Chapter 54

The last of Heathcliff

01 That same afternoon, while Joseph and Hareton were at their work, he came into the kitchen, and with a wild look, told me to come and sit with him, as he wanted somebody there. I refused, telling him plainly that his strange talk and manner frightened me.

02 'I believe you think I'm an evil spirit,' he said, 'something too horrible to live under a respectable roof!' Then, turning to Cathy, who drew behind me at his approach, he added, half jokingly, 'Will you come, girl? I'll not hurt you. No! To you, I've made myself hateful. Well, there is one who will not draw back from my company! Oh, God! She's without mercy! It's too much for flesh and blood to bear, even mine.'

03 He asked no one else to stay with him. At sunset he went to his room, and all through the night we heard him groaning and murmuring to himself. Hareton was anxious to enter, but I told him to fetch the doctor.

04 When he came, Heathcliff would not open the door. He said he was better, and wanted to be left alone, so Doctor Kenneth went away.

05 The following evening was very wet. Indeed, it poured till daybreak, and as I took my morning walk round the house I noticed the master's window open, and the rain blowing straight in. He must be up, I thought. He could not be in bed, as the rain would be all over it. I decided to go and look.

06 Having succeeded in gaining entrance with another key, I ran to unclose the doors of the old bed, as the room was empty. Quickly pushing them aside, I looked in. Mr Heathcliff was there—laid on his back. His eyes met mine, so steady and fierce, that I made a fearful movement, and then he seemed to smile.

07 I could not think him dead, but his face and throat were washed with rain, the bedclothes were wet through, and he was perfectly still. I put my fingers on one of his hands. I could doubt no more.

08 I cried out for Joseph, who came and fell on his knees and returned thanks that the lawful master and the ancient family were once more in possession of their rights.

09 I felt disturbed and upset by the terrible event, and my memory returned to former times with a sort of unbearable sadness. But poor Hareton, the most wronged, was the only one who really suffered much. He sat by the body all night, and kissed the fierce, scornful face that everybody avoided looking at, and suffered the strong grief that springs naturally from a generous heart.

10 The doctor was puzzled to give a name to the illness of which the master died.

11 We buried him as he wished. Hareton, with a face streaming with tears, himself put the last covering of grassy soil on the grave. I hope its tenant sleeps well. But the country people, if you asked them, would swear than he walks. There are those who speak of having met him near the church, and on the moor, and even inside this house. Foolish stories, perhaps. Yet that old Joseph in the kitchen there declares he has seen the two of them looking out of the bedroom, on every rainy night since his death. And a strange thing happened to me about a month ago. I was going to the Grange one evening—a dark evening, threatening thunder—and just at the turn of the Heights, I met a little boy with a sheep and two lambs in front of him. He was crying terribly.

12 'What's the matter, my little man?' I asked.

13 'There's Heathcliff and a woman over there,' he wept 'I daren't pass.'

14 I saw nothing, but neither the sheep nor he would go on, so I told him to take the road lower down. He probably imagined ghosts as he crossed the moors alone, from the talk that his parents and companions repeat—yet even so, I don't like being out in the dark now, and I don't like being left in this house by myself. I can't help it. I shall be glad when they leave it, and go to the Grange.