Ross and Demelza read their son’s letter standing in the doorway of Nampara in the late January sunshine.
‘He is happy,’ she said. ‘Is that not wonderful? I am so very delighted!’
‘Thank God it came good for him,’ Ross said. ‘If it had not it would have ruined his life.’
‘And your advice was right!’
‘He did not take it.’
‘Enough. He took it enough.’
‘So now we have our two eldest children wed. We should be happy.’
‘Are we not?’
‘Yes, in this respect we measure our content by theirs. God, I envy Jeremy!’
‘For what?’
He took her arm. ‘For being at the beginning of it all.’
She sighed. ‘I know.’
‘Are you – better about Jeremy now?’ he asked after a moment.
‘Better? In what way?’ She was startled at his perception.
‘You have been depressed about him, haven’t you? Worried in some way.’
‘Yes, Ross, I’ve been worried in some way.’
‘And this news helps?’
‘It helps a lot!’
‘But not altogether? There’s something else?’
‘Perhaps there need not be now. Perhaps there never will need to be.’
‘You don’t wish to tell me what it is?’
‘No, Ross. I could not. It is too – too queasy.’
‘Something to do with your instinct perhaps?’
‘Yes, perhaps. Feelings I had.’
‘No longer have.’
‘I have forgotten them! All I think now is how wonderful it is that they have come together!’
‘Amen.’ He squeezed her arm. ‘I think we’re specially lucky, aren’t we, lucky in having two younger children to be coming along in their place.’
‘That’s true.’
‘You’re very thin.’
‘I am not at all thin, Ross. Even at your age, you cannot wish for a fudgy-faced wife.’
‘Even at my age I do not wish you to be fading away.’
‘I am not fading away. Believe me.’
‘We must buy some scales . . . You really liked her, Demelza?’
‘Tis hard to say too much on so short an acquaintance, but I thought she had great spirit. We – seemed to understand each other.’
‘So I noticed. On the whole I agree. She has great spirit and charm. I cannot quite forgive her for being so mercenary. But I suppose – according to one’s standards – one could see a certain spirit and nobility even in that.’
Demelza put the letter in her pocket and looked over her garden.
‘Those winds last month. They were so vindictive. Look at our wallflowers! Although we’ve done our best with them they’ll never be right now.’
‘It’s the penalty of living where we do. After all, there are compensations.’
‘And the hollyhocks were a calamity last year. I wondered whether to give them a miss, try perhaps columbines, just for a change.’
‘You haven’t sown any seed, have you? They’re biennials, you know.’
‘I do know. But Caroline has some spare plants.’
‘Well, as you say, it would be a change. But it wouldn’t be quite like you not to have a few hollyhocks, would it.’
‘Oh, well.’
She ventured out into the garden but soon drew back into the shelter of the porch again.
‘Is it not wonderful this news! Where will they live? I mean when Jeremy comes out of the army.’
‘Heavens, I have no idea. You’re jumping ahead. We might enlarge the Gatehouse.’
‘Enlarge it?’
‘Double it in size. It is very small. Perhaps some of the miners who are going to be out of work when Grace closes could be employed in this way. We could give this to Jeremy and Cuby as a wedding present.’
‘A lovely idea! Do you think Clowance would mind?’
‘Mind? Why?’
‘Well, we offered it to her and Stephen just as it was.’
‘I’m sure she would not. Clowance is our daughter, and one expects her husband to provide for her. This is the other way round. But it would never be meant as an indication of any different regard.’
Demelza gave a little skip of pleasure. ‘Are we wealthy again, Ross?’
‘We would be if we closed Wheal Grace. But I cannot do that except little by little, a level at a time, giving men a chance to find other work, or make adjustments to their lives, possibly take more on at Leisure. That way we lose a part of our profits, but are still better off than for some while.’
‘Rebuilding the Gatehouse will cost much.’
‘We can take our time. I doubt if Jeremy will come out of the army for another twelvemonth, and I suspect Cuby will stay with him wherever he goes.’
‘Could I spend more on my garden?’
‘Of course. What do you want to do?’
‘First raise the wall at least another three feet. Did you see that walled garden at Place House?’
‘No.’
‘Selina took us out there after dinner. They are in just as exposed a position as we are, but the peach trees growing on the walls! And these new things, these hydrangeas, that I thought would only live indoors!’
‘Three feet you shall have. Though we’ll have to match the stone so that it won’t show. Anything else?’
‘You’re teasing me!’
‘Not at all.’
‘Then I would like a proper music teacher for Isabella-Rose. Don’t laugh, for she has some sort of overwelling music in her, if only it can be harnessed and trained.’
‘She should go away to school, my love. Just for a year or two. She’s twelve and a half, and already far too bright for Mrs Kemp.’
Demelza pulled at a curl in her hair, twisting it round her finger and then releasing it. ‘I was feared you might say that.’
‘Is it not true?’
‘I do not know if I can spare her just yet.’
‘Well, soon perhaps. I think it would do her good.’
‘Clowance ran away.’
‘Only twice. And was no worse for it.’
The wind was sneaking round the corner, and Demelza turned to go in. As Ross opened the door she said: ‘Had you some school in mind?’
‘Mrs Hemple’s in Truro has a very good reputation. And being near St Mary’s Church they hear some good singing. Take part in it too, I believe, at times.’
They went in.
Demelza kicked off her shoes and put them under a chair, sat on the chair and thoughtfully pulled on one slipper and then the other.
She said: ‘Can good come out of evil, Ross?’
‘What? . . . Of course. And the other way round. More often, I fear, the other way round. Why do you ask?’
‘And can you profit, truly profit from some wrongful act . . . I mean, can happiness, do you think, come about when maybe you – you haven’t quite done what you ought to – or where what you have done might be expected to spoil it?’
Ross stood with his hand on the latch of the dining-room door. ‘I don’t know, my dear. Who knows what is deserved? But why do you ask me this now? It’s not easy to answer theoretical questions, and it’s not quite like you to ask them.’
‘It was just thoughts passing through my head.’
Ross grunted and opened the door, passed inside, turned and saw Demelza at the door watching him.
He said: ‘What did Jeremy mean about the loving cup?’
Demelza hesitated. ‘Oh, nothing in particular, I believe. He seemed to take a fancy to it when he was here, and I offered it to him but he refused.’
‘And now he wants it?’
‘Yes.’
‘I wonder why. How is it in any way connected with him?’
‘I think he came to look on it as some sort of an omen.’
‘Not like him really. I mean . . .’
Demelza thought a moment. Trouble again crossed her brow and then passed. She said: ‘Well, is it not suitable? A loving cup to bring two people together?’