Wuthering Heights From the story by Emily Bronte

«You must learn not to make me angry,» he said in a quiet, shaken voice, «or I’ll end up murdering you. Now, go away all of you, and leave me alone!»

Then he went out and didn’t come back until very late.

When Heathcliff returned, the cousins were sitting side by side, looking at a book. As he came into the kitchen, they looked up at him together with the same dark eyes – eyes which were just like Cathy Earnshaw’s – and I saw Heathcliff give a deep sigh. Then they escaped into the garden and I was left alone with him.

«This is a ridiculous end, don’t you think, Nelly?» he observed. «I’ve worked all my life to destroy the Earnshaws and the Lintons. I’ve won all their money and their land, but now that I have them completely in my power, I no longer care about my revenge^[94]. What’s the use of destroying them now?»

Heathcliff paced around the room. «Something is happening to me, Nelly. I can feel a strange change coming in my life, and its shadow is hanging over me. I’m not interested in living any more – I can hardly even remember to eat or drink. I hate to see Catherine and Hareton because they remind me so much of Cathy. But then – everything I see reminds me of her! I see her in every cloud and tree. Wherever I go, I’m surrounded by her.»

«What do you mean by a change?» I said. «You’re not ill, are you, sir?»

«No, I’m not ill, Nelly. In fact, I’m ridiculously strong. But I no longer want to live. I can’t carry on like this. I have to remind myself to breathe – almost remind my heart to beat! I have just one wish that I’ve wanted for so long. It’s a long fight, and I wish that it could be over!»

Then he began to pace around the room again, muttering terrible things to himself.

After that day, we hardly saw Heathcliff. He stopped eating meals with us and spent most of his time out on the moors. Sometimes he stayed out all night, and when he came home in the morning he was smiling and shivering, as if he was possessed by a strange, wild happiness. There were times when he would stop breathing for as much as half a minute. Then he would gaze into the distance with glittering, restless eyes, as though he was looking at something the rest of us couldn’t see.

After a few weeks of wanderings, Heathcliff locked himself in Cathy’s old room. He spent most of his days and nights in there, but from the terrible moans that I heard, I don’t think he slept at all. One evening, he came downstairs, looking gaunt and wild, and began pacing up and down in front of the fire. I begged him to rest and have something to eat, but it was no use.

«Nelly,» he said desperately, «you can’t stop me now. I’ve been in hell for eighteen years, and now at last I’m in sight of my heaven. I can see it waiting for me!

«I can’t rest now, Nelly, although I’m so tired. You may as well tell a man who’s struggling through the sea to rest within an arm’s length of the shore! I must reach it first, and then I’ll rest. So keep well away from me now, Nelly! So long as you keep away, you’ll see nothing to frighten you.»

I obeyed my master’s orders and stayed away from his room all day, trying hard to ignore his terrible sobs and groans. But the next day, when he still didn’t appear, I sent Hareton to the village to fetch Doctor Kenneth. When the doctor arrived, though, Heathcliff refused to unlock his door and shouted out so fiercely that he went away again.

That night was very stormy and wet, and when I walked through the garden the next morning, I was surprised to see the window of Cathy’s old room swinging wide open. «If Heathcliff is in bed,» I thought to myself, «he’ll be drenched right through^[95].»

I decided I had to open the door, whatever my master said, so I took a bunch of keys and tried them all until I found the one that worked.

Heathcliff was lying on the bed, his eyes wide open and staring, and it seemed that he was smiling at me! His face and clothes were dripping with rain and he was completely still. When I stretched out my hand to touch him, he was as cold as ice. There was no doubt that Heathcliff was dead.

I fastened the window and combed my master’s long, black hair away from his forehead. Then I tried to close his eyes, but they wouldn’t stay shut. I cried out for Joseph, but the old man refused to touch the body.

«See, the devil has taken his soul,» he cried. «Look how wicked he is, smiling at death!» Then he sank down on his knees to pray.

Hareton was very sad about Heathcliff’s death, even though he had treated him so badly, but no one else mourned for him at all. On the day of Heathcliff’s funeral, only Hareton and I were there to watch him buried next to his beloved Cathy, just as he had wished.

At this point, Nelly stopped her story, and her face broke into a smile. «The next time I go to Gimmerton Church, Mr. Lockwood, it will be for a much more cheerful occasion. Hareton and Catherine will be married on New Year’s Day, and then they will go to live at Thrushcross Grange.»