Wuthering Heights

till Christmas. By that time her ankle was th

lack pony a very dignified person, with brown ringlets falling from the cover of a feathered beaver, and a long cloth habit, which she was obliged to hold up with both hands that she might sail in. Hindley lifted her from her horse, exclaiming delightedly, 'Why, Cathy, you are quite a beauty! I should scarcely have know

red hardly touch them lest they should fawn upon her splendid garments. She kissed me gently: I was all flour making the Christmas cake, and it would not have done to give me a hug; and then she looked rou

seldom have a natural pleasure in soap and water. Therefore, not to mention his clothes, which had seen three months' service in mire and dust, and his thick uncombed hair, the surface of his face and hands was dismally beclouded. He might well skulk behind the settle, o

d gratified to see what a forbidding young blackguard he would be compelled to prese

within the second, and then stopped, and drawing back, burst into a laugh, exclaiming, 'Why, how very black and cross you look!

for shame and pride threw double gloom ov

Mr. Earnshaw, condescendingly; '

hall not stand to be laughed at. I shall not bear it!' And he wo

shake hands at least! What are you sulky for? It was only that you looked odd. If

in her own, and also at her dress; which she feared

r eye and snatching away his hand. 'I shall be as dirty

ter and mistress, and to the serious disturbance of Catherine; who could not co

ffirmations that he considered the merry tunes I chose as next door to songs. He had retired to private prayer in his chamber, and Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw were engaging Missy's attention by sundry gay trifles bought for her to present to the little Lintons, a

e to every object, and then I remembered how old Earnshaw used to come in when all was tidied, and call me a cant lass, and slip a shilling into my hand as a Christmas-box; and from that I went on to think of his fondness for Heathcliff, and his dread lest he should suffer neglect after death had removed him: and that naturally led me to consider the poor lad's situa

s: make haste, and let me dress you smart before Miss Cathy comes out, and then you can

task, and never turn

s a little cake for each of you, nearly eno

lock, and then marched dumb and dour to his chamber. Cathy sat up late, having a world of things to order for the reception of her new friends: she came into the kitchen once to speak to her old one; but he was gone, and she only stayed to ask what was the matter with him, and then went back. In the morning he rose early;

e: she's sorry she ever came home, I daresay! It looks as i

mprehensible to him, but the notion of g

grieved?' he inquired

ld her you were off

he returned, 'and I had mo

up and offer to kiss her, and say-you know best what to say; only do it heartily, and not as if you thought her converted into a stranger by her grand dress. And now, though I have dinner to get ready, I'll steal time to arrange you so th

d a moment; then it was ove

handsome or me more so. I wish I had light hair and a fair skin, and was dr

s; and those thick brows, that, instead of rising arched, sink in the middle; and that couple of black fiends, so deeply buried, who never open their windows boldly, but lurk glinting under them, like devil's spies? Wish and learn to smooth away the surly wrinkles, to raise your lids frankly, and change

n's great blue eyes and even forehead,' he r

yourself rather handsome? I'll tell you, I do. You're fit for a prince in disguise. Who knows but your father was Emperor of China, and your mother an Indian queen, each of them able to buy up, with one week's income, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Gr

he court. He ran to the window and I to the door, just in time to behold the two Lintons descend from the family carriage, smothered in cloaks and furs, and the Earnshaws dismount from their horse

ned it on the other. They met, and the master, irritated at seeing him clean and cheerful, or, perhaps, eager to keep his promise to Mrs. Linton, shoved him back with a sudden thrust, and angri

l touch nothing, not he: and I suppose he must

Hindley. 'Begone, you vagabond! What! you are attempting the coxcomb, are you? Wa

, peeping from the doorway; 'I wonder they don't make

s grip) and dashed it full against the speaker's face and neck; who instantly commenced a lament that brought Isabella and Catherine hurrying to the place. Mr. Earnshaw snatched up the culprit directly and conveyed him to his chamber; where, doubtless, he administered a rough

as in a bad temper, and now you've spoilt your visit; and he'll be flogged: I h

he remainder of the purification with his cambric pocket-handkerchief

ou're not killed. Don't make more mischief; my brother i

. 'That brute of a lad has warmed me nicely. Next time, Master Edg

ir, commence cutting up the wing of a goose before her. 'An unfeeling child,' I thought to myself; 'how lightly she dismisses her old playmate's troubles. I could not have imagined her to be so selfish.' She lifted a mouthful to her lips: then she set it down again: her cheeks flushed, and the tears gushed over them. She slipped her fork to the floor, and

xercise, and our pleasure was increased by the arrival of the Gimmerton band, mustering fifteen strong: a trumpet, a trombone, clarionets, bassoons, French horns, and a bass viol, besides singers. They go the rounds of all the respect

hen I clambered up the ladder to warn her. Instead of finding her outside, I heard her voice within. The little monkey had crept by the skylight of one garret, along the roof, into the skylight of the other, and it was with the utmost difficulty I could coax her out again. When she did come, Heathcliff came with her, and she insisted that I should take him into the kitchen, as my fellow-servant had gone to a neighbour's, to be removed from the sound of our 'devil's psalmody,' as it pleased him to call it. I told them I intended by no means to encourage their tricks: but as the prisoner h

'It is for God to punish wicked p

ned. 'I only wish I knew the best way! Let me alone, and I'l

dream of chattering on at such a rate; and your gruel cold, and you nodding for bed!

*

was very far from nodding. 'Sit still, Mrs. Dean,' I cried; 'do sit still another half-hour. You've done just right to tell the story leisur

on the stroke

ed in the long hours. One or two is earl

ne long before that time. A person who has not done one-half his day'

-morrow I intend lengthening the night till afternoon.

low me to leap over some three year

you were seated alone, and the cat licking its kitten on the rug before you, you would watch

lazy mood, I

on is not entirely owing to the situation of the looker-on. They do live more in earnest, more in themselves, and less in surface, change, and frivolous external things. I could fancy a love for life here almost possible; and I was a fixed unbeliever in any love of a year's standing. One state res

se, when you get to know us,' observed M

have no marks of the manners which I am habituated to consider as peculiar to your class. I am sure you have thought a great deal more than the generali

ean la

d then, I have read more than you would fancy, Mr. Lockwood. You could not open a book in this library that I have not looked into, and got something out of also: unless it be that range of Greek and Latin, and that of French; and those I know one from another: it is as