Warleggan (41 page)

He turned from the window
, let the curtain fall from his
long fingers, said wryly: 'I think
there is an etiquette even in
adultery, and I cannot bring myself to discuss one woman with
another, even when the second, happens to be my wife.'

"You don't suppose I should
want to hear it?' `Yet it might not displease you,'

"I can't see how it would be likely
to please me.'
'Then, you are less
perceptive than I suppose.' ‘
Tis very likely'

There was an
other pause. Ross came slowly
back from the window and after a moment's hesitation bent and kissed her on the lips.

`Yes, it is very likely,' he said, and went out.

She did not move
for a time. Jeremy's breathing was a little
more hurried
now, as if he were dreaming. She turned him over expertly, firmly; as if knowing the touch of the familiar hand, he settled more comfortably, after it.

She straight
ened up and went to the window
herself. There were movements of warmth in her heart where she had not expected to have feeling again.

The next day Dwight received news of his appointment. He was to be surgeon of the frigate H.M.S. Travail, fitting out at Plymouth, and was to join her on December 20.

Ross said nothing of his intention to go and see Caroline, but he told Dwight of his discovery about the money. Dwight's
face bl
ushed up. He had known nothing of it, he said; and hid his other feelings behind a mask of apology for having spoken so freely of his friend's business affairs. Ross told him he had never been so much obliged to anyone for talking freely of his business affairs.

He left for London on the following day, dining at St. Austell and spending the night at Liskeard. They crossed the ferry at Plymouth and lay the next night at Ashburton, Friday they dined at Exeter and slept at Bridgewater, and Saturday saw them eating at Bath and sleeping in Marlborough. The last day was a full one, for they were up early making
a stage before breakfast. They dined a
t Maidenhead and reached London
just before ten at night. The ground was snow
-
covered as they neared the city.

It was snowing the following, day when Ross set out
to find
Caroline.
Her address was No 5
Hatton Garden, which he knew to be a superior residential district; but he had to ask man
y times on the way. The streets
were more crowded than he remembered ahem, and people seemed to have no manners, pushing and thrusting each other aside to get along more quickly or to
gain some temporary .advantage, Twice
he saw people knocked into the gutter. And there were enough
in the
gutter to begin
: blind beggars, tattered ex-soldiers short of an arm or a leg, children with sore eyes, bent crones holding out acquisitive claws. Snow had made things worse,
for there were
a half-dozen pitched
battles in progress betwee
n apprentices of one sort and
another, and of
ten the women joined in. In the
middle of one fight a carriage came along, and suddenly everyone turned on it so that the, coachman was nearly pelted off his seat. Who
ever; was inside knew better than
to open a window to protest.

Ross bought a daily paper, but it was filled more with quacks' advertisements than news of the war. Anyway, since
the execution of Marie Antoi
nette, people had become inured
to the bloodstained horrrors of Paris. The French had gone mad, that was pla
in. And - England was at war.
That was the main thing. What fighting there had been had been disappointing and inconclusive, almost as if the combatants: hadn't
yet
got their hearts in it. But even that was a relief to overburdened feelings. More would follow; England was at war; Eventually
the insanity would be purged.
It was only a matter of time now.

A liverie
d manservant opened the door
of the house when he rang, stared petulantly at Ross's clothes, which he had not had time or patience to renew since his change of fortunes. `Miss Penvenen?' said the manservant, after bein
g stared
down: He would inquire. A considerable wait. He came back. Miss Penvenen was in and would see Mr. Poldark. Ross was shown into a fine rather empty, rather cold room overlooking the street. The manservant's heels clicked on the polished inlaid floor.

His eyes newly alive to decorations and furniture, he took note of the elegant walnut writing bureau with the claw feet,
the inset oval-shaped; cupboards displaying fine china on either side of the great marble mantelpiece. The panelling of the room was of carved pine, and there were few pictures but many miniatures and silhouettes. A fire burned in the grate but did not seem to warm the larger spaces of the room. Downstairs somewhere children were laughing.

The door opened and Caroline came in.

`Why, Captain Polda
rk, I could not believe it was y
ou! But
the name was so
unusual. London is honoured. I
have seen
no flags out
for your visit.'

`
They don't put flags out when I
come to a place,' Ross said, bending over her hand. `They put them out when
I
go.'

He was quite shocked by the -change in her. She had gone so much thinner and lost much of her beauty. She was a person whose looks would always be volatile,
but just now they were at a low
ebb. She wore a dress of a fashion Ross had never seen be
fore,
with the waist under the armp
its and falling straight to the
floor. It had, short puff sleeves and a gold cord and tassel.

'You should have told me of your visit. How long shall you be staying?

'Two or three days. I couldn't have forewarned you, for
I didn't know of it myself until a few days ago.'

`Urgent business? You'll have sherry and biscuits? It's nearly time. The apothec
ary tells me I must have sherry
every two hours, and I don't find it an unpleasurable remedy.'

He watched her sit and then took a seat himself at the other side of the fireplace while she talked on rather aimlessly and at some length. She was ill at ease in his presence.

`You've been
ill, Miss Penvenen?’

‘
I am a little
out of sorts, and the heat of
a London summer took my energy. How is your wife?'

`Very well, thank you. We are all very well. And the mine has come into paying country, so that I am making
money for the first time
in my life. And all thanks to you,
’

She looked quite convincingly surprised; then to give herself an escape from hi
s heavy-lidded look, she turned and pulled the bell
tassel beside her.

'I drew it out of Pascoe last week,' he said. 'Afterwards he was a thought repentant of his confidences, but I gave him your full absolution.
’

`Indeed.'

`Yes, indeed. So it would
be a pity
to waste time denying the indictment. You are convicted, Miss Penvenen, off wilfully saving people from the worst disaster that bankruptcy can bring. You had no possible excuse for doing it, no ties
of friendship or relationship,
and it is a very grave charge.'

`And what's the sentence?'

'To receive my gratitude for a selfless, kind, and Christian act that I shall never be able to understand and shall never forget.'

The colour came to her
face, perhaps more at his tone
than what he had said. She
laughed and turned towards
the door, glad before it opened of the interruption: When the sherry was on a table between them
and the servant had
left again, she said
`You make altogether too much
of it, Captain Poldark
!
’

'Ross,' he said. `Christian names for a Christian act."

'Captain Ross, then. You make; far too much of it. I have always been used to indulging my whims, and that was such a one. Sherry?'

`Thank you. I
disagree as to making much of it. You should have been in my shoes.'

`But I was not. And don't forget, spinsters are, unpredictable at the best of times. I might well have endowed a sailor's home instead, or indeed turned against you as easily-'

`I don't believe you.'

`In any case, the money is nothing to me. A few hundred pounds-'

'Dwight tells me your personal fortune is not large.'

At that she was silent
a moment, took up a biscuit,
and
chewed it slowly. `You have answers all ways. I see there is
nothing for it but to acc
ept the halo you offer me.' She
put up her hand to her hair. `I imagine it would look comic on a redhead, and in any case I shall surely, tip it off at the first fence. But if it pleases you, Captain Ross, then don't let me interfere with any arrangements you wish to make. The canonisation could be arranged for tomorrow at eleven.'

Ross sipped his sherry. ''My
journey took me five days. I have been thinking a good deal about you on the way-'

‘I
pray not for the whole f
i
ve days. I do remem
ber my ears burning once, but I thought it was the
f
ever back.' `I came to tell you
-
one thing
I came to tell you is that
I shall be able to repay the whole of the money very, soon. I have with me a draft o
n Pascoe's Bank for £280
,
which is your interest for the
year.
But the capital should also be
forthcoming within a few months.'

`There you are, you see
! You elevate me merely for a shrewd stroke of business. I don't believe my uncles earned me anything near twenty per cent when the money was in their
charge.
’

'You talk of being a spinster, but I believe you're not to
remain so very much longer. I heard of your engagement just
before I left
-
to a Lord Coniston, is it?'

`Does that affect the
safety of my investment?' 'No.
It only points my interest in your future.'

She rose and poured him another glass of sherry. Her arm
was freckled along its outer curve.

`You were not about to make me an offer yourself, Captain
Ross?'

He smiled. 'I'm not a Muslim. And have seldom regretted it before.'

She curtsied slightly before, she sat down. `Thank you for being so gracious about it. But your compliments come a trifle early.
I
'm not promised to Walter.'

`Not? You mean you are not promised to Lord Coniston?'

'You look astonished. Does it matter
-
I mean, to you?'

"Well, yes
.'

'He has offered himself once or twice, the last time as recently as last month. He's personable enough, but I don't think I shall marry him.'

R
oss stared at his wine. Her reply had taken him completely by surprise. All he had planned to say' to her and all he had planned not to say to her
-
had been built on
this belief. He felt as if
his attitude of mind suddenly needed rethinking, and he had only a moment or so in which to do it.

`Your uncle in Cornwall
- told someone I know that you had definitely
promised to mar
r
y
this man.'

My Aunt
Sarah whom I live with here
, always premature. He's eligible and he had asked me, th
at was enough for her.
But why does it upset you?'

`If it's not an impertinence, may I ask why you don't intend to accept?'

She smiled. 'Oh, the usual capriciousness of my, sex?
’

'And you do not love him'

'As you say. I do not love him.'

`In fact, it's ' probable that you are still in love with Dwight

Sh
e took another biscuit. "Could
the impertinence be in that question and not in the other?'

'You know he has joined the Navy?'

She looked
up quickly. Wha
t, Dwight? No; I did not.' For
the first time he had got under her, guard.

`He's joining his ship at Plymouth this week. There has been, no settling h
im in Cornwall since you left.'

`How very unwise of
him! I should have thought he would have behaved with the utmost common sense.'

'One does not always behave very sensibly when
one loves a person as he, loves
you.'

'Did you really come to thank me for the money or to act as his ambassador?'

'He knows nothi
ng of this. But he told Demelza
last week that it was because of you he was leaving us.'

`And what am I supposed t
o do, go into a decline because
of that? Wo
uld it suit you if I gracefully
fretted away?'

'It would suit
me if you told me why you left Cornwall when he failed to meet you that night. Oh, not that. I can understand
that very well. Why you didn't
later accept his very reasonable explanation.'

She got up and went to the window. 'What business is it, of yours?'

'It has suddenly
become my business. I've long had a sincere affection
for Dwight. I'm now under the deepest obligation to you. I want to know.'

'It doesn't give you t
he least excuse to interfere.'

He came up beside her. 'I want to know, Caroline.'

Two young
girls were just coming out of the house in the charge of an older woman, a governess. One girl glanced up at the window and saw Caroline and waved. She raised a hand
in return. 'How is your cousin-in -law, Elizabeth Poldark?'

'She's married again. She married George Warleggan.' 'Oh... That does surprise me. Are they living at Trenwith?'

`Yes. On my doorstep.'

`That will not be welcome to you `It is not welcome to me,'