let us exchange a few words, in your presence! we have done nothing to deserve this separation; and you are not angry with me—you have no reason to dislike me—you allow yourself. Dear uncle! send me a kind note to-morrow; and leave to join you anywhere you please, except at Thrushcross Grange. I believe an interview would convince you that my father's character is not mine; he affirms I am more your nephew than his son; and though I have faults which render me unworthy of Catherine, she has excused them, and, for her sake, you should also. You inquire after my health—it is better; but while I remain cut off from all hope, and doomed to solitude, or the society of those who never did, and never will like me, how can I be cheerful and well?"
Edgar, though he felt for the boy, could not consent to grant his request; because he could not accompany Catherine.
