第6章

In the course of time Mr. Earnshaw began to fail. He had been active and healthy, yet his strength left him suddenly; and when he was confined to the chimney-corner he grew grievously irritable. A nothing vexed him; and suspected slights of his authority nearly threw him into fits. This was especially to be remarked if any one attempted to impose upon, or domineer over, his favourite: he was painfully jealous lest a word should be spoken amiss to him; seeming to have got into his head the notion that, because he liked Heathcliff, all hated, and longed to do him an ill-turn. It was a disadvantage to the lad; for the kinder among us did not wish to fret the master, so we humoured his partiality; and that humouring was rich nourishment to the child's pride and black tempers. Still it became in a manner necessary;twice, or thrice, Hindley's manifestation of scorn, while his father was near, roused the old man to a fury: he seized his stick to strike him, and shook with rage that he could not do it.

At last, our curate (we had a curate then who made the living answer by teaching the little Lintons and Earnshaws, and farming his bit of land himself) advised that the young man should be sent to college; and Mr. Earnshaw agreed, though with a heavy spirit, for he said—‘Hindley was nought, and would never thrive as where he wandered.’

I hoped heartily we should have peace now. It hurt me to think the master should be made uncomfortable by his own good deed. I fancied the discontent of age and disease arose from his family disagreements; as he would have it that it did: really, you know, sir, it was in his sinking frame. We might have got on tolerably, notwithstanding, but for two people—Miss Cathy, and Joseph, the servant: you saw him, I daresay, up yonder. He was, and is yet most likely, the wearisomest self-righteous Pharisee that ever ransacked a Bible to rake the promises to himself and fling the curses to his neighbours. By his knack of sermonising and pious discoursing, he contrived to make a great impression on Mr. Earnshaw; and the more feeble the master became, the more influence he gained. He was relentless in worrying him about his soul's concerns, and about ruling his children rigidly. He encouraged him to regard Hindley as a reprobate;and, night after night, he regularly grumbled out a long string of tales against Heathcliff and Catherine: always minding to flatter Earnshaw's weakness by heaping the heaviest blame on the latter.

Certainly she had ways with her such as I never saw a child take up before; and she put all of us past our patience fifty times and oftener in a day: from the hour she came down-stairs till the hour she went to bed, we had not a minute's security that she wouldn't be in mischief. Her spirits were always at high-water mark, her tongue always going-singing, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do the same. A wild, wicked slip she was-but she had the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish: and, after all, I believe she meant no harm; for when once she made you cry in good earnest, it seldom happened that she would not keep you company, and oblige you to be quiet that you might comfort her. She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of us on his account. In play, she liked exceedingly to act the little mistress; using her hands freely, and commanding her companions:she did so to me, but I would not bear slapping and ordering; and so I let her know.

Now, Mr. Earnshaw did not understand jokes from his children: he had always been strict and grave with them; and Catherine, on her part, had no idea why her father should be crosser and less patient in his ailing condition than he was in his prime. His peevish reproofs wakened in her a naughty delight to provoke him: she was never so happy as when we were all scolding her at once, and she defying us with her bold, saucy look, and her ready words; turning Joseph's religious curses into ridicule, baiting me, and doing just what her father hated most-showing how her pretended insolence, which he thought real, had more power over Heathcliff than his kindness: how the boy would do her bidding in anything, and his only when it suited his own inclination. After behaving as badly as possible all day, she sometimes came fondling to make it up at night.‘Nay, Cathy,’the old man would say,‘I cannot love thee, thou'rt worse than thy brother. Go, say thy prayers, child, and ask God's pardon. I doubt thy mother and I must rue that we ever reared thee!’That made her cry, at first; and then being repulsed continually hardened her, and she laughed if I told her to say she was sorry for her faults, and beg to be forgiven.

But the hour came, at last, that ended Mr. Earnshaw's troubles on earth. He died quietly in his chair one October evening, seated by the fire-side. A high wind blustered round the house, and roared in the chimney: it sounded wild and stormy, yet it was not cold, and we were all together-I, a little removed from the hearth, busy at my knitting, and Joseph reading his Bible near the table (for the servants generally sat in the house then, after their work was done). Miss Cathy had been sick, and that made her still; she leant against her father's knee, and Heathcliff was lying on the floor with his head in her lap. I remember the master, before he fell into a doze, stroking her bonny hair-it pleased him rarely to see her gentle-and saying,‘Why canst thou not always be a good lass, Cathy?’And she turned her face up to his, and laughed, and answered,‘Why cannot you always be a good man, father?’But as soon as she saw him vexed again, she kissed his hand, and said she would sing him to sleep. She began singing very low, till his fingers dropped from hers, and his head sank on his breast. Then I told her to hush, and not stir, for fear she should wake him. We all kept as mute as mice a full half-hour, and should have done so longer, only Joseph, having finished his chapter, got up and said that he must rouse the master for prayers and bed. He stepped forward, and called him by name, and touched his shoulder; but he would not move: so he took the candle and looked at him. I thought there was something wrong as he set down the light; and seizing the children each by an arm, whispered them to‘frame up-stairs, and make little din-they might pray alone that evening-he had summut to do.’

‘I shall bid father good-night first,’said Catherine, putting her arms round his neck, before we could hinder her. The poor thing discovered her loss directly-she screamed out-‘Oh, he's dead, Heathcliff! he's dead!’And they both set up a heart-breaking cry.

I joined my wail to theirs, loud and bitter; but Joseph asked what we could be thinking of to roar in that way over a saint in heaven. He told me to put on my cloak and run to Gimmerton for the doctor and the parson. I could not guess the use that either would be of, then. However, I went, through wind and rain, and brought one, the doctor, back with me; the other said he would come in the morning. Leaving Joseph to explain matters, I ran to the children's room:their door was ajar, I saw they had never lain down, though it was past midnight; but they were calmer, and did not need me to console them. The little souls were comforting each other with better thoughts than I could have hit on: no parson in the world ever pictured heaven so beautifully as they did, in their innocent talk; and, while I sobbed and listened, I could not help wishing we were all there safe together.

随着时光的流逝，恩肖先生开始体力衰退了。他一向健康活跃，但却突然没有了力量；而到了只能呆在壁炉角时，他变得异常暴躁。鸡毛蒜皮的小事都会让他心烦意乱；如果怀疑有人蔑视他的权威，简直就会让他发疯。如果有人企图欺骗或压制他的宠儿，这种情况就特别常见。他煞费苦心，疑神疑鬼，唯恐有人对希斯克利夫出言不逊；他的脑海里好像有一种成见：他喜欢希斯克利夫，大家都恨他，都一心想害他。这对那个孩子是不利的，我们当中心地比较善良的都不希望惹东家生气，所以便迁就他的偏心眼；而这种迁就却成了孩子傲慢和乖戾的丰富滋养。但是，不这样还不行；有两三次，欣德利不顾父亲就在近旁，露出了轻蔑的神情，惹得老头子大发雷霆，一把抓起拐棍就要打儿子，打不着就气得浑身颤抖。

最后，我们的教区副牧师（我们当时有一个副牧师，除了薪俸之外，他还要教林顿家和恩肖家的孩子们，自己种点地，才能维持生计）建议说，应该送这个年轻人去上大学；恩肖先生尽管顾虑重重，但还是表示同意，他说——“欣德利一无是处，跑到哪里都不会有出息。”

我衷心希望我们现在会相安无事。一想到东家自己做了好事，却心里难受，我就感到痛心。我还以为他年老多病、心怀不满是因家庭不和引起的，他也认为是这样。其实，你知道，先生，这是他的身体衰弱引起的。尽管如此，但我们还算过得去，只有两个人例外——就是凯茜小姐和佣人约瑟夫，我敢说你在那边见过他。他十有八九是一个最让人讨厌、自以为是的伪君子，过去是，现在还是，在《圣经》里翻来翻去，把希望留给自己，把祸患留给邻人。他凭借巧言令色和虔诚说教，设法给恩肖先生留下了深刻的印象；东家越衰弱，他就越得势。他持续不断地让东家担心自己的灵魂问题，严格管教子女。他怂恿东家把欣德利看成是上帝摈弃的人；而且，夜复一夜，他常常连篇累牍地编排希斯克利夫和凯瑟琳的坏话，总是处心积虑添油加醋地指责后者，从而突显恩肖的软弱无能。

当然，凯瑟琳有自己的行为方式，我以前还从来没有见过她这样的孩子；一天内，她会使我们大家失去耐心五十次，甚至更多；她从下楼那个时刻起，直到上床睡觉，都在调皮，我们一分钟都不得安宁。她总是兴致勃勃，舌头始终在动——又唱又笑，谁不那样做，她就缠着谁。她真是一个又野又淘的丫头片子——而她在教区里眼睛最漂亮，笑容最甜美，脚步最轻盈。我认为她终究心眼不坏，因为她一旦真让你哭起来，常常会陪着你一起哭，使你只好止住哭声，反过来去安慰她。她非常喜欢希斯克利夫。对付她，我们所能想出的最严厉的惩罚就是把他们俩分开；但是，由于他的缘故，凯瑟琳比我们中任何人受到的责骂都多。玩耍时，她特别喜欢扮演小主妇，随意动手，并对她的玩伴们发号施令。她对我也这样做，但我受不了挨打和命令，所以就告诉了她。

现在，恩肖先生并不理解孩子们的玩笑；他对他们总是既严厉又古板；而凯瑟琳自己也不清楚为什么体弱多病时父亲比盛年时脾气更暴躁，更没有耐心。父亲一次次暴躁的训斥反而激起了她想激怒他的调皮的兴趣。她最高兴我们一起骂她，这样她就会公然摆出一副横眉冷对的架势，伶牙俐齿地回敬我们；她还喜欢嘲弄约瑟夫的虔诚诅咒，喜欢捉弄我，喜欢做她的父亲最不喜欢的事儿——露出她矫揉造作、她的父亲却信以为真的傲慢神气，让他的善良对希斯克利夫更有威力：那个孩子对她言听计从，对恩肖的命令只是合他的心意时才会听。尽情撒野了整整一天后，到了夜里凯瑟琳有时会跑来撒娇，以求和解。“不行，凯茜，”老头子会说，“我不会疼爱你，你比你的哥哥还坏。去，孩子，为自己祷告去吧，祈求上帝的宽恕。我怀疑你的母亲跟我都要后悔生养了你呢！”起初，这话还使她哭上一阵；后来，频繁受到数落之后，她的心也就硬了起来，如果我让她认错悔过、祈求原谅，她就会哈哈大笑。

但是，恩肖先生告别尘世烦恼的时刻最终还是来临了。十月的一天夜晚，恩肖先生安坐在炉边的椅子里撒手而去了。大风在房子四周呼啸，在烟囱里怒吼，听上去就像狂风暴雨一般，但天并不冷，我们大家都在一起——我离壁炉稍远一点，忙着针织活；约瑟夫靠着桌子读《圣经》（此时，佣人们做完事后，常常会坐在这个屋里）。凯茜小姐生了病，这让她安静了下来。她靠在父亲的膝头，希斯克利夫躺在地板上，头枕着她的膝盖上。我还记得，东家睡过去之前，抚摸着凯瑟琳漂亮的头发——看到她温顺，他难得地高兴起来——说道：“你为什么不能永远做一个乖乖女呢，凯茜？”凯茜仰起脸冲着父亲的脸，笑着答道：“你为什么不能永远做一个好男人呢，爸爸？”但是，一见父亲又气恼，凯茜立刻亲吻起了他的手，说她要唱歌给他催眠。凯茜开始低声唱了起来，唱得父亲的手指从她的指尖滑落，脑袋垂到了胸前。于是，我让她安静，不要动弹，唯恐她惊醒了东家。我们足有半个小时都一声不吭，本来还会更久，只是约瑟夫看完了他那一章，起身说他必须叫醒东家，让他祷告就寝。他走上前，唤着东家的名字，碰了碰他的肩膀；然而，东家一动不动。于是，他拿起蜡烛查看。约瑟夫放下蜡烛，一手拽住一个孩子的胳膊，轻声吩咐他们：“上楼，别出声——他们今晚可以自己祷告——他还有事要做。”

“我要先跟父亲道晚安，”凯瑟琳说，我们还没有来得及拦住她，她就抱住了父亲的脖子。可怜的小家伙立刻发现她失去了父亲——她尖叫起来——“噢，他死了，希斯克利夫！他死了！”于是，他俩放声痛哭，让人心碎。

我跟他们一起嚎啕大哭，哭声响亮悲痛；但是，约瑟夫问道，我们在想什么，怎么能对一位升入天堂的圣人这样吼叫？他吩咐我穿上大衣，跑去吉默屯请医生和牧师。当时，我猜不准请这两个人有什么用。不过，我还是顶风冒雨去了，只请回来一位，另一位说他明天上午来。约瑟夫留在那里向医生叙说原委，我跑到孩子们的房间。只见门半开着，尽管已过半夜，但我瞧见他们根本没有睡下；不过，他们平静了些，无需我来安慰了。两个小东西正在相互安慰，他们想到的那些话比我偶尔所能想到的还要好。他们的谈话天真无邪，世界上任何牧师都不会像他们那样把天堂描绘得那么美好；于是，我一边哭泣，一边倾听，情不自禁地希望我们都一块平安到达那里。