Summary: Chapter XXI
Young Catherine despairs over her cousin’s sudden departure
from Thrushcross Grange. Nelly tries to keep up with the news of
young Linton, quizzing the housekeeper at Wuthering Heights whenever she
meets her in the nearby town of Gimmerton. She learns that Heathcliff
loathes his sniveling son and cannot bear to be alone with him.
She also learns that Linton continues to be frail and sickly.
One day, when young Catherine is sixteen, she and Nelly
are out bird-hunting on the moors. Nelly loses sight of Catherine
for a moment, then finds her conversing with Heathcliff and Hareton. Catherine
says that she thinks she has met Hareton before and asks if Heathcliff
is his father. Heathcliff says no, but that he does have a son back
at the house. He invites Catherine and Nelly to pay a visit to Wuthering
Heights to see the boy. Nelly, always suspicious of Heathcliff,
disapproves of the idea, but Catherine, not realizing that this
son is her cousin Linton, is curious to meet the boy, and Nelly cannot
keep her from going. At Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff tells Nelly
that he hopes Catherine and his son will be married someday. For
their part, the cousins do not recognize one another—they have changed
much in three years—and because Linton is too sickly and self-pitying
to show Catherine around the farm, she leaves with Hareton instead,
all the while mocking the latter’s illiteracy and lack of education.
Heathcliff forces Linton to go after them.
At Thrushcross Grange the next day, Catherine tells her
father about her visit and demands to know why he has kept her relatives secret.
Edgar tries to explain, and eventually Catherine comes to understand
his disdain for Heathcliff. But although Edgar gently implores her
not to have any contact with Linton, Catherine cannot resist exchanging
letters with the boy covertly. Nelly discovers the correspondence,
and, much to Catherine’s dismay, destroys Linton’s letters to her.
She then sends a note to Wuthering Heights requesting that Linton
desist in his part of the correspondence. However, she does not
alert Edgar to the young people’s relationship.
Summary: Chapter XXII
Edgar’s health begins to fail, and, as a result, he spends
less time with Catherine. Nelly attempts in vain to fill the companionship
role formerly played by the girl’s father. One winter day, during
a walk in the garden, Catherine climbs the wall and stretches for
some fruit on a tree. In the process, her hat falls off her head
and down to the other side of the wall. Nelly allows Catherine to
climb down the wall to retrieve it, but, once on the other side,
Catherine is unable to get back over the wall by herself. Nelly
looks for the key to the gate, and suddenly Heathcliff appears,
telling Catherine that it was cruel of her to break off her correspondence
with Linton. He accuses her of toying with his son’s affections,
and he urges her to visit Linton while he is away the following
week. He claims that Linton may be dying of a broken heart. Catherine
believes him and convinces Nelly to take her to Wuthering Heights
the next morning. Nelly assents in the hope that the sight of Linton
will expose Heathcliff’s lie.
Summary: Chapter XXIII
The following morning, Catherine and Nelly ride in the
rain to Wuthering Heights, where they find Linton engaged in his
customary whining. He speaks to Catherine about the possibility
of marriage. Annoyed, Catherine shoves his chair in a fit of temper.
Linton begins to cough and says that Catherine has assaulted him
and has injured his already fragile health. He fills Catherine with
guilt and requests that she nurse him back to health herself. After
Nelly and Catherine ride home, Nelly discovers that she has caught
a cold from traveling in the rain. Catherine nurses both her father
and Nelly during the day, but, by night, she begins traveling in
secret to be with Linton.
Summary: Chapter XXIV
After Nelly recuperates, she notices Catherine’s suspicious
behavior and quickly discovers where she has been spending her evenings. Catherine
tells Nelly the story of her visits to Wuthering Heights, including
one incident in which Hareton proves to her that he can read a name
inscribed above the manor’s entrance: it is his own name, carved
by a distant ancestor who shared it. But Catherine asks if he can
read the date—1500—and
he must confess that he cannot. Catherine calls him a dunce. Enraged,
Hareton interrupts her visit with Linton, bullying the weak young
man and forcing him to go upstairs. In a later moment of contrition,
he attempts to apologize for his behavior, but Catherine angrily
ignores him and goes home. When she returns to Wuthering Heights
a few days later, Linton blames her for his humiliation. She leaves,
but she returns two days later to tell him that she will never visit
him again. Distressed, Linton asks for her forgiveness. After she
has heard Catherine’s story, Nelly reveals the girl’s secret to
Edgar. Edgar immediately forbids her from visiting Linton again,
but he agrees to invite Linton to come to Thrushcross Grange.
