Wuthering Heights

Joseph, was at the door, and wished to speak with the master.
    »I shall ask him what he wants first,« I said, in considerable trepidation. »A very unlikely hour to be troubling people, and the instant they have returned from a long journey. I don't think the master can see him.«
    Joseph had advanced through the kitchen, as I uttered these words, and now presented himself in the hall. He was donned in his Sunday garments, with his most sanctimonious and sourest face; and holding his hat in one hand, and his stick in the other, he proceeded to clean his shoes on the mat.
    »Good evening, Joseph,« I said, coldly. »What business brings you here to-night?«
    »It's Maister Linton Aw mun spake tull,« he answered, waving me disdainfully aside.
    »Mr. Linton is going to bed; unless you have something particular to say, I'm sure he won't hear it now,« I continued. »You had better sit down in there, and entrust your message to me.«
    »Which is his rahm?« pursued the fellow, surveying the range of closed doors.
    I perceived he was bent on refusing my mediation; so very reluctantly, I went up to the library, and announced the unseasonable visiter; advising that he should be dismissed till next day.
    Mr. Linton had no time to empower me to do so, for he mounted close at my heels, and pushing into the apartment, planted himself at the far side of the table, with his two fists clapped on the head of his stick, and began in an elevated tone, as if anticipating opposition.
    »Hathecliff has send me for his lad, un Aw 'munn't goa back 'baht him.«
    Edgar Linton was silent a minute; an expression of exceeding sorrow overcast his features; he would have pitied the child on his own 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 manes nowt – Hathecliff maks noa 'cahnt uh t' mother, nur yah norther – bud he'll hev his lad; und Aw mun tak him – soa nah yah 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 weel!« shouted Joseph, as he slowly drew off. »Tuh morn, he's come hisseln, and thrust
him
aht, if yah 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 distance from the Grange,« I replied, »just beyond those hills – not so far, but you may walk over here, when you get hearty. And you should be glad to go home, and to see him. You must try to love him, as you did your mother, and then he will love you.«
    »But why have I not heard of him before?« asked Linton; »why