Chapter 14

Unlucky words

01 My warning of Mr Hindley's arrival soon drove Edgar to his horse, and Catherine to her room. I went in haste to hide little Hareton, and to take the shot out of the master's gun, for fear that in his excited condition he should do harm.

02 Earnshaw entered, murmuring curses terrible to hear, and caught me just as I was putting his son out of sight. He picked up the boy, shouting and kicking, as the child had an equal terror of his fondness and of his fury. The drunken father carried him upstairs, and paused unsteadily, looking down at me, as I begged him to take care. A noise below made him lean forward. Hareton gave a sudden spring, delivered himself from the careless grasp that held him, and fell.

03 At the exact moment Heathcliff arrived underneath, and by a natural movement, caught the child and set him on his feet. His face became dark with anger when he looked up and realized that he had made himself responsible for preventing his own revenge.

04 Earnshaw came slowly down, a little ashamed.

05 'It's your fault,' he said to me. 'You should have kept him out of sight. Is he hurt?'

06 'Hurt!' I cried angrily. 'I wonder that his mother doesn't rise from her grave to see how you treat him!'

07 He took a bottle of wine and poured some into a glass, impatiently ordering us to go.

08 I carried the child into the kitchen, and sat down to calm him. Heathcliff, as I thought, walked through to the stable. I found out afterwards that he only got as far as the other side of the high-backed kitchen bench, behind which he sat unseen.

09 I was nursing Hareton on my knee, when Cathy put her head in at the door, and whispered:

10 'Are you alone, Nelly?'

11 'Yes, Miss.'

12 'Where's Heathcliff?'

13 'Doing his work in the stable.'

14 He did not call out that this was not so. Perhaps he was half asleep.

15 A long pause followed. A tear fell from Catherine's cheek.

16 'Oh!' she cried at last. 'I'm very unhappy!'

17 'That's a pity,' I replied. 'You're hard to please: so many friends and so few cares, and can't make yourself contented.'

18 'Nelly, will you keep a secret for me?' She knelt down beside me in her most charming manner. 'I want to know what I should do. Today Edgar Linton has asked me to marry him. I accepted him. Be quick, and say whether I was wrong.'

19 'Do you love him?'

20 'Who can help it? Of course I do.'

21 'Why do you love him, Miss Cathy?'

22 'Well, because he's very good-looking, and pleasant to be with.'

23 'That's bad.'

24 'And he'll be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman in the district.'

25 'Then why are you unhappy? Your brother will be pleased. The old lady and gentleman won't object, I think. You will escape from a disorderly, comfortless home into a wealthy, respectable one. Where is the difficulty?'

26 'Here—and here!' replied Catherine, putting one hand on her forehead and the other on her breast. 'In whichever place the soul lives. In my soul and in my heart, I'm certain I'm wrong.'

27 She seated herself by me. Her face became sadder and her hands trembled.

28 'I have no right to marry Edgar Linton, and if that wicked brother of mine had not brought Heathcliff to such a low state, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now, so he shall never know how I love him—and that, not because he's good-looking, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am.'

29 I heard a slight movement before the speech ended. I turned my head and saw Heathcliff rise from a seat and creep out. He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him, and then he stayed no longer.