s nearly heartbroken when he ran off. I
guess his return will make a jubilee to her.'

Mr. Linton walked to a window on the other side of the room that
overlooked the court. He unfastened it, and leant out. I suppose they
were below, for he exclaimed quickly: 'Don't stand there, love! Bring
the person in, if it be anyone particular.' Ere long, I heard the click
of the latch, and Catherine flew up-stairs, breathless and wild; too
excited to show gladness: indeed, by her face, you would rather have
surmised an awful calamity.

'Oh, Edgar, Edgar!' she panted, flinging her arms round his neck. 'Oh,
Edgar darling! Heathcliff's come back--he is!' And she tightened her
embrace to a squeeze.

'Well, well,' cried her husband, crossly, 'don't strangle me for that! He
never struck me as such a marvellous treasure. There is no need to be
frantic!'

'I know you didn't like him,' she answered, repressing a little the
intensity of her delight. 'Yet, for my sake, you must be friends now.
Shall I tell him to come up?'

'Here,' he said, 'into the parlour?'

'Where else?' she asked.

He looked vexed, and suggested the kitchen as a more suitable place for
him. Mrs. Linton eyed him with a droll expression--half angry, half
laughing at his fastidiousness.

'No,' she added, after a while; 'I cannot sit in the kitchen. Set two
tables here, Ellen: one for your master and Miss Isabella, being gentry;
the other for Heathcliff and myself, being of the lower orders. Will
that please you, dear? Or must I have a fire lighted elsewhere? If so,
give directions. I'll run down and secure my guest. I'm afraid the joy
is too great to be real!'

She was about to dart off again; but Edgar arrested her.

'_You_ bid him step up,' he said, addressing me; 'and, Catherine, try to
be glad, without being absurd. The whole household need not witness the
sight of your welcoming a runaway servant as a brother.'

I descended, and found Heathcliff waiting under the porch, evidently
anticipating an invitation to enter. He followed my guidance without
waste of words, and I ushered him into the presence of the master and
mistress, whose flushed cheeks betrayed signs of warm talking. But the
lady's glowed with another feeling when her friend appeared at the door:
she sprang forward, took both his hands, and led him to Linton; and then
she seized Linton's reluctant fingers and crushed them into his. Now,
fully revealed by the fire and cand