Warleggan by Winston Graham

reach ..." He stopped, unable to finish his sentences. Perhaps you can identify these symptoms for me.'
    They rode on in silence, and then Caroline reined in her horse .
    "I must go back. I shall be late for dinner as it is. Tell me, do, you ever ride for pleasure?'
    `Seldom.'
    `I shall be out on Thursday early. Would you like to meet me at the gates soon after seven?'
    At least she was not laughing now. He could hardly believe that within ten minutes of their meeting all his good resolutions had been tipped overboard, with apparently no effort on her part and no resistance on his. He knew as plainly as if it had been issued by proclamation that, Unwin or no Unwin, Caroline was not for him. Her uncles would make very sure that she either, married a title or more money. A penniless doctor with a good name but nothing to it would be better occupied putting straws in his hair.
    The groom was coming up with them. She said:- `Or I could be i ll if you preferred it How long does it take to develop the scurvy?'
    `It's an unpleasant di sease,' Dwight said, taking off his hat,' `and so bad for the complexion. I shouldn't advise it.'
    A we ek passed before Malcolm McNeil paid his visit to Nampara. He walked over one bright summerless afternoon, without prior notice since he wanted it that way, and on foot since he was keen to harden himself before' returning to duty. As he came down the valley, he noticed the changes that three years ha d brought. On the opposite hill was a new mine with a pumping engine hissing and clanking, and a whole litter of sheds and piles of refuse, and leets and a smithy and a spalling house. Industry had advanced at the expense of farming. More fields lay fallow than a rotation of crops justifi ed, and there were few cattle or sheep or pigs about. - A dark-lashed baby was asleep in a cot near the front door. The se rvant who let him in left him in the parlour, which seemed to him to have beco me smaller and poorer since his last visit. A kitten came and mewed round his legs, and he picked it up and gave it his forefinger to bite.
    Mrs. Poldark was about five minutes, and she looked flushed when she came in.
    "I'm sure this is an ill-chosen time, ma'am,' he said. 'I was passing and thought to avail myself of your kindness.
    'No, not at all. But Ross, I'm sorry to say, isn't here. He's over to the mine.. I'll send Gimlett to fetch him.'
    McNeil vigorously-protested, and she allowed herself to be persuaded, knowing that Ross was likely; to be deep in some work - probably fathoms deep - and would not want interruption. McNeil sat down and fastened his moustache more firmly in and let the kitten slide on to the shabby rug.
    Being a Scotsman and a widely travelled one, he had no t been much impressed by the women in these parts on his last visit. But there had been three good-lookers at the party the other evening, and this Mrs. Poldark was the one with that little something more than looks which teased his curiosity. He fancied he knew potentialities when he saw them; and a spark was seldom long absent from this young woman's fine eyes. It was like the glint of a soldier's sabre at night.
    He said : `You have heard the latest war news, perhaps?'
    War news? I didn't know we were at war.'
    He smiled. 'Nor are we, ma'am. I mean the French war with the Austrians. The information has just come through.'
    'Is it good or bad?'
    'Oh, good. Without question. The French broke into Belgium like a rabble, it's said, expecting no doubt to make men run at, the sight of their unshaven faces ; but when, they met the Austrians, one disciplined charge was enough; the whole French army tu rned and ran from t he battlefield. And when their own officers:: their own generals tried to stop them, they murdered them, stabbing them with bayonets!''
    'And what does that mean? That France is defeated already? Have they other armies?'
    'None in the field. So much for your revolutionaries. It's strange how nairvous people have been at the