Warleggan (26 page)

Dwight's intervention, if it had not done everything
that was intended,
had saved Mr. Trencrom's cargo.
The One a
nd All put back to the Scillies for two weeks and later
landed her goods in three separate lots
at different points along
the coast. It had also saved Ross, for Mr. Trencrom looked after his friend. Th
ose who had been caught on the
spot he could do nothing to help, but those who were luckier received his able support. Ross was informed that when the case of Black Saturday came up at t
he Quarter Sessions at the end of
the month, a farmer and his son from Gwithian would be produced who would
swear that Captain Poldark had
spent the night of the second of February at their farm.

A week or so after t
he fight a surgeon called Wright came
to stay with Dr: Enys a
nd helped him . on some of his cases. A few days afterwards
Dr. Enys left, for London.

Later Dwight was sorry that he
h
ad
been
so

precipitate, that he
had not waited until after the sessions, but at the time he felt he could delay no longer. He had bribed Caroline
's London address out of Thomas and had written twice giving
her on each occasion
-
lest one letter, should go astray
-
his full account of the adventures of the night and his reasons for acting as he did. Knowing
her to be fundamentally reasona
ble, he had expected that her letter of farewell
-
written in understandable heat and haste
-
would sooner or later be retracted and that they could eventually make ne
w plans. He had hung
on day after day and had said each night, I'l
l wait until tomorrow, and then
at last had dropped everything and gone.

So in the event, with a journey of five days each way a
nd the sessions compelling his
return, he was left with onl
y one
day in London to make his apologees and bring about a reconciliation
It was enough had Caroline been
half willing. They were staying with Mr. Penvenen's sister Sarah, and Dwight called twice and twice was refused admittance. Then in the evening,
reasoning that her uncle was likely to be behind
the refusal, he called a third time, knowing, her in, and tipped
a footman to take up a private
note to her. He waited impatiently until the footman returned with a reply which ran.

Dear Dwight,

Yes, I received your letters. I am glad that the choice you made was of value to Ross Poldark and the other smugglers. But the choice your choice was, made before ever you knew this man was an informer. So it cannot affect mine; Do you not see that? I am very, very sorry. It is better for us both that it should be so,
Caroline

Early the following morning he made a final effort to see her, but it was useless and so he came home.

While the Quarter Sessions were
pen
ding, the coastal district of
Sawle and St. Ann's had more urgent and imminent things to
concern it than
the new war with France. The bench of magistrates, it was known, had been chosen to represent impartiality; but many considered it had been chosen for its partiality for the letter of the law. Its chairman was the Rev. Dr. Halse, who had always been known for his severity on the bench, and it was not long before the, free traders caught were summarily tried and convicted. Four of them received twelve months' imprisonment and two, Ned Bottrell
and a man from St. Ann's, were
sentenced to transportation for ten years. These were savage sentences for Cornwall, where smugglers even w
hen they were convicted usually
got off light, and feeling was high by the time Dwight Enys came before the bench.

The case of Dr. Enys was a
peculiar one. It had not been
clearly established how far he was implicated, and the witnesses who were called went no furthe
r towards making the position
clear. Dwight himself refused to offer any explanation for his movements, and Dr. Halse's exasperation became obvious. No man, no educated man, could suddenly appear on the
Cliff edge and start building a
bonfire
without certain conclusions being drawn. This much and a lot more Dr. Halse said in a
long
homily which followed his consultation with the other ten members of the bench. It was, he sa
id, a peculiar disgrace that a
well-known physician of the neighbourhood should allow himself to become so involved in this reprehensible traffic. 'A heavy responsibility rested upon all men of reputation to help to stamp out the illegal conduct of their
less—
enlightened neighbours, not to encourage it, not to participate i
n it, as
failing any other explanation, it must be assumed Dr. Enys had been doing. The o
pinion of the bench was that Dr.
Enys should be fined £50 or serve three, months' imprisonment.

Dwight accepted the, censure and the fine unmoved; and when the hearing was over, he refused to accept either sympathy or offers of help from those who had heard the case.' All through this month, for a young man normally so kindly and tolerant, he had shown unexpected brusqueness and rancour towards, friends and sympathiser
s. His popularity in Sawle and
district had shot up to new heights -
except in the house of Vercoe-and there were many who wondered why he would not be befriended. He showed impatience at any friendly move and a blank face to all advice and condolence.

Even Ross and Demelza
he had seemed to avoid; and when he and Ross rode home together from the sessions, it was almost the first time they had had a private conversation.

For a while they discussed the outcome of the day. Ross thought that neither Bottrell nor the St. Ann's man would serve their sentences. Already the Navy was crying out for men; and the two prisoners, both with experience of the sea, would probably be given the choice of fates. 'Not that one is much better than the other, but there's a matter of self-respect involved. I should suppose Bottrell at least will choose the Navy.'

'I was glad you were not charged, Ross. I thought they might have tried to pin something on you seeing that it was your land and knowing how hard they worked to get you convicted at the Assizes.'

'So they very well would have but for Trencrom. He provided me with witnesses to show that I was far away at the time of the run.'

'A man came to me just as I was leaving the court, said he was from Mr. Trencrom and, that, Mr. Trencrom would
insist on paying my fine,
'What did you say?'

'I refused, of course 1 I did not go to that trouble for
Trencrom's sake.'

'No, you did it for mine. Have I told you what I feel
about that?'

'You need not bother'

'I am
under an enduring debt.' ‘
Oh, nonsense.'

They went on for a few minutes. The day was windy but not
cold.
Seagulls,
were wheeling and screaming overhead and a
gleam of sun 'gave sudden brilliance to their wings. Ross was
the last person to push inquiries where they were unwelcome,
but he wa
s aware that something was very
much amiss with
this young man.

'I saw your friend Wright the other day. I suppose you still
intend to leave the district now,
that
this fuss is over?'

'I've
no settled plans at all.' 'Then your
marriage to Caroline?'

'Is off. It was an adolescent folly. Fortunately we discovered
it in time.'

Ross stared at his friend. 'As an outcrop of this, smuggling
affray?'

'No,
of course not

'Demelza insists that it must
be. She says you told
her you
were leaving late on the Saturday night. How was it affected
by your arrest?'

'Not to my
detriment, I see now. We should
never have
made anything of it, Ross. We were-incompatible, in the
grip of a foolish passion. It. couldn't have lasted and would
have led to misery on both sides.'

'What has it led to now?'

'A
temporary unhappiness that later
we shall be grateful for,
If you but realised it, I am in your debt, not you in mine.
’
Dwight spoke firmly enough, but Ross saw that it was
costing him a good deal. He would have liked more than
anything to say something to help, but privately he was of the
same opinion as Dwight. The relationship had been foredoomed. Far better bitter disappointment now than the
humiliation and misery of a lifelong mesalliance.

After a time Ross, having searched his
brain for
a new subject, said :

'McNeil the
dragoon officer
looks none, so well from his wound. Is it true he's staying with the Bodrugan
s
?'

'Yes. 'They'd known him since his
first visit and invited him. I still attend him.'

'You? That surprises me.'

Dwight smiled slightly. 'I know. Both sides of the law. But I took out the ball and dressed his wound at your house on the Saturday night, and he seemed grateful that I did not bleed
him. Anyway he
requested I should see him again, and I've done so.'

'You'll have had some good talk on the ethics of smuggling.'

'We do not discuss it. But I don't think he bears any ill will
-
except to the man who shot him. He's by no means fit to travel yet and should not have been in court today, he bitterly begrudges every day which prevents him from joining his regiment and fighting the French.'

'I think if he's patient, the opportunities for glory will not all go in the first months.'

'No, possibly not. It's hard
to foresee how long it will
last.'
'Well,
when a nation with l
ess than fifty thousand troops mostly
in foreign parts, engages to fight one with an
army of half a million, all at
home and striking from central lines
….’

'We have allies.'

Prussia and Austria? They blew hot and cold last year when their opportunities were greater. Holland? I think the Dutch will need more than a few of our gunboats; and a regiment of Foot Guards to give them the will to fight.'

Dwight said 'I have thought these last weeks I should wish
to do something
myself, It's difficult to know what,
but the notion attracts me now and
would I
think help to relieve
the sense of futility.'

'Well,
take
your time. Think all round it, for once you're
in the pan it's hard to jump out,'

Just before they separated Dwight said : 'And your visit
to
Mark Daniel, was it all to no purpose?'

'It was, to some purpose,
for it showed me what an over
sanguine fool I've been.'

'He had no advice that was of use?' 'None at all.'

'How long shall you go on?

'Until the coal is done.'

Dwight was silent until he drew rein to turn off.

'How was Daniel, Ross?'

'The thing had left its mark, as you'd suppose.'

'Yes
as I would suppose.'

Ross rode
down the valley. Another matter of
importance to himself came out of the events of Black Saturday. Nampara Cove was now useless to Mr. Trencrom. The gaugers could not watch it every night, but the notoriety of the raid and all that had gone with it put the cove out of bounds for a long time to come. There could be no question now of the Poldarks taking the risk, for Mr. Trencrom would not take the risk. That was going to make a great difference to Ross's income, just the vital difference he had not counted on. He had g
ambled again; and again lost.

He had asked Demelza not to come to the
Quarter Sessions; and since he
was not in danger himself, she had agreed. Now he had it all to tell, and supper was late as a consequence. Afterwards they talked of the mine, The venturers of Wheal
Radiant were interested in the
headgear; and this morning before the sessions began he had seen a representative of another mine for the sale of the surplus stores.

Demelza said suddenly: 'Ross, I have never mentioned i
t; but one day at the beginning
of the year I went into, St. Ann's to buy a few things we needed
-
you remember, I asked for Darkie
-
and while I was there I met Mr. Renfrew the
chandler.

He had picked up the Sherborne Mercury
to glance through
its pages; now to give himself time to think he carefully folded it and took it across to the shelf by the window where the old copies were stacked.

'And Mr. Renfrew said it was a poor thing you'd sold the last of your shares in Wheal Leisure. I've never sou
ght to ask you about it because well.
if you did not want to tell me, you did not. Perhaps you thought to save me worry. Or perhaps Mr. Renfrew is mistaken and he was speaking of the first shares you had sold.'

Ross came back to the fire and stood beside it. 'No, it is true. I sold them in early January. I made £675 for them, which showed a handsome-profit on my investment. Of course we have not th
e income.

'Has all that had to go into "Wheal Grace?'

Because she made it easy for him to lie to her, he could less than ever do so. 'No. Only £75 of it. The rest I used in discharging a debt of honour....'

After a moment's silence Demelza said : 'Oh, well, I thought he would know, being in the mine himself. Ross, do you think that the beer we brewed last will be right to drink yet? The other is gone, and John I know favours a little with his
supper.'

'Tell him to try ft. It should be fair enough. Demelza, I have wanted to explain about this for a long time but have not known quite the best way to do it. I was waiting in fact for a good opportunity, waiting for a time when it would no longer matter what I had done with the money. Instead the explanation comes on me when it matters more than ever.'

She looked thoughtfully at him, 'It is your money, Ross. You must do with it as you please.'

'Not entirely. My obligations a
re various. But one, in this particular, seemed above the others.'

Something in his expression gave her a hint of what was coming. She put down the thing she was sewing.

So he told her what he had done.

'Sometimes,' he ended, 'one feels an obligation in one's mind. Regardless of whether it is so truly or not, it seems a matter of conscience and so becomes one. I had induced Francis to sink his mon
ey in the mine. Now he's dead
and Elizabeth and Geoffrey Charles are penniless and alone. However indifferent a protection I am to you and Jeremy, I am alive and active
-
constantly doing what I can; I offer some sort of shelter from
-
from the wind. Elizabeth has none such. With this money they can do a great deal, tide over these first difficult years.'

'Yes. I see that.'

'Before Christmas,
of course, I was in no shape to
help anyone at all. But my unknown friend gave me the breathing space. And he gave me the idea that I might copy
him. It was rash, but I needed -
for my soul's sake
-
to be free of the burden of the sense of obligation. Of course I was then relying on the money from Trencrom continuing for the next few years.'

Demelza did not speak, She broke the cotton and stared at it with narrowed eyes.

With Trencrom's money,' he said, 'we could spare this interest and capital. Without it we're in difficulties again or shall be in time.
Fortunately there's
nine months of the year still to go, But I repent
my generosity
and unhappily
so must you also.'

She
began
to