ed, shut himself into the room
beneath. I listened, and tossed about, and, finally, dressed and
descended. It was too irksome to lie there, harassing my brain with a
hundred idle misgivings.
I distinguished Mr. Heathcliff's step, restlessly measuring the floor,
and he frequently broke the silence by a deep inspiration, resembling a
groan. He muttered detached words also; the only one I could catch was
the name of Catherine, coupled with some wild term of endearment or
suffering; and spoken as one would speak to a person present; low and
earnest, and wrung from the depth of his soul. I had not courage to walk
straight into the apartment; but I desired to divert him from his
reverie, and therefore fell foul of the kitchen fire, stirred it, and
began to scrape the cinders. It drew him forth sooner than I expected.
He opened the door immediately, and said--'Nelly, come here--is it
morning? Come in with your light.'
'It is striking four,' I answered. 'You want a candle to take up-stairs:
you might have lit one at this fire.'
'No, I don't wish to go up-stairs,' he said. 'Come in, and kindle _me_ a
fire, and do anything there is to do about the room.'
'I must blow the coals red first, before I can carry any,' I replied,
getting a chair and the bellows.
He roamed to and fro, meantime, in a state approaching distraction; his
heavy sighs succeeding each other so thick as to leave no space for
common breathing between.
'When day breaks I'll send for Green,' he said; 'I wish to make some
legal inquiries of him while I can bestow a thought on those matters, and
while I can act calmly. I have not written my will yet; and how to leave
my property I cannot determine. I wish I could annihilate it from the
face of the earth.'
'I would not talk so, Mr. Heathcliff,' I interposed. 'Let your will be a
while: you'll be spared to repent of your many injustices yet! I never
expected that your nerves would be disordered: they are, at present,
marvellously so, however; and almost entirely through your own fault.
The way you've passed these three last days might knock up a Titan. Do
take some food, and some repose. You need only look at yourself in a
glass to see how you require both. Your cheeks are hollow, and your eyes
blood-shot, like a person starving with hunger and going blind with loss
of sleep.'
'It is not my fault that I cannot eat or rest,' he replied. 'I assure
you it is through no settled designs. I'll do
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