YESTERDAY afternoon set in misty and cold. I had half a mind tospend it by my study fire, instead of wading through heath and mudto Wuthering Heights. On coming up from dinner, however, (N.B. - Idine between twelve and one o'clock; the housekeeper, a matronlylady, taken as a fixture along with the house, could not, or wouldnot, comprehend my request that I might be served at five) - onmounting the stairs with this lazy intention, and stepping into theroom, I saw a servant-girl on her knees surrounded by brushes andcoal-scuttles, and raising an infernal dust as she extinguished theflames with heaps of cinders. This spectacle drove me backimmediately; I took my hat, and, after a four-miles' walk, arrivedat Heathcliff's garden-gate just in time to escape the firstfeathery flakes of a snow-shower.

On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black frost, andthe air made me shiver through every limb. Being unable to removethe chain, I jumped over, and, running up the flagged causewaybordered with straggling gooseberry-bushes, knocked vainly foradmittance, till my knuckles tingled and the dogs howled.

'Wretched inmates!' I ejaculated, mentally, 'you deserve perpetualisolation from your species for your churlish inhospitality. Atleast, I would not keep my doors barred in the day-time. I don'tcare - I will get in!' So resolved, I grasped the latch and shookit vehemently. Vinegar-faced Joseph projected his head from around window of the barn.

'What are ye for?' he shouted. 'T' maister's down i' t' fowld. Goround by th' end o' t' laith, if ye went to spake to him.'

'Is there nobody inside to open the door?' I hallooed,responsively.

'There's nobbut t' missis; and shoo'll not oppen 't an ye mak' yerflaysome dins till neeght.'

'Why? Cannot you tell her whom I am, eh, Joseph?'

'Nor-ne me! I'll hae no hend wi't,' muttered the head, vanishing.

The snow began to drive thickly. I seized the handle to essayanother trial; when a young man without coat, and shouldering apitchfork, appeared in the yard behind. He hailed me to followhim, and, after marching through a wash-house, and a paved areacontaining a coal-shed, pump, and pigeon-cot, we at length arrivedin the huge, warm, cheerful apartment where I was formerlyreceived. It glowed delightfully in the radiance of an immensefire, compounded of coal, peat, and wood; and near the table, laidfor a plentiful evening meal, I was pleased to observe the'missis,' an individual whose existence I had never previouslysuspected. I bowed and waited, thinking she would bid me take aseat. She looked at me, leaning back in her chair, and remainedmotionless and mute.

'Rough weather!' I remarked. 'I'm afraid, Mrs. Heathcliff, thedoor must bear the consequence of your servants' leisureattendance: I had hard work to make them hear me.'

She never opened her mouth. I stared - she stared also: at anyrate, she kept her eyes on me in a cool, regardless manner,exceedingly embarrassing and disagreeable.

'Sit down,' said the young man, gruffly. 'He'll be in soon.'

I obeyed; and hemmed, and called the villain Juno, who deigned, atthis second interview, to move the extreme tip of her tail, intoken of owning my acquaintance.

'A beautiful animal!' I commenced again. 'Do you intend partingwith the little ones, madam?'

'They are not mine,' said the amiable hostess, more repellinglythan Heathcliff himself could have replied.

'Ah, your favourites are among these?' I continued, turning to anobscure cushion full of something like cats.

'A strange choice of favourites!' she observed scornfully.

Unluckily, it was a heap of dead rabbits. I hemmed once more, anddrew closer to the hearth, repeating my comment on the wildness ofthe evening.

'You should not have come out,' she said, rising and reaching fromthe chimney-piece two of the painted canisters.

Her position before was sheltered from the light; now, I had adistinct view of her whole figure and countenance. She wasslender, and apparently scarcely past girlhood: an admirable form,and the most exquisite little face that I have ever had thepleasure of beholding; small features, very fair; flaxen ringlets,or rather golden, hanging loose on her delicate neck; and eyes, hadthey been agreeable in expression, that would have beenirresistible: fortunately for my susceptible heart, the onlysentiment they evinced hovered between scorn and a kind ofdesperation, singularly unnatural to be detected there. Thecanisters were almost out of her reach; I made a motion to aid her;she turned upon me as a miser might turn if any one attempted toassist him in counting his gold.

'I don't want your help,' she snapped; 'I can get them for myself.'

'I beg your pardon!' I hastened to reply.

'Were you asked to tea?' she demanded, tying an apron over her neatblack frock, and standing with a spoonful of the leaf poised overthe pot.

'I shall be glad to have a cup,' I answered.

'Were you asked?' she repeated.

'No,' I said, half smiling. 'You are the proper person to ask me.'

She flung the tea back, spoon and all, and resumed her chair in apet; her forehead corrugated, and her red under-lip pushed out,like a child's ready to cry.

Meanwhile, the young man had slung on to his person a decidedlyshabby upper garment, and, erecting himself before the blaze,looked down on me from the corner of his eyes, for all the world asif there were some mortal feud unavenged between us. I began todoubt whether he were a servant or not: his dress and speech wereboth rude, entirely devoid of the superiority observable in Mr. andMrs. Heathcliff; his thick brown curls were rough and uncultivated,his whiskers encroached bearishly over his cheeks, and his handswere embrowned like those of a common labourer: still his bearingwas free, almost haughty, and he showed none of a domestic'sassiduity in attending on the lady of the house. In the absence ofclear proofs of his condition, I deemed it best to abstain fromnoticing his curious conduct; and, five minutes afterwards, theentrance of Heathcliff relieved me, in some measure, from myuncomfortable state.

'You see, sir, I am come, according to promise!' I exclaimed,assuming the cheerful; 'and I fear I shall be weather-bound forhalf an hour, if you can afford me shelter during that space.'

'Half an hour?' he said, shaking the white flakes from his clothes;'I wonder you should select the thick of a snow-storm to rambleabout in. Do you know that you run a risk of being lost in themarshes? People familiar with these moors often miss their road onsuch evenings; and I can tell you there is no chance of a change atpresent.'

'Perhaps I can get a guide among your lads, and he might stay atthe Grange till morning - could you spare me one?'

'No, I could not.'

'Oh, indeed! Well, then, I must trust to my own sagacity.'

'Umph!'

'Are you going to mak' the tea?' demanded he of the shabby coat,shifting his ferocious gaze from me to the young lady.

'Is HE to have any?' she asked, appealing to Heathcliff.

'Get it ready, will you?' was the answer, uttered so savagely thatI started. The tone in which the words were said revealed agenuine bad nature. I no longer felt inclined to call Heathcliff acapital fellow. When the preparations were finished, he invited mewith - 'Now, sir, bring forward your chair.' And we all, includingthe rustic youth, drew round the table: an austere silenceprevailing while we discussed our meal.

I thought, if I had caused the cloud, it was my duty to make aneffort to dispel it. They could not every day sit so grim andtaciturn; and it was impossible, however ill-tempered they mightbe, that the universal scowl they wore was their every-daycountenance.

'It is strange,' I began, in the interval of swallowing one cup oftea and receiving another - 'it is strange how custom can mould ourtastes and ideas: many could not imagine the existence ofhappiness in a life of such complete exile from the world as youspend, Mr. Heathcliff; yet, I'll venture to say, that, surroundedby your family, and with your amiable lady as the presiding geniusover your home and heart - '

'My amiable lady!' he interrupted, with an almost diabolical sneeron his face. 'Where is she - my amiable lady?'

'Mrs. Heathcliff, your wife, I mean.'

'Well, yes - oh, you would intimate that her spirit has taken thepost of ministering angel, and guards the fortunes of WutheringHeights, even when her body is gone. Is that it?'

Perceiving myself in a blunder, I attempted to correct it. I mighthave seen there was too great a disparity between the ages of theparties to make it likely that they were man and wife. One wasabout forty: a period of mental vigour at which men seldom cherishthe delusion of being married for love by girls: that dream isreserved for the solace of our declining years. The other did notlook seventeen.

Then it flashed on me - 'The clown at my elbow, who is drinking histea out of a basin and eating his broad with unwashed hands, may beher husband: Heathcliff junior, of course. Here is theconsequence of being buried alive: she has thrown herself awayupon that boor from sheer ignorance that better individualsexisted! A sad pity - I must beware how I cause her to regret herchoice.' The last reflection may seem conceited; it was not. Myneighbour struck me as bordering on repulsive; I knew, throughexperience, that I was tolerably attractive.

'Mrs. Heathcliff is my daughter-in-law,' said Heathcliff,corroborating my surmise. He turned, as he spoke, a peculiar lookin her direction: a look of hatred; unless he has a most perverseset of facial muscles that will not, like those of other people,interpret the language of his soul.

'Ah, certainly - I see now: you are the favoured possessor of thebeneficent fairy,' I remarked, turning to my neighbour.

This was worse than before: the youth grew crimson, and clenchedhis fist, with every appearance of a meditated assault. But heseemed to recollect himself presently, and smothered the storm in abrutal curse, muttered on my behalf: which, however, I took carenot to notice.

'Unhappy in your conjectures, sir,' observed my host; 'we neitherof us have the privilege of owning your good fairy; her mate isdead. I said she was my daughter-in-law: therefore, she must havemarried my son.'

'And this young man is - '

'Not my son, assuredly.'

Heathcliff smiled again, as if it were rather too bold a jest toattribute the paternity of that bear to him.

'My name is Hareton Earnshaw,' growled the other; 'and I'd counselyou to respect it!'

'I've shown no disrespect,' was my reply, laughing internally atthe dignity with which he announced himself.

He fixed his eye on me longer than I cared to return the stare, forfear I might be tempted either to box his ears or render myhilarity audible. I began to feel unmistakably out of place inthat pleasant family circle. The dismal spiritual atmosphereovercame, and more than neutralised, the glowing physical comfortsround me; and I resolved to be cautious how I ventured under thoserafters a third time.

The business of eating being concluded, and no one uttering a wordof sociable conversation, I approached a window to examine theweather. A sorrowful sight I saw: dark night coming downprematurely, and sky and hills mingled in one bitter whirl of windand suffocating snow.

'I don't think it possible for me to get home now without a guide,'I could not help exclaiming. 'The roads will be buried already;and, if they were bare, I could scarcely distinguish a foot inadvance.'

'Hareton, drive those dozen sheep into the barn porch. They'll becovered if left in the fold all night: and put a plank beforethem,' said Heathcliff.

'How must I do?' I continued, with rising irritation.

There was no reply to my question; and on looking round I saw onlyJoseph bringing in a pail of porridge for the dogs, and Mrs.Heathcliff leaning over the fire, diverting herself with burning abundle of matches which had fallen from the chimney-piece as sherestored the tea-canister to its place. The former, when he haddeposited his burden, took a critical survey of the room, and incracked tones grated out - 'Aw wonder how yah can faishion to standthear i' idleness un war, when all on 'ems goan out! Bud yah're anowt, and it's no use talking - yah'll niver mend o'yer ill ways,but goa raight to t' divil, like yer mother afore ye!'

I imagined, for a moment, that this piece of eloquence wasaddressed to me; and, sufficiently enraged, stepped towards theaged rascal with an intention of kicking him out of the door. Mrs.Heathcliff, however, checked me by her answer.

'You scandalous old hypocrite!' she replied. 'Are you not afraidof being carried away bodily, whenever you mention the devil'sname? I warn you to refrain from provoking me, or I'll ask yourabduction as a special favour! Stop! look here, Joseph,' shecontinued, taking a long, dark book from a shelf; 'I'll show youhow far I've progressed in the Black Art: I shall soon becompetent to make a clear house of it. The red cow didn't die bychance; and your rheumatism can hardly be reckoned amongprovidential visitations!'

'Oh, wicked, wicked!' gasped the elder; 'may the Lord deliver usfrom evil!'

'No, reprobate! you are a castaway - be off, or I'll hurt youseriously! I'll have you all modelled in wax and clay! and thefirst who passes the limits I fix shall - I'll not say what heshall be done to - but, you'll see! Go, I'm looking at you!'

The little witch put a mock malignity into her beautiful eyes, andJoseph, trembling with sincere horror, hurried out, praying, andejaculating 'wicked' as he went. I thought her conduct must beprompted by a species of dreary fun; and, now that we were alone, Iendeavoured to interest her in my distress.

'Mrs. Heathcliff,' I said earnestly, 'you must excuse me fortroubling you. I presume, because, with that face, I'm sure youcannot help being good-hearted. Do point out some landmarks bywhich I may know my way home: I have no more idea how to get therethan you would have how to get to London!'

'Take the road you came,' she answered, ensconcing herself in achair, with a candle, and the long book open before her. 'It isbrief advice, but as sound as I can give.'

'Then, if you hear of me being discovered dead in a bog or a pitfull of snow, your conscience won't whisper that it is partly yourfault?'

'How so? I cannot escort you. They wouldn't let me go to the endof the garden wall.'

'YOU! I should be sorry to ask you to cross the threshold, for myconvenience, on such a night,' I cried. 'I want you to tell me myway, not to SHOW it: or else to persuade Mr. Heathcliff to give mea guide.'

'Who? There is himself, Earnshaw, Zillah, Joseph and I. Whichwould you have?'

'Are there no boys at the farm?'

'No; those are all.'

'Then, it follows that I am compelled to stay.'

'That you may settle with your host. I have nothing to do withit.'

'I hope it will be a lesson to you to make no more rash journeys onthese hills,' cried Heathcliff's stern voice from the kitchenentrance. 'As to staying here, I don't keep accommodations forvisitors: you must share a bed with Hareton or Joseph, if you do.'

'I can sleep on a chair in this room,' I replied.

'No, no! A stranger is a stranger, be he rich or poor: it willnot suit me to permit any one the range of the place while I am offguard!' said the unmannerly wretch.

With this insult my patience was at an end. I uttered anexpression of disgust, and pushed past him into the yard, runningagainst Earnshaw in my haste. It was so dark that I could not seethe means of exit; and, as I wandered round, I heard anotherspecimen of their civil behaviour amongst each other. At first theyoung man appeared about to befriend me.

'I'll go with him as far as the park,' he said.

'You'll go with him to hell!' exclaimed his master, or whateverrelation he bore. 'And who is to look after the horses, eh?'

'A man's life is of more consequence than one evening's neglect ofthe horses: somebody must go,' murmured Mrs. Heathcliff, morekindly than I expected.

'Not at your command!' retorted Hareton. 'If you set store on him,you'd better be quiet.'

'Then I hope his ghost will haunt you; and I hope Mr. Heathcliffwill never get another tenant till the Grange is a ruin,' sheanswered, sharply.

'Hearken, hearken, shoo's cursing on 'em!' muttered Joseph, towardswhom I had been steering.

He sat within earshot, milking the cows by the light of a lantern,which I seized unceremoniously, and, calling out that I would sendit back on the morrow, rushed to the nearest postern.

'Maister, maister, he's staling t' lanthern!' shouted the ancient,pursuing my retreat. 'Hey, Gnasher! Hey, dog! Hey Wolf, holldhim, holld him!'

On opening the little door, two hairy monsters flew at my throat,bearing me down, and extinguishing the light; while a mingledguffaw from Heathcliff and Hareton put the copestone on my rage andhumiliation. Fortunately, the beasts seemed more bent onstretching their paws, and yawning, and flourishing their tails,than devouring me alive; but they would suffer no resurrection, andI was forced to lie till their malignant masters pleased to deliverme: then, hatless and trembling with wrath, I ordered themiscreants to let me out - on their peril to keep me one minutelonger - with several incoherent threats of retaliation that, intheir indefinite depth of virulency, smacked of King Lear.

The vehemence of my agitation brought on a copious bleeding at thenose, and still Heathcliff laughed, and still I scolded. I don'tknow what would have concluded the scene, had there not been oneperson at hand rather more rational than myself, and morebenevolent than my entertainer. This was Zillah, the stouthousewife; who at length issued forth to inquire into the nature ofthe uproar. She thought that some of them had been laying violenthands on me; and, not daring to attack her master, she turned hervocal artillery against the younger scoundrel.

'Well, Mr. Earnshaw,' she cried, 'I wonder what you'll have agaitnext? Are we going to murder folk on our very door-stones? I seethis house will never do for me - look at t' poor lad, he's fairchoking! Wisht, wisht; you mun'n't go on so. Come in, and I'llcure that: there now, hold ye still.'

With these words she suddenly splashed a pint of icy water down myneck, and pulled me into the kitchen. Mr. Heathcliff followed, hisaccidental merriment expiring quickly in his habitual moroseness.

I was sick exceedingly, and dizzy, and faint; and thus compelledperforce to accept lodgings under his roof. He told Zillah to giveme a glass of brandy, and then passed on to the inner room; whileshe condoled with me on my sorry predicament, and having obeyed hisorders, whereby I was somewhat revived, ushered me to bed.