The Loving Cup (7 page)

'Geoffrey Charles is back.'

"What!
Here? When did he -'

'At Trenwith. They arrived last evening, it seems.'

'They?'

'Yes, he's brought his young Spanish bride.'

'Good God! After all this time! Wonderful! And what -'

'We left too early this morning to hear of it. Jane has just told us. She heard it from Em Lobb, who heard it from someone else, I forget who. They've gone into the house and are living there, it seems, a
ll on their own, except for the
tender care of Liza Harry.'

'They haven't been over here today while we were out?'

'No. I imagine it is a pretty mess at Trenwith and they want a day or two to sort things out.'

'But that's where we can help them!'

'Of course.'

'Papa, Papa,' came the husky young contralto of Isabella-Rose. 'Are you coming?' .

Ross looked at Jeremy and smiled. 'You see?'

'You mean - you're going over tonight?'

'Against my better judgement. I put it to your mother and to Clowance that for four people to come beating at your door at half an hour after nine o'clock at night, clamouring to be let in, is the sort of welcome that Geoffrey Charles no doubt could survive. But if his wife is of a nervous disposition it could well prejudice her against the family for ever. No use. They didn't heed me.'

'What did Mama say?'

'Never mind. The question is, do you wish to eat supper on your own, which would give pleasure to Jane, who will feel hurt if everything she has prepared has to stand and go cold for hours? Or do you feel that, having waited so long for Geoffrey Charles, even one day lost will make a difference?'

'I'm coming with you,' said Jeremy. 'But chiefly to see his Spanish girl.'

After Ross had left the room to precede him down the stairs Jeremy paused and picked up a silver stock-pin which had arrived by messenger a couple of days ago. Though it did not really suit his present attire he fancied it and thrust it into the lapel of his jacket.

Music Thomas had brought it. Inside the parcel was a small printed card which read:
From Mrs Clement Pope, Place House, Trevaunance, Cornwall.

I

The following week Ross and Demelza were supping with Dwight and Caroline Enys at Killewarren.

Ross said
: 'You haven't seen them yet?'

'No,' said Dwight. 'Caroline was for calling, but I thought they were better to have a f
ew days on their own to settl
e down.'

'Settle down!' Demelza said. 'The house is in a rare jakes! We have been over every day - Jeremy and Clowance and I - doing our most. And Geoffrey Charles has hired three women from the village. And there are five men trying to mend the chimneys and repair the leaks in the roof. And the Harrys have been given a month's notice to leave. I thought poor Amadora would be overwhelmed.'

'A pretty name,' said Caroline. 'A pretty creature?' 'You must ask Ross,' said Demelza; 'he was much taken with her.'

'I have always liked little dark girls,' Ross said. 'You must know that.'

'I'm not little,' said Demelza.

'Well, you were when I first saw you.'

'Sorry if I have overgrown my strength.'

'Oh, I like tall dark girls as well,' said Ross. 'Also tall redheads with beautiful eyes.'

'After these little flippances,' said Caroline, 'perhaps you would consent to describe her to us.'

Ross grunted. 'She's small and dark — with a proud little face - half scared - prickly, half ready to fight - half wishing to be warm and loving.'

'That's three halves,' said Caroline. 'But I believe I take your meaning.'

Dwight said: 'And what of Morwenna and Drake, who had such a friendship with him?'

'They are coming next week. Geoffrey Charles wrote at once, but Drake had just received an order for a new schooner, and, Drake like, does not feel he should leave until the keel is laid.'

'She's a Catholic, I suppose?' said Caroline suddenly.

'Amadora? Must be.' Ross accepted another slice of strawberry pie. 'A pity.'

‘I
thought you were rather in favour of Catholics?'

'I'm not in favour of Catholicism. I'm in favour of people being able to worship how they will, without penalty -which they can't do yet in England.'

'Nor the Wesleyans.'

'Nor the Wesleyans indeed. What I dislike most is religious exclusivism, from whatever direction it comes.'

'The two sects we've just mentioned are notably among the most exclusive. The Wesleyans believe that only the saved will see Christ. The Catholics don't believe we are members of Christ's church at all!'

‘I
know. It's a bigoted world.'

'From which we're not free either,' said Dwight. 'Those anti-Catholic meetings all over the country last year! After all, for the last two and a half centuries most of our own countrymen have been taught that Rome is the Scarlet Woman, etcetera.'

'Surely,' said Demelza, 'if two people love each other, that will be most important. Where there is real love, there can be give and take.'

Ross said: 'Well, it depends on the strength of the love and the strength of the religious conviction. Doesn't it? In two or three years when children start coming and the love is not quite so warm
...'

'Ross, no doubt, judges from his own experience,' said Demelza, scowling at him.

‘I
t's because my own experience is so rare that I cannot judge from it,' said Ross. 'Look around you. Present company naturally excepted.'

Caroline said: 'But does anyone know yet whether the young couple intend to settle here?'

'Geoffrey Charles is returning to join his regiment in a couple of months. She will go back with him. But how they will feel when the war is over
...'

Demelza said: 'How they feel when the war is over will much depend upon how the
y feel at the end of this visit.
And how
she
feels will much influence how
he
feels. Isn't that so ? And how she feels, who knows? may be just a small matter influenced by how nice we are to her.'

Caroline patted her hand. 'Put very well, my dear. I shall go and wait on her tomorrow and offer her
...
what can I offer
her that she hasn't already got?
"

'Can you speak Spanish?'

'Enough to know that the Italian for
butter
means
donkey
in Spanish. No more.'

' Apparently Harriet Warleggan
can. They struck up asharp friendship that cannot be welcome to either of their husbands.'

The meal came to its end with nuts and grapes and raisins - and of course port. Demelza sipped her port and stretched her legs. Still lacking a little of the vitality she had had before baby Henry was conceived, she was nevertheless zestful enough for most occasions; and of all the meals of her life these were the ones she enjoyed most. (Saving the noisy family meals, which were a t
hing apart.) To sup at Killewar
ren with her oldest and dearest friends, in Ross's company, was better even than when they came to her. There was no niggling anxiety as to whether the veal would be properly done or whether the poached peaches would be served half cold. Caroline always seemed able to employ better and more efficient servants. Demelza admitted that she was not a very good manager herself. She
had never
quite got into the way of being angry with servants if they didn't do what they were told. (Ross could do if in a second; but it was not Ross's business.) This was the luxury of enjoying an excellent meal and wines without a thought to the kitchen.

'Please?' she said, having not heard a question.

'Dreaming again,' said Caroline,
I
was telling Ross that I might be losing Dwight sometime soon.'

'Very unlikely,' said Dwight. 'Caroline is romancing.'

'Far from it! I know from his manner.'

Dwight said: 'What Caroline is trying to tell you in her roundabout way is that I have recently received a letter from Sir Humphry Davy. You remember him, Ross: you met him at the Duchess of Gordon's party.'

'Yes, of course. And since somewhere, I can't recollect where.'

'Si
r Humphry?' said Demelza.

'He was knighted last year. And is recently married.'

'To a widow,' Ross added. 'Does she not also have money?'

'A considerable fortune. But I believe they are truly in love.'

'Money doesn't prevent that,' said Ross.

'No, but it can give rise to unworthy gossip
...
They were here in Cornwall in May, visiting his parents in Penzance. George Warleggan and Harriet invited them to spend a night at Cardew. We were asked to sup there.'

'Well, I suppose Davy is now the foremost scientist in England.'

Dwight took a nut and cracked it, but did not put the kernel in his mouth.

'When I met Davy at Cardew he told me of an invitation he had received from France. He has kept in touch with most of the leading French scientists through these latest years of the war. Scientists of note like Ampere, Giiy-Lussac, Laplace. Early last year Napoleon himself heard of Davy's discoveries and achievements, and at once offered Davy unconditional permission to visit Paris and to travel through France and anywhere else in Europe he chose. It is a notable recognition of his achievements. And I think also a notable testimony to Buonaparte's breadth of vision that in the middle of so bitter a war he should make such an offer to a national of his bitterest enemy.'

'And Davy? He did not accept the invitation?'

'Not then. But it was an open invitation, and he thinks of accepting it this autumn.'

Demelza took a sip of port, but no one spoke.

Then Ross said: 'It's a different situation now for Napoleon. Then he was riding high, true master of Europe. Now he's between two fires. I should ask for a further assurance if I were Davy.'

‘I
don't believe Napoleon would go back on his word.'

Don't forget the end of the Treaty of Amiens,' Caroline said. 'Ten thousand British tourists interned as prisoners of war. Yourself arid Ross escaping back across the Channel by the skin of your teeth. And me alone in this house carrying Sophie!'

'And this letter you have had from Sir Humphry?' said Demelza, seeing already how the land lay.

Dwight smiled. 'He has been told he may take his wife, a couple of servants, one or two friends of like mind.'

'Such as who?'

'What?'

'Such as what friends?'

'Oh
...
a
chemist, a scientist perhaps, n
ot more than two or three. As you will have guessed by now, he has asked me
if
I would like to be one of them. He suggests that as a medical man I could be of value to them, travelling as they are as a small group in a foreign and hostile country.'

Ross glanced at Caroline, who was frowning with concentration at a black grape. 'A dilemma.'

'The letter only reached me yesterday. It is a delectable thought to be able to meet all those French scientists on their own ground. Even to see Paris again, right in the depths of the war
...
But I believe Humphry Davy intends to go on to Italy after his stay in Paris; he has some plans to visit the Auvergne and even go as far as Naples, which would mean his being away at least a year. And that would not be feasible - or tolerable - for me.'

Caroline said:
I
wonder what the French authorities would feel about it if Sir Humphry brought with him an escaped and unransomed prisoner of war!'

‘I
doubt, my dear, if they would be likely to discover it after eighteen years.'

'Caroline has a long memory,' said Demelza. 'We both have! And little wonder.'

There was a tap at the door and Myners came in. 'Dr Enys, sir. Mr Pope is sick again. A messenger has just come from Place House. It is Music Thomas, who says it is urgent, but of course
...'

The implication was that Music Thomas was not the most reliable of informants.

Dwight said: 'Tell Tresidder. Ask him to saddle Parsee. And tell Thomas to go back and say I am coming at once.'

'Very good, sir.'

When they were alone Caroline said: 'D'you know it is just about a year ago, isn't it, that this happened before? You were supping with us, and someone came from Place House asking for Dwight. We must be careful not to allow this to become a habit.'

'Do you see much of them - socially, I mean ?' Ross asked.

'Our girls are too young for theirs; and I confess he rather gives me the creeps. She's well enough - if she would only stop worrying as to whether
she ought to be condescending
or be condescended to.'

Dwight said: 'I have visited him monthly since last year. They live in a social strait-jacket. And not only social. It is a queer household.'

'Did you hear about Jeremy?' Demelza asked. 'Mrs Pope fell off her horse, and Jeremy found her and helped her home.'

'When was this?'

'Only last week. She sent him a silver stock-pin. Jeremy is quite taken with it.'

'He might well have been taken with her too,' said Ross. He added: 'Do you know anything more of the mine Unwin is supposed to be opening on Mr Pope's doorstep ?'

'I believe it is hanging fire,' Dwight said. 'Isn't that so, Caroline? You heard something from Harriet Warleggan.'

Caroline yawned. 'A story that it was to be delayed. To do with copper prices. Chenhails of course is the moving figure. But Unwin has certainly not been down of late.'

Dwight got up, patted Ross on the shoulder, kissed Demelza on the cheek, put fingers over his wife's long fingers. 'Well, I suppose we must not keep the old gentleman waiting. Last time, my dear, I think you offered me a brandy before I left.' 'What a memory,'said Caroline. .

II

Place House was square and solid, put up about a hundred years ago by masons who had used local stone and had no time for fripperies; but the second owner, having been to London and seen the work of Inigo Jones, had added a Palladian front to give a touch of elegance and distinction. In essence it was a roomy, but in its exposed position a draughty, house, built of elvan and heavy slate; the elegance had never quite come off; the pillars had stood the weather less well than the rest of the stone. There was no garden at the front to speak of: just a terrace with a balustrade looking down the combe towards the sea. '

When Dwight arrived the interior seemed to be fluttering with newly-lighted candles. Katie Carter let him in. Her manner was as agitated as the candles, her hair untidy, spraying out tonight from under her cap like seaweed. Almost as she let him in she began to explain breathlessly that she had been the first to answer Mrs Pope's urgent call and had run up the stairs and found her trying to bring the Master round. Nowadays, Katie said, he had a light supper in bed; so he must have been took queer soon after eating it and wandered out upon the landing and fallen down in the open door of one of the other bedrooms, where the Mistress had found him. She, Katie, and the Mistress had managed to carry him back to his own room and lift him onto the bed.