Wuthering Heights — CHAPTER XIII

Two months after Isabella’s elopement, Catherine endures and survives a dangerous brain fever. Edgar Linton nurses Catherine tirelessly, ignoring Dr. Kenneth’s grim prognosis. With spring’s return, Catherine leaves her chamber, briefly brightened by crocuses, yet remains despondent. To ease her confinement, Edgar settles her on the parlour floor and hopes her mind will follow her body’s recovery. Hints arise that Catherine is pregnant, tying Edgar’s hopes for an heir to her survival.

Isabella first sends Edgar a brief, cool notice of her marriage to Heathcliff, then writes a long, private letter to Nelly. In it, Isabella arrives at Wuthering Heights at dusk to a hostile reception: Joseph’s contempt, a filthy kitchen, and Hareton—Hindley’s coarse, threatening child—who sets the bulldog Throttler on her.

Seeking another entrance, Isabella meets Hindley Earnshaw, disheveled and volatile, who reveals a weapon and confesses an obsessive urge to murder Heathcliff, warning Isabella to bolt her door. The house lacks servants and comforts; Joseph grudgingly leads her through damaged rooms, denies her decent lodging, and mocks her attempts to prepare food.

After a humiliating search for a room and a tearful outburst, Isabella dozes in Hareton’s room. Hindley abuses the dog in the passage. Heathcliff returns, wakes Isabella, denies her any claim to their room, and spews threats, declaring Catherine ill and vowing to make Isabella suffer as Edgar’s proxy until he can reach Edgar.

Isabella ends by confessing misery and fear, begging Nelly to visit and keep her confidence from Edgar and Catherine. Her account exposes the Heights’ squalor, Hareton’s degradation, Hindley’s murderous hatred, and Heathcliff’s calculated cruelty, escalating the entrenched conflict with the Lintons.