Summer was already past its prime, when Edgar reluctantly yielded his assent to their entreaties, and Catherine and I set out on our first ride to join her cousin. It was a close, sultry day: devoid of sunshine, but with a sky too dappled and hazy to threaten rain; and our place of meeting had been fixed at the guide-stone, by the crossroads. On arriving there, however, a little herd-boy, dispatched as a messenger, told us that:
Maister Linton wer just ut this side th' Heights: and he'd be mitch obleeged to us to gang on a bit farther.'
Then Master Linton has forgot the first injunction of his uncle,' I observed: he bid us keep on the Grange land, and here we are off at once.'
Well, we'll turn our horses' heads round, when we reach him,' answered my companion, `our excursion shall lie towards home.'
But when we reached him, and that was scarcely a quarter of a mile from his own door, we found he had no horse; and we were forced to dismount, and leave ours to graze. He lay on the heath, awaiting our approach, and did not rise till we came within a few yards. Then he walked so feebly, and looked so pale, that I immediately exclaimed:
Why, Master Heathcliff, you are not fit for enjoying a ramble, this morning. How ill you do look!'