and Aunt Chegwidden's mouth pinched itself in like a darned buttonhole as she took in Elizabeth's flamboyant crimson, Ruth Treneglos's tight low-cut bodice and Mrs Teague's rows of pearls and richly frizzled wig.
At last it was over and talk broke out again, though on a subdued note. A tiny wind was getting up, moving among the guests and lifting a ribbon here and a tail coat there.
Ross motioned to Jinny to carry round port and brandy. The more everyone drank the more they would talk, and the more they talked the less of a fiasco it would all be. Carne waved away the tray.
'I have no truck wi' such things,' he said. 'Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they follow strong drink, that continue until night till wine do inflame them! I've finished wi' wickedness and bottledom and set my feet 'pon a rock of righteousness and salvation. Let me see the child, dattur.'
Stiffly, grimly, Demelza held Julia out for inspection.
'My first was bigger than this,' said Mrs Chegwidden Carne, breathing hard over the baby. 'Warn't he, Tom? Twelve month old he'll be August month. A 'and some little fellow he be, though tis my own.'
'What's amiss wier forehead?' Carne asked. 'Have ee dropped 'ur?'
'It was in the birth,' Demelza said angrily.
Julia began to cry.
Carne rasped his chin. 'I trust ye picked her godparents safe and sure. Twas my notion to be one myself.'
Near the stream the Teague girls tittered among themselves, but Mrs Teague was on her dignity, drawing down her eyelids in their side-slant shutter fashion.
'A calculated insult,' she said, 'to bring in a man and a woman of that type and to introduce them. It is an affront set upon us by, Ross and his kitchen slut. It was against my judgment that I ever came! But her youngest daughter knew better. This was no part of any plan but was a mischance she might put to good use. She took a glass from Jinny's tray and sidled behind her sister's back up to George Warleggan.
'Do you not think,' she whispered, 'that we are remiss in straying so far from our host and hostess? I have been to few christenings so I do not know the etiquette, but common manners would suggest.
George glanced a moment into the slightly oriental green eyes. He had always held the Teagues in private contempt, an exaggerated form of the mixed respect and patronage he felt for the Poldarks and the Chynoweths and all those gentlefolk whose talent for commerce was in inverse rate to the length of their pedigrees. They might affect to despise him but he knew that some of them in their hearts already feared him. The Teagnes were almost beneath his notice, maleless, twittering, living on three percents and a few acres of land. But since her marriage Ruth had developed so rapidly that he knew he must reassess her. She, like Ross among the Poldarks, was of harder metal.
'Such modesty is to be expected in one so charming, ma'am,' he said, 'but I know no more of christenings than you. Do you not think it safest to consult one's own interests and follow where they lead?'
A burst of laughter behind them greeted the end of an anecdote Francis had been telling John Treneglos and Patience Teague.
Ruth said in an exaggerated whisper: 'I think you should behave more seemly, Francis, if we are not to have a reprimand. The old man is looking our way.'
Francis said: 'We are safe yet. The wild boar always raises its hackles before it comes to the charge.' There was another laugh. 'You, girl,' he said to Jinny as she passed near, 'is that more of the canary you have? I will take another glass. You're a nice little thing; where did Captain Poldark find you?'
The stress was almost unconscious, but Ruth's laugh left no doubt of the way she took it. Jinny flushed up to the roots of her hair.
'I'm Jinny Carter, sur. Jinny Martin that was.'
'Yes, yes.' Francis's expression changed slightly. 'I remember now. You worked at Grambler for a time. How is your husband?'
Jinny's face cleared. 'Nicely, sur, thank you, so
At last it was over and talk broke out again, though on a subdued note. A tiny wind was getting up, moving among the guests and lifting a ribbon here and a tail coat there.
Ross motioned to Jinny to carry round port and brandy. The more everyone drank the more they would talk, and the more they talked the less of a fiasco it would all be. Carne waved away the tray.
'I have no truck wi' such things,' he said. 'Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they follow strong drink, that continue until night till wine do inflame them! I've finished wi' wickedness and bottledom and set my feet 'pon a rock of righteousness and salvation. Let me see the child, dattur.'
Stiffly, grimly, Demelza held Julia out for inspection.
'My first was bigger than this,' said Mrs Chegwidden Carne, breathing hard over the baby. 'Warn't he, Tom? Twelve month old he'll be August month. A 'and some little fellow he be, though tis my own.'
'What's amiss wier forehead?' Carne asked. 'Have ee dropped 'ur?'
'It was in the birth,' Demelza said angrily.
Julia began to cry.
Carne rasped his chin. 'I trust ye picked her godparents safe and sure. Twas my notion to be one myself.'
Near the stream the Teague girls tittered among themselves, but Mrs Teague was on her dignity, drawing down her eyelids in their side-slant shutter fashion.
'A calculated insult,' she said, 'to bring in a man and a woman of that type and to introduce them. It is an affront set upon us by, Ross and his kitchen slut. It was against my judgment that I ever came! But her youngest daughter knew better. This was no part of any plan but was a mischance she might put to good use. She took a glass from Jinny's tray and sidled behind her sister's back up to George Warleggan.
'Do you not think,' she whispered, 'that we are remiss in straying so far from our host and hostess? I have been to few christenings so I do not know the etiquette, but common manners would suggest.
George glanced a moment into the slightly oriental green eyes. He had always held the Teagues in private contempt, an exaggerated form of the mixed respect and patronage he felt for the Poldarks and the Chynoweths and all those gentlefolk whose talent for commerce was in inverse rate to the length of their pedigrees. They might affect to despise him but he knew that some of them in their hearts already feared him. The Teagnes were almost beneath his notice, maleless, twittering, living on three percents and a few acres of land. But since her marriage Ruth had developed so rapidly that he knew he must reassess her. She, like Ross among the Poldarks, was of harder metal.
'Such modesty is to be expected in one so charming, ma'am,' he said, 'but I know no more of christenings than you. Do you not think it safest to consult one's own interests and follow where they lead?'
A burst of laughter behind them greeted the end of an anecdote Francis had been telling John Treneglos and Patience Teague.
Ruth said in an exaggerated whisper: 'I think you should behave more seemly, Francis, if we are not to have a reprimand. The old man is looking our way.'
Francis said: 'We are safe yet. The wild boar always raises its hackles before it comes to the charge.' There was another laugh. 'You, girl,' he said to Jinny as she passed near, 'is that more of the canary you have? I will take another glass. You're a nice little thing; where did Captain Poldark find you?'
The stress was almost unconscious, but Ruth's laugh left no doubt of the way she took it. Jinny flushed up to the roots of her hair.
'I'm Jinny Carter, sur. Jinny Martin that was.'
'Yes, yes.' Francis's expression changed slightly. 'I remember now. You worked at Grambler for a time. How is your husband?'
Jinny's face cleared. 'Nicely, sur, thank you, so
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