Ross Poldark Read Online Free PDF Page B

I get you something to drink?” Verity whispered to Elizabeth, who had just reached the bottom of the stairs.
    “No, no… Please no.”
    “Oh,” said Ross. “To… Elizabeth.”
    “We are very happy,” said Mrs. Chynoweth, “that our two ancient families are to be united. Very happy and very proud. I am sure, Ross, that you will join with us in wishing Francis and Elizabeth all happiness in their union.”
    Walking very carefully, Elizabeth came over to Mrs. Chynoweth.
    “Your wrap, Mama.”
    “Thank you, my dear.”
    Ross went on with his meal.
    “I don’t know what your opinion is,” said Charles heartily after a pause, “but for myself I am attached to this port. It was run over from Cherbourg in the autumn of ’79. When I tasted a sample I said to meself, it is too good to be repeated; I’ll buy the lot. Nor has it been repeated; nor has it.” He put down his hands to ease his great paunch against the table.
    “Is’pose you’ll be settling down now, Ross, eh?” said Aunt Agatha, a wrinkled hand on his sleeve. “How about a little wife for you, eh? That's what we’ve to find next!”
    Ross looked across at Dr. Choake.
    “You attended my father?”
    Dr. Choake nodded.
    “Did he suffer much?”
    “At the end. But the time was short.”
    “It was strange that he should fail so quickly.”
    “Nothing could be done. It was a dropsical condition that was beyond the power of man to allay.”
    “I rode over,” said Cousin William-Alfred, “to see him twice. But I regret that he was not—hm—in the mood to make the most of such spiritual comfort as I could offer. It was to me a personal sorrow that I could be of so little help to one of my own blood.”
    “You must have some of this apple tart, Ross,” said Verity in an undertone behind him, glancing at the veins in his neck. “I made it myself this afternoon.”
    “I mustn’t stop. I called here only for a few minutes and to rest my horse, which is lame.”
    “Oh, but there's no need to go tonight. I have told Mrs. Tabb to prepare a room. Your horse may stumble in the dark and throw you.”
    Ross looked up at Verity and smiled. In this company no private word could pass between them.
    Now Francis, and to a lesser degree his father, joined in the argument. But Francis was constrained, his father half-hearted, and Ross determined.
    Charles said: “Well, have it as you wish, boy. I would not fancy arriving at Nampara tonight. It will be cold and wet and perhaps no welcome. Pour some more spirit into you to keep out the chill.”
    Ross did as he was urged, drinking three glasses in succession. With the fourth he got to his feet.
    “To Elizabeth,” he said slowly, “and to Francis… May they find happiness together.”
    The toast was drunk more quietly than the others. Elizabeth was still standing behind her mother's chair; Francis had at last moved from the door to put a hand beneath her arm.
    In the silence which followed, Mrs. Choake said:
    “How nithe it must be to be home again. I never go away, even a little way, without feeling that gwatified to be back. What are the Amewican colonies like, Captain Poldark? They thay as how even the thun does not wise and thet in the thame way in foreign parts.”
    Polly Choake's inanity seemed to relieve the tension, and talk broke out again while Ross finished his meal. There was more than one there conscious of relief that he had taken the news so quietly.
    Ross, however, was not staying, and presently took his leave.
    “You’ll come over in a day or two, will you not?” said Francis, a rush of affection in his voice. “We’ve heard nothing so far, nothing but the barest details of your experiences or how you were wounded or of your journey home. Elizabeth will be returning home tomorrow. We plan to be married in a month. If you want my help at Nampara, send a message over; you know I shall be pleased to come. Why, it's like old times seeing you back again! We feared for your life, did we not,