Lockwood rides to Wuthering Heights to deliver a note to Cathy from Nelly. Cathy ignores Lockwood, and he thinks to himself that she is “a beauty, it is true; but not an angel” (217). When he delivers the note, Hareton takes it from her, saying Heathcliff must look at it first. However, Cathy becomes tearful, which leads Hareton to return the letter to her. Lockwood asks Cathy for a response to give to Nelly, but she explains that she has no paper on which to write and no books to read, as Heathcliff has taken them from her. She mocks Hareton for his illiteracy, and they argue; eventually, he tosses the books into the fire. Heathcliff arrives home, but when he shows concern towards Hareton, the latter rebuffs him, reminding Heathcliff of Catherine: “But when I look for his father in his face, I find her every day more!” (220). Lockwood tells Heathcliff of his intentions to leave for London, and he makes his exit after dinner with the men of Wuthering Heights, thinking of courting Cathy, as her nurse desired.

Months later, Lockwood visits a friend in the north and finds himself unexpectedly near Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. He drops by the Grange looking for Nelly and learns that she is now living up at Wuthering Heights. When Lockwood arrives at Wuthering Heights, he notices “a fragrance of stocks and wall flowers, wafted on the air, from amongst the homely fruit trees” (222). Lockwood hears voices from an open window, and he eavesdrops. Cathy is teaching Hareton to read; both look happy. Lockwood finds Nelly, and she tells him that Heathcliff has died.

Nelly tells him the whole story, beginning from two weeks after Nelly was left behind at the Grange. She had been summoned to Wuthering Heights. Cathy was confined to the immediate premises at the time, and she was restless and unhappy, arguing with Joseph and ignoring Hareton or goading him with insults. Soon, Nelly noticed that Cathy was sorry about having bullied Hareton into giving up on self-improvement, so she devised a plan. She read aloud to Nelly, piquing Hareton’s interest in books. After Hareton hurt himself in a gun accident, Cathy engaged him in conversation and insisted that he notice her. Nelly joined in to instruct him to “be friends with [his] cousin […] since she repents of her sauciness” (227), and Cathy repeated her request to be forgiven. She suggested that she teach him to read, and he accepted. When Joseph came home, he found Catherine sitting on the same bench as Hareton, with her hand on his shoulder. Their closeness intensified quickly, and Nelly announces that it was easy for Hareton to win Cathy’s love and that she is pleased that they are poised to marry.

Nelly continues her story, describing Heathcliff’s chronic annoyance with Cathy and Hareton. Cathy is growing more impertinent with Heathcliff, provoking him with accusations and threats to tell Hareton everything about him. Heathcliff puts his hands on Cathy, only to be held back by Hareton, but suddenly he releases her, growing calm. Hareton and Cathy stay busy with their studies, and when Heathcliff interrupts them, he is startled to notice that they both have Catherine’s eyes. He acknowledges to Nelly, “when everything is ready, and in my power, I find the will to lift a slate off either roof has vanished!” (234). Heathcliff no longer desires revenge and loses his will to live, barely remembering to eat or drink. He reveals that he longs for death: “I wish it were over!” (236).

Heathcliff begins to avoid mealtimes. One night, Nelly hears him leave the house. He returns the next morning, looking happy. He eats with the household, and Nelly asks him if he has received any good news, trying to discern the reason for this sudden improvement in his mood. He responds mysteriously, hinting that she might not want to know. Another night, soon after that meal, Heathcliff tells Nelly he plans to send for the lawyer to write his will, but he does not know to whom to leave his property, and he instructs Nelly as to the details of his funeral. He does not want a minister to preside over his burial, as he “[has] nearly attained [his] heaven; and that of others is altogether unvalued and uncoveted by [him]” (242).

The next morning, Heathcliff rejects the attentions of the doctor Nelly has summoned, and it rains that night. In the morning, while Nelly is walking, she notices that Heathcliff’s window is open. She forces her way into his room, only to discover that Heathcliff has died with his eyes open; their “fierce” expression startles her, and he seems to smile. Hareton is the only one who truly suffers from Heathcliff’s death. The doctor cannot determine Heathcliff’s cause of death, and he is soon buried next to Catherine according to the instructions he left with Nelly. Although she saw him covered with sod herself, Nelly reveals that many locals claim to have seen Heathcliff walking the moors with a woman.

Nelly tells Lockwood that Hareton and Cathy are to be married on New Year’s Day, and they plan to live at Thrushcross Grange. Joseph will stay at Wuthering Heights. Lockwood leaves Wuthering Heights, and on his way back to the Grange, he passes the three headstones on the slope next to the moor. He wonders how “anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth” (245).