Wuthering Heights — CHAPTER XVIII

Nelly describes twelve happy years at Thrushcross Grange after Catherine Earnshaw’s death. Young Catherine Linton grows beautiful, bright, and affectionate under Edgar Linton’s devoted, homebound tutelage, kept ignorant of Wuthering Heights and the wider moors. Catherine becomes fascinated by distant Penistone Crags, dreaming of visiting them when older.

News arrives that Isabella Heathcliff, frail and long estranged, is dying and wishes Edgar to come, settle matters, and take custody of her son, Linton. Edgar immediately departs for three weeks, charging Nelly to keep Catherine within the park.

As boredom turns to restless play, Catherine persuades Nelly to provision a make-believe “caravan” and slips beyond the grounds. Nelly later learns Catherine leapt a hedge, rode toward Penistone Crags, and, on her return route, reached Wuthering Heights, where farm dogs skirmished with her own. Inside, Catherine cheerfully engages Hareton Earnshaw, now eighteen.

Nelly arrives to retrieve Catherine, but a dispute erupts when Catherine, assuming Hareton is a servant, orders him about. Hareton angrily refuses and swears; the Heights’ servant reveals he is Catherine’s cousin. The disclosure shocks and repels Catherine, who contrasts Hareton with the genteel cousin Edgar is fetching.

Hareton, softened by her distress, brings her pony and offers a terrier pup as peace, which Catherine rejects. Nelly reflects on Hareton’s neglected upbringing under Heathcliff and Joseph—kept ignorant yet proud of lineage. Catherine returns home upset but, persuaded by Nelly, promises not to tell Edgar about her forbidden visit or Nelly’s lapse.