Chapter 44

Mr Green is too late

01 On the fifth morning, or rather afternoon, a different step approached—lighter and shorter, and Zillah entered the room.

02 'Oh, my dear Mrs Dean,' she exclaimed. 'Well! There is talk about you in Gimmerton. I thought you were drowned in a bog, and Missy with you, till master told me you'd been found and he'd given you shelter here. And how long were you in the water? How are you feeling? Did master save you, Mrs Dean?'

03 'Your master is a true devil!' I replied.

04 'What do you mean?' asked Zillah. 'It's not his story: it's what they say in the village. When the master heard it, he just smiled and said the bog-water had got into your head and made you a little mad, so he kept you safe till you recovered. He told me to unlock the door and tell you to go at once to the Grange, and carry a message from him, that your young lady will follow in time to attend your master's funeral.'

05 'Mr Edgar isn't dead?' I exclaimed. 'Oh! Zillah!'

06 'No, no. Sit down a moment, you're still sick from the bog-water, poor thing! He's not dead. The doctor thinks he may last one more day. I met him on the road and asked.'

07 I seized my outdoor things and hastened below. There was no one about to tell me where Cathy might be. The place was full of sunshine and the door stood wide open. I was hesitating, when a slight cough drew my attention. Linton lay on a seat, sucking a stick of sugar.

08 'Where is Miss Cathy?' I demanded.

09 He sucked on like a baby.

10 'Has she gone?' I asked.

11 'No,' he replied. 'She's upstairs. She's not to go. We won't let her.'

12 'You won't let her!' I exclaimed. 'Direct me to her room immediately!'

13 'Papa says I'm hot to be soft with Cathy,' he answered. 'She's my wife, and it's shameful she should wish to leave me. He says she wants me to die, so that she may have all my money, but she shan't have it, and she shan't go home. She may cry and be sick as much as she pleases.'

14 He started on his sugar again, and closed his eyes.

15 'Master Heathcliff,' I went on, 'have you forgotten all Cathy's kindness to you last winter, when you said you loved her, and she brought you books, and sang you songs, and came to see you, in spite of bad weather? And now you believe what your father says, and join him against her!'

16 The corner of Linton's mouth fell, and he took the sweet from his lips.

17 I can't stay with her,' he said disagreeably. 'She cries so much that I can't bear it. She groans all night, and I can't sleep.'

18 'Is Mr Heathcliff out?' I inquired.

19 'He's in the yard,' he replied, 'talking to the doctor, who says that Uncle is dying at last. I'm glad, because I shall be master of the Grange after him—and Cathy always spoke of it as her house! It's mine: Papa says everything she has is mine. She offered me all her nice books, and her pretty birds, and her pony, if I would get the key of our room and let her out, but I told her she had nothing to give, they were all, all mine. And then she cried, and took a little picture from her neck, two pictures in a gold case—on one side her mother, and on the other, Uncle, when they were young. I said they were mine, too, and tried to get them from her. The hasty thing pushed me off and hurt me. But when she heard Papa coming she was afraid, and divided the case, and gave me her mother's picture, and tried to hide the other, but Papa took the one from me, and crushed the other under his foot, and struck Cathy down.'

20 'And were you pleased?' I asked.

21 'I didn't look,' he said. 'I shut my eyes every time my father strikes anything, he does it so hard. Yet she deserved punishing for pushing me. But when Papa had gone, she showed me her cheek cut on the inside, and gathered up the bits of the picture, and has not spoken to me since. Perhaps she can't speak, because of the pain. I don't like to think so.'

22 'Can you get the key?' I asked.

23 'Yes, when I'm upstairs, but I can't walk upstairs now.' 'Which room is it in?'

24 'Oh, I shan't tell you that! It is our secret.'

25 He turned his face on to his arm, and shut his eyes again.

26 I considered it best to leave without seeing Mr Heathcliff, and bring a rescue for my young lady from the Grange. On my reaching home, my fellow servants were astonished to see me, and rejoiced to hear that their little mistress was safe.

27 I hurried to Edgar Linton's door.

28 How changed I found him, even in those few days! He thought of Cathy, and murmured her name.

29 'Cathy is coming, dear master,' I whispered. 'She is alive and well, and will be here, I hope, tonight.'

30 He half rose up, looked eagerly round the room, and then fell back unconscious. When he had recovered, I told him of our imprisonment, and the reason for it. I said as little as possible against Linton, nor did I describe all his father's cruel behaviour.

31 He guessed that one of his enemy's purposes was to get hold of his money, as well as the land and house, for his son, or rather for himself. Yet my master could not understand why he did not wait for his death, having no idea how ill his nephew really was. But he felt that his will had better be changed. Instead of leaving Cathy's money in her own hands, he determined to put it in the care of some responsible persons, for her use during her life, and for her children if she had any, after her death. By that means, it could not pass to Heathcliff, if Linton should die.

32 I sent a man to fetch the lawyer, and four more, with suitable weapons, to the Heights, to demand the return of Cathy. Both parties were delayed very late. The first man returned to say that Mr Green had been out, and when he came, would have a little business to do in the village, but he would be at the Grange before morning. The four men also came back without my mistress. They brought word that Cathy was ill, and could not leave her room. I scolded the stupid fellows for believing such a story, and determined to go myself, at daylight, with a whole lot of men, and get her.

33 Happily I was spared the journey. At three o'clock in the morning, I heard a knock at the door. Thinking it was the lawyer, I went down myself to admit him. My own sweet little mistress fell on my neck, weeping and crying:

34 'Ellen! Ellen! Is Papa still alive?'

35 I couldn't bear to be present at their meeting. After a quarter of an hour, I went in. Cathy's despair was as silent as her father's. He died, kissing her cheek.

36 Cathy remained by the deathbed until I insisted on her coming away and taking some rest. At dinner time the lawyer appeared, too late. He had called at Wuthering Heights and sold himself to Heathcliff, which was the cause of his delay.

37 He made himself busy ordering everything and everybody about the place. All the servants except myself were dismissed, and the funeral was hurried over. Cathy, Mrs Linton Heathcliff now, was allowed to stay at the Grange till her father's body had been laid side by side with her mother's, on the edge of the moor.