Jeremy Poldark (25 page)

Mr. Trencrom finished his tea and smiled an
acquiescence when Demelza rose for his cup. This much, he said, was bad enough;
but this had been the case ever since Vercoe came to the district four years
ago. What was making it worse now was the presence of an informer or informers
among the village people themselves. It had begun at St. Ann's last year, so
they had brought in their cargoes at Sawie, where landing was so much more
difficult. In the last six months, however, the same thing had happened at
Sawle, and business was almost at a standstill. Now this; said Mr. Trencrom,
would be bad enough in the south, where there were numbers of navigable
harbours and creeks. But on this north coast it meant ruin and perhaps more.
Only last month, in that sudden bad weather which had blown up, his cutter the
One and All had had to be warned off from landing because the gaugers were
there on the spot, and, she'd been driven back towards Land's End with not a
creek or a cove or a harbour under her lee but meant destruction. They had made
the Scillies and come in the following night; but, she might have been lost
with all hands and a valuable cargo. One couldn't risk that sort of thing.

"You have my sympathy," , said Ross.
" But what's the moral to, the story?

"The moral, Captain Poldark. Is that we
must find another navigable inlet. And you possess the only one for
miles."

Demelza paused with the cup in her hands, her
eyes going from face to face.

I think, Ross said quietly, "that you
overestimate the advantages of Nampara Cove. There is no great depth of water
and several dangerous rocks at the entrance.

Don't I know it, thought Demelza, since I nearly
went aground on one yesterday.

Mr. Trencrom strangled his small dog again.
"I don't overestimate nothing, Captain Poldark: It's not ideal. But we
could land very comfortable there on quiet nights. It's not too far from where
we distribute. And tis not overlooked, like. It could all be quite
private."

"Until the informer got wind of the
change."

"Well, we should introduce a closer system
of secrecy. And only come in here twice or thrice a year. As for yourself
you'd need to know nothing of it."

Ross got up and walked to the window. Demelza
had not moved with her cup.

"As for myself," Ross said, "it
would be plain that I knew everything of it. But leave that for the moment.
What inducement do you suggest would make. me responsive to this scheme?"

" Ross," Demelza said, but he didn't
look at her.

"Oh," said Mr. Trencrom, "that
would be arranged amicable, I'm sure. A percentage on the profit. Or a lump
sum for each landing. - We've been in business together before. We'd not
quarrel over that."

There was a light in Ross's eyes as he looked
out over the garden, but he was careful not to let it be seen by his visitor.
"I'm afraid," he said, ` I should like some proposal. One could only
consider the suggestion by weighing the risks against the benefits: At present
we know only the risks

"Hm--ah. Well . . ." Mr. Trencrom
stretched out a fat hand for the tea Demelza was still holding. " Thank
you, ma'am. Delightful. It's very difficult betwixt friends. One wishes to be
fair. But things are not what they was. Everything is more trying than it used
to be. What had you in mind yourself? Would five per cent of the profits seem
fair?"

Can you suggest a lump sum per cargo?"

"Well fifty pounds say?"

"I thought," said Ross that you had
come here to talk business, Mr. Trencrom."

The fat man wheezed over his tea,' and his
breath made bubbles on the surface.

"Is that a very poor offer? I don't think
so. 'Fifty pounds is a big sum of money. What do you suggest-yourself?"

" Two hundred and fifty pounds per cargo.”

"My dear, sir! Impossible! You don't
understand. Mr. Trencrom's feelings were hurt. "It would make the voyage
virtually without profit"

Ross said: "I'm not without experience of
the trade myself. Fifteen years ago when I was a boy, my father and I would
make the trip to Guernsey twice or so a year. We could fill our tiny cutter
with brandy, gin and tea for a hundred pounds. If we had chosen to-as we did
sometimes we could have sold the cargo as soon as we landed it for double the
money. Your cutter, the One and All, will carry a cargo of ten times that size
and of greater value, for prices have risen. It's not hard to work out the
profit."

Mr. Trencrom slightly pouted. " Oh, these
small' private runs ! They always show the big profits. Give quite a false
impression. No overheads. No organisation to maintain. Quite different as a
commercial undertaking. I have the cutter to maintain. Wages to pay - usually a
portion of the cargo. Palms to grease. Deliveries to arrange. Travellers who go
round for orders. Storage, Mules. Ropes. Nets. Tackle. A very different thing,
my dear sir. Do you know , how much I pay my riders merely for carrying away
the goods from the shore? Half a guinea per night, plus all their expenses of
food and drink! Plus half a bag of tea weighing forty pounds - or the
equivalent, which they can resell if they wish for twenty-five shillings. Or more
all off the profits. I couldn't possibly afford to pay you more than a hundred
pounds a run. After all, you would do nothing. You would sit quiet in your home
here. Behind drawn Curtains. Others would do it all. Merely for the privilege
of using your cove.”

Ross shook his head. "I'm sorry. I
shouldn't be willing to do it for that:"

"Don't do it at all, Ross, said Demelza.

"But why?" said Mr. Trencrom, turning
to her. "I'm sure you agree it's not a wicked trade to be concerned in.
Man-made laws. Not by God. Quite. unreasonable that taxes should be paid on
these necessaries of life. You'd make two or three hundred pounds a year. Very
welcome, surely."

"Nampara Cove is my land," Ross said.
"If you run a cargo at St. Ann's or Sawle or on Hendrawna Beach no one is
accountable but the people who run it. If you run one here and are surprised it
will go hard with me to put on a look of innocence, with mules tramping almost
under my windows. I have already been at the assizes once. I don't wish to
appear there again. The inducement would have to be big to make me take that
risk. I've suggested to you what that inducement would be."

"No, Ross," said Demelza:- “No!"

Ross turned his eyes on her. "I'll not hide
from Mr. Trencrom that the money would be ‘specially useful` just now.
Otherwise I should not consider it. It's really up to him to choose."

About half, an hour later a big brown horse
carrying a big fat man in a big brown cloak rode up the valley, away from the
house. 'Darkness had fallen, but a moon behind the clouds made it possible to
see the track. It would be a lonely ride to St. Ann's and there were nervous people
who would not have fancied it; but Mr. Trencrom was not as delicate as he made
himself out. Also he carried a brace of pistols. There was a dejected, defeated
set to his shoulders as he made his way through the trees.

When he had disappeared from view Ross shut the
door and stood a moment in indecision in the hall, then returned to the
parlour.

Demelza's back as she lit the candles had a taut
look Ross went to the cupboard and poured himself a drink.

The Warleggans," he said, "have at
last got a foot in Wheal Leisure. Pearce came to-day with the news that Benjamin
Aukett had sold out. Their nominee is a man called Coke."

Demelza did not reply.

"I suspected it would be only a matter of
time," he said.

When there are seven shareholders, one or
another will sooner or later give way to the temptation of a large profit. I
shouldn't be surprised if Pearce sells his share any time. So now we shall have
George at our board."

She said: "What does it matter?"

"'Um?" He stared at her back
broodingly.

" What' does it matter? Oh, I'dislike the Warleggans
just so much as you; but if they come to have a share in your mine we can do
naught about it. An' they can't steal your share. That's all that matters. It
is none of it any excuse for having the tub carriers on our land ! "

He said sharply: "Two hundred pounds is
excuse enough, for that. I want no other."

“It'll not buy you out of prison."

" I shall not be in there, thank you."'

"You'll have small choice if the landing is
surprised."

" Nonsense. It's a risk, I know - but not
as big as I made out to Trencrom. It would be possible in fact to claim ignorance.
We might not be believed, but there would be no proof to the contrary."

She put her hand on the mantelshelf. "I.
can't stand it all again ! All the worrying anxious time of the trial - and before
not sleeping, like a cloud all day. Picturing this an' that. Transported, hanged,
rotting in gaol. The days in Bodmin - all I did - or tried to do! It isn't
fair! Not again, so soon. It isn't fair to yourself..or to anyone!"

He looked at her again and perceived that she
was very upset. He said more gently "Now you're seeing bogles in the dark.
There's nothing to be scared of in a little freetrading. I was only afraid
lest I had set my price too high. That's why I came down fifty. To-day, on top
of this news of the Warleggans, if he but knew it, Mr. Trencrom was an angel in
disguise."

" The devil !" she said vehemently.
" No less."

Perhaps I should lie meek under this latest of
George's encroachments, but it's not in me to do so. Besides .... you may have
forgotten it, but we have recently sold all our stock, your brooch and horse,
the clock and the newer furnishings; of the house. Not, mark you, to cancel our
debts but to, postpone them for a mere twelve months. We're not out of the
wood if we sit together in bucolic bliss and weave daisy chains. I'm more
likely to go to prison that way than any other"

She said: "I can't help it! I want your
child to be free from fear."

Ross put down his .glass. "What?"

There was a tap at the door and Jane Gimlett
came in. "Please, will you be wanting supper at the usual time? I put the
pie on to hot up just in case, like."

The usual time," said Demelza.

"And the ham? There's a fair cutting on it
yet, though tis largely fat."

Put it on," said Demelza.

"The scones has come out nice, 'm. I
thought I'd leave you know." She went out.

One missed the ticking of the clock in here. A
new piece of wood, not quite dry, was hissing on the fire. Little bubbles of
moisture were forming at one end' of it, trying to escape the flames.

Ross said : When did you know?" "September"'

He made a gesture. " Good God, Not to tell
me ., .. " " You didn't want it."

“What?"

"You said you didn't want another child - after
Julia."

“Nor did I - nor do” He picked up his glass, set
it down again without drinking. After a minute he added:

" To grow into our hearts, and then to
die. But if one is coming - that's different."

"How different?"

" Well ... it's different "

" I wish I could believe that."

Why should you not? It's the "truth."
He turned. "I don't know what to say-how to say it . . I just don't understand
you. You've been closer about it even than last time. When do you expect the
birth?"

“May”.

He frowned, trying to shut out his memories.

"I know ‘tis the same month," she '
said desperately. "I could've wished for any other. But that's the way
things are. I shouldn't be amazed if, it's born the same day, three years
after. It's been the same so far the visit to Trenwith and all. But all history
don't repeat itself. I don't believe it can. Anyway, I'm sorry."

" Sorry? What for?"

"That it's happened. - That it has got to
come. That you'll have this extra burden which you don't want."

He came and stood beside her at the fireplace.
" Now stop crying and be sensible.”

" I'm not crying."

Well, wanting to, then. Is this what's been on
your back all winter?"

" Not on my back," she said.

"As you like. Ever since September you've
been withdrawn from, me - poking, up your head now and then like a sheep from
behind a fence. I couldn't reach you. Is this child the cause of all of
it?"

"If I have, then it may be."

"Because you thought I didn't want
it?"

"Tis only what you said."

He said in exasperation : " God damn it, you
should know I'm not used to dealing with women. You search the earth to find
some special secret feminine grievance to gnaw over for months on end, and then
produce it coolly on the mat to explain all the irrational hedging and dodging
of an entire winter ''

"I didn't search the earth for it!"

" Well, I thought you could distinguish
between a theoretical case and a practical one - evidently that isn't
so." ..