Hindley, stunned, blamed Nelly for the accident, to which she returned with a harsh scold. Then with Hareton in her arms, she and Heathcliff went to the kitchen. She stayed there while Heathcliff left to be by himself
.
No sooner did Cathy show up. She asked first where Heathcliff was before she confided to Nelly that Edgar had asked her to marry him. She believed accepting it was the right thing to do, except for her soul and her heart were saying otherwise. She told Nelly of a dream she once had. In it she had died and gone to heaven, but she refused, preferring to run free in Wuthering Heights. She felt it was because Heathcliff was her soul mate.
Cathy didnt realize that Heathcliff had been listening until she said at one point how it would degrade her to marry Heathcliff. Nelly, on the other hand, sensed his presence and told her to stop. They thought nothing of it until Heathcliff was discovered missing. It was then when Nelly suggested how Heathcliff may have eavesdropped. Panic, Cathy searched for him everywhere and even waited for him under the rain until past midnight. Heathcliff, however, never returned. Shortly after Cathy fell ill.
From then on, her attitude grew worse. She blamed Heathcliffs missing on Nelly and stopped talking to her for awhile. Nevertheless, the marriage between Edgar and Cathy went on. Nelly was forced to come along although she felt reluctant to leave five-year-old Hareton alone in Wuthering Heights.
Mrs. Dean recognizes that the current Hareton has no memory of her at all and is saddened by it.