live, I'll see you again before you are
asleep. I won't stray five yards from your window.'

'You must not go!' she answered, holding him as firmly as her strength
allowed. 'You _shall_ not, I tell you.'

'For one hour,' he pleaded earnestly.

'Not for one minute,' she replied.

'I _must_--Linton will be up immediately,' persisted the alarmed
intruder.

He would have risen, and unfixed her fingers by the act--she clung fast,
gasping: there was mad resolution in her face.

'No!' she shrieked. 'Oh, don't, don't go. It is the last time! Edgar
will not hurt us. Heathcliff, I shall die! I shall die!'

'Damn the fool! There he is,' cried Heathcliff, sinking back into his
seat. 'Hush, my darling! Hush, hush, Catherine! I'll stay. If he shot
me so, I'd expire with a blessing on my lips.'

And there they were fast again. I heard my master mounting the
stairs--the cold sweat ran from my forehead: I was horrified.

'Are you going to listen to her ravings?' I said, passionately. 'She
does not know what she says. Will you ruin her, because she has not wit
to help herself? Get up! You could be free instantly. That is the most
diabolical deed that ever you did. We are all done for--master,
mistress, and servant.'

I wrung my hands, and cried out; and Mr. Linton hastened his step at the
noise. In the midst of my agitation, I was sincerely glad to observe
that Catherine's arms had fallen relaxed, and her head hung down.

'She's fainted, or dead,' I thought: 'so much the better. Far better
that she should be dead, than lingering a burden and a misery-maker to
all about her.'

Edgar sprang to his unbidden guest, blanched with astonishment and rage.
What he meant to do I cannot tell; however, the other stopped all
demonstrations, at once, by placing the lifeless-looking form in his
arms.

'Look there!' he said. 'Unless you be a fiend, help her first--then you
shall speak to me!'

He walked into the parlour, and sat down. Mr. Linton summoned me, and
with great difficulty, and after resorting to many means, we managed to
restore her to sensation; but she was all bewildered; she sighed, and
moaned, and knew nobody. Edgar, in his anxiety for her, forgot her hated
friend. I did not. I went, at the earliest opportunity, and besought
him to depart; affirming that Catherine was better, and he should hear
from me in the morning how she passed the night.

'I shall not refuse to go out of doors,' he answe