CHAPTER TWO

The Housekeeper

"Is this a horrible dream?" I thought. I tried to pull my arm away, but the cold hand held on to it tightly. I heard a girl's voice crying, "Let me in, oh, let me in!"

"Who are you?" I cried.

"Catherine Linton," said the voice. "I've come home—I lost my way outside! I've come home!"

I saw a beautiful young girl's pale white face looking at me through the window. "I can't let you in!" I cried. "Let me go!" The ghost let go of my hand. I ran away from the window and put my hands over my ears. I could not stand the sad, painful crying of the ghost. I closed my eyes, but I knew it was staring at me through the window. Finally I felt that I had to do something, or I would go crazy. "Go away, ghost!" I shouted. "I'll never let you in here!" There were noises outside the window. The ghost looked as if it were going to float into the room that second. I was so afraid I could not move at all. I screamed aloud, terribly afraid. Then I heard someone running to my room. The door opened suddenly, and I saw the light of a candle.

"Is any one there?" a voice whispered. It was Heathcliff, but his voice was so different—it was soft, not loud and angry. He sounded like a different person. I tried to answer him, but I was too afraid to speak. He walked across the room, and I saw that his face was as white as the ghost's had been! Finally I was able to say, "It's only Mr Lockwood. I've had a bad dream, and I shouted in my sleep. I'm terribly sorry to wake you."

Heathcliff turned around and saw me. "Damn you, Lockwood! It's you? Who put you in this room? No one is allowed in here!"

"Your old servant, Zillah, did it." I said. He stared at me, a strange light in his eyes. "You've broken the window," he said softly. Then he was silent.

For the first time, I saw that the broken window really was real. "I don't know what you're doing here, but you might as well lie down and sleep for the rest of the night. But be quiet, for God's sake. I thought someone was being killed!"

"That's what would have happened, if that girl had come through the window!" I cried. "This Catherine Linton—she's walking the earth now, as punishment for her sins, isn't she!" I saw immediately that I had made a mistake in saying these things.

Heathcliff turned white, then red. He looked at me as if I had cut him with a knife. "How dare you say these things to me? Are you mad? You don't know what you're talking about!" He was so angry that he-picked up a glass vase on a table, and threw it against a wall. It broke into many pieces. Then he sat down on the bed, breathing very quickly. I did not understand him, but I felt sorry that I had upset him so much. I put on my clothes quickly, and looked at my watch. "It isn't even three o'clock in the morning!" I said. "I thought it would be later than that."

"Mr Lockwood," said Heathcliff quietly, "go into my room and sleep. I will not sleep again tonight. "Neither shall I, sir!" I said.

"I'll wait in the kitchen until morning. Then I will leave."

"Go wherever you want, I don't care," he said. "Don't go into the yard, though. The dogs are there. Leave me now." He gave me the candle and I left the room. Just as I was about to walk down the stairs, I heard another strange cry. I turned around and saw Heathcliff opening the window. "Come in!" he cried. His voice sounded like a small child's. "Oh, Cathy, hear me this time!" Through the window, there was only the darkness, the wind and the snow, but nothing else. The ghost of the young girl was gone. I heard Heathcliff cry out in pain, and fall down on the bed, shaking. I walked quickly and quietly down the stairs, angry with myself for listening. When I entered the little servants' kitchen, which was next to the larger family kitchen, I saw that there was a small, warm fire in the fireplace. I sat down on a chair and tried to sleep. However, soon I heard someone coming. It was Hareton Earnshaw, who looked at me angrily when he saw me, and told me to go into the family kitchen. When I arrived there, I saw that pretty young Mrs Heathcliff and Zillah were already awake. Zillah was watching the fire, and Mrs Heathcliff was kneeling on the hearth, reading a book by the light of the fire.

I saw that Heathcliff was there also. He was talking to Zillah, and I knew the reason why. He was telling her never to let anyone into Catherine Linton's room again! When it began to get light outside, I left the house. The sky was clear, and it was as cold as ice. Heathcliff saw me leaving and asked me to stop. He offered to help me find my way back to my house. This was a good thing, because everything was covered in snow, and the land was so changed that I did not know it.

Heathcliff did not speak to me while we walked. When we reached Thrushcross Grange, he bowed to me once and then walked away, saying nothing. I entered the house, frozen with cold and glad to be back at home. Mrs Dean, a kind Yorkshire woman who cared for my house, ran and met me at the door. Mrs Dean had been sure I was dead, and she had wondered how she was ever going to find my body in the snows! After I had a large, hot meal, I asked Mrs Dean to come and talk to me. I could not stop thinking about Heathcliff and his strange family. I hoped that Mrs Dean might know something about Wuthering Heights. Soon, I saw that I had chosen the right person to talk to! Mrs Dean had once lived at Wuthering Heights, and had cared for Heathcliff when he was a young boy! She knew many things about the family, and had a long, sad story to tell. I have written it down in the coming pages.

(end of section)