Nay, it's not Nelly;
don't look at her! My poor little sister-in-law is breaking her heart by
mere contemplation of your physical and moral beauty. It lies in your
own power to be Edgar's brother! No, no, Isabella, you sha'n't run off,'
she continued, arresting, with feigned playfulness, the confounded girl,
who had risen indignantly. 'We were quarrelling like cats about you,
Heathcliff; and I was fairly beaten in protestations of devotion and
admiration: and, moreover, I was informed that if I would but have the
manners to stand aside, my rival, as she will have herself to be, would
shoot a shaft into your soul that would fix you for ever, and send my
image into eternal oblivion!'

'Catherine!' said Isabella, calling up her dignity, and disdaining to
struggle from the tight grasp that held her, 'I'd thank you to adhere to
the truth and not slander me, even in joke! Mr. Heathcliff, be kind
enough to bid this friend of yours release me: she forgets that you and I
are not intimate acquaintances; and what amuses her is painful to me
beyond expression.'

As the guest answered nothing, but took his seat, and looked thoroughly
indifferent what sentiments she cherished concerning him, she turned and
whispered an earnest appeal for liberty to her tormentor.

'By no means!' cried Mrs. Linton in answer. 'I won't be named a dog in
the manger again. You _shall_ stay: now then! Heathcliff, why don't you
evince satisfaction at my pleasant news? Isabella swears that the love
Edgar has for me is nothing to that she entertains for you. I'm sure she
made some speech of the kind; did she not, Ellen? And she has fasted
ever since the day before yesterday's walk, from sorrow and rage that I
despatched her out of your society under the idea of its being
unacceptable.'

'I think you belie her,' said Heathcliff, twisting his chair to face
them. 'She wishes to be out of my society now, at any rate!'

And he stared hard at the object of discourse, as one might do at a
strange repulsive animal: a centipede from the Indies, for instance,
which curiosity leads one to examine in spite of the aversion it raises.
The poor thing couldn't bear that; she grew white and red in rapid
succession, and, while tears beaded her lashes, bent the strength of her
small fingers to loosen the firm clutch of Catherine; and perceiving that
as fast as she raised one finger off her arm another closed down, and she
could not remove the whole together, s