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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
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Wuthering Heights





CHAPTER I



1801. - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the
solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is
certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe
that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from
the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist's heaven: and Mr.
Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation
between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart
warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so
suspiciously under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers
sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in
his waistcoat, as I announced my name.

'Mr. Heathcliff?' I said.

A nod was the answer.

'Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant, sir. I do myself the honour of
calling as soon as possible after my arrival, to express the hope
that I have not inconvenienced you by my perseverance in soliciting
the occupation of Thrushcross Grange: I heard yesterday you had
had some thoughts - '

'Thrushcross Grange is my own, sir,' he interrupted, wincing. 'I
should not allow any one to inconvenience me, if I could hinder it
- walk in!'

The 'walk in' was uttered with closed teeth, and expressed the
sentiment, 'Go to the Deuce:' even the gate over which he leant
manifested no sympathising movement to the words; and I think that
circumstance determined me to accept the invitation: I felt
interested in a man who seemed more exaggeratedly reserved than
myself.

When he saw my horse's breast fairly pushing the barrier, he did
put out his hand to unchain it, and then sullenly preceded me up
the causeway, calling, as we entered the court, - 'Joseph, take Mr.
Lockwood's horse; and bring up some wine.'

'Here we have the whole establishment of domestics, I suppose,' was
the reflection suggested by this compound order. 'No wonder the
grass grows up between the flags, and cattle are the only hedge-
cutters.'

Joseph was an elderly, nay, an old man: very old, perhaps, though
hale and sinewy. 'The Lord help us!' he soliloquised in an
undertone of peevish displeasure, while relieving me of my horse:
looking, meantime, in my face so sourly that I charitably
conjectured he must have need of divine aid to digest his dinner,
and his pious ejaculation had no reference to my unexpected advent.

Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling.
'Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive
of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy
weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all
times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind blowing
over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the
end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching
their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the
architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are
deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting
stones.

Before passing the threshold, I paused to admire a quantity of
grotesque carving lavished over the front, and especially about the
principal door; above which, among a wilderness of crumbling
griffins and shameless little boys, I detected the date '1500,' and
the name 'Hareton Earnshaw.' I would have made a few comments, and
requested a short history of the place from the surly owner; but
his attitude at the door appeared to demand my speedy entrance, or
complete departure, and I had no desire to aggravate his impatience
previous to inspecting the penetralium.

One stop brought us into the family sitting-room, without any
introductory lobby or passage: they call it here 'the house' pre-
eminently. It includes kitchen and parlour, generally; but I
believe at Wuthering Heights the kitchen is forced to retreat
altogether into another quarter: at least I distinguished a
chatter of tongues, and a clatter of culinary utensils, deep
within; and I observed no signs of roasting, boiling, or baking,
about the huge fireplace; nor any glitter of copper saucepans and
tin cullenders on the walls. One end, indeed, reflected splendidly
both light and heat from ranks of immense pewter dishes,
interspersed with silver jugs and tankards, towering row after row,
on a vast oak dresser, to the very roof. The latter had never been
under-drawn: its entire anatomy lay bare to an inquiring eye,
except where a frame of wood laden with oatcakes and clusters of
legs of beef, mutton, and ham, concealed it. Above the chimney
were sundry villainous old guns, and a couple of horse-pistols:
and, by way of ornament, three gaudily-painted canisters disposed
along its ledge. The floor was of smooth, white stone; the chairs,
high-backed, primitive structures, painted green: one or two heavy
black ones lurking in the shade. In an arch under the dresser
reposed a huge, liver-coloured bitch pointer, surrounded by a swarm
of squealing puppies; and other dogs haunted other recesses.

The apartment and furniture would have been nothing extraordinary
as belonging to a homely, northern farmer, with a stubborn
countenance, and stalwart limbs set out to advantage in knee-
breeches and gaiters. Such an individual seated in his arm-chair,
his mug of ale frothing on the round table before him, is to be
seen in any circuit of five or six miles among these hills, if you
go at the right time after dinner. But Mr. Heathcliff forms a
singular contrast to his abode and style of living. He is a dark-
skinned gipsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman: that
is, as much a gentleman as many a country squire: rather slovenly,
perhaps, yet not looking amiss with his negligence, because he has
an erect and handsome figure; and rather morose. Possibly, some
people might suspect him of a degree of under-bred pride; I have a
sympathetic chord within that tells me it is nothing of the sort:
I know, by instinct, his reserve springs from an aversion to showy
displays of feeling - to manifestations of mutual kindliness.
He'll love and hate equally under cover, and esteem it a species of
impertinence to be loved or hated again. No, I'm running on too
fast: I bestow my own attributes over-liberally on him. Mr.
Heathcliff may have entirely dissimilar reasons for keeping his
hand out of the way when he meets a would-be acquaintance, to those
which actuate me. Let me hope my constitution is almost peculiar:
my dear mother used to say I should never have a comfortable home;
and only last summer I proved myself perfectly unworthy of one.

While enjoying a month of fine weather at the sea-coast, I was
thrown into the company of a most fascinating creature: a real
goddess in my eyes, as long as she took no notice of me. I 'never
told my love' vocally; still, if looks have language, the merest
idiot might have guessed I was over head and ears: she understood
me at last, and looked a return - the sweetest of all imaginable
looks. And what did I do? I confess it with shame - shrunk icily
into myself, like a snail; at every glance retired colder and
farther; till finally the poor innocent was led to doubt her own
senses, and, overwhelmed with confusion at her supposed mistake,
persuaded her mamma to decamp. By this curious turn of disposition
I have gained the reputation of deliberate heartlessness; how
undeserved, I alone can appreciate.

I took a seat at the end of the hearthstone opposite that towards
which my landlord advanced, and filled up an interval of silence by
attempting to caress the canine mother, who had left her nursery,
and was sneaking wolfishly to the back of my legs, her lip curled
up, and her white teeth watering for a snatch. My caress provoked
a long, guttural gnarl.

'You'd better let the dog alone,' growled Mr. Heathcliff in unison,
checking fiercer demonstrations with a punch of his foot. 'She's
not accustomed to be spoiled - not kept for a pet.' Then, striding
to a side door, he shouted again, 'Joseph!'

Joseph mumbled indistinctly in the depths of the cellar, but gave
no intimation of ascending; so his master dived down to him,
leaving me VIS-A-VIS the ruffianly bitch and a pair of grim shaggy
sheep-dogs, who shared with her a jealous guardianship over all my
movements. Not anxious to come in contact with their fangs, I sat
still; but, imagining they would scarcely understand tacit insults,
I unfortunately indulged in winking and making faces at the trio,
and some turn of my physiognomy so irritated madam, that she
suddenly broke into a fury and leapt on my knees. I flung her
back, and hastened to interpose the table between us. This
proceeding aroused the whole hive: half-a-dozen four-footed
fiends, of various sizes and ages, issued from hidden dens to the
common centre. I felt my heels and coat-laps peculiar subjects of
assault; and parrying off the larger combatants as effectually as I
could with the poker, I was constrained to demand, aloud,
assistance from some of the household in re-establishing peace.

Mr. Heathcliff and his man climbed the cellar steps with vexatious
phlegm: I don't think they moved one second faster than usual,
though the hearth was an absolute tempest of worrying and yelping.
Happily, an inhabitant of the kitchen made more despatch: a lusty
dame, with tucked-up gown, bare arms, and fire-flushed cheeks,
rushed into the midst of us flourishing a frying-pan: and used
that weapon, and her tongue, to such purpose, that the storm
subsided magically, and she only remained, heaving like a sea after
a high wind, when her master entered on the scene.

'What the devil is the matter?' he asked, eyeing me in a manner
that I could ill endure, after this inhospitable treatment.

'What the devil, indeed!' I muttered. 'The herd of possessed swine
could have had no worse spirits in them than those animals of
yours, sir. You might as well leave a stranger with a brood of
tigers!'

'They won't meddle with persons who touch nothing,' he remarked,
putting the bottle before me, and restoring the displaced table.
'The dogs do right to be vigilant. Take a glass of wine?'

'No, thank you.'

'Not bitten, are you?'

'If I had been, I would have set my signet on the biter.'
Heathcliff's countenance relaxed into a grin.

'Come, come,' he said, 'you are flurried, Mr. Lockwood. Here, take
a little wine. Guests are so exceedingly rare in this house that I
and my dogs, I am willing to own, hardly know how to receive them.
Your health, sir?'

I bowed and returned the pledge; beginning to perceive that it
would be foolish to sit sulking for the misbehaviour of a pack of
curs; besides, I felt loth to yield the fellow further amusement at
my expense; since his humour took that turn. He - probably swayed
by prudential consideration of the folly of offending a good tenant
- relaxed a little in the laconic style of chipping off his
pronouns and auxiliary verbs, and introduced what he supposed would
be a subject of interest to me, - a discourse on the advantages and
disadvantages of my present place of retirement. I found him very
intelligent on the topics we touched; and before I went home, I was
encouraged so far as to volunteer another visit to-morrow. He
evidently wished no repetition of my intrusion. I shall go,
notwithstanding. It is astonishing how sociable I feel myself
compared with him.



CHAPTER II



YESTERDAY afternoon set in misty and cold. I had half a mind to
spend it by my study fire, instead of wading through heath and mud
to Wuthering Heights. On coming up from dinner, however, (N.B. - I
dine between twelve and one o'clock; the housekeeper, a matronly
lady, taken as a fixture along with the house, could not, or would
not, comprehend my request that I might be served at five) - on
mounting the stairs with this lazy intention, and stepping into the
room, I saw a servant-girl on her knees surrounded by brushes and
coal-scuttles, and raising an infernal dust as she extinguished the
flames with heaps of cinders. This spectacle drove me back
immediately; I took my hat, and, after a four-miles' walk, arrived
at Heathcliff's garden-gate just in time to escape the first
feathery flakes of a snow-shower.

On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black frost, and
the air made me shiver through every limb. Being unable to remove
the chain, I jumped over, and, running up the flagged causeway
bordered with straggling gooseberry-bushes, knocked vainly for
admittance, till my knuckles tingled and the dogs howled.

'Wretched inmates!' I ejaculated, mentally, 'you deserve perpetual
isolation from your species for your churlish inhospitality. At
least, I would not keep my doors barred in the day-time. I don't
care - I will get in!' So resolved, I grasped the latch and shook
it vehemently. Vinegar-faced Joseph projected his head from a
round window of the barn.

'What are ye for?' he shouted. 'T' maister's down i' t' fowld. Go
round by th' end o' t' laith, if ye went to spake to him.'

'Is there nobody inside to open the door?' I hallooed,
responsively.

'There's nobbut t' missis; and shoo'll not oppen 't an ye mak' yer
flaysome dins till neeght.'

'Why? Cannot you tell her whom I am, eh, Joseph?'

'Nor-ne me! I'll hae no hend wi't,' muttered the head, vanishing.

The snow began to drive thickly. I seized the handle to essay
another trial; when a young man without coat, and shouldering a
pitchfork, appeared in the yard behind. He hailed me to follow
him, and, after marching through a wash-house, and a paved area
containing a coal-shed, pump, and pigeon-cot, we at length arrived
in the huge, warm, cheerful apartment where I was formerly
received. It glowed delightfully in the radiance of an immense
fire, compounded of coal, peat, and wood; and near the table, laid
for a plentiful evening meal, I was pleased to observe the
'missis,' an individual whose existence I had never previously
suspected. I bowed and waited, thinking she would bid me take a
seat. She looked at me, leaning back in her chair, and remained
motionless and mute.

'Rough weather!' I remarked. 'I'm afraid, Mrs. Heathcliff, the
door must bear the consequence of your servants' leisure
attendance: I had hard work to make them hear me.'

She never opened her mouth. I stared - she stared also: at any
rate, she kept her eyes on me in a cool, regardless manner,
exceedingly embarrassing and disagreeable.

'Sit down,' said the young man, gruffly. 'He'll be in soon.'

I obeyed; and hemmed, and called the villain Juno, who deigned, at
this second interview, to move the extreme tip of her tail, in
token of owning my acquaintance.

'A beautiful animal!' I commenced again. 'Do you intend parting
with the little ones, madam?'

'They are not mine,' said the amiable hostess, more repellingly
than Heathcliff himself could have replied.

'Ah, your favourites are among these?' I continued, turning to an
obscure cushion full of something like cats.

'A strange choice of favourites!' she observed scornfully.

Unluckily, it was a heap of dead rabbits. I hemmed once more, and
drew closer to the hearth, repeating my comment on the wildness of
the evening.

'You should not have come out,' she said, rising and reaching from
the chimney-piece two of the painted canisters.

Her position before was sheltered from the light; now, I had a
distinct view of her whole figure and countenance. She was
slender, and apparently scarcely past girlhood: an admirable form,
and the most exquisite little face that I have ever had the
pleasure of beholding; small features, very fair; flaxen ringlets,
or rather golden, hanging loose on her delicate neck; and eyes, had
they been agreeable in expression, that would have been
irresistible: fortunately for my susceptible heart, the only
sentiment they evinced hovered between scorn and a kind of
desperation, singularly unnatural to be detected there. The
canisters were almost out of her reach; I made a motion to aid her;
she turned upon me as a miser might turn if any one attempted to
assist him in counting his gold.

'I don't want your help,' she snapped; 'I can get them for myself.'

'I beg your pardon!' I hastened to reply.

'Were you asked to tea?' she demanded, tying an apron over her neat
black frock, and standing with a spoonful of the leaf poised over
the pot.

'I shall be glad to have a cup,' I answered.

'Were you asked?' she repeated.

'No,' I said, half smiling. 'You are the proper person to ask me.'

She flung the tea back, spoon and all, and resumed her chair in a
pet; her forehead corrugated, and her red under-lip pushed out,
like a child's ready to cry.

Meanwhile, the young man had slung on to his person a decidedly
shabby upper garment, and, erecting himself before the blaze,
looked down on me from the corner of his eyes, for all the world as
if there were some mortal feud unavenged between us. I began to
doubt whether he were a servant or not: his dress and speech were
both rude, entirely devoid of the superiority observable in Mr. and
Mrs. Heathcliff; his thick brown curls were rough and uncultivated,
his whiskers encroached bearishly over his cheeks, and his hands
were embrowned like those of a common labourer: still his bearing
was free, almost haughty, and he showed none of a domestic's
assiduity in attending on the lady of the house. In the absence of
clear proofs of his condition, I deemed it best to abstain from
noticing his curious conduct; and, five minutes afterwards, the
entrance of Heathcliff relieved me, in some measure, from my
uncomfortable state.

'You see, sir, I am come, according to promise!' I exclaimed,
assuming the cheerful; 'and I fear I shall be weather-bound for
half an hour, if you can afford me shelter during that space.'

'Half an hour?' he said, shaking the white flakes from his clothes;
'I wonder you should select the thick of a snow-storm to ramble
about in. Do you know that you run a risk of being lost in the
marshes? People familiar with these moors often miss their road on
such evenings; and I can tell you there is no chance of a change at
present.'

'Perhaps I can get a guide among your lads, and he might stay at
the Grange till morning - could you spare me one?'

'No, I could not.'

'Oh, indeed! Well, then, I must trust to my own sagacity.'

'Umph!'

'Are you going to mak' the tea?' demanded he of the shabby coat,
shifting his ferocious gaze from me to the young lady.

'Is HE to have any?' she asked, appealing to Heathcliff.

'Get it ready, will you?' was the answer, uttered so savagely that
I started. The tone in which the words were said revealed a
genuine bad nature. I no longer felt inclined to call Heathcliff a
capital fellow. When the preparations were finished, he invited me
with - 'Now, sir, bring forward your chair.' And we all, including
the rustic youth, drew round the table: an austere silence
prevailing while we discussed our meal.

I thought, if I had caused the cloud, it was my duty to make an
effort to dispel it. They could not every day sit so grim and
taciturn; and it was impossible, however ill-tempered they might
be, that the universal scowl they wore was their every-day
countenance.

'It is strange,' I began, in the interval of swallowing one cup of
tea and receiving another - 'it is strange how custom can mould our
tastes and ideas: many could not imagine the existence of
happiness in a life of such complete exile from the world as you
spend, Mr. Heathcliff; yet, I'll venture to say, that, surrounded
by your family, and with your amiable lady as the presiding genius
over your home and heart - '

'My amiable lady!' he interrupted, with an almost diabolical sneer
on his face. 'Where is she - my amiable lady?'

'Mrs. Heathcliff, your wife, I mean.'

'Well, yes - oh, you would intimate that her spirit has taken the
post of ministering angel, and guards the fortunes of Wuthering
Heights, even when her body is gone. Is that it?'

Perceiving myself in a blunder, I attempted to correct it. I might
have seen there was too great a disparity between the ages of the
parties to make it likely that they were man and wife. One was
about forty: a period of mental vigour at which men seldom cherish
the delusion of being married for love by girls: that dream is
reserved for the solace of our declining years. The other did not
look seventeen.

Then it flashed on me - 'The clown at my elbow, who is drinking his
tea out of a basin and eating his broad with unwashed hands, may be
her husband: Heathcliff junior, of course. Here is the
consequence of being buried alive: she has thrown herself away
upon that boor from sheer ignorance that better individuals
existed! A sad pity - I must beware how I cause her to regret her
choice.' The last reflection may seem conceited; it was not. My
neighbour struck me as bordering on repulsive; I knew, through
experience, that I was tolerably attractive.

'Mrs. Heathcliff is my daughter-in-law,' said Heathcliff,
corroborating my surmise. He turned, as he spoke, a peculiar look
in her direction: a look of hatred; unless he has a most perverse
set of facial muscles that will not, like those of other people,
interpret the language of his soul.

'Ah, certainly - I see now: you are the favoured possessor of the
beneficent fairy,' I remarked, turning to my neighbour.

This was worse than before: the youth grew crimson, and clenched
his fist, with every appearance of a meditated assault. But he
seemed to recollect himself presently, and smothered the storm in a
brutal curse, muttered on my behalf: which, however, I took care
not to notice.

'Unhappy in your conjectures, sir,' observed my host; 'we neither
of us have the privilege of owning your good fairy; her mate is
dead. I said she was my daughter-in-law: therefore, she must have
married my son.'

'And this young man is - '

'Not my son, assuredly.'

Heathcliff smiled again, as if it were rather too bold a jest to
attribute the paternity of that bear to him.

'My name is Hareton Earnshaw,' growled the other; 'and I'd counsel
you to respect it!'

'I've shown no disrespect,' was my reply, laughing internally at
the dignity with which he announced himself.

He fixed his eye on me longer than I cared to return the stare, for
fear I might be tempted either to box his ears or render my
hilarity audible. I began to feel unmistakably out of place in
that pleasant family circle. The dismal spiritual atmosphere
overcame, and more than neutralised, the glowing physical comforts
round me; and I resolved to be cautious how I ventured under those
rafters a third time.

The business of eating being concluded, and no one uttering a word
of sociable conversation, I approached a window to examine the
weather. A sorrowful sight I saw: dark night coming down
prematurely, and sky and hills mingled in one bitter whirl of wind
and suffocating snow.

'I don't think it possible for me to get home now without a guide,'
I could not help exclaiming. 'The roads will be buried already;
and, if they were bare, I could scarcely distinguish a foot in
advance.'

'Hareton, drive those dozen sheep into the barn porch. They'll be
covered if left in the fold all night: and put a plank before
them,' said Heathcliff.

'How must I do?' I continued, with rising irritation.

There was no reply to my question; and on looking round I saw only
Joseph bringing in a pail of porridge for the dogs, and Mrs.
Heathcliff leaning over the fire, diverting herself with burning a
bundle of matches which had fallen from the chimney-piece as she
restored the tea-canister to its place. The former, when he had
deposited his burden, took a critical survey of the room, and in
cracked tones grated out - 'Aw wonder how yah can faishion to stand
thear i' idleness un war, when all on 'ems goan out! Bud yah're a
nowt, and it's no use talking - yah'll niver mend o'yer ill ways,
but goa raight to t' divil, like yer mother afore ye!'

I imagined, for a moment, that this piece of eloquence was
addressed to me; and, sufficiently enraged, stepped towards the
aged rascal with an intention of kicking him out of the door. Mrs.
Heathcliff, however, checked me by her answer.

'You scandalous old hypocrite!' she replied. 'Are you not afraid
of being carried away bodily, whenever you mention the devil's
name? I warn you to refrain from provoking me, or I'll ask your
abduction as a special favour! Stop! look here, Joseph,' she
continued, taking a long, dark book from a shelf; 'I'll show you
how far I've progressed in the Black Art: I shall soon be
competent to make a clear house of it. The red cow didn't die by
chance; and your rheumatism can hardly be reckoned among
providential visitations!'

'Oh, wicked, wicked!' gasped the elder; 'may the Lord deliver us
from evil!'

'No, reprobate! you are a castaway - be off, or I'll hurt you
seriously! I'll have you all modelled in wax and clay! and the
first who passes the limits I fix shall - I'll not say what he
shall be done to - but, you'll see! Go, I'm looking at you!'

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