Грозовой перевал / Wuthering Heights

Catherine asked Linton anxiously what she could do to help and, while she was pouring him a drink, her cousin continued, «Father told me you stopped writing because you despised me.»

«No, I don’t despise you, Linton! After papa and Nelly, I love you better than anyone else in the world.»

«And will you come and visit me again?»

«Of course,» said Catherine, stroking his long, soft hair. «If only papa would allow it, I’d spend half my time with you. Pretty Linton! I wish you were my brother, then we could be together all the time.»

«But father says that if you were my wife you’d love me better than anyone else in the world, and that’s what I want.»

«I could never love anyone more than papa,» Catherine said seriously. «You know that sometimes men can hate their wives. Papa told me your father hated your mother and that’s why she left him.»

«That’s not true,» said the boy. «And anyway your mother hated your father, and she loved mine!»

«You little liar! I hate you now!» Catherine snapped, her face red with fury.

«She did! She did!» shouted out Linton, leaning forward to see if she would cry.

Catherine gave her cousin’s chair a violent push, and he fell backwards, coughing violently. His coughing fit lasted so long that even I was frightened, and Catherine was terrified that she had really hurt him. But at last he recovered.

«How do you feel now, Linton?» she asked anxiously «I’m so sorry I hurt you. I thought it was only a little push. Don’t let me go home thinking I’ve hurt you.»

«I can’t speak to you now,» he sulked. «You’ve hurt me so much I’ll lie awake all night choking with this cough. And I was feeling better before you came!»

«Come, Miss Catherine,» I said, trying to hurry her away. «You can see Linton isn’t dying of love for you. And there’s nothing you can do to make him feel better. So come with me and we’ll leave him to sleep.»

I had a very hard time persuading her to leave. And I was alarmed to see, just before we left, that she was whispering something in Linton’s ear.

On our way home, I told Catherine she must never see Linton again, but she only smiled at me.

«The Grange is not a prison, Nelly and you are not my jailer. And, besides, I’m almost seventeen years old. I’m sure that Linton would recover if I was looking after him. He’s a pretty little darling when he’s good, and I’d make such a pet of him that we would never quarrel.»

I frowned to hear this.

«Don’t you like him, Nelly?»

«Like him!» I exclaimed. «He’s the most selfish boy I’ve ever met, and I don’t think he’ll live until he’s twenty. I’m pleased you won’t be marrying him. And if you’ve any ideas of visiting Wuthering Heights again, I’ll tell your father, and you know what that would do to him!»

I must have caught a cold on our walk to the Heights, because the next day I was forced to stay in bed. For three weeks I didn’t leave my room and during that time Catherine behaved like an angel, dividing her days between her father’s room and mine. But I never thought to ask myself what she did in the evenings. Sometimes, I noticed that her cheeks looked very pink when she came to say goodnight to me, but I thought she had been sitting by the fire.

On the first day that I was up again, I asked Miss Catherine to keep me company after tea, but she was very restless. Eventually, she told me she was ill and went off to bed early. Later that evening, I went up to her room and discovered it was empty! So I sat in the dark, waiting for her to return.

At last, Catherine crept in silently. She was just shaking the snow off her clothes when I stood up.

«Miss Catherine!» I said, more sad than angry. «Why you have been deceiving me? And how long has this been going on?»

Soon, she had told me the whole story. For the past three weeks she had been riding over to Wuthering Heights every night. She and Linton had spent every evening together. Sometimes they had been happy, when he made an effort to be less selfish, but most of the time she had been miserable. But, in spite of his difficult moods, Catherine insisted she must keep visiting her cousin – he needed her so badly, and she wanted to make him happy. She tried to make me promise not to tell her father, but I knew that things had gone too far.

I went straight to Mr. Edgar’s study and told him all I knew. He was shocked and upset, and the next morning he told Catherine she must never visit the Heights again. Nothing she could say would make her father change his mind, and she knew she had to obey him, even though it made her very sad.

A few days later, my master asked me to tell him truthfully what I thought of young Linton.

«He’s very delicate, sir,» I replied, «and he can be selfish, but he isn’t like his father. I don’t think he is thoroughly wicked.»

Edgar sighed and looked out towards the churchyard.