# Wuthering Heights (Full Audiobook) by Emily Brontë - Chapter 25

An episode of [Wuthering Heights (Full Audiobook) by Emily Brontë](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1770106711), 18 Sep 2024, 11 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/62054659/wutheringheights_25_bronte_64kb.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Chapter twenty five of Wuthering Heights. This LIBRIVOTX recording is
[0:05] Speaker 1: in the public domain. Recording by Ruth Colding. Wuthering Heights
[0:10] Speaker 1: by Emily Bronte, Chapter twenty five. These things happened last winter, Sir,
[0:18] Speaker 1: said missus Dean, hardly more than a year ago. Last winter.
[0:24] Speaker 1: I did not think at another twelvemonth's end, I should
[0:27] Speaker 1: be amusing a stranger to the family with relating them.
[0:32] Speaker 1: Yeat t. Who knows how long you'll be a stranger.
[0:35] Speaker 1: You're too young to rest, always contented, living by yourself,
[0:40] Speaker 1: and as some way of fancy. No one could see
[0:43] Speaker 1: Catherine Linton and not love her. You smile, But why
[0:48] Speaker 1: do you look so lively and interested when I talk
[0:51] Speaker 1: about her? And why have you asked me to hang
[0:54] Speaker 1: a picture over your fireplace? And why stop? My good friend?
[1:00] Speaker 1: I cried. It may be very possible that I should
[1:04] Speaker 1: love her, but would she love me? I doubt it
[1:08] Speaker 1: too much to venture my tranquility by running into temptation.
[1:12] Speaker 1: And then my home is not here. I am of
[1:15] Speaker 1: the busy world, and to its arms I must return.
[1:19] Speaker 1: Go on? Was Catherine obedient to her father's commands. She
[1:25] Speaker 1: was continued the housekeeper. Her affection for him was still
[1:31] Speaker 1: the chief sentiment in her heart, and he spoke without anger.
[1:36] Speaker 1: He spoke in the deep tenderness of one about to
[1:39] Speaker 1: leave his treasure amid perils and fools, where his remembered
[1:44] Speaker 1: words would be the only aid that he could bequeath
[1:47] Speaker 1: to guide her. He said to me a few days afterwards,
[1:52] Speaker 1: I wish my nephew would write, Ellen or call. Tell
[1:56] Speaker 1: me sincerely what you think of him? Is he changed
[2:00] Speaker 1: for the better or is there a prospect of improvement
[2:03] Speaker 1: as he grows. A man is very delicate, sir, I replied,
[2:09] Speaker 1: and scarcely likely to reach manhood. But this I can say.
[2:14] Speaker 1: He does not resemble his father, and if Miss Catherine
[2:19] Speaker 1: had the misfortune to marry him, he would not be
[2:21] Speaker 1: beyond her control unless she were extremely and foolishly indulgent. However, Master,
[2:29] Speaker 1: you'll have plenty of time to get acquainted with him
[2:32] Speaker 1: and see whether he would suit her. It wants four
[2:36] Speaker 1: years and more to his being of age. Edgar sighed, and,
[2:42] Speaker 1: walking to the window, looked out towards Gimmerton Kirk. It
[2:47] Speaker 1: was a misty afternoon, but the February sun shone dimly,
[2:52] Speaker 1: and we could just distinguish the two fir trees in
[2:54] Speaker 1: the yard and the sparely scattered gravestones. I've prayed often,
[3:02] Speaker 1: he half soliloquised for the approach of what is coming,
[3:06] Speaker 1: And now I begin to shrink and fear it. I
[3:11] Speaker 1: thought the memory of the hour I came down that
[3:13] Speaker 1: Glen a bridegroom would be less sweet than the anticipation
[3:18] Speaker 1: that I was soon, in a few months or possibly weeks,
[3:22] Speaker 1: to be carried up and laid in its lonely hollow Ellen.
[3:28] Speaker 1: I've been very happy with my little Cathy through winter
[3:32] Speaker 1: nights and summer days. She was a living hope at
[3:34] Speaker 1: my side. But I've been as happy musing by myself
[3:39] Speaker 1: among those stones under that old church, lying through the
[3:44] Speaker 1: long June evenings on the green mound of her mother's grave,
[3:48] Speaker 1: and wishing, yearning for the time when I might lie
[3:52] Speaker 1: beneath it. What can I do for Cathy? How must
[3:58] Speaker 1: I quit her? I'd not care one moment for Linton
[4:02] Speaker 1: being Heathcliff's son, nor for his taking her from me.
[4:06] Speaker 1: If he could console her for my loss. I'd not
[4:11] Speaker 1: care that Heathcliff gained his ends and triumphed in robbing
[4:15] Speaker 1: me of my last blessing. But should Linton be unworthy,
[4:20] Speaker 1: only a feeble tool to his father, I cannot abandon
[4:25] Speaker 1: her to him, And hard though it be to crush
[4:30] Speaker 1: her buoyant spirit, I must persevere in making her sad
[4:34] Speaker 1: while I live, and leaving her solitary when I die, Darling,
[4:42] Speaker 1: I'd rather resign her to God and lay her in
[4:44] Speaker 1: the earth before me. Resign her to God as it is, sir,
[4:50] Speaker 1: I answered, And if we should lose you, which may
[4:53] Speaker 1: he forbid, under his providence, I'll stand her friend and
[4:58] Speaker 1: counselor to the last. Miss Catherine is a good girl.
[5:03] Speaker 1: I don't fear that she will go wilfully wrong. And
[5:06] Speaker 1: people who do their duty are always finally rewarded. Spring advanced,
[5:14] Speaker 1: yet my master gathered no real strength, though he resumed
[5:18] Speaker 1: his walks in the grounds with his daughter. To her
[5:23] Speaker 1: inexperienced notions, this itself was a sign of convalescence. And
[5:28] Speaker 1: then his cheek was often flushed and his eyes were bright.
[5:32] Speaker 1: She felt sure of his recovering. On her seventeenth birthday,
[5:38] Speaker 1: he did not visit the churchyard. It was raining, and
[5:41] Speaker 1: I observed, you'll surely not go out to night, sir,
[5:47] Speaker 1: he answered, no, I'll defer it this year a little longer.
[5:54] Speaker 1: He wrote again to Linton, expressing his great desire to
[5:57] Speaker 1: see him, and had the invalid had been presentable, I've
[6:01] Speaker 1: no doubt his father would have permitted him to come
[6:04] Speaker 1: as it was being instructed. He returned an answer, intimating
[6:09] Speaker 1: that mister Heathcliff objected to his calling at the Grange,
[6:14] Speaker 1: but his uncle's kind remembrance delighted him, and he hoped
[6:18] Speaker 1: to meet him sometimes in his rambles and personally, to
[6:22] Speaker 1: petition that his cousin and he might not remain long
[6:26] Speaker 1: so utterly divided that part of his letter was simple
[6:32] Speaker 1: and probably his own, Heathcliff knew he could plead eloquently
[6:37] Speaker 1: for Catherine's company. Then I do not ask. He said
[6:43] Speaker 1: that she may visit here, But am I never to
[6:46] Speaker 1: see her? Because my father forbids me to go to
[6:49] Speaker 1: her home, and you forbid her to come to mine.
[6:53] Speaker 1: Do now and then ride with her towards the heights,
[6:57] Speaker 1: and let us exchange a few words in your presents.
[7:01] Speaker 1: We have done nothing to deserve this separation, and you
[7:05] Speaker 1: are not angry with me. You have no reason to
[7:09] Speaker 1: dislike me. You allow yourself, dear uncle send me a
[7:15] Speaker 1: kind note to morrow, and leave to join you anywhere
[7:19] Speaker 1: you please, except at Thrushcross Grange. I believe an interview
[7:24] Speaker 1: would convince you that my father's character is not mine.
[7:29] Speaker 1: He affirms. I am more your nephew than his son.
[7:34] Speaker 1: And though I have faults which render me unworthy of Catherine,
[7:39] Speaker 1: she has excused them, and for her sake you should
[7:43] Speaker 1: also you inquire after my health. It is better. But
[7:49] Speaker 1: while I remain cut off from all hope and doomed
[7:53] Speaker 1: to solitude or the society of those who never did
[7:57] Speaker 1: and never will like me, how can I be cheerful
[8:01] Speaker 1: and well Edgar, though he felt for the boy, could
[8:07] Speaker 1: not consent to grant his request because he could not
[8:11] Speaker 1: accompany Catherine. He said in summer perhaps they might meet. Meantime,
[8:18] Speaker 1: he wished him to continue writing at intervals and engage
[8:22] Speaker 1: to give him what advice and comfort he was able
[8:25] Speaker 1: by letter. Being well aware of his hard position in
[8:29] Speaker 1: his family, Linton complied, and, had he been unrestrained, would
[8:36] Speaker 1: probably have spoiled all by filling his epistles with complaints
[8:40] Speaker 1: and lamentations. But his father kept a sharp watch over him,
[8:46] Speaker 1: and of course insisted on every line that my Master
[8:49] Speaker 1: sent being shown so instead of penning his peculiar personal
[8:54] Speaker 1: sufferings and distresses, the themes constantly uppermost in his thoughts.
[9:00] Speaker 1: He harped on the cruel obligation of being held asunder
[9:03] Speaker 1: from his friend and love, and gently intimated that mister
[9:07] Speaker 1: Linton must allow an interview soon, or he should fear
[9:11] Speaker 1: he was purposely deceiving him with empty promises. Cathy was
[9:18] Speaker 1: a powerful ally at home, and between them they at
[9:22] Speaker 1: length persuaded my Master to acquiesce in their having a
[9:26] Speaker 1: ride or a walk together about once a week under
[9:30] Speaker 1: my guardianship, and on the moor's nearest the grange. For
[9:35] Speaker 1: June found him still declining. Though he had set aside
[9:41] Speaker 1: yearly a portion of his income for my young lady's fortune.
[9:45] Speaker 1: He had a natural desire that she might retain, or
[9:50] Speaker 1: at least return in a short time to the house
[9:53] Speaker 1: of her ancestors, and he considered her only prospect of
[9:58] Speaker 1: doing that was by a union his air. He had
[10:02] Speaker 1: no idea that the latter was failing almost as fast
[10:06] Speaker 1: as himself, nor had anyone, I believe. No doctor visited
[10:11] Speaker 1: the heights, and no one saw Master Heathcliff to make
[10:15] Speaker 1: report of his condition among us, I, for my part,
[10:20] Speaker 1: began to fancy my forebodings were false, and that he
[10:24] Speaker 1: must be actually rallying when he mentioned riding and walking
[10:28] Speaker 1: on the moors, and seemed so earnest in pursuing his object.
[10:34] Speaker 1: I could not picture a father treating a dying child
[10:39] Speaker 1: as tyrannically and wickedly as I afterwards learned Heathcliff had
[10:44] Speaker 1: treated him. To compel this apparent eagerness, his efforts redoubling
[10:51] Speaker 1: the more imminently his avaricious and unfeeling plans were threatened
[10:56] Speaker 1: with defeat by death. End of chapter twenty five. Recording
[11:04] Speaker 1: by Ruth Golding

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