The Loving Cup by Winston Graham

Author:Winston Graham [Graham, Winston]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: Sagas, Fiction
ISBN: 0330463365
Google: -jc0HE20eiQC
Amazon: B005I4UB3E
Publisher: Pan
Published: 2011-08-18T13:00:00+00:00

IV

'So you let her go,' said Ross. 'Without telling me.' 'She asked me not to. She was afraid of what you'd say.' 'No wonder.'

'And do you think if I had refused her permission to go she would have heeded me?' 'Yes!'

'And if he dies tomorrow?'

They were standing in the dark amid the ruins of the feast while their servants and willing helpers from the villages were clearing up by the light of storm lanterns and a quarter moon striped with cloud.

Though neither of them had mentioned it and under no circumstances would ever have considered mentioning it, their thoughts had individually slid away to an occasion when a young naval lieutenant had lain dying of some brain fever at Tregothnan eighteen odd years ago. His passion for Demelza had kindled some corresponding spark of sympathy and love in her which briefly she had been unable to withstand. She had not been at his side when he died; Ross wondered, had her sympathy for Clowance been the greater for her own memory or that time?

At least the two young men could hardly have been more different, and most of the advantages of comparison lay on Hugh Armitage's side; Ross had to admit this - and could admit it to himself more freely now with the passage of the years. In fact he would much have preferred the competition of someone like Carrington - in the very unlikely event of Demelza's ever falling in love with anyone so bold and obvious as Stephen. Armitage had been artistic, well-educated, intellectual, thoughtful, sensitive; infinitely difficult qualities to compete with. And he had died before there was any resolution of the test.

Ross's hand on his wife's shoulder was heavier than usual, and she glanced up at him quietly, trying to see his expression.

'What would you have done?'

Ross sighed. 'Damned Andrew.'

'For coming to tell us?'

'Yes, if viewed in a cold-blooded fashion. If Stephen dies tomorrow Clowance would have known nothing about it till too late. If he recovers, she is thrown into his lap again.'

'She has never been free of him,' Demelza said. 'Especially these last few months. Since she refused Tom. I believe Tom forced her to face up to something she hadn't faced before.'

There was an uneasy pause. As if their minds worked in accord, each was now thinking of another occasion still further back, when Francis Poldark and Geoffrey Charles had lain dangerously ill of the morbid sore throat, and Demelza had gone over to help Elizabeth and had caught the infection herself.

Eventually Ross said ‘Do you think Dwight will go to Penryn?'

I said I would see Dwight and ask him myself; but it was impossible with Henry so teasy. I wrote him a long letter - long for me! - telling him all about it; sent it with Music Thomas who said he would take it on his way home.'

Ross put his arm round Demelza. 'Life is like a gaming table, isn't it. One has so many pieces on the board. With them one gains a little, loses a little.

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