Page 286 - WUTHERING HEIGHTS

Wuthering Heights

coat, and bound up the wound with brutal roughness;
spitting and cursing during the operation as energetically as
he had kicked before. Being at liberty, I lost no time in
seeking the old servant; who, having gathered by degrees

the purport of my hasty tale, hurried below, gasping, as he
descended the steps two at once.
’’What is ther to do, now? what is ther to do, now?’
’’There’s this to do,’ thundered Heathcliff, ‘that your
master’s mad; and should he last another month, I’ll have
him to an asylum. And how the devil did you come to
fasten me out, you toothless hound? Don’t stand
muttering and mumbling there. Come, I’m not going to
nurse him. Wash that stuff away; and mind the sparks of
your candle - it is more than half brandy!’
’’And so ye’ve been murthering on him?’ exclaimed
Joseph, lifting his hands and eyes in horror. ‘If iver I seed a
seeght loike this! May the Lord - ‘
’Heathcliff gave him a push on to his knees in the
middle of the blood, and flung a towel to him; but instead
of proceeding to dry it up, he joined his hands and began a
prayer, which excited my laughter from its odd
phraseology. I was in the condition of mind to be shocked
at nothing: in fact, I was as reckless as some malefactors
show themselves at the foot of the gallows.

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