ous to spare him the
humiliation of exposing his cowardice further. 'I had the misfortune to
scream in my sleep, owing to a frightful nightmare. I'm sorry I
disturbed you.'

'Oh, God confound you, Mr. Lockwood! I wish you were at the--' commenced
my host, setting the candle on a chair, because he found it impossible to
hold it steady. 'And who showed you up into this room?' he continued,
crushing his nails into his palms, and grinding his teeth to subdue the
maxillary convulsions. 'Who was it? I've a good mind to turn them out
of the house this moment?'

'It was your servant Zillah,' I replied, flinging myself on to the floor,
and rapidly resuming my garments. 'I should not care if you did, Mr.
Heathcliff; she richly deserves it. I suppose that she wanted to get
another proof that the place was haunted, at my expense. Well, it
is--swarming with ghosts and goblins! You have reason in shutting it up,
I assure you. No one will thank you for a doze in such a den!'

'What do you mean?' asked Heathcliff, 'and what are you doing? Lie down
and finish out the night, since you _are_ here; but, for heaven's sake!
don't repeat that horrid noise: nothing could excuse it, unless you were
having your throat cut!'

'If the little fiend had got in at the window, she probably would have
strangled me!' I returned. 'I'm not going to endure the persecutions of
your hospitable ancestors again. Was not the Reverend Jabez Branderham
akin to you on the mother's side? And that minx, Catherine Linton, or
Earnshaw, or however she was called--she must have been a
changeling--wicked little soul! She told me she had been walking the
earth these twenty years: a just punishment for her mortal
transgressions, I've no doubt!'

Scarcely were these words uttered when I recollected the association of
Heathcliff's with Catherine's name in the book, which had completely
slipped from my memory, till thus awakened. I blushed at my
inconsideration: but, without showing further consciousness of the
offence, I hastened to add--'The truth is, sir, I passed the first part
of the night in--' Here I stopped afresh--I was about to say 'perusing
those old volumes,' then it would have revealed my knowledge of their
written, as well as their printed, contents; so, correcting myself, I
went on--'in spelling over the name scratched on that window-ledge. A
monotonous occupation, calculated to set me asleep, like counting, or--'

'What _can_ you mean