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Wuthering Heights Chapter 28
On the fifth afternoon, Zillah came to the door. She knew nothing of the kidnapping; she heard that Nelly was lost in the marsh, and Heathcliff saved and cared for her. When Nelly repeated what happened, Hareton said she is crazy, but gave Zillah the key to let her out. Mr. Linton was not dead, and Nelly looked around the Heights for Cathy. She found Linton, laying on a couch and sucking on a piece of candy. He and Cathy were married, and he did not want his wife to leave the house. She was locked up, and he won't tell Nelly where she is. Heathcliff has poisoned his son into thinking that Cathy hates him and wants only his money, so Nelly tried her best to reverse this opinion. He said Cathy cries too much, and he can't stand to be with her. Heathcliff was with the doctor, anxious for news of Edgar. Linton heartlessly hoped his uncle will die soon:
"I'm glad, for I shall be master of the Grange after him--and Catherine always spoke of it as her house. It isn't hers! It's mine: papa says everything she has is mine. All her nice books are mine; she offered to give me them, and her pretty birds, and her pony Minny, if I would get the key of our room, and let her out; but I told her she had nothing to give, they were all, all mine." Chapter 28, pg. 257
The cruel boy even tried to take a photo of her father, but Cathy wouldn't give it up. Heathcliff hit her in the face and crushed the photo. Linton felt some remorse for her pain, but also felt like she got what she deserved. Still refusing to give Nelly the keys, she left and ran to the Grange. Edgar was still alive, barely. She told him an abridged version of their imprisonment at the Heights, and Edgar, fearing his daughter could be left penniless, sent for his lawyer. Nelly also sent some servants to fetch Catherine from the Heights; but they returned without her, because she was too ill to return. Nelly knew this was a lie, and was about to send them back when Cathy showed up at the door. She became so distressed that Linton agreed to release her. Nelly made her promise not to tell father about Linton's bad character, to spare him the pain. Cathy went in to see her father, and he died peacefully. The lawyer, crooked and in Heathcliff's pocket, did not arrive until after the death. Cathy barely made it herself, becoming so crazed that a fearful Linton finally let her out. She climbed out of the Heights by her mother's window.
