Jeremy Poldark (5 page)

"Did
many in the village know of your trip?"

Oh
.,.. yes, I s'pose. Tis hard for 'em not to guess when you're gone half the
week. But not where we was going to bring the stuff in. That were knowed by
only six or seven. If I could lay me hands on the one that couldn't make to
hold his tongue - or, still more, give us away on purpose .. ."

It
was dark and stuffy in the room, and Dwight had a sudden urge to put his hands
up to the slanting beams and push them away. These people might as well live in
a cave, shut off from light and sun.

'Are
others of your family ill, Betty?"

'Well,
not ill as you'd say. Joan and Nancy has fever too, but they're sweating nicely
and on the mend?'

"Have
they been nursing your baby?"

Betty
stared at him, more anxious to say the right thing;

than
the truthful. "No, sur," she got out at last.

Dwight
picked up his bag. "Well, I should not let them."

He
turned to leave. "Don't be too free with your suspicions, Ted. I know it
is easy to advise, but once you get, suspecting people it's hard to know where
to stop.

As
he left the cottage and crossed the square towards the fish cellars where
several families eked out an existence, he was frowning at the problems the
outbreak of fever had brought him: All this summer he had been troubled by a
new virulence in this seasonal complaint - not merely by the virulence of
taking it bad the way Mrs. Hoblyn had done, but by the emergence of new
symptoms when people should have been on the mend. Discolorations of the skin
developed, and swellings and then a new loss, of strength. Two, children had
recently, died - apparently from this-and several adults were much more ill
than they ought to have been. Even the children who got better were feeble and
yellow, with tumid bellies and weak legs. If measles came they would go off
like flies. He had tried all his favourite weapons but none of them seemed to
do any good. Dwight sometimes, wondered if he ought to invent a new complaint
called privation disease to cover the ills he found.

Ross
rode in to Truro on the following. Monday. Demelza would have gone with him had
she not sensed that he preferred the journey alone. He was like that at
present.

When
he got in he called at once on Mr. Nathaniel Pearce.

Last
February, when the law had so suddenly and unexpectedly moved in the matter,
Ross had still been feeling the worst effects of his bereavement and his
several failures, and he had endured the justice's examination in an angry and
resentful mood. It had early been clear that he must' employ some lawyer to act
for him-and who more natural than his own and his father's, Mr. Notary Pearce,
who also was his co-partner in Wheal Leisure and his creditor to the sum of
fourteen hundred pounds?

But
several times during the months of waiting Ross had wished himself sufficiently
of one mind to make a change before it was too late. Pearce was a good
negotiator, adept in conveyances, a sharp and adroit enough man where money was
concerned; but there were younger and keener men to prepare briefs for the assizes.
Also in this bitter cleavage which had broken out between two factions in the
county during the last few years, Pearce was one of the few men with a foot
still in each camp. He was a friend of Ross's and a friend of the Warleggans. A
shareholder in Wheal Leisure, he nevertheless banked with the
Warleggans-although he sometimes did legal business for Pascoe's. He was a
personal friend of Dr. Choake's, but had loaned money to Dwight Enys. In
principle it was, all very good detachment and impartiality were to be admired.
But lately with ruin and broken homes following in the wake of the struggle, it
just wasn't wholesome any more.

Ross
found him in better spirits than usual. The chronic gout that was settling on
him had eased, and he was using his new mobility - in a furious attack on
boxfuls of ancient legal papers that filled the room. A clerk and an apprentice
were helping in the orgy, carrying boxes to his desk and then bearing away the
crackling yellow parchments which Mr. Pearce weeded out and flung upon the
floor.

When
he saw Ross he, said "There now, Captain Poldark; what a pleasant
surprise; do take a chair, if there is one - clear a chair for Captain
Poldark-I am just sorting a little of the older stuff; nothing modern, you
follow, selecting a little of the older stuff for disposal. You're keeping
well, I hope; this uncertain weather suits some people." He scattered a
dozen mothy letters on the floor and set his bob wig straight. " My
daughter was saying only yesterday - Noakes, take these boxes with you: all
this Basset and Tresize stuff has to remain intacta.... A little joke-there,
Captain Poldark, if one knows the subject of the 1705 files.... The older
families naturally expect their lawyers to preserve all correspondence relating
but space; is the obstacle; one needs cellars. My daughter was saying wet
summers are healthy, summers, do you agree?"

"I'll
not; keep you long," said Ross.

Pearce
glanced at him and set down the bundle of papers he had grasped. " No.
Quite so. But I have a free morning. There are one or two things. Noakes - and
you, Biddle you can leave us. Never mind the boxes. Dear, dear, not in front of
the desk. That's right.... Now, Captain Poldark. We're quite cosy. One minute,
just to poke the fire.... So they settled to be cosy in the hot, paper-littered
room, and Mr. Pearce scratched himself and informed Ross what arrangements had
so far been made for his downfall. The assizes would be formally, opened on
Saturday the fourth, prox., though no business would be transacted until the Monday.
Ross would be required to present himself to the Governor of the Prison not
later than Thursday, the second. The Hon. Mr. Wentworth Lister and the Hon. Mr.
H. C. Thornton, two of His Majesty's Judges out of the Court of Common Pleas,
were to hold the commission. Probably H. C. Thornton would deal with the nisi
prius side, and Wentworth. Lister would handle the Crown cases. The lists were
very crowded because when the winter assizes had been due to take place there had
been so much fever in Launceton that the lawyers had refused to come down, and
nearly all the cases had been postponed until the summer. It was likely, however,
that Ross's trial, being considered an important one, would be put forward to
the Tuesday or the Wednesday.

Who
is leading for the Crown?"

"
Henry Bull, I believe. I could have wished for someone different though, mind
you, I've, never seen him, don't know, him, except by repute; and by repute
he's a trifle hard-hitting, shall we say. No great lawyer, one understands, but
keen to get his verdict. Still, that's as may be. You've a great deal of good
will, Captain Poldark; it all helps; dear me, it's of high importance where a jury
is concerned. Pearce reached forward with his curtain rod and jabbed at the
fire again.

Good
will and ill will," said Ross, watching the other's face.

"Indeed,
one doesn't hear of it. Naturally, there may be some; we all have enemies; it's
hard to come through life without them. But not many, I'm thinking, being committed
in a magistrate's court as you were, can have had their bail money paid in by
two of the magistrates on the bench. And - after the things you said it was, I
declare, a considerable: tribute. You were a thought-hrr-hrr-reckless, to say
the least, as I've suggested before."

"I only said what I thought."

Oh, I've not doubt of
that; indeed not. But if one may venture the suggestion - it doesn't always do,
Captain Poldark, to say exactly what one thinks without regard to one's
circumstances - that's if one wishes to - er –“ . In this case, with Lord
Devoran and Mr. Boscoigne sympathetic towards you, some-some formula might have
been found if you had not committed yourself, so willingly. I hope, when the
opportunity comes for you, to speak in court, you will have greater regard for
your safety. In my view humble as it is - a lot will hang on your attitude
then."

"
Hang is the word." Ross got up and made his way among the papers to the
window.

" Let us hope not. Dear me, no. But,
remember, you will have a jury to, consider - always very susceptible to good
and bad impressions. You can do a great deal for yourself, believe me. Of
course, counsel will advise you when you see him-and I do trust you'll accept
his advice."

Ross watched a spider crawling up into its web
in a corner of the windowpane. Look, Pearce, there is one thing I have not done
and must do-that is, make a will. Can you have it done - drawn up now so that
it may be signed before. I leave?"

"Why, yes, it's not impossible so long as
the testamentary conditions are riot involved. Noakes can be got in when you
please".

"
It should not be involved at all. A simple straightforward statement that I
leave all my debts to my wife."

Pearce picked up a book
and allowed a fat finger to travel experimentally along its edge for dust.
" Not so bad as that; surely, ha,-ha! Things are somewhat tight for the
moment, but no doubt they'll ease."

They'll ease if they're allowed to ease. If
things go wrong at Bodmin, you'll barely see your money back. So it's
self-interest as well as common justice to get me my freedom." There was a
faint ironical spark in Ross's eyes.

"Just
so. Just so. We shall all work for it, believe me. A great deal depends on the
jury. I confess I should feel a small matter more settled if there had not been
so much trouble in France. We have to face it. That disturbance in Redruth in
the autumn; ten years ago it would have been a case for the petty sessions - now
one hanged and two transported Mr. Pearce scratched under his wig. " Shall
I call in Noakes again now?"

“Please do,"

The lawyer levered himself out of his chair and
pulled the bell. "We still have the defence statement to complete. It's
essential if you're to plead not guilty that ..."

Ross turned from the window. " Leave it
today. I don't think I'm in the mood. When the jail is waiting I may bring my
mind to a better grip of the affair........................................................... "

He had a standing invitation to dinner with the
Pascoes, and when he left Mr. Pearce's office, as it was by then two o'clock,
he walked at a leisurely pace towards the bank, which was in Pydar Street.
Another bad day; August was refusing to relent. A cold northwest wind was
bringing heavy showers, and the hot sun that broke between had no time to dry
the streets before the clouds blew up again for the next storm. In this town
where little-rivulets ran down the side of the streets even in the dryest of
summers, and half-hidden streams bubbled in every side alley, a town that one
could not leave except by bridge or ford, one got a sense of saturation. In
lowlying places the muddy pools were slowly submerging the cobbles and joining
to become lakes.

To
avoid one stretching half across Powder Street, Ross turned up the slit of
Church Lane, and the wind, suddenly finding new venom, blew at his coattails
and tried to snatch his hat. Another man behind him was not so lucky, and a
black felt with a wide brim came hobbling along the wet cobbles to finish up at
Ross's feet. He picked it up. As its owner came along he saw that it was
Francis. So much had happened in their relationship since the angry scene of
last August that they met like strangers, remembering the old emotions but no
longer feeling them..

“God's my life," said Francis. "What
a. pesky wind. One is blown down this alley like a pea down a pipe."- He
accepted the hat but did not put it back on his head. His hair continued to
blow about. "Thank you, Cousin."

Ross nodded briefly and moved to pass on.

" Ross .."

He
turned. Francis was thinner, he noticed. The threat of stoutness had gone; but
he looked no better for it. "Well?"

"We meet irregularly, and that no doubt's
too often for you. It's not a view I'd criticise; but there's a thing or two I
want to say in case another year passes before the opportunity occurs
again."'

Well?" Ross's unquiet eyes stared past the
other man.

Francis hunched up the high velvet collar of his
coat.

Talking
in this funnel's trying on the temper. I'll walk with you a few paces."

They fell into step. Francis did not speak until
they reached St. Mary's Church and turned along beside the railings of the
churchyard.

Two things, I think, in the main. You cannot
want my good wishes or be in a mood to appreciate them, but when you go to
Bodmin next month you may know that you have them just the same."

“Thanks”

"
The second is that should my help be of any use you may have that also.",

"I don't think it can be"

" Nor I, in the main concern, or I'd
proffer it with greater eagerness.' But in one eventuality ..."

He
hesitated and stopped, both in speech and in motion.

Ross waited. Francis was rapping at the railings
with his stick.

"Gravestones
are a good place for confidences, no doubt. Supposing things should go wrong
with you next month, how is Demelza fixed?

Ross raised his head as if conscious of some
challenge - not from Francis, but from this circumstance which was rearing
itself in other - people's minds as well as his own. "She'll survive. What
is it to you?"

"Only that help may be offered in a variety
of ways. I'm no doubt as nearly bankrupt as you, or nearer; but if after next
month you are in prison and I out, she can turn to me if she needs help or
advice. I have a name still in the county and happen to have a little hard
money put by. She may, have that if she needs it, or anything else I own."

It was Ross's impulse to say, What, turn to a
traitor and a sneak thief like you, who betrayed and ruined a dozen good men
and a fine project for the sake of petty spite; but he had no proof, and anyway
it was over and gone. Resentment and bitterness and old grudges were dead
things which rotted the hands that grasped them. Something Demelza said last winter
just after Julia's death: " All our quarrels seem small and petty.
Oughtn't we to find all the friendship we can while there's still time?"

He said: "Is that Elizabeth's view
too?"

I haven't consulted her. But I'm sure it would
be."

The sun had gone in for the next shower. The
light was hard and metallic, the street still and colourless as in a steel
engraving.

Thank you. I hope the offer will not be
necessary."

That's my hope too, of course."

The thought welled up suddenly in Ross that but
for this man none of the rest might have happened. The copper company on its
feet, his child alive. 'No stopping it this time. Yet here he was, soberly
talking as if nothing had happened. A blow in the face.

He said in a changed voice: "I have just
made my will.

Pearce has it. No doubt he'll be capable of
discharging his duties if the worst comes to the worst." He raised his
crop in a half salute, not meeting his cousin's eyes, and turned on his heel to
continue to the Pascoes'.

Harris Pascoe was behind the counter when he
went in; but the banker at once beckoned him to come to the side, and they
entered the private room together. Over a glass of brandy Pascoe said: