Wuthering Heights: Chapter 27 Summary & Analysis

Edgar's health continues to fail over the following week. Though she doesn't want to leave her sick father alone, Cathy rides with Nelly to see Linton on the moors. Linton is even more nervous during this meeting than the last one, and admits that his father is pushing him to woo Cathy. He also says that he's frightened of what Heathcliff would do to him if she doesn't marry him.

As they talk, Heathcliff arrives. He asks Nelly that Edgar's health, and also tells her privately that he worries that Linton will die before Edgar does. Heathcliff then asks Cathy and Nelly to return to Wuthering Heights with him. Cathy tells him that she is forbidden by her father to go to Wuthering Heights, but agrees to go anyway because Linton is terrified to return to the house without her.

At Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff locks Nelly and Cathy inside the house and says that they won't be allowed to leave until Cathy and Linton marry. He locks Nelly and Cathy in a bedroom that night. The next day he lets Cathy out of the bedroom (but not out of Wuthering Heights) and keeps Nelly locked in the room under the guard of Hareton. This continues for five days.