Free Bella Poldark by Winston Graham Page A

Tis really good of you--'
    'My dear,' said Mrs Pelham, looking benevolently at Isabella-Rose. 'That was not quite what I said. My meaning was that I should be pleased - indeed happy - to invite her to live here, not for a short time but for just as long as ever it may suit her.'
    Mrs Pelham had not met Demelza's second daughter before this week and was clearly much taken with her. Bella beamed at her, and when she smiled like this it was as if all her face lit up. It could not have been a more suitable friendship for all concerned. Mrs Pelham was wealthy, well supplied with servants, constantly entertaining but personally lonely, knew most of the best people in London, had a private carriage (which she seldom used), lived in this big, handsomely proportioned house, often went to the theatre, had no children of her own. Demelza wriggled uncomfortably in her chair to try to rid herself of a curious stab somewhere in the breast or upper stomach. She refused to recognize it at first, but after settling down again and murmuring her most profuse thanks to Mrs Pelham, she had to acknowledge that the uncomfortable stab was a feeling of jealousy. Not of course jealousy of Bella, for whom this visit was turning out more
    favourably than she surely could ever have dared to hope; but jealousy of Sarah Pelham, who, henceforward, if this plan now went ahead, would see far more of Bella than Demelza could ever hope to do. Somewhere in the depths of her soul a solitary miserable creature was weeping. 'I lost my first daughter Julia years ago when she was scarcely more than a baby; and then it is only three years since Jeremy my elder son, at the height of his charm and youthful maturity, was killed at Waterloo; now I have to part with my youngest daughter, gone three hundred miles away, to live in this beautiful house with this elegant elderly lady, in pursuit of a singing career. What a tragedy it is that she ever met Christopher Havergal. How much happier Nampara would be with her at school in Truro and singing for fun. How much happier Bella herself might be in the end!'
    She swallowed and said: 'I b'lieve Madame Schneider would take her. And Dr Fredericks, I'm sure. You - you would advise Madame Schneider, Mrs Pelham?'
    'When I first heard of Dr Fredericks as the best teacher in London,' said Christopher Havergal, 'and took Bella to see him in July, I had no certain idea where she would be able to stay. As you all know, I hope to marry her, but have willingly agreed to a postponement, and I have been much exercised in the matter of finding somewhere suitable for her to board. But of course Mrs Pelham's magnificent offer makes this all unnecessary. Ma'am, I shall consider this the greatest favour you could offer us. Thank you.'
    Mrs Pelham smiled. He went on: 'Mrs Enys has raised the question of the distance the two teaching establishments are from here. Dr Fredericks is little more than half a mile, Madame Schneider is nearly two miles. I have been measuring it on a map. This perhaps should not be the main factor in a decision, but it might be taken into account.'
    'Perhaps,' said Caroline, 'we should ask Bella how she feels.'
    Bella smiled one of her irradiating smiles. 'I am enchanted.' 'With either?'
    'With either.'

Chapter Six
    While her mother and Isabella-Rose were away Clowance went to Nampara to keep Ross company and to be an extra companion for Harry. As the cross-country route was slightly more risky in the winter, she decided to take the coach road to Truro, where Matthew Mark Martin would meet her to escort her the rest of the way. Halfway to Truro she made a short detour to tell Harriet that she would not be at home for a week. Harriet of course was out with her hounds, so she went into the house and wrote a brief note for when she returned. As she sanded the paper a footstep creaked in the hall, and she turned to see the lanky figure of Philip Prideaux bearing down on her.
    'Mrs Carrington. How good it is to see you. I fear