Jeremy Poldark

Do you believe we are masters of ourselves, or merely dance like puppets on strings having the illusion of independence?

He was a man of moods, yet he was her constant, something unchanging, infinitely reliable, the pivot of her life. There could never be anyone else. Without him she would not be more than half alive.

I believe yours is the only wisdom, Demelza.

It isn't where you're born in this world, it's what you do.

I want the home about me: candles burning, curtains drawn, warmth, tea, friendship, love.

Resentment and bitterness and old grudges were dead things, which rotted the hands that grasped them.

There are no permanent things, only fleeting moments of warmth and companionship, precious stationary seconds in a flicker of troubled days. The

She added, “I’ve only followed the devices and desires of my own heart.” Verity patted her hand. “That’s what we love you for.

He said in exasperation, “Goddamn it, you should know I’m not used to dealing with women! You search the earth to find some special secret feminine grievance to gnaw over for months on end and then produce it coolly on the mat to explain all the irrational hedging and dodging of an entire winter—

Refreshment is the remedy for all manner of embarrassments.

No, you never do start arguments, do you, with your cold looks an’ your bitter tongue! You just freeze everyone up an’—an’ despise everything that isn’t up to your standard. It’s—it’s unfair and horrible! Perhaps that’s what you want me always to feel. Perhaps you’re sorry you ever bothered to marry me!

And what of this young woman beside him, whom he had loved devotedly for four years and still did love? She had given him more than Elizabeth ever could: months of unflawed relationship, unquestioning trust (which he was now betraying in thought) . Oh nonsense! What man did not at some time or another glance elsewhere? And who could complain if it remained at a glance? (Chance was a fine thing).

Human beings were blind, crazy creatures, he thought, forever walking the tightrope of the present condemned to ever changing shifts and expedients to maintain the balance of existence, not knowing even as far ahead as tomorrow what the actions of today would bring. How could one plan a year ahead, how influence the imponderables?

The only security was death. So long as one wanted to go on living one had to accept the risks.

Youth was so mercilessly hard in its decisions; it had its own unyielding standards and had not yet learned enough to know that time would prove them arbitrary.

Then Betsy Triggs heard footsteps at the door and all waited eagerly to see what news the returning searchers brought. Jud Paynter limped in. He was in his best underclothes and was very wet and very cross. The tablecloth he’d borrowed from the kiddlywink down the lane wasn’t much protection from the rain. “’Ere,” he said truculently, “what’s all this? An’ where’s my pipe?” Chapter Twenty-Five Jud’s recovery was a nine days’ wonder and scandal in the district.

It’s gone!” he shouted. “The brandy!” said Prudie, lurching to her feet. “’Ere, who’s stolen it? ’Twas there an hour gone—” “Not all three kegs!” said Constable Vage, instantly alert. “Why we did oughter have heard them. They couldn’t move three kegs without—” “Nay,” said Ned Bottrell, shouting above the clamor. “Not the drink, the corpse!

It’s you and me,” she said, “in our own house. Nothing between us—no interruption. Maybe it’s because I’m just of common stock, but I want the home about me: candles burning, curtains drawn, warmth, tea, friendship, love. Those are what matter to me. This morning—even a few hours ago—I thought it was all gone forever.

I am a miner's daughter," Demelza said. "I was not brought up gentle. Gentleness –is that the right word?– came upon me when I was half grown. I have Ross to thank for that. And you. But it don't alter me underneath. I still have two marks on my back where Father used the belt. There's naught a few drunks could do but what I couldn't give them back. Tis all a matter of being in the mood.

But was any future, anyone's future, unfraught by hazards of some sort? The only security was death. So long as one wanted to go on living on had to accept the risks. Well, she accepted them...

You may speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but it all depends how you speak it! Got to be tactful, persuasive, throw yourself on the mercy and indulgence of the law. Be humble and innocent, not stiff-backed and defiant.

I wish your husband well and hope he’ll come home again to domestic bliss.