The Miller's Dance (20 page)

'Nothing yet?'

'Oh, something. It's all thoroughly cleaned and drained now but the quality of the new ground is poor.'

'Anyway, the Poldarks have done well out of Wheal Grace for years. I should not think such a sum too hard to find.'

Jeremy did not reply. They were near Sawle Church. Fernmore was close by.

'Why do you not come in?' Paul said. 'Daisy is always looking for you and you have been noticeably absent since Easter.'

He had. During the early months of the year he had kept up his light flirtation with Daisy, skating quite agreeably on thin ice. His re-meeting with Cuby had killed all that stone dead. With Daisy he now felt he could only take her into the nearest hayfield and settle for her and arrange a marriage, or keep out of her sight.

'Thanks, but I...' A friendly excuse escaped him. Anyway, what was there for him at home? What was there for him anywhere?'Very well, thank you. How is Violet?'

'She coughed blood again last week but has a remarkable way
of
coming
round.
Inspect
her
for
yourself.
She
will
love
to see you too.'

It was nearly dark before he was able to get away. His father had been out but was likely to be back by now. Jeremy wondered whether to bring up Paul's request tonight. It was an awkward thing to be asked and he was not sure that Paul and he should have been employed as go-betweens. But when creditors pressed ...

He had often noted the shabby comfort of the Kellow home, as Stephen had observed it earlier. Both girls spent money on dressmakers and Paul was always well-clad and well-shod, but Mrs Kellow invariably looked harried and overworked. With the property only rented there would be nothing to offer as surety for loans or to sell if a crisis became too severe. And that startingly bright invalid; what would happen to her?

His father and mother were just finishing supper and he slipped into a chair with an apology for being late, telling them where he had been. They talked in a desultory way over the meal. Clowance, it seemed, was out with Stephen at the Trenegloses. Last Saturday's newspaper had just come with further details of the triumph of Badajoz, but there was still no word from Geoffrey Charles. Friction with the United States was becoming more and more frequent as American ships tried to run the blockade and came into conflict with the British Navy. The paper reported an action which had taken place in the Bay of Biscay, 'Sparring by accident,' they called it, between an American frigate and an English brig of war, in which thirty had been killed in the English ship before the action broke off. The paper also carried advertisements for American vessels which had been captured and condemned as prizes, now up for sale together with their cargoes.

it is like striking sparks near gunpowder barrels,' Ross said. 'Any moment one might blow up.'

'You mean war with America again?' Demelza said.
'There is a probability. Many US Congressmen, I'm sure, look enviously at the open spaces of Canada and its undefended frontier. Our troops out there are minimal.'

I
suppose there's nothing we can do,' Jeremy said.

I
believe we should repeal the Orders in Council and no longer attempt to enforce the blockade so far as American ships are concerned. In any case they don't have a large enough merchant fleet to sway the balance of the war decisively.'

After a silence Jeremy said: 'D'you know...'

They waited but he did not go on.

Demelza said:
I
hope you are not going to say what I think you are going to say.'

Jeremy smiled wryly. 'Perhaps so.'

Ross frowned, is this a game I'm not privy to?'

Jeremy said:
I
shall be twenty-one next week. Maybe it's time.'

I
don't think it is ever time,' Demelza said. 'Well, Mama, I ask myself. The fire engine I've built is working well - there are no immediate flaws, praise be — though the mine so far has produced no results. I cannot see that I am especially
needed here
.'
Ross stared at his son and knew what they were talking
about.
With a shock of
surprise
he realized his own immediate feelings. As a matter of principle he welcomed the idea. As a matter of practical application he found he disliked it.

I
think we are coming to a crisis in the war,' he said,
I
doubt if the outcome will be influenced in any way by anything you may do now.'

'That would be a poor argument for anyone ever going to fight,'
Jeremy said. Now the words were out, but it was no better, is it seeing Miss Trevanion again?' Demelza asked with less than her usual tact; but her emotions were too deeply involved for finesse.

Jeremy flushed. 'To an extent, yes. But that is not all. I did not tell you, either of you, that when I was at Harvey's last week Richard Trevithick was there. He came in unexpectedly. I think Mr Harvey had told him what I was about and he
came to see what we were doing... He tells me that the boiler I bought is
unsuitable for a road carriage’.

After a moment Ross said: 'That surely need not mean .. .'He stopped.

it means that I have been making rather a fool of myself, Father, though Mr Trevithick was kind enough to deny it. It means, in effect, that the boiler is far too big to use in a horseless carriage on the common roads. The roads, as he
p
oints out, would not take it. The damned thing would
b
ecome bogged down, or the wheels would break.' Demelza said: 'But in a year or two the roads may be improved. After the war...'

'Oh yes. But when shall that be? Mr Trevithick was also kind enough to sketch for me the kind of boiler that would be nee
ded to make such a machine practi
cal; but he says that as yet there is not enough engineering skill to manufacture it.'

Ross cut into his pie but did not eat it. 'So?' Demelza said:
'He
made it run on a road.' 'Yes, for a triumphant experiment, that is all. He says there can be no money in it—certainly not for years.' 'But what of rail?'

'Ah,' said Jeremy, and also began to pick at his food. 'Mr Trevithick had the same idea - perhaps by way of consolation. That, of course, was not my object in making this machine; but yesterday morning I rode over to Poldice mine to see if the venturers would be interested in a steam engine working the tramroad from their mine to Portreath harbour. They are not. They see it as impracticable, dangerous, and more expensive than horses. I pointed out the success of Mr Trevithick's tramroad experiment in Glamorgan. They pointed out that it is no longer working...' They ate for a minute or two in silence. Then Ross said:
I
believe Francis de Dunstanville has a considerable interest
in Poldice. I wonder...'

'No, Father...' Jeremy stopped and smiled, though there was not much humour in his face,
I
think this has to be resolved without anyone's influence - kindly though you mean it. It may very well be that
the
Poldice people are talking commercial good sense. What does seem to emerge is that I began this road machine with more enthusiasm for the idea than knowledge of the difficulties. Perhaps I am a
little
ahead of my time—though this set-back will not deter me from trying again very soon. It only seems that the very soon need not be immediately...'

There was another heavy silence. Demelza glanced from one to the other of her menfolk.

in the meantime... ?'

'Well, that is the point. This training I do with the Volunteers. Are the Volunteers not really a home for shirkers? While I could persuade myself that the things I was doing here were of sufficient importance... Now one has succeeded and the other failed... One thinks: oh, the war will be over this year, then the war will be over next year. But now, if the Americans come in ...'

'That will scarcely affect it,' said Ross, if the Americans come in it will be a major mistake on their part - and on ours. But they are too far away to exert a decisive influence. The war will be won and lost in Europe.'

'Which, I think, is where I belong now.'

Demelza looked again at Ross, who was still eating, but absent-mindedly, as if he had no taste for the food.

'Jeremy,' he said,
I
think you should wait a little.'

Both Jeremy and Demelza were surprised at this.

'Why?'

'What I said is literally true. If you were to go now, I could no doubt buy you a commission in the
62nd
Foot or some a
ssociated regiment. But by the t
ime you were trained I believe the crisis will have come and gone. I think it to be very close.'

'And if it does not come?'

'Then I shall not stand in your way.'

'And you, Mama?'

Demelza's eyes brimmed unexpectedly; both men observed them and were embarrassed at the unusual sight. She blinked the moisture impatiently away.

'That I do not know, my son. We shall have to see, shall we not, when it is nearer the time.'

'Ais, my dee-ur,
’
said Jeremy, trying to defuse the situation; and then: 'Well, Father, when we need that steam whim, I already possess a boiler which will suit it most admirably. That means we are almost half way with the engine.'

'May it come soon,' said Ross.

Jeremy had forgotten the other matter. 'What do you suppose Paul Kellow asked me this afternoon?'

They did not try to guess, so he told them.

Demelza said: 'Caroline told me last year they have borrowed money from Dwight too.'

'The devil they have! Did she say how much?'

'I think it was five hundred pounds. They asked for more, offering in return a part share in the business, but Dwight refused that and made a straightforward loan. It was Mrs Kellow who approached Dwight one day when he was visiting Violet.'

'Are we being offered a share in the business?' Ross asked ironically.

'It wasn't mentioned. Maybe there's not much business left to offer.'

'Kellow seems to employ his family on these distasteful jobs. Is he not man enough to come himself?'

Jeremy said:
I
told Paul if you entertained the idea that his father should have to come and see you.'

'Quite right.' Ross looked at his wife, who had now recovered from her temporary weakness. 'It's a mite difficult, isn't it.'

'Hard to say no - when we remember what it was like.'

'At least we did not borrow from friends.'

'Nor you wouldn't ever let me try neither.'

Jeremy glanced from one to the other. 'Was it as bad as that?'

'Worse,' said Ross. 'We sold some of the furniture - all the stock - your mother's brooch.'

'What, the one...'

'One very like it,' said Demelza.

'I don't see
that
sort of poverty,' Ross said. 'All the same I should not sleep very comfortable if those two girls particularly Violet — were turned out. Whether it was my direct fault or not, I should feel ... Two years ago, of course, it would have been much easier for us.'

Jeremy said:
I
bear responsibility for ever reopening Wheal Leisure.'

'So you do,' said Ross. 'But once you'd suggested it, I couldn't get it out of my head either.'

'And the Kellows, Ross?'

'Well, I can certainly do it; though I confess it goes against the grain feeling the money may be emptied into a bottomless pit. Did Paul say what they were trying to do to save themselves?'

'Oh yes. They have cut out two unprofitable lines altogether. Two others are running once weekly instead of twice. Paul himself is to do more driving, at least as a temporary measure. They hope to dispense with six men altogether.'

'And that will make the difference?'

'They hope so. I can't say more than that. Perhaps Mr Kellow can explain.'

Mr Kellow in due course did explain. It was a rather distasteful interview. Charlie Kellow had none of his son's premature dignity. He breathed stale spirits - to which had been added fresh spirits - over Ross. (Ross had a particular aversion for the sort of person
who stands too close to you whil
e
he talks and pursues you relentl
essly as you edge backwards.) Mr Kellow had a splendid array of figures which were elicited to prove that stage-coaching was in its infancy in Cornwall and that Kellow, Clotworthy, Jones & Co., were the best organized, best staffed and best equipped to take advantage of the expansion when it came. All they needed was working capital, enough to sustain them through the present recession, and they would be happily launched on a long and successful career.

Ross felt there was a sizeable element of truth in all this, in the sense that if this damned and interminable war ever ended there was bound to be a large extension of the turnpike road system in the West Country, and with it an expansion of coach, carriage and wagon traffic. What he was not sure about was whether this half ingratiating, half resentful, red-nosed, pot-bellied, shabby man was the one he could personally have picked to take advantage of it. But there it was. This man, chiefly because their respective sons and daughters were friendly, was the man he was being asked to help. Indeed this man, if the
dice had fallen differentl
y, might have become Jeremy's father-in-law. Might
still,
he supposed.
Was it a total impossibility even now?