Linton arrives at Thrushcross Grange

Linton Heathcliff, the pale, delicate, and effeminate son of Heathcliff and Isabella Linton, arrives at Thrushcross Grange in the wake of his mother's death, brought from the south by his uncle Edgar Linton. The event marks the introduction of the second generation's pivotal figure, a sickly and peevish boy whose weak constitution and inherited selfishness will become the instrument of Heathcliff's final revenge, drawing Catherine Linton into a forced marriage and precipitating the novel's concluding tragedies.

Background and Journey

Isabella Linton, having fled her abusive marriage to Heathcliff and settled near London, died after a prolonged illness, leaving her son Linton in the care of her brother Edgar. In her final letter, she entreated Edgar to come to her, hoping that Linton might be left with him, as she believed Heathcliff had no desire to assume the burden of his son's maintenance or education. Edgar, though reluctant to leave home, flew to answer her request, commanding Nelly Dean to keep Catherine under strict vigilance during his absence. He was away for three weeks. The evening of their expected arrival, Catherine ran wild with joy, having dressed in her new black frock and indulged in sanguine anticipations of her "real" cousin's innumerable excellencies. She chattered to Nelly about Linton's lock of hair, lighter and more flaxen than her own, which she kept in a little glass box, and expressed her delight at the prospect of having him for a playfellow. As the travelling carriage rolled in sight, Miss Cathy shrieked and stretched out her arms, and Edgar descended nearly as eager as herself. While they exchanged caresses, Nelly took a peep inside and saw Linton asleep in a corner, wrapped in a warm, fur-lined cloak as if it were winter. She observed a pale, delicate, effeminate boy who might have been taken for Edgar's younger brother, so strong was the resemblance, but with a sickly peevishness in his aspect that Edgar Linton never had.

First Encounter and Reception

When roused from sleep and lifted to the ground by his uncle, Linton shrank from Catherine's salute and put his fingers to remove incipient tears. Edgar introduced them, saying, "This is your cousin Cathy, Linton," and urged him to be cheerful now that the travelling was at an end. But the boy only answered, "Let me go to bed, then." Nelly whispered to him that he would make Catherine weep too, and led him inside. Once seated by the table in the library, he began to cry afresh, complaining, "I can't sit on a chair." Edgar patiently directed him to the sofa, where Linton slowly trailed himself off and lay down. Catherine, having resolved to make a pet of her little cousin, brought a footstool and her cup to his side, stroking his curls and kissing his cheek, offering him tea in her saucer like a baby. This pleased him, and he dried his eyes and lightened into a faint smile. Edgar, watching them, expressed hope that the company of a child his own age would instil new spirit into him, and that by wishing for strength he would gain it. But Nelly mused to herself with sore misgivings, thinking how ever that weakling would live at Wuthering Heights between his father and Hareton.

Immediate Aftermath and Threat

The peaceful introduction was shattered that same evening when Joseph, Heathcliff's servant, arrived at the Grange to demand the boy. Edgar Linton, grieved bitterly at the prospect of yielding him up, searched his heart for a way to avoid it, but no plan offered itself. He told Joseph that Linton was in bed and too tired to go the distance, and that his mother had desired him to remain under Edgar's guardianship. Joseph, assuming an authoritative air, declared that Heathcliff made no account of the mother nor of Edgar, but would have his lad, and he must take him. Edgar decisively refused to let him go that night, ordering Joseph to repeat his words to his master. As Joseph slowly withdrew, he shouted that Heathcliff would come himself the next morning and thrust the boy out if Edgar dared. To obviate this threat, Edgar commissioned Nelly to take Linton home early on Catherine's pony, instructing her to tell his daughter merely that his father had sent for him suddenly, lest she should be restless and anxious to visit the Heights. The next morning, Linton was very reluctant to be roused from his bed at five o'clock and astonished to learn he must prepare for further travelling. He cried out in strange perplexity that his mother had never told him he had a father, and that he would rather stay with his uncle. Nelly attempted to persuade him, but he obstinately resisted, and Edgar had to assist in coaxing him out of bed with delusive assurances that his absence should be short. Thus, Linton's brief stay at Thrushcross Grange ended almost as soon as it began, and he was delivered into the hands of his father at Wuthering Heights, where his fate—and Catherine's—would be sealed.