第51章

The sun set behind the Grange, as we turned on to the moors; by that, I judged it to be six o'clock; and my companion halted half an hour, to inspect the park, and the gardens, and, probably, the place itself, as well as he could; so it was dark when we dismounted in the paved yard of the farmhouse, and your old fellow-servant, Joseph, issued out to receive us by the light of a dip candle.He did it with a courtesy that redounded to his credit.His first act was to elevate his torch to a level with my face, squint malignantly, project his under lip, and turn away.Then he took the two horses, and led them into the stables; reappearing for the purpose of locking the outer gate, as if we lived in an ancient castle.

Heathcliff stayed to speak to him, and I entered the kitchen--a dingy, untidy hole; I dare say you would not know it, it is so changed since it was in your charge.By the fire stood a ruffianly child, strong in limb and dirty in garb, with a look of Catherine in his eyes and about his mouth.

`This is Edgar's legal nephew,' I reflected--`mine in a manner;I must shake hands, and--yes--I must kiss him.It is right to establish a good understanding at the beginning.'

I approached, and, attempting to take his chubby fist, said: `How do you do, my dear?' He replied in a jargon I did not comprehend.`Shall you and I be friends, Hareton?' was my next essay at conversation.

An oath, and a threat to set Throttler on me if I did not `frame off', rewarded my perseverance.

`Hey, Throttler, lad!' whispered the little wretch, rousing a half-bred bulldog from its lair in a corner.Now, wilt tuh be ganging?'

he asked authoritatively.

Love for my life urged a compliance; I stepped over the threshold to wait till the others should enter.Mr Heathcliff was nowhere visible;and Joseph, whom I followed to the stables, and requested to accompany me in, after staring and muttering to himself, screwed up his nose, and replied:

`Mim! mim! mim! Did iver Christian body hear aught like it? Minching Un' munching! How can Aw tell whet ye say?'

`I say, I wish you to come with me into the house!' I cried, thinking him deaf, yet highly disgusted at his rudeness.

`Nor nuh me! I getten summat else to do,' he answered, and continued his work; moving his lantern jaws meanwhile, and surveying my dress and countenance (the former a great deal too fine, but the latter, I'm sure, as sad as he could desire) with sovereign contempt.

I walked round the yard, and through a wicket, to another door, at which I took the liberty of knocking, in hopes some more civil servant might show himself.After a short suspense, it was opened by a tall, gaunt man, without neckerchief, and otherwise extremely slovenly; his features were lost in masses of shaggy hair that hung on his shoulders; and his eyes, too, were like a ghostly Catherine's with all their beauty annihilated.

`What's your business here?' he demanded grimly.`Who are you?'

`My name was Isabella Linton,' I replied.`You've seen me before, sir.I'm lately married to Mr Heathcliff, and he has brought me here--I suppose by your permission.'

`Is he come back, then?' asked the hermit, glaring like a hungry wolf.

`Yes--we came just now,' I said; `but he left me by the kitchen door; and when I would have gone in, your little boy played sentinel over the place, and frightened me off by the help of a bulldog.'

`It's well the hellish villain has kept his word!' growled my future host, searching the darkness beyond me in expectation of discovering Heathcliff; and then he indulged in a soliloquy of execrations, and threats of what he would have done had the `fiend' deceived him.

I repented having tried this second entrance, and was almost inclined to slip away before he finished cursing, but ere I could execute that intention, he ordered me in, and shut and refastened the door.There was a great fire, and that was all the light in the huge apartment, whose floor had grown a uniform grey; and the once brilliant pewter dishes, which used to attract my gaze when I was a girl, partook of a similar obscurity, created by tarnish and dust.I inquired whether I might call the maid, and be conducted to a bedroom? Mr Earnshaw vouchsafed no answer.He walked up and down, with his hands in his pockets, apparently quite forgetting my presence; and his abstraction was evidently so deep, and his whole aspect so misanthropical, that I shrank from disturbing him again.

You'll not be surprised, Ellen, at my feeling particularly cheerless, seated in worse than solitude on that inhospitable hearth, and remembering that four miles distant lay my delightful home, containing the only people I loved on earth; and there might as well be the Atlantic to part us, instead of those four miles: I could not overpass them! I questioned with myself--where must I turn for comfort? and--mind you don't tell Edgar, or Catherine--above every sorrow beside, this rose pre-eminent: despair at finding nobody who could or would be my ally against Heathcliff! I had sought shelter at Wuthering Heights, almost gladly, because I was secured by that arrangement from living alone with him; but he knew the people we were coming amongst, and he did not fear their intermeddling.

I sat and thought a doleful time: the clock struck eight, and nine, and still my companion paced to and fro, his head bent on his breast, and perfectly silent, unless a groan or a bitter ejaculation forced itself out at intervals.I listened to detect a woman's voice in the house, and filled the interim with wild regrets and dismal anticipations, which, at last, spoke audibly in irrepressible sighing and weeping.I was not aware how openly I grieved, till Earnshaw halted opposite, in his measured walk, and gave me a stare of newly-awakened surprise.Taking advantage of his recovered attention, I exclaimed:

`I'm tired with my journey, and I want to go to bed! Where is the maidservant? Direct me to her, as she won't come to me!'

`We have none,' he answered; `you must wait on yourself!'