## Characters
**Mrs. Dean (Ellen)** - Narrator and housekeeper at Thrushcross Grange
- Role: Present narrator, main caretaker for Catherine
- Physical details: Described as getting older and busier
- Personality: Protective, caring, worried about her position
- Key actions: Cares for Catherine during Edgar's absence, searches for her when she goes missing, retrieves her from Wuthering Heights
- Relationships: Servant to the Lintons, surrogate mother figure to Catherine
**Catherine Linton (young Cathy)** - Edgar's daughter, now 13 years old
- Role: Central character in this chapter
- Physical details: "Real beauty in face, with the Earnshaws' handsome dark eyes, but the Lintons' fair skin and small features, and yellow curling hair"
- Personality: High-spirited but not rough, sensitive, lively in affections, saucy, perverse will, curious, quick intellect, sheltered, entitled
- Key actions: Goes on solo adventure to Penistone Crags against orders, meets Hareton at Wuthering Heights, becomes distressed learning he's her cousin
- Relationships: Edgar Linton's daughter, cousin to Hareton Earnshaw and the London cousin (Linton Heathcliff)
**Edgar Linton** - Catherine's father, master of Thrushcross Grange
- Role: Mentioned throughout, absent for three weeks visiting his dying sister
- Physical details: Lacks "ruddy health," has delicate constitution
- Personality: Protective, gentle, never harsh with Catherine, reluctant to leave home
- Key actions: Takes sole responsibility for Catherine's education, travels to see dying sister Isabella
- Relationships: Catherine's father, Isabella Heathcliff's brother
**Hareton Earnshaw** - Now 18 years old, living at Wuthering Heights
- Role: Present at Wuthering Heights when Catherine arrives
- Physical details: "Great, strong lad of eighteen," "well-made, athletic youth, good-looking in features, and stout and healthy," dressed in farm work clothes
- Personality: Awkward, bashful, proud of his lineage, moves from curiosity to anger when treated as servant
- Key actions: Stares at Catherine with curiosity, becomes angry when she treats him as servant, offers her a puppy as peace offering
- Relationships: Catherine's cousin (son of Hindley Earnshaw), under Heathcliff's control
**Isabella Heathcliff** - Edgar's sister, Heathcliff's estranged wife
- Role: Mentioned, dying during this chapter
- Physical details: Had delicate constitution like Edgar
- Personality: Not described in detail
- Key actions: Writes to Edgar about her approaching death, wants to give custody of her son Linton to Edgar
- Relationships: Edgar's sister, Heathcliff's wife (separated), mother of Linton Heathcliff
**Linton Heathcliff** - Isabella's son, being brought from London
- Role: Mentioned as the cousin Edgar is fetching
- Physical details: None given
- Key actions: None in this chapter (being transported)
- Relationships: Son of Isabella and Heathcliff, Catherine's cousin, "gentleman's son"
**Heathcliff** - Master of Wuthering Heights
- Role: Mentioned, absent from Heights during Catherine's visit
- Personality: Described as gloomy, cruel landlord, intent on making Hareton a brute
- Relationships: Master of Wuthering Heights, Hareton's guardian/oppressor, Isabella's estranged husband
**Joseph** - Servant at Wuthering Heights
- Role: Mentioned, absent during Catherine's visit
- Personality: Narrow-minded, partial to Hareton due to family lineage, contributes to Hareton's deterioration
- Relationships: Long-time servant, influences Hareton negatively
**The unnamed woman servant** - At Wuthering Heights
- Role: Present when Catherine arrives
- Background: Formerly lived at Gimmerton, has been servant since Mr. Earnshaw's death
- Key actions: Answers door, explains Catherine is safe, reveals Hareton is Catherine's cousin
## Timeline & Events
**Twelve-year period summary**: Mrs. Dean describes the twelve happiest years of her life caring for Catherine from infancy to age 13.
**Catherine's early development**:
- First six months after birth were difficult
- By second spring after her mother's death, she could walk and talk
- Grew rapidly and beautifully
**Catherine's sheltered upbringing**:
- Until age 13, never went beyond the park alone
- Edgar occasionally took her a mile outside on rare occasions
- Gimmerton was just a name to her
- Only building she'd entered besides home was the chapel
- Completely unaware of Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff
**Catherine's curiosity about Penistone Crags**:
- Regularly asked Ellen about the hills and crags visible from nursery window
- Wanted to visit the "Fairy Cave" mentioned by a maid
- Edgar promised she could go when older but always said "not yet"
- Edgar avoided the route because it passed Wuthering Heights
**Isabella's final illness**:
- Isabella lived "above a dozen years after quitting her husband"
- Suffered four months of illness before writing to Edgar
- Died of what Mrs. Dean conjectures was the same fever-type illness as Edgar later has
- Wanted Edgar to take custody of her son Linton
**Edgar's three-week absence**:
- Edgar immediately complied with Isabella's request
- Left strict orders that Catherine not leave the park even with Ellen's escort
- Expected to return with his nephew Linton
**Catherine's solo adventure**:
- **Morning**: Catherine announces she's playing Arabian merchant, gets provisions from Ellen, rides off on pony Minny with dogs Charlie and Phoenix
- **Evening**: Fails to return for tea
- **Ellen's search**: Ellen questions laborer who saw Catherine jump hedge and gallop away
- Ellen walks miles to Wuthering Heights, finds Catherine safe inside
**At Wuthering Heights**:
- Catherine discovered sitting in her mother's old chair, perfectly at home
- Chatting happily with Hareton, who stares with curiosity
- Dogs Charlie and Phoenix are injured from fights
- Scene unfolds with Catherine treating Hareton as servant, his angry response
- Revelation that Hareton is Catherine's cousin causes her great distress
- Hareton offers puppy as peace offering, but Catherine rejects it
- They depart "sadly out of sorts"
## Key Facts
**Physical descriptions**:
- Catherine has "Earnshaws' handsome dark eyes, but the Lintons' fair skin and small features, and yellow curling hair"
- Hareton is 18, "great, strong lad," "well-made, athletic youth, good-looking"
- Penistone Crags are about a mile and a half beyond Wuthering Heights
- Wuthering Heights is four miles from Thrushcross Grange
- The chapel is the only building Catherine had entered besides home
- Catherine's pony is named Minny
- The dogs are named Charlie and Phoenix (Charlie described as "fiercest of the pointers")
**Backstory revealed**:
- Mrs. Dean has been at Thrushcross Grange for at least 12+ years
- Isabella lived "above a dozen years after quitting her husband"
- The unnamed servant woman formerly lived at Gimmerton
- Hareton was never taught to read or write
- Joseph has been filling Hareton with pride about his family lineage
- Heathcliff has deliberately tried to make Hareton into a brute
- The house at Wuthering Heights has "regained its ancient aspect of comfort under female management"
**World details**:
- Gimmerton is a real place with a chapel
- There's a location called the Fairy Cave
- The road to Penistone Crags passes by Wuthering Heights
- Thrushcross Park is considered "the finest place in the world" by Ellen
## Ages, Dates & Arithmetic
**Critical temporal information**:
- Catherine is now 13 years old
- Hareton is now 18 years old
- Mrs. Dean describes "twelve years" as the happiest of her life (Catherine's life from birth to age 13)
- Isabella lived "above a dozen years after quitting her husband" - meaning she separated from Heathcliff over 12 years ago, shortly after Catherine's birth
- Edgar was away for three weeks
- Isabella suffered four months of final illness
- Catherine could walk and talk "before the heath blossomed a second time over Mrs. Linton's dust" - so by her second birthday approximately
**Arithmetic derived**:
- Since Catherine is 13 and Hareton is 18, Hareton is 5 years older
- Isabella left Heathcliff when Catherine was an infant, making her separation concurrent with Catherine Earnshaw's death
- The story is now approximately 13 years after Catherine Earnshaw's death
## Unexplained Changes
**Hareton's development**:
- Last seen as a small child, now described as 18-year-old "great, strong lad"
- Has been deliberately kept uneducated by Heathcliff
- Physical description shows he's become athletic and good-looking despite his circumstances
**Wuthering Heights management**:
- House has "regained its ancient aspect of comfort under female management"
- No longer scenes of riot from Hindley's time
- Suggests some female presence providing domestic order (possibly the unnamed servant)
## Plot Developments
**New threads introduced**:
- Catherine's curiosity about the outside world and desire for adventure
- The arrival of Linton Heathcliff (Edgar's nephew) from London
- Catherine's discovery of her relationship to Hareton
- The class conflict between Catherine's genteel upbringing and her Earnshaw heritage
**Existing threads advanced**:
- Catherine's sheltered upbringing is ending as she reaches adolescence
- The connection between the two houses (Heights and Grange) is reestablished through the children
- Heathcliff's revenge plot continues through his treatment of Hareton
**New complications**:
- Catherine now knows about Wuthering Heights and has met Hareton
- Her distress at learning Hareton is her cousin suggests future class conflicts
- Edgar will return with Linton, creating a triangle of young cousins
## Foreshadowing & Setups
**Objects given emphasis**:
- Catherine sitting in "a little chair that had been her mother's when a child" - connects her to her mother's history
- The injured dogs Charlie and Phoenix - suggests the violence underlying encounters between the houses
**Statements hinting at secrets**:
- Ellen's worry that Catherine's adventure will be "reported to Mr. Heathcliff"
- Ellen's certainty that "Catherine's first thought on her father's return would be to seek an explanation" about her relationship to Hareton
- The description of Hareton having "Good things lost amid a wilderness of weeds" suggests potential for redemption
**Unresolved questions raised**:
- How will Edgar react to Catherine's adventure and discovery of her cousin?
- What will happen when Linton Heathcliff arrives and meets both Catherine and Hareton?
- Will Catherine keep her promise not to tell her father about the incident?
- How will Heathcliff use this new connection between Catherine and his household?
**Promise of future payoff**:
- The setup of three young cousins (Catherine, Hareton, Linton) mirrors the previous generation's triangle
- Catherine's shock at Hareton's rough treatment suggests the class differences that will drive future conflict
- Ellen's observation about Hareton's hidden good qualities promises character development