Chapter XI

Sometimes, while meditating on these things in solitude, I’ve got up in
a sudden terror, and put on my bonnet to go see how all was at the
farm. I’ve persuaded my conscience that it was a duty to warn him how
people talked regarding his ways; and then I’ve recollected his
confirmed bad habits, and, hopeless of benefiting him, have flinched
from re-entering the dismal house, doubting if I could bear to be taken
at my word.

One time I passed the old gate, going out of my way, on a journey to
Gimmerton. It was about the period that my narrative has reached: a
bright frosty afternoon; the ground bare, and the road hard and dry. I
came to a stone where the highway branches off on to the moor at your
left hand; a rough sand-pillar, with the letters W. H. cut on its north
side, on the east, G., and on the south-west, T. G. It serves as a
guide-post to the Grange, the Heights, and village. The sun shone
yellow on its grey head, reminding me of summer; and I cannot say why,
but all at once a gush of child’s sensations flowed into my heart.
Hindley and I held it a favourite spot twenty years before. I gazed
long at the weather-worn block; and, stooping down, perceived a hole
near the bottom still full of snail-shells and pebbles, which we were
fond of storing there with more perishable things; and, as fresh as
reality, it appeared that I beheld my early playmate seated on the
withered turf: his dark, square head bent forward, and his little hand
scooping out the earth with a piece of slate. “Poor Hindley!” I
exclaimed, involuntarily. I started: my bodily eye was cheated into a
momentary belief that the child lifted its face and stared straight
into mine! It vanished in a twinkling; but immediately I felt an
irresistible yearning to be at the Heights. Superstition urged me to
comply with this impulse: supposing he should be dead! I thought—or
should die soon!—supposing it were a sign of death! The nearer I got to
the house the more agitated I grew; and on catching sight of it I
trembled in every limb. The apparition had outstripped me: it stood
looking through the gate. That was my first idea on observing an
elf-locked, brown-eyed boy setting his ruddy countenance against the
bars. Further reflection suggested this must be Hareton, my Hareton,
not altered greatly since I left him, ten months since.

“God bless thee, darling!” I cried, forgetting instantaneously my
foolish fears. “Hareton, it’s Nelly! Nelly, thy nurse.”

He retreated out of arm’s length, and picked up a large flint.

“I am come to see thy father, Hareton,” I added, guessing from the
action that Nelly, if she lived in his memory at all, was not
recognised as one with me.

He raised his missile to hurl it; I commenced a soothing speech, but
could not stay his hand: the stone struck my bonnet; and then ensued,
from the stammering lips of the little fellow, a string of curses,
which, whether he comprehended them or not, were delivered with
practised emphasis, and distorted his baby features into a shocking
expression of malignity. You may be certain this grieved more than
angered me. Fit to cry, I took an orange from my pocket, and offered it
to propitiate him. He hesitated, and then snatched it from my hold; as
if he fancied I only intended to tempt and disappoint him. I showed
another, keeping it out of his reach.

“Who has taught you those fine words, my bairn?” I inquired. “The
curate?”

“Damn the curate, and thee! Gie me that,” he replied.

“Tell us where you got your lessons, and you shall have it,” said I.
“Who’s your master?”

“Devil daddy,” was his answer.

“And what do you learn from daddy?” I continued.

He jumped at the fruit; I raised it higher. “What does he teach you?” I
asked.

“Naught,” said he, “but to keep out of his gait. Daddy cannot bide me,
because I swear at him.”

“Ah! and the devil teaches you to swear at daddy?” I observed.

“Ay—nay,” he drawled.

“Who, then?”

“Heathcliff.”

I asked if he liked Mr. Heathcliff.

“Ay!” he answered again.

Desiring to have his reasons for liking him, I could only gather the
sentences—“I known’t: he pays dad back what he gies to me—he curses
daddy for cursing me. He says I mun do as I will.”

“And the curate does not teach you to read and write, then?” I pursued.

“No, I was told the curate should have his —— teeth dashed down his ——
throat, if he stepped over the threshold—Heathcliff had promised that!”

I put the orange in his hand, and bade him tell his father that a woman
called Nelly Dean was waiting to speak with him, by the garden gate. He
went up the walk, and entered the house; but, instead of Hindley,
Heathcliff appeared on the door-stones; and I turned directly and ran
down the road as hard as ever I could race, making no halt till I
gained the guide-post, and feeling as scared as if I had raised a
goblin. This is not much connected with Miss Isabella’s affair: except
that it urged me to resolve further on mounting vigilant guard, and
doing my utmost to check the spread of such bad influence at the
Grange: even though I should wake a domestic storm, by thwarting Mrs.
Linton’s pleasure.

The next time Heathcliff came my young lady chanced to be feeding some
pigeons in the court. She had never spoken a word to her sister-in-law
for three days; but she had likewise dropped her fretful complaining,
and we found it a great comfort. Heathcliff had not the habit of
bestowing a single unnecessary civility on Miss Linton, I knew. Now, as
soon as he beheld her, his first precaution was to take a sweeping
survey of the house-front. I was standing by the kitchen-window, but I
drew out of sight. He then stepped across the pavement to her, and said
something: she seemed embarrassed, and desirous of getting away; to
prevent it, he laid his hand on her arm. She averted her face: he
apparently put some question which she had no mind to answer. There was
another rapid glance at the house, and supposing himself unseen, the
scoundrel had the impudence to embrace her.

“Judas! Traitor!” I ejaculated. “You are a hypocrite, too, are you? A
deliberate deceiver.”

“Who is, Nelly?” said Catherine’s voice at my elbow: I had been
over-intent on watching the pair outside to mark her entrance.

“Your worthless friend!” I answered, warmly: “the sneaking rascal
yonder. Ah, he has caught a glimpse of us—he is coming in! I wonder
will he have the heart to find a plausible excuse for making love to
Miss, when he told you he hated her?”

Mrs. Linton saw Isabella tear herself free, and run into the garden;
and a minute after, Heathcliff opened the door. I couldn’t withhold
giving some loose to my indignation; but Catherine angrily insisted on
silence, and threatened to order me out of the kitchen, if I dared to
be so presumptuous as to put in my insolent tongue.

“To hear you, people might think you were the mistress!” she cried.
“You want setting down in your right place! Heathcliff, what are you
about, raising this stir? I said you must let Isabella alone!—I beg you
will, unless you are tired of being received here, and wish Linton to
draw the bolts against you!”

“God forbid that he should try!” answered the black villain. I detested
him just then. “God keep him meek and patient! Every day I grow madder
after sending him to heaven!”

“Hush!” said Catherine, shutting the inner door. “Don’t vex me. Why
have you disregarded my request? Did she come across you on purpose?”

“What is it to you?” he growled. “I have a right to kiss her, if she
chooses; and you have no right to object. I am not your husband:
you needn’t be jealous of me!”

“I’m not jealous of you,” replied the mistress; “I’m jealous for you.
Clear your face: you sha’n’t scowl at me! If you like Isabella, you
shall marry her. But do you like her? Tell the truth, Heathcliff!
There, you won’t answer. I’m certain you don’t.”

“And would Mr. Linton approve of his sister marrying that man?” I
inquired.

“Mr. Linton should approve,” returned my lady, decisively.

“He might spare himself the trouble,” said Heathcliff: “I could do as
well without his approbation. And as to you, Catherine, I have a mind
to speak a few words now, while we are at it. I want you to be aware
that I know you have treated me infernally—infernally! Do you hear?
And if you flatter yourself that I don’t perceive it, you are a fool;
and if you think I can be consoled by sweet words, you are an idiot:
and if you fancy I’ll suffer unrevenged, I’ll convince you of the
contrary, in a very little while! Meantime, thank you for telling me
your sister-in-law’s secret: I swear I’ll make the most of it. And
stand you aside!”

“What new phase of his character is this?” exclaimed Mrs. Linton, in
amazement. “I’ve treated you infernally—and you’ll take your revenge!
How will you take it, ungrateful brute? How have I treated you
infernally?”

“I seek no revenge on you,” replied Heathcliff, less vehemently.
“That’s not the plan. The tyrant grinds down his slaves and they don’t
turn against him; they crush those beneath them. You are welcome to
torture me to death for your amusement, only allow me to amuse myself a
little in the same style, and refrain from insult as much as you are
able. Having levelled my palace, don’t erect a hovel and complacently
admire your own charity in giving me that for a home. If I imagined you
really wished me to marry Isabel, I’d cut my throat!”

“Oh, the evil is that I am not jealous, is it?” cried Catherine.
“Well, I won’t repeat my offer of a wife: it is as bad as offering
Satan a lost soul. Your bliss lies, like his, in inflicting misery. You
prove it. Edgar is restored from the ill-temper he gave way to at your
coming; I begin to be secure and tranquil; and you, restless to know us
at peace, appear resolved on exciting a quarrel. Quarrel with Edgar, if
you please, Heathcliff, and deceive his sister: you’ll hit on exactly
the most efficient method of revenging yourself on me.”

The conversation ceased. Mrs. Linton sat down by the fire, flushed and
gloomy. The spirit which served her was growing intractable: she could
neither lay nor control it. He stood on the hearth with folded arms,
brooding on his evil thoughts; and in this position I left them to seek
the master, who was wondering what kept Catherine below so long.

“Ellen,” said he, when I entered, “have you seen your mistress?”

“Yes; she’s in the kitchen, sir,” I answered. “She’s sadly put out by
Mr. Heathcliff’s behaviour: and, indeed, I do think it’s time to
arrange his visits on another footing. There’s harm in being too soft,
and now it’s come to this—.” And I related the scene in the court, and,
as near as I dared, the whole subsequent dispute. I fancied it could
not be very prejudicial to Mrs. Linton; unless she made it so
afterwards, by assuming the defensive for her guest. Edgar Linton had
difficulty in hearing me to the close. His first words revealed that he
did not clear his wife of blame.

“This is insufferable!” he exclaimed. “It is disgraceful that she
should own him for a friend, and force his company on me! Call me two
men out of the hall, Ellen. Catherine shall linger no longer to argue
with the low ruffian—I have humoured her enough.”

He descended, and bidding the servants wait in the passage, went,
followed by me, to the kitchen. Its occupants had recommenced their
angry discussion: Mrs. Linton, at least, was scolding with renewed
vigour; Heathcliff had moved to the window, and hung his head, somewhat
cowed by her violent rating apparently. He saw the master first, and
made a hasty motion that she should be silent; which she obeyed,
abruptly, on discovering the reason of his intimation.

“How is this?” said Linton, addressing her; “what notion of propriety
must you have to remain here, after the language which has been held to
you by that blackguard? I suppose, because it is his ordinary talk you
think nothing of it: you are habituated to his baseness, and, perhaps,
imagine I can get used to it too!”

“Have you been listening at the door, Edgar?” asked the mistress, in a
tone particularly calculated to provoke her husband, implying both
carelessness and contempt of his irritation. Heathcliff, who had raised
his eyes at the former speech, gave a sneering laugh at the latter; on
purpose, it seemed, to draw Mr. Linton’s attention to him. He
succeeded; but Edgar did not mean to entertain him with any high
flights of passion.

“I’ve been so far forbearing with you, sir,” he said quietly; “not that
I was ignorant of your miserable, degraded character, but I felt you
were only partly responsible for that; and Catherine wishing to keep up
your acquaintance, I acquiesced—foolishly. Your presence is a moral
poison that would contaminate the most virtuous: for that cause, and to
prevent worse consequences, I shall deny you hereafter admission into
this house, and give notice now that I require your instant departure.
Three minutes’ delay will render it involuntary and ignominious.”

Heathcliff measured the height and breadth of the speaker with an eye
full of derision.

“Cathy, this lamb of yours threatens like a bull!” he said. “It is in
danger of splitting its skull against my knuckles. By God! Mr. Linton,
I’m mortally sorry that you are not worth knocking down!”

My master glanced towards the passage, and signed me to fetch the men:
he had no intention of hazarding a personal encounter. I obeyed the
hint; but Mrs. Linton, suspecting something, followed; and when I
attempted to call them, she pulled me back, slammed the door to, and
locked it.

“Fair means!” she said, in answer to her husband’s look of angry
surprise. “If you have not courage to attack him, make an apology, or
allow yourself to be beaten. It will correct you of feigning more
valour than you possess. No, I’ll swallow the key before you shall get
it! I’m delightfully rewarded for my kindness to each! After constant
indulgence of one’s weak nature, and the other’s bad one, I earn for
thanks two samples of blind ingratitude, stupid to absurdity! Edgar, I
was defending you and yours; and I wish Heathcliff may flog you sick,
for daring to think an evil thought of me!”

It did not need the medium of a flogging to produce that effect on the
master. He tried to wrest the key from Catherine’s grasp, and for
safety she flung it into the hottest part of the fire; whereupon Mr.
Edgar was taken with a nervous trembling, and his countenance grew
deadly pale. For his life he could not avert that excess of emotion:
mingled anguish and humiliation overcame him completely. He leant on
the back of a chair, and covered his face.

“Oh, heavens! In old days this would win you knighthood!” exclaimed
Mrs. Linton. “We are vanquished! we are vanquished! Heathcliff would as
soon lift a finger at you as the king would march his army against a
colony of mice. Cheer up! you sha’n’t be hurt! Your type is not a lamb,
it’s a sucking leveret.”

“I wish you joy of the milk-blooded coward, Cathy!” said her friend. “I
compliment you on your taste. And that is the slavering, shivering
thing you preferred to me! I would not strike him with my fist, but I’d
kick him with my foot, and experience considerable satisfaction. Is he
weeping, or is he going to faint for fear?”

The fellow approached and gave the chair on which Linton rested a push.
He’d better have kept his distance: my master quickly sprang erect, and
struck him full on the throat a blow that would have levelled a
slighter man. It took his breath for a minute; and while he choked, Mr.
Linton walked out by the back door into the yard, and from thence to
the front entrance.

“There! you’ve done with coming here,” cried Catherine. “Get away, now;
he’ll return with a brace of pistols and half-a-dozen assistants. If he
did overhear us, of course he’d never forgive you. You’ve played me an
ill turn, Heathcliff! But go—make haste! I’d rather see Edgar at bay
than you.”

“Do you suppose I’m going with that blow burning in my gullet?” he
thundered. “By hell, no! I’ll crush his ribs in like a rotten hazel-nut
before I cross the threshold! If I don’t floor him now, I shall murder
him some time; so, as you value his existence, let me get at him!”

“He is not coming,” I interposed, framing a bit of a lie. “There’s the
coachman and the two gardeners; you’ll surely not wait to be thrust
into the road by them! Each has a bludgeon; and master will, very
likely, be watching from the parlour-windows to see that they fulfil
his orders.”

The gardeners and coachman were there: but Linton was with them. They
had already entered the court. Heathcliff, on the second thoughts,
resolved to avoid a struggle against three underlings: he seized the
poker, smashed the lock from the inner door, and made his escape as
they tramped in.

Mrs. Linton, who was very much excited, bade me accompany her upstairs.
She did not know my share in contributing to the disturbance, and I was
anxious to keep her in ignorance.

“I’m nearly distracted, Nelly!” she exclaimed, throwing herself on the
sofa. “A thousand smiths’ hammers are beating in my head! Tell Isabella
to shun me; this uproar is owing to her; and should she or any one else
aggravate my anger at present, I shall get wild. And, Nelly, say to
Edgar, if you see him again to-night, that I’m in danger of being
seriously ill. I wish it may prove true. He has startled and distressed
me shockingly! I want to frighten him. Besides, he might come and begin
a string of abuse or complainings; I’m certain I should recriminate,
and God knows where we should end! Will you do so, my good Nelly? You
are aware that I am no way blamable in this matter. What possessed him
to turn listener? Heathcliff’s talk was outrageous, after you left us;
but I could soon have diverted him from Isabella, and the rest meant
nothing. Now all is dashed wrong; by the fool’s craving to hear evil of
self, that haunts some people like a demon! Had Edgar never gathered
our conversation, he would never have been the worse for it. Really,
when he opened on me in that unreasonable tone of displeasure after I
had scolded Heathcliff till I was hoarse for him; I did not care
hardly what they did to each other; especially as I felt that, however
the scene closed, we should all be driven asunder for nobody knows how
long! Well, if I cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend—if Edgar will be
mean and jealous, I’ll try to break their hearts by breaking my own.
That will be a prompt way of finishing all, when I am pushed to
extremity! But it’s a deed to be reserved for a forlorn hope; I’d not
take Linton by surprise with it. To this point he has been discreet in
dreading to provoke me; you must represent the peril of quitting that
policy, and remind him of my passionate temper, verging, when kindled,
on frenzy. I wish you could dismiss that apathy out of that
countenance, and look rather more anxious about me.”

The stolidity with which I received these instructions was, no doubt,
rather exasperating: for they were delivered in perfect sincerity; but
I believed a person who could plan the turning of her fits of passion
to account, beforehand, might, by exerting her will, manage to control
herself tolerably, even while under their influence; and I did not wish
to “frighten” her husband, as she said, and multiply his annoyances for
the purpose of serving her selfishness. Therefore I said nothing when I
met the master coming towards the parlour; but I took the liberty of
turning back to listen whether they would resume their quarrel
together. He began to speak first.

“Remain where you are, Catherine,” he said; without any anger in his
voice, but with much sorrowful despondency. “I shall not stay. I am
neither come to wrangle nor be reconciled; but I wish just to learn
whether, after this evening’s events, you intend to continue your
intimacy with—”

“Oh, for mercy’s sake,” interrupted the mistress, stamping her foot,
“for mercy’s sake, let us hear no more of it now! Your cold blood
cannot be worked into a fever: your veins are full of ice-water; but
mine are boiling, and the sight of such chillness makes them dance.”

“To get rid of me, answer my question,” persevered Mr. Linton. “You
must answer it; and that violence does not alarm me. I have found
that you can be as stoical as anyone, when you please. Will you give up
Heathcliff hereafter, or will you give up me? It is impossible for you
to be my friend and his at the same time; and I absolutely
require to know which you choose.”

“I require to be let alone!” exclaimed Catherine, furiously. “I demand
it! Don’t you see I can scarcely stand? Edgar, you—you leave me!”

She rang the bell till it broke with a twang; I entered leisurely. It
was enough to try the temper of a saint, such senseless, wicked rages!
There she lay dashing her head against the arm of the sofa, and
grinding her teeth, so that you might fancy she would crash them to
splinters! Mr. Linton stood looking at her in sudden compunction and
fear. He told me to fetch some water. She had no breath for speaking. I
brought a glass full; and as she would not drink, I sprinkled it on her
face. In a few seconds she stretched herself out stiff, and turned up
her eyes, while her cheeks, at once blanched and livid, assumed the
aspect of death. Linton looked terrified.

“There is nothing in the world the matter,” I whispered. I did not want
him to yield, though I could not help being afraid in my heart.

“She has blood on her lips!” he said, shuddering.

“Never mind!” I answered, tartly. And I told him how she had resolved,
previous to his coming, on exhibiting a fit of frenzy. I incautiously
gave the account aloud, and she heard me; for she started up—her hair
flying over her shoulders, her eyes flashing, the muscles of her neck
and arms standing out preternaturally. I made up my mind for broken
bones, at least; but she only glared about her for an instant, and then
rushed from the room. The master directed me to follow; I did, to her
chamber-door: she hindered me from going further by securing it against
me.

As she never offered to descend to breakfast next morning, I went to
ask whether she would have some carried up. “No!” she replied,
peremptorily. The same question was repeated at dinner and tea; and
again on the morrow after, and received the same answer. Mr. Linton, on
his part, spent his time in the library, and did not inquire concerning
his wife’s occupations. Isabella and he had had an hour’s interview,
during which he tried to elicit from her some sentiment of proper
horror for Heathcliff’s advances: but he could make nothing of her
evasive replies, and was obliged to close the examination
unsatisfactorily; adding, however, a solemn warning, that if she were
so insane as to encourage that worthless suitor, it would dissolve all
bonds of relationship between herself and him.