The Loving Cup - Poldark book 10

The Loving Cup picks up where The Miller's Dance leaves off.  

It's now 1813 and the Napoleonic Wars are waning.  Ross is doing quite well with Wheal Leisure, while Wheal Grace is running out of good ore.  As with The Miller's Dance, much of the story focuses on Jeremy and Clowance.  Isabelle Rose is a rambunctious tween-ager and baby Henry is doing very well.  Demelza is still recovering from his difficult birth, though this is only hinted at by WG.   As usual there are several delightful conversations between her and Ross.  There is still so much love between them, which makes me happy as I read.

Jeremy is at loose ends, still pining over Cuby, and feeling some regret over the robbery.  He keeps his share of the loot carefully hidden, while his partners in crime have been spending theirs.  He feels guilty and comes close to telling his Mother about it, but refrains.  After some soul-searching, he decides to join the Army and uses his ill-gotten gains to buy what he needs for his commission.  Ross and Demelza are not too happy about this, but they want him to do what he feels is right.  

In the meantime, his partners have been spending their shares.  Unbeknownst to them, some of the bills were of the ones that the bank had a record of and turned up in the account of George's wife.  He is steadfastly working to find out who robbed the coach and knowing George, he probably will.... but not in this volume!

Stephen uses his share of the coach money to get started in a legitimate shipping business.  On one of his excursions, he's becomes very ill and nearly dies.  When Clowance finds out about it, she goes immediately to nurse him back to health.  Stephen and Clowance reconcile, which I can't help but think is a big mistake, however, the heart wants what the heart wants and at least Clowance had time to think about him and what kind of man he is.  Ross and Demelza have reservations about him, but nothing concrete enough to try and stop their daughter from marrying him.

Once again, we get to enjoy someone putting the screws to George Warleggan.  This time it is Valentine that turns it.  George, in his usual manipulative way, arranges for Valentine to marry Jeremy's love, Cuby.  Valentine appears to go along with it, however when it's time to set the date, he informs his father that he is already married - to the recently widowed Selena Pope.  George blows a gasket and cuts him out of his life and fortune.  Selena has enough money to support Val, so he doesn't give a flying you-know-what. One thing for sure, you learn that Valentine has few redeeming qualities and will quite possibly turn out to be as bad as George, if not worse.  He reveals to his bride that he only married her for her property and that he intends to seek out other women when he feels like it and she just better figure out there's nothing she can do to stop him.  Wouldn't it be great if she DID figure out a way??   What a creep he is.

Jeremy learns that Cuby is no longer engaged to Valentine and wastes no time winning her over to his deep love and charming personality.  They run off to get married so her brother can't stop them.  Jeremy is at last happy, for the time being anyway.

Geoffrey Charles survives his time in the war and comes home with his beautiful Spanish bride, Amadora.  It is just a visit for now as they intend to return to Spain.  They do what they can in the time they have to spruce up Trenwith and have a party.  They want Drake and Morwenna to move to Trenwith to help keep it up while they are away.  Drake is running a business and is not sure this would be a good thing, though his friendship with Geoffrey is important to him too.  It remains to be seen what will happen with Trenwith. Geoffrey Charles has grown to be a good man, unlike his half-brother Valentine.

As the story ends, Demelza, who knows Jeremy has been fretting over something for months, finds evidence of his part in the coach robbery. She can't be certain he is involved, but she feels, much to her dismay, that he is. She ventures down to the hiding place and burns everything she finds except for a little silver loving cup.  She takes it home and cleans it up.  She claims she found it washed up on the beach.

One has to wonder how George will discover the loving cup and how he will use it to find the perpetrators of the crime!  With only two books left in the saga, I'm hoping, as I usually do, that he fails, but feel the cup still has a part to play in the story and will make Demelza wish she had tossed it in the sea. 

Don't tell me please!!  I'll be getting The Twisted Sword soon.