The Black Moon (7 page)

`Who is it? Who's there? Come out! Show yourselves!' Although he spoke in a commanding tone the boy was nervous and took a step away as he spoke.

They came slowly out, dusting the broken twigs and bracken from their clothes, rubbi
ng their hands down the side of
their trousers.

`Day to you,' said Drake, as ever politely pleasant in a crisis; `Sorry if we startled you, We thought to rest awhile and had no wish to disturb no one.'

`Who are you?' said the boy. `This is private property! Are you my uncle's men?'

'No,
sur,' said Drake. `Leastwise, thinkin' ye mean Mr
Warleggan. No, sur.
We was just carren this piece of timber from St Ann's over to Mellin. Tis all of six mile and we thought to lay our bur
den down for a few minutes, for
the beam is some heavy. I trust we done no wrong.'

`You're tre
spassing,' said the boy. `This
is our land! Do you know what the penalties are for trespass?' The girl put her hand on, the boy's arm but he shook it off.

`Beg pardon, sur, but we thought this was a right o' way. We seen the stile and years ago when we come t
his way there was naught to let or hinder
us.' Drake turned his open smiling face to the girl. 'We intended no wrong, ma'am. Perhaps you'll kindly explain to
young Mr Warleggan that we 'ad no thought
to trespass on private land-'

`My nam
e is not Warleggan,' said the
boy.

`Beg your, pardon again. We thought as this was Warleggan land -'

`This is Poldark land and my name is Poldark,' said the boy. `However,
it is true that until
a year ago
village people were allowed to
go this way, though never by right. It was only that my family had long been indulgent in such matters.'

'Mr Poldark,' said Drake. `If your name's Mr Poldark, young sur, then maybe you'll see fit to overlook this mistake, because we
’
re related to Captain Ross Poldark, who, twouldn't be fancifu
l to suppose, may be related to
you.'

The boy looked at their working clothes. He had .a high fresh colour and a natural arrogance of manner inherited from his father. He was tall for his age and rather plump; a good-looking boy but with a restive air.

`Related
to my uncle
- Captain Ross Poldark? In what way related?'

'Cap'n Poldark's wife, Mistress Demelza Poldark, is our sister.'

This was a statement rather beyond Geoffrey Charles's knowledge to refute, but he looked sceptical. 'Where do you come from?'

`Illuggan.'

`That's far away, isn't it?'

`Twelve mile maybe. But we don't live there now. We d'live at Nampara. That is, at Reath, just over the hill from Nampara. I'm working in the house , for Cap'n Poldark, carpenter and the like. My brother, Sam is down mine.'

The boy shrugged.
'Mon Dieu. C'est incroyable.'

`Please?'

‘
So perhaps it was my uncle who sent your to get this beam?'

Drake hesitated but Sam, who until now had let his younger and more charming brother do'
all the talking, interposed to
remove the e
asy temptation. `I'm sorry, no.
Your uncle didn't know nothing of this. But dye see, with the assistance and to the greater glory of God, we been building up an old cottage. We been working on it two month or more and wanted a long beam fourteen, fifteen foot long for to carry the roof. And this was washed in at St Ann's
and we bought him
and was carren home.'

`Excuse the question, ma'am,' Drake said. `But I b'lieve I see you at Grambler church most 'Sundays?'

She had, taken off her spectacles again, and looked at him coldly with her soft, short-sighted beautiful eyes,
`That
may be so.'

But Drake, however deferential, was hard to put down, `No offence meant,' ma'am. None at all.'

She inclined her head.

'In the secon
d pew from the front,' he said,
`right-hand side. You have a rare handsome hymn book wi' a gold cross on him and gold edges to the leaves.'

The girl put down her sheaf of bluebells. `Geoffrey Charles, as it was customary in the old days to come through this wood .

But Geoffrey Charles was looking at the beam. `It is off a ship, isn't it? See, here is a hole that must have had a metal rod through it. And the corner has been chiselled away. But all that will surely weaken it as a beam, won't it?'

'We reckon to cut that end off,' said Drake. `We only d'want fourteen feet and this is nigh on eighteen.'

`So why did you not saw it off before you left St Ann's?
It would have made it that much
less heavy to carry.' The
boy chuckled at his, own astuteness.

`Yes, but maybe we can
find a use for the stump. Good
oak be hard to come by. Where you've paid for him all ye don't like to take only the part.'

`Is it very heavy?' The boy put
his shoulder under the end
that rested on the fallen tree
and lifted. He went red in the face: `
Mon Dieu, vous avez raison-‘

'Geoffrey!' said the girl starting
f
orward. `You will hurt yourself
!'

`That I will not; said Geoffrey, letting the end down again. `But it is heavy as lead 1 Have you already borne it more than two miles? Try it, Morwenna, just try it!'

Morwenna said slowly: `It is only two fields after this wood to the public way again.; You will see
the old
pat
h still marked. But when you go
do not loiter.'

`Thank
you, ma'am,' said Sam.
`We're
in your debt for that.'

Her dark sober glance went over the two young men. `I think there will be two men in the furthest field now milking the cows. If you were to wait a half-hour they, would then be gone and you would run less risk of being stopped.'

`Thank you, ma'am. That's a kin
d thought. We're doubly in your
debt.

`But before we go let us see you lift it!' cried Geoffrey

Charles, "I cannot imagine y
ou carrying it three miles more!
' The two brothers' exchanged glances. `Aye, we'll do that,'
said Sam.

So, watched by the young woman and the young boy, they heaved it upon their shoulders. Geoffrey; Charles nodded his approval. Their they lowered their
burden again.

Geoffrey Charles his earlier hostility gone, wanted to stay on, but Morwenna took him
by the arm. 'Come, your mother
will wonder what' has become of us. We shall
be late
for supper.

Smiling Drake picked up
the bluebells for her and put them into her arms. Geoffrey Charles said `I have not seen my Uncle Ross for some time. Pray give him my respects.'

Both the brothers bowed
and then stood together watching
Geoffrey Charles and his governess return through, the trees the way they had come.

Morwenna Chynoweth said: `I think; Geoffrey, it might be advisable that we should say nothing of having met
those young men.'

`But
why? They were doing no harm.'

`Your Uncle George is strict about trespass. One should not want to get
them
into trouble."

`Agreed.' He chuckled. `But they are strong ! One day when I grow up I hope I shall be as strong.'

`You will. If you eat well and go to bed early.'

`Oh that old tale;
You know, Wenna, I wonder if there was a word of truth in their story of being related to Uncle Ross. Mama has told me that Aunt Demelza was low born, but I had not, realized as low as that. It may well have been a fable, to enlist our sympathy.'

`I have seen them in church,' said Morwenna. `I remember seeing them but Captain Poldark comes so seldom that I have no way of knowing, if they were in his pew. I think they sat at the back.'

'The younger one is
funny, isn't he?' Such a funny smile. I wonder what their names
are. I
must ask Mama some time about Aunt Demelza.'

`If you ask your mother about them she is sure to discover our secret:'

`Yes ... Yes, 'I am not good at keeping a secret, am I
? So I will leave it a few days
. Or why do you not ask? Yo
u are so much cleverer than me
'

By now they had reached the far side of, the next field and the gate which led into the garden of Trenwith; The chimneys and gables of the house w
ere to be seen among its sur
rounding trees. As Morwenna lifted the latch of the gate they heard footsteps behind. It was Drake halfway across the field running and leaping
among the grass and stones
to overtake them.

He
came up smiling and gasping for breath. In his hands was a large bunch of bluebells, much larger than the one M
orwenna carried. He handed them
to her.

`All that time you wasted talking to we. You might've pick
ed as many more so I've picked
as many more. Thank ye, and good eve to you.'

They stood and watched him trot back. Morwenna looked around to see if there was anyone about who might have observed him. Among the bluebell
s
were pink ragged robin and whi
te milkmaid. Having regard to the speed with w
hich it had been done it was a pretty bouquet. Morwenna knew from his eyes that it was meant as a bouquet; She resented the impertinence, coming as it did from one of his station. But he had gone running and hopping back into the wood.

Ross went to see Caroline Penvenen on Whit Tuesday, the 10th of June. He had shopping to do and business in Truro and suggested that Demelza should come as far as Killewarren with him, spend a few hours with Caroline and the
n make a leisurely return home.
Demelza refused.

`For one thing, I'm queasy. It won't last long, if I mind the other times; but just now I'm
queasy, and riding behind you
don't make it better. Also I would have to borrow a mine pony.'

When
he reached Killewarren and was shown into the parlour Caroline was already waiting for him; and he explained Dem
elza's absence, though not the
reason for her indisposition. (It was one of the few morbid quirks in Demelza's character, he thought, this
desire
always to hide her pregnancies from people until the last moment possible.)
Caroline said: `
But even for you, there was no
need

"Need enough. I presume
you have no further news?'

'I have written to the Admiralty twice but they say they have no information yet.'

`No, in
formation about Dwight or about
the Travail?'

'About the Travail; I g
ather. Here is the last letter.
One of the petty; humiliations of this matter is that I have no
official status
. I am not his wife, nor his sister,
nor his cousin, nor his ox nor his ass nor anything that is his. I
still avoid telling people of our engagement, since it could so easy come back to Uncle Ray.'

He thought how drawn and thin she looked in her long
dark frock the tall bright
sunflower had suddenly faded, `Are you eating anything
, Caroline?' She looked up. 'Am
I allowed no secrets?'
'And now that hunting is over,
do you have any change of
company or scene? Do you go out?'

`The most excelle
nt company in the world is my
horse.' `You do not ride to us.'

`I do not like to be from home more than two or three hours.'

'My dear, I know it's easy to advise, but e
ven if the worst were true, you
have your own life to consider.'

'Why?'

He got up from the chair he had just taken and put the letter on the bureau. `Oh, I am the last one to chide you, being of a somewhat melancholic temperament myself. Demelza, is the one to advise: whatever her circumstanc
es I believe she would find ten
good reasons for living and for appreciating her existence, But even I must urge you . . ,' He
stopped.

'Yes, Ross,' she said smiling sweetly at. him. `Even you must urge me - to do what?'

'Not to despair.'

She shrugged. `Of course I
dramatize, the situation. It is an old failing of mine. But you will understand that for one of my temperament the waiting and
the inaction is a little trying. This doctor
is a fool, but if I can judge the signs right Uncle Ray cannot live many weeks longer.; So I am bound by some sort of blood ti
e not to let him die without at
least one friendly face
by his bed. So I cannot go to Plymouth, to London, wherever one does go to press for news of Dwight '

`What use would it be? If the Admiralty does not know, who can know? Only the French. In the case of officers it is usual - it has been usual - to exchange them quite quickly. Certainly their names shou
ld soon come through. But the revolution is now so out of
hand
`The Mercury
says that Danton is dead
!
’

'Oh, yes, a month or more ago. He at least was a great man. Now we are left with the rats.'

'It says Saint-Just and Robespierre are supreme.'

`No one is supreme for more
than a day. The fault it seems
in any revolution is that it must always run downhill. V
ictory
is, always for the extremists. There is always someone to
say that the party in power is
not ardent enough.'

`There must be an
end somewhere.'

'It must end in some form of olig
archy, but these people are not
strong enough. Who controls the army will ultimately control France.'

He stood staring out of
the window at the bright
day, his eyes concentrated on
things t
hat were not seen. The way his hair grew now,
you cou
ld hardly see the old scar. She
watched him, quietly. She sometimes thought she had more understanding, more fellow feeling towards him than towards Dwight, whom she consumedly loved. Ross was obstinate, like herself, the non-conformer, the near-rebel,
the believer in his own judgment even when his judgment went against the observed facts, a man who always kicked out at and resented the malignant irrelevances of fate.

`And in the meantime?'

`In the meantime the guillotine works day and night. Last week a Duke and two Marshals of France, all over eighty; Malesherbes the lawyer, together with his wife; his brother, his children and his grandchi
ldren; an establishment of nuns, tied together and heaped
in carts;
the King's sister, Elizabeth;
girls for singing an impudent song; boys for being the sons of their fathers. They're killing more women and children now because there are not enough men left.'

Caroline got up, went to the sideboard, poured herself a glass of brandy. `And you tell me to hope for Dwight's survi
val: What chance would there be
for him among s
uch a rabble
even if he reached the shore?'

`Oh, there is all the difference. An enemy -
even an English than would never be half so bitterly hated as one of their own kind with aristocratic blood or a different view of government. And these - these revolutionary excesses chiefly affect Paris and the larger cities of France. I would
not think the treatment of an
English officer shipwrecked on the Brittany
coast would differ materially from that accorded a French officer shipwrecked in Cornwall.'

She sipped her drink
and looked at him over the rim
of her glass. `Oh, don't think I am taking to the bottl
e. If I choose a solvent for my
present anxiety, it will not be in the lees of liquor.'

'I was not thinking that.'

`You still believe the war will be long?'

`Well one tends to
underestimate the effect on a French general of knowing that retreat for him means the guillotine,

`You know more than I can glean from reading the papers, Ross.'

His eyes were lidded; then he looked up and smiled. `As you know to your cost - I have contacts with gentlemen in the Trade. Now that prosperity has come I no longer take any part in it myself surprising how respectable one grows with money in the purse but my old colleagues are still about. I talk with them sometimes. They bring back news ...'

`Might they have news before anyone else of this shipwreck?'

The question surprised him; stupidly it had not occurred to
him where her thoughts were leading.

'Roscoff and the other Brittany ports are some way from where this the Travail went ashore. I have no idea of distances there, but I will ask. Two or three of the men I know speak serviceable French. If there is a hope of finding out anything of value I will go myself.'

She put her drink down, moistened he
r lips. The spirit was bringing
colour to her face. `There, is no need to put yourself at risk, but I thought-'

`Little enough risk. But first I will find out when the next run, is due and ask someone to make inquiries. There is no need to wait for a St Ann's boat if one is not going soon. I have friends at Looe also.'

`Try both,' said Caroline.

Ross was to
spend the night at the Pascoes
and was to dine: with Harris Pascoe at three. He found his old friend in very good spirits. Passing through the bank with its two clerks, busy with customers, they, went into the dining-room behind and ate alone.

Harris said: `You will be delighted with the war news, Ross. Perhaps you have already heard it in town?'

`No, I ha
ve only seen Barbary,
who was much concerned for the safety of one of his ships which is overdue with timber; and perhaps he was too worried to take heed of it.'

'He should not be, for it will directly concern him. Howe has won a f-famous victory off Ushant. He caught the French fleet under Admiral - I do not recollect his name - the French fleet being the larger,
and. in