About half an hour later, as the big clock in the hall was striking three, when the band had finally worked itself out and peace was settling on the house, when those still up began to move more quietly for fear of disturbing those already retired, a short stocky man came slowly up the stairs and turned towards the east wing. It was Sir Hugh Bodrugan himself, and the exaggerated stealth of his movements showed not only that he was on illicit business but also that the spirits he had drunk had had the effect of making him abnormally sober.
Wine had been spilled down his red hunting coat, and the lace of one cuff had been torn in a skirmish, but that was all the obvious damage, and he was sure the ball had been a great success and that everyone had enjoyed themselves. Now to put the cap on the evening he was bent on enjoying himself in another way. He’d cunningly given Margaret the slip, and she no doubt was still pacing about in the library waiting for him. Presently she would get tired of waiting and would swear roundly and go to bed. That was as it should be. He was going to bed, he hoped, but not with her.
There were few guests in the east wing, and that naturally made his purposes easier, although the confounded floor creaked and moaned all the way. His choice of bedroom for the lady had not been undesigning, in case she should give him any encouragement. It was therefore with surprise and indignation that as he neared the door in question he saw another figure move towards it out of the shadows and peer at the handle as if to make certain of his bearings. As this figure stretched out a hand to open the door, Sir Hugh said:
‘Hi, there! What the blazes …’
The other man straightened up sharply. It was John Treneglos. He said: ‘Hullo! What?’ and blinked. ‘Oh, it’s you, my friend! Is this my bedroom, did you say? I remember ’twas on the right-hand side as you turned up the stairs. This wandering great house of yours, it’s worse than my own. Look ee—’
‘You’re not so foxed as that, sir,’ said Bodrugan sternly. ‘Oh, dear no, sir. One may make a mistake by a room or two, sir, but not by half a house. That’s your way, straight down the corridor; and I should be obliged if you’d take it.’
‘Ah,’ said Treneglos. ‘Is that so? Yes, I see where I went wrong now.’ He made a move and then stopped. ‘Yes, I suppose ’twas all the jigging in the dance that put my bearings out. Thank ee.’
He waited. They both waited. Sir Hugh said: ‘Well, good night to you.’
‘Now, Hughie,’ said Treneglos. ‘Don’t be a damned spoilsport. I never thought to think you a damned spoilsport.’
‘You may think what you please, sir. That’s your way to bed. This is Demelza Poldark’s room, and well you know it!’
John Treneglos grunted. ‘I’ll confess if you want me to, though it’s a thought unmannerly to need me to be so explicit.’ He put his hand firmly on the other’s shoulder. ‘You know how it is on these occasions. Damme, you of all people shouldn’t stand in a feller’s way. You’ve done enough tile-walking in your time. The little bud was oncoming tonight. As good as invited me, y’know. Can’t turn a good thing down. What with Ruth out of the way. Golden opportunity. I suggest you turn a blind eye and toddle off to bed.’
‘Blind eye!’ said Sir Hugh explosively. ‘I was going in there myself!’
Treneglos stared at his host in startled fashion. ‘What? What? You’re joking! Damn it! Don’t tell me she invited you too!’
Sir Hugh scowled. ‘Not invited in so many words. But a nod’s as good as a wink, man—’
‘Ah, you put too much store by these nods, my dear. No doubt she wished to be polite, as any woman would to a handsome old war horse like you, but—’
‘Well maybe she’ll go on being polite … And war horse be beggared!’ said Sir Hugh, as the second half of the sentence registered. ‘I’m inclined to suppose I’m just as good a man as you. What did she say to you – tell me that, eh? What did she say to you, sir?’
‘I misremember the exact words, but ’twas plain enough in the meaning. And half of it was the look. She has a very suggestible look when she sets herself out to it—’
‘Pshaw!’ said Bodrugan. ‘You’ve less claim to an invitation than I have. You thought to try your luck, that’s all. Confess it, man! She’s always been a tantalizing slut, and there must be an end of all things. How did you know which was her bedroom?’
‘What? Oh, I squeezed that wall-eyed maid you have, and she gave off the information. Now look, Hugh, it is plain enough I was here first, if only by a short head, so I have a certain priority in the matter, even if we discount the exact manner of the invitation. After all, you have your own doxy here in the very house, which is more than Ruth would ever put up with. Don’t be greedy. What do you say to giving me best? Then perhaps another time – ’
‘Rubbish!’ The injustice of the situation welled up in Bodrugan. ‘Who helped her in Bodmin two years gone and nothing for it but a few kisses? Who showed her how to use that new seed drill everyone’s talking about? Who’s sent her presents and called upon her regular? And who invited her here, sir? Whose house is this? Ecod, if ’twas in your house, I fancy you’d put in a substantial claim …’
‘Hush,’ said Treneglos. ‘If you argue in that tone, the whole house will be out in the corridor … I grant that ’tis your house and welcome to it; but you’re the host, Hughie, and it is your place to give way to a guest. Any book of behaviour will tell you that. The convenience of the guest should come first – always first. Damn it, you haven’t a leg to stand on! Manners aren’t what they were but—’
‘I stand where I stand,’ said Sir Hugh angrily. ‘And if you go in that room, I go with you!’
John sighed, and wiped the back of his sleeve across his forehead. ‘I don’t fancy we’ll win her that way …’ He was struck with a thought. ‘It may be she meant the invitation to apply to us both and that ’tis just ill fortune we have come together. But if we go in together, that will finish it. What do you say to tossing a coin? Winner goes in right away. Loser chances his arm in an hour or so. Ecod, it seems the only reasonable argument …’
Sir Hugh grunted. ‘You’re worse thoughted than I ever supposed, John. But no one shall say I wasn’t a sportsman. If it is the only way to settle the matter peaceable, I’ll accept it.’ With some difficulty he fished a coin out of his fob pocket. ‘Now if you’ll toss, I’ll call …’
‘Naw. Hold hard a moment. Let’s see the coin … Ah, just as I suspicioned: two heads. All’s fair in love, but let’s be fairer than that.’ With equal difficulty John Treneglos fumbled another coin into his fingers and showed it to his rival. ‘This one was born natural and has a top and tail. Now call, will you, while I spin.’
‘Heads,’ grunted Sir Hugh furiously, and at once bent and then went on his knees to see the result.
‘Tails!’ said John in triumph. ‘Tails it is, by the beard of Moses. You’ve lost, Hugh, and the filly’s mine!’
‘It struck the edge of the carpet! Just as it fell I saw it. I demand we should toss again! Why, damn me—’
‘Nay, fair’s fair. You’d not go back on your word, I take it?’
On hands and knees they eyed each other, and Sir Hugh perceived that if he quarrelled with the fall of the coin he would have a fight on his hands. And Treneglos was the second-best amateur wrestler in thirty miles. Grumbling, grunting, sweating, he got to his feet. He bitterly regretted having agreed to any such hazard now. He knew, in his bones he knew, that things had been propitious for him tonight; and now this clumsy, bungling fool had come along to spoil it all.
With seething resentment he watched the younger man tiptoe to the door of Demelza’s room, gently turn the handle, and slide inside. Unable to bear the sight of it, he turned sharply away and stumped off to the end of the corridor. But there he stopped. It would be a mistake to abandon his position too early. It did not after all turn entirely on the fall of a coin. There was the lady to consider. He flattered himself that she had a soft spot for him, and John Treneglos was the sort of bumptious ass who, given an inch, would assume a yard. He might well come out again at any minute with a cracked head. She was a quick-tempered girl and if his advances were unwelcome … Sir Hugh decided to linger in the shadows at the end of the passage and wait a minute or two. To while away the time he took a pinch of snuff and dusted the loose powder away with the torn end of his cuff.
The sneeze that had been in gestation was stillborn with delight, for the very thing he had hoped came to pass. John Treneglos came sharply out of the bedroom with a dazed expression on his face and stared right and left. He spotted Sir Hugh and beckoned him. Preening himself, strutting, Sir Hugh came.
‘Is this the room, Hughie? I’ve made no mistake?’
‘Nay, of course not. She wants me—’
‘Well, there’s no one in it. See for yourself.’
‘What!’ Sir Hugh pushed past him. A candle guttered in the draught between door and window. The bed was not disturbed. A chair was overturned, but no articles of clothing were to be seen about the room. Sir Hugh went straight to the great wardrobe and flung it open. The cupboard was bare. He pulled the curtains farther back from the bed. Then he went on his knees and looked under it. John Treneglos brought the candle over. United in adversity, they ransacked the room. All they found was a number of hairpins, some powder spilled before the dressing-table, and the sleeve of a lawn dressing-gown.
‘She’s maybe gone visiting herself,’ said Treneglos. ‘Ecod, I well call to mind a serving maid we had at Mingoose: you’d never be sure where she was to be found next. Once I remember—’
‘I conceit it’s different from that,’ said Sir Hugh, scowling. ‘Shut that pesty window, John; all the harmful night air’s blowing in … There’s McNeil, now. He was making a mighty fuss of her after supper … But he sleeps some way distant; and even if she went to him, she would surely leave some of her draperies behind.’
Treneglos had had his head out. ‘I suppose she wouldn’t be madcap enough to climb down this ivy, eh? What would be her purpose? Has it all been done to hoax us, d’you suspicion? I think she couldn’t have done it, could she? Or would our noise have scared her? If you flush a hen pheasant, it flies farthest.’
Bodrugan put his head out tentatively and then quickly withdrew it. ‘Bah, no, you’re dreaming, man. Why should she go that way and risk her neck? ’Tis all very confusing and provoking too. I’ve never known a woman like her for promising much and performing little. I could put her over my knee.’ He thought of that pleasurably for a moment, and then the long-delayed snuff-sneeze occurred. ‘Shut the damned window, I say. We shall both have a distemper in the morning.’
The window was shut, and the two men returned disconsolately to the corridor. Sir Hugh was reflectively crumpling the gown sleeve in his fingers.
‘It is a mortal pity,’ said Treneglos. ‘With Ruth away and all …’
They tramped down the passage together, no longer on tiptoe or careful of creaking boards; the house might wake now for all they cared. In the distance at the head of the stairs a coat of mail armour glimmered in the light from below.
‘When’s her time?’ said Sir Hugh, trying to take an interest.
‘Ruth’s.’
‘Oh … it was to have been last Wednesday, but she’s always late in coming to the boil.’
‘How many will this be?’
‘Four. If she keeps up her rate of fire, we shall soon have our share of livestock. And you’d never have thought it to look at her before she was wed.’
They stopped at the great black banisters and looked down into the littered hall. A footman yawned in his hooded leather chair. Treneglos seemed to expect his host to walk with him into the west wing, but Sir Hugh stopped.
‘You run along, dear boy. It will be daylight soon and the cocks crowing. The band’ll be waiting for their settlement. I promised they should have it prompt. It was the only condition on which they’d agree to come.’
‘Don’t forget your Margaret in the library.’
‘No,’ said Sir Hugh. He brightened a little at the thought and his brow cleared. ‘No, there is that. I’ll call in there on the way.’