The Black Moon (8 page)

a day-long battle has cut it to pieces! Seven French ships of the line destroyed or captured and of the rest many seriousl
y damaged and all put to flight
! It is one of the greatest victories in history and should bring this detestable regime to its knees! The blockade w
ill now be complete
!'

They drank to the victory, and ate hashed mutton and, a roasted goose followed by strawberries with a good French wine and a crusted port. Ross asked if Harris's daughter was away.

`Not away, but staying with her aunt for a day or two. You have heard that happy news also?'

'No?'

'
She is engaged to be married to
your c-cousin St John Peter. I wonder you have not heard; though in fact the engagement was only made public at the beginning of this
month. We plan an October wedding. It is a very
happy time for Joan-and for me also,
although I shall greatly miss her. But it is time I had grandsons, and, although my sons are hardly yet fledged, Joan is twenty-nine.' Harris chewed reflectively and took a smal
l bone out of his mouth. `I had
thought, I had feared .. You remember her attachment for young Dr Enys. It came to nothing
-
I believe he is now at sea-but
I feared that having committed herself, as it were, to him, she
might, miss
marriage altogether. She does not easily change allegiances. Of course she has known St John
-
as I have known him - for many year
s; but it never occurred to me,
as perhaps it did not occur to her, that any attachment might develop. I am happy also that through this marriage the Pascoes and the Poldarks will be brought a little nearer together. It's a very favourable outcome.'

Ross murmured his congratulations. Perhaps, Harris Pascoe detected some reservation in his guest's g
ood wishes, for he said: `Oh,
I know St John Peter has not been the most industrious or studious of young men. But it is not an uncommon pattern when one inherits
a small estate quite young
' The banker stopped, for
he perceived that he might be
on delicate ground.

`It is
a very familiar pattern,' `Ross said. `One inherits the traditions of a gentleman, the pride of a squire, a dislike of work and a contempt
for trade;
all of which might be, tolerable if the estate were not too small t
o live off and already heavily
mortgaged by one's father.'

'I was not
attempting to draw a
p-parallel,' Ross. In any case you made no bones about abandoning such a
tradition
and the outcome happily is now in no doubt. I have, hopes, with Joan's steadying influence and the ambition which may come of fathering a family, that St John will,
find
a new incentive in life. He is only twenty-seven:'

That made him at least two years younger than his bride, even if one did not suspect her of having forgotten a year or two.

'Oh, 'I think St John has much to
commend
him.
He is a cheerful, gay fellow and very good company. We have never been close, but of course the cousinship is somewhat removed - I do not quite know how to estimate these relationships. I believe t
hat although his estate is much
reduced the young man has a couple of sinecures which help him to remain both solvent and a gentleman.' Ross caught Harris Pascoe's
eye and laughed.
-
'Oh, I beg your pardon, Harris. I did not intend to sound so sour. I am very happy both for you and Joan. And, in so far as our ties may be strengthene
d by this marriage, I am, happy
for that also.'

They talked of other things. Banking business was booming, for the war had created a mood of expansion which at times was feverish. Although the mining world and Cornish ind
ustries were still depressed,
money over the country as a whole had become cheap and had, led to new enterprises springing up which hoped to profit from war conditions.

Ross said: `With whom does St John Peter bank?' Knowing already

`Warleggan's. He is very
friendly with them.
George has helped him in a number of ways; and of course I do not take exception to that. The community should not
be expected to divide itself up
into camps. It would be the worst thing.'

`I agree. Butt willy nilly, Harris, you I suspect are in mine.!

'Yes. I do not
admire the Warleggans or their business methods.
Honesty is not a set of rules,
it i
s a standard of ethics.
By the first criterion they are
honest, by the second not. But they exist. And I
suspect - I fear-that as men like them prosper, more and more such will come to the top. Well, we can't alter the world, we can only adapt ourselves to it: As for my future son-in-law, it should not matter that he banks elsewhere, th-though I shall hope that whe
n he marries he will move. I am settling a
substantial sum on
Joan.'

`Naturally.'

`Thi
s of course is
between ourselves. It would be
unhelpful if it got out.'

`Oh?
’

`Well, you know, the stability
of a bank depends on the good standing of its partners. Since it is not a joint stock company, no one is really certain of the depths of its purse. When my father died there was a startling increase in the business we did; because men reasoned, that the sort of a man who left so substantial a fortune must be rich enough to be safe!'

‘
I had no idea.'

'Similarly if men knew I had settled any substantial part o
f my fortune on Joan; it would
leave them feeling less secure o
f the amount I had left to meet
all the contingencies of trade:'

Ross shook his head, `Harris, it is not really for me to suggest; but I wonder if there might be something to be said for offering St John Paul a modest interest in your bank
-
in some form of junior partnership? It would be a way of safeguarding Joan's future and his.'

Harris refilled both glasses. `It did occur to me. Indeed, I came halfway round to the matter when St John was dining with us, last week. I gather from what he said that he would be only
too
happy to accept such an interest if he were to take
no active part. Like Spry, for
instance. But he gave me the impression that he would not wish to be concerned in any ,way with the day-by-day running of the bank or in fact to have his name prominently associated with banking and
usury.

Ross shifted uneasily in his chair. He wondered if this dichotomy of atti
tude was likely to prove the basis
for a happy marriage. 'I always find,' he said, `that the lesser the gentry the gr
eater the pretensions. No doubt
the years will bring him wisdom.'

‘
Th-these are our first strawberries. With this cold spring they have been slow to ripen. And your own affairs? All is still prospering?'

`We shall have a fine show of tin at the next Coinage. I have been wondering how
this new
money coming in might be put to use; a; man who depends on a single venture is more vulnerable
to cold winds than
One, who spreads his interests.'

`I would certainly not advise investment in another mine. This time you have triumphed against all odds . You have heard of course the rumour about the other mine you started?'

`What? Wheal Leisure? No.'

'It is said that the champion
lode, that of red copper, is no longer answering well.,
It is
running, thin and threatening to die.
’

'I hadn't
heard that. And since it is almost on my door step I think it passing
strange I should; not have
' Ross stared at hi
s friend. `Harries, you always, surprise me: you have
the gossip of the county at your fingertips.
’

'I hope it is gossip, for the sake of the Ventures:' Pascoe spoke a little stiffly.

`Gossip was the wrong word. But the reason I tend to discount this news is that Will Henshawe is captain there - and a venturer. As you know, he is captain of Grace too and
one of my oldest friends. I should halve expected him to have told me if the lode were dying.'

`No doubt.' Pascoe took off `his spectacles and polished them on his napkin.

Some drunken
men were shouting outside.. There was a scuffle and a sound of blows and someone ran off shouting.

Ross
said: 'No, I
had not thought of any further adventure in mining. But there are other outlets for investment. The foundries, shipbuilding, the roads
’

`I will keep a l-look out, Ross. But , at the moment, with your prosperity so young, perha
ps it is not an unwise thing to
keep your money safe at a bank as you are doing now. It is easy to withdraw, instantly usable at need, 'In another year perhaps you will have a; greater surplus.

`In six months I shall have a greater surplus,' Ross said. `Don't forget, except
for Henshawe's small stake, I
own the mine entirely.

'Perhaps I am always a trifle the pessimist,' said Pascoe, putting back his spectacles. `But maybe that -is one o
f the necessary characteristics
of a b-ba
n
ker. I do not like th
is war and what it is doing to
us,
even though it may bring a temporary, prosperity.
In order to
destroy this system which we so
much detest we are creating conditions over here which
run contrary to our dearest p—
principles. This new move of Pitt's, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, strikes at the heart of our freedom. Imprisonment wit
hout trial - it is going back
two hundred years! And this huge army we are raising; it is not
a levee en
masse
like France's,
but the m-methods of raising it are as unsavoury. Kidnapping; debauchery, bribery,
any
way of enlisting men. And Pitt is borrowing, borrowing at exorbitant rates to finance the war,
taxes are heavy, I know,- but more taxes would be better`. As it is, he is
mortgaging the future. I don't
like a policy
which, whatever its intentions,
b-bears hardest on the, poor.'

Ross
said: `You know you are speaking to the converted or perhaps you would not be speaking at all. But I have changed my views a small matter in the last two years. At first Burke's thunderings failed to impress, me. But one by one I have watched them come true. This is an evil that we face. When I fought in America I remained unconvinced half the time of what I was fighting for. I would fight much more readily this time.'

`I trust you don'
t intend to.'

Ross was silent. `I am thirty-four, and I have a wife and
a child to consider.' He had
been about to say children. `We are forming a local branch of the Volunteers. What
little I remember of soldiering
may be useful there, But of course it depends how
things develop. England
may soon be fighting alone.'

`I pray God not.'

`Well,
I
don't know. Sometimes this, country is at its best when alone. The history of our unsuccessful wars are the history of our coalitions.'

They got up, and 'the maid came in to clear. A small fire burned in the grate and Harris warmed his hands before it. When the maid had gone, Ross said:
`It would be a strange quirk
of fate if Wheal Leisure were to become less profitable now, George Warleggan, having gone to such lengths,, to possess it, If it were not for the other venturers I should be vastly amused.'

The next morning, having made his purchases, Ross, strolled
down: to the river
behind the old town hall where the Whitsun market was held. There were many things he needed f
or the farm, chiefly livestock,
so much of which had been sold to realize
a
few miserable pounds two and a half years ago. Of course it would all be putt right someday, and some day soon. But one could not buy; really good stock in bulk and in a hurry. One built up a farm lovingly, as he had
done until the winter of 1790.
He had no intention of buying any cattle or
pigs today without
even Cobbledick to drive them, home; but a horse for Demelza to replace Caerhays was an urgent need, and if anything really suitable should be about he might take it.

The really suitable presented itself quite early in his stroll. This Whitsun fair was not as big as the Redruth fair held, every Easter Tuesday, where on one occasion Ross had picked up something of considerable significance in his life, but it filled the fields running down to the river. Stalls and compounds straggled across six or seven acres of trampled muddy grass. Men already lay drank
outside beer tents; half naked
urchins tumbled and fought for scraps whenever, a scrap was thrown; farmers in leggings haggled over the price of sheep and the quali
ty of grain; thin muddy-flanked
cows chewed slowly
and wanted their fate unaware;
a ring was being prepared - for the afternoon's wrestling; a bull snorted and stamped in protest against the stout rope holding him; beggars without legs, beggars without, noses, beggars holding
out withered hands: these
would probably be driven out
of the town before nightfall; the usual sideshows: the flame
-
eaters, the pig with six legs, the fortu
ne tellers and the fat woman'.
Fortunately it was a fine day, but every footstep ploughed deeper into the mud.

Ross was among the stalls where some old clothes and second-hand shoes and wigs were for sale, when a harsh voice behind him said:
`Well, my grandfather's ghost, if it ain't the young
Cap'n himself
! It's you, my so
n. There couldn't be no other!
'

He turned. 'T
holly?' He could not believe his eyes.. `But I supposed you dead!'

A heavy man with the square shoulders of an asthmatic; stooping, forty-six years of age, dressed in a fustian long coat, primrose yellow waistcoat, dark' green corduroy trousers, a green silk neckcloth. A flat nose, dark hair grizzling, icegrey eyes, beside one of which, puckering it like an inefficient seamstress, ran a scar which made Ross's look no more than a cat's scratch. In place of his left hand was a steel hook more suitable to a butcher's shop.

'Dead I been
or near it - oft enough, but come up smiling. It's "been a long time. Thirteen
,
fourteen year?' '

Eighty-one,' said Ross. `Thirteen. It seems a century. I knew only that you'd, gone to sea. You've been away all this time?'

`Till last year. Then I lost this.' He lifted his hook. `So they'd have me
no longer. Old Tholly was done'
for, by God. I been back in the country a year, though not recent
in these parts. Can I sell ye a
bull pup? I breed 'em for baiting, That and all else I can lay hands on. Young Cap'n, by God. Your father be dead, I suppose?'

'Eleven-years.''