Jeremy Poldark Read Free Page B

it'll work.
    Did you find Ray?"
    " Yes. Oh yes. I told him Caroline wanted
to break the journey down here to be in Bodmin during the election; but
Caroline has written him also, so it was no news. Like her to ask me to ask her
uncle and then to write herself!"
    She's only a girl. Be patient with her, Unwin.
You'll need patience. She's temperamental and wayward. And there are others
will think her a good catch beside yourself."
    Unwin bit at the top of his riding crop. "
The old man's an ingrained miser. There he was this morning, turning over the
accounts with his scabby hands, and the house - no mansion at the best of times
- nearly falling; down for want of repair. It's really no fit place for
Caroline to spend half her life."
    "You'll be able to alter all that."
    "Aye. Someday. But Ray's no more than
fifty-three or -four. He might live ten year yet." Unwin went to the
window and stared out, across the sea, which was quiet this morning. The low
cloud over the craggy cliffs had darkened the colour of the water to a deep,
veined green. Some sea gulls had perched on the wall of the house and were
throatily crying. To the tall man, accustomed now to London life, the scene was
melancholy. Penvenen's got some uncommon views altogether. He was giving it as
his opinion this morning that Cornwall is over-represented in Parliament. Says
the seats should be redistributed among the new towns in the midlands. Stuff
and nonsense."
    "Take no notice of his little foibles. He
often says these things to annoy. It is a way he has."
    Unwin turned. "Well, I hope we have no more
elections for another seven years. It will, cost me upwards of two thousand pounds
just for the pleasure of being returned - and you know that doesn't end it or
begin it for that matter."
    Sir John's eyes took on a cautious bloodless
look, as they always did when money was mentioned. "Your profession's of
your own choosing, my boy. And there's others worse off. Carter of Grampound
was telling me he would have to pay as much as three hundred guineas a vote
when the time came. He got up and pulled the bell. " Mistress Poldark was
asking me if I should be in Bodmin for the hustings. I wonder what her purpose
was in that?"

Chapter Two
    The morning was well gone when Demelza turned
Caerhays towards dinner and home. As she skirted the grounds of Trenwith House
she wished she could have dropped in for a few minutes' friendly chat with Verity.
It was something she greatly missed and could never get used to. But Verity was
in Falmouth, if not further afloat - happily married, it seemed, in spite of
all foreboding; and she, Demelza, had been the active conniver in the change,
so she could not complain. Indeed it was Verity's elopement which had caused a
sharper breach between the families, and, in spite of Demelza's self-sacrifice
of last Christmas, the breach was not properly closed. The responsibility was
not now Francis's. Since the illnesses of last Christmas and little Julia's
death he seemed most anxious to show his gratitude for what Demelza had done.
But Ross would have none of it. The failure of the Carnmore Copper Company lay
insuperably between them. And if what Ross suspected about that failure was
right, then Demelza could not blame him. But she would have been much happier
with it otherwise. Her nature always preferred the straightforward settlement
to the lingering bitter suspicion
    Just before she lost sight of the house she saw
Dwight Enys coming along the track in her wake, so reined in her horse to wait
for him. The young surgeon took off his hat as he came up.
    "A fine morning, ma'am. I'm glad to see you
enjoying the air."
    With a purpose," she said, smiling. "
Everything I do these days is with some, purpose or another. Very moral, I
suppose, if you look at it that way."
    He answered her smile - it
was difficult not to - and allowed his horse to, walk along beside hers. The
track was just wide enough for them to go abreast. He noticed professionally
how slight