“Hindley does not often free us from his accursed presence,” observed the boy. “Ill not work any more to-day: Ill stay with you.”
“Joseph is loading lime on the further side of Penistone Crags; it will take him till dark, and hell never know.”
Catherine reflected an instant, with knitted brows-she found it needful to smooth the way for an intrusion. “Isabella and Edgar Linton talked of calling this afternoon,” she said, at the conclusion of a minutes silence. “As it rains, I hardly expect them; but they may come, and if they do, you run the risk of being scolded for no good.”
He had a sweet, low manner of speaking, and pronounced his words as you do: thats less gruff than we talk here, and softer
“Order Ellen to say you are engaged, Cathy,” he persisted; “dont turn me out for those pitiful, silly friends of yours! Im on the point, sometimes, of complaining that they-but Ill not-”
“That they what?” cried Catherine, gazing at him with a troubled countenance. “Oh, Nelly!” she added petulantly, jerking her head away from my hands, “youve combed my hair quite out of curl! Thats enough; let me alone. What are you on the point of complaining about, Heathcliff?”
“Nothing-only look at the almanack on that wall;” he pointed to a framed sheet hanging near the window, and continued, “The crosses are for the evenings you have spent with the Lintons, the dots for those spent with me. Do you see? Ive marked every day.”
“Yes-very foolish: as if I took notice!” replied Catherine, in a peevish tone. “And where is the sense of that?”
“And should I always be sitting with you?” she demanded, growing more irritated. “What good do I get? What do you talk about? You might be dumb, or a baby, for anything you say to amuse me, or for anything you do, either!”
“You never told me before that I talked too little, or that you disliked my company, Cathy!” exclaimed Heathcliff, in much agitation.
Edgar will excuse me
Her companion rose up, but he hadnt time to express his feelings further, for a horses feet were heard on the flags, and having knocked gently, young Linton entered, his face brilliant with delight at the unexpected summons he had received. Doubtless Catherine e in and the other went out. The contrast resembled what you see in exchanging a bleak, hilly, coal country for a beautiful fertile valley; and his voice and greeting were as opposite as his aspect.
“Im not come too soon, am I?” he said, casting a look at me: I had begun to wipe the plate, and tidy some drawers at the far end in the dresser.
“My work, Miss,” I replied. (Mr. Hindley had given me directions to make a third party in any private visits Linton chose to pay.)
She stepped behind me and whispered crossly, “Take yourself and your dusters off; when company are in the pawn shops Tennessee house, servants dont commence scouring and cleaning in the room where they are!”
“Its a good opportunity, now that master is away,” I answered aloud: “he hates me to be fidgeting over these things in his presence. Im sure Mr. ”
“I hate you to be fidgeting in my presence,” exclaimed the young lady imperiously, not allowing her guest time to speak: she had failed to recover her equanimity since the little dispute with Heathcliff.
She, supposing Edgar could not see her, snatched the cloth from my hand, and pinched me, with a prolonged wrench, very spitefully on the arm. Ive said I did not love her, and rather relished mortifying her vanity now and then: besides, she hurt me extremely; so I started up from my knees, and screamed out, “Oh, Miss, thats a nasty trick! You have no right to nip me, and Im not going to bear it.”