Poldark novels Part III

Ross is tried but vindicated. He had only gone down to the beach to try and prevent the villagers from stealing and even killing the sailors on the ship..The locals are desperately poor and on the rare occasions that they have a chance to loot a wrecked ship, they go wild. Ross and Demelza fire Jud Paynter and his wife, since Jud's drunken tongue was partly responsible for Ross ending up in jail. They take on a married couple, the Gimletts to help in the house. Demelza becomes pregnant again. They have a son Jeremy. George and Elizabeth get married but before they marry, Ross visits Elizabeth and forces himself on her, to try and dissuade her from marrying George. He and Demelza come close to separation but Elizabeth goes ahead with the marriage and has a son Valentine who may be Ross's son. Two of Demelza's six brothers come to live near Nampara, looking for work that is less dangerous than mining. Sam, the elder, is a Methodist and very serious. Drake is a gentle boy and skilled with his hands. Elizabeth gets a cousin of hers, Morwenna to become governess to Geoffrey her son by Francis, and this girl and Drake fall in love. However, George arranges a marriage for her to Osborne Whitworth, a local clergyman who has lost his wife. Osborn wants another one to satisfy his carnal needs and look after his other children. Morwenna does not want the marriage, but she has to give in and she is aware there was little chance of her being able to marry Drake. Then George irritates the elderly Poldark aunt, Agatha who lives with him and Elizabeth. She is a cranky old lady who is fond of Ross, and she has been looking forward to her 100th birthday, but George who has always disliked her, find out that a mistake has been made and she is only 98. He tells her spitefully -and says that they will have to cancel the party as she is not 100. In a rage, she tells him that Valentine is not his son, that he was not born prematurely - as George believed. She works herself up into a temper and it brings on her death. George is angry and upset. He has always been jealous of Ross and disliked the Poldarks, and this attack about Valentine shakes him. He begins to ignore the child and to be unkind to Elizabeth.