Chapter 16
‘...I don’t know if it be a peculiarity in me, but I am seldom otherwise than happy while watching in the chamber of death, should no frenzied or despairing mourner share the duty with me(梁實秋譯：若沒有狂亂的或哀痛的人陪伴着我(守靈)，我是很少有不快活的時候的). I see a repose that neither earth nor hell can break, and I feel an assurance of the endless and shadowless hereafter—the Eternity they have entered—where life is boundless in its duration, and love in its sympathy, and joy in its fulness. I noticed on that occasion how much selfishness there is even in a love like Mr. Linton’s, when he so regretted Catherine’s blessed release! To be sure, one might have doubted, after the wayward and impatient existence she had led, whether she merited a haven of peace at last. One might doubt in seasons of cold reflection; but not then, in the presence of her corpse. It asserted its own tranquillity, which seemed a pledge of equal quiet to its former inhabitant(i.e. seemed to suggest that when Cathy was alive, she had embodied the same quiet nature).
Do you believe such people are happy in the other world, sir? I’d give a great deal to know.
I(i.e. Lockwood) declined answering Mrs. Dean’s question, which struck me as something heterodox. She proceeded:
Retracing the course of Catherine Linton, I fear we have no right to think she is; but we’ll leave her with her Maker.
...
“(Nelly's thought) ...Your(i.e. Heathcliff’s) pride cannot blind God! You tempt him to wring them, till he forces a cry of humiliation.”
...
“(Nelly's word) Her senses never returned: she recognised nobody from the time you(i.e. Heathcliff) left her... may she wake as kindly in the other world!”
“May she wake in torment!” he cried, with frightful vehemence... “Why, she’s a liar to the end! Where is she? Not there—not in heaven—not perished—where? Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer—I repeat it till my tongue stiffens—Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you—haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable!... I cannot live without my soul!”
Chapter 17
‘(Isabella's word) ...what has driven me to flight at last? I was compelled to attempt it, because I had succeeded in rousing his(i.e. Heathcliff's) rage a pitch above his malignity. Pulling out the nerves with red hot pincers requires more coolness than knocking on the head. He was worked up to forget the fiendish prudence he boasted of, and proceeded to murderous violence. I experienced pleasure in being able to exasperate him: the sense of pleasure woke my instinct of self-preservation...
...
“(Isabella's word) Nay, it’s enough that he(i.e. Heathcliff) has murdered one of you... At the Grange, every one knows your sister would have been living now had it not been for Mr. Heathcliff. After all, it is preferable to be hated than loved by him...”
Most likely, Heathcliff noticed more the truth of what was said... His attention was roused, I(i.e. Isabella) saw, for his eyes rained down tears among the ashes... I stared full at him, and laughed scornfully. The clouded windows of hell(i.e. his eyes) flashed a moment towards me; the fiend which usually looked out, however, was so dimmed and drowned that I did not fear to hazard another sound of derision.
“Get up, and begone out of my sight,” said the mourner.
...
“I beg your pardon,” I replied. “But I loved Catherine too; and her brother requires attendance, which, for her sake, I shall supply. Now that she’s dead, I see her in Hindley: Hindley has exactly her eyes, if you had not tried to gouge them out, and made them black and red; and her—”
...he snatched a dinner-knife from the table and flung it at my head... I sprang to the door... And far rather would I be condemned to a perpetual dwelling in the infernal regions than, even for one night, abide beneath the roof of Wuthering Heights again.’
...
‘(Nelly’s narration)...he(i.e. Edgar) refrained from going anywhere... Grief... transformed him into a complete hermit: he threw up his office of magistrate, ceased even to attend church, avoided the village on all occasions, and spent a life of entire seclusion within the limits of his park and grounds; only varied by solitary rambles on the moors, and visits to the grave of his wife, mostly at evening, or early morning before other wanderers were abroad. But he was too good to be thoroughly unhappy long. He didn’t pray for Catherine’s soul to haunt him. Time brought resignation, and a melancholy sweeter than common joy.’
Chapter 21
‘“I’ve a pleasure in him(i.e. Hareton),” he(i.e. Heathcliff) continued, reflecting aloud. “He has satisfied my expectations. If he were a born fool I should not enjoy it half so much. But he’s no fool; and I can sympathise with all his feelings, having felt them myself. I know what he suffers now, for instance, exactly: it is merely a beginning of what he shall suffer, though. And he’ll never be able to emerge from his bathos修辭的突降法 of coarseness and ignorance. I’ve got him faster than his scoundrel of a father(i.e. Hindley) secured me, and lower; for he takes a pride in his brutishness. I’ve taught him to scorn everything extra-animal as silly and weak(楊苡譯：我教他嘲笑一切獸性以外的東西，認為這些是愚蠢和軟弱的). Don’t you think Hindley would be proud of his son, if he could see him? almost as proud as I am of mine(i.e. he is also disgusted by his own son Linton). But there’s this difference; one is gold put to the use of paving-stones, and the other is tin polished to ape(i.e. mimic) a service of silver. Mine has nothing valuable about it; yet I shall have the merit of making it go as far as such poor stuff can go. His had first-rate qualities, and they are lost: rendered worse than unavailing. I have nothing to regret; he would have more than any, but I, are aware of(楊苡譯：我沒有什麼可惋惜的；他可會有很多，但是，除了我，誰也不曾留意到). And the best of it is, Hareton is damnably fond of me! You’ll own that I’ve outmatched Hindley there. If the dead villain could rise from his grave to abuse me for his offspring’s wrongs, I should have the fun of seeing the said offspring fight him back again, indignant that he should dare to rail at the one friend he has in the world!”
...
“It’s some damnable writing,” he(i.e. Hareton) answered. “I cannot read it.”
“Can’t read it?” cried Catherine; “I can read it: it’s English..."
Linton giggled... “He does not know his letters,” he said to his cousin. “Could you believe in the existence of such a colossal dunce(i.e. idiot)?”
...
“Why, where the devil is the use on’t?” growled Hareton...
“Where is the use of the devil in that sentence(一笑)?” tittered Linton. “Papa told you not to say any bad words, and you can’t open your mouth without one...”
...
“But Mr. Heathcliff was quite cordial, papa,” observed Catherine, not at all convinced... My master, perceiving that she would not take his word for her uncle-in-law’s evil disposition, gave a hasty sketch of his conduct to Isabella, and the manner in which Wuthering Heights became his property... Miss Cathy—conversant(i.e. familiar) with no bad deeds except her own slight acts of disobedience, injustice, and passion, arising from hot temper and thoughtlessness, and repented of on the day they were committed—was amazed at the blackness of spirit that could brood on and cover(i.e. conceal) revenge for years, and deliberately prosecute its plans without a visitation of remorse. She appeared so deeply impressed and shocked at this new view of human nature—excluded from all her studies and all her ideas till now—that Mr. Edgar deemed it unnecessary to pursue the subject.’
Chapter 22
'...a fresh watery afternoon, when the turf and paths were rustling with moist, withered leaves, and the cold blue sky was half hidden by clouds—dark grey streamers長幡/橫幅, rapidly mounting from the west, and boding abundant rain—I requested my young lady to forego her ramble... She refused; and I unwillingly donned a cloak, and took my umbrella to accompany her on a stroll to the bottom of the park... She went sadly on: there was no running or bounding now... I gazed round for a means of diverting her thoughts(楊苡譯：想辦法岔開她的思想). On one side of the road rose a high, rough bank(i.e. slope), where hazels and stunted oaks, with their roots half exposed, held uncertain tenure: the soil was too loose for the latter; and strong winds had blown some nearly horizontal. In summer Miss Catherine delighted to climb along these trunks, and sit in the branches, swinging twenty feet above the ground; and I, pleased with her agility and her light, childish heart, still considered it proper to scold every time I caught her at such an elevation, but so that she knew there was no necessity for descending(溫情可感). From dinner to tea she would lie in her breeze-rocked cradle, doing nothing except singing old songs—my nursery lore—to herself, or watching the birds, joint tenants, feed and entice their young ones to fly: or nestling with closed lids, half thinking, half dreaming, happier than words can express(皆詩語也).'
Chapter 23
“(Linton's word) ...But papa says you would love me better than him(i.e. Edgar) and all the world, if you were my wife...”
“(Cathy's word) No, I should never love anybody better than papa,” she returned gravely. “And people hate their wives, sometimes; but not their sisters and brothers...”
...
‘(Nelly’s narration)...when she looked in to bid me good-night, I remarked a fresh colour in her cheeks and a pinkness over her slender fingers, instead of fancying the hue borrowed from a cold ride across the moors, I laid it to the charge of a hot fire in the library(楊苡譯：但我沒想到這顏色是因為冒著嚴寒騎馬過曠野而來，卻以為是因為在書房烤火的緣故哩).'
Chapter 24
“One time... we(i.e. Cathy and Linton) were near quarrelling. He said the pleasantest manner of spending a hot July day was lying from morning till evening on a bank of heath in the middle of the moors, with the bees humming dreamily about among the bloom, and the larks singing high up overhead, and the blue sky and bright sun shining steadily and cloudlessly. That was his most perfect idea of heaven’s happiness: mine was rocking in a rustling green tree, with a west wind blowing, and bright white clouds flitting rapidly above; and not only larks, but throstles, and blackbirds, and linnets, and cuckoos pouring out music on every side, and the moors seen at a distance, broken into cool dusky(i.e. dim) dells(i.e. small valley.楊苡譯：遙望曠野裂成許多冷幽幽的峽溪); but close by great swells of long grass undulating in waves to the breeze(筆下開闔有致); and woods and sounding water, and the whole world awake and wild with joy. He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine, and began to grow very snappish. At last, we agreed to try both, as soon as the right weather came; and then we kissed each other and were friends."
...
"(Linton's word) ...You(i.e. Cathy) are so much happier than I am... Papa talks enough of my defects, and shows enough scorn of me, to make it natural I should doubt myself. I doubt whether I am not altogether as worthless as he calls me... and then I feel so cross and bitter, I hate everybody! I am worthless, and bad in temper, and bad in spirit, almost always; and, if you choose, you may say good-bye: you’ll get rid of an annoyance. Only, Catherine, do me this justice: believe that if I might be as sweet, and as kind, and as good as you are, I would be; as willingly, and more so, than as happy and as healthy(梁實秋譯：你要相信，我設若能像你那樣的甜蜜、和藹、良善，我一定也願意那樣做的；並且我這願心，比希望和你一般幸福健康的願心還要強些). And believe that your kindness has made me love you deeper than if I deserved your love: and though I couldn’t, and cannot help showing my nature to you, I regret it and repent it; and shall regret and repent it till I die(全書中唯一有心肝的說話)!"
Chapter 25
“I’ve prayed often,” he(i.e. Edgar) half soliloquised, “for the approach of what is coming(楊苡譯：祈求要來的就快來吧); and now I begin to shrink, and fear it. I thought the memory of the hour I came down that glen山谷 a bridegroom would be less sweet than the anticipation that I was soon, in a few months, or, possibly, weeks, to be carried up, and laid in its lonely hollow(i.e. his grave)! Ellen, I’ve been very happy with my little Cathy: through winter nights and summer days she was a living hope at my side. But I’ve been as happy musing by myself among those stones, under that old church: lying, through the long June evenings, on the green mound of her mother’s grave, and wishing—yearning for the time when I might lie beneath it. What can I do for Cathy? How must I quit her? I’d not care one moment for Linton being Heathcliff’s son; nor for his taking her from me, if he could console her for my loss. I’d not care that Heathcliff gained his ends, and triumphed in robbing me of my last blessing! But should Linton be unworthy—only a feeble tool to his father—I cannot abandon her to him! And, hard though it be to crush her buoyant spirit, I must persevere in making her sad while I live, and leaving her solitary when I die. Darling! I’d rather resign her to God(i.e. than to crush her buoyant spirit), and lay her in the earth before me.”
...
‘(Nelly’s narration) ...he(i.e. Edgar) had no idea that the latter(i.e. Linton) was failing almost as fast as himself... no doctor visited the Heights, and no one saw Master Heathcliff to make report of his condition among us. I... began to fancy my forebodings were false, and that he must be actually rallying, when he mentioned riding and walking on the moors(i.e. saying in his letter that he wants to ride on the moors with Cathy), and seemed so earnest in pursuing his object. I could not picture a father treating a dying child as tyrannically and wickedly as I afterwards learned Heathcliff had treated him, to compel this apparent eagerness: his efforts redoubling the more imminently his avaricious and unfeeling plans were threatened with defeat by death(楊苡譯：他一想到他那貪婪無情的計劃馬上就會受死亡的威脅而遭到失敗，他的努力就更加迫切了).'
Chapter 26
‘(Cathy’s word) ...whether he(i.e. Linton) were worse(i.e. worse in health) than usual? “No—better—better!” he panted, trembling, and retaining her hand as if he needed its support, while his large blue eyes wandered timidly over her; the hollowness round them transforming to haggard wildness the languid expression they once possessed.’
Chapter 27
"(Linton's word)...For heaven’s sake, Catherine, don’t look so angry! Despise me as much as you please; I am a worthless, cowardly wretch: I can’t be scorned enough; but I’m too mean for your anger. Hate my father, and spare me for contempt.”
...
"The rumour goes,” he(i.e. Heathcliff) added, in a lower tone, “that Edgar Linton is on his death-bed: perhaps they exaggerate his illness?”
“No; my master is dying,” I replied...
“How long will he last, do you think?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Because,” he continued, looking at the two young people...—“because that lad(i.e. Linton) yonder seems determined to beat me(一笑); and I’d thank his uncle to be quick, and go before him!... get up, Linton! Get up!” he shouted. “Don’t grovel on the ground there: up, this moment!”
...
“I will, father,” he panted. “Only, let me alone, or I shall faint. I’ve done as you wished... Catherine will tell you that I—that I—have been cheerful. Ah! keep by me, Catherine; give me your hand.”
“Take mine,” said his father; “stand on your feet. There now—she’ll lend you her arm: that’s right, look at her. You would imagine I was the devil himself, Miss Linton, to excite such horror. Be so kind as to walk home with him, will you? He shudders if I touch him.”
“Linton dear!” whispered Catherine, “I can’t go to Wuthering Heights: papa has forbidden me. He’ll not harm you: why are you so afraid?”
“I can never re-enter that house,” he answered. “I’m not to re-enter it without you!”
...
He(i.e. Heathcliff) shut and locked it also(i.e. locked his door)... “You shall have tea before you go home... Miss Linton... I give you what I have: the present is hardly worth accepting; but I have nothing else to offer. It is Linton, I mean(i.e. his son as a bridegroom for her，一笑). How she(i.e. Cathy) does stare! It’s odd what a savage feeling I have to anything that seems afraid of me! Had I been born where laws are less strict and tastes less dainty(楊苡譯：風尚比較不大文雅的地方), I should treat myself to a slow vivisection解剖 of those two, as an evening’s amusement.”
...
Heathcliff had the key in his hand that remained on the table... She(i.e. Cathy) snatched at the instrument... exerting her utmost efforts to cause the iron muscles to relax; and finding that her nails made no impression, she applied her teeth pretty sharply. Heathcliff glanced at me a glance that kept me from interfering a moment... he seized her with the liberated hand, and, pulling her on his knee, administered with the other a shower of terrific slaps on both sides of the head, each sufficient to have fulfilled his threat(i.e. his earlier threat of knocking her down), had she been able to fall(按：即一輪暴打下，其實任哪一下也早已足夠打垮她了——若她當時不是被抓住，而尚有倒下的能耐的話).
...
“Master Linton,” I cried, seeing we were regularly正式地 imprisoned, “you know what your diabolical father is after, and you shall tell us...”
“Yes, Linton, you must tell,” said Catherine. “It was for your sake I came; and it will be wickedly ungrateful if you refuse.”
“Give me some tea, I’m thirsty, and then I’ll tell you,” he answered. “Mrs. Dean, go away. I don’t like you standing over me. Now, Catherine, you are letting your tears fall into my cup. I won’t drink that(按：無心肝之至，一笑). Give me another.”
Catherine pushed another to him, and wiped her face. I felt disgusted at the little wretch’s composure, since he was no longer in terror for himself. The anguish he had exhibited on the moor subsided as soon as ever he entered Wuthering Heights; so I guessed he had been menaced with an awful visitation of wrath if he failed in decoying us there; and, that accomplished, he had no further immediate fears.
...
"(Cathy's word)...if I stay, papa will be miserable: and how can I endure making him miserable..."
...
"(Heathcliff's word)...I shall enjoy myself remarkably in thinking your father will be miserable... You could have hit on no surer way of fixing your residence under my roof for the next twenty-four hours than informing me that such an event would follow(一笑)... your father, Catherine, his happiest days were over when your days began. He cursed you, I dare say, for coming into the world (I did, at least); and it would just do if he cursed you as he went out of it... Weep away. As far as I can see, it will be your chief diversion hereafter; unless Linton make amends for other losses: and your provident有遠慮的 parent appears to fancy he may. His letters of advice and consolation entertained me vastly. In his last he recommended my jewel(i.e. my son) to be careful of his; and kind to her when he got her. Careful and kind—that’s paternal. But Linton requires his whole stock of care and kindness for himself. Linton can play the little tyrant well. He’ll undertake to torture any number of cats, if their teeth be drawn拔掉 and their claws pared(削掉。按：閒閒一筆，寫Linton這病懨懨的小妖精亦入木三分). You’ll be able to tell his uncle fine tales of his kindness, when you get home again..."
Chapter 28
‘...All was composed, however: Catherine’s despair was as silent as her father’s joy. She supported him calmly, in appearance; and he fixed on her features his raised eyes that seemed dilating with ecstasy.
He died blissfully... Kissing her cheek, he murmured,—“I am going to her; and you, darling child, shall come to us!” and never stirred or spoke again; but continued that rapt, radiant gaze, till his pulse imperceptibly stopped and his soul departed. None could have noticed the exact minute of his death, it was so entirely without a struggle.’
Chapter 29
“(Heathcliff's word) ...I’ll tell you what I did yesterday! I got the sexton教堂司事, who was digging Linton’s grave, to remove the earth off her coffin lid, and I opened it. I thought, once, I would have stayed there(i.e. forever): when I saw her face again—it is hers yet(Sparknotes: When he opens her coffin, he does not say that he sees her again. Instead he says, “I saw her face again,” showing that her corpse, like her daughter or her portrait, is a thing she possessed, a thing that refers to her, but not the woman herself)!—he(i.e. the sexton) had hard work to stir me(楊苡譯：他費了很大的勁才趕開我); but he said it would change if the air blew on it(i.e. the corpse would rot if exposed to air), and so I struck one side of the coffin loose, and covered it up: not Linton’s side, damn him! I wish he’d been soldered in lead用鉛焊住. And I bribed the sexton to pull it away when I’m laid there, and slide mine out too(i.e. a space is left open in the side of their coffins to allow their bodies to decompose together); I’ll have it made so: and then by the time Linton gets to us he’ll not know which is which!”
“You were very wicked, Mr. Heathcliff!” I exclaimed; “were you not ashamed to disturb the dead?”
“I disturbed nobody, Nelly,” he replied; “and I gave some ease to myself. I shall be a great deal more comfortable now; and you’ll have a better chance of keeping me underground, when I get there(i.e. when I die). Disturbed her? No! she has disturbed me, night and day, through eighteen years—incessantly—remorselessly—till yesternight; and yesternight I was tranquil. I dreamt I was sleeping the last sleep by that sleeper(i.e. Catherine's corpse), with my heart stopped and my cheek frozen against hers.”
“And if she had been dissolved into earth... what would you have dreamt of then?” I said.
“Of dissolving with her, and being more happy still!” he answered. “Do you suppose I dread any change of that sort? I expected such a transformation on raising the lid棺蓋, but I’m better pleased that it should not commence till I share it... You know I was wild after she died; and eternally, from dawn to dawn, praying her to return to me her spirit! I have a strong faith in ghosts: I have a conviction that they can, and do, exist among us! The day she was buried, there came a fall of snow. In the evening I went to the churchyard. It blew bleak as winter—all round was solitary. I didn’t fear that her fool of a husband would wander up the glen so late; and no one else had business to bring them there. Being alone, and conscious two yards of loose earth was the sole barrier between us, I said to myself—‘I’ll have her in my arms again! If she be cold, I’ll think it is this north wind that chills me; and if she be motionless, it is sleep.’ I got a spade from the tool-house, and began to delve with all my might—it scraped the coffin; I fell to work with my hands; the wood commenced cracking about the screws; I was on the point of attaining my object, when it seemed that I heard a sigh from some one above, close at the edge of the grave, and bending down. ‘If I can only get this off,’ I muttered, ‘I wish they may shovel in the earth over us both!’ and I wrenched at it more desperately still(梁實秋譯：於是我更拚命的用力掀). There was another sigh, close at my ear. I appeared to feel the warm breath of it displacing the sleet-laden wind. I knew no living thing in flesh and blood was by; but, as certainly as you perceive the approach to some substantial body in the dark, though it cannot be discerned, so certainly I felt that Cathy was there: not under me, but on the earth. A sudden sense of relief flowed from my heart through every limb. I relinquished my labour of agony, and turned consoled at once: unspeakably consoled. Her presence was with me: it remained while I re-filled the grave, and led me home. You may laugh... but I was sure I should see her there. I was sure she was with me, and I could not help talking to her. Having reached the Heights, I rushed eagerly to the door. It was fastened; and, I remember, that accursed Earnshaw and my wife opposed my entrance. I remember stopping to kick the breath out of him, and then hurrying upstairs, to my room and hers. I looked round impatiently—I felt her by me—I could almost see her, and yet I could not! I ought to have sweat blood then, from the anguish of my yearning—from the fervour of my supplications祈求 to have but one glimpse! I had not one. She showed herself, as she often was in life, a devil to me(楊苡譯：正如她生前一樣像魔鬼似的捉弄我)! And, since then, sometimes more and sometimes less, I’ve been the sport of that intolerable torture! Infernal! keeping my nerves at such a stretch that, if they had not resembled catgut羊腸線, they would long ago have relaxed to the feebleness of Linton’s. When I sat in the house with Hareton, it seemed that on going out I should meet her; when I walked on the moors I should meet her coming in. When I went from home I hastened to return; she must be somewhere at the Heights, I was certain! And when I slept in her chamber... I couldn’t lie there; for the moment I closed my eyes, she was either outside the window, or sliding back the panels, or entering the room, or even resting her darling head on the same pillow as she did when a child; and I must open my lids to see. And so I opened and closed them a hundred times a night—to be always disappointed! It racked me! I’ve often groaned aloud, till that old rascal Joseph no doubt believed that my conscience was playing the fiend inside of me. Now, since I’ve seen her(i.e. her corpse), I’m pacified—a little. It was a strange way of killing: not by inches, but by fractions of hairbreadths(楊苡譯：那是一種奇怪的殺人方法：不是一寸寸的，而是像頭髮絲那樣的一絲絲地割), to beguile me with the spectre of a hope through eighteen years(按：由「The day she was buried」起，一路文氣貫注，揮灑淋灕，與乎泥石俱下，幾不能刪削其一字半語)!”
Chapter 30
“(Cathy's word) Tell Mr. Heathcliff that his son is dying—I’m sure he is, this time...”
...
(Heathcliff) held the light to Linton’s face... afterwards he turned to her.
“Now—Catherine,” he said, “how do you feel?”
...
“He’s safe, and I’m free,” she answered: “...but,” she continued, with a bitterness she couldn’t conceal, “you have left me so long to struggle against death alone, that I feel and see only death! I feel like death!(楊苡譯：帶著一種她無法隱藏的悲苦，『你們丟下我一個人跟死亡掙扎這麼久，我感到的和看見的只有死亡！我覺得就像死了一樣！』)”
...
“Now, Mrs. Dean,” Zillah(i.e. the new housekeeper of Wuthering Heights) went on, seeing me not pleased by her manner, “you happen think your young lady too fine for Mr. Hareton; and happen you’re right: but I own I should love well to bring her pride a peg lower. And what will all her learning and her daintiness do for her, now? She’s as poor as you or I: poorer, I’ll be bound: you’re saving, and I’m doing my little all that road(楊苡譯：現在她所有的學問和她的文雅對她又有什麼用呢？她和你或我一樣的貧窮：更窮，我敢說，你是在攢錢，我也在那條路上盡我的小小努力).”
...
‘(Lockwood’s narration) Thus ended Mrs. Dean’s story. Notwithstanding the doctor’s prophecy, I am rapidly recovering strength; and though it be only the second week in January, I propose getting out on horseback in a day or two, and riding over to Wuthering Heights, to inform my landlord that I shall spend the next six months in London; and, if he likes, he may look out for another tenant to take the place after October. I would not pass another winter here for much.’
Chapter 31
“It will be odd if I thwart myself,” he(i.e. Heathcliff) muttered... “But when I look for his father(i.e. Hindley) in his(i.e. Hareton's) face, I find her(i.e. Catherine) every day more! How the devil is he so like? I can hardly bear to see him.”
...
"(Heathcliff's word) Sit down and take your(i.e. Lockwood) dinner with us; a guest that is safe from repeating his visit can generally be made welcome(一笑)."
Chapter 32
‘...she(i.e. Cathy) stooped and impressed on his cheek a gentle kiss... Whether the kiss convinced Hareton, I cannot tell: he was very careful, for some minutes, that his face should not be seen, and when he did raise it, he was sadly puzzled where to turn his eyes(按：這種「怔忡」，大概衹有備歷人世悽酸者方能體會了).
Catherine employed herself in wrapping a handsome book neatly in white paper... “...tell him, if he’ll take it, I’ll come and teach him to read it right,” she said... I carried it, and repeated the message... Hareton would not open his fingers, so I laid it on his knee. He did not strike it off, either. I returned to my work. Catherine leaned her head and arms on the table, till she heard the slight rustle of the covering being removed; then she stole away, and quietly seated herself beside her cousin. He trembled, and his face glowed: all his rudeness and all his surly harshness had deserted him: he could not summon courage, at first, to utter a syllable in reply to her questioning look, and her murmured petition.
“Say you forgive me, Hareton, do...”
He muttered something inaudible.
“And you’ll be my friend?” added Catherine, interrogatively.
“Nay, you’ll be ashamed of me every day of your life,” he answered; “and the more ashamed, the more you know me; and I cannot bide it.”
“So you won’t be my friend?” she said, smiling as sweet as honey, and creeping close up.
I overheard no further distinguishable talk, but, on looking round again, I perceived two such radiant countenances bent over the page of the accepted book, that I did not doubt the treaty had been ratified on both sides; and the enemies were, thenceforth, sworn allies.
...
...Joseph came home. He, poor man, was perfectly aghast at the spectacle of Catherine seated on the same bench with Hareton Earnshaw, leaning her hand on his shoulder; and confounded at his favourite’s endurance of her proximity: it affected him too deeply to allow an observation on the subject that night. His emotion was only revealed by the immense sighs he drew, as he solemnly spread his large Bible on the table, and overlaid it with dirty bank-notes from his pocket-book, the produce of the day’s transactions(一笑). At length he summoned Hareton from his seat.
“Tak’ these in to t’ maister, lad,” he said, “and bide there. I’s gang up to my own rahm. This hoile’s neither mensful nor seemly for us: we mun side out and seearch another(i.e. Take these in to the master, lad... and stay there. I'm going up to my own room. This place is neither decent nor proper for us: we must move out and search for another).”’
Chapter 33
‘...I came in to sit with them, after I had done my work; and I felt so soothed and comforted to watch them, that I did not notice how time got on... While I admired and they laboured(i.e. reading), dusk drew on, and with it returned the master. He came upon us quite unexpectedly, entering by the front way, and had a full view of the whole three, ere we could raise our heads to glance at him. Well, I reflected, there was never a pleasanter, or more harmless sight; and it will be a burning shame to scold them. The red fire-light glowed on their two bonny heads, and revealed their faces animated with the eager interest of children; for, though he was twenty-three and she eighteen, each had so much of novelty to feel and learn, that neither experienced nor evinced the sentiments of sober disenchanted maturity.
They lifted their eyes together, to encounter Mr. Heathcliff: perhaps you have never remarked that their eyes are precisely similar, and they are those of Catherine Earnshaw... I suppose this resemblance disarmed Mr. Heathcliff...
...
“It is a poor conclusion, is it not?” he(i.e. Heathcliff) observed, having brooded a while on the scene he had just witnessed: “an absurd termination to my violent exertions? I get levers and mattocks鶴嘴鋤 to demolish the two houses, and train myself to be capable of working like Hercules, and when everything is ready and in my power, I find the will to lift a slate off either roof has vanished(楊苡譯：我卻發現掀起任何一所房子的一片瓦的意志都已經消失了)! My old enemies have not beaten me; now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives(i.e. Hareton and Cathy): I could do it; and none could hinder me. But where is the use? I don’t care for striking: I can’t take the trouble to raise my hand! That sounds as if I had been labouring the whole time only to exhibit a fine trait of magnanimity寬慈. It is far from being the case: I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing.
“Nelly, there is a strange change approaching; I’m in its shadow at present. I take so little interest in my daily life that I hardly remember to eat and drink. Those two(i.e. Hareton and Cathy) who have left the room are the only objects which retain a distinct material appearance to me; and that appearance causes me pain, amounting to agony... You’ll perhaps think me rather inclined to become so(i.e. insane),” he added, making an effort to smile, “if I try to describe the thousand forms of past associations and ideas he(i.e. Hareton) awakens or embodies...
“...Hareton seemed a personification of my youth, not a human being; I felt to him in such a variety of ways, that it would have been impossible to have accosted(i.e. confront; approach) him rationally. In the first place, his startling likeness to Catherine connected him fearfully with her. That, however, which you may suppose the most potent to arrest my imagination, is actually the least: for what is not connected with her to me? and what does not recall her? I cannot look down to this floor, but her features are shaped in the flags石板! In every cloud, in every tree—filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day—I am surrounded with her image! The most ordinary faces of men and women—my own features—mock me with a resemblance(羅樂敏〈會有一束光〉：「……會有一束光／如細長的葉展開滑溜的刀口／輕輕地在你我臉上雕刻出／千面一相，趨近路人」). The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her! Well, Hareton’s aspect was the ghost of my immortal love; of my wild endeavours to hold my right; my degradation, my pride, my happiness, and my anguish—
“But it is frenzy to repeat these thoughts to you: only it will let you know why, with a reluctance to be always alone, his society is no benefit; rather an aggravation of the constant torment I suffer: and it partly contributes to render me regardless how he and his cousin go on together. I can give them no attention any more.”
...
“You have no feeling of illness, have you?” I asked.
“No, Nelly, I have not,” he answered.
“Then you are not afraid of death?” I pursued.
“Afraid? No!” he replied. “I have neither a fear, nor a presentiment, nor a hope of death. Why should I? With my hard constitution and temperate mode of living, and unperilous occupations, I ought to, and probably shall, remain above ground till there is scarcely a black hair on my head. And yet I cannot continue in this condition! I have to remind myself to breathe—almost to remind my heart to beat! And it is like bending back a stiff spring: it is by compulsion that I do the slightest act not prompted by one thought(i.e. act that normally don’t needed to be prompted by thought); and by compulsion that I notice anything alive or dead, which is not associated with one universal idea. I have a single wish, and my whole being and faculties are yearning to attain it. They have yearned towards it so long, and so unwaveringly, that I’m convinced it will be reached—and soon—because it has devoured my existence: I am swallowed up in the anticipation of its fulfilment. My confessions have not relieved me; but they may account for some otherwise unaccountable phases of humour which I show. O God! It is a long fight; I wish it were over!”
Chapter 34
‘I set his plate to keep warm on the fender爐柵; and after an hour or two he re-entered... in no degree calmer: the same unnatural—it was unnatural—appearance of joy under his black brows; the same bloodless hue, and his teeth visible, now and then, in a kind of smile; his frame shivering, not as one shivers with chill or weakness, but as a tight-stretched cord vibrates—a strong thrilling, rather than trembling.
“...Mr. Heathcliff? You look uncommonly animated.”
“...I’m animated with hunger; and, seemingly, I must not eat.”
“Your dinner is here,” I returned; “why won’t you get it?”
“I don’t want it now,” he muttered, hastily: “I’ll wait till supper..."
...
“Tell me why you are so queer, Mr. Heathcliff? Where were you last night? I’m not putting the question through idle curiosity, but—”
“You are putting the question through very idle curiosity,” he interrupted... “Yet I’ll answer it. Last night I was on the threshold of hell. To-day, I am within sight of my heaven. I have my eyes on it: hardly three feet to sever me! And now you’d better go! You’ll neither see nor hear anything to frighten you, if you refrain from prying.”
...
He was leaning against the ledge of an open lattice... The fire had smouldered to ashes; the room was filled with the damp, mild air of the cloudy evening; and so still, that not only the murmur of the beck down Gimmerton was distinguishable, but its ripples and its gurgling over the pebbles, or through the large stones which it could not cover(全書脈搏如聞). I... commenced shutting the casements, one after another, till I came to his.
“Must I close this?” I asked, in order to rouse him; for he would not stir.
The light flashed on his features as I spoke. Oh, Mr. Lockwood, I cannot express what a terrible start I got by the momentary view! Those deep black eyes! That smile, and ghastly paleness! It appeared to me, not Mr. Heathcliff, but a goblin; and, in my terror, I let the candle bend towards the wall, and it left me in darkness.
...
...Mr. Heathcliff was going to bed, and he wanted nothing to eat till morning. We heard him mount the stairs directly; he did not proceed to his ordinary chamber, but turned into that with the panelled bed: its window, as I mentioned before, is wide enough for anybody to get through; and it struck me that he plotted another midnight excursion...
“Is he a ghoul or a vampire?” I mused. I had read of such hideous incarnate demons. And then I set myself to reflect how I had tended him in infancy, and watched him grow to youth, and followed him almost through his whole course...
...
I put a basin of coffee before him. He drew it nearer, and then rested his arms on the table, and looked at the opposite wall, as I supposed, surveying one particular portion, up and down, with glittering, restless eyes, and with such eager interest that he stopped breathing during half a minute together.
“Come now,” I exclaimed... “eat and drink that, while it is hot: it has been waiting near an hour... don’t, for God’s sake, stare as if you saw an unearthly vision.”
“Don’t, for God’s sake, shout so loud,” he replied. “Turn round, and tell me, are we by ourselves?”
“Of course,” was my answer; “of course we are.”
Still, I involuntarily obeyed him, as if I was not quite sure...
Now, I perceived he was not looking at the wall... it seemed exactly that he gazed at something within two yards’ distance. And whatever it was, it communicated, apparently, both pleasure and pain in exquisite extremes: at least the anguished, yet raptured, expression of his countenance suggested that idea. The fancied object was not fixed, either: his eyes pursued it with unwearied diligence, and, even in speaking to me, were never weaned away. I vainly reminded him of his protracted abstinence from food: if he stirred to touch anything in compliance with my entreaties, if he stretched his hand out to get a piece of bread, his fingers clenched before they reached it, and remained on the table, forgetful of their aim.
...
I distinguished Mr. Heathcliff’s step, restlessly measuring(i.e. walking) the floor, and he frequently broke the silence by a deep inspiration(i.e. inhalation), resembling a groan. He muttered detached words also; the only one I could catch was the name of Catherine... spoken as one would speak to a person present; low and earnest, and wrung from the depth of his soul...
...
“It is not my fault that I cannot eat or rest,” he replied. “...But you might as well bid a man struggling in the water rest within arms’ length of the shore! I must reach it first, and then I’ll rest... as to repenting of my injustices, I’ve done no injustice, and I repent of nothing. I’m too happy; and yet I’m not happy enough. My soul’s bliss kills my body, but does not satisfy itself.”
...
"(Heathcliff’s word)... the manner in which I desire to be buried... is to be carried to the churchyard in the evening. You and Hareton may... accompany me: and mind... to notice that the sexton教堂司事 obeys my directions concerning the two coffins! No minister need come; nor need anything be said over me.—I tell you I have nearly attained my heaven; and that of others is altogether unvalued and uncoveted by me.”
...
"(Heathcliff’s word) ...It’s unutterably too much for flesh and blood to bear—even mine.”
He solicited the society of no one more. At dusk he went into his chamber. Through the whole night, and far into the morning, we heard him groaning and murmuring to himself. Hareton was anxious to enter; but I bid him fetch Mr. Kenneth(i.e. the doctor)... When he came, and I requested admittance... and Heathcliff bid us be damned. He was better, and would be left alone; so the doctor went away.
The following evening was very wet: indeed, it poured down till day-dawn; and, as I took my morning walk round the house, I observed the master’s window swinging open, and the rain driving straight in. He cannot be in bed... those showers would drench him through. He must either be up or out...
...I peeped in. Mr. Heathcliff was there—laid on his back. His eyes met mine so keen and fierce, I started; and then he seemed to smile. I could not think him dead: but his face and throat were washed with rain; the bed-clothes dripped, and he was perfectly still. The lattice, flapping to and fro, had grazed one hand that rested on the sill; no blood trickled from the broken skin, and when I put my fingers to it, I could doubt no more: he was dead and stark!
I hasped the window; I combed his black long hair from his forehead; I tried to close his eyes: to extinguish, if possible, that frightful, life-like gaze of exultation before any one else beheld it. They would not shut: they seemed to sneer at my attempts; and his parted lips and sharp white teeth sneered too! Taken with another fit of cowardice, I cried out for Joseph. Joseph shuffled up and made a noise, but resolutely refused to meddle with him.
“Th’ divil’s harried(i.e. carried) off his soul,” he cried, “and he may hev’ his carcass into t’ bargin, for aught I care! Ech! what a wicked ’un(i.e. one) he looks, girning(i.e. grinning) at death!” and the old sinner grinned in mockery... he... suddenly composing himself, he fell on his knees, and raised his hands, and returned thanks that the lawful master and the ancient stock were restored to their rights(一笑，當有歷史諷刺在內).
I felt stunned by the awful event; and my memory unavoidably recurred to former times with a sort of oppressive sadness. But poor Hareton, the most wronged, was the only one who really suffered much. He sat by the corpse all night, weeping in bitter earnest. He pressed its hand, and kissed the sarcastic, savage face that every one else shrank from contemplating; and bemoaned him with that strong grief which springs naturally from a generous heart, though it be tough as tempered steel.
...
'We buried him, to the scandal of the whole neighbourhood, as he wished... Hareton, with a streaming face, dug green sods, and laid them over the brown mould himself... and I hope its tenant sleeps as soundly. But the country folks, if you ask them, would swear on the Bible that he walks: there are those who speak to having met him near the church, and on the moor, and even within this house...an odd thing happened to me about a month ago. I was going to the Grange one evening—a dark evening, threatening thunder—and, just at the turn of the Heights, I encountered a little boy with a sheep and two lambs before him; he was crying terribly; and I supposed the lambs were skittish(i.e. nervous; scared), and would not be guided.
“What is the matter, my little man?” I asked.
“There’s Heathcliff and a woman yonder, under t’ nab(i.e. knap, crest of a hill),” he blubbered, “un’ I darnut(i.e. dare not) pass ’em.”
I saw nothing; but neither the sheep nor he would go on, so I bid him take the road lower down. He probably raised the phantoms from thinking, as he traversed the moors alone, on the nonsense he had heard his parents and companions repeat. Yet, still, I don’t like being out in the dark now; and I don’t like being left by myself in this grim house: I cannot help it; I shall be glad when they leave it, and shift to the Grange.
...
“And who will live here then?”
“...Joseph will take care of the house, and, perhaps, a lad to keep him company. They will live in the kitchen, and the rest will be shut up.”
“For the use of such ghosts as choose to inhabit it?” I observed.
“No, Mr. Lockwood,” said Nelly, shaking her head. “I believe the dead are at peace: but it is not right to speak of them with levity輕浮.”
At that moment the garden gate swung to; the ramblers(i.e. Cathy and Hareton) were returning.
“They are afraid of nothing,” I grumbled, watching their approach through the window. “Together, they would brave Satan and all his legions.”
As they stepped on to the door-stones, and halted to take a last look at the moon—or, more correctly, at each other by her light—I felt irresistibly impelled to escape them again; and, pressing a remembrance into the hand of Mrs. Dean(楊苡譯：我把一點紀念物按到丁太太手裡), and disregarding her expostulations(i.e. earnest and kindly protest) at my rudeness, I vanished through the kitchen as they opened the house-door; and so should have confirmed Joseph in his opinion of his fellow-servant’s gay indiscretions, had he not fortunately recognised me for a respectable character by the sweet ring of a sovereign at his feet(楊苡譯：要不是因為我幸虧在約瑟夫腳前丟下了一塊錢，很好聽地噹了一下，使他認出我是個體面人，他一定會認為他的同伴真的在搞風流韻事哩。一笑).
My walk home was lengthened by a diversion in the direction of the kirk(i.e. the Scottish Church). When beneath its walls, I perceived decay had made progress, even in seven months(Note: earlier in Ch.30, "they call the Methodists’ or Baptists’ place, I can’t say which it is, at Gimmerton, a chapel"): many a window showed black gaps deprived of glass; and slates jutted off, here and there, beyond the right line of the roof, to be gradually worked off in coming autumn storms.
I sought, and soon discovered, the three headstones on the slope next the moor: the middle one grey, and half buried in heath(i.e. Catherine's grave, the oldest one); Edgar Linton’s only harmonized by the turf and moss creeping up its foot; Heathcliff’s(i.e. the newest) still bare.
I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.’
‘...I don’t know if it be a peculiarity in me, but I am seldom otherwise than happy while watching in the chamber of death, should no frenzied or despairing mourner share the duty with me(梁實秋譯：若沒有狂亂的或哀痛的人陪伴着我(守靈)，我是很少有不快活的時候的). I see a repose that neither earth nor hell can break, and I feel an assurance of the endless and shadowless hereafter—the Eternity they have entered—where life is boundless in its duration, and love in its sympathy, and joy in its fulness. I noticed on that occasion how much selfishness there is even in a love like Mr. Linton’s, when he so regretted Catherine’s blessed release! To be sure, one might have doubted, after the wayward and impatient existence she had led, whether she merited a haven of peace at last. One might doubt in seasons of cold reflection; but not then, in the presence of her corpse. It asserted its own tranquillity, which seemed a pledge of equal quiet to its former inhabitant(i.e. seemed to suggest that when Cathy was alive, she had embodied the same quiet nature).
Do you believe such people are happy in the other world, sir? I’d give a great deal to know.
I(i.e. Lockwood) declined answering Mrs. Dean’s question, which struck me as something heterodox. She proceeded:
Retracing the course of Catherine Linton, I fear we have no right to think she is; but we’ll leave her with her Maker.
...
“(Nelly's thought) ...Your(i.e. Heathcliff’s) pride cannot blind God! You tempt him to wring them, till he forces a cry of humiliation.”
...
“(Nelly's word) Her senses never returned: she recognised nobody from the time you(i.e. Heathcliff) left her... may she wake as kindly in the other world!”
“May she wake in torment!” he cried, with frightful vehemence... “Why, she’s a liar to the end! Where is she? Not there—not in heaven—not perished—where? Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer—I repeat it till my tongue stiffens—Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you—haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable!... I cannot live without my soul!”
Chapter 17
‘(Isabella's word) ...what has driven me to flight at last? I was compelled to attempt it, because I had succeeded in rousing his(i.e. Heathcliff's) rage a pitch above his malignity. Pulling out the nerves with red hot pincers requires more coolness than knocking on the head. He was worked up to forget the fiendish prudence he boasted of, and proceeded to murderous violence. I experienced pleasure in being able to exasperate him: the sense of pleasure woke my instinct of self-preservation...
...
“(Isabella's word) Nay, it’s enough that he(i.e. Heathcliff) has murdered one of you... At the Grange, every one knows your sister would have been living now had it not been for Mr. Heathcliff. After all, it is preferable to be hated than loved by him...”
Most likely, Heathcliff noticed more the truth of what was said... His attention was roused, I(i.e. Isabella) saw, for his eyes rained down tears among the ashes... I stared full at him, and laughed scornfully. The clouded windows of hell(i.e. his eyes) flashed a moment towards me; the fiend which usually looked out, however, was so dimmed and drowned that I did not fear to hazard another sound of derision.
“Get up, and begone out of my sight,” said the mourner.
...
“I beg your pardon,” I replied. “But I loved Catherine too; and her brother requires attendance, which, for her sake, I shall supply. Now that she’s dead, I see her in Hindley: Hindley has exactly her eyes, if you had not tried to gouge them out, and made them black and red; and her—”
...he snatched a dinner-knife from the table and flung it at my head... I sprang to the door... And far rather would I be condemned to a perpetual dwelling in the infernal regions than, even for one night, abide beneath the roof of Wuthering Heights again.’
...
‘(Nelly’s narration)...he(i.e. Edgar) refrained from going anywhere... Grief... transformed him into a complete hermit: he threw up his office of magistrate, ceased even to attend church, avoided the village on all occasions, and spent a life of entire seclusion within the limits of his park and grounds; only varied by solitary rambles on the moors, and visits to the grave of his wife, mostly at evening, or early morning before other wanderers were abroad. But he was too good to be thoroughly unhappy long. He didn’t pray for Catherine’s soul to haunt him. Time brought resignation, and a melancholy sweeter than common joy.’
Chapter 21
‘“I’ve a pleasure in him(i.e. Hareton),” he(i.e. Heathcliff) continued, reflecting aloud. “He has satisfied my expectations. If he were a born fool I should not enjoy it half so much. But he’s no fool; and I can sympathise with all his feelings, having felt them myself. I know what he suffers now, for instance, exactly: it is merely a beginning of what he shall suffer, though. And he’ll never be able to emerge from his bathos修辭的突降法 of coarseness and ignorance. I’ve got him faster than his scoundrel of a father(i.e. Hindley) secured me, and lower; for he takes a pride in his brutishness. I’ve taught him to scorn everything extra-animal as silly and weak(楊苡譯：我教他嘲笑一切獸性以外的東西，認為這些是愚蠢和軟弱的). Don’t you think Hindley would be proud of his son, if he could see him? almost as proud as I am of mine(i.e. he is also disgusted by his own son Linton). But there’s this difference; one is gold put to the use of paving-stones, and the other is tin polished to ape(i.e. mimic) a service of silver. Mine has nothing valuable about it; yet I shall have the merit of making it go as far as such poor stuff can go. His had first-rate qualities, and they are lost: rendered worse than unavailing. I have nothing to regret; he would have more than any, but I, are aware of(楊苡譯：我沒有什麼可惋惜的；他可會有很多，但是，除了我，誰也不曾留意到). And the best of it is, Hareton is damnably fond of me! You’ll own that I’ve outmatched Hindley there. If the dead villain could rise from his grave to abuse me for his offspring’s wrongs, I should have the fun of seeing the said offspring fight him back again, indignant that he should dare to rail at the one friend he has in the world!”
...
“It’s some damnable writing,” he(i.e. Hareton) answered. “I cannot read it.”
“Can’t read it?” cried Catherine; “I can read it: it’s English..."
Linton giggled... “He does not know his letters,” he said to his cousin. “Could you believe in the existence of such a colossal dunce(i.e. idiot)?”
...
“Why, where the devil is the use on’t?” growled Hareton...
“Where is the use of the devil in that sentence(一笑)?” tittered Linton. “Papa told you not to say any bad words, and you can’t open your mouth without one...”
...
“But Mr. Heathcliff was quite cordial, papa,” observed Catherine, not at all convinced... My master, perceiving that she would not take his word for her uncle-in-law’s evil disposition, gave a hasty sketch of his conduct to Isabella, and the manner in which Wuthering Heights became his property... Miss Cathy—conversant(i.e. familiar) with no bad deeds except her own slight acts of disobedience, injustice, and passion, arising from hot temper and thoughtlessness, and repented of on the day they were committed—was amazed at the blackness of spirit that could brood on and cover(i.e. conceal) revenge for years, and deliberately prosecute its plans without a visitation of remorse. She appeared so deeply impressed and shocked at this new view of human nature—excluded from all her studies and all her ideas till now—that Mr. Edgar deemed it unnecessary to pursue the subject.’
Chapter 22
'...a fresh watery afternoon, when the turf and paths were rustling with moist, withered leaves, and the cold blue sky was half hidden by clouds—dark grey streamers長幡/橫幅, rapidly mounting from the west, and boding abundant rain—I requested my young lady to forego her ramble... She refused; and I unwillingly donned a cloak, and took my umbrella to accompany her on a stroll to the bottom of the park... She went sadly on: there was no running or bounding now... I gazed round for a means of diverting her thoughts(楊苡譯：想辦法岔開她的思想). On one side of the road rose a high, rough bank(i.e. slope), where hazels and stunted oaks, with their roots half exposed, held uncertain tenure: the soil was too loose for the latter; and strong winds had blown some nearly horizontal. In summer Miss Catherine delighted to climb along these trunks, and sit in the branches, swinging twenty feet above the ground; and I, pleased with her agility and her light, childish heart, still considered it proper to scold every time I caught her at such an elevation, but so that she knew there was no necessity for descending(溫情可感). From dinner to tea she would lie in her breeze-rocked cradle, doing nothing except singing old songs—my nursery lore—to herself, or watching the birds, joint tenants, feed and entice their young ones to fly: or nestling with closed lids, half thinking, half dreaming, happier than words can express(皆詩語也).'
Chapter 23
“(Linton's word) ...But papa says you would love me better than him(i.e. Edgar) and all the world, if you were my wife...”
“(Cathy's word) No, I should never love anybody better than papa,” she returned gravely. “And people hate their wives, sometimes; but not their sisters and brothers...”
...
‘(Nelly’s narration)...when she looked in to bid me good-night, I remarked a fresh colour in her cheeks and a pinkness over her slender fingers, instead of fancying the hue borrowed from a cold ride across the moors, I laid it to the charge of a hot fire in the library(楊苡譯：但我沒想到這顏色是因為冒著嚴寒騎馬過曠野而來，卻以為是因為在書房烤火的緣故哩).'
Chapter 24
“One time... we(i.e. Cathy and Linton) were near quarrelling. He said the pleasantest manner of spending a hot July day was lying from morning till evening on a bank of heath in the middle of the moors, with the bees humming dreamily about among the bloom, and the larks singing high up overhead, and the blue sky and bright sun shining steadily and cloudlessly. That was his most perfect idea of heaven’s happiness: mine was rocking in a rustling green tree, with a west wind blowing, and bright white clouds flitting rapidly above; and not only larks, but throstles, and blackbirds, and linnets, and cuckoos pouring out music on every side, and the moors seen at a distance, broken into cool dusky(i.e. dim) dells(i.e. small valley.楊苡譯：遙望曠野裂成許多冷幽幽的峽溪); but close by great swells of long grass undulating in waves to the breeze(筆下開闔有致); and woods and sounding water, and the whole world awake and wild with joy. He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine, and began to grow very snappish. At last, we agreed to try both, as soon as the right weather came; and then we kissed each other and were friends."
...
"(Linton's word) ...You(i.e. Cathy) are so much happier than I am... Papa talks enough of my defects, and shows enough scorn of me, to make it natural I should doubt myself. I doubt whether I am not altogether as worthless as he calls me... and then I feel so cross and bitter, I hate everybody! I am worthless, and bad in temper, and bad in spirit, almost always; and, if you choose, you may say good-bye: you’ll get rid of an annoyance. Only, Catherine, do me this justice: believe that if I might be as sweet, and as kind, and as good as you are, I would be; as willingly, and more so, than as happy and as healthy(梁實秋譯：你要相信，我設若能像你那樣的甜蜜、和藹、良善，我一定也願意那樣做的；並且我這願心，比希望和你一般幸福健康的願心還要強些). And believe that your kindness has made me love you deeper than if I deserved your love: and though I couldn’t, and cannot help showing my nature to you, I regret it and repent it; and shall regret and repent it till I die(全書中唯一有心肝的說話)!"
Chapter 25
“I’ve prayed often,” he(i.e. Edgar) half soliloquised, “for the approach of what is coming(楊苡譯：祈求要來的就快來吧); and now I begin to shrink, and fear it. I thought the memory of the hour I came down that glen山谷 a bridegroom would be less sweet than the anticipation that I was soon, in a few months, or, possibly, weeks, to be carried up, and laid in its lonely hollow(i.e. his grave)! Ellen, I’ve been very happy with my little Cathy: through winter nights and summer days she was a living hope at my side. But I’ve been as happy musing by myself among those stones, under that old church: lying, through the long June evenings, on the green mound of her mother’s grave, and wishing—yearning for the time when I might lie beneath it. What can I do for Cathy? How must I quit her? I’d not care one moment for Linton being Heathcliff’s son; nor for his taking her from me, if he could console her for my loss. I’d not care that Heathcliff gained his ends, and triumphed in robbing me of my last blessing! But should Linton be unworthy—only a feeble tool to his father—I cannot abandon her to him! And, hard though it be to crush her buoyant spirit, I must persevere in making her sad while I live, and leaving her solitary when I die. Darling! I’d rather resign her to God(i.e. than to crush her buoyant spirit), and lay her in the earth before me.”
...
‘(Nelly’s narration) ...he(i.e. Edgar) had no idea that the latter(i.e. Linton) was failing almost as fast as himself... no doctor visited the Heights, and no one saw Master Heathcliff to make report of his condition among us. I... began to fancy my forebodings were false, and that he must be actually rallying, when he mentioned riding and walking on the moors(i.e. saying in his letter that he wants to ride on the moors with Cathy), and seemed so earnest in pursuing his object. I could not picture a father treating a dying child as tyrannically and wickedly as I afterwards learned Heathcliff had treated him, to compel this apparent eagerness: his efforts redoubling the more imminently his avaricious and unfeeling plans were threatened with defeat by death(楊苡譯：他一想到他那貪婪無情的計劃馬上就會受死亡的威脅而遭到失敗，他的努力就更加迫切了).'
Chapter 26
‘(Cathy’s word) ...whether he(i.e. Linton) were worse(i.e. worse in health) than usual? “No—better—better!” he panted, trembling, and retaining her hand as if he needed its support, while his large blue eyes wandered timidly over her; the hollowness round them transforming to haggard wildness the languid expression they once possessed.’
Chapter 27
"(Linton's word)...For heaven’s sake, Catherine, don’t look so angry! Despise me as much as you please; I am a worthless, cowardly wretch: I can’t be scorned enough; but I’m too mean for your anger. Hate my father, and spare me for contempt.”
...
"The rumour goes,” he(i.e. Heathcliff) added, in a lower tone, “that Edgar Linton is on his death-bed: perhaps they exaggerate his illness?”
“No; my master is dying,” I replied...
“How long will he last, do you think?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Because,” he continued, looking at the two young people...—“because that lad(i.e. Linton) yonder seems determined to beat me(一笑); and I’d thank his uncle to be quick, and go before him!... get up, Linton! Get up!” he shouted. “Don’t grovel on the ground there: up, this moment!”
...
“I will, father,” he panted. “Only, let me alone, or I shall faint. I’ve done as you wished... Catherine will tell you that I—that I—have been cheerful. Ah! keep by me, Catherine; give me your hand.”
“Take mine,” said his father; “stand on your feet. There now—she’ll lend you her arm: that’s right, look at her. You would imagine I was the devil himself, Miss Linton, to excite such horror. Be so kind as to walk home with him, will you? He shudders if I touch him.”
“Linton dear!” whispered Catherine, “I can’t go to Wuthering Heights: papa has forbidden me. He’ll not harm you: why are you so afraid?”
“I can never re-enter that house,” he answered. “I’m not to re-enter it without you!”
...
He(i.e. Heathcliff) shut and locked it also(i.e. locked his door)... “You shall have tea before you go home... Miss Linton... I give you what I have: the present is hardly worth accepting; but I have nothing else to offer. It is Linton, I mean(i.e. his son as a bridegroom for her，一笑). How she(i.e. Cathy) does stare! It’s odd what a savage feeling I have to anything that seems afraid of me! Had I been born where laws are less strict and tastes less dainty(楊苡譯：風尚比較不大文雅的地方), I should treat myself to a slow vivisection解剖 of those two, as an evening’s amusement.”
...
Heathcliff had the key in his hand that remained on the table... She(i.e. Cathy) snatched at the instrument... exerting her utmost efforts to cause the iron muscles to relax; and finding that her nails made no impression, she applied her teeth pretty sharply. Heathcliff glanced at me a glance that kept me from interfering a moment... he seized her with the liberated hand, and, pulling her on his knee, administered with the other a shower of terrific slaps on both sides of the head, each sufficient to have fulfilled his threat(i.e. his earlier threat of knocking her down), had she been able to fall(按：即一輪暴打下，其實任哪一下也早已足夠打垮她了——若她當時不是被抓住，而尚有倒下的能耐的話).
...
“Master Linton,” I cried, seeing we were regularly正式地 imprisoned, “you know what your diabolical father is after, and you shall tell us...”
“Yes, Linton, you must tell,” said Catherine. “It was for your sake I came; and it will be wickedly ungrateful if you refuse.”
“Give me some tea, I’m thirsty, and then I’ll tell you,” he answered. “Mrs. Dean, go away. I don’t like you standing over me. Now, Catherine, you are letting your tears fall into my cup. I won’t drink that(按：無心肝之至，一笑). Give me another.”
Catherine pushed another to him, and wiped her face. I felt disgusted at the little wretch’s composure, since he was no longer in terror for himself. The anguish he had exhibited on the moor subsided as soon as ever he entered Wuthering Heights; so I guessed he had been menaced with an awful visitation of wrath if he failed in decoying us there; and, that accomplished, he had no further immediate fears.
...
"(Cathy's word)...if I stay, papa will be miserable: and how can I endure making him miserable..."
...
"(Heathcliff's word)...I shall enjoy myself remarkably in thinking your father will be miserable... You could have hit on no surer way of fixing your residence under my roof for the next twenty-four hours than informing me that such an event would follow(一笑)... your father, Catherine, his happiest days were over when your days began. He cursed you, I dare say, for coming into the world (I did, at least); and it would just do if he cursed you as he went out of it... Weep away. As far as I can see, it will be your chief diversion hereafter; unless Linton make amends for other losses: and your provident有遠慮的 parent appears to fancy he may. His letters of advice and consolation entertained me vastly. In his last he recommended my jewel(i.e. my son) to be careful of his; and kind to her when he got her. Careful and kind—that’s paternal. But Linton requires his whole stock of care and kindness for himself. Linton can play the little tyrant well. He’ll undertake to torture any number of cats, if their teeth be drawn拔掉 and their claws pared(削掉。按：閒閒一筆，寫Linton這病懨懨的小妖精亦入木三分). You’ll be able to tell his uncle fine tales of his kindness, when you get home again..."
Chapter 28
‘...All was composed, however: Catherine’s despair was as silent as her father’s joy. She supported him calmly, in appearance; and he fixed on her features his raised eyes that seemed dilating with ecstasy.
He died blissfully... Kissing her cheek, he murmured,—“I am going to her; and you, darling child, shall come to us!” and never stirred or spoke again; but continued that rapt, radiant gaze, till his pulse imperceptibly stopped and his soul departed. None could have noticed the exact minute of his death, it was so entirely without a struggle.’
Chapter 29
“(Heathcliff's word) ...I’ll tell you what I did yesterday! I got the sexton教堂司事, who was digging Linton’s grave, to remove the earth off her coffin lid, and I opened it. I thought, once, I would have stayed there(i.e. forever): when I saw her face again—it is hers yet(Sparknotes: When he opens her coffin, he does not say that he sees her again. Instead he says, “I saw her face again,” showing that her corpse, like her daughter or her portrait, is a thing she possessed, a thing that refers to her, but not the woman herself)!—he(i.e. the sexton) had hard work to stir me(楊苡譯：他費了很大的勁才趕開我); but he said it would change if the air blew on it(i.e. the corpse would rot if exposed to air), and so I struck one side of the coffin loose, and covered it up: not Linton’s side, damn him! I wish he’d been soldered in lead用鉛焊住. And I bribed the sexton to pull it away when I’m laid there, and slide mine out too(i.e. a space is left open in the side of their coffins to allow their bodies to decompose together); I’ll have it made so: and then by the time Linton gets to us he’ll not know which is which!”
“You were very wicked, Mr. Heathcliff!” I exclaimed; “were you not ashamed to disturb the dead?”
“I disturbed nobody, Nelly,” he replied; “and I gave some ease to myself. I shall be a great deal more comfortable now; and you’ll have a better chance of keeping me underground, when I get there(i.e. when I die). Disturbed her? No! she has disturbed me, night and day, through eighteen years—incessantly—remorselessly—till yesternight; and yesternight I was tranquil. I dreamt I was sleeping the last sleep by that sleeper(i.e. Catherine's corpse), with my heart stopped and my cheek frozen against hers.”
“And if she had been dissolved into earth... what would you have dreamt of then?” I said.
“Of dissolving with her, and being more happy still!” he answered. “Do you suppose I dread any change of that sort? I expected such a transformation on raising the lid棺蓋, but I’m better pleased that it should not commence till I share it... You know I was wild after she died; and eternally, from dawn to dawn, praying her to return to me her spirit! I have a strong faith in ghosts: I have a conviction that they can, and do, exist among us! The day she was buried, there came a fall of snow. In the evening I went to the churchyard. It blew bleak as winter—all round was solitary. I didn’t fear that her fool of a husband would wander up the glen so late; and no one else had business to bring them there. Being alone, and conscious two yards of loose earth was the sole barrier between us, I said to myself—‘I’ll have her in my arms again! If she be cold, I’ll think it is this north wind that chills me; and if she be motionless, it is sleep.’ I got a spade from the tool-house, and began to delve with all my might—it scraped the coffin; I fell to work with my hands; the wood commenced cracking about the screws; I was on the point of attaining my object, when it seemed that I heard a sigh from some one above, close at the edge of the grave, and bending down. ‘If I can only get this off,’ I muttered, ‘I wish they may shovel in the earth over us both!’ and I wrenched at it more desperately still(梁實秋譯：於是我更拚命的用力掀). There was another sigh, close at my ear. I appeared to feel the warm breath of it displacing the sleet-laden wind. I knew no living thing in flesh and blood was by; but, as certainly as you perceive the approach to some substantial body in the dark, though it cannot be discerned, so certainly I felt that Cathy was there: not under me, but on the earth. A sudden sense of relief flowed from my heart through every limb. I relinquished my labour of agony, and turned consoled at once: unspeakably consoled. Her presence was with me: it remained while I re-filled the grave, and led me home. You may laugh... but I was sure I should see her there. I was sure she was with me, and I could not help talking to her. Having reached the Heights, I rushed eagerly to the door. It was fastened; and, I remember, that accursed Earnshaw and my wife opposed my entrance. I remember stopping to kick the breath out of him, and then hurrying upstairs, to my room and hers. I looked round impatiently—I felt her by me—I could almost see her, and yet I could not! I ought to have sweat blood then, from the anguish of my yearning—from the fervour of my supplications祈求 to have but one glimpse! I had not one. She showed herself, as she often was in life, a devil to me(楊苡譯：正如她生前一樣像魔鬼似的捉弄我)! And, since then, sometimes more and sometimes less, I’ve been the sport of that intolerable torture! Infernal! keeping my nerves at such a stretch that, if they had not resembled catgut羊腸線, they would long ago have relaxed to the feebleness of Linton’s. When I sat in the house with Hareton, it seemed that on going out I should meet her; when I walked on the moors I should meet her coming in. When I went from home I hastened to return; she must be somewhere at the Heights, I was certain! And when I slept in her chamber... I couldn’t lie there; for the moment I closed my eyes, she was either outside the window, or sliding back the panels, or entering the room, or even resting her darling head on the same pillow as she did when a child; and I must open my lids to see. And so I opened and closed them a hundred times a night—to be always disappointed! It racked me! I’ve often groaned aloud, till that old rascal Joseph no doubt believed that my conscience was playing the fiend inside of me. Now, since I’ve seen her(i.e. her corpse), I’m pacified—a little. It was a strange way of killing: not by inches, but by fractions of hairbreadths(楊苡譯：那是一種奇怪的殺人方法：不是一寸寸的，而是像頭髮絲那樣的一絲絲地割), to beguile me with the spectre of a hope through eighteen years(按：由「The day she was buried」起，一路文氣貫注，揮灑淋灕，與乎泥石俱下，幾不能刪削其一字半語)!”
Chapter 30
“(Cathy's word) Tell Mr. Heathcliff that his son is dying—I’m sure he is, this time...”
...
(Heathcliff) held the light to Linton’s face... afterwards he turned to her.
“Now—Catherine,” he said, “how do you feel?”
...
“He’s safe, and I’m free,” she answered: “...but,” she continued, with a bitterness she couldn’t conceal, “you have left me so long to struggle against death alone, that I feel and see only death! I feel like death!(楊苡譯：帶著一種她無法隱藏的悲苦，『你們丟下我一個人跟死亡掙扎這麼久，我感到的和看見的只有死亡！我覺得就像死了一樣！』)”
...
“Now, Mrs. Dean,” Zillah(i.e. the new housekeeper of Wuthering Heights) went on, seeing me not pleased by her manner, “you happen think your young lady too fine for Mr. Hareton; and happen you’re right: but I own I should love well to bring her pride a peg lower. And what will all her learning and her daintiness do for her, now? She’s as poor as you or I: poorer, I’ll be bound: you’re saving, and I’m doing my little all that road(楊苡譯：現在她所有的學問和她的文雅對她又有什麼用呢？她和你或我一樣的貧窮：更窮，我敢說，你是在攢錢，我也在那條路上盡我的小小努力).”
...
‘(Lockwood’s narration) Thus ended Mrs. Dean’s story. Notwithstanding the doctor’s prophecy, I am rapidly recovering strength; and though it be only the second week in January, I propose getting out on horseback in a day or two, and riding over to Wuthering Heights, to inform my landlord that I shall spend the next six months in London; and, if he likes, he may look out for another tenant to take the place after October. I would not pass another winter here for much.’
Chapter 31
“It will be odd if I thwart myself,” he(i.e. Heathcliff) muttered... “But when I look for his father(i.e. Hindley) in his(i.e. Hareton's) face, I find her(i.e. Catherine) every day more! How the devil is he so like? I can hardly bear to see him.”
...
"(Heathcliff's word) Sit down and take your(i.e. Lockwood) dinner with us; a guest that is safe from repeating his visit can generally be made welcome(一笑)."
Chapter 32
‘...she(i.e. Cathy) stooped and impressed on his cheek a gentle kiss... Whether the kiss convinced Hareton, I cannot tell: he was very careful, for some minutes, that his face should not be seen, and when he did raise it, he was sadly puzzled where to turn his eyes(按：這種「怔忡」，大概衹有備歷人世悽酸者方能體會了).
Catherine employed herself in wrapping a handsome book neatly in white paper... “...tell him, if he’ll take it, I’ll come and teach him to read it right,” she said... I carried it, and repeated the message... Hareton would not open his fingers, so I laid it on his knee. He did not strike it off, either. I returned to my work. Catherine leaned her head and arms on the table, till she heard the slight rustle of the covering being removed; then she stole away, and quietly seated herself beside her cousin. He trembled, and his face glowed: all his rudeness and all his surly harshness had deserted him: he could not summon courage, at first, to utter a syllable in reply to her questioning look, and her murmured petition.
“Say you forgive me, Hareton, do...”
He muttered something inaudible.
“And you’ll be my friend?” added Catherine, interrogatively.
“Nay, you’ll be ashamed of me every day of your life,” he answered; “and the more ashamed, the more you know me; and I cannot bide it.”
“So you won’t be my friend?” she said, smiling as sweet as honey, and creeping close up.
I overheard no further distinguishable talk, but, on looking round again, I perceived two such radiant countenances bent over the page of the accepted book, that I did not doubt the treaty had been ratified on both sides; and the enemies were, thenceforth, sworn allies.
...
...Joseph came home. He, poor man, was perfectly aghast at the spectacle of Catherine seated on the same bench with Hareton Earnshaw, leaning her hand on his shoulder; and confounded at his favourite’s endurance of her proximity: it affected him too deeply to allow an observation on the subject that night. His emotion was only revealed by the immense sighs he drew, as he solemnly spread his large Bible on the table, and overlaid it with dirty bank-notes from his pocket-book, the produce of the day’s transactions(一笑). At length he summoned Hareton from his seat.
“Tak’ these in to t’ maister, lad,” he said, “and bide there. I’s gang up to my own rahm. This hoile’s neither mensful nor seemly for us: we mun side out and seearch another(i.e. Take these in to the master, lad... and stay there. I'm going up to my own room. This place is neither decent nor proper for us: we must move out and search for another).”’
Chapter 33
‘...I came in to sit with them, after I had done my work; and I felt so soothed and comforted to watch them, that I did not notice how time got on... While I admired and they laboured(i.e. reading), dusk drew on, and with it returned the master. He came upon us quite unexpectedly, entering by the front way, and had a full view of the whole three, ere we could raise our heads to glance at him. Well, I reflected, there was never a pleasanter, or more harmless sight; and it will be a burning shame to scold them. The red fire-light glowed on their two bonny heads, and revealed their faces animated with the eager interest of children; for, though he was twenty-three and she eighteen, each had so much of novelty to feel and learn, that neither experienced nor evinced the sentiments of sober disenchanted maturity.
They lifted their eyes together, to encounter Mr. Heathcliff: perhaps you have never remarked that their eyes are precisely similar, and they are those of Catherine Earnshaw... I suppose this resemblance disarmed Mr. Heathcliff...
...
“It is a poor conclusion, is it not?” he(i.e. Heathcliff) observed, having brooded a while on the scene he had just witnessed: “an absurd termination to my violent exertions? I get levers and mattocks鶴嘴鋤 to demolish the two houses, and train myself to be capable of working like Hercules, and when everything is ready and in my power, I find the will to lift a slate off either roof has vanished(楊苡譯：我卻發現掀起任何一所房子的一片瓦的意志都已經消失了)! My old enemies have not beaten me; now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives(i.e. Hareton and Cathy): I could do it; and none could hinder me. But where is the use? I don’t care for striking: I can’t take the trouble to raise my hand! That sounds as if I had been labouring the whole time only to exhibit a fine trait of magnanimity寬慈. It is far from being the case: I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing.
“Nelly, there is a strange change approaching; I’m in its shadow at present. I take so little interest in my daily life that I hardly remember to eat and drink. Those two(i.e. Hareton and Cathy) who have left the room are the only objects which retain a distinct material appearance to me; and that appearance causes me pain, amounting to agony... You’ll perhaps think me rather inclined to become so(i.e. insane),” he added, making an effort to smile, “if I try to describe the thousand forms of past associations and ideas he(i.e. Hareton) awakens or embodies...
“...Hareton seemed a personification of my youth, not a human being; I felt to him in such a variety of ways, that it would have been impossible to have accosted(i.e. confront; approach) him rationally. In the first place, his startling likeness to Catherine connected him fearfully with her. That, however, which you may suppose the most potent to arrest my imagination, is actually the least: for what is not connected with her to me? and what does not recall her? I cannot look down to this floor, but her features are shaped in the flags石板! In every cloud, in every tree—filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day—I am surrounded with her image! The most ordinary faces of men and women—my own features—mock me with a resemblance(羅樂敏〈會有一束光〉：「……會有一束光／如細長的葉展開滑溜的刀口／輕輕地在你我臉上雕刻出／千面一相，趨近路人」). The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her! Well, Hareton’s aspect was the ghost of my immortal love; of my wild endeavours to hold my right; my degradation, my pride, my happiness, and my anguish—
“But it is frenzy to repeat these thoughts to you: only it will let you know why, with a reluctance to be always alone, his society is no benefit; rather an aggravation of the constant torment I suffer: and it partly contributes to render me regardless how he and his cousin go on together. I can give them no attention any more.”
...
“You have no feeling of illness, have you?” I asked.
“No, Nelly, I have not,” he answered.
“Then you are not afraid of death?” I pursued.
“Afraid? No!” he replied. “I have neither a fear, nor a presentiment, nor a hope of death. Why should I? With my hard constitution and temperate mode of living, and unperilous occupations, I ought to, and probably shall, remain above ground till there is scarcely a black hair on my head. And yet I cannot continue in this condition! I have to remind myself to breathe—almost to remind my heart to beat! And it is like bending back a stiff spring: it is by compulsion that I do the slightest act not prompted by one thought(i.e. act that normally don’t needed to be prompted by thought); and by compulsion that I notice anything alive or dead, which is not associated with one universal idea. I have a single wish, and my whole being and faculties are yearning to attain it. They have yearned towards it so long, and so unwaveringly, that I’m convinced it will be reached—and soon—because it has devoured my existence: I am swallowed up in the anticipation of its fulfilment. My confessions have not relieved me; but they may account for some otherwise unaccountable phases of humour which I show. O God! It is a long fight; I wish it were over!”
Chapter 34
‘I set his plate to keep warm on the fender爐柵; and after an hour or two he re-entered... in no degree calmer: the same unnatural—it was unnatural—appearance of joy under his black brows; the same bloodless hue, and his teeth visible, now and then, in a kind of smile; his frame shivering, not as one shivers with chill or weakness, but as a tight-stretched cord vibrates—a strong thrilling, rather than trembling.
“...Mr. Heathcliff? You look uncommonly animated.”
“...I’m animated with hunger; and, seemingly, I must not eat.”
“Your dinner is here,” I returned; “why won’t you get it?”
“I don’t want it now,” he muttered, hastily: “I’ll wait till supper..."
...
“Tell me why you are so queer, Mr. Heathcliff? Where were you last night? I’m not putting the question through idle curiosity, but—”
“You are putting the question through very idle curiosity,” he interrupted... “Yet I’ll answer it. Last night I was on the threshold of hell. To-day, I am within sight of my heaven. I have my eyes on it: hardly three feet to sever me! And now you’d better go! You’ll neither see nor hear anything to frighten you, if you refrain from prying.”
...
He was leaning against the ledge of an open lattice... The fire had smouldered to ashes; the room was filled with the damp, mild air of the cloudy evening; and so still, that not only the murmur of the beck down Gimmerton was distinguishable, but its ripples and its gurgling over the pebbles, or through the large stones which it could not cover(全書脈搏如聞). I... commenced shutting the casements, one after another, till I came to his.
“Must I close this?” I asked, in order to rouse him; for he would not stir.
The light flashed on his features as I spoke. Oh, Mr. Lockwood, I cannot express what a terrible start I got by the momentary view! Those deep black eyes! That smile, and ghastly paleness! It appeared to me, not Mr. Heathcliff, but a goblin; and, in my terror, I let the candle bend towards the wall, and it left me in darkness.
...
...Mr. Heathcliff was going to bed, and he wanted nothing to eat till morning. We heard him mount the stairs directly; he did not proceed to his ordinary chamber, but turned into that with the panelled bed: its window, as I mentioned before, is wide enough for anybody to get through; and it struck me that he plotted another midnight excursion...
“Is he a ghoul or a vampire?” I mused. I had read of such hideous incarnate demons. And then I set myself to reflect how I had tended him in infancy, and watched him grow to youth, and followed him almost through his whole course...
...
I put a basin of coffee before him. He drew it nearer, and then rested his arms on the table, and looked at the opposite wall, as I supposed, surveying one particular portion, up and down, with glittering, restless eyes, and with such eager interest that he stopped breathing during half a minute together.
“Come now,” I exclaimed... “eat and drink that, while it is hot: it has been waiting near an hour... don’t, for God’s sake, stare as if you saw an unearthly vision.”
“Don’t, for God’s sake, shout so loud,” he replied. “Turn round, and tell me, are we by ourselves?”
“Of course,” was my answer; “of course we are.”
Still, I involuntarily obeyed him, as if I was not quite sure...
Now, I perceived he was not looking at the wall... it seemed exactly that he gazed at something within two yards’ distance. And whatever it was, it communicated, apparently, both pleasure and pain in exquisite extremes: at least the anguished, yet raptured, expression of his countenance suggested that idea. The fancied object was not fixed, either: his eyes pursued it with unwearied diligence, and, even in speaking to me, were never weaned away. I vainly reminded him of his protracted abstinence from food: if he stirred to touch anything in compliance with my entreaties, if he stretched his hand out to get a piece of bread, his fingers clenched before they reached it, and remained on the table, forgetful of their aim.
...
I distinguished Mr. Heathcliff’s step, restlessly measuring(i.e. walking) the floor, and he frequently broke the silence by a deep inspiration(i.e. inhalation), resembling a groan. He muttered detached words also; the only one I could catch was the name of Catherine... spoken as one would speak to a person present; low and earnest, and wrung from the depth of his soul...
...
“It is not my fault that I cannot eat or rest,” he replied. “...But you might as well bid a man struggling in the water rest within arms’ length of the shore! I must reach it first, and then I’ll rest... as to repenting of my injustices, I’ve done no injustice, and I repent of nothing. I’m too happy; and yet I’m not happy enough. My soul’s bliss kills my body, but does not satisfy itself.”
...
"(Heathcliff’s word)... the manner in which I desire to be buried... is to be carried to the churchyard in the evening. You and Hareton may... accompany me: and mind... to notice that the sexton教堂司事 obeys my directions concerning the two coffins! No minister need come; nor need anything be said over me.—I tell you I have nearly attained my heaven; and that of others is altogether unvalued and uncoveted by me.”
...
"(Heathcliff’s word) ...It’s unutterably too much for flesh and blood to bear—even mine.”
He solicited the society of no one more. At dusk he went into his chamber. Through the whole night, and far into the morning, we heard him groaning and murmuring to himself. Hareton was anxious to enter; but I bid him fetch Mr. Kenneth(i.e. the doctor)... When he came, and I requested admittance... and Heathcliff bid us be damned. He was better, and would be left alone; so the doctor went away.
The following evening was very wet: indeed, it poured down till day-dawn; and, as I took my morning walk round the house, I observed the master’s window swinging open, and the rain driving straight in. He cannot be in bed... those showers would drench him through. He must either be up or out...
...I peeped in. Mr. Heathcliff was there—laid on his back. His eyes met mine so keen and fierce, I started; and then he seemed to smile. I could not think him dead: but his face and throat were washed with rain; the bed-clothes dripped, and he was perfectly still. The lattice, flapping to and fro, had grazed one hand that rested on the sill; no blood trickled from the broken skin, and when I put my fingers to it, I could doubt no more: he was dead and stark!
I hasped the window; I combed his black long hair from his forehead; I tried to close his eyes: to extinguish, if possible, that frightful, life-like gaze of exultation before any one else beheld it. They would not shut: they seemed to sneer at my attempts; and his parted lips and sharp white teeth sneered too! Taken with another fit of cowardice, I cried out for Joseph. Joseph shuffled up and made a noise, but resolutely refused to meddle with him.
“Th’ divil’s harried(i.e. carried) off his soul,” he cried, “and he may hev’ his carcass into t’ bargin, for aught I care! Ech! what a wicked ’un(i.e. one) he looks, girning(i.e. grinning) at death!” and the old sinner grinned in mockery... he... suddenly composing himself, he fell on his knees, and raised his hands, and returned thanks that the lawful master and the ancient stock were restored to their rights(一笑，當有歷史諷刺在內).
I felt stunned by the awful event; and my memory unavoidably recurred to former times with a sort of oppressive sadness. But poor Hareton, the most wronged, was the only one who really suffered much. He sat by the corpse all night, weeping in bitter earnest. He pressed its hand, and kissed the sarcastic, savage face that every one else shrank from contemplating; and bemoaned him with that strong grief which springs naturally from a generous heart, though it be tough as tempered steel.
...
'We buried him, to the scandal of the whole neighbourhood, as he wished... Hareton, with a streaming face, dug green sods, and laid them over the brown mould himself... and I hope its tenant sleeps as soundly. But the country folks, if you ask them, would swear on the Bible that he walks: there are those who speak to having met him near the church, and on the moor, and even within this house...an odd thing happened to me about a month ago. I was going to the Grange one evening—a dark evening, threatening thunder—and, just at the turn of the Heights, I encountered a little boy with a sheep and two lambs before him; he was crying terribly; and I supposed the lambs were skittish(i.e. nervous; scared), and would not be guided.
“What is the matter, my little man?” I asked.
“There’s Heathcliff and a woman yonder, under t’ nab(i.e. knap, crest of a hill),” he blubbered, “un’ I darnut(i.e. dare not) pass ’em.”
I saw nothing; but neither the sheep nor he would go on, so I bid him take the road lower down. He probably raised the phantoms from thinking, as he traversed the moors alone, on the nonsense he had heard his parents and companions repeat. Yet, still, I don’t like being out in the dark now; and I don’t like being left by myself in this grim house: I cannot help it; I shall be glad when they leave it, and shift to the Grange.
...
“And who will live here then?”
“...Joseph will take care of the house, and, perhaps, a lad to keep him company. They will live in the kitchen, and the rest will be shut up.”
“For the use of such ghosts as choose to inhabit it?” I observed.
“No, Mr. Lockwood,” said Nelly, shaking her head. “I believe the dead are at peace: but it is not right to speak of them with levity輕浮.”
At that moment the garden gate swung to; the ramblers(i.e. Cathy and Hareton) were returning.
“They are afraid of nothing,” I grumbled, watching their approach through the window. “Together, they would brave Satan and all his legions.”
As they stepped on to the door-stones, and halted to take a last look at the moon—or, more correctly, at each other by her light—I felt irresistibly impelled to escape them again; and, pressing a remembrance into the hand of Mrs. Dean(楊苡譯：我把一點紀念物按到丁太太手裡), and disregarding her expostulations(i.e. earnest and kindly protest) at my rudeness, I vanished through the kitchen as they opened the house-door; and so should have confirmed Joseph in his opinion of his fellow-servant’s gay indiscretions, had he not fortunately recognised me for a respectable character by the sweet ring of a sovereign at his feet(楊苡譯：要不是因為我幸虧在約瑟夫腳前丟下了一塊錢，很好聽地噹了一下，使他認出我是個體面人，他一定會認為他的同伴真的在搞風流韻事哩。一笑).
My walk home was lengthened by a diversion in the direction of the kirk(i.e. the Scottish Church). When beneath its walls, I perceived decay had made progress, even in seven months(Note: earlier in Ch.30, "they call the Methodists’ or Baptists’ place, I can’t say which it is, at Gimmerton, a chapel"): many a window showed black gaps deprived of glass; and slates jutted off, here and there, beyond the right line of the roof, to be gradually worked off in coming autumn storms.
I sought, and soon discovered, the three headstones on the slope next the moor: the middle one grey, and half buried in heath(i.e. Catherine's grave, the oldest one); Edgar Linton’s only harmonized by the turf and moss creeping up its foot; Heathcliff’s(i.e. the newest) still bare.
I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.’
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