I listened and tossed about, and finally dressed and descended.
It was too irksome to lie up there, harassing my brain with a hundred
idle misgivings.

I distinguished Mr. Heathcliff's step, restlessly measuring the floor;
and he frequently broke the silence by a deep inspiration, resembling a
groan. He muttered detached words also; the only one I could catch was
the name of Catherine, coupled with some wild term of endearment or
suffering, and spoken as one would speak to a person present--low and
earnest, and wrung from the depth of his soul.

I had not courage to walk straight into the apartment; but I desired to
divert him from his revery, and therefore fell foul of the kitchen fire;
stirred it and began to scrape the cinders. It drew him forth sooner
than I expected. He opened the door immediately, and said:--

"Nelly, come here--is it morning? Come in with your light."

"It is striking four," I answered; "you want a candle to take
upstairs--you might have lighted one at this fire."

"No, I don't wish to go upstairs," he said. "Come in, and kindle _me_ a
fire, and do anything there is to do about the room."

"I must blow the coals red first, before I can carry any," I replied,
getting a chair and the bellows.

He roamed to and fro, meantime, in a state approaching distraction, his
heavy sighs succeeding each other so thick as to leave no space for
common breathing between.

"When day breaks, I'll send for Green," he said; "I wish to make some
legal inquiries of him, while I can bestow a thought on those matters,
and while I can act calmly. I have not written my will yet, and how to
leave my property I cannot determine! I wish I could annihilate it from
the face of the earth."

"I would not talk so, Mr. Heathcliff," I interposed. "Let your will be a
while--you'll be spared to repent of your many injustices yet! I never
expected that your nerves would be disordered--they are, at present,
marvelously so, however; and almost entirely through your own fault. The
way you've passed these last three days might knock up a Titan. Do take
some food and some repose. You need only look at yourself in a glass to
see how you require both. Your cheeks are hollow and your eyes
bloodshot, like a person starving with hunger and going blind with loss
of sleep."

"It is not my fault that I cannot eat or rest," he replied. "I assure
you it is through no settled designs. I'll do both as soon as I possibly
can. But you might a