to stay.' 'Well, you will catch it!'I said: 'you'll never be content till you're sent about your business.What in the world led you wandering to Thrushcross Grange?' 'Let me getoff my wet clothes, and I'll tell you all about it, Nelly,' he replied.I bid him beware of rousing the master, and while he undressed and Iwaited to put out the candle, he continued--'Cathy and I escaped fromthe wash-house to have a ramble at liberty, and getting a glimpse of theGrange lights, we thought we would just go and see whether the Lintonspassed their Sunday evenings standing shivering in corners, while theirfather and mother sat eating and drinking, and singing and laughing, andburning their eyes out before the fire. Do you think they do? Or readingsermons, and being catechised by their manservant, and set to learn acolumn of Scripture names, if they don't answer properly?' 'Probablynot,' I responded. 'They are good children, no doubt, and don't deservethe treatment you receive, for your bad conduct.' 'Don't cant, Nelly,'he said: 'nonsense! We ran from the top of the Heights to the park,without stopping--Catherine completely beaten in the race, because shewas barefoot. You'll have to seek for her shoes in the bog to-morrow. Wecrept through a broken hedge, groped our way up the path, and plantedourselves on a flower-plot under the drawing-room window. The light camefrom thence; they had not put up the shutters, and the curtains wereonly half closed. Both of us were able to look in by standing on thebasement, and clinging to the ledge, and we saw--ah! it was beautiful--asplendid place carpeted with crimson, and crimson-covered chairs andtables, and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold, a shower ofglass-drops hanging in silver chains from the centre, and shimmeringwith little soft tapers. Old Mr. and Mrs. Linton were not there; Edgarand his sisters had it entirely to themselves. Shouldn't they have beenhappy? We should have thought ourselves in heaven! And now, guess whatyour good children were doing? Isabella--I believe she is eleven, a yearyounger than Cathy--lay screaming at the farther end of the room,shrieking as if witches were running red-hot needles into her. Edgarstood on the hearth weeping silently, and in the middle of the table sata little dog, shaking its paw and yelping; which, from their mutualaccusations, we understood they had nearly pulled in two between them.The idiots! That was their pleasure! to quarrel who should hold a heapof warm hair, and each begin to cry because both, after struggling toget it, refused to take it. We laughed outright at the petted things; wedid despise them! When would you catch me wishing to have what Catherinewanted? or find us by ourselves, seeking entertainment in yelling, andsobbing, and rolling on the ground, divided by the whole room? I'd notexchange, for a thousand lives, my condition here, for Edgar Linton's atThrushcross Grange--not if I might have the privilege of flinging Josephoff the highest gable, and painting the house-front with Hindley'sblood!'

  'Hush, hush!' I interrupted. 'Still you have not told me, Heathcliff,how Catherine is left behind?'

  'I told you we laughed,' he answered. 'The Lintons heard us, and withone accord they shot like arrows to the door; there was silence, andthen a cry, "Oh, mamma, mamma! Oh, papa! Oh, mamma, come here. Oh, papa,oh!" They really did howl out something in that way. We made frightfulnoises to terrify them still more, and then we dropped off the ledge,because somebody was drawing the bars, and we felt we had better flee. Ihad Cathy by the hand, and was urging her on, when all at once she felldown. "Run, Heathcliff, run!" she whispered. "They have let the bull-doglo
ose, and he holds me!" The devil had seized her ankle, Nelly: I heardhis abominable snorting. She did not yell out--no! she would havescorned to do it, if she had been spitted on the horns of a mad cow. Idid, though: I vociferated curses enough to annihilate any fiend inChristendom; and I got a stone and thrust it between his jaws, and triedwith all my might to cram it down his throat. A beast of a servant cameup with a lantern, at last, shouting--"Keep fast, Skulker, keep fast!"He changed his note, however, when he saw Skulker's game. The dog wasthrottled off; his huge, purple tongue hanging half a foot out of hismouth, and his pendent lips streaming with bloody slaver. The man tookCathy up; she was sick: not from fear, I'm certain, but from pain. Hecarried her in; I followed, grumbling execrations and vengeance. "Whatprey, Robert?" hallooed Linton from the entrance. "Skulker has caught alittle girl, sir," he replied; "and there's a lad here," he added,making a clutch at me, "who looks an out-and-outer! Very like therobbers were for putting them through the window to open the doors tothe gang after all were asleep, that they might murder us at their ease.Hold your tongue, you foul-mouthed thief, you! you shall go to thegallows for this. Mr. Linton, sir, don't lay by your gun." "No, no,Robert," said the old fool. "The rascals knew that yesterday was myrent-day: they thought to have me cleverly. Come in; I'll furnish them areception. There, John, fasten the chain. Give Skulker some water,Jenny. To beard a magistrate in his stronghold, and on the Sabbath, too!Where will their insolence stop? Oh, my dear Mary, look here! Don't beafraid, it is but a boy--yet the villain scowls so plainly in his face;would it not be a kindness to the country to hang him at once, before heshows his nature in acts as well as features?" He pulled me under thechandelier, and Mrs. Linton placed her spectacles on her nose and raisedher hands in horror. The cowardly children crept nearer also, Isabellalisping--"Frightful thing! Put him in the cellar, papa. He's exactlylike the son of the fortune-teller that stole my tame pheasant. Isn'the, Edgar?"

  'While they examined me, Cathy came round; she heard the last speech, andlaughed. Edgar Linton, after an inquisitive stare, collected sufficientwit to recognise her. They see us at church, you know, though we seldommeet them elsewhere. "That's Miss Earnshaw?" he whispered to his mother,"and look how Skulker has bitten her--how her foot bleeds!"

  '"Miss Earnshaw? Nonsense!" cried the dame; "Miss Earnshaw scouring thecountry with a gipsy! And yet, my dear, the child is in mourning--surelyit is--and she may be lamed for life!"

  '"What culpable carelessness in her brother!" exclaimed Mr. Linton,turning from me to Catherine. "I've understood from Shielders"' (thatwas the curate, sir) '"that he lets her grow up in absolute heathenism.But who is this? Where did she pick up this companion? Oho! I declarehe is that strange acquisition my late neighbour made, in his journey toLiverpool--a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish castaway."

  '"A wicked boy, at all events," remarked the old lady, "and quite unfitfor a decent house! Did you notice his language, Linton? I'm shockedthat my children should have heard it."

  'I recommenced cursing--don't be angry, Nelly--and so Robert was orderedto take me off. I refused to go without Cathy; he dragged me into thegarden, pushed the lantern into my hand, assured me that Mr. Earnshawshould be informed of my behaviour, and, bidding me march directly,secured the door again. The curtains were still looped up at one corner,and I resumed my station as spy; because, if Catherine had wished toreturn, I intended shattering their great glass panes to a million offragments, unless they let her out. She sat on the sofa quietly. Mrs.Linton took off the grey cloak of the dairy-maid which we had borrowedfor our excursion, shaking her head and expostulating with her, Isuppose: she was a young lady, and they made a distinction between hertreatment and mine. Then the woman-servant brought a basin of warmwater, and washed her feet; and Mr. Linton mixed a tumbler of negus, andIsabella emptied a plateful of cakes into her lap, and Edgar stood gapingat a distance. Afterwards, they dried and combed her beautiful hair, andgave her a pair of enormous slippers, and wheeled her to the fire; and Ileft her, as merry as she could be, dividing her food between the littledog and Skulker, whose nose she pinched as he ate; and kindling a sparkof spirit in the vacant blue eyes of the Lintons--a dim reflection fromher own enchanting face. I saw they were full of stupid admiration; sheis so immeasurably superior to them--to everybody on earth, is she not,Nelly?'

  'There will more come of this business than you reckon on,' I answered,covering him up and extinguishing the light. 'You are incurable,Heathcliff; and Mr. Hindley will have to proceed to extremities, see ifhe won't.' My words came truer than I desired. The luckless adventuremade Earnshaw furious. And then Mr. Linton, to mend matters, paid us avisit himself on the morrow, and read the young master such a lecture onthe road he guided his family, that he was stirred to look about him, inearnest. Heathcliff received no flogging, but he was told that the firstword he spoke to Miss Catherine should ensure a dismissal; and Mrs.Earnshaw undertook to keep her sister-in-law in due restraint when shereturned home; employing art, not force: with force she would have foundit impossible.