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Multiagent Systems
Introduction and
Coordination Control
Magdi S Mahmoud
Distinguished Professor, Systems Engineering Department
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

p,
p,
A SCIENCE PUBLISHERS BOOK
A SCIENCE PUBLISHERS BOOK
CRC Press
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This book is dedicated to my family. With tolerance,
patience and wonderful frame of mind, they have
encouraged and supported me for many years.
Preface

Multiagent system (MAS) is perhaps one of the most exciting and fastest growing
domains in the intelligent resource management and agent oriented technology which
deals with modeling of autonomous decision making entities. The field of multiagent
dynamic systems is an inter-disciplinary research field that has become very popular
in recent years, in parallel with the significant interest in the practical applications of
such systems in various areas, including robotics.
Recent developments have produced very encouraging results in its novel
approach to handle multi-player interactive systems. In particular, the multiagent
system approach is adapted to model, control, manage or test the operations and
management of several system applications, including multi-vehicles, microgrids
and multi-robots, where agents represent individual entities in the network. Each
participant is modeled as an autonomous participant with independent strategies
and responses to outcomes. They are able to operate autonomously and interact
proactively with their environment.
In recent publication, the problem of information consensus is addressed, where
a team of vehicles must communicate with each other in order to agree on key pieces of
information that enable them to work together in a coordinated fashion. The problem
is particularly challenging because communication channels have limited range and
experience fading and dropout. Along a parallel avenue, various topics regarding
synchronization and consensus in multiagent systems were examined. The results
demonstrated that the joint presentation of synchronization and consensus allows the
reader to learn about the similarities and differences of both concepts. Cooperative
control of multiagent dynamical systems interconnected by a communication
network topology was also studied. Using the terminology of cooperative control,
each system is endowed with its own state variable and dynamics. A fundamental
problem in multiagent dynamical systems on networks is the design of distributed
protocols that guarantee consensus or synchronization, in the sense that the states of
all the systems reach the same value.
 Preface • v

In view of the available results, it turns out that research avenues in multiagent
systems offer great opportunities for further developments from theoretical, simulation
and implementations standpoints. This volume provides ‘‘system dynamics and
control perspective” of multiagent systems, with focus on mathematical modeling
of multiagent systems and paying particular attention to the agent dynamics models
available in the literature. We provide a number of problems on coordination and
control of multiagent systems which have gained significant attention recently as
well as various approaches to these problems. Looked at in this light, it has the
following objectives:
1. It gathers together the theoretical preliminaries and fundamental issues related
to multiagent systems.
2. It provides coherent results on adopting multiagent framework for critically
examining problems in smart microgrid systems.
3. It presents advanced analysis of multiagent systems under cyber-physical attacks
and develops resilient control strategies in order to guarantee safe operation.
October 2019 Magdi S Mahmoud
Acknowledgement

In writing this volume, I took the approach of referring within the text to papers
and/or books which I believe taught me some concepts, ideas and methods. I further
complemented this by adding some remarks and notes within and at the end of each
chapter to shed some light on other related results.
A particular manifestation of our life is due the ‘‘interaction” with people
in general and colleagues and friends. This is true in my technical career, where
I benefited from listening, discussing and collaborating with several colleagues.
Foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Prof Yuanqing Xia, BIT,
China, who has been a good supporter, but most importantly an example of a true
friend. I owe him for his deep insight as well as for his trust and perseverance.
The process of fine tuning and producing the final draft was pursued at the
Distributed Control Research Group (DCRG), Systems Engineering Department and
special thanks must go to my colleague Dr Nezar M Alyazidi and graduate students
Mojeed O Oyedeji and Bilal J Karaki for helpful comments, superb interactions
and assistance throughout the writing of this book. The great effort by Dr Mutaz M
Hamadan was instrumental in producing the last version of the book. Portions of this
volume were developed and upgraded while offering the graduate courses SCE-612
171, SCE-612-172, SCE-701-172, SCE-701-181, SCE-515-182 at KFUPM, Saudi
Arabia.
It is a great pleasure to acknowledge the financial funding afforded by the
deanship of scientific research (DSR) through project no. BW 181006 and for
providing a superb competitive environment and overall support of research activities
at KFUPM.
I would appreciate any comments, questions, criticisms or corrections that
readers may kindly provide to me at my emails:
[email protected] or [email protected].
Contents

Preface iv
Acknowledgement vi
Author Biography xiii

1. Introduction 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 Elements of Graph Theory 2
1.2.1 Basic results 3
1.2.2 Laplacian spectrum of graphs 3
1.2.3 Properties of adjacency matrix 4
1.2.4 Nonlinear stochastic dynamical systems 7
1.2.5 Complex dynamical systems 12
1.2.6 Delay effects 15
1.2.7 Sampled-data framework 16
1.3 Multiagent System Approach 17
1.3.1 Practical examples 17
1.3.2 Some relevant definitions 18
1.4 Mathematical Models for Agent Dynamics 20
1.4.1 Single integrator model 21
1.4.2 Double integrator model 21
1.4.3 Uncertain fully actuated model 22
1.4.4 Non-holonomic unicycle model 23
1.5 Coordination and Control Problems 23
1.5.1 Aggregation and social foraging 24
1.5.2 Flocking and rendezvous 25
1.5.3 Synchronization of coupled nonlinear oscillators 25
1.6 Scope and Book Layout 27
viii • Multiagent Systems: Introduction and Coordination Control

2. Theoretical Background 29
2.1 Preliminaries of Distributed Systems 29
2.1.1 Problem description 30
2.1.2 Control design scheme 32
2.1.3 Without communication delays 33
2.1.4 With communication delays 37
2.2 Networked Multiagent Systems 38
2.2.1 Consensus in networks 40
2.2.2 The f-consensus problem 41
2.2.3 Iterative consensus and Markov chains 42
2.3 Applications 42
2.3.1 Synchronization of coupled oscillators 42
2.3.2 Flocking theory 43
2.3.3 Fast consensus in small-worlds 43
2.3.4 Rendezvous in space 44
2.3.5 Distributed sensor fusion in sensor networks 44
2.3.6 Distributed formation control 44
2.4 Information Consensus 45
2.4.1 Algebraic connectivity and spectral properties 47
2.4.2 Convergence analysis for directed networks 47
2.4.3 Consensus in discrete-time 50
2.4.4 Performance of consensus algorithms 52
2.4.5 Alternative forms of consensus algorithms 54
2.4.6 Weighted-average consensus 57
2.4.7 Consensus under communication time-delays 58
2.5 Consensus in Switching Networks 59
2.6 Cooperation in Networked Control Systems 61
2.6.1 Collective dynamics of multivehicle formation 62
2.6.2 Stability of relative dynamics 63
2.7 Simulation Studies 64
2.7.1 Consensus in complex networks 64
2.7.2 Multivehicle formation control 66
2.8 Notes 67

3. Distributed Intelligence in Power Systems 69

3.1 Introduction to MAS Technology 69
3.1.1 Autonomous microgrid system 71
3.1.2 A state-space model 71
3.1.3 Heuristic dynamic programming 73
3.1.4 Discrete-time Bellman equation 74
3.1.5 Value iteration algorithm 75
3.1.6 Adaptive critics implementation 76
3.1.7 Actor-critic implementation 77
 Contents • ix

3.1.8 Simulations results 78

3.1.9 Actor-critic tuning results 78
3.1.10 Robustness of the proposed controller 80
3.2 Operation in Islanded Mode 81
3.2.1 Autonomous microgrid 85
3.2.2 Primary control 86
3.2.3 Fixed gain distributed secondary control 89
3.2.4 Neural network distributed secondary control 91
3.2.5 Stage 1: Selection of training data 91
3.2.6 Stage 2: Selection of artificial neural network 94
3.2.7 Stage 3: Neural network training 95
3.2.8 Simulation results I 96
3.3 Multiagent Coordination for Distributed Energy Resources 103
3.3.1 Introduction 103
3.3.2 Advantages of MAS approach 104
3.3.3 Agent platform 105
3.3.4 Software system analysis 106
3.3.5 Distributed control system 107
3.3.6 Simulation studies I 108
3.3.7 Coordination between agents 110
3.3.8 Checking reliability 112
3.3.9 Simulation results II 113
3.4 Notes 113

4. Consensus for Heterogeneous Systems with Delays 117

4.1 Introduction 117
4.2 Multiagent Leader-Follower Consensus Problem 118
4.3 Distributed Adaptive Control Design 120
4.4 Illustrative Example 129
4.5 Tracking and Coordination Using Sensor Networks 130
4.6 Target Tracking in Sensor Networks 135
4.7 Control System Architecture 136
4.7.1 Sensor network and models 138
4.7.2 Multitarget tracking 140
4.7.3 Agent dynamics and coordination objective 143
4.8 Control System Implementation 145
4.8.1 Multisensor fusion module 145
4.8.2 Multitarget tracking and multitrack fusion modules 150
4.8.3 Multiagent coordination module 155
4.9 Experimental Results 161
4.9.1 Platform 163
4.9.2 Live demonstration 165
4.10 Notes 168
x • Multiagent Systems: Introduction and Coordination Control

5. Secure Control of Distributed Multiagent Systems 169

5.1 Introduction 169
5.2 Problem Formulation 171
5.3 Main Results 172
5.4 Illustrative Examples 177
5.5 Notes 180

6. Advanced Consensus Algorithms 183

6.1 Event-Triggered Control for Multiagent Systems 183
6.1.1 Introduction 183
6.1.2 System model and problem statement 185
6.1.3 Design tracking results 188
6.1.4 Numerical example 195
6.2 Pinning Coordination Control of Networked Systems 198
6.2.1 Networked multi-vehicle systems 201
6.2.2 Fixed communication topology 206
6.2.3 Case of general graphs 207
6.2.4 Example 6.1 209
6.2.5 Strongly connected and balanced graphs 211
6.2.6 Selection of the pinned nodes 214
6.2.7 Pinning control with variable topology 218
6.2.8 Simulation examples 219
6.3 Distributed Consensus Control 221
6.3.1 Consensus with observer-type protocol 224
6.3.2 Dynamic consensus 225
6.3.3 Consensus region 227
6.3.4 Consensus with neutrally stable matrix 228
6.3.5 Consensus with prescribed convergence speed 230
6.3.6 Illustrative example 6.2 232
6.3.7 Consensus with static protocols 233
6.3.8 Formation control 235
6.3.9 Illustrative example 6.3 236
6.4 Consensus Control for Time-Delay Systems 238
6.4.1 Problem formulation 238
6.4.2 Fixed interconnection topology 241
6.4.3 Switched interconnection topology 245
6.4.4 Illustrative example 6.4 248
6.4.5 Illustrative example 6.5 249
6.5 Robust Consensus of Multiagent Systems 250
6.5.1 Problem description 251
6.5.2 Analytic results 253
6.5.3 Illustrative example 6.6 261
6.6 Notes 270
 Contents • xi

7. Cooperative Control of Networked Power Systems 273

7.1 Coordinated Model Predictive Power Flows 273
7.1.1 Introduction 274
7.1.2 System architecture 275
7.1.3 Wind power generation 276
7.1.4 Photovoltaic module generators 277
7.1.5 Energy storage system dynamics 277
7.1.6 Loads 278
7.1.7 Energy management unit 278
7.1.8 Power price mechanism 278
7.2 Power Scheduling in Networked MG 279
7.2.1 Networked topology 279
7.2.2 GCC of networked MG 279
7.2.3 MPC-based power scheduling 279
7.2.4 Optimization problem formulation 280
7.2.5 State equations and constraints 281
7.2.6 Case studies 282
7.2.7 Simulation setup 283
7.2.8 Case study 1 283
7.2.9 Case study 2 290
7.2.10 Case study 3 292
7.3 Distributed Robust Control in Smart Microgrids 293
7.3.1 A microgrid model 293
7.3.2 Microgrid group model 293
7.3.3 Problem formulation 295
7.3.4 Robust group control 296
7.3.5 Distributed information models 298
7.3.6 Simulation study 299
7.3.7 Solution procedure A 300
7.3.8 Solution procedure B 301
7.3.9 Solution procedure C 301
7.3.10 Solution procedure D 301
7.4 Notes 302

8. Dynamic Graphical Games 305

8.1 Constrained Graphical Games 305
8.1.1 Reinforcement learning 306
8.1.2 Synchronization control problem 307
8.1.3 Performance evaluation of the game 308
8.1.4 Optimality conditions 309
8.1.5 Bellman equations 310
8.1.6 The Hamiltonian function 311
8.1.7 Coupled IRL-Hamilton-Jacobi theory 313
8.1.8 Coupled IRL-HJB equations 315
xii • Multiagent Systems: Introduction and Coordination Control

8.1.9 Nash equilibrium solution 317

8.1.10 Stability analysis 318
8.2 Value Iteration Solution and Implementation 320
8.2.1 Value iteration algorithm 321
8.2.2 Graph solution implementation 321
8.2.3 Online actor-critic neural networks tuning 323
8.2.4 Simulation results I 323
8.2.5 Simulation case 1 324
8.2.6 Simulation case 2 324
8.2.7 Simulation case 3 325
8.3 Multiagent Reinforcement Learning for Microgrids 331
8.3.1 Microgrid control requirements 332
8.3.2 Features of MAS technology 333
8.3.3 A multiagent reinforcement learning method 335
8.3.4 Critical operation in island mode 338
8.3.5 Simulation results II 340
8.4 Notes 344
References 345
Index 395
Author Biography

Magdi S Mahmoud has been a Professor of Engineering since 1984. He is now

a Distinguished Professor at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
(KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. He was on the faculty at different universities worldwide,
including Egypt (CU, AUC), Kuwait (KU), UAE (UAEU), UK (UMIST), USA
(Pitt, Case Western), Singapore (Nanyang) and Australia (Adelaide). He lectured
in Venezuela (Caracas), Germany (Hanover), UK ((Kent), USA (UoSA), Canada
(Montreal) and China (BIT, Yanshan). He is the principal author of fiftyone (51)
books, inclusive book-chapters and the author/co-author of more than 610 peer-
reviewed papers. He is a fellow of the IEE, a senior member of the IEEE, the CEI
(UK), and a registered consultant engineer of information engineering and systems
(Egypt). He received the Science State Incentive Prize for outstanding research in
engineering (1978, 1986), the State Medal for Science and Arts, First Class (1978),
and the State Distinction Award (1986), Egypt. He awarded the Abdulhameed
Showman Prize for Young Arab Scientists in Engineering Sciences (1986), Jordan.
In 1992, he received the Distinguished Engineering Research Award, Kuwait
University (1992), Kuwait. He is co-winner of the Most Cited Paper Award 2009,
“Signal Processing”, vol. 86, no. 1, 2006, pp. 140–152. His papers were selected
among the 40 best papers in Electrical & Electronic Engineering by the Web of
Science ISI in July 2012. He interviewed for “People in Control”, IEEE Control
Systems Magazine, August 2010. He served as Guest Editor for the special issue
“Neural Networks and Intelligence Systems in Neurocomputing” and Guest Editor
for the “2015 International Symposium onWeb of Things and Big Data (WoTBD
2015)” 18–20 October 2015, Manama, Bahrain. He is a Regional Editor (Middle
East and Africa) of International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications
(JSCC), INDERSCIENCE Publishers since 2007, member of the Editorial Board
of the Journal of Numerical Algebra, Control and Optimization (NACO), Australia
since 2010, an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Systems Dynamics
Applications (IJSDA), since 2011, member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of
xiv • Multiagent Systems: Introduction and Coordination Control

Engineering Management, USA since 2012 and an Academic Member of Athens

Institute for Education and Research, Greece since 2015. Since 2016, He is an
Editor of the Journal Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi Publishing
Company, USA. He is currently actively engaged in teaching and research in the
development of modern methodologies to distributed control and filtering, networked
control systems, fault-tolerant systems, cyber-physical systems and information
technology.
Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Overview
The field of coordinated multiagent dynamic systems, including swarms and
swarm robotics, is a relatively new field that has become popular in recent years.
Since the pioneering work [1] on simulation of a flock of birds in flight using
a behavioral model based on a few simple rules and only local interactions, the
field has witnessed many developments. Currently, there is significant interest in
the applications of the field in various areas involving teams of manned or un­
manned aerial, ground, space or underwater vehicles, robots and mobile sensors,
to name a few [2]–[9].
Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the field, the literature on coordi­
nated multiagent dynamic systems have a moderately wide spectrum of perspec­
tives. This chapter focuses on the system dynamics and control perspective with
the aim of presenting a short review on mathematical modeling, coordination and
control of multiagent dynamical systems.
Integrator and double integrator models are the simplest abstraction, upon
which a large part of results on consensus of multiagent systems have been
based, see [34], [35], [36], [41], [42], [43]. To deal with more complex mod­
els, a number of recent papers are devoted to consensus of multiple LTI systems
[37], [38], [39], [40], [44], [45], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51]. These results
keep most of the concepts provided by earlier developments, and provide new
design and analysis techniques, such as LQR approach, low gain approach, H∞
approach, parametrization and geometric approach, output regulation approach,
and homotopy-based approach. However, most of these results [37], [38], [39],
[40], [44], [46], [50], [51] mainly focus on fixed interaction topology, rather
than time-varying topology. How do the switches of the interaction topology and
2 � Multiagent Systems: Introduction and Coordination Control

agent dynamics jointly affect the collective behavior of the multiagent system?
Attempts to understand this issue have been hampered by the lack of suitable
analysis tools. The results of Scardovi et al. [45] and Ni et al. [40] are men­
tioned here, because of their contributions to dealing with switching topology
in the setup of high-order agent model. However, when dealing with switching
topology, [45] and [40] assumed that the system of each agent is neutrally sta­
ble; thus, it has no positive real parts eigenvalues. This assumption was widely
assumed in the literature when the interaction topology is fixed or switching.
Unfortunately, when the agent is stabilizable and detectable rather than neutrally
stable, and when the interaction topology is switching, there is no result reported
in the literature to investigate the consensus of these agents.

1.2 Elements of Graph Theory

In this section, some preliminary knowledge of graph theory [10] is introduced
so as to facilitate the subsequent analysis. For a system of n connected agents, its
network topology can be modeled as a directed graph.
A)) Let G = (V, E, A) be a weighted directed graph of order n, where
V = 1, ..., n is the set of nodes; E ⊆ V × V is the set of edges and A = [ai j ] ∈ Rn×n
is the non-negative adjacency matrix. An edge of G is denoted by a pair of dis­
tinct nodes (i, j) ∈ E, where node i and node j are called the child node and the
parent node, respectively. A path in a directed graph is a sequence i0 , i1 , ..., i f if it
consists of different nodes such that (i j−1 , i j ) is an edge for j = 1, 2, ..., f , f ∈ Z+ .
Denote Ni = j | (i, j) ∈ E) as the set of neighbors of node i. The adjacency ma­
trix A = [ai j ] ∈ Rn×n is defined such that ai j is the non-negative weight of edge
(i, j).
B)) We assume ai j = 0 if (i, j) ∈
/ E and aii�= 0 for all i ∈ 1, ..., n. The Laplacian
n
matrix L = [li j ] ∈ Rn×n is defined as lii = j=1, j= � i ai j and li j = −ai j (i �= j). A
directed tree is a directed graph, in which there is exactly one parent for every
node, except for a node called the root. A directed spanning tree is a directed
tree, which consists of all of the nodes in G. A directed graph contains a directed
spanning tree if there exists a directed spanning tree as a subgraph of the graph.
Let G = (V, E, A) be a directed graph of order n, where V = {s1 , . . . , sn } is the
set of nodes, E ⊆ V × V is the set of edges, and A = [ai j ] ∈ �n×n is a weighted
adjacency matrix. The node indexes belong to a finite index set I = {1, 2, . . . , n}.
An edge of G is denoted by ei j = (si , s j ), where the first element si of the ei j is said
to be the tail of the edge and the other s j to be the head. The adjacency elements
associated with the edges are positive, that is, ei j ∈ E ⇔ ai j > 0. If a directed
graph has the property that ai j = a ji for any i, j ∈ I, the directed graph is called
undirected. The Laplacian with the directed graph is defined �n as L = Δ − A ∈
�n×n , where Δ = [Δi j ] is a diagonal matrix with Δii = j=1 ai j . An important
fact of L is that all the row sums of L are zero and, thus, 1 is an eigenvector of
 Introduction � 3

L associated with the zero eigenvalue. The set of neighbors of node si is denoted
by Ni = {s j ∈ V : (si , s j ) ∈ E}. A directed path is a sequence of ordered edges
of the form (si1 , si2 ), (si2 , si3 ), . . . , where si j ∈ V in a directed graph. A directed
graph is said to be strongly connected, if there is a directed path from every node
to every other node. Moreover, a directed graph is said to have spanning trees, if
there exists a node such that there is a directed path from every other node to this
node.
Let Re(z),Im(z) and �z� be the real part, the imaginary part and the modulus
of a complex number z, respectively. Let In (0n ) be the identity (zero) � matrix of
dimension n and 1n be the n × 1 column vector of all ones. Here, represents
the Kronecker product.

1.2.1 Basic results

Lemma 1.1 [32]

If the graph G has a spanning tree, then its Laplacian L has the following properties:
1. Zero is a simple eigenvalue of L, and 1n is the corresponding eigenvector, that
is L1n = 0.
2. The remaining n − 1 eigenvalues all have positive real parts. In particular, if
the graph G is undirected, then all these eigenvalues are positive and real.

Lemma 1.2 [16]

Consider a directed graph G. Let D ∈ �n×|E| be the 01-matrix with rows and columns
indexed by the nodes and edges of G, and E ∈ �|E|×n be the 01-matrix with rows and
columns indexed by the edges and nodes of G, such that
�
1 i f the node u is the tail o f the edge f
Du f = (1.1)
0 otherwise
�
1 i f the nodeu is the head o f the edge f
Efu = (1.2)
0 otherwise
where |E| is the number of the edges. Let Q = diag{q1 , q2 , . . . , q|E| }, where q p (p =
1, . . . , |E|) is the weight of the pth edge of G (i.e., the value of the adjacency matrix
on the pth edge). Then the Laplacian of G can be transformed into L = DQ(DT − E).

1.2.2 Laplacian spectrum of graphs

This section is a concise review of the relationship between the eigenvalues of a
Laplacian matrix and the topology of the associated graph. We refer the reader to
[11] for a comprehensive treatment of the topic. We list a collection of properties
associated with undirected graph Laplacians and adjacency matrices, which will
be used in subsequent sections of the paper.
4 � Multiagent Systems: Introduction and Coordination Control

A graph G is defined as
G = (V, A) (1.3)
where V is the set of nodes (or vertices) V = {1, . . . , N} and A ⊆ V × V the set
of edges (i, j) with i ∈ V, j ∈ V. The degree d j of a graph vertex j is the number
of edges which start from j. Let dmax (G) denote the maximum vertex degree of
the graph G.

1.2.3 Properties of adjacency matrix

We denote A(G) by the (0, 1) adjacency matrix of the graph G. Let Ai j ∈ R be
its i, j element, then Ai,i = 0, ∀i = 1, . . . , N, Ai, j = 0 if (i, j) ∈
/ A and Ai, j = 1 if
(i, j) ∈ A, ∀i, j = 1, . . . , N, i �= j. We will focus on undirected graphs, for which
the adjacency matrix is symmetric.
Let S(A(G)) = {λ1 (A(G)), . . . , λN (A(G))} be the spectrum of the adjacency
matrix associated with an undirected graph G arranged in non-decreasing semi-
order.
• Property 1: λN (A(G)) ≤ dmax (G).
This property together with Proposition 1 implies
• Property 2: γi ≥ 0, ∀γi ∈ S(dmax IN − A).
We define the Laplacian matrix of a graph G in the following way:

L(G) = D(G) − A(G) (1.4)

where D(G) is the diagonal matrix of vertex degrees di (also called the valence
matrix). Eigenvalues of Laplacian matrices have been widely studied by graph
theorists. Their properties are strongly related to the structural properties of their
associated graphs. Every Laplacian matrix is a singular matrix. By Gershgorin
theorem [15], the real part of each nonzero eigenvalue of L(G) is strictly positive.
For undirected graphs, L(G) is a symmetric, positive, semidefinite matrix, that
only has real eigenvalues. Let S(L(G)) = {λ1 (L(G)), . . . , λN (L(G))} be the spec­
trum of the Laplacian matrix L associated with an undirected graph G arranged
in non-decreasing semi-order. Then,
• Property 3:
1. λ1 (L(G)) = 0 with corresponding eigenvector of all ones, and λ2 (L(G)) iff
G is connected. In fact, the multiplicity of 0 as an eigenvalue of L(G) is
equal to the number of connected components of G.
2. The modulus of λi (L(G)), i = 1, . . . , N is less then N.
The second smallest Laplacian eigenvalue λ2 (L(G)) of graphs is probably the
most important information contained in the spectrum of a graph. This eigen­
value, called the algebraic connectivity of the graph, is related to several impor­
tant graph invariants, and it has been extensively investigated.
 Introduction � 5

Figure 1.1: Sample graph and Laplacian

Let L(G) be the Laplacian of a graph G with N vertices and with maximal
vertex degree dmax (G). Then properties of λ2 (L(G)) include
• Property 4:
1. λ2 (L(G)) ≤ (N/(N − 1)) min{d(v), v ∈ V};
2. λ2 (L(G)) ≤ v(G) ≤ η(G);
3. λ2 (L(G)) ≥ 2η(G)(1 − cos(π/N));
4. λ2 (L(G)) ≥ 2(cos Nπ − cos 2 Nπ )η(G) − 2 cos Nπ (1 − cos Nπ )dmax (G)
where v(G) is the vertex connectivity of the graph G (the size of a smallest set of
vertices whose removal renders G disconnected) and η(G) is the edge connectiv­
ity of the graph G (the size of a smallest set of edges whose removal renders G
disconnected) [17].
Further relationships between the graph topology and Laplacian eigenvalue
locations are discussed in [14] for undirected graphs. Spectral characterization
of Laplacian matrices for directed graphs can be found in [15], see also Fig. 1.1.
A lemma about Laplacian L associated with a balanced digraph G is given
hereafter:

Lemma 1.3
If G is balanced, then there exists a unitary matrix
⎡ 1
∗ ... ∗
⎤
√
n
⎢ √1 ∗ . . . ∗ ⎥
⎢ n ⎥ m×n
V =⎢ ⎢ .. .. .. ⎥ ∈ C (1.5)
⎥
⎣ . . . ⎦
√1 ∗ . . . ∗
n

such that
� �
0
V ∗ LV = = Λ ∈ Cn×n , H ∈ C(n−1)×(n−1) (1.6)
H

Moreover, if G has a globally reachable node, H + H ∗ is positive definite.

Another random document with
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 I HAVE said that my mother was very unwell for a time
after her arrival at Tre Madoc, and my aunt feared she
would go off in a quick decline. But by degrees she
recovered strength again, so as to walk into the garden to
help my aunt in the still-room and dairy occupations, of
which she was very fond, and after a while to ride the easy
old pony as far as the village, to see some of the sick and
old people.

An accident had happened to Andrew's ship, the

Enterprise, which had put off her sailing for some weeks.
We were all very glad of the respite, my mother especially,
to whom Andrew was most devoted—more so than to
myself, which was very sensible of him. He used to walk at
her bridle-rein, gather flowers for her, and in short, pay her
a great many attentions which were more lover-like than
filial. He had never again spoken to me on the subject of
marriage, and always sharply hushed up any allusion to the
matter on the part of other members of the family; and
though he was very kind and very attentive to my comfort,
it was more as a brother than a lover.

It was the course, if he had known it, just calculated to

make me care for him, if only out of pique, and accordingly
I began to watch for his coming, to wonder whether he
would ask me to walk with him, and to dress so as to please
his eye. I began to take an interest in the farm and garden,
as indeed I had been used to do at home, and I was more
than ever zealous in visiting and working for the school and
the poor folks. My aunt had taken to me at once, and I to
her, and I believe but for the meddling of another we should
never have had a falling out. My charitable work and my
studies with Rosamond and my mother had again brought
my better self uppermost, and despite Betty's teasing and
an occasional sigh for London, or a spasm of home-sickness
for dear Normandy, I was very happy.
 I have said that Betty set herself to make mischief, and
she succeeded certainly to her heart's content, or one would
have thought so. She is gone to her account long ago, poor
thing, and I feel tenderly toward her memory, for she was
my Andrew's sister; but I cannot make my story understood
without speaking of her faults.

She began with Jeanne. The housekeeper and chief

personage under Margaret was an old woman named
Deborah Permuen, an excellent person, but of somewhat
irritable temper, and very jealous of her authority and her
influence with her mistress. She and Jeanne had begun by
being great friends; for Deborah was a hot Protestant, and
a Presbyterian to boot, who, though she regularly attended
the parish church on Sundays, as regularly went on
Thursdays to a gathering of her own sort of folks, which was
held in a cottage on the verge of the estate. She even
condescended to learn of Jeanne how to prepare an
"omelette aux herbs" and several other French dishes,
imparting in return various important culinary secrets of her
own.

By degrees, however, her friendship cooled. She began

to throw out hints about interlopers, and French Jesuits in
disguise coming to interfere in peaceable families. She
declined anything but civilly a proposition of Jeanne's to
teach her the true way of making a galette; and at last—the
crowning offence—threw into the pig's mess a fine salad
with crawfish, which Jeanne had prepared for Andrew's
birthday, declaring that she would not have her young
master poisoned with French pig-wash.

Jeanne rushed to my mother with complaints, not

observing or not heeding that my aunt was in the next room
looking over a drawer of linen in the cabinet. Then Deborah
was called upon the scene, and told her story, which she did
with many tears and exclamations that ever she should
have lived to see the day that she should be supplanted by
a foreigner, and so on.

"You foolish old woman, what do you mean?" said my

aunt, out of patience at last. "Who is thinking of supplanting
you?"

"Why, that French woman there?" sobbed Deborah,

pointing to Jeanne, who, burning with indignation all the
more because my mother had imposed silence on her, stood
behind her mistress' chair. "Did not she say that she would
have me out of this house in a twelvemonth, and that when
her young lady ruled the roast in the parlor it would be her
turn in the kitchen?"

"I don't believe she said so," said my mother; and she
translated Deborah's remark for Jeanne's benefit.

"Indeed, indeed, madame, I never said such a word,"

was Jeanne's reply. "I never thought of such a thing. I had
too much respect for Deborah, let alone Madame Corbet,
ever to say a thing so un-polite, so improper."

"What did you say to Mrs. Betty then, when she asked
you about it?" demanded Deborah, beginning to calm down
a little.

"Nothing at all," was the answer. "Mrs. Betty said to me

that she supposed I should be the—what say you?—the
manager, when Mrs. Vevette and the young master were
married, and that she hoped I would give them more nice
things than Mrs. Deborah did; to which I answered nothing;
for it did not seem to me, craving madame's pardon, that it
was a proper way for a young lady of the house to speak to
a servant. So, when she added something more, I said I
was Madame d'Antin's servant, and at her disposal; and I
added no more. My feelings have been much hurt by Mrs.
Deborah's remarks of late; and to-day especially I was so
moved by her treatment of my salad—ah, madame! Such
noble salade des écrevisses! That I fear I forgot myself.
Alas, it is too easy to wound the heart of an exile and a
childless mother."

And here Jeanne wept in her turn, and Deborah began

to look rather ashamed, and to mutter some thing about
"not meaning."

"I see how it is," said my aunt, who with all her
easiness of disposition was not a person to be despised.
"Deborah has allowed herself to be prejudiced, and to
believe her mistress capable of the most unworthy
conduct."

"Oh, mistress, don't!" implored Deborah, weeping

afresh.

"And she has been guilty of great unkindness toward a

stranger and a foreigner, and one of her own religion,"
added my aunt, with emphasis; "while Jeanne has perhaps
been too hasty and ready to take offence."

"I own it, madame," sobbed Jeanne in her turn; "I have
been too hasty; but to be called a Jesuit, when I have
suffered so much by them; and then my beautiful salad,
which the young master used to like so much in France—"

"Well, never mind," said my aunt. "I am sure Deborah is

sorry she called you by such an ugly name; and as to the
salad, I think if we can forgive the loss, you can. Come,
now, let me see you shake hands and make friends, like
Christian women; and let me hear of no more quarrels."
 The two combatants obeyed, with a very decent grace
on Deborah's side, and with considerable effusion on that of
Jeanne, who adored my aunt, and, to do her justice, was
always placable.

Deborah departed to her own dominions, and my aunt,

going to her own room, sent for Mrs. Betty, who did not
appear at dinner, and who was at least more careful in her
conduct for some days, though I have reason to think her
heart was little affected by her disgrace or her mother's
admonitions. It was only a few days afterward that Jeanne
came to her mistress again, with a humble request that she
would intercede with Madame Corbet to allow her to change
her room. For since my mother had been so unwell Jeanne
had occupied a room at the end of the gallery leading to our
apartment, which, as I have said, was somewhat separated
from the rest of the house.

"Why, what is the matter with the room?" asked my

mother. "I thought it a very nice one."

"And so it is madame, but—"

"But what?"

"I would rather not sleep there, madame."

"Some one has been telling you ghost stories," said I, a

sudden idea coming to me. "Is it not so?"

"Ah, mamselle!" and Jeanne began to cry, as usual.

"Do be reasonable," said my mother, rather impatiently,

for she was tired and not very well. "Stop crying, and tell
me what has scared you."
 It was not easy to pacify Jeanne, but we succeeded at
last, and then the truth came out. Mrs. Betty had told her
that a headless woman with fiery eyes came out of a secret
closet in the hall of that room, which no one had been able
to find, and that whoever saw her became blind.

"Where does she keep her fiery eyes, if she has no head
—in her pocket?" I asked, laughing at this very original
ghost. "Perhaps she carries them on a dish before her, like
St. What's-her-name in the picture."

"Ah, mamselle! Do not laugh. I did indeed see

something—two fiery eyes in the dark—and my eyes have
not felt right since."

"The eyes of that great gray cat which is always

following you up-stairs and down," said my mother. Then,
seeing that the poor woman was really unhappy, she tried
to reason her out of her fears on religious grounds, but, as
usually happens in such cases, without much success.
Jeanne owned the truth of all she said; but—

Finally my mother gave way, and asked my aunt to

allow a cot-bed to be put into the large light closet which
opened from my mother's room.

"Why, certainly, if you like to have her there," said my

aunt. "You know I thought it would be more convenient for
you, in the first place."

"It is not that exactly," replied my mother; "but Jeanne

has taken a fit of superstitious terror and is afraid of, I know
not what apparition, which some one has told her comes
out of a closet in the wall of her room. I have reasoned with
her, but, of course, to no purpose."
 "Is there really such a ghost about the house, aunt?" I
asked.

"There used to be an old story to that effect," said my

aunt; "but I do not know that any one has ever seen the
apparition. Cornwall is famous for such things. You shall
hardly find an old hall or mansion in the country which has
not its tale of wonder."

"I think there is more of it than there used to be in

Normandy even," I remarked: "Old Dame Trehorn was quite
in despair about her sons yesterday, because she says she
heard the old shoes dance of themselves in the press the
night before last, and she is sure their owners either are or
will be drowned. And Mary Mellish would not let the children
come to school yesterday because some one heard the
wish-hounds the night before."

"It is a pity the poor people would not learn to have

more faith in God and less fear of apparitions and the like,"
said my mother.

My aunt looked a little displeased. "I suppose, sister

Meg, you will hardly go so far as to say there are no such
things as ghosts and fairies and the like," said she. "That
would indeed be to be wiser than our fathers."

"But, Aunt Amy, we are wiser than our fathers in a great

many things, or think we are," said I. "Our fathers used to
believe in purgatory, and worshipping of images and the
like, but we do not."

My aunt deigned me no answer.

"As to Jeanne, sister, you will of course do as you

please, since she is your woman, and the apartment is
yours. I would, however, that you would try to teach her to
live on better terms with Deborah and the other woman. I
am not used to these quarrels below stairs."

I would have spoken, for I felt very warm in defense of

my foster-mother, but maman checked me with a look, and
said gently that she hoped not to need Jeanne much longer,
and after that she would of course lodge with her husband
at his cottage.

"Why, there it is," said my aunt. "As soon as one speaks

a word, you take offence. And now that we are on the
subject—" (she did not say what subject), "I must say that I
cannot think it becomes Vevette to remark upon my
housekeeping before the maids. She is not yet mistress,
however she may come to be, and I think young maids had
best learn in silence and not pass their judgment on what is
done by their elders. Ours Catechism teaches young folks to
order themselves lowly and reverently to their betters,
whatever yours may do in France."

And here my aunt stopped, having talked herself quite

out of breath.

"What do you mean, aunt?" I asked, quite bewildered

by this accusation. "When have I censured you?"

"Oh, you know very well what I mean, I am quite sure.

It might be only thoughtlessness, but you ought to be more
careful."

"But, aunt, indeed I do not know; I have not the least

idea," said I, which was quite true.

"Will you be so kind, sister Corbet, as to tell my child

and her mother to what your allude?" said my mother, with
all that stateliness which was natural to her, but speaking
kindly. "I assure you that if my daughter hath done wrong,
either wilfully or carelessly, she shall ask your pardon."

Aunt Amy had had time to cool. "Ah, well, I dare say it
was but thoughtlessness; and young maids must be young
maids, I suppose."

"But what was it?" my mother persisted, to my secret

delight, for I was not conscious of any offence.

Aunt Amy could not remember the words; only Betty

had told her that I had found fault with the housekeeping,
and said that when I was mistress I would have things thus
and so. I began to see daylight.

"Dear aunt, I will tell you how it was," said I. "We were
all gathering lavender-flowers for the still, and I saw that
Peggy, the still-room maid, had been crying, and asked
what was the matter. She said the mistress had been
scolding her because she had on ragged stockings, and
because she did not keep her head neat; and Betty asked
me if I did not think that was hard on the poor girl, when
she had so much to, do. And I said no: if I were her
mistress I would make her knit her own hose and wear a
clear-starched cap every day, as the maids do in Normandy.
Then Meg laughed, and said I would be a pattern
housekeeper, no doubt; and I said I did not believe I should
ever be as good-natured as you were. That was the whole
of it. I am sure nothing was farther from my thoughts than
any disrespect; and as to your housekeeping, I think it is as
perfect as can be—only, of course, many of the ways are
different from ours, and when I notice them 'tis natural to
speak of them."

"Betty made much more of the matter than that," said

my aunt. "Well, sister Meg, I will have a cot-bed sent up,
and you can place it where you please. I am sure I want
every one under my roof to be comfortable, each in their
degree. But another thing I must speak of."

Aunt Amy was like many other easy-going folks: when

she got started she never knew when to stop.

"I don't want you, Agnes—I mean Vevette, or whatever

your name is—I don't want you turning my girls' heads with
romances and plays and stories of London gaieties and
London fine gentlemen and ladies. If you have a taste for
such matters, it is a pity you had not stayed with your
uncle, and married some fine gentleman about the court,
instead of poor Andrew, whose estate will stand no such
doings, as I warn you beforehand. There, I want no answer;
but don't do it again." And with that she bustled away.

"What does it all mean?" I asked, when I was left alone

with my mother.

"It means what I might have considered before we

came here—that no one house was ever yet large enough
for two families," said my mother. "But what is this about
turning heads with stories about London?"

"Why, maman, you know how Rosamond is—how she is

always longing to hear about places one has seen. The night
before last I said I had told her everything I could think of
about La Manche and Jersey, and I should have to begin
upon London. So I told her of the parks and the palace and
other places where I went with my uncle and aunt and with
Mr. and Mrs. Pepys. Then Betty began asking me whether
my uncle and aunt did not see a deal of company, and so I
told her something about that, and about the dresses in the
park, and so on. Rosamond did not care to hear, and went
away to her book, but Betty kept me telling a long time.
And last night she asked me about it again, and whether I
would not have liked to live with any aunt Jemima in
London."

"And what did you say?" asked my mother. "I said, 'Not
to leave you;' and besides, since I had come down here and
learned to know the people, I liked the place; and so I do.
Only I shall not like it, I am sure, if my aunt turns against
me."

"Let us hope she will not," said my mother. "Sister Amy

is a good creature, but she has an oddity of disposition
which belongs to her family. She will let herself be
prejudiced against her best friend by any mischief-maker
who will take the pains to do it. Her sister, who was my
great friend when we were young, was just so. She made a
hasty marriage, against the wishes of her father and of her
husband's family, and though they forgave her afterward,
she was for some time in a good deal of trouble. I stood by
her through all, yet she let herself be altogether set against
me by some of her husband's relations, who had
themselves said the most shameful things about her, even
affecting her reputation as a virtuous woman."

"She must have been very silly," said I.

"In that respect she certainly was. But, my Vevette, let

me hear no more of these talks with Betty about London.
They are not very good for yourself, who have, I fear, now
and then a longing back-look to the courts of Egypt, and I
doubt their being good for Betty herself. You had best avoid
her company, so far as you can without offence, and above
all do not have any confidences with her. Margaret and
Rosamond are as open as the day, but unless I much
misread poor Betty, she is a born mischief-maker."
 Here the conversation ended. That evening Betty began
again to ask me about London, having drawn me away from
the rest of the young folks who were assembled on the
green; but I gave her short answers, and at last plainly told
her that I could say no more about the matter.

"But why not?" asked Betty. "You talked long enough

about it last night."

"Yes, and you went and told your mother, and she
lectured me this morning about turning your head with
stories of London tine gentlemen."

Betty assumed an air of innocent surprise.

"Did you not want me to tell, then?" said she. "I never
thought of that. I have no secrets from my mother."

I was too angry to trust myself with a word, and I

turned back to where the rest of the family were standing,
looking at a pair of hawks which Andrew had taken from the
nest and trained himself; for, sailor as he was, he was very
fond of field sports, specially of hawking. I placed myself at
his side, and began admiring and petting the hawks, which I
had often fed till they were fond of me. Andrew looked
pleased.

"I shall leave them in your care," said he; "only old
Joslyns must take them out now and then or they will forget
how to fly."

"I am sure I shall like to have them," said I. "And,

Andrew, will you get me a new hare's-foot for Dame
Penaluna? She says hers does no good because it was cut
off below the first joint."
 "What does she want it for—to paint her face withal?"
asked Andrew. "That is what the fine ladies use them for, is
it not?"

"So I have heard," I answered, laughing; "but the dame

wants hers as a spell against the colic."

"She shall have it," said Andrew, and again he looked

pleased, as he always did when I made any little request,
which was not often, for I had grown shy of him of late.
"You seem to be in the confidence of all the old women in
the hamlet, from what I hear. What do you do to make
them like you so much?"

"I don't know, unless it be that I listen to their stories,"

I answered. "I think old folks usually do like that. They like
to tell, and I like to hearken, so we are both suited."

"Vevette is practising her part beforehand," said Betty,

who had followed me back to the green. "She means to be
perfect in it by the time she comes to be Lady of the Manor.
My mother has never had time to do so much listening."

Andrew shot one of his fiery glances at his sister, while I

was so confused and so angry both at once that I could not
say a word. I was going into the house when he called me
and asked me to walk with him to the end of the lane and
look out upon the sea.

Betty said she would go too, but Margaret called her

back rather sharply, to my great joy, for I hardly felt like
keeping terms with her, and I was determined not to quarrel
if I could help it.

"You must not mind poor Betty," said Andrew. (Why is

the most exasperating member of a family always spoken of
as poor so and so?) "She has always been the contrary
feather in the family nest, ever since she was born."

"I do not mean to mind her," said I, "if only she would
not make mischief. But I think it is too bad in her to lead
me on to tell her about London and my uncle and aunt
there, and then go and tell your mother, as if it had been all
my doing. And then—but there, what is the use?" I added.
"You cannot understand, and there is no need of troubling
you with the matter. Only I wish we had stayed in Jersey—
that is all," I concluded, with a quiver in my voice.

Andrew pressed my hand, and we were silent a few

minutes.

Then he said, "I have a favor to ask of you, Vevette."

"I am glad of it," said I, as indeed I was. "What can I do

for you?"

"You are a famous knitter," said he. "Will you knit me a

pair of long, warm woollen hose before I go?"

"Yes indeed; but do you not want more than one pair?"

"I did not suppose you would have time for more than
one."

"That is a likely story!" said I. "As if I could not knit

more than one pair of hosen in four weeks. I will begin
them directly. I know Jeanne has been spinning some
famous yarn."

We talked a little longer about various matters—about

the places where Andrew was going, and the time when he
would return—and then we fell into graver talk, and from
that again to jesting, till I had quite recovered my serenity.
 The next morning was my turn at the school, and I
walked thither with my head quite full of schemes for the
improvement of my little folk which I meant to talk over
with Andrew, for somehow our walk and that the night
before had put us in some degree upon our old brotherly
and sisterly footing again. I found the children assembled
and ready to welcome me, and we had a prosperous
morning.

When I came out, there was my mother on her pony,

with Andrew at her bridle-rein as usual. My little regiment
sent off quite a feu de joie, as I may say, of bobs and
curtsies, showing their black curly heads and white teeth to
great advantage; for they were, almost without exception,
handsome. Cornwall was and is a country of handsome folk,
and our hamlet is no exception to the rule.

"And how does the college prosper?" asked Andrew,

after he had spoken to one and another of the young ones,
and had acknowledged the salute of Peggy Mellish, who
stood smiling and curtsying in her clean kirtle and apron,
quite a picture of a young school-mistress.

"Very well," I answered; "only just now we are greatly

in need of certain articles called knitting-pins. There are
none to be had, it seems, nearer than Plymouth, if indeed
they are to be found there. I want to teach the elder girls to
knit, but I cannot, if I have no pins."

"That does stand to reason," answered Andrew gravely;

"but perhaps the blacksmith could make some of these
same pins, with a little of my assistance. I am a bit of a
smith myself."

"So you ought to be. The knights of old could forge their
own armor, you know. But I think you are a little of
everything," said I. "If ever we should be cast away upon a
desert island, like the folks you read of yesterday, you could
set up housekeeping, and make yourself a great king
among the people."

"Jack at all trades and master at none," said Andrew,

looking pleased, as he always did when I made any such
remark. "But here is your old dame's hare's-foot. It has the
needful joint, you see. I cut it off myself."

"Many thanks. I will carry it to her, if you will wait for

me."

"Nay, we will all go that way—that is, if Andrew does not

mind the walk," said my mother. "I have a fancy to see the
old house at St. Wenna's Well."

"The walk is nothing, so the ride is not too much for

you," answered Andrew. "As for Vevette, I know she minds
walking no more than the old pony here."

"Very polite, to compare me to a pony," said I,

pretending to pout. "But I shall like to see the old house.
Does any one live in it?"

"Only the woman who cares for it; and she is worth
seeing too," answered Andrew. "Is not this the old dame's
cottage?"

It was, and the dame was within, groaning grievously

with the colic; but no sooner did she take the hare's-foot
into her hand, such was the virtue of the remedy or the
effect of her faith in it, than she was presently quite easy.

"Do you suppose it really helped her?" I asked, when

we were again on our way.
 "Nay, that I cannot say," said Andrew. "'Tis an old
notion, and for aught I know may have some virtue in it. At
all events, it hath this advantage over some other
medicaments, that if it does no good it can do no harm."

"What is there so odd about the housekeeper at the

Well House?" I asked, when we had gone on a little.

"You will easily discover that when you see her,"

answered Andrew. "But aside from her person, there is
something peculiar in the manner of her appearance among
us. She was found when a little child, wandering upon the
sea-shore early one morning after a great storm of thunder
and wind. She was very small, but from her ways it was
judged she must be three or four years old, for she could
speak plainly, though in a language none understood. She
was somewhat richly dressed, and had about her neck a
thin gold chain and the image of some bird wrought in the
same metal. The folk thought her a fairy changeling or else
a sea-maid, and were almost afraid of her; but an old
couple then living in the Well House took her in and brought
her up as their own. She well repaid their care, having been
a most dutiful daughter to them. She hath never married,
and now that the old folks are dead, she lives in the Well
House, to take care of it. She is an odd little body, but very
faithful and honest."

We had by this time come in sight of the Well House, as

it was called, which stood in its own little coombe opening
down to the sea at the very mouth of Tre Madoc valley. It
was a pretty little old house, built of warm red stone and
shadowed by a great walnut-tree and an ash. At a little
distance, and indeed almost joining the house, was a very
tiny ruined chapel or oratory, such as one often sees by the
roadside in France. A small bright stream ran through the
garden, which was pretty though rather wild and
overgrown. I took a fancy to the place at once.

"It hath not changed in the least," said my mother;

"only the trees are grown and the old chestnut is away.
What hath become of it?"

"It blew down a few years since in a great storm,"

answered Andrew. "I made a cabinet and table of the wood,
which are now in the house."

"Have you any of the chestnuts we brought from the

Tour d'Antin?" asked my mother, turning to me. "If so, you
might plant two or three here."

"I have them, but I fear they are too dry to grow," said
I. "However, it can do no harm to try."

(Two of them did grow, and are now fine bearing trees.)

"See, there is the holy well, under the arch yonder,"

said my mother. "I wonder do the village maids come on St.
John's even to drop needles into it that they may dream of
their sweethearts?"

"Yes indeed; and the water is still sought for baptisms,

under the notion that no person christened with that water
will ever be hanged," said Andrew. "See, Vevette, there is
my fairy housekeeper."

A fairy indeed she looked. I never saw so small a person

not to be a dwarf, yet she was perfectly well proportioned
and very upright. Her hair, a little touched with silver, was
black as a crow's wing, and her eyebrows the same. On the
whole, she was a very handsome little creature, yet there
was something about her so different from the country
people among whom she lived that I did not wonder to hear
that they regarded her as something not quite human. She
made us welcome with great politeness, and I could but
notice how well she spoke English. Andrew explained our
errand.

"We shall give you some trouble, I fear," said my

mother.

"Not at all, madame. It is a pleasure to me, and you are

come in good time, for I have just been opening and airing
the house." And indeed we had observed the open windows
as we came up.

"We will not trouble you to go with us," said Andrew.

"My aunt knows the house of old."

She curtsied and withdrew to her own special domain,

and we went through all the rooms, which were in the best
order, and certainly did credit to the sea-dame's
housekeeping, being as dry and airy as if used all the time.
In two or three of the rooms, fires were burning on the
hearth, and there was a peculiar air of cheerfulness about
the whole place. I remarked this to Andrew.

"It does not seem at all like a deserted house," said I.

"One would say these rooms were used to pleasant
company."

"The village folks would tell you that Dinah entertains

her friends from the sea in these apartments," said Andrew,
smiling. "They tell stories of seeing the house lighted up
and hearing music at night. I determined to look into the
thing, thinking possibly that the place might be the haunt of
smugglers; but I found the lights came from the fires Dinah
had lighted to expel the damp, and the music was the old
harpsicon, on which she had taught herself to play, by the
help of some music-books she had found."
 "Then she can read," said my mother.

"Oh, yes, and write as well. The people who took her in
were of the better class. They were not Cornish folk, but
East Country English, who came and settled here in the
reign of Charles the First. No one knew much about them,
and I fancy they might have had their own reasons for
keeping quiet, but my father never would allow them to be
molested. See, here is the cabinet I made from the old
chestnut-tree."

"So you are a cabinet-maker as well," said I. "Another

qualification for our desert island."

"That same desert island seems to take your fancy,"

said Andrew, smiling. "Perchance if you tried it, as I have
done, you would not find it so pleasant."

"Were you really cast away?" I asked curiously. "When

and where?"

"About ten years ago, on one of the most lovely little

islets of the West Indies. It was like a bit out of paradise.
We had landed for water, but a squall came up, and by
some blunder, I was left behind. I stayed there a week, and
most thankful was I to see the face of man once more. But
here we are in the parlor again, and I see Dinah has
prepared quite a feast for us."

She had indeed spread an elegant little repast of bread,

cream, and honey, with fruit from the garden. Of course we
did not decline it, my mother eating to please the good
woman, and Andrew and I because we were hungry.

"What an odd name she has!" said I.

 "She called herself Diane when she was found, and for a
long time would answer to no other, but at last her foster-
parents took to calling her Dinah, with which she was
content. Well, aunt, how do you like the house, now you
have seen it?"

"So well that I am minded to find you a chap-man," said

my mother, smiling. "What say you? Will you sell the Well
House to Vevette and myself? I wish to buy a home, and
would rather have this than any other."

Andrew opened his eyes wide, as he was wont to do

when puzzled.

"What do you mean, aunt? Are you in earnest? And why

would you leave the hall? Hath any one in the family been
unkind or uncivil to you?"

"Here is a fine mouthful of questions all in a breath,"

said my mother. "I will answer them all in turn. I am quite
in earnest, and mean what I say. I would have the hall,
because I think it will be better and more convenient for me
to have my own household, and let your mother have hers.
No one has been uncivil to me. I have had no quarrel with
any one, and I mean to have none. But I never saw any
house that was large enough for two families, and I do not
believe Tre Madoc Court is any exception to the rule."

My mother went on to explain her reasons more at

length than I shall do here. Andrew listened unwillingly at
first, but at last he owned that there was right sense in
what she said, and consented to consider of the matter.

"And what will Vevette say?" he asked, for I had not

spoken a word.
 "I like it well," I answered. "'Tis not so far but I can go
up to the school. Rosamond can come down here with her
books, and Meg with her knitting, and I dare say even you
can make it convenient to stop sometimes when you come
from your fishing."

He shook his head at me. "Well, well, we will consider of

it," said he. "In truth, madame, you have a right to the
tenancy of the house if you choose to live in it. I doubt not
you will find it comfortable enough, and should anything be
wanting, I will see that it is supplied. There is a good
garden, a small orchard, and land enough for two cows, if
you choose to keep them. I think Dinah has one at present.
But what to do with her! She looks upon this house as her
home, though of course she hath no right here but on
sufferance."

"Let her remain, if she will take the post of waiting-

gentlewoman," said my mother. "I shall want some such
person, and our good Jeanne is hardly fitted for such a
service. I like the woman's appearance. There is something
about her which reminds me of home. Indeed, I think she is
more French than English in her looks."

"Well, well, we will consider of it," said Andrew again.

"Have you said aught to my mother?"

"No, I wished first to see the house."

The project was broached to my aunt that evening. I

was not present, but my mother told me that though Aunt
Amy said many kind things and made many hospitable
objections, it was plain that she was not sorry to consent.

So the next day it was all settled, and we began to

make our arrangements. Rosamond was struck with
consternation on hearing of it, and could not be reconciled
till my mother reminded her that she could come over twice
or thrice a week to her Italian and French lessons.

"But you won't give up the school, will you, Vevette?"

said Meg. "I don't know what I shall do without your help?"

"Oh, no; I can walk from the Well House as well as from
here."

"But the way is very lonely, and you must pass the
Pisky Bank going and coming," said Margaret. "Won't you
be afraid?"

"No, I don't believe I shall," said I. "I have never

disobliged the pixies, and I don't see why they should
disoblige me."

"But there is the place where the smuggler was killed,"

objected Rosamond.

"Well, if he is killed, he can do no harm. I should not

like to meet a live smuggler, but I don't see how one who
was killed forty years ago can hurt me."

"Vevette does not believe in ghosts," said Betty.

"I would not say that exactly," I returned. "There are

many such stories which seem to rest on good proof. But I
think we of the reformed faith in France do not fear such
things as much as people do here. Our preachers teach us
that overmuch terror of ghosts and the like argues
somewhat of a distrust in the care of our Heavenly Father. I
have been in many very ghostly places, and at ghostly
hours too, as Andrew knows, but I never saw anything
more alarming than owls, bats, and spiders. We had a ghost
in the château, but I was not nearly so much afraid of the
white chevalier as I was of the village priest."
 "Well, I don't pretend to be above all human weakness
myself," said Betty.

"That is a good thing, my dear, for no one would believe

you if you did," interrupted Andrew.

"You are very civil, to take the words out of my mouth,"

returned Betty. "I suppose that is French politeness, of
which we hear so much. I mean to say that I do not hold
myself to be wiser than all my elders, and than the rector
himself, who believes in ghosts, and is very powerful in
laying them. Why, he is sent for all along the coast, even to
the Land's End and clear into Devonshire, for that purpose."

"I should think he would clear his own parish, then,"

said I, rather flippantly.

"But, Vevette, I really did see something on the path to

the Well House one evening," said Rosamond, who had not
yet spoken. "It was only last Tuesday. I had been down to
the shore with a basket for old Madge, and was coming up
again, slowly, when just at the turn of the road I saw a man
and a woman walking slowly along. The woman had a veil
over her head and a dark gray gown like Betty's homespun,
and the gentleman was tall and slim and wore a gray cloak.
I wondered who they could be, but I never thought of their
being anything uncommon till I came up near them; and
behold, they were gone like a flash!"

"Perhaps they had slipped aside into the bushes," said I.

"There is a ruined cottage close by; perhaps they went into
that. Did you look to see?"

"Look into Torden's cottage!" said Rosamond, aghast at

the very idea. "No indeed; I ran home as fast as I could."
 "And wisely too," said Andrew. "But what like was this
ghostly gallant?"

"I did not see his face, but he was tall and slim, with a
fair love-lock, which slipped out from under his cloak. That
was all I noticed, but somehow, he made me think of young
Mr. Lovel."

"What nonsense is this!" said Betty angrily. "Rosamond

saw one of the village maids out curtsying with her lad.
Every one knows she fears her own shadows."

Betty spoke with so much heat that we all looked at her

in surprise, and a kind of undefined suspicion darted
through my mind and was forgotten the next minute.

"Well, then, if I am afraid I will set up a rival cottage

down at the shore, and so put Meg's into the shade," said I,
laughing. "There are old Madge's grandchildren, and the
Polwhele brood, and the Widow Barker's two maids. That
would make a very decent school."

"Yes, a pretty return that would be to Meg for letting

you help her," said Betty, who was thoroughly out of humor,
as it seemed. "I ever thought she would find a cuckoo in her
nest."

"Indeed, I think it would be a capital thing," said

Margaret. "It is a long way for the little children to come,
and they make every rain an excuse for staying away. I
should hate to lose her from the school at the hamlet, too."

"There is no hurry," I replied. "I have not yet served out

my apprenticeship. I am your scholar, Meg, as much as little
Peggy is mine."
 "Very humble, truly," said Betty sarcastically, and there
the matter ended.

When I was again alone, Rosamond's tale and Betty's

discomposure thereat again recurred to my mind, and I
wondered what interest she could have in the matter. But I
finally reflected that it was one of her bad days, when she
was wont to find matter for annoyance in the simplest
occurrence, and dismissing the matter from my mind I fell
to thinking over another, much more important to me,
namely, whether Andrew meant to ask me once more to
marry him before he set sail, and if so, what I should say to
him.

CHAPTER XIII.
 THE BOOK.

IT was settled that we were to remove the next week,

and Jeanne and Simon with us, for they would by no means
consent to stay behind. Simon was to have charge of the
out-of-door matters, the cows and pony, and Jeanne of the
dairy, while Dinah was to fill the post of housekeeper and
waiting-gentlewoman, with the eldest girl in the village
school for a maid under her. This was as much of an
establishment as my mother thought prudent, considering
our means, though Aunt Amy was very pressing with us to
take another maid in the home. She was very kind, and
would have given us half the fine linen and blankets at the
Court, and enough of comfits, wine, and other provisions for
an army; and she was even inclined to be angry with my
mother for accepting so little. However, all was settled
amicably, and seeing how obliging she was, I ventured to
prefer a humble request that she would lend me the old
French cabinet in my room—a request winch she granted
with alacrity, and added thereto the gift of a small Persian
carpet which I greatly admired.

But I was not destined to leave Tre Madoc Court without

a more serious trouble, which trouble could never have
fallen upon me but for my own want of frankness, and that
double-mindedness which was always my bane. I
mentioned that my Aunt Jem had given me as a parting
present a book of plays and poems, and that I had never
showed this book to my mother. In truth, my first
concealment had arisen rather from timidity and
embarrassment than from wilful deception. I did not quite
know what to do with the book, not liking to refuse it for
fear of hurting Aunt Jem, of whom I was very fond, and I
felt quite sure maman would not let me keep it, if she knew.
 Of course the straight road would have been, as it ever
is, the right one, but I took that middle way of compromise,
which is never the right one, as I may say, and put the book
at the bottom of my mail, with a half resolve to show it to
my mother at the first opportunity. But in truth, in the
surprise and joy of meeting Simon and Jeanne and the
excitement of travelling and settling in our new home, I
quite forgot it.

When I came to unpack my mail I found it. Betty was in

the room, and asked what it was, and I told her its history.

"Have you not read it?" she asked, seizing and opening
it. "It looks delightful."

"No, I have not read it, and shall not till I show it to
maman," I answered.

"Then let me have it—do!" said Betty, turning it over

with eager interest. "Or we will read it together. I am sure
Aunt Jem would not give you a wicked book, though she
may not be so strait-laced as my Aunt Margaret. Come, let
us read it together. Your things are all put away, and my
aunt is with my mother in the still-room, so she will not
want you. Let us sit down in the window and read."

"I did not know Betty as well then as I came to know

her afterward, and I really had some curiosity about the
book, which was partly writ by that Mr. Dryden, who hath
since made a great noise in the world. The first poem was
certainly very beautiful, and innocent enough, so far as I
understood it. The next was a play.

"Indeed I cannot read any more, Betty," said I; "and

you ought not either, till you ask your mother."
 "Well, let me take the book, then," said Betty. "I will not
hurt it, and I don't believe it will hurt me."

I refused plumply, but at that moment my mother called

me to come and see some curious ware which she had
found in looking over the house with my aunt. When I
returned Betty had taken away the book, and I could not
get it of her again, though I had more than once asked her
for it. It was now returned on my hands, with a witness.

A day before we left the Court, we were all sitting in the

cedar parlor—that is, my mother, Meg, Rosamond, and I—
busy in finishing a certain worked coverlet which my aunt
had had in hand a long time, and which she wished to give
my mother for a parting present. Andrew was reading to us
out of an English chronicle, but I fear we young ones cared
more about the flowers on our work than about the wars
between the houses of York and Lancaster. I can see at this
moment the daisy with pink edges and a yellow centre on
which I was bestowing all my skill, when we were all
startled by the entrance of Aunt Amy, evidently in a high
state of excitement. I thought I should like to sink into the
earth when I saw in her hand that identical red leather and
gilded book which I had lent Betty, or rather which she had
taken for herself.

"So, sister d'Antin!" said my aunt, in her rare tone of

excitement. "This is the way your daughter rewards my
hospitality—for I won't say you, though I must say, knowing
what she was, I think you might have looked out for her—
bringing her vile and corrupting books into a decent house,
and lending them to my innocent maids. This is what one
gets for one's goodness in taking in—"

"Mother!" said Andrew, more sternly than I ever heard

him speak to her before or afterward.
 "Oh, you may say mother as much as you please, son;
but I wish your father had taken my advice and looked out
a good honest Cornish maid for you, instead of betrothing
you to a French mademoiselle whom none of us knew, to
bring her corruptions in here. Just look at this book which
she lent Betty, and told her not to tell her mother, and
which the poor child just now came and brought me,
confessing with shame and tears how wicked she had been.
Just look at it, that is all!" And she flung it on the ground as
if it had been a snake or spider.

Andrew took it up, looked at one or two places, and

then, with a glance I shall never forget, he gave it to me.
My mother took it from my unresisting hand.

"What does this mean, Vevette?" said she. "Where did

this book come from?"

"My Aunt Jemima gave it to me," I answered, hardly

able to speak.

"And you concealed it from me? Oh, my daughter!"

"Of course she concealed it," said my aunt triumphantly.

"Let Vevette speak, mother, since you have chosen to

make this matter public, in what I must needs call an ill-
judged manner," said Andrew, in that calm voice of
authority which will be heard.

"How was it, Vevette?"

I tried to explain, but between my own shame and

confusion and my aunt's interruptions, I am conscious that I
made but a lame business of it. I did manage to say,
however, that though I sat down and read the first poem
with Betty, I had refused to read any more, and that I had