 his satisfaction.
    »The commonest occurrence startles her painfully,« I said. »She's all
nerves, and she couldn't bear the surprise, I'm positive - Don't persist, sir!
or else, I shall be obliged to inform my master of your designs, and he'll take
measures to secure his house and its inmates from any such unwarrantable
intrusions!«
    »In that case, I'll take measures to secure you, woman!« exclaimed
Heathcliff, »you shall not leave Wuthering Heights till to-morrow morning. It is
a foolish story to assert that Catherine could not bear to see me; and as to
surprising her, I don't desire it, you must prepare her - ask her if I may come.
You say she never mentions my name, and that I am never mentioned to her. To
whom should she mention me if I am a forbidden topic in the house? She thinks
you are all spies for her husband - Oh, I've no doubt she's in hell among you! I
guess, by her silence as much as anything, what she feels. You say she is often
restless, and anxious-looking - is that a proof of tranquillity? You talk of her
mind being unsettled - How the devil could it be otherwise, in her frightful
isolation. And that insipid, paltry creature attending her from duty and
humanity! From pity and charity. He might as well plant an oak in a flower-pot,
and expect it to thrive, as imagine he can restore her to vigour in the soil of
his shallow cares! Let us settle it at once; will you stay here, and am I to
fight my way to Catherine over Linton, and his footmen? Or will you be my
friend, as you have been hitherto, and do what I request? Decide! because there
is no reason for my lingering another minute, if you persist in your stubborn
ill-nature!«
    Well, Mr. Lockwood, I argued, and complained, and flatly refused him fifty
times; but in the long run he forced me to an agreement - I engaged to carry a
letter from him to my mistress; and, should she consent, I promised to let him
have intelligence of Linton's next absence from home, when he might come, and
get in as he was able - I wouldn't be there, and my fellow servants should be
equally out of the way.
    Was it right, or wrong? I fear it was wrong, though
