Bella Poldark (17 page)

'I have the thought that you have too many clothes, Ross. Too many old clothes. You could give him a suit of yours and would not miss it.'

'It wouldn't fit him,' said Ross derisively. 'You must see that.'

'I think it might fit fair about the shoulders. Of course you are a little taller. Six inches maybe.'

'Nearer eight.'

'Scissors could see to that.'

'And who, pray, would wield the scissors?'

'I thought his mother might help if I asked her. Jinny was always handy with a needle.'

'You have some weird idea of bringing the poor fellow into society. You are not trying to contrive something between him and Clowance - at this late hour?'

'Certainly not. Certainly not. That would never happen.'

Ross was thoughtful. 'D'you remember Julia's christening? How we tried to invite your folk one day and my folk the next.'

"You don't need to remind me of that! But that was a -- a calamity entirely brought about by my father's wrongheadedness.'

'And Jud's, no doubt.'

'I am only trying to bring Ben out a little bit. After all, he is your godson and we have not done all that for him.'

'True. But after long, long years of being married to you I have developed a sixth sense when you are plotting something untoward.'

'Yes, what long, long years they have been,' said Demelza. 'I wonder what dress I shall wear. Should I have something fresh? Are they very grand people, Amadora's parents?'

'Not as grand as many you have met. I wonder if George will come.'

'Geoffrey Charles has invited him. He told me. He feels they have had many favours from Lady Harriet.'

'And George happens to be his stepfather. The last time we met at Trenwith there was rather a nasty scene between us.'

'In my memory I can hardly recall any occasion when you met George at Trenwith and there was not a nasty scene!'

'Well, have no fear; we shall not come to blows this time. Both far too old and far too cautious.'

'Mind you keep to that,' she said, content that she had steered him away from the subject of Ben. There was no reason whatever why he should not know of Ben's new taking; but she was happier plotting on her own. Manipulating a situation in which Ben and Essie had an opportunity of a closer meeting required a tactful delicacy of touch. If he knew, Ross, with the best will in the world, might accidentally upset the applecart.

Meggy Dawes had always told Demelza that winter began in Cornwall on the twenty-first of January. Demelza thought of this when the twenty-first of December dawned with still weather, a light cloud cover and a somnolent sea. There were to be about fifty guests. Geoffrey Charles, having been in the Army so long and absent from Cornwall so much, did not possess a wide circle of local friends, but he had made a number of Cornish friends in the Army, and ten of them accepted his invitation. There was a John Trelawny from Trelawn, a Vyel Vyvyan from Trelowarren, a Harry Beauchamp from Pengreep, and Tom Gregor from Trewarthenick. He had talked over with Ross what other members of the county families might be invited, and they had agreed to ask some. But the dark days, the winter rain, the muddy lanes were against them. Lord Falmouth sent a friendly letter to Ross asking him to explain to his cousin that he had 'almost a full house'

himself and, much as he would like to, he could not desert them. Knowing Falmouth's rigid opposition to any form of Catholic emancipation, Ross wondered if this might be a tactical excuse. He had heard a rumour that when the old King died the Viscount might be made an Earl. Two days before the party Drake arrived with his beloved wife Morwenna and their daughter Loveday, bearing a present for Amadora: one of Drake's special rocking chairs, skilfully fashioned by him on winter evenings, of beech and stripped willow. He had first made one for Morwenna, and then, when it was much admired, one for Demelza. Next day he headed an expedition into the more wooded hinterland of the north coast, near Werry House and beyond, in search of holly - especially berried holly - and ivy especially variegated ivy - to bring back to decorate the house.

All these woods were stunted in growth, sheltering from the savage winds by flourishing only in shallow valleys or on slopes slanting down to desolate streams. But there was much to be found here even in midwinter: pockets of primroses already flowering, the sharp, spiked, grey promise of daffodils thrusting through a cushion of fallen leaves and hart's tongue ferns - once an ungainly apple tree hung with the remains of wild clematis and looking like an elderly lady in Russian sables. And here and there, especially in the Idless Valley, they found a few sprigs of mistletoe! This was brought home with special care lest the berries should drop off. Demelza, who could not be kept away from this expedition, said she had been told in Illuggan as a little girl that once upon a time the mistletoe had been a fine tree, but because its wood had been used to make the Cross it had ever after been condemned to live only as a parasite. Christopher and Isabella-Rose arrived too late for this adventure, but took part in decorating the dining hall. A small band which had been hired to play in the minstrel gallery had called in a day early to test the acoustics of the hall and to see to the general arrangements. Once and again Bella could be heard raising her voice in a pure gentle trill, but she was careful not to impose herself on the scene.

Among those on the hunt for greenery were Paul and Mary Kellow and Daisy. Daisy now had a deep loose cough, which sounded menacing, but she made little of it and tramped with the best. Paul's wife, it seemed, had quite recovered from the scrofulous tumour, so the Kellow family was in a good mood. The party began at one p.m. and dinner was at two thirty. Among the other guests were Dwight and Caroline Enys, with their two tall daughters, Sophie, aged sixteen, and Meliora, fifteen; Philip Prideaux, who had wanted to accompany Clowance, but Clowance had crossed the county two days before; Cuby Poldark, with Noelle, and Clemency Trevanion to keep them company; and Emmeline Treneglos, representing her parents, who preferred to nurse their bereavement and resentment against anyone with the Poldark name.

Senor de Bertendona, now fortunately recovered, stood with his plump little wife in the smaller entrance hall to welcome the guests, and Geoffrey Charles was there to make the introductions, with Amadora beside him to translate for her mother. Slowly the big drawing room on the first floor filled up, and some guests drifted into the great hall, where the table was set for dinner. Chairs had been a problem, and - with Place House and Mingoose House more or less out of bounds because of Agneta - Nampara, Killewarren and Fernmore had been stripped of their dining chairs, and even of chairs which one could make believe were dining chairs only for a special occasion.

'There has never been so large a party in this house,'

Ross told Geoffrey Charles, 'not even the wedding party when your father and mother were married.'

Because of de Bertendona's indisposition, Ross had not met them before, and Demelza had met only the Senora. They bowed to each other, clasped hands, murmured greetings in two languages, while Geoffrey Charles went into flattering details of his relationship with his cousins. They all smiled and bowed again and were about to pass on when Ross bent and kissed Senora de Bertendona. It seemed to surprise everyone present, not least Demelza, who had never suspected her husband of extravagant gestures.

(Later, just as they were about to go in to dinner, Amadora exchanged a private word with her mother. The plump little lady was still looking slightly flustered. She said:

'What a grand party you are giving for us, Dora! . . . But that man! . . . Sir Ross, did you say? When he bent towards me, I thought, he is taking the greatest liberty! What an oaf! How ill-mannered! How typical of a clumsy Englishman to behave so! And then I looked up. And up. And I thought, what a man, how handsome! And oooh! My toes twisted and curled! And he speaks Portuguese. . . !') Before they went in to dinner, Demelza whispered:

'Well, my dear, that was the first shock of the evening!'

'What was?'

'You embracing the important lady.'

'I did not embrace her. I implanted a gentle welcoming kiss on her powdered cheek.'

'Cheek? It didn't look like that to me. She was aghast. So was he. You might have started a war!'

'Perhaps I have now,' Ross said, squeezing her hand.

'If you behave like this when I am present, I tremble to think what you do when I am not!'

'I just felt like it,' said Ross. 'The poor woman is in a strange land, surrounded by foreigners. She can scarcely speak a word of English and does not much like us as a race. Would you begrudge her a friendly salutation?'

'And you were chattering away! I did not know you knew Spanish!'

'I don't. Or very little. That was Portuguese.'

'Judas!' said Demelza. 'What next?'

'You forget,' he said, 'that I was part of the delegation to escort the Portuguese royal family from Lisbon to Brazil in '07. On the voyage I used to play backgammon with the Prince Regent almost every night . . . He called it trictrac. '

In fact Ross's sudden impulse had grown out of a sensation of cheerful rebelliousness which had come upon him during the last few days. There was no obvious cause for it, but it had never been in his nature to abide by the courtesies of strict good behaviour, and the life he was at present leading -, as Valentine had once perceptively pointed out - was slightly humdrum - pleasantly so - but humdrum all the same. He felt he wanted to kick free from the many tiny restraints that beset him, agreeable though they usually were. He missed his contacts with George Canning -- and sometimes with those dissidents and known Radicals. (It was perverse and odd and perplexing, he thought, that although his sympathies were with Major Cartwright, Samuel Bamford, Robert Owen and the rest, circumstances had as often as not pushed him into the opposite camp and he had acted to preserve the stability of the status quo.)

Almost last to arrive at the party were Sam and Rosina, and with them was Ben Carter. Demelza by her choice of clothes, and Jinny by her cuts and hasty stitchings, had made a very presentable job of dressing this fierce young man. A cream-coloured muslin cravat tied so loosely that it was not greatly different from the knotted red scarf he usually affected, a blue velvet jacket with brass buttons, a cream-coloured waistcoat and black buckskin breeches, with his own best boots. The brass buttons would not comfortably fasten at the waist, for Ross, for all his age and height, was of the lean kind. And the mine barber, Parsons, had been called in to trim Ben's beard very short, so that it narrowed almost to an imperial. When they finally sat down Demelza thought he looked in no way different from anyone else. It being almost Christmas, some of the other guests had arrived wearing what might be described as a jolly approach to fancy dress. In this great hall, with its enormous window, the whole festooned with holly and ivy and a dab here and there of mistletoe, sixty candles wavering in the warm and errant air, the long table fairly groaning under its weight of enticing food. Wine bottles, silver dishes, decanters, knives and forks in serried array, chicken and turkey and goose and lobster, and soups and a hashed calf's head and boiled bacon, and whole cauliflowers decorated with sprigs of holly, and baked and fried potatoes, and pigeon and rabbit pie and mackerel pie, and syllabubs and fruit and lashings of cream. Esther Came had told Amadora that she was astonished to be at the dinner party and that she would far, far rather work in the kitchen or even - horror of horrors - wait at table, than be treated as a 'guest'. Amadora told her that as a newly joined member of the staff and principal nurse to Juana she must take her proper place and be available to be called on at a moment's notice if she, Amadora, required anything during the meal. Since Amadora had long since grown out of her morning sickness, Esther was perplexed as to what use she might be at the dinner, but she did not argue. Even when Ben Carter took the seat next to her she did not suspect any contrivance. As usual she blushed to the roots of her hair - combed and brushed and dressed pleasantly but unpretentiously for the party - and glanced in fright at him, then was relieved to see him half smile, and she curled up her lips tremulously in return. She was wearing a simple dress of cerise coloured cotton that Amadora had lent her, and it did no harm to her looks or her complexion.

'I didn't expect to see you here then,' lied Ben.

'Nor me you neither,' said Essie, more truthfully, plucking nervously at the shoulder of her dress. Looking down the table Ross saw that George had been placed next to Mrs Harry Beauchamp of Pengreep. It was a safe pairing: the Beauchamps were unmistakeably county, and Mrs B could chatter with the best. On George's other side was Faith, the eldest of three unmarried Teague sisters, whose youngest sister was the bereaved Ruth Treneglos. Another safe placing: George and Faith had known each other in a casual way for thirty years. Ross counted that he was seven places south-west of George and on the other side. They had nodded on seeing each other, and that was all that was necessary. He turned to his own dining companions and wondered if Geoffrey Charles was exhibiting an unexpected sense of mischief.

'Lady Harriet,' he said. 'I need not ask you if you are well.'

She was wearing yellow silk tonight, which did not quite suit her.

'Sir Ross,' she said in her husky voice. 'You need not. I am never ill. Are you?'

'Seldom.'

'And you are now leading a retired life?'

'Yes. But occupied.'

'All retired lives are occupied; it is a form of frittering.'

'What is not?' Ross returned. 'Hunting, fighting, cubbing, loving?'

She was silent at this, then said: 'Is Valentine here tonight?'

'I don't think he was invited.'

'Ah. Perhaps as well. Is he ostracized?'

'Not really. He is busy with this enterprise he has begun, shipping goods to Ireland.'

'Legitimate?'

'I have no idea.'

'Diplomatic as ever.'

'I did not know I had that reputation.'