Wuthering Heights — CHAPTER XXVII

As a week passes, Edgar Linton’s health rapidly worsens. Catherine Linton, consumed with anxiety, consents to another brief meeting with Linton Heathcliff. They find Linton terrified and evasive until Heathcliff appears, driving the boy with threats. Under Linton’s panicked pleas, Catherine accompanies him into Wuthering Heights, while Nelly refuses to leave her.

Inside, Heathcliff locks the door, taunts them, and when Catherine defies him for the key, he seizes her and strikes her repeatedly. He forces them to remain, claiming he will be Catherine’s only “father” soon and that she must wed Linton immediately. After Heathcliff departs briefly, Linton admits the scheme: they are to marry in the morning so Catherine can be detained overnight and used to secure Heathcliff’s aims.

Catherine vows to return to her dying father and threatens to break out, but Linton, fearing Heathcliff more than death, clings to her. Heathcliff returns, drives Linton to bed, and scorns Catherine’s appeals, declaring he will revel in Edgar’s misery and keep her prisoner until the marriage is done. Servants from the Grange arrive at the gate, but Heathcliff dismisses them, and hope of rescue vanishes.

He confines Catherine and Nelly in Zillah’s room for the night. At dawn, Heathcliff removes Catherine, locking Nelly in again despite her protests. Hareton Earnshaw brings Nelly food but refuses to aid her. Nelly remains imprisoned five nights and four days, seeing only Hareton each morning, while Heathcliff advances his plan unchecked.