Chapter 36

Second visit to the Heights

01 Cathy gave Mr Heathcliff several looks, as if she could not exactly decide what to think of him, but now he smiled, and softened his voice when addressing her, and I was foolish enough to imagine that the memory of her mother might persuade him not to do her harm.

02 Linton stood by the fireplace. He had been out walking in the fields, and was calling for Joseph to bring him dry shoes. He had grown tall, and his face was still pretty, and his eye and skin healthier than I remembered them.

03 'Now, who is that?' asked Mr Heathcliff, turning to Cathy.

04 Cathy looked doubtfully from one to the other.

05 'Your son?' she said.

06 'Yes,' he answered. 'You have a short memory. Linton, don't you remember your cousin, whom you were always wishing to see?'

07 'What, Linton!' cried Cathy, in joyful surprise. 'Is that really little Linton? He's taller than I am!'

08 She sprang forward and kissed him. They stared in wonder at the changes that time had made in their appearance. Cathy had reached her full height, and she shone with health and spirits. Linton's looks and movements lacked energy, but there was a certain grace in his manner.

09 Cathy turned to Heathcliff. 'And you are my uncle, then!' she cried, reaching up to kiss him also. 'I thought I liked you, though you were disagreeable at first. Why don't you visit the Grange with Linton? Naughty Ellen!' she continued, turning to me, 'wicked Ellen, to try to hinder me from entering!'

10 'Don't waste your kisses on me,' said her uncle, scarcely hiding his disgust. 'I think I'd better tell you, Mr Linton has a prejudice against me. We quarrelled at one time in our lives. If you mention your visit here, he will forbid you to come again.'

11 'Why did you quarrel?' asked Cathy, greatly surprised and disappointed.

12 'He thought me too poor to marry his sister,' answered Heathcliff, 'and was upset when I got her.'

13 'That's wrong!' said the young lady. 'Some time I'll tell him so. But Linton and I have no share in your quarrel. I'll not come here, but he shall come to the Grange.'

14 'It is too far,' murmured her cousin. 'To walk four miles would kill me.'

15 The father looked with bitter scorn at his son.

16 'Have you nothing to show your cousin?' he said. 'Take her into the garden before you change your shoes.'

17 'Wouldn't you rather sit here?' Linton asked Cathy, rather unwillingly.

18 'I don't know,' she replied, glancing at the door.

19 He kept his seat, and drew closer to the fire. Heathcliff rose and called out for Hareton. Hareton replied and soon appeared. He had been washing himself, as was noticeable by his shining cheeks, and his wetted hair.

20 'That's not my cousin, Uncle, is he?' cried Cathy.

21 'Yes,' he replied. 'Your mother's nephew. Don't you like him?'

22 Cathy looked uncertain. She reached up and whispered a sentence in Heathcliff's ear. He laughed, and Hareton's face became dark. But his master, or guardian, chased the displeasure away by exclaiming:

23 'You'll be the favourite among us, Hareton! She said something very nice about you. Go round the farm with her, and behave like a gentleman. Don't use any bad words, and don't fix your eyes on her, and speak slowly, and keep your hands out of your pockets.'

24 He watched the pair walking past the window. Hareton would not look at his companion.

25 'I've tied his tongue,' remarked Heathcliff with satisfaction. 'He'll be afraid to say a word. Nelly, you remember me at his age—no, a few years younger—did I ever look so stupid?'

26 'Worse,' I replied, 'because more evil-tempered.'

27 'I've a pleasure in him,' he continued. 'If he were a born fool I should not enjoy it half as much. I can sympathize with all his feelings, having felt them myself. He'll never be able to escape from his coarseness and ignorance, because I've taught him to take a pride in his condition. I've got him faster than his father ever had me. And the best of it is, Hareton is extremely fond of me. If his father could rise from the grave and accuse me of wronging his child, that child would fight him to protect me as his one friend in the world!'

28 He gave a wicked laugh. Meanwhile Linton, perhaps regretting the loss of Cathy's company, began to be restless. He got up and stepped outside.

29 Cathy was asking Hareton what the words over the door were. Hareton looked up, and scratched his head.

30 'Some writing,' he answered. 'I can't read it.'

31 Linton gave a silly little laugh.

32 'He doesn't even know his letters,' he said to Cathy. 'Did you ever see anyone so ignorant? There's nothing the matter but laziness, is there, Hareton? Have you noticed his bad pronunciation? He scorns "book-learning", as he calls it.'

33 'Why? What's the use of it?' said Hareton.

34 Linton and Cathy burst into a noisy fit of laughter, and the poor, angry youth went away, his face burning with fury and shame. Mr Heathcliff smiled as he saw him go, but afterwards I saw him direct a look of hate at the heartless pair, who continued to enjoy their sense of superiority. I began to dislike, more than to pity Linton, and to excuse his father in some degree for thinking badly of him.