Грозовой перевал / Wuthering Heights

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As soon as the fingers relaxed, I snatched back my hand and blocked up the hole with a pile of books. Then I covered my ears to keep out the sound of the terrible wailing.

I kept my ears covered for more than quarter of an hour, but the moment I listened again, I heard the mournful cry once more.

«Go away!» I shouted, «I’ll never let you in – not if you beg for twenty years!»

«But it is twenty years,» moaned the voice. «I’ve been wandering the moors for twenty years!»

Then the scratching began again and the books on the ledge started to shake.

I tried to jump up, but found I couldn’t move, so I opened my mouth and yelled as loudly as I could.

Almost immediately, the door was wrenched open and Heathcliff burst into the room[10 - burst into the room – ворвался в комнату]. His face was as white as the walls around him and he was trembling from head to foot.

В«Is anybody there?В» he said in a half-whisper.

«It’s only your guest,» I announced, pulling myself together[11 - pulling myself together – взяв себя в руки], «I was having a bad dream.

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«God damn you, sir!» he replied, shaking so hard that he had to put down his candle. «Who showed you into this room? I’ve a good mind to turn them out into the snow this minute![12 - I’ve a good mind to turn them out into the snow this minute! – я готов его тотчас же отправить под снегопад!]»

В«It was your housemaid, Zillah,В» I replied, dressing myself quickly, В«and you can turn her out if you like, sir.

I’m sure she deserves it, for letting me sleep in a room that’s swarming with ghosts and goblins!»

«What do you mean?» roared Heathcliff. «And what do you think you’re doing here? Lie down and finish the night, but for heaven’s sake don’t make that noise again. It sounded as though you were having your throat cut!»

В«If the little fiend had got in, she probably would have strangled me to death!В» I replied crossly.

» I won’t put up with your horrible ghosts a moment longer. And as for that vixen, Catherine Linton, or Earnshaw, or whatever she’s called – she must have been a wicked little fiend. She told me she’d been walking the earth for twenty years – I expect she was being punished for her sins!»

В«How dare you talk like that under my roof!В» thundered Heathcliff.