He went out, followed by Slim and Friar. The two slabs swung to behind them. 'What did he mean by my present state?' Dave's voice was pitched high and his cigarette glowed red. 'What did he mean, man? Does he think I'm scared? I didn't come here because I was scared. Indeed I didn't. I came here because' — he hesitated and trod out his cigarette — 'because I didn't trust Lizzie Clynt. Women are the devil, you know. I've no use for them, but the one — but you've got to trust them sometimes now, haven't you? But when she showed me that paper.' He opened his gold cigarette case. It was empty. 'Have you got a cigarette, man?'
'No,' I said. 'Perhaps there are some in the food cases there.' I searched in the case I had opened and found a carton of cigarettes. 'Here you are,' I said, and tossed him over a packet of twenty.
He lit one immediately. The flame of the match shook in his hand. He got up then and pushed open the slabs of the entrance. 'I hate being shut up, don't you? I like to be able to hear what's going on outside. We'd hear the gig coming down now. wouldn't we?'
'Yes,' I said.
He was crossing towards the bed again when a muffled roar came from the depths of the mine. The ground shook slightly. Dave swung round. 'What was that?' he cried.
'Blasting,' I said. 'We're blowing in one of the galleries.'
He went quickly over to the bed and sat down as though his knees ached. A blast of air swept dust in from the gallery outside. 'What are you blasting for? Manack isn't opening up the mine, is he?'
'Just a few structural alterations,' I said.
He didn't pursue the matter. He wasn't interested. That was outside himself and he was only interested in himself. He wanted to justify his presence at Wheal Garth. He wanted to prove — to himself most of all — that he wasn't frightened. 'You know when I left you?' he said. 'Up at the Ding Dong mine?'
'Yes.'
'I went down to Morvah. That's about two miles up the coast from here. Just outside the village, on the hills, there's a farm. Belongs to a farmer called John Clynt. His wife, Lizzie, is about twenty years younger than him, you know — a lovely girl she is. I met her at a dance once and I'd go up to the farm sometimes in the daytime when I was in port. Her husband's out farming all day. Well, I went there, you see. I knew she'd hide me away for the fun of having me during the day. But how was I to know the police would find out about that woman at Lamorna? She brought the paper up to me this afternoon. I was in one of the hay lofts, you know. And one look at her face told me she'd do what Syl had done. Syl was in love with me. That's the trouble, you know. They all fall in love with me, damn them. Why is it that women can't behave rationally? Syl was jealous. I knew that. But to go and give a man away to the police! That's what I can't forgive.'
'Oh! for God's sake, shut up,' I said.
'But, look you, man, she'd no cause to do a thing like that. I never told her I loved her. But a man needs a woman now and then. It was the same with Liz. She thrust the paper at me as I lay down there in the straw waiting for her to come to me and her face was set, you know, like a piece of sculpture in a church. But for the scandal if her husband found out, she'd have been down to Morvah village right away to fetch the police. But I couldn't stay. There was murder in her eyes as she stood over me whilst I read that story in the paper. The only place I could go was Cripples' Ease. What's Manack got to grumble at? It was the most sensible thing to do. Indeed, it was the only thing to do. I'd like to get my hands on Sylvia Coran now. I'd teach her not to go sneaking to the police. I'd — " He looked up and saw that I'd picked up an electric torch and was moving towards the door. 'Where are you going?'
'Up top — to get a breath of fresh air,' I told him.
'No,' he said. 'Stay down here and talk to me, man. I'm not used to these mines. I don't like — '
'I'm going up top,' I said.
His face looked white and scared as I closed the slabs upon the lamplit gloom of that little rock chamber.
There's something about a man who's scared that always seems unwholesome. They say a dog can smell fear. Maybe that's it. But I just couldn't stay down there with Dave Tanner. I went up the raise and climbed the shaft. At the top I poked just my head over the protecting wall. The night was bright with moonlight. There was nobody around and I climbed out. The sea was all silver and the stars gleaming palely behind the dark outlines of the old engine houses. A faint rhythmic beat pulsed in the still air, it was the sound of a ship's engines. The dark outline of her showed against the silver of the sea. She glided slowly along the rim of the cliffs like a phantom.
I strolled down to the sheds of Wheal Garth and in the shadows there lit a cigarette. It was so wonderfully still and peaceful. I drank in that stillness. This world of moonlight seemed so remote from that other world — the world in which Dave Tanner was scared and —. I pushed the other thoughts out of my mind. The moonlight and the stars and the stillness with the rhythmic beat of the ship's engine like a distant tom-tom — that for the moment was reality, not the rest.
The moonlight and the peaceful beauty of the place made me restless. I turned and climbed up the slope behind me. My boots rustled on the heather, scaring rabbits into their burrows. It was only when I came within sight of Cripples' Ease that I stopped to think why I was walking towards the house. Then I knew I was going to see Kitty. I needed her shy understanding. I wanted her sympathy. Not only that. There was more I wanted. The blood tingled in my veins. I wanted to see her smile, to make her aware that I was a man — not just Miss Nearne's son.
I went on, walking fast across the old workings. There was nobody about. The headland was all white in the moonlight. And the house, which had looked so grim in the storm that first night, was white too. I tried to avoid looking at that little dormer window in the roof. But it seemed to watch me as I went past the front of the house and into the yard.
I reached the kitchen by the scullery door. Kitty was sitting beside the open range, her head bent over a book. The old woman sat opposite her, mending some socks. They looked up as I came in. Kitty jumped to her feet. Her cheeks were red with the heat of the fire. 'What are you doing here?' she asked.
I hesitated. 'I came to see you,' I said.
'Came to see me?' She seemed surprised and her eyes dropped to the book in her hand. She put it down on the table. 'What do you want to see me about?' Her voice had a slight tremor in it.
'I just felt lonely,' I said quickly. 'It's such a lovely night and — and I wanted somebody to talk to,' I added lamely.
'There's Slim and Friar through there, if you want company,' she added. 'But you shouldn't be up here.'
'I don't want to talk to either Slim or Friar,' I told her. 'I want to talk to you.'
She looked down and her fingers turned the leaves of the book she had been reading. 'You shouldn't be up here,' was all she said.
'I know that,' I answered. 'Look — take a stroll down to the headland in a short while, will you? I'll meet you down by the mine.'
She didn't answer. But the old woman looked up from her darning and said, 'There's a nice moon, dearie, and the walk will do 'ee good.'
'Will you?' I asked again.
'Maybe,' she said very quietly.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor. She looked up, startled. They didn't turn off towards the front door but came straight on to the kitchen. The door opened. It was Old Manack. He stopped there in the doorway. His pale eyes glittered in the lamplight. My hands clenched automatically and I felt a violent desire to take him by his beard and fling him over Botallack Head where my mother had gone. He must have seen the violence in my eyes, for he stared at me as though fascinated by what he saw. A sound broke through my clenched teeth. It wasn't speech, it was just a sound. Fear snowed in his eyes, but only for a second. Then they narrowed cunningly and I swear he smiled in his beard. I started towards him then. I don't know what I intended to do, but I wanted to get hold of him. Kitty caught hold of my arm and he quickly closed the door. I stood there, sweating in the warm kitchen, and listening to his footsteps going down the corridor to the front door.