The Angry Tide Read Online Free PDF Page A

Harrow.'
    'Francis's son, yes. Not to mention, of course, Ross Poldark, a few miles to your east. And he also has a son.'
    George regarded his guest carefully, to try to fathom whether the name of Ross Poldark had been introduced into the conversation from malice or inadvertence. But Sir Christopher's face was not an easy one to read.
    'Geoffrey Charles will naturally inherit Trenwith when he is of age,' said George. 'Though he'll have little or no money to maintain it. When my father - if anything happens to my father Elizabeth and I will move to Cardew, which is a much more considerable house and has perhaps something the same aspect as your own, being set among fine trees and looking towards the south coast.'
    'I did not know you knew of my house.'
    'I know it by repute.'
    'That must be altered,' Hawkins said courteously.
    'Thank you,' George decided that Ross Poldark's name might have been introduced into the conversation for a third reason and decided to turn it to account. 'Of course I envy you one thing more than any other, Sir Christopher.'
    Hawkins raised his eyebrows. 'Do you? You surprise me. I thought you had all that a reasonable man could possibly want.'
    'Perhaps a man is not reasonable when he has once possessed something and then lost it'
    'What? O h... '
    George nodded his formidable head. 'As you know, I was a member of Parliament for more than twelve months.'
    The manservant came in again but George waved him out and poured the second glass of port himself. The two men sat in silence beside the littered table, which glinted with silver and glass in the subdued light from the window. Although they were much of an age they were so different, in appearance, in clothes, in expression, in build, that a consideration of age hardly seemed to be relevant. Hawkins plump, shrewd, sophisticated, cynical, greying, looked a gentleman through and through but one who knew all the ways and the wickedness of men. Human nature, you felt, would never surprise him. Beside him George, in spite of everything, looked heavy and a little uncouth. The pale lemon silk neckcloth seemed inappropriate around the strong bull neck. The finely tailored velvet coat did not hide the strong muscles of arm and back. The clean, well-kept hands, though not over-large, had a breadth about them that suggested manual labour. (Not that he had ever done any.) He too wore his own hair, and there was not a trace of grey in it; but the first inch or so grew up vertically from the scalp instead of lying along it.
    Hawkins said: 'You came in at Truro under the wing of Francis Basset, Lord de Dunstanville. When Basset composed his differences with Lord Falmouth you lost the seat narrowly to Poldark. It was natural enough. Finding another seat in a parliament as yet six months old presents difficulties. But, if you are anxious to return, has Basset no suggestions to offer?'
    'Basset has no suggestions to offer.'
    'Has there been some area of disagreement between you?'
    'Sir Christopher, there is little in this county that can remain private. To such a public personage as yourself, with so many avenues of information open to you, it can hardly be a secret that Lord de Dunstanville doe s not offer me the patronage he did. We are still on civil terms but co-operation, at least on a parliamentary level, has ceased.'
    'May I ask why?'
    'There were - as you say - areas of disagreement. May I ask if you always find yourself in accord with Francis Basset?’ Hawkins smiled thinly. 'Scarcely ever ... But if you have lost the patronage of de Dunstanville, and made, I imagine, an enemy, at least for the time being, of Lord Falmouth, your choice is limited.'
    'Not in a county returning forty-four members,'
    Sir Christopher stretched his legs. They were dining on the first floor but the sound of carts rattling over the cobbles outside sometimes impeded conversation. 'As you know, Mr Warleggan, I have three seats myself, but they are all notably occupied.’
    ‘Y et I'd