Chapter 39

Linton is difficult

01 The rainy night was followed by a misty morning, and the rushing streams from the hills crossed our path. My feet were thoroughly wetted, and I felt disagreeable and unwell. We entered the farmhouse by the kitchen way, to be sure that Heathcliff was really absent.

02 Joseph was sitting alone, enjoying himself in front of a huge fire, with his pipe in his mouth. He answered our questions very unwillingly.

03 'Joseph!' cried a babyish voice from the inner room. 'How often am I to call you? There are only a few red ashes left.'

04 Joseph took no notice. The housekeeper and Hareton were not to be seen, both probably at their work elsewhere. We recognized Linton's voice and entered.

05 His cousin flew to his side.

06 'Is that you, Miss Linton?' he said, raising his head from the arm of the great chair in which he was lying. 'Will you shut the door, please? You left it open, and those hateful people won't bring coal for the fire. It's so cold!'

07 I attended to the fire, and fetched some coal myself. The sick boy complained of being covered in ashes, but he had a bad cough, and looked feverish and ill, so I did not blame him.

08 'Well, Linton,' said Cathy, 'are you glad to see me?'

09 'Why didn't you come before?' was his reply. 'You should have come, instead of writing. It tired me horribly, writing those long letters. Now I can neither bear to talk, nor anything else. I wonder where Zillah is! Will you'—looking at me—'step into the kitchen and see?'

10 I had received no thanks for my other service, so I remained where I was, replying, 'There is no one there except Joseph.'

11 'I want to drink,' he exclaimed, turning away. 'Zillah is always going off to Gimmerton since Papa left. And I'm forced to come down here—they pretend not to hear me upstairs.'

12 Cathy began searching for some water. She filled a glass, and brought it. He told her to add a spoonful of wine from a bottle on the table, and having swallowed a little, seemed better, and said she was very kind.

13 'Are you glad to see me?' repeated Cathy, pleased that he was smiling faintly.

14 'Yes, I am,' he replied. 'But I have been annoyed that you wouldn't come before. And Papa swore it was my fault He called me a worthless thing, and said if he had been in my place, he would be more master of the Grange than your father, by this time.'

15 'I dare not come while your father is here,' said Cathy. 'If I could get my father's permission, I'd spend half my time with you. I wish you were my brother!'

16 'And then you would like me as well as your father?' he remarked, more cheerfully. 'But Papa says you would love me better than anyone else, if you were my wife.'

17 'People hate their wives sometimes,' said Cathy, 'but not their brothers and sisters.'

18 Linton declared that people never hated their wives, but Cathy repeated that they did, and gave as an example, his own father's dislike of her aunt. I tried to stop her thoughtless tongue, but everything she knew came out.

19 Linton declared that her story was false.

20 'Papa told me, and he does not tell untruths,' she answered.

21 'My Papa scorns yours!' cried Linton.

22 'And yours is a wicked man!' replied Cathy.

23 'Well, I'll tell you something,' said Linton. 'Your mother hated your father: now then!'

24 'Oh!' exclaimed Cathy, too furious to continue.

25 'And she loved mine!' he added.

26 'It's not true!' she shouted. 'I hate you now.'

27 'She did! She did!' sang Linton, sinking back to enjoy the unhappiness of his companion, who stood behind.

28 Cathy, losing control of herself, gave the chair a violent push, and caused him to fall against one arm. He was immediately seized with a cough that stopped his breath and soon ended his moment of victory. It lasted so long that it frightened even me. As to his cousin, she wept violently, though she said nothing. I held him till the attack ended. Then he pushed me away, and leant his head down silently. Cathy took a seat opposite, and looked into the fire.

29 'How do you feel now, Master Heathcliff?' I asked after about ten minutes.

30 'I wish she felt as I do!' he replied, 'Cruel, unkind thing!'

31 He continued to groan for a quarter of an hour.

32 'I'm sorry I hurt you, Linton,' his cousin said at last. 'But I shouldn't have been hurt by that little push, and I didn't imagine that you would have been. It wasn't much, was it?'

33 'I can't speak to you,' he murmured. 'You've hurt me so much that I shall lie awake all night with this cough.' And he began to weep.

34 'Must I go then?' asked Cathy sadly.

35 'Let me alone.'

36 She waited a long time. He neither looked up nor spoke. At last she made a movement to the door, and I followed. We were brought back by a scream. Linton had slid from his seat on to the floor, and lay twisting himself about, determined to be as annoying as possible. Cathy knelt down and cried.

37 'I shall lift him up on to the bench,' I said, 'and he may roll about as much as he pleases. We can't stop to watch him. I hope you are satisfied, Miss Cathy, that you are not the person to improve his health.'

38 She placed a cushion under his head, and offered him water. He refused the drink, and complained that the cushion was too high. He would not let her leave him. She sang him a number of songs, and so they went on, till the clock struck twelve.

39 'And tomorrow, Cathy, will you be here tomorrow?' Linton asked, holding her dress as she rose to go.

40 She whispered in his ear, and at last we left.

41 'You won't go tomorrow, Miss?' I began, as soon as we were out of the house.

42 She smiled.

43 'I'll take good care,' I continued. 'I'll have that lock mended.'

44 'I can get over the wall,' she said, laughing. 'The Grange isn't a prison, and besides, I'm almost seventeen. I'm certain Linton would recover more quickly if he had me to look after him.'

45 'Listen, Miss,' I replied. 'If you attempt going to Wuthering Heights again, I shall inform Mr Linton.'

46 We reached home before our dinner time. My master asked no explanation of our absence. He thought we had been wandering in the park. As soon as I entered, I hastened to change my wet shoes and stockings, but sitting such a long time at the Heights had done me harm, and the next morning I was ill. For three weeks I was in bed, unable to carry out my duties.

47 My little mistress behaved like a saint in coming to wait on me, and cheer my loneliness. The moment she left her father's room, she appeared at my bedside. Her day was divided between us. She neglected her meals, her study and her play.

48 It is true that my master went to sleep early, and I generally needed nothing after six o'clock. I never considered what she did with herself after tea. And though frequently, when she looked in to say goodnight, I noticed a fresh colour in her cheeks, instead of thinking it the result of a cold ride on the moors, I imagined it was from a hot fire in the library.