Wuthering Heights
"I'll not change my mind, Heathcliff," I said,
"and I won't marry you. I'll never be yours, and
you shall never be mine."
He looked incredibly shocked at this
unexpected declaration, and drew his breath in
and out in short, hurried gasps. His face grew
red and white, and he stared at me wildly.
"Why not?" he demanded at last, in a voice that
sounded almost strangled. "Why won't you
marry me?"
"Because I don't love you," I said simply.
He stared at me for a moment, then burst out
laughing. "You don't love me?" he repeated.
"You don't love me? Then why did you come
here?"
"I came here because I was afraid of you," I
said. "I thought you would hurt me if I didn't."
He laughed again, but this time it was a
different kind of laugh. It was a bitter, mocking
laugh.
"You were right to be afraid of me," he said. "I
would have hurt you. I would have killed you."
He reached out and grabbed my arm, his
fingers digging into my flesh. "But now I'm
going to let you go," he said. "I'm going to let
you go, and you'll never see me again."
He released my arm and stepped back, his eyes
blazing with anger. "Go," he said. "Go, and
never come back."
Emily Brontë
What is the main conflict in this excerpt?
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