Грозовой перевал / Wuthering Heights

I brought a glass of water and, when Cathy wouldn’t drink it, I sprinkled it over her face. In a few seconds, she stretched herself out stiff[55], her eyes rolled up and her cheeks turned deathly white. Edgar looked terrified.

«There’s nothing the matter,» I whispered. I didn’t want him to be fooled by her play-acting, although I couldn’t help feeling afraid.

«She has blood on her lips!» he said, shuddering.

«Never mind!» I answered sharply.

Suddenly, Cathy jumped up, her hair flying over her shoulders and her eyes flashing wildly. I was prepared for broken bones at least, but she only glared at me and then rushed upstairs. The master told me to follow her, but she locked herself in her room.

For the next few days, Miss Isabella moped around the garden, always silent and usually in tears. Her brother shut himself up in the library and tried to read his books, and Cathy stayed in her room, obstinately refusing to take any food. While all this was happening, I carried out my usual duties, convinced I was only sane person living at the Grange.

On the third day, Cathy unlocked her bedroom door and asked for a bowl of soup. She drank the soup eagerly, but then sank back onto her pillows, clenching her hands and groaning, «Oh, I will die, I’m sure I will die!»

«Did you want anything else, madam?» I asked, trying to stay calm in spite of her haggard appearance.

«What is Edgar doing?» she demanded, pushing her tangled hair away from her wasted face. «Is he ill too, or perhaps he is dead?»

«Neither,» I replied calmly. «He’s spending his time with his books, as he has no one else to talk to.»

I know I shouldn’t have spoken to Cathy like that, but I couldn’t give up the idea that she was just pretending to be sick.

«With his books!» Cathy cried out, amazed. «While I am dying! Heavens, does he know how much I’ve changed?» She stared into the mirror. «Is that really Catherine Linton? Please tell him I’m not acting in a play. Does he care so little about my life?»

«No, madam,» I answered, «the master has no idea that you are raging like this. And I don’t think he’s afraid thatyou will starve yourself to death[56].»

«Do you think I won’t, Nelly? Well then, tell him that I will. Say you have seen me and you’re certain that I will.»

«No, madam, you forget,» I reminded her. «You’ve just had some soup and soon you’ll be feeling better.»

«Oh Nelly!» she interrupted. «Don’t you care about me at all? You have no idea how tormented I’ve been. I’ve been haunted for these last few nights[57]! But I begin to think you’ve all turned into my enemies. How dreary to die, surrounded by such cold faces!»

Then she began to rage, one minute tearing at her pillow with her teeth, and the next leaping up and trying to open the window. The wild expression on her face and her rapid changes of mood began to frighten me. They reminded me of her earlier illness, and I decided I must fetch Mr. Edgar immediately.

One minute earlier, Cathy had been violent, but now she began to play with the feathers that escaped from her pillow and flew around the room.

«That’s a turkey’s,» she murmured to herself, «and this is a wild duck’s and that’s a pigeon’s. And here’s a lapwing’s. How I wish that I were a lapwing flying over the moor!»

«Stop playing like a baby!» I ordered, dragging the pillow away. But now she sat staring at the mirror.

«Do you see that face in the mirror, Nelly? What does it want from me?»

I told her it was her own face, but she refused to believe me, so in the end I covered it up with a shawl.

«It’s still waiting there for me,» she cried in terror. «Oh Nelly, this room is haunted, and I’m so frightened of being alone!»

«There’s nobody here,» I insisted, as I edged my way out of the room. But as I left the room I was summoned back by a piercing scream – the shawl had dropped off the mirror and she was petrified by what she saw.

«Now look in the mirror, madam,» I said as firmly as I could, «and you’ll see just yourself with me by your side.»

Trembling and bewildered, she held onto me tightly «Oh Nelly… I hardly know where I am any more. I keep thinking I’m back at the Heights with Heathcliff, just after my father died. I wish I was a girl again, wild and free… and racing through the heather. If only I could feel the wind from the moors, I would be better. Just let me feel it, Nelly – let me have one breath.»

I tried to stop her, but her delirious strength was much greater than mine, and she pushed open the window and leaned all the way out. Beyond the house, everything lay in misty darkness, but Cathy insisted she could see the lights at the Heights.