Wuthering Heights From the story by Emily Bronte

Then Heathcliff dragged us both upstairs to the housekeeper’s room and locked us in. Neither of us slept at all that night. Catherine stood for hours by the window, gazing out over the moors, and I spent a terrible night, blaming myself for everything that had happened.

At seven o’clock the next morning, Heathcliff came and took Catherine away, and I was left alone. For the next four days, I was kept locked up. The only person I saw was Hareton, who delivered my meals in silence, obviously obeying Heathcliff’s orders.

On the fifth day, Zillah came into my room. She was amazed to see me there – everyone had thought that Catherine and I had lost our way on the moors and died out there. I rushed straight out of the room and searched the house for Catherine, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. But I did find Linton, lying on a sofa and sucking a stick of candy.

«Where’s Miss Catherine?» I demanded sternly.

«She’s locked up in a room upstairs,» he replied calmly. «We won’t let her go yet. Father says I mustn’t be soft on her. He says she hates me and wants me to die. So now I’m punishing her. She can cry as much as she likes, I won’t let her go home.»

And he went back to sucking his candy stick.

«Master Heathcliff,» I said angrily, «have you forgotten Miss Catherine’s kindness to you when she came to visit you last winter? Think of all the times she rode through wind and snow to see you. And now you’re believing the lies your father tells you, and turning against her. What a spoiled, selfish boy you are!»

«I’m tired of her crying,» Linton answered crossly. «She gives me a headache. She promised me that if I gave her the key to her room she’d give me all her books from the Grange, but I told her that they weren’t hers to give and I would inherit them all when her father died. So then she offered me her locket with the pictures of her mother and father, but I said that was mine as well and tried to snatch it from her.

«Then she pushed me away and hurt me so much I screamed and father came in to see what was happening. He hit her on the face and knocked her down. Then he crushed the locket under his foot and took away the picture of her mother.»

«And were you pleased to see her hurt?» I asked.

«I was pleased that father punished her. But I didn’t like to see her mouth full of blood. She hasn’t said a word to me since then. I think she shouldn’t cry so much – she looks so pale and wild she frightens me.»

I saw there was no chance of persuading Linton to help me, so I decided to run back to the Grange as fast as I could, and then try to rescue Catherine later.

Everyone at the Grange was delighted to see me – and relieved to hear that my mistress was still alive. I hurried up to Mr. Edgar’s room to give him the news and was horrified to see how much he had changed. It was clear he couldn’t last much longer^[85].

«Catherine,» he murmured, as he heard me walk over to him.

I touched his hand. «Catherine is coming, dear master!» I whispered. «She’s alive and well, and I hope she will be here tonight.»

He half rose up, and looked eagerly around the room, but then he sank back again. I told him as much as I dared about what had happened up at the Heights.

Mr. Edgar gave orders for four servants to go up to the Heights and bring back his daughter immediately. They were gone for hours, but eventually they returned without her – Heathcliff had frightened them away. I began to be afraid that Mr. Edgar would never see Catherine again, when I heard a noise at the door. It was my brave mistress, who had managed to escape from the Heights. And she ran, sobbing, into my arms.

«Nelly! Nelly! Is papa still alive?»

«Yes, he is, my angel,» I cried. «Thank God you’re safe with us again!»

She wanted to run straight up to her father’s room, but I made her sit quietly and catch her breath^[86]. I begged her to tell her father that she was happy with Linton, so he could die peacefully, and she promised me that she would.

I stood outside the bedroom door and heard Edgar and Catherine talking quietly together. Everything was calm. Catherine kept her despair to herself and her father died a happy man. Kissing his daughter’s cheek, he murmured, «I am going to be with Cathy now, and one day you, my darling child, shall come and join us too!»

Heathcliff allowed Catherine to stay at the Grange until the day of Mr. Edgar’s funeral, but that evening he came to take her back to the Heights. I begged him to let her stay at the Grange and send Linton to live with us, but he refused.

«I’m looking for a tenant for Thrushcross Grange,» he answered, «and I want my children near me. Besides, I’m going to make sure that Catherine works for her living.»

«I shall work,» said Catherine, bravely. «And I shall look after Linton, because he’s the only person I have to love in the world. But you, Heathcliff, have no one to love you, and nobody to cry for you when you die!»