that
foolish boy: he'll be gone to Gimmerton, and he'll stay there now. He
guesses we shouldn't wait for him till this late hour: at least, he
guesses that only Mr. Hindley would be up; and he'd rather avoid having
the door opened by the master.'

'Nay, nay, he's noan at Gimmerton,' said Joseph. 'I's niver wonder but
he's at t' bothom of a bog-hoile. This visitation worn't for nowt, and I
wod hev' ye to look out, Miss--yah muh be t' next. Thank Hivin for all!
All warks togither for gooid to them as is chozzen, and piked out fro'
th' rubbidge! Yah knaw whet t' Scripture ses.' And he began quoting
several texts, referring us to chapters and verses where we might find
them.

I, having vainly begged the wilful girl to rise and remove her wet
things, left him preaching and her shivering, and betook myself to bed
with little Hareton, who slept as fast as if everyone had been sleeping
round him. I heard Joseph read on a while afterwards; then I
distinguished his slow step on the ladder, and then I dropped asleep.

Coming down somewhat later than usual, I saw, by the sunbeams piercing
the chinks of the shutters, Miss Catherine still seated near the
fireplace. The house-door was ajar, too; light entered from its unclosed
windows; Hindley had come out, and stood on the kitchen hearth, haggard
and drowsy.

'What ails you, Cathy?' he was saying when I entered: 'you look as dismal
as a drowned whelp. Why are you so damp and pale, child?'

'I've been wet,' she answered reluctantly, 'and I'm cold, that's all.'

'Oh, she is naughty!' I cried, perceiving the master to be tolerably
sober. 'She got steeped in the shower of yesterday evening, and there
she has sat the night through, and I couldn't prevail on her to stir.'

Mr. Earnshaw stared at us in surprise. 'The night through,' he repeated.
'What kept her up? not fear of the thunder, surely? That was over hours
since.'

Neither of us wished to mention Heathcliff's absence, as long as we could
conceal it; so I replied, I didn't know how she took it into her head to
sit up; and she said nothing. The morning was fresh and cool; I threw
back the lattice, and presently the room filled with sweet scents from
the garden; but Catherine called peevishly to me, 'Ellen, shut the
window. I'm starving!' And her teeth chattered as she shrank closer to
the almost extinguished embers.

'She's ill,' said Hindley, taking her wrist; 'I suppose that's the reason
she would not go