Wuthering Heights Chapter 04 - Wordscape.mp3

[00:03.544]Chapter 4
[00:05.712]What vain weather-cocks we are!
[00:08.497]I, who had determined to hold myself independent of all social intercourse, and thanked my stars that,
[00:16.616]at length, I had lighted on a spot where it was next to impracticable
[00:20.273]--I, weak wretch, after maintaining till dusk a struggle with low spirits and solitude, was finally compelled to strike my colours;
[00:32.145]and, under pretence of gaining information concerning the necessities of my establishment,
[00:37.551]I desired Mrs Dean, when she brought in supper, to sit down while I ate it;
[00:43.608]hoping sincerely she would prove a regular gossip, and either rouse me to animation or lull me to sleep by her talk.
[00:52.599]`You have lived here a considerable time,' I commenced; `did you not say sixteen years?'
[01:00.416]`Eighteen, sir: I came, when the mistress was married, to wait on her; after she died, the master retained me for his housekeeper.'
[01:10.792]`Indeed.'
[01:12.591]There ensued a pause. She was not a gossip, I feared; unless about her own affairs, and those could hardly interest me.
[01:22.984]However, having studied for an interval, with a fist on either knee, and a cloud of meditation over her ruddy countenance, she ejaculated:
[01:33.727]`Ah, times are greatly changed since then!'
[01:37.528]`Yes,' I remarked, `you've seen a good many alterations, I suppose?'
[01:43.872]`I have: and troubles too,' she said.
[01:48.695]`Oh, I'll turn the talk on my landlord's family!' I thought to myself. `A good subject to start--and that pretty girl-widow, I should like to know her history:
[02:01.335]whether she be a native of the country, or, as is more probable, an exotic that the surly indigenae will not recognize for kin.'
[02:10.424]With this intention I asked Mrs Dean why Heathcliff let Thrushcross Grange, and preferred living in a situation and residence so much inferior.
[02:22.527]`Is he not rich enough to keep the estate in good order?' I inquired.
[02:28.105]`Rich, sir!' she returned.
[02:31.504]`He has, nobody knows what money, and every year it increases.
[02:37.095]Yes, yes, he's rich enough to live in a finer house than this: but he's very near--close-handed;
[02:46.112]and, if he had meant to flit to Thrushcross Grange,
[02:50.047]as soon as he heard of a good tenant he could not have borne to miss the chance of getting a few hundreds more.
[02:55.960]t is strange people should be so greedy, when they are alone in the world!'
[03:02.159]`He had a son, it seems?'
[03:04.679]`Yes, he had one--he is dead.'
[03:08.359]`And, that young lady, Mrs Heathcliff, is his widow?'
[03:12.664]`Yes.
[03:13.816]`Where did she come from originally?'
[03:17.308]`Why, sir, she is my late master's daughter: Catherine Linton was her maiden name.
[03:24.928]I nursed her, poor thing! I did wish Mr Heathcliff would remove here, and then we might have been together again.'
[03:32.630]`What! Catherine Linton?' I exclaimed, astonished. But a minute's reflection convinced me it was not my ghostly Catherine.
[03:44.251]`Then,' I continued, `my predecessor's name was Linton?'
[03:49.527]`It was.
[03:51.472]`And who is that Earnshaw, Hareton Earnshaw, who lives with Mr Heathcliff? are they relations?'
[03:59.393]`No; he is the late Mrs Linton's nephew.'
[04:04.218]`The young lady's cousin, then?'
[04:07.640]`Yes; and her husband was her cousin also: one on the mother's, the other on the father's side: Heathcliff married Mr Linton's sister.'
[04:18.416]`I see the house at Wuthering Heights has "Earnshaw" carved over the front door. Are they an old family?'
[04:26.750]`Very old, sir; and Hareton is the last of them, as our Miss Cathy is of us--I mean of the Lintons.
[04:35.336]Have you been to Wuthering Heights? I beg pardon for asking; but I should like to hear how she is!'
[04:42.896]`Mrs Heathcliff? She looked very well, and very handsome; yet, I think, not very happy.'
[04:50.736]`Oh dear, I don't wonder! And how did you like the master?' `A rough fellow, rather, Mrs Dean. Is not that his character?'
[05:03.401]`Rough as a saw edge, and hard as whinstone! The less you meddle with him the better.'
[05:09.432]`He must have had some ups and downs in life to make him such a churl. Do you know anything of his history?'
[05:17.343]`It's a cuckoo's, sir--I know all about it: except where he was born, and who were his parents, and how he got his money, at first.
[05:28.592]And Hareton has been cast out like an unfledged dunnock!
[05:33.419]The unfortunate lad is the only one in all this parish that does not guess how he has been cheated.'
[05:40.095]`Well, Mrs Dean, it will be a charitable deed to tell me something of my neighbours: I feel I shall not rest, if I go to bed;
[05:50.182]so be good enough to sit and chat an hour.'
[05:53.395]`Oh, certainly, sir! I'll just fetch a little sewing, and then I'll sit as long as you please.
[06:00.458]But you've caught cold: I saw you shivering, and you must have some gruel to drive it out.'
[06:08.096]The worthy woman bustled off, and I crouched nearer the fire; my head felt hot, and the rest of me chill:
[06:17.264]moreover, I was excited, almost to a pitch of foolishness, through my nerves and brain.
[06:24.465]This caused me to feel, not uncomfortable, but rather fearful (as I am still) of serious effects from the incidents of today and yesterday.
[06:35.224]She returned presently, bringing a smoking basin and a basket of work;
[06:41.008]and, having placed the former on the hob, drew in her seat, evidently pleased to find me so companionable.
[06:48.260]Before I came to live here, she commenced--waiting no further invitation to her story--I was almost always at Wuthering Heights;
[07:01.263]because my mother had nursed Mr Hindley Earnshaw, that was Hareton's father,
[07:07.696]and I got used to playing with the children: I ran errands too, and helped to make hay,
[07:14.329]and hung about the farm ready for anything that anybody would set me to. One fine summer morning--it was the beginning of harvest, I remember
[07:24.708]--Mr Earnshaw, the old master, came downstairs, dressed for a journey; and after he had told Joseph what was to be done during the day,
[07:35.270]he turned to Hindley, and Cathy, and me--for I sat eating my porridge with them--and he said, speaking to his son,
[07:43.821]`Now my bonny man, I'm going to Liverpool today, what shall I bring you? You may choose what you like: only let it be little, for I shall walk there and back:
[07:55.944]sixty miles each way, that is a long spell!' Hindley named a fiddle, and then he asked Miss Cathy; she was hardly six years old,
[08:06.753]but she could ride any horse in the stable, and she chose a whip.
[08:10.794]He did not forget me; for he had a kind heart, though he was rather severe sometimes.
[08:17.521]He promised to bring me a pocketful of apples and pears, and then he kissed his children goodbye and set off.
[08:25.697]It seemed a long while to us all--the three days of his absence--and often did little Cathy ask when he would be home.
[08:34.360]Mrs Earnshaw expected him by supper time on the third evening, and she put the meal off hour after hour; there were no signs of his coming, however,
[08:44.968]and at last the children got tired of running down to the gate to look. Then it grew dark;
[08:51.224]she would have had them to bed, but they begged sadly to be allowed to stay up;
[08:56.231]and, just about eleven o'clock, the door latch was raised quietly and in stepped the master.
[09:03.540]He threw himself into a chair, laughing and groaning, and bid them all stand off, for he was nearly killed
[09:11.224]--he would not have such another walk for the three kingdoms.
[09:15.352]`And at the end of it, to be flighted to death!' he said, opening his greatcoat, which he held bundled up in his arms.
[09:23.952]`See here, wife! I was never so beaten with anything in my life:
[09:29.960]but you must e'en take it as a gift of God; though it's as dark almost as if it came from the devil.'
[09:37.855]We crowded round, and over Miss Cathy's head, I had a peep at a dirty, ragged, black-haired child; big enough both to walk and talk:
[09:50.131]indeed, its face looked older than Catherine's; yet, when it was set on its feet, it only stared round, and repeated over and over again some gibberish,
[10:02.612]that nobody could understand. I was frightened, and Mrs Earnshaw was ready to fling it out of doors:
[10:10.096]she did fly up, asking how he could fashion to bring that gipsy brat into the house,
[10:18.008]when they had their own bairns to feed and fend for? What he meant to do with it, and whether he were mad?
[10:25.484]The master tried to explain the matter; but he was really half dead with fatigue,
[10:31.647]and all that I could make out, amongst her scolding, was a tale of his seeing it starving, and houseless, and as good as dumb, in the streets of Liverpool;
[10:43.388]where he picked it up and inquired for its owner.
[10:46.552]Not a soul knew to whom it belonged, he said; and his money and time being both limited, he thought it better to take it home with him at once,
[10:57.469]than run into vain expenses there: because he was determined he would not leave it as he found it.
[11:04.540]Well, the conclusion was that my mistress grumbled herself calm;
[11:10.645]and Mr Earnshaw told me to wash it, and give it clean things, and let it sleep with the children.
[11:18.308]Hindley and Cathy contented themselves with looking and listening till peace was restored:
[11:26.399]then, both began searching their father's pockets for the presents he had promised them.
[11:32.316]The former was a boy of fourteen, but when he drew out what had been a fiddle crushed to morsels in the greatcoat, he blubbered aloud;
[11:42.688]and Cathy, when she learned the master had lost her whip in attending on the stranger,
[11:49.147]showed her humour by grinning and spitting at the stupid little thing;
[11:54.599]earning for her pains a sound blow from her father to teach her cleaner manners.
[12:01.612]They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room;
[12:07.836]and I had no more sense, so I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it might be gone on the morrow.
[12:16.043]By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber.
[12:27.596]Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house.
[12:39.900]This was Heathcliff's first introduction to the family.
[12:45.067]On coming back a few days afterwards (for I did not consider my banishment perpetual) I found they had christened him `Heathcliff':
[12:55.235]it was the name of a son who died in childhood,
[12:58.621]and it has served him ever since, both for Christian and surname.
[13:02.917]Miss Cathy and he were now very thick; but Hindley hated him!
[13:08.740]and to say the truth I did the same; and we plagued and went on with him shamefully:
[13:14.668]for I wasn't reasonable enough to feel my injustice, and the mistress never put in a word on his behalf when she saw him wronged.
[13:23.483]He seemed a sullen, patient child; hardened, perhaps, to ill-treatment: he would stand Hindley's blows without winking or shedding a tear,
[13:36.036]and my pinches moved him only to draw in a breath and open his eyes, as if he had hurt himself by accident and nobody was to blame.
[13:45.467]This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor, fatherless child, as he called him.
[13:55.220]He took to Heathcliff strangely, believing all he said (for that matter, he said precious little, and generally the truth),
[14:05.723]and petting him up far above Cathy, who was too mischievous and wayward for a favourite.
[14:12.878]So, from the very beginning, he bred bad feeling in the house; and at Mrs Earnshaw's death, which happened in less than two years after,
[14:24.461]the young master had learned to regard his father as an oppressor rather than a friend,
[14:30.795]and Heathcliff as a usurper of his parent's affections and his privileges;
[14:36.947]and he grew bitter with brooding over these injuries. I sympathized awhile; but when the children fell ill of the measles,
[14:47.916]and I had to tend them, and take on me the cares of a woman at once,
[14:52.203]I changed my ideas. Heathcliff was dangerously sick: and while he lay at the worst he would have me constantly by his pillow:
[15:01.980]I suppose he felt I did a good deal for him, and he hadn't wit to guess that I was compelled to do it.
[15:09.335]However, I will say this, he was the quietest child that ever nurse watched over.
[15:16.492]The difference between him and the others forced me to be less partial.
[15:22.187]Cathy and her brother harassed me terribly: he was as uncomplaining as a lamb; though hardness, not gentleness, made him give little trouble.
[15:33.708]He got through, and the doctor affirmed it was in a great measure owing to me, and praised me for my care.
[15:42.779]I was vain of his commendations, and softened towards the being by whose means I earned them, and thus Hindley lost his last ally:
[15:53.383]still I couldn't dote on Heathcliff, and I wondered often what my master saw to admire so much in the sullen boy,
[16:02.691]who never, to my recollection, repaid his indulgence by any sign of gratitude.
[16:09.324]He was not insolent to his benefactor, he was simply insensible; though knowing perfectly the hold he had on his heart,
[16:19.396]and conscious he had only to speak and all the house would be obliged to bend to his wishes.
[16:25.371]As an instance, I remember Mr Earnshaw once bought a couple of colts at the parish fair, and gave the lads each one.
[16:35.404]Heathcliff took the handsomest, but it soon fell lame, and when he discovered it, he said to Hindley--
[16:42.805]`You must exchange horses with me: I don't like mine; and if you won't I shall tell your father of the three thrashings you've given me this week,
[16:51.749]and show him my arm, which is black to the shoulder.' Hindley put out his tongue and cuffed him over the ears.
[16:58.101]`You'd better do it at once,' he persisted, escaping to the porch (they were in the stable):
[17:06.405]`you will have to; and if I speak of these blows, you'll get them again with interest.'
[17:11.141]`Off, dog!' cried Hindley, threatening him with an iron weight used for weighing potatoes and hay.
[17:19.252]`Throw it,' he replied, standing still, `and then I'll tell how you boasted that you would turn me out of doors as soon as he died,
[17:29.273]and see whether he will not turn you out directly.
[17:33.436]' Hindley threw it, hitting him on the breast, and down he fell, but staggered up immediately, breathless and white;
[17:42.356]and, had not I prevented it, he would have gone just so to the master,
[17:47.128]and got full revenge by letting his condition plead for him, intimating who had caused it.
[17:52.836]`Take my colt, gipsy, then!' said young Earnshaw.
[17:58.285]`And I pray that he may break your neck: take him, and be damned, you beggarly interloper!
[18:04.764]and wheedle my father out of all he has: only afterwards show him what you are, imp of Satan.--And take that, I hope he'll kick out your brains!'
[18:16.533]Heathcliff had gone to loose the beast, and shift it to his own stall; he was passing behind it,
[18:23.436]when Hindley finished his speech by knocking him under its feet,
[18:27.061]and without stopping to examine whether his hopes were fulfilled, ran away as fast as he could.
[18:33.316]I was surprised to witness how coolly the child gathered himself up, and went on with his intention; exchanging saddles and all,
[18:43.004]and then sitting down on a bundle of hay to overcome the qualm which the violent blow occasioned, before he entered the house.
[18:51.525]I persuaded him easily to let me lay the blame of his bruises on the horse: he minded little what tale was told since he had what he wanted.
[19:02.744]He complained so seldom, indeed, of such stirs as these, that I really thought him not vindictive: I was deceived completely, as you will hear.
[19:17.419]