Bella Poldark Read Free

nothing about it and so long as others know nothing about it. It is not love that is so much injured, it is pride. It is self-esteem. It is vanity. Love plays a small part in their sense of outrage.'
    'Maybe it is the same for men. Some men. Ultimately it surely comes down to the characters of the people involved?'
    'Well done! You are learning fast.'
    'Insolent puppy.'
    Valentine laughed. 'Now I know I am forgiven.'
    I have nothing to forgive, except your impertinence. Make sure you don't meet others less amenable.'
    'Give me a leg-up, will you? It's a job to get any springboard on this soft sand.'
    Demelza was in bed when he reached Nampara, but not asleep. She was reading a book by the light of three candles. They smiled at each other.
    'Did you get wet?'
    'No, the tide was ebbing quickly.'
    'I thought there was a shower.'
    'I missed it.'
    In the candlelight she looked unchanged. In the daylight the laughter lines round her eyes and mouth had become more noticeable, but even that detracted very little from her fine looks. Only the glint of zest had gone from her eyes since Jeremy's death. Her hair, which had developed pronounced streaks of grey, was now back to its original colour. For some years, knowing Ross's dislike of hair dye, she had dabbed surreptitiously at various strands appearing around the ears and temples, believing he did not notice. But last year he had returned from London with a bottle of hair dye which had been matched to perfection because he had stolen a lock of her hair while she was asleep. When he gave her the bottle he had said simply: 'I don't want you to change.'
    'Did you see anyone?' Demelza asked.
    'Valentine.'
    'Dear life. What was he about?'
    'Paying attentions, I gather, to some maid in the Treneglos household called Carla May.'
    'He is - impossible.'
    'Yes.'
    Ross regretted he had said so much. Valentine had become rather a bone of contention between them. Not that he felt he had broken his pledge to Valentine, for Demelza never gossiped.
    'He was on the beach?'
    'Yes.'
    'Dear life. On the prowl, I s'pose. And Selina six months forward.'
    He sat on the bed and began to unfasten his neckcloth. 'Bella safely in bed?'
    'She went up soon after you left. Ross, she thought you'd gone out because she was practising her high notes.'
    'I thought she might. I must tell her it was not so. You know how I get these impulses to take a long walk.'
    'It truly was not so, then?'
    He half laughed. 'She knows I am not partial to her voice. Truth to tell, I am perhaps not very partial to women's singing at all. Except yours, because yours is low and so easy to listen to. People say she has a good voice--'
    'Far, far better than mine.'
    'It is certainly louder!'
    'It is much admired, Ross. In Truro they thought most highly of it.'
    'I know. And when Christopher comes he flatters her.'
    'I don't know if you happen to have noticed, but they are in love.'
    He patted her hand. 'Sarcasm does not become you. But it is a condition in which one tends to exaggerate the talents of the person one loves.'
    'I don't suppose I have often exaggerated your talents, Ross.'
    He half laughed again. 'There have been times, but we won't go into that. In fact that could be taken two ways . .. I must say, though
    'Well, say it.'
    I do not think Bella needs to start singing at nine o'clock at night. She'll disturb Harry.'
    to When Harry is asleep it would take a thunderbolt wake him. And, as another point, he admires his sister.'
    'Admires her? Well so do I! Very much. She is - is the
    most engaging of our children. She's the most like you, except that she lacks the gentleness.'
    He went to the table, opened a tin box, damped his forefinger and began to rub his teeth with his favourite red root. Then he filled a mug from the pitcher and rinsed his mouth out.
    'Talking of daughters,' he went on when he had finished,
    'we have not had our usual letter from Clowance. I hope nothing is amiss.'
    'If I don't hear I will go this week. She