th' yoak, an ye will Aw noan used to `t, and an ow'd man dosen't sooin get used tuh new barthens. Aw'd rayther arn my bite an' my sup wi' a hammer in th' road!'

`Now, now, idiot!' interrupted Heathcliff, `cut it short! `What's your grievance? I'll interfere in no quarrels between you and Nelly. She may thrust you into the coal-hole for anything I care.'

`It's noan Nelly!' answered Joseph. `Aw sudn't shift fur Nellie--nasty ill nowt as shoo is. Thank God! shoo cannot stale t' sowl o' nob'dy! Shoo wer niver soa handsome, bud whet a body mud look at her `baht winking. It's yon flaysome, graceless quean, ut s witched ahr lad, wi' her bold een un' her forrard ways-- till--Nay! it fair brusts my heart! He's forgetten all Ee done for him, un' made on him, un' goan un' riven up a whole row ut t' grandest currant trees, i' t' garden!' And here he lamented outright; unmanned by a sense of his bitter injuries, and Earnshaw's ingratitude and dangerous condition.

`Is the fool drunk?' asked Mr Heathcliff. `Hareton, is it you he's finding fault with?'

`I've pulled up two or three bushes,' replied the young man; `but I'm going to set `em again.'

`And why have you pulled them up?' said the master. Catherine unwisely put in her tongue.

"We wanted to plant some flowers there,' she cried. `I'm the only person to blame, for I wished him to do it.'

`And who the devil gave you leave to touch a stick about the place?' demanded her father-in-law, much surprised. `And who ordered you to obey her?' he added, turning to Hareton.

The latter was speechless; his cousin replied:

`You shouldn't grudge a few yards of earth for me to ornament, when you have taken all my land!'

`Your land, insolent slut! You never had any,' said Heathcliff.

`And my money,' she continued; returning his angry glare, and meantime biting a piece of crust, the remnant of her breakfast.

`Silence!' he exclaimed. `Get done, and begone!'

`And Hareton's land, and his money,' pursued the reckless thing. `Hareton and I are friends now; and I shall tell him all about you!'

The master seemed confounded a moment: he grew pale, and rose up, eyeing her all the while, with an expression of mortal hate.

`If you strike me, Hareton will strike you,' she said; `so you may as well sit down.'

`If Hareton does not turn you out of the room, I'll strike him to hell,' thundered Heathcliff. `Damnable witch! dare you pretend to rouse him against me? Off with her! Do you hear? Fling her into the kitchen! I'll kill her, Ellen Dean, if you let her come into my sight again!'

Hareton tried, under his breath, to persuade her to go.

`Drag her away!' he cried savagely. `Are you staying to talk?' And he approached to execute his own command.

`He'll not obey you, wicked man, any more,' said Catherine; `and he'll soon detest you as much as I do.'

"Wisht! wisht!' muttered the young man reproachfully. `I will not hear you speak so to him. Have done.'