n account;
but, recalling Isabella's hopes and fears, and anxious wishes for her
son, and her commendations of him to his care, he grieved bitterly at the
prospect of yielding him up, and searched in his heart how it might be
avoided. No plan offered itself: the very exhibition of any desire to
keep him would have rendered the claimant more peremptory: there was
nothing left but to resign him. However, he was not going to rouse him
from his sleep.

'Tell Mr. Heathcliff,' he answered calmly, 'that his son shall come to
Wuthering Heights to-morrow. He is in bed, and too tired to go the
distance now. You may also tell him that the mother of Linton desired
him to remain under my guardianship; and, at present, his health is very
precarious.'

'Noa!' said Joseph, giving a thud with his prop on the floor, and
assuming an authoritative air. 'Noa! that means naught. Hathecliff maks
noa 'count o' t' mother, nor ye norther; but he'll heu' his lad; und I
mun tak' him--soa now ye knaw!'

'You shall not to-night!' answered Linton decisively. 'Walk down stairs
at once, and repeat to your master what I have said. Ellen, show him
down. Go--'

And, aiding the indignant elder with a lift by the arm, he rid the room
of him and closed the door.

'Varrah weell!' shouted Joseph, as he slowly drew off. 'To-morn, he's
come hisseln, and thrust _him_ out, if ye darr!'

CHAPTER XX

To obviate the danger of this threat being fulfilled, Mr. Linton
commissioned me to take the boy home early, on Catherine's pony; and,
said he--'As we shall now have no influence over his destiny, good or
bad, you must say nothing of where he is gone to my daughter: she cannot
associate with him hereafter, and it is better for her to remain in
ignorance of his proximity; lest she should be restless, and anxious to
visit the Heights. Merely tell her his father sent for him suddenly, and
he has been obliged to leave us.'

Linton was very reluctant to be roused from his bed at five o'clock, and
astonished to be informed that he must prepare for further travelling;
but I softened off the matter by stating that he was going to spend some
time with his father, Mr. Heathcliff, who wished to see him so much, he
did not like to defer the pleasure till he should recover from his late
journey.

'My father!' he cried, in strange perplexity. 'Mamma never told me I had
a father. Where does he live? I'd rather stay with uncle.'

'He lives a little d