Chapter 32

First visit to the Heights

01 It struck me at once that Miss Cathy must have started for the rocks. I pushed through a gap which the man was repairing, and walked mile after mile until I was in view of the Heights, but I could see no sign of her. The rocks lie about a mile and a half beyond the Heights, and I began to fear that night would fall before I could reach them.

02 'I wonder whether she has slipped in climbing,' I thought, 'and been killed, or broken her bones?'

03 My anxiety was painful, and at first I was truly glad to recognize, in hurrying past the farmhouse, the fiercest of our dogs lying under a window with a bleeding ear. I opened the gate and knocked violently at the door. A woman I knew, who had been a servant at the Heights since the death of Mr Hindley, answered.

04 'Ah!' she said, 'you've come looking for your little mistress. Don't be frightened. She's here safe, but I'm glad it isn't the master.'

05 'He's not home, then?' I asked.

06 'No, no,' she replied. 'He won't return for an hour or more. Step in and rest a bit.'

07 I entered, and found my wandering lamb seated by the fire, in a little chair that had been her mother's when a child. Her hat was hung against the wall, and she seemed perfectly at home, laughing and talking in the happiest manner imaginable to Hareton—now a great strong youth of eighteen—who was looking at her with a good deal of curiosity and astonishment.

08 'Well, Miss,' I exclaimed, hiding my joy under an angry look. 'This is your last ride, till Papa comes back. I'll not trust you outside the house again, you naughty, naughty girl! Put that hat on and come home at once.'

09 'What have I done?' she wept, losing her high spirits instantly. 'Papa won't scold me—he's never disagreeable like you, Ellen.'

10 'No,' said the servant, 'don't be hard on the pretty one, Mrs Dean. We made her stop. She wished to ride back, afraid that you would be anxious, but Hareton offered to go with her, and I thought he should, as it's a rough road.'

11 'How long am I to wait?' I went on, taking no notice. 'It will be dark in ten minutes.'

12 I picked up her hat, and approached to put it on her, but she, seeing quite well that the people in the house were on her side, began dancing round the room. When I gave chase, she ran like a mouse over and under and behind the furniture. Hareton and the woman laughed, and Cathy joined them, making fun of me, until I cried in great annoyance:

13 'Well, Miss Cathy, if you knew whose house this is, you'd be glad to get out.'

14 'It's your father's, isn't it?' she said, turning to Hareton.

15 'No,' he replied, looking down with a reddening face.

16 'Whose then—your master's?' she asked.

17 His face became redder still, and he turned away.

18 'I thought he was the owner's son,' the naughty girl continued to me. 'He talked of "our" house, and he never said "miss" to me. He should have done, shouldn't he, if he's a servant?'

19 Hareton looked black as a thundercloud.

20 'Now get my horse,' she said, 'and you may come with me. Make haste! What's the matter?'

21 With a curse, the youth told her he was not her servant.

22 Cathy could not believe what she had heard. She, who was always 'queen' and 'dearest' at home, to be called bad names!

23 'But Ellen,' she cried, 'how dare he speak so to me? You wicked thing, I shall tell Papa what you said!'

24 Hareton did not appear to feel this threat, so the tears came into her eyes.

25 'You bring my pony,' she exclaimed, turning to the woman.

26 'Take care, Miss,' she answered. 'You'll lose nothing by being polite. Mr Hareton is your cousin, and I was never hired to serve you.'

27 'He my cousin!' cried Cathy, with a scornful laugh. 'Why, Papa has gone to fetch my cousin from London. That my ... She stopped, and wept at the mere idea.

28 I was much annoyed with her and the servant for what they had made known to one another. I had no doubt that the expected arrival of Isabella's son would be reported to Mr Heathcliff, and I felt sure that on her father's return Cathy's first thought would be to ask an explanation of Hareton's claim to relationship.

29 Hareton, recovering from his disgust at being mistaken for a servant, seemed upset by her unhappiness, and having fetched her pony to the door, he took, to please her, a fine little dog from the stable, and putting it into her Hand, told her to cry no more, as he did not mean any harm. She paused in her weeping, looked at him in horror, and began all over again.

30 I could hardly help smiling that she should turn away from the poor fellow, who was a well-made, active youth, good-looking, strong and healthy, though dressed in clothes suited to his daily occupation of working on the farm. Still, I thought I could observe in his face better qualities than his father ever possessed. Mr Heathcliff, I believed, had not done him any bodily harm, as a result of his fearless nature. He had directed all his energies to keeping the boy uncivilized. He was never taught to read or write, never cured of any bad habit, never led one single step towards a good one.

31 Miss Cathy refused the peace offering of the little dog, and we started for home. I could not find out from my little lady how she had spent her day, except that, as I had supposed, she had set out for the rocks, and that as she passed the farmhouse gate, Hareton had come out, and his dogs had attacked hers. There was a fierce battle before their owners could separate them, and that formed an introduction. Cathy asked Hareton the way to the rocks, and he ended by taking her and showing her the cave.

32 I saw that Hareton had been a favourite till she had hurt his feelings. I had hard work before I could persuade her not to mention the matter to her father. I explained how he objected to everybody at Wuthering Heights, and how sorry he would be to hear that she had been there, and how, if she told him I had neglected his orders, perhaps he would be so angry that I should have to leave. Cathy could not bear this last possibility, so she promised to be silent, and she kept her word, for my sake. After all, she was a sweet little girl.