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Preface

Our current lives are a result of scientific evolution, so awareness


of the progress in scientific advances opens the doors to a new
era. This book describes the lives of three great scientists who
made remarkable discoveries—Newton, Faraday and Einstein.
By focusing on their stories, the readers will understand that
the common thread shared by them in their scientific journeys
was a genuine enthusiasm to scholarship rather than any lust
for fame or a sense of rivalry.
The progress of physics is surveyed as follows: Why is it
that celestial bodies in the universe move according to Kepler’s
laws? This problem was elucidated by Newton who explained
the motion of celestial bodies with three laws of motion as
described in “Principia”. Using Newton’s principles, the helio-
centlic theory, proposed by Copernicus and supported by
Galileo and Kepler, was shown to be correct. The mechanics
as outlined by Newton was called Newtonian mechanics that
became dominant until the end of the nineteenth century.
Electromagnetic phenomenon was researched by Faraday
who discovered the electromagnetic induction that transforms
magnetism to electricity, Faraday’s effect (magneto-optical
effect) and so forth. Furthermore, based on such experimental
results, Maxwell laid the foundation of electromagnetic theory.
Newtonian mechanics and electromagnetic theory together
con­stituted the two greatest theories in classical physics until
the end of the nineteenth century.
v
vi | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

However, from the end of the nineteenth century to the


beginning of the twentieth century, some experimental results
could not be elucidated by classical physics. The experimental
results on the relation between intensity and frequency of
blackbody radiation was difficult to be resolved by classical
physics. In 1900, Planck derived Planck’s formula which strictly
adhered to the experimental results of blackbody radiation.
From physical interpretation of the formula, Planck discovered
the concept of “quantum”. In 1905, introducing the concept of
quantum, Einstein succeeded in theoretically elucidating the
phenomenon of photoelectric effect where an electron was
emitted from the metal irradiated with light. This successfully
confirmed the concept of quantum, after which quantum
mechanics was founded as an epoch-making mechanics
following Newtonian mechanics.
According to relativity principle, the velocity of light mea­
sured in any coordinate system moving at a constant velocity
(called inertial frame) should be constant always. Relativity
principle was supported by Michelson–Morley experiment in
1887. However, in classical physics, the velocity of light was
different in different inertial frames, and therefore, the exper-
imental result by Michelson–Morley could not be explained by
classical physics. In order to resolve this contradiction, Einstein
revised the concept of time-space and founded relativity theory
supporting relativity principle. Thus, Einstein contributed to
the foundation of quantum mechanics and relativity theory
which constitute the two greatest theories in modern physics.
These significant contributions to the progress of physics as
mentioned above led to this book focusing on Newton, Faraday
and Einstein. In a nutshell, Newton and Faraday contributed
to the foundation of Newtonian mechanics and electromag-
netic theory which comprise the two significant theories in
classical physics, respectively. And, Einstein contributed to the
Preface | vii

foundation of quantum mechanics and relativity theory recog-


nized as the two greatest theories in modern physics.
This book also describes other geniuses related to the three
great Scientists—Galileo who was of considerable influence on
Newton; Kepler who discovered laws of orbital motion of planets;
Euler and Lagrange who founded the analytical mechanics
which was a compromise between Newtonian mechanics and
quantum mechanics; Volta who invented electric battery which
played an important role in experiments by Faraday; Maxwell
who succeeded in theorizing electromagnetic phenomena
discovered by Faraday; Planck who proposed the concept of
quantum which led to quantum mechanics and influenced
Einstein’s research on the photoelectric effect; de Broglie who
proposed the concept of the particle-wave duality of electron;
and Schrodinger who was influenced by de Broglie’s idea and
founded quantum mechanics.
The contents of the book is a result of the lecture entitled
“History of science and technology” taught by the author at
Kyoto Institute of Technology for about 10 years until 2006.
It helps the readers understand the progress in physics from
classical to modern. Scientific knowledge and academic terms
that are useful for understanding this book have been clarified
with suitable explanations and appendices. This feature of the
book will set it apart from general biographies.
It is written with the hope that youth worldwide on whom
depends the future, will develop interest in science. The readers
are to hold on to their hopes as these great scientists had to
overcome adversities.

Acknowledgments
The author would like to show his appreciation to Professor
K. Matsuda at Faculty of Law in Rikkyo University for visiting
viii | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

Faraday Museum in the Royal Institution of Great Britain and


taking pictures used in this book.
The author also thanks Dr. K. K. Phua (the editor-in-chief),
Lakshmi Narayanan (editor) and Dr. A. Nargiza (acquisition
editor), for facilitating the publication of this book. He also
appreciates other authors for the books referred to in this book.

Tadayoshi Shioyama
October 2020
In Kyoto
Contents

Preface v

Chapter 1 Isaac Newton 1


1.1 Upbringing 2
1.2 Admission into the University of Cambridge 5
1.3 Academic Development in the Continent 7
1.4 Barrow, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics 15
1.5 Creativity during the Plague 16
1.6 Successor of Barrow 21
1.7 Principia 27
1.8 Emergency at the University 35
1.9 Life in London 37
Explanation 1.1 Kepler’s laws 9
Explanation 1.2 Law of the pendulum 13
Explanation 1.3 Law of falling bodies 14
Explanation 1.4 The principle of a telescope 20
Explanation 1.5 The photoelectric effect 25
Explanation 1.6 The three laws of motion 28
Explanation 1.7 Rigid-body mechanics 42

ix
x | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

Explanation 1.8 Minimum-action principle 43


Appendix 1.1 Galileo Galilei 11
Appendix 1.2 The particle-wave duality of light 25
Appendix 1.3 After Newtonian mechanics 40

References 45

Chapter 2 Michael Faraday 47


2.1 Upbringing 48
2.2 Davy, Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution 51
2.3 Opening the Doorway to Research 58
2.4 Oersted’s Discovery 62
2.5 Liquefaction of Chlorine Gas 66
2.6 Election for Fellow of the Royal Society 70
2.7 Discovery of Electromagnetic Induction 73
2.8 Discovery of Laws of Electrochemical
Decomposition 83
2.9 Research on Dielectrics, Light and Magnetism,
and Magnetic Substances 89
2.10 Social Contribution by Faraday 95
2.11 A Grace-and-Favor House at Hampton Court
Offered by Queen Victoria to Faraday and His Wife 99
Explanation 2.1 The Royal Institution of Great Britain 53
Explanation 2.2 Davy lamp 62
Explanation 2.3 Liquefaction of gas 67
Explanation 2.4 Experiment with an induction ring 76
Explanation 2.5 Theorization of electromagnetic
phenomena by Maxwell 78
Contents | xi

Explanation 2.6 Laws of electrochemical decomposition 87


Explanation 2.7 Chemical equivalent 88
Explanation 2.8 Dielectric constant 90
Appendix 2.1 Historical significance of liquefying
chlorine gas 69
Appendix 2.2 Benzene 72
Appendix 2.3 Magnetic and electric lines of force 77
Appendix 2.4 Modern interpretation of electromagnetic
induction 80
Appendix 2.5 Invention of the voltaic pile 84

References 101

Chapter 3 Albert Einstein 103


3.1 Upbringing 104
3.2 Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich:
ETH Zurich 108
3.3 The Patent Office in Bern 110
3.4 Publication of Three Papers 113
3.5 Historical Background of the Special Relativistic
Theory 118
3.6 The Special Relativistic Theory 123
3.7 Consequences of the Special Relativistic Theory 126
3.8 Research at the University 130
3.9 The General Relativistic Theory 133
3.10 Consequence of the General Relativistic Theory 138
3.11 Verification of Correctness of the General
Relativistic Theory 140
xii | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

3.12 The Nobel Prize 146


3.13 The Fifth Solvay Conference 150
3.14 Princeton 156
Explanation 3.1 Mass defect 129
Explanation 3.2 Minkowski’s 4D world 135
Explanation 3.3 Path of light in a gravitational field 141
Explanation 3.4 Analysis of the perihelion motion of
Mercury 144
Appendix 3.1 Energy quantum 115
Appendix 3.2 Planck’s formula 117
Appendix 3.3 Michelson–Morley experiment 121
Appendix 3.4 Background of the formulation of the
special relativistic theory 124
Appendix 3.5 Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander
Schrodinger 154

References 160

Chronology of Events 163

Name Index 169

Subject Index 171

About the Author 175


Chapter 1

Isaac Newton

S ir Isaac Newton explained the motion of celestial bodies with


the help of the laws of motion he discovered. The Newtonian
mechanics he formulated constituted the two greatest theories
of classical physics, together with the electromagnetic theory,
theorized by James Clerk Maxwell on the basis of experimental
research on the electromagnetic phenomena by Michael Faraday.

1
2 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

1.1 Upbringing
Newton’s birth
Newton was born on January 4, 1643 (on December 25, 1642,
according to the Julian calendar), at a manor house in
Woolsthorpe (Fig. 1.1), near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England,
one year after Galileo Galilei, the greatest thinker up to Newton’s
time, passed away. His father, Isaac Newton, Senior, was a farmer
who had inherited the manor and the manor house and was a
lord with seignorial authority over a handful of tenant farmers.
A lord of this sort was called a yeoman in those days. He passed
away of a disease three months before the birth of Newton.
When Newton was three years old, his mother, Hannah,
married the rector Barnabas Smith of North Witham, a neigh­
boring village. Smith did not want that Newton be brought to
the new home. So Newton was brought up by his grandmother
Margery Ayscough.

Fig. 1.1 The manor house where Newton was born, in Woolsthorpe.
(Photograph taken by the author in June 2016.)
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 3

While Newton was facing this personal upheaval in his


young life, many historically relevant events were unfolding.
Charles I was beheaded in 1649 and the Puritan Revolution
started. In 1653, Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector. The
civil war between the Puritans and the Royalists continued
until 1658. Even in the countryside, the Puritan soldiers
pursued the Royalists, and the political situation was unstable.

Admission into King’s School


Newton’s stepfather passed away in 1653. Newton continued
living with his family with his grandmother, mother, a step-
brother, and two stepsisters. One year later, he entered King’s
School (founded in 1528), at Grantham, in Lincolnshire. This
school was considered to help you prepare for the entrance
examinations of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Grantham was a market town of a few hundred families and a
key point in Lincolnshire, an important distribution center of
agricultural products.
Grantham was 7 miles away from Woolsthorpe—a distance
much too great for anyone to walk to school every day. So
Newton took up lodgings with the Clarks. William Clark was
an apothecary. His wife was a friend of Newton’s mother.
Catherine Storer was her daughter from her previous marriage.
Catherine was two years younger than Newton and a merry girl.
She helped Newton, who came from the countryside, to come
out of his shell. Later, they got engaged.

A fight
Newton was not interested in studying at school and was in
the lowest grade. He had received his earliest knowledge of
basic chemistry from Clark while living with the family. But an
event occurred that would change his life. One day, Newton was
kicked hard in the stomach by a classmate who was in a superior
4 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

grade. After school, in the churchyard, Newton challenged this


much larger boy to a fight. Although Newton was not as robust
as his antagonist, he fought with a lot of spirit and resolution
and kept fighting until the other boy gave up and surrendered.
During their fight, the schoolmaster’s son came upon them
and told Newton that he must treat the other boy like a coward
and rub his nose against the wall. So Newton pulled him along
by the ear and thrust his face against the side of the church.
Still not content with his victory, before leaving the bully to
nurse his wounds, Newton declared he would not rest until
he had beaten the boy academically (White, 1998, p. 22). After
this episode, Newton’s studies quickly improved, so much so
that he rose to the topmost position in the class. He became
so interested in learning that the schoolmaster was surprised.

Two years’ leave of absence


Newton’s mother became wealthy because of increasing
income from the manor. She decided that she would entrust
the manage­ment of the manor to her eldest son. For that, she
needed to train Newton in farm work. So she applied for two
years’ leave of absence, starting from 1658, making Newton quit
school, despite the fact that he was doing well academically and
had the highest grade, and attempted to make Newton work
on a farm during that time. However, Newton tended to be
constantly lost in thought, neglecting farm work. Basically, he
was unfit for farm work.
Newton’s uncle William Ayscough was the rector of an
Anglican church after he graduated from the University of
Cambridge. He persuaded Isaac’s mother to allow him to go
back to Grantham in 1660.
In the meanwhile, restoration of the monarchy in England
was marked by Charles II retaking the throne. The political
situation became peaceful.
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 5

1.2 Admission into the University of Cambridge


Sizars
On June 5, 1661, Newton enrolled at Trinity College, University
of Cambridge (Fig. 1.2). Almost all of the 40-odd students were
youths in superior social positions. They had prepared in public
schools for entrance into the University of Cambridge and were
wealthy. Cambridge recognized students in four categories:
fellow commoners, pensioners, sizars, and subsizars. Fellow
commoners were privileged students (White, 1998, p. 96), were
dressed in sophisticated gowns, and dined at high table (Gleick,
2003, p. 20). Pensioners paid tuition fees and boarding fees
and aimed for the rector. Sizars were exempted from tuition
fees and boarding fees (subsizars paid tuition fees) and paid
their way by emptying the bedpans, cleaning the rooms, and
running errands for the more privileged students (White, 1998,
p. 46). Sizars ate other students’ leftovers. Newton entered as a
subsizar and later became a sizar.

Fig. 1.2 Trinity College, University of Cambridge.


6 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

Though Newton’s mother was wealthy, she spent little


money on his schooling because she hoped that he would end
up managing the manor and was not interested in a scholarship.
That is the reason Newton entered the university as a subsizar.
Although Newton provided menial services for privileged
students, he enrolled at the University of Cambridge as a sizar
because he yearned for a scholarship.
As a sizar, he was often treated with contempt by some
in a superior social position or ignored. This made him an
introvert. At Trinity Hall, two students shared the room. His
roommate was in a superior social position and had many
friends. When the friends visited the room, the room was noisy
and Newton could not concentrate on his study. During such
times, he would sit in the courtyard, viewing the nocturnal sky
and quietly contemplating. One day, another student facing a
similar problem happened to be in the courtyard and proposed
to negotiate with the university to allow them to share a room.
The proposal was accepted, and Newton and the other student
could study in peace.

Curriculum
When Newton entered the University of Cambridge, the curric­
ulum of university focused on the Middle Ages. The contents
were theology, the classics, law, and medicine, and theology
and the classics were treated seriously. Both natural science
and mathematics were not included in the curriculum. Newton
studied mathematics by himself. The traditional backbone of
the university was made of the old notions of Aristotle, and
logic, ethics, and rhetoric were the basis of philosophy. However,
the universities on the Continent paid attention to the radical
ideas of Galileo Galilei, Rene Descartes (Fig. 1.3), and Johannes
Kepler (Fig. 1.4). At the library of the college, Newton studied
the ideas of Descartes, Galileo, and Kepler and studied in detail
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 7

Fig. 1.3 Rene Descartes (1596–1650). Fig. 1.4 Johannes Kepler (1571–1630).
(Portrait made in 1649.) (Portrait made in 1610.)

Descartes’s philosophy. Adding onto Aristotle’s famous words,


Newton said, “Plato is my friend; Aristotle is my friend, but my
greatest friend is truth” (Gleick, 2003, p. 26). This note forces us
to imagine Newton’s future.

1.3 Academic Development in the Continent


Focusing on Astronomy
Academic development in the Continent, which constituted
the background of Newton’s discovery, is described next, with
a focus on astronomy.

Johannes Kepler
In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus (Fig. 1.5) published De Revolutionibus
Orbium Coelestium [On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres]
(Copernicus & Yajima, 1953). In this book, he described the
helio­centric theory, as per which, the Sun is set at the center
of the universe and the Earth revolves around the Sun. Galileo
and Kepler, who analyzed the data of astronomical surveys by
Tycho Brahe (Fig. 1.6), supported him.
Brahe’s contributions to astronomy are beyond mea­ sure.
He brought a revolution in instruments for astronomical
8 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

Fig. 1.5 Nicolaus Copernicus Fig. 1.6 Tycho Brahe (1546–1601).


(1473–1543). (Portrait made in 1580.) (Portrait made in 1596.)

surveys. Simultaneously, he introduced a revolutionary method


in astronomical surveys. For example, when observing a planet,
though until then planets were observed only at special times,
he continuously observed the orbit of the planet and got a vast
body of remarkably precise data of astronomical surveys.
When Newton began thinking about what controlled the
orbital motion of celestial bodies, knowledge concerning how
planets moved was the important basis on which the funda-
mental principle was researched. The laws of orbital motion of
planets were discovered by Kepler, who analyzed the vast body
of data of astronomical surveys by Brahe.

Galileo Galilei
Newton was greatly influenced by Galileo’s work (Appendix 1.1)
when he looked to understand physical phenomena. Newton
generalized the basic thinking of the realm of motion by Galileo,
unified the theories of Galileo and Kepler, and formulated
Newtonian mechanics as the theory of motion.
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 9

The revolutionary points in Galileo’s research work are as


follows (Sugget & Oohasi, 1992):

• Time was introduced as an elementary quantity of a


physical phenomenon.
• Natural phenomena that until then were expressed
philosophically were expressed with quantitatively mea-
surable quantities, such as weight and length.

Furthermore, on the basis of experiments, he explained the


laws of physical phenomena in mathematical words for the first
time. After him, this method of explanation became the most
important tool of scientists.

~«»~
Explanation 1.1 Kepler’s laws

 Properties of an ellipse
To help you understand Kepler’s laws, properties of ellipse are explained here.
In Fig. E1.1, the semimajor axis a and the semiminor axis b are defined; two foci,
f1 and f2 , are defined; and the distance r between f1 and point P—depicting a
planet on the ellipse—is also defined. The distance r at the perihelion, where P
is the nearest to f1, is defined as r1 . The distance r at the aphelion is defined as
r2. The semimajor axis a is expressed by (r1 + r2)/2, and the semiminor axis b is
expressed by (r1 × r2)1/2, where ( )1/2 expresses square root.

The semimajor axis was used in Kepler’s third law. The perihelion appears
Explanation 3.4 “The Perihelion Motion of Mercury,” which is used to verify the
correctness of the general relativistic theory.

P
b
a r
f2 f1

Fig. E1.1 Semimajor axis a and semiminor axis b: f1 and f2 are the foci.
10 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

 Kepler’s first law


Kepler analyzed an enormous amount of precise data on the orbital motion of
planets by Brahe. Consequently, he found that Mars moves in an elliptic orbit
around the Sun and one of the two foci is the placement of the Sun. This fact
was found to be correct for all other planets. This is Kepler’s first law (Fig. E1.2),
according to which, a planet moves in an elliptical orbit, with the Sun as one
of the two foci.
P

Sun
f2 f1

Fig. E1.2 Kepler’s first law.

 Kepler’s second law


As per Kepler’s second law (Fig. E1.3), the area swept by a line between a
planet and the Sun is the same when the planet moves any distance on its
elliptic path during the same interval. In 1609, this was described in New
Astronomy, published in Heidelberg.

Afterward, Newton proved Kepler’s second law was derived from the fact
that the gravi­tational attraction between two point masses was inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between them (this proportional
relation was called the inverse square law). In other words, Kepler’s second law
helped to prove that if gravity obeyed the inverse square law, then a planet
will move in an elliptic orbit.

P
Sun

Fig. E1.3 Kepler’s second law.

 Kepler’s third law


In 1619, with publication of his The Harmony of the World, Kepler gave his
third law, in relation to two planets. According to Kepler’s third law, the square
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 11

of the ratio of an orbit’s periodic times is equal to the cube of the ratio of its
semi­major axis. Kepler’s third law implies that the square of an orbit’s periodic
time is proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis.

Newton proved that if Kepler’s third law holds true, then gravity on a planet
will be inversely proportional to the square of its distance from the Sun.
Kepler’s third law helped to prove that if a planet moves in an elliptical orbit,
then gravity obeys the inverse square law. To discover the three laws, Kepler
analyzed the data of Mars using about one thousand papers for calculations.

~«»~
Appendix 1.1 Galileo Galilei

In 1564, Galileo (Fig. A1.1) was born in the neighborhood of Pisa,


Italy, as the eldest among seven brothers. His father hoped for him
to study medical science. In 1581, he made Galileo enroll at the
University of Pisa. However, Galileo was interested in Euclidean
geometry and Archimedes’s method of applying mathematics to
the problem of physics rather than in medical science. In 1585, he
left the University of Pisa half-way, without earning his bachelor’s
degree in medicine.

Fig. A1.1 Galileo Galilei (1564–1642).


(Portrait made in 1636.)

Afterward, in Firenze, Italy, Galileo began delivering private lessons


on mathematics. He created a small balance and measured specific
12 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

gravity. At the Siena School, he delivered lectures on mathematics.


In 1587, in Firenze, while delivering private lessons, he began
to write a manuscript on motion. In 1589, he was hired by the
University of Pisa as a professor of mathematics. While researching
the laws of motion, he reached the conclusion that a heavier body
does not fall faster than a lighter body. In a cathedral, he measured
the periodic time of a chandelier’s swing by using his own pulse rate
and found that the periodic time of the swing was always constant,
independently of the amplitude of the swing. This led him to the
principle of the pendulum clock (Explanation 1.2).

In 1592, at the University of Padua, Galileo joined as a professor of


mathematics. In 1595, he gave his support to the heliocentric theory.
In 1597, in a letter to Kepler, an astronomer and mathematician in
Germany, he revealed that he supported Copernicus’s theory.
In 1602, he began research on pendulums and falling motion on
slopes. Research was more convenient with slopes than with per­
pen­ dicular falls for measuring the relation between time and
falling distance, which was why he chose slopes to research falling
motion. In 1604, he discovered the law of the pendulum and the
law of falling bodies (Explanation 1.3).

In 1608, he discovered that in a free fall, velocity was proportional


to time and the moving path of a cannonball was a parabola. At the
beginning of 1609, Hans Lipperhey, an optician in the Netherlands,
invented the telescope (Explanation 1.4). One story goes that when
he happened to see the steeple of a church far away through a
concave (凹) lens as the eyepiece and a convex (凸) lens as the
object piece, to his surprise, the steeple appeared larger. This was
a trigger for him to invent the telescope. Galileo, who heard the
story, polished the surface of a lens to a desirable curvature and
succeeded in making a telescope with a magnification of 30 with a
combination of 凹 and 凸 lenses and presented it to the Governor
of Venetia. On the other hand, Kepler fabricated a telescope with
two 凸 lenses. This type of telescope widened the range of view but
had the problem of chromatic and spherical aberrations.
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 13

In the summer of 1609, Galileo identified a crater on the surface of


the Moon with his own telescope. The following year, he dis­covered
four satellites of Jupiter and published Sidereus Nuncius [Report of
Stars] and his name came to be known across Europe (Galilei et al.,
1976).

In 1632, Galileo published Dialogo Sopra I due Massimi Sistemi del


Mondo [The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems]
(Galilei & Aoki, 1959–1961) and used the law of inertia to answer
people who wanted to know why they did not feel the movement
when the Earth rotated and revolved around the Sun. However, it
was Newton, and not Galileo, who actually formulated the law of
inertia.

In those days, any person who supported the heliocentric theory


was treated as a heretic. The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief
World Systems was inspected by the Prosecutor’s Office (the Inqui-
sition Board). In 1633, Galileo was summoned to Rome and was
brought to trial. The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World
Systems was listed in Index Librorum. In 1638, Discorsi e Dimon-
strazioni Mathematiche Intorno a due Nouve Scienze, Attendi alla
Meccanica ed ai Movimenti Locali [Dialogue Concerning Two New
Sciences] was published by Elsevier in the Netherlands because its
publication was forbidden in Italy (Galilei, 1937–1948). In this book,
Galileo explained the law of falling bodies with mathematical words
and showed that the moving path of a cannonball was a parabola.

Thus, Galileo laid the foundation of modern science by discov­ering


plenty of laws of physical phenomena.

~«»~
Explanation 1.2 Law of the pendulum
As shown in Fig. E1.4, when the weight set at end of the light, inelastic thread
is swung in a vertical plane, the period of the pendulum is proportional to the
square root of the thread’s length. If the length of the thread is constant, then
the period is constant independently of the amplitude of the swing. The law
14 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

of the pendulum is applied to a pendulum clock and a metronome. You can


adjust the period by changing the position of the weight.

Fig. E1.4 A pendulum.

Explanation 1.3 Law of falling bodies


As shown in Fig. E1.5, when an object with zero velocity is released, the fall due
to the Earth’s gravity is called a “free fall.” Then, the velocity of the falling body
is proportional to the time from the time of release and the distance the body
falls is proportional to the square of the time. The proportional coefficient
contains only acceleration g of gravity and does not include the weight of
the body. From this fact, it follows that when two bodies are released from
the same height, they reach the ground at the same time, regardless of the
weights of the bodies. In other words, the heavier body reaches the ground at
the same time as the lighter body.

v=0

v = gt

Fig. E1.5 A free-falling body.

~ «» ~
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 15

1.4 Barrow, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics


Descartes
The person in whom Newton was interested was Descartes. It
was Descartes who applied algebra to geometry for the first time.
In 1637, Descartes published Discourse on the Method (Discours de
la Methode pour Bien Conduire sa Raison et Chercher la Verite Dans
les Sciences. Plus la Dioptrique, les Meteores et la Geometrie, Qui Sont
des Essais de Cette Method) at Leiden, the Netherlands. The book
consists of three papers. The preface is called “Discourse on the
Method” (Descartes, Miyake, & Koike, 1993), and the accompa-
nying three papers are La Dioptrique (Descartes, Aoki, & Mizuno,
1993), Les Meteores (Descartes & Akagi, 1993), and La Geometrie
(Descartes & Hara, 2013). Newton read a separate volume of La
Geometrie translated into Latin with enthusiasm.
In 1663, Newton bought a book on astronomy. However, he
could not understand the mathematics in the book and became
aware of his lack of knowledge of geometry. He decided to read
Elements by Euclid. He studied the geometry of Descartes and
new algebra and analytical geometry. Studying mathematics,
he devised his own proof method, different from the author’s
method.

Isaac Barrow
In 1663, when Newton began to study mathematics, Isaac Barrow
(Figs. 1.7 and 1.8), who was a mathematician and a theologian,
joined as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. He delivered
lectures on natural philosophy (in those days, science was called
thus) and optics. Newton attended Barrow’s lecture. Barrow
was a good teacher, who identified the genius of Newton and
trained him.
Though Newton had no extra money because he was a sizar,
he brought humble gifts for Catherine at Grantham, where he
16 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

Fig. 1.7 Isaac Barrow (1630–1677). Fig. 1.8 Statue of Isaac Barrow.
(Photograph taken by the author
in June 2016 at Trinity Chapel.)

was lodged, and his stepbrother and stepsisters. He took care of


his friends, brother, and sisters.
Barrow evaluated the creativity of Newton, who was twelve
years younger than he and an innocent youth without a yen for
fame. Barrow thought that he should look after Newton until he
grew up because Newton showed all signs of becoming a great
person someday. Receiving such respect from the professor
made Newton study hard.

1.5 Creativity during the Plague


Plague
In 1665, Newton got a bachelor’s degree in arts from the
University of Cambridge. In summer that year, the plague
spread quickly across London. The university was closed, and
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 17

he went to his home in Woolsthorpe. The two years at his birth-


place was the period when he showed the highest creativity in
his life. He focused on three important problems concerning
physics-astronomy, optics, and mathematics. Consequently, he
made revolutionary discoveries and inventions in those realms.

Physics and astronomy


Newton first saw success in research on physics and astronomy.
Twenty-four years before the birth of Newton, Kepler published
the laws of orbital motion of planets in New Astronomy and The
Harmony of the World (Kepler & Kishimoto, 2009) (Explanation 1.1)
as an answer to the question on how planets moved. However,
why planets should move following such laws was not explained.
One day, Newton was lost in thought in an orchard. The
common belief that then an apple fell near him is due to biogra-
pher William Stukeley, who in the spring of 1726 visited Newton
before Newton passed away. A free fall, expressed by the falling
of a body, such as an apple, on to the ground was researched in
detail by Galileo (Appendix 1.1; Explanation 1.3).
On observing the fall of the apple, Newton wondered
whether the Moon is influenced by the same gravity as the
one that influences an object like an apple on the Earth. He
wondered why if the gravity of the Earth influences the Moon
does the Moon not fall on to the ground the way an object
like an apple does. Newton concluded that if the gravity of the
Earth did not influence the Moon, by the law of inertia, the
Moon would move linearly in the direction of its velocity and fly
away into the universe. The fact that the Moon does not do so
but revolves around the Earth shows that the Moon is actually
constantly falling toward the Earth, from point a to point b, as
shown in Fig. 1.9. He calculated the distance the Moon falls in
1 second and noted that down. For the following 20 years, this
information was not disclosed (White, 1998, p. 92).
18 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

Furthermore, Newton
thought about what law
should be satisfied by the
gravity between the Sun and
planets in order for the orbital
motion of a planet to satisfy
Kepler’s third law, where the
square of the periodic time of
Fig. 1.9 The drop of the Moon (L) the planet’s orbital motion was
due to the gravity of the Earth (E). proportional to the cube of the
semimajor axis of the ellipse
with the Sun as a focus. Consequently, he discovered the inverse
square law—the intensity of the gravitational pull between two
point masses is inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them.
It is not as if all universal truths happened upon him as a
divine message in a flash. Newton is supposed to have said, “I
keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait
till the first dawning opens gradually, little by little, into a full
and clear light.”

Optics
During his research on optics, Newton performed an experi-
ment using a triangle prism (Fig. 1.10). He allowed a sunbeam
to pass through the prism. The ray of light was refracted and a
beautiful rainbow of light emerged from the other side of the
prism. He concluded that white light was actually composed

glass

Fig. 1.10 Refraction of light using a glass prism.


Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 19

of many different colors and light of each color had a different


angle of refraction.

Mathematics
During his research on mathematics, Newton invented the
methods for calculating differentiation and integration, influ-
enced by Descartes’s geometry and gradients and curves studied
under Professor Barrow. Independently, Gottfried Wilhelm von
Leibniz (Fig. 1.11) invented the methods of calculating differen-
tiation and integration. However,
Newton’s invention was several
years earlier than Leibniz’s inven-
tion. Newton called his method
the “method of fluxions.” He
thought that integral calculus was
the inverse of differential calculus.
Regarding differentiation as an
elementary operation, he created
the analytical method unifying
different techniques such as
area, tangential line, arc­length of Fig. 1.11 Gottfried Wilhelm
von Leibniz (1646–1716).
a curve, and maximum and min-
(Portrait made in 1695.)
imum of function.

Reopening of university
Once the plague declined, in 1667, the University of Cambridge
reopened. In March of that year, in the college chapel, Newton
successfully cleared oral and written tests (White, 1998, p. 95).
In October, he became a Minor Fellow of Trinity College. A
Minor Fellow was provided a stipend and an allowance. It was
most important that he could continue to research the previous
subjects. He was given a room free of charge.
20 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

Though Newton was engaged to Catherine, the engagement


was dissolved under mutual agreement because Catherine
estimated that Newton would become a Minor Fellow and
a new Minor Fellow was forbidden to marry for seven years.
Newton did not forget her his entire life. Catherine married
and got widowed twice, and all through her difficulties, Newton
supported her financially.

~«»~
Explanation 1.4 The principle of a telescope
According to Fig. E1.6, when a sufficiently distant object B is observed, the
incident light is parallel and the image of B occurs at focal length fo , in front of
lens L1. When B′ is placed at focal length fe , before lens L2 , the outgoing lights
from B′ are parallel and the image for B′ is observed as a virtual image. Let
the angle of incident light be θ, and let the angle of viewing the virtual image
be θ′; then the magnification by the telescope is given as follows:

Magnification = tanθ’/tanθ = −fo /fe ,

where the negativity of the magnification means an inverted image.

The light passing through the part near the edge of the 凸 lens, which has
a remarkable curvature, bends sharply. However, the light passing near or
through the center, where the lens curvature is the least, bends only slightly.
The result is an unclear image. This problem is called a “spherical aberration.”
In Kepler’s telescope, there was a problem of spherical aberration.

L1 fo fe
L2 Eye
B θ A'' A'
A θ'
B'

B''

Fig. E1.6 How a telescope functions.

~«»~
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 21

Newton went to Woolsthorpe to tell his family he had


become a Minor Fellow. He stayed there, at his home, for a
while. He talked about his telescope with his brother and
sisters. When Galileo heard about the
telescope invented by Lippershey in
the Netherlands, he too decided to
create a telescope. He used a 凸 lens
as the object lens and a 凹 lens as the
ocular lens and improved its magnifi-
cation by polishing the lens to adjust
the focal length. Kepler, on the other
hand, increased the range of view using
two 凸 lenses. However, a spherical Fig. 1.12 Newton’s
aberration because the bending of reflecting telescope.

the light was different at the center


of the lens than at the edges of the lens led to a distorted
image. To prevent this problem, Newton devised a different
type of telescope. As shown in Fig. 1.12, he set a 凹 mirror at the
bottom of the cylinder and in order to observe from the side
of the cylinder, set a mirror using a 凸 lens as an ocular lens.
The magnification of the reflecting telescope by Newton was
40 (Fig. 1.13). The huge reflecting telescopes set up in various
astronomical observatories across the world today are a result
of Newton’s reflecting telescope.
In 1668, Newton came back to Cambridge from his home
and got his master’s degree in arts. In March, he became a Major
Fellow and got an increment in his stipend and allowance.

1.6 Successor of Barrow


The Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
In 1669, his former teacher Barrow sent Newton’s manuscripts
to John Collins, who was the chief librarian at the Royal Society,
22 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

in order to inform him about Newton’s research works on


mathematics. Collins immediately made the contents of the
manuscripts known to noted mathematicians. Also, he sent
the manuscripts to the president of the Royal Society, William
Brouncker, after taking Newton’s consent. However, later,
Newton who had no ambition of standing out in the academic
society and no lust for fame, asked for the return of his man-
uscripts. Consequently, the details of Newton’s research works
on mathematics remained unknown. However, most mathe-
maticians understood the outline of Newton’s research works
through Collins.
In 1669, Barrow retired as the Lucasian Professor of Math­
ematics in order to devote himself to theology and nominated
Newton as the successor.
In October 1669, Newton joined as the Lucasian Professor
of Mathematics and delivered his first lecture in his new role in
January 1670 (White, 1998, p. 163). Newton delivered a profound
but difficult-to-understand lecture. Not a single student showed
up for this lecture. Going forward, for the lectures that were
especially difficult to understand, many students stayed away.
But Newton did not lower the standard of his lectures for the
students. He would go through the courtyard and reach the
lecture room. If he did not find any student, he would wait for
15 minutes and deliver the lecture if some students arrived. If
no student came, he would go back to his room. In his room, he
would continue his research. The same story was repeated for
almost every lecture for the next 17 years (White, 1998, p. 164).
As the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, he first conducted
research on optics. Since Aristotle, scientists had thought that
solar light consisted of a single element. However, a chromatic
aberration in the lens of his telescope led Newton to a different
conclusion (Fig. 1.13). As mentioned above, Newton was aware
that when white light passed through a prism, it split into
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 23

lights of many colors, from red to violet. That is, Newton dis-
covered that white light was composed of different colors and
lights of different colors refracted at different angles.
In December 1671,
Newton presented his own
reflecting telescope to the
Royal Society. His reflecting
telescope with a high mag-
nification got attention, and
his name came to be known
across London. In January
1672, after the presentation,
he was elected as a Fellow of
the Royal Society. Fig. 1.13 Newton’s reflecting telescope.
When Newton’s (Replica owned by the Royal Society,
@Andrew Dunn; licensed under CC-BY
reflecting telescope was SA 20, https://creativecommons.org/
demonstrated in the Royal lisenses/by-sa/2.0.)
Society, Robert Hooke, who
was curator of experiments in the Royal Society, claimed that
though he tried to fabricate a reflecting telescope, he could not
complete it because of the plague. This was notified by Collins
(White, 1998, p. 178). After­ ward, Hooke criticized Newton’s
papers (as mentioned below).

The first published paper


In 1672, Newton submitted his research result on the com-
position of white light to Henry Oldenburg, secretary of the
Royal Society. “Theory of Light and Colors,” published in the
Philosophical Trans­actions of the Royal Society, was Newton’s first
published paper and got a favorable reception.
In this paper, Newton explained the experimental fact that
white light was composed of plenty of elements and when a
ray of light traveled through a prism, these were refracted at
24 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

different angles, splitting the light into different colors. The


prism did not add color to the light. He thought that light was
a stream of particles and that a sound wave showed diffraction
but light traveled along a straight line and so light was not a
wave. However, Christiaan Huygens insisted that light was in
fact a wave, and Hooke, who was in a position of refereeing
the paper, criticized Newton’s idea of light being corpuscular.
Hooke insisted that color was added to the ray of light by the
prism. Newton objected by saying that his paper was a scien-
tific truth based on experimental facts and that they ignored
the results of his experiments because his idea was contrary to
theirs (Sootin & Watanabe, 1955). Newton’s idea of light being
corpuscular prevailed over others’ ideas because of his good
reputation, and its dominance continued till the idea of light
being a wave was revived in the nineteenth century.
Newton regretted that he had published his paper because
he felt it was a waste of time to argue with his critics about
his findings. He desired neither reputation nor fame. He felt
such desires led a person to waste precious time better spent
on research and refection. He thought if he kept his presence
unknown, he would have time for thought (Sootin & Watanabe,
1955).
In March 1673, he sent a letter informing Oldenburg of
his resignation as Fellow of the Royal Society. But Oldenburg
persuaded Newton not to resign.
The ideas of light being wavelike and light being corpus-
cular are both correct because the particle-wave duality of light
(Appendix 1.2) has been verified.
In the latter half of the 1670s, many people close to Newton
passed away. In 1677, Barrow and Oldenburg passed away. After­
ward, his mother became critically ill and Newton went home
to nurse her. He sat up entire nights consoling his mother, who
was suffering from pain (White, 1998, p. 193). In spite of his
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 25

devoted nursing, she passed away. Newton felt the sorrow and
loneliness due to the loss of his mother for a long time.

~«»~
Appendix 1.2 The particle-wave duality of light

In the nineteenth century, Maxwell derived four electromagnetic


equations and indicated that the electric field and the magnetic
field satisfied the wave equation. He predicted theoretically the
presence of an electromagnetic wave and predicted that light was
identical to an electromagnetic wave. This prediction was after­
ward verified experimentally by Heinrich Rudolf Hertz. In exper-
iments from 1886 to 1889, Hertz created electromagnetic waves
with high-frequency electric vibrations and verified experimen-
tally that in an electro­magnetic wave, refraction, reflection, and
polarization occurred as in light. He concluded that light was iden-
tical to an electromagnetic wave. That light was corpuscular was
also proved a little later. In 1900, Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck,
who pioneered quantum mechanics, proposed that the energy of
light be expressed as the unit called “quantum” multiplied by an
integer and that an energy quantum is proportional to the fre-
quency of light. Light with the energy of a quantum was called a
photon. In 1905, Albert Einstein proved using his theory on the
photoelectric effect that light consisted of particles called pho-
tons (Explanation 1.5). Thus, the idea light being corpuscular was
proved.

~«»~
Explanation 1.5 The photoelectric effect
As depicted in Fig. E1.7, when light is radiated onto a piece of metal (M), a
photoelectron (e) is emitted. This phenomenon is called the photoelectric
effect. Figure E1.7 shows the frequency ν of light when such a phenomenon
occurs. Planck proposed the energy quantum as hν (Appendix 3.1), where h
is Planck’s constant. Einstein called light with the energy of a quantum as a
photon (Appendix 1.2).
26 | Newton • Faraday • Einstein: From Classical Physics to Modern Physics

Fig. E1.7 The photoelectric effect.

The properties of the photoelectric effect are expressed as follows:

① If light with a wavelength longer than the limit wavelength λ 0 is radiated,


then the photoelectric effect does not occur.
② The energy of an electron depends on the frequency of light and is
independent of the amplitude of light.
③ The number of electrons is proportional to the intensity of the light
radiated.

Explaining the photoelectric effect by the idea of light being a wave is difficult
because:

• If light is wavelike, the photoelectric effect may be considered to occur by


light radiating with a strong intensity. But this is contrary to property ①
mentioned above.
• If light is wavelike, then an electron with more energy may be considered
to be emitted for light radiated with more intensity. But this is contrary to
property ② mentioned above.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, Einstein elucidated the photoelectric


effect (Appendix 1.2 and Section 3.4 in Chapter 3).

~«»~
Newton was unsatisfied with her death being recorded
officially in the name of Barnabas Smith but was happy to see
her buried alongside his natural father rather than his despised
stepfather. After completing the management work for the
inherited estate, he came back to Cambridge and keeping away
from people, devoted himself to theology.
Chapter 1 Isaac Newton | 27

1.7 Principia
The three laws of motion
In 1687, Newton published Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Math­
ematica [Mathematical Principle of Natural Philosophy] (Newton &
Nakano, 1977). This book is more commonly known as Principia.
In this section, the process of the publication of Principia is
described.
Principia is composed of an introduction and Books I, II, and
III. Prior to 1666, Newton had an early idea of the three laws of
motion (Explanation 1.6), which he described in the Introduction
section: the first is the law of inertia (Fig. 1.14), the second is the
law of motion (Fig. 1.15), and the third is the law of action and
reaction.
As mentioned in Section 1.5, if the Moon did not feel the
Earth’s pull, then obeying the law of inertia, the Moon will move
at a constant velocity in a linear direction and float away from
the Earth. But this does not happen and the Moon revolves
around the Earth because it feels the Earth’s pull. Therefore,
the law of inertia played an important role in his discovering
universal gravitation (Explanation 1.6).
Galileo used the law of inertia to explain the heliocentric
theory. When one person insisted on the geocentric theory and

Fig. 1.14 The law of inertia.


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get yourself talked about with a married man, is—a—thing—I—don’t
—allow. See, darling?”
Rosamund caught her breath and looked at her cousin. Hazel, who
seldom or never blushed, had flushed the slow, deep crimson of a
woman who hears herself insulted.
“Sir Guy Marleswood is not a married man,” she said slowly. “At
least, neither he nor I think so, which is what matters, after all. He
divorced his wife five years ago. He has asked me to marry him.”
“Very well, darling. When he writes and asks the permission of your
parents, we shall see. But a man of four- or five-and-thirty, who has
led the sort of life that he has led, does not generally want to marry a
little girl of nineteen, even though he may be dishonourable enough
to play at making love to her.”
But this agreeable theory was shattered next day, when Sir Guy
Marleswood wrote a formal statement of his position, and an almost
equally formal request for his daughter’s hand in marriage, to
Frederick Tregaskis. He also stated unemphatically that the following
day would find him at Porthlew Railway Hotel.
Thereafter, Rosamund watched the storm break over the household
with a strangely aching heart.
Bertha regarded Sir Guy as a married man, and said so staunchly.
Frederick Tregaskis, whom Rosamund had never yet heard to agree
with his wife, declined to view the question from an ethical
standpoint, but declared Hazel too young to enter upon a marriage
which would of necessity be regarded more or less dubiously by the
world in general.
“Wait another five years,” he remarked grimly to his daughter, “and
see if you can’t do better for yourself than a divorced baronet fifteen
years older than yourself.”
“No,” said Hazel, her small face set like a flint. “He wants me to
marry him now.”
“I dare say. And I want you to wait. I suppose you owe something to
your father?”
“Yes,” she said, and began to cry. “But not everything in the world. I
owe something to myself. It’s my life.”
It was the passionate cry for individualism that Rosamund had heard
from Morris Severing.
But Hazel Tregaskis, unlike Morris, was directing all the energies of
her will into one channel. And Rosamund, watching, saw those
energies guided and strengthened day by day by the stronger force
that held steadfast behind her.
Guy Marleswood was not of those who fail.
Before the close of that year, the day came when he extorted from
the exasperated Frederick: “Marry her, then. I see you mean to do it,
both of you, and it may as well be with my consent as without it.
Anything to put an end to the subject.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Sir Guy imperturbably. “I will go and tell Mrs.
Tregaskis that we have your consent to the marriage.”
“You will do nothing of the kind. I shall tell her myself. I may as well
get some satisfaction out of it,” said Frederick viciously.
He sought his wife in the library, where she sat, looking unusually
disheartened, amid a pile of leaflets.
“Bertha, you are about to be relieved of one of your responsibilities.”
“I’m thankful to hear it,” she returned wearily.
“I have decided to give Hazel into Marleswood’s keeping.”
“Frederick! You can’t. You’re mad. A child of nineteen—and a
marriage that’s no marriage—she’ll be no more married in the eyes
of God than if she were openly living as that man’s mistress.”
“I’m not concerned with the eyes of God,” said her husband in
detached tones. “It’s perfectly evident to mine that if we don’t give
our consent they mean to do without it, and I don’t choose to have
my daughter making a runaway match. We had better give in
gracefully while it is still possible, Bertha. Marleswood is not the sort
of man to heal a breach, if it came to that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that we don’t want to be cut off from the little girl for ever
after her marriage,” said Frederick, his voice shaking a very little.
“That’s what it’ll mean if we let her go from under our roof in
defiance, Bertha.”
“Hazel is an infatuated, self-willed child, but she is not heartless,”
cried Bertha.
“I do not intend to put her to the test.” Frederick Tregaskis had
regained his habitual dryness of utterance.
With unwonted consideration, he added a word of consolation for his
wife.
“I may as well tell you that I am perfectly satisfied that Marleswood is
a good fellow in every way, and devoted to her. The whole thing,
after all, amounts to a question of conscience, which she is entitled
to judge for herself.”
“She’s not,” flashed Bertha. “She’s only a child, and ought to accept
the ruling of her parents until she’s old enough to judge for herself.”
“I have no doubt,” said Frederick drily, “that all parents, taken as a
class, would agree with you. Unfortunately for ourselves, however,
we have passed into an era where the individual, and not the class,
will rule.”
He walked out of the room, looking older and more deeply lined than
ever.
Rosamund found Mrs. Tregaskis, who never broke down, weeping
violently among the piles of disordered pamphlets.
“Cousin Bertie! Don’t!” cried Rosamund fearfully. “Is it about Hazel?”
Bertha raised a piteously mottled and disfigured face.
“I’m beaten,” she cried. “Frederick has consented to this iniquitous
marriage, and nothing can stop it now. My little girl, whom I’ve
brought up to be good, and to whom I’ve tried to teach religion—that
she should be willing to break my heart, and rush deliberately into
sin, the first time temptation comes near her!”
“No—no. It’s not that. She doesn’t think it’s sin. She doesn’t believe
it’s sin—not for an instant. Her point of view is different.”
“Her point of view!” cried Bertha bitterly. “How dare you talk to me, a
woman of fifty, of such preposterous nonsense? You and she are
children; you know nothing of life, you’ve had no experience. How
can Hazel judge of what is right or wrong? She’s a child—a child.”
In the vehement repetition of the assertion, it seemed to Rosamund
that she found her clue to Bertha Tregaskis’s impotent suffering. She
would not, could not, admit in her daughter any claim to the rights of
an individual.
Hazel’s judgment, unrecognized by her mother, carried with it no
amazement to Rosamund.
Certain faiths, certain scruples and acceptances inborn in Rosamund
and Frances, had been the veriest lip-service to the child Hazel
always. Rosamund recognized in her the purest and most natural
type of highly-evolved paganism.
“You know, Rosamund, I’m not doing anything wrong, although they
won’t believe it. It isn’t wrong to me, and I don’t believe in an abstract
right and wrong. Each individual case has its own laws.”
“Should you do it if you thought it was wrong?”
“I don’t know,” said Hazel thoughtfully. “I can’t imagine seriously
believing that it would matter to God, one way or the other. Should
you? Frances wouldn’t, one knows.”
“If I did it,” slowly said Rosamund, “it would be as a deliberate choice
between good and evil. I should believe myself to be breaking God’s
law—but I might do it, if I thought it worth while.”
She knew that if, as she said, it seemed to her worth while, no laws
of God or man should bind her. But she would break them of
deliberate intent, whereas to Hazel Tregaskis they were non-
existent, myths designed for the wanton frightening of children.
Rosamund recognized the absolute sincerity of Hazel’s point of view,
and sometimes found herself wondering what Sir Guy’s might be.
One day, very soon before the marriage, she held an odd little
conversation with him, standing in the wintry sunshine of the terrace.
Frederick Tregaskis was ahead of them, grimly poking with a
walking-stick at a little drain that was choked with leaves.
“He’s been very kind to me,” said Sir Guy abruptly, indicating with a
gesture the odd little figure.
“I think that he really likes you very much,” said Rosamund. “And
though he would be very angry at being told so, I have always known
that Cousin Frederick adores Hazel.”
Sir Guy nodded with full comprehension.
“Yes, of course. She knows that, too. It’s been the best thing in her
life so far—that and having you and your sister here.” He paused for
a moment or two. “You know,” he said slowly, “I want to try and make
up to her for everything that she hasn’t had, so far. She ought to
have everything. She seems, somehow, so made for happiness.”
“I have never seen Hazel sad,” said Rosamund, rather surprised. “I
think she is happy by nature.”
“Yes, though an atmosphere which might perhaps seem an
unsympathetic one——”
He left the sentence unfinished, and it required no effort on
Rosamund’s part to conjecture his meaning. Sir Guy resented, none
the less implacably that his resentment was expressed by implication
only, the attitude of Mrs. Tregaskis towards her daughter. That Hazel
herself had never resented it, and had only opposed to it the bright
glancing hardness of her impenetrable self-confidence, did not,
Rosamund felt, in any way diminish his perfectly silent ire. Mrs.
Tregaskis herself would be forced to recognize that in this man
fifteen years her senior, Hazel had found champion as well as lover,
knight as well as comrade.
Rosamund turned away with an aching heart, wondering dimly
whether her need had not been greater than Hazel’s.
After the formal consent given by Frederick Tregaskis, there had
been no further discussions between Sir Guy and Mrs. Tregaskis.
She accepted her defeat with the sort of grim gallantry that would
always be characteristic of her, and, as far as Rosamund knew,
attempted no appeal to Hazel. But she aged more perceptibly in the
weeks before Hazel’s marriage than during all the five years that
Rosamund had passed at Porthlew.
No other indication that her guardian recognized defeat was evident
to Rosamund’s eyes. Her manner to her daughter was what it had
always been—kindly, authoritative, at times possessive. She
admitted Sir Guy’s claims to much of her daughter’s time, and even
seemed disposed, gradually, to concede to him rights which he had
not tried to arrogate for himself.
“You mustn’t let this little person be too much in London,” she
observed, with a hand upon Hazel’s shoulder. “We’re very excitable,
and it knocks us up. I had to be a very strict mamma and bring her
home long before the dances had come to an end last year.”
“If we take the St. James’ Square flat, there is no reason why we
shouldn’t spend all the week-ends Hazel likes at Marleswood.”
“Well, I don’t know about week-ends,” said Bertha doubtfully.
“They’re not very restful. I think a home in the country and an
occasional fling in London must be Hazel’s programme.”
She spoke with her customary matter-of-fact assurance and kindly
good sense.
Sir Guy fixed his objectionable monocle more firmly.
“That,” he observed in a detached manner, “is a decision which I
shall leave entirely to my wife.”
If Mrs. Tregaskis found it necessary to readjust her forces after this,
the readjustment was made silently and without delay. But it was
very shortly after that, when it only wanted a week to Hazel’s
wedding-day, that Rosamund again found Cousin Bertha in the
library, struggling with hard, choking sobs. Hazel hung over her,
caressing her with most unwonted demonstrativeness and with tears
in her own pretty eyes. But that they were tears of the merest
surface pity and tenderness was abundantly obvious even without
the gently mournful observation which she made to Rosamund that
evening.
“Poor mother! I hate to see her minding it so, but you know,
Rosamund, I can’t feel as unhappy as I ought.”
“Don’t you wish—sometimes—that you’d waited, as they begged you
to? It would have been the same for you in the end.”
“The same for me, and the same for them,” returned Hazel crisply.
“They wouldn’t have liked it any better ten years hence—at least
mother wouldn’t. I believe daddy’s reconciled already. Mother wants
me to be happy, but in her way.”
“Are you really happy, when you know she is miserable?” spoke
Rosamund with more curiosity than compassion. Hazel coloured, but
faced her cousin with unflinching honesty.
“Yes,” she said, “I am. It’s of no use to pretend, Rosamund. I am
happier than I have ever been in my life. Of course, I should have
preferred it if everything had been straightforward, and there hadn’t
been all this fuss, and having to extort a consent—but it would have
been just the same if they hadn’t given it. Do you know, that’s the
pathos of it, to my mind—they couldn’t do anything. Guy and I would
have married without their consent, just as much as with it.”
“He asked you to, I suppose,” said Rosamund, as though stating a
fact.
Hazel pushed her curling tawny hair from her forehead.
“He asked me if I would, if it came to that, and of course I said yes.
But we both knew it wouldn’t come to that, and that mother would
have to give in. I used to think that if one’s parents forbade a thing, it
became impossible ipso facto, but it doesn’t. They just can’t do
anything at all.”
To Rosamund, Hazel had summed up the situation in that sentence.
They could not do anything at all.
The wedding took place quietly at Porthlew, and they said good-bye
to Hazel, radiant-eyed, and clinging in an unwonted embrace to her
father at the last moment.
Then she drove away with her husband, and Miss Blandflower, in a
piping soprano, remarked to Rosamund:
“It’s like a death in a house, isn’t it? But we must all try and take her
place, now.”
The suggestion drove Frederick, snarling disgustedly, into the study.
Frances went quietly to put away some of the litter in Hazel’s room,
while Rosamund, feeling herself useless and in the way, yet hung
helplessly in the vicinity of Nina Severing, who had remained with
Bertha in the drawing-room after the departure of the few guests.
But no word of Morris reached her.
Nina was murmuring consolation to her friend who, for once inactive,
sat gazing heavily into the fire.
“After all, dearest, the young birds will fly out of the old nest and
leave it desolate. It’s nature.”
Bertha groaned.
“It’s not the selfish loss to myself that I mind, Nina, but the thing
she’s done. If I were giving her to some simple, honest boy of her
own age, how gladly I’d see her go. We mothers don’t ask more than
that, after all—just to see the children happy.”
“I know,” breathed Mrs. Severing. “It’s all one lives for.”
“I’ve no plans or wishes for myself—it’s all for them,” muttered
Bertha disjointedly. “What else has one to care about—an old
gargoyle....”
Nina straightened herself slightly.
“‘Having outlived hope, fear, desire....’” she quoted softly, at the
same time turning her long neck so that the firelight fell upon her
burnished hair and exquisite, appealing profile.
“A man she’s only known a few months,” pursued Bertha bitterly.
“And she’ll disobey her parents, the mother who’s loved and guarded
and cherished her all her life, and break their hearts, for his sake.”
“God grant the poor child may not regret it bitterly one day,” breathed
Nina piously.
There was a long pause.
“Well!” said Bertha, and slowly stood up. “There’s a lot to be done.”
“Do let me help you, dearest.”
“Thanks, Nina, if you would. The girls are somewhere, I suppose.”
“Ah, they’ll be a comfort to you, I hope. They who owe you even
more than Hazel does, if possible.”
“One does what one can. It seems to me that it’s all give, give, give
on our side, and take, take, take on theirs. I feel rather like an
unfortunate pelican feeding its young, sometimes.”
With the words, and the curt laugh that dismissed them, Bertha
Tregaskis regained possession of herself.
IX
ROSAMUND, though unhappy, was not as unhappy as she would
have liked to think herself. The defection of Morris Severing,
although gaining in poignancy by contrast with Hazel’s serene
happiness, was a sorrow of the emotions only, and a certain fierce
sincerity of outlook prevented Rosamund from rating it otherwise.
But she felt that she could have borne it better had the
disappearance of her quondam lover touched the mainsprings of her
life, and left that life dignified by a lasting grief, instead of merely
rendered unprofitable and savourless from an unrecognized sense of
vague discontent.
“I don’t know what Rosamund’s grievance is!” her guardian was
exasperated into exclaiming, nearly a year after Hazel’s marriage. “I
don’t believe she knows herself.”
And, in so saying, diagnosed the case.
Rosamund Grantham, after the manner of the modern generation,
had yet to find herself, and suffered accordingly.
It need scarcely be added that she did not confine her sufferings to
herself.
Frances, overwhelmed by the difficulties of reconciling
responsiveness to Cousin Bertie’s bracing councils of self-reliance,
with submission to Rosamund’s intensely protective and rather
overpowering solicitude, sought more frequently than ever the
soothing society of Nina Severing.
That gentle soul was passing through a period of storm of which she
presently confided the outline to Frances.
“Sometimes, darling, as I sit here alone through the long evenings, I
wonder if my life might have been different if I’d been a more
religious woman. You see, Francie, I married very, very young. I
wasn’t much older than you are now. My husband was not a man
who believed in any very definite creed, and I was young enough to
be altogether influenced by him.”
It was ever Nina’s custom to lay the errors and omissions of her past
at the door of Geoffrey Severing and her youthful marriage.
“Should you like to be a Roman Catholic?” asked Frances suddenly.
“It’s a very beautiful religion, and of course beauty is a religion in
itself, to an artist,” said Nina thoughtfully. “Why do you ask?”
“I’ve often thought,” said Frances very shyly, “that I should like it
myself. It seems such a thorough-going sort of religion. When we
were little, my mother had a Catholic maid—an Irish girl—and she
used to tell us a lot about it. And she was so particular about not
eating meat on certain days and going to Mass every Sunday. She
had to walk quite a long way, but I don’t believe she ever missed
going. Of course she was very superstitious, and used to want us to
wear medals and charms and things, but some of the prayers she
taught us were nice. My mother was a Catholic by birth, too, though
she never went to church or anything.”
“If I were anything, I should certainly be a Catholic,” said Nina with
extreme conviction in her tone. “It’s the only creed which appeals to
me in the slightest degree. It is so beautiful—all that music and those
touching ideas about the Virgin and everything.”
“But—don’t you believe?—isn’t the Church——?” murmured
Frances, embarrassed.
“Dear child, I am afraid the orthodox forms mean very little to me. I
would never wilfully cause pain to any human being, and I try to help
the sadness of the world with my little songs, but that is all. But I
would never shatter the innocent faith of another soul, although I
have outgrown the need of form and ritual myself.”
“Does one outgrow it?” wistfully asked Frances, whose whole nature
unconsciously craved the discipline which is inseparable from any
creed, faithfully followed out in practice.
“Not all of us,” tenderly said Nina, conscious of the exquisite contrast
between the matured, self-reliant soul, made strong through
suffering, and the innocent, inquiring child at her knee. “Not all of us,
dear. Some plants need a support round which to cling, whilst others
stand alone—always alone.” Her voice deepened slightly as she
mused broodingly for a moment on the pathos and beauty of this
horticultural parable. It came as a slight shock when Frances,
generally the most sympathetic of listeners, observed in
unmistakably self-absorbed accents:
“I think that I shall always want a support. It seems to me that I am
meant to live by rule—not by my own judgment at all. That’s why I
like the Roman Catholic idea of the Church being infallible. It would
be such a guide.”
Nina was aware that to no one else would Frances have spoken so
unreservedly, and the reflection was soothing, but it did not prevent a
slight stiffening of tone in her reply.
“Really, dear? But the surest guide in the world is the golden rule
which I have tried to live up to all my life—Never think of yourself at
all. Somehow, if one gives all one’s thoughts and time to other
people, one finds that God takes care of the rest.”
Nina was herself rather surprised at the beauty of the sentiment as
she put it into words, and it served to restore her not very deeply
ruffled serenity.
“I will lend you some books, Frances, if you really want to know
something about various creeds. The religion of Buddha is, to my
mind, the most beautiful of them all,” reflectively said Nina, who had
once read portions of Sir Edwin Arnold’s translation of the “Light of
Asia,” and was persuaded that she had studied it deeply. “It was the
foundation of the Roman Catholic religion, of course—they borrowed
a great deal from it.”
“I should like to read it very much.”
Frances wanted to read anything which spoke, however indirectly, of
Roman Catholic doctrines. If Nina guessed as much, however, she
did not impart her surmise to the vigorously orthodox Bertha
Tregaskis.
That this discreet reticence had been justified was made
superabundantly evident when Mrs. Tregaskis first became aware of
the Romanistic tendencies of her ward.
“People of seventeen must do what they’re told,” she said serenely,
but with an undercurrent of severity. “When you’re one-and-twenty,
Francie, we’ll talk about it again, and meanwhile I strongly advise
you not to think about the subject. You are much too young to decide
such a matter without knowing a great deal more about it, and from
your own showing all this simply arises from restlessness and desire
for excitement. Religion is too serious a matter to be played with, my
dear little girl.”
A certain look of flintlike impenetrability came over Frances’ young
face as she looked at her guardian, and she said nothing more. But
Mrs. Tregaskis was much too acute to suppose that her silence
denoted submission.
“Take her to London,” growled Frederick, when his wife, in her
perplexity, put the case before him. “You ought to get her away from
that silly woman’s influence.”
Bertha did not ask “What silly woman?” since she rightly recognized
that her husband thus denoted her dearest friend, but she decided to
follow his advice.
“We’ll have a month in London, and see all the sights,” she cried.
“Just you and I and Rosamund, Francie, and be regular country
cousins, and go to the National Gallery and British Museum, and a
theatre or two from the dress-circle. Never mind about planting the
bulbs, dear—no, I don’t mind leaving them to Grant, and the garden
must just get on without me for a week or two.”
She stifled a sigh heroically.
“This trip is absolutely for the sake of the girls,” she told Nina
Severing. “Neither of them takes any natural healthy interest in
gardening or in the animals and things, as Hazel used to do, so I
must try what London will do for them. Really, girls are a problem.”
“Nothing to a boy,” sighed Nina. “There’s Morris wandering half over
Europe, in the most unsatisfactory manner, pretending that he is
studying languages, and really doing nothing at all except loaf. I’ve
told him he ought to come back and look after the place in earnest,
but he makes one excuse after another——”
“It’s too bad,” said Bertha sympathetically. “Perhaps if he came back,
now that he and Rosamund are a little older and have rather more
sense....”
“Oh, my dear! he’s got over that nonsense long ago. I always told
you it wouldn’t last. ‘Weak and unstable as water,’ that’s what my
poor Morris is.”
Bertha did not remind Mrs. Severing that everything had been done
to insure the instability of Morris in this particular case. She only said
affectionately:
“Well, good-bye, Nina darling. Don’t forget to take pity on my old
man, since I can’t drag him to London.”
“He must come and cheer me up some afternoon, if he will,” cordially
responded Nina. Both ladies were perfectly aware that Frederick
Tregaskis would do nothing of the sort, and that there were few
things less conducive to the cheering up of either than an encounter
between him and Mrs. Severing. But they exchanged their fallacious
hopes with an air of affectionately reassuring one another.
“I’ve one comfort,” declared Bertie, “I’m hoping to see a very old
friend of mine in town: Sybil Argent. I believe she and her son are
there for a few weeks.”
“Didn’t she become a Catholic?” asked Nina, with a sudden air of
intense interest, which provoked Bertha to a display of extreme
nonchalance instantly.
“Let me see—did she? Oh yes. I believe she has become a Roman.
Silly woman! Got under the influence of some priest or other, I fancy.
She was never over-wise, though a dear, sweet thing.”
“There is a wisdom which is not of this world,” said Nina, upraising
her eyes, and with an air of quotation.
Bertha laughed heartily.
“My dear Nina! It’s really too funny to hear you quoting Scripture. Or
is it only some mystical poet of the new set? Anyhow, poor Sybil
Argent has been a Romanist for some years now, I fancy, and of
course one wouldn’t say anything about it, though I quite expect to
have it all poured out to me—my friends have the quaintest knack of
confiding in me. I rather fancy I know more secrets than most
people.”
“That comes of always having your eyes and ears open,” declared
Nina with playful sweetness, “instead of keeping your head in the
clouds, as I’m afraid mine too often is.”
“I shall have to tell you not to get the stares, as I do the children
when they sit gaping at vacancy,” pleasantly replied her friend, and
took her departure under this agreeable analogy.
“Poor dear Nina’s affectation of mysticism is really too absurd,” she
told herself, and added quite illogically: “No wonder Francie is
infected by it. It will be a comfort to talk to a rational woman again—
which I suppose Sybil still is, in spite of having allowed herself to be
bitten by the Romanist craze.”
But Mrs. Tregaskis was not destined to probe the measure of her
friend’s rationality. Lady Argent had already left London when she
arrived, and she was obliged to be content with inviting Ludovic
Argent to dinner.
“Can you remember him, Rosamund?” she inquired with kindly
interest.
“Of course,” curtly retorted her ward, with the offended intonation
which implied that Cousin Bertie had forgotten the number of
Rosamund’s years.
“We weren’t so very little when we went over to Lady Argent’s,”
apologetically said Frances. “I was nine, and I can remember her
and the son quite well.”
“Of course,” said her guardian. “I wonder if he will have forgotten
you.”
Ludovic had not forgotten Rosamund and Frances. He looked
forward curiously to seeing what the years had made of the little girl
whom he had found crouching outside the door of the library.
His first impression was of pleasure at her undeniable beauty, and
he was glad to find himself placed between her and Mrs. Tregaskis
at dinner. Frances and a couple of negligible young men completed
the party.
The whole-hearted virility of Mrs. Tregaskis dominated the
conversation, which at first was general, but Ludovic noted with a
certain surprise that she no longer provoked in him anything but a
detached amusement. That it was far otherwise with Rosamund he
felt convinced. There was latent hostility in her every glance and
gesture, and she diffused an atmosphere of discontent that affected
Ludovic strangely.
“She gives one a sense of unrest,” he reflected disappointedly. “The
little sister, now, though she, too, is self-centred, has stability and a
certain amount of poise. But Rosamund is unbalanced.” He tried to
translate the impression into physical terms. “It’s as though the
chemical ingredients in a retort had been carelessly flung together,
regardless of power or proportion, and the solution in consequence
is a mere seething chaos—fine material wasted. But what a fool I am
—she can’t be more than twenty. The solution is still to come.”
They talked about books, and he saw her grey eyes light up with
eagerness. When she became impersonal she seemed to him wholly
charming.
“It is her relation to humanity that is at fault,” reflected the
psychologist.
“You have never been back to the Wye Valley since you were a child,
have you?” he asked her.
“No,” she said briefly, and added with a candid impulse of unreserve,
“I don’t want to go back there until I go back for good. The cottage is
ours, you know, and one day Francie and I will go back there to live.”
“Is that your ideal?” he asked gently.
“Yes,” she answered, in the tone of one who seeks to convince
herself.
Ludovic found himself wondering whether it was also the ideal of
Frances. There was something which struck him as remote, almost
austere, in her young personality, and it was almost with the sense of
a presentiment confirmed that he heard from Bertha Tregaskis, later
in the evening, of the disquieting tendencies of her ward.
“She’s a dear little kiddie,” were the words, striking Ludovic as
singularly inappropriate, which prefaced the recital of Bertha’s
perplexities, “but this religious phase is very tiresome. One knows
that all young things go through it, like measles, but this seems to be
a particularly violent attack.”
“Would there be any very vital objection to her joining the Roman
Catholic Church?”
Bertha hesitated.
“No-o—only on general principles. I believe her mother was a
Roman Catholic, as far as baptism went, but Dick was quite firm
about having the children brought up in his own faith, and I don’t
fancy poor Rose cared either way. The children knew precious little
when they came to me, but of course they learnt their catechism and
all the rest of it with my Hazel. I believe in giving children a
thoroughly orthodox grounding, at all events. Frances was always
more inclined to be ‘pi,’ as my schoolboy friends call it, than either of
the other two.”
“Temperamentally religious?”
“Yes, I suppose so. That’s generally the sort that suffers from the
worst reaction. Poor mite, she told me quite gravely that she needed
an intellectual discipline.”
“I have seldom heard a better reason for joining the Church of
Rome,” said Ludovic gravely.
“She’s picked up the phrase from some book, I suppose. Poor little
thing! It makes one smile, and at the same time sigh, to hear
anything so very, very young. One went through it all oneself so
many years ago, and eventually came back to just the old way of
thinking—as one’s parents before one. But I’m talking as though you
were a contemporary,” said Bertha laughing, “and forgetting that you
belong to the younger generation yourself.”
Ludovic became aware that this forgetfulness implied a compliment.
He tried to appear gratified, but was no longer young enough to feel
so in reality.
“I am at all events able to sympathize with Miss Frances in her
outlook,” he said slowly. “I do not like what I know of the Catholic
religion, but it would give her the discipline she craves.”
“I dare say, but as I told her, it’s much easier to be obedient to
anyone and everything, sooner than to those to whom obedience is
due,” said Bertha smartly. “If she is so anxious to submit her own
judgment, she can submit it to mine. But that, of course, is exactly
what my young lady doesn’t choose to do.” There was an acerbity in
her tone that struck Ludovic as over-personal.
“If she really wishes it, I suppose you would not oppose it a little later
on?” he suggested.
“I suppose not,” said Bertha wearily. “I’ve never been hide-bound by
any creed myself. One learns to be extraordinarily tolerant, as time
goes on. Fresh air, laughter, sunshine, plenty of work and plenty of
friends—that’s my religion.”
Ludovic had met this breezy, simple creed before, and it had always
failed oddly to carry any conviction to him. It failed again now.
“Yes,” he said slowly. “You know my mother became a Catholic some
years ago?”
“Yes—she wrote to me. It seems to have made her very happy.”
“I think it has,” said Ludovic simply. Thereafter their talk turned upon
Lady Argent and the Wye Valley.
It was, however, directly attributable to the foregoing conversation
that Mrs. Tregaskis shortly after her return to Porthlew received an
invitation for Frances.
“Do let Frances come to me for a nice long visit,” wrote Lady Argent;
“and Rosamund, too, if she likes, but Ludovic thinks that perhaps
she would not care to be so near her old home. But I should love to
have either, or both, and if Frances is really thinking of adopting her
mother’s religion, it seems only fair that she should see something of
a Catholic atmosphere. I will not let her do anything rash, dear
Bertie, and I am sure it will be a real rest for you to have no young
things on your hands for a little while.”
“It would indeed!” quoth Bertha, rather grimly, as she imparted
portions of her correspondence to Frederick, who was rather
ostentatiously not listening.
“After all, the best way to get the whole thing out of her head is to
treat it as a matter of course. A persecution would only make her
more determined to be a little martyr—Frederick, are you listening to
me?”
“I am reading—or endeavouring to read—my evening paper,” replied
Frederick with unvarnished candour.
Mrs. Tregaskis had recourse to a stratagem by which she was
frequently obliged to compel her husband’s attention.
She addressed her next remark, in a mysteriously lowered voice,
exclusively to the attentive Miss Blandflower.
“The fact is, Minnie, that the child fancies there is more difference
between the English Church and the Roman one than there is. She
is very ignorant, and so imagines a great deal. If she saw rather
more of Romanism, I fancy it would be a case of either kill or cure.”
“You mean,” returned Miss Blandflower acutely, “that she would
either want to become a Roman Catholic at once, or else see
through the whole thing and give up the idea altogether.”
“Exactly—probably the latter. There’s nothing in the Roman Catholic
religion, once you get over the preliminary glamour.”
“To be or not to be,” said Minnie with thoughtful irrelevance.
“With the exceptions of the Pope, and the worship of the Virgin Mary,
they have nothing that we haven’t got—Frances can be as High
Church as she pleases.”
“Not in my house,” said Frederick unexpectedly.
“Why not, dear? It’s a great deal better than turning Roman Catholic
outright.”
“You’ve just said that it came to exactly the same thing.”
Bertha looked rather nonplussed for an instant, but recovered herself
by exchanging a glance of good-humoured intelligence with Minnie,
expressing very distinctly, “How like a man!”
“Anyhow, Frederick,” she returned in soothing accents, “it will
probably all end in smoke. That’s my object in letting her go to Sybil
for a bit. She will see that there’s nothing in it, so to speak.”
“An aching void,” was Minnie’s further contribution to the discussion.
Frederick retired behind his paper again.
“What a rest it would be to you if you could have the house to
yourself for a bit!” said Miss Blandflower, looking fondly at Bertha.
“Well, I own that it would. This last year has been a trying one, for
various reasons.”
Miss Blandflower, who knew as well as Bertha herself that these
various reasons were all embodied in Mrs. Tregaskis’s only
daughter, preserved a discreet silence.
“Well! that’s that,” was Bertha’s summing up. “I’ll see what the girls
say. No doubt Rosamund will raise difficulties, poor child”—she
laughed a little—“I’ve never yet known her fall in with any plan one
suggested.”
“She’s very contrary,” sighed Minnie, shaking her head.
Their forebodings proved to be well-founded. Rosamund did not wish
to accept Lady Argent’s invitation.
“I’m not going to ask her why,” said Bertha exasperatedly, “I know
too well that that’s exactly what she wants—tiresome child! No,
Minnie, I’d rather you don’t discuss it with her. The whole thing is
pose, ‘pour faire s’occuper d’elle,’ and the less notice one takes of

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