The Black Moon by Winston Graham Read Free Book Online

that he was unwell. I thought I might be permitted to call to see him. I trust' he is better. '
    `Not at all better, I fear. But thank you for your kind inquiry. I will tell him you have called.'
    'He is not to, be seen?'
    She shook her head. 'The, doctor said not. And in faith I would think the strain of it would tire him too much.'
    `Who is your doctor?'
    'Dr Sylvane of Blackwater,'
    'I don't know him. But then I a m' seldom in Cornwall. He is efficacious?'
    'What a long word. I do not know the answer to that, Unwin. Uncle Ray grows steadily worse, but that may be the progress of the disease which no doctor may be able to stem, however efficacious.'
    Unwin glanced out of the window. Rain, was lashing on it. 'A heavy shower. An April shower. I must ask the shelter of your house until it is past.'
    'That; with pleasure. Will you take some refreshment? We have some good French brandy, recently run in. Or ale? Or canary?'
    'Thank you, brandy, if it is not too much trouble.'
    Caroline pulled the bell and gave th e order when the servant came. Unwin was eyeing her with undisguised interest. He d ecided she had not improved in looks, since he had first met her, a tall, wayward, red-haired beauty of eighteen, at her Uncle William's home in Oxfordshire. A beauty who was also heiress to two elderly, wealthy and cheese - paring bachelors, What could be better? He had followed her to Cornwall, and after eighteen months of sporadic courtship had thought her safely landed, when instead she had sud denly cut loose and refused to have anything more to do with him. Since then there had been a rumour of her engagement to Lord Coniston, but that too had come to nothing. Unwin thought he knew the reason for all this. It was part ly the cause of his coming today. But she was not as attractive as she had been. Her tall slender figure had become angular, her skin less fresh-looking. At twenty-two she was still a beauty; and wherever she went her height and colouring would mark her out; but it pleased him that he could detect a going-off. Perhaps in the end she would become a trifle less wayward and headstrong.
    When the brandy, came Unwin sipped it and munched a biscuit. `Um. Very good. So the war has not interfered with the traffic across the Channel.'
    `No, from all accounts it appears to have increased it,'
    `Fewer men, to guard the coasts, eh?, But it is a serious matter to trade with an enemy. There is all the possibilities of spying, of selling information, of helping to weaken a blockade. It's something Pitt should know about.'
    She let Horace slip from her knees, and he rolled fatly on the floor. He lay there wheezing and gasping with a suspicious, bloodshot, white-cornered eye on U nwin. `Your career prospers, I hope?'
    `Indeed. My seat was finally co nfirmed; this year and my rival dislodged. Now I am promised a n under-secretaryship shortly. I would like it - and shall probably get it - in finance. Finding the money to prosecute this war is one of the most vital of the problems we have to deal with.'
    Fighting it is also vital, I should have thought,' said Caroline.
    `That also I may yet do. We are very short of men. I wonder Ross Poldark does not think of returning to the 62nd Foot.'
    `You should ask him.'
    He looked out of the window again. `Tell me, Caroline. Your uncle. I trust; you don't this doctor does not forecast a fatal termination?'
    'Dr Sylvane will never forecast that while a patient has one breath left or a toe that will twitch when you touch it; but I must confess I am not hopeful.'
    `If or when .this happens, what shall you do?' Return to London? You could hardly remain here alone.'
    `Why not? I don't know. I prefer to live from day to day.'
    `Of course ... I often wonder what would have happened if you had not quarrelled with me that evening in May two years ago.'
    Caroline smiled. 'Well, then I should have been your wife, Unwin. That is not difficult to see. But I should not have been a good wife for you.'
    `Permit me