Linton, take your seat by him . I give you what I have: the present is hardly worth accepting; but I have nothing else to offer. It is Linton, I mean. How she does stare! It’s odd what a savage feeling I have to anything that seems afraid of me! Had I been born where laws are less strict and tastes less dainty, I should treat myself to a slow vivisection of those two, as an evening’s amusement.”
He drew in his breath, struck the table, and swore to himself,
“By hell! I hate them.”
“I am not afraid of you!” exclaimed Catherine, who could not hear the latter part of his speech.
She stepped close up; her black eyes flashing with passion and resolution.
“Give me that key: I will have it!” she said. “I wouldn’t eat or drink here, if I were starving.”
Heathcliff had the key in his hand that remained on the table. He looked up, seized with a sort of surprise at her boldness; or, possibly, reminded, by her voice and glance, of the