Electrogravitics Ii Validating Reports On A New Propulsion Methodology 3rd Ed Valone
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- 4. TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ...................................................................... 5 SCIENCE SECTION........................................................ 11 What is Electrogravitics and Has It Been Validated?....... 12 Force on an Asymmetric Capacitor................................... 28 Possibility of a Strong Coupling Between Electricity and Gravitation ........................................................................ 60 HISTORICAL SECTION................................................. 70 How I Control Gravitation................................................ 71 Towards Flight - Without Stress or Strain or Weight....... 77 Conquest of Gravity: Aim of Top Scientists in U.S.......... 85 Space-Ship Marvel Seen if Gravity Is Outwitted.............. 91 New Air Dream-Planes Flying Outside Gravity............... 97 Project Winterhaven - For Joint Services R&D Contract ........................................................................................ 102 Antigravity on the Rocks: The T.T. Brown Story........... 116 TESTIMONIAL SECTION............................................ 126 Email from Richard Boylan, Ph.D...................................127 Testimony of Dr. B., December, 2000.............................129 Testimony of Mr. Mark McCandlish, December, 2000.. 131 PATENT SECTION........................................................146 PUBLICATIONS - Information on Electrogravitics .......160 3
- 5. FOREWORD StevenGreer,M.D. New Energy Solutions and Implications For The National Security and the Environment The ultimate national security issue is intimately linked to the pressing environmental crisis facing the world today: The question of whether humanity can continue as a technologically advanced civilization. Fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine are non-sustainable both environmentally and economically - and a replacement for both already exists. The question is not whether we will transition to a new post-fossil fuel economy, but when and how. The environmental, economic, geopolitical, national security, and military issues related to this matter are profound and inextricably linked to one another. The disclosure of such new energy technologies will have far- reaching implications for every aspect of human society and the time has come to prepare for such an event. For if such technologies were announced today, it would take at least 10-20 years for their widespread application to be effected. This is approximately how much time we have before global economic chaos begins due to demand far exceeding the supply of oil and environmental decay becomes exponential and catastrophic. We have found that the technologies to replace fossil fuel usage already exist and need to be exploited and applied immediately to avert a serious global economic, geopolitical, and environmental crisis in the not-so-distant future. In summary, these technologies fall into the following broad categories: • Quantum vacuum/zero point field energy access systems and related advances in electromagnetic theory and applications • Electrogravitic and magnetogravitic energy and propulsion • Room temperature nuclear effects • Electrochemical and related advances to internal combustion systems which achieve near zero emissions and very high efficiency 5
- 6. A number of practical applications using such technologies have been developed over the past several decades but such breakthroughs have been either ignored due to their unconventional nature or have been classified and suppressed due to national security, military interests, and 'special' interests. Let us be clear: the question is not whether such systems exist and can be viable replacements for fossil fuels. The question is whether we have the courage to allow such a transformation in world society to occur. Such technologies - especially those which bypass the need to use an external fuel source such as oil or coal - would have obvious and beneficial effects for humanity. Since these technologies do not require an expensive source of fuel but instead use existing quantum space energy, a revolution in the world's economic and social order would result. Implications of Applying Such Technologies These implications include: • The removal of all sources of air pollution related to energy generation, including electric power plants, cars, trucks, aircraft and manufacturing. • The ability to 'scrub' to near zero effluent all manufacturing processes since the energy per se required for same would have no cost related to fuel consumption. This would allow the full application of technologies which remove effluent smokestacks, solid waste, and waterways since current applications are generally restricted by their energy costs and the fact that such energy consumption - being fossil fuel-based - soon reaches the point of diminishing returns environmentally. • The practical achievement of an environmentally near-zero impact yet high tech civilization on earth, thus assuring the long-term sustainability of human civilization. • Trillions of dollars now spent on electric power generation, gas, oil, coal and nuclear power would be freed to be spent on more productive and environmentally neutral endeavors by both individuals and society as a whole. • Underdeveloped regions of the earth would be lifted out of poverty and into a high technology world in about a generation but without the associated infrastructure costs and 6
- 7. environmental impact related to traditional energy generation and propulsion. Since these new systems generate energy from the ambient quantum energy state, trillion dollar infrastructure investments in centralized power generation and distribution would be eliminated. Remote villages and towns would have the ability to generate energy for manufacturing, electrification, water purification etc. without purchasing fuels or building massive transmission lines and central power grids. • Near total recycling of resources and materials would be possible since the energy costs for doing so - now the main obstacle would be brought down to a trivial level. • The vast disparity between rich and poor nations would quickly disappear and it much of the zero-sum-game mentality which is at the root of so much social, political, and international unrest. In a world of abundant and inexpensive energy, many of the pressures which have led to a cycle of poverty, exploitation, resentment, and violence would be removed from the social dynamic. While ideological, cultural and religious differences would persist, the raw economic disparity and struggle would be removed from the equation fairly quickly. • Surface roads - and therefore most road building - will be unnecessary as electrogravitic antigravity energy and propulsion systems replace current surface transportation systems. • The world economy would expand dramatically and those advanced economies such as in the US and Europe would benefit tremendously as global trade, development and high technology energy and propulsion devices are demanded around the world. Such a global energy revolution would create an expanding world economy which would make the current computer and Internet economy look like a rounding error. This really would be the tide which would lift all ships. • Long term, society would evolve to a psychology of abundance, which would redound to the benefit of humanity as a whole, a peaceful civilization and a society focused increasingly on creative pursuits rather than destructive and violent endeavors. Lest all of this sound like a pipe dream, keep in mind that such technological advances are not only possible, but they already exist. What is lacking is the collective will, creativity and courage to see that they are applied wisely. And therein lies the problem. 7
- 8. As an emergency and trauma doctor, I know that everything can be used for good or for ill. A knife can butter your bread - or cut your throat. Every technology can have beneficial as well as harmful applications. The latter partially explains the serious national security and military concerns with such technologies. For many decades, these advances in energy and propulsion technologies have been acquired, suppressed and classified by certain interests who have viewed them as a threat to our security from both an economic and military perspective. In the short term, these concerns have been well-founded: Why rock the global economic boat by allowing technologies out which would, effectively, terminate the multimillion dollar oil, gas, coal, internal combustion engine and related transportation sectors of the economy? And which could also unleash such technologies on an unstable and dangerous world where the weapons applications for such technological breakthroughs would be a certainty? In the light of this, the status quo looks good. But only for the short term. In fact, such national security and military policies - fed by huge special interests in obvious industries and nations - have exacerbated global geopolitical tensions by impoverishing much of the world, worsening the zero-sum-game mind set of the rich versus poor nations and brought us to a world energy emergency and a pending environmental crisis. And now we have very little time to fix the situation. Such thinking must be relegated to the past. For what can be a greater threat to the national security than the specter of a collapse of our entire civilization from a lack of energy and global chaos as every nation fights for its share of a limited resource? Due to the long lead-time needed to transform the current industrial infrastructure away from fossil fuels, we are facing a national security emergency which almost nobody is talking about. This is dangerous. It has also created a serious constitutional crisis in the US and other countries where non-representative entities and super-secret projects within compartmented military and corporate areas have begun to set national and international policy on this and related matters - all outside the arena of public debate, and mostly without informed consent from Congress or the President. Indeed this crisis is undermining democracy in the US and elsewhere. I have had the unenviable task of personally briefing senior political, military, and intelligence officials in the US and Europe on this and related matters. These officials have been denied access to information compartmented within certain projects which are, frankly, unacknowledged areas (so-called 'black' projects). Such officials 8
- 9. include members of the House and Senate, President Clinton's first Director of Central Intelligence, the head of the DIA, senior Joint Staff officials and others. Usually, the officials have little to no information on such projects and technologies - and are told either nothing or that they do not have a 'need to know' if they specifically inquire. This presents then another problem: these technologies will not be suppressed forever. For example, our group is planning a near term disclosure of such technologies and we will not be silenced. At the time of such a disclosure, will the US government be prepared? It would behoove the US government and others to be informed and have a plan for transitioning our society from fossil fuels to these new energy and propulsion systems. Indeed, the great danger is ignorance by our leaders of these scientific breakthroughs - and ignorance of how to manage their disclosure. The advanced countries of the world must be prepared to put systems in place to assure the exclusive peaceful use of such energy and propulsion advances. Economic and industrial interests should be prepared so that those aspects of our economy which will be adversely affected (commodities, oil, gas, coal, public utilities, engine manufacturing, etc.) can be cushioned from sudden reversals and be economically 'hedged' by investing in and supporting the new energy infrastructure. New Energy Solutions A creative view of the future - not fear and suppression of such technologies - is required. And it is needed immediately. If we wait 10- 20 more years, it will be too late to make the needed changes before world oil shortages, exorbitant costs and geopolitical competition for resources causes a melt-down in the world's economy and political structures. All systems tend towards homeostasis. The status quo is comfortable and secure. Change is frightening. But in this case, the most dangerous course for the national security is inaction. We must be prepared for the coming convulsions related to energy shortages, spiraling costs and economic disruption. The best preparation would be a replacement for oil and related fossil fuels. And we have it. But disclosing these new energy systems carries its own set of benefits, risks and challenges. The US government and the Congress must be prepared to wisely manage this great challenge. Recommendations for Congress: 9
- 10. • Thoroughly investigate these new technologies both from current civilian sources as well as compartmented projects within military, intelligence and corporate contracting areas. • Authorize the declassification and release of information held within compartmented projects related to this subject. • Specifically prohibit the seizing or suppression of such technologies. • Authorize substantial funding for basic research and development by civilian scientists and technologists into these areas. • Develop plans for dealing with disclosing such technologies and for the transition to a non-fossil fuel economy. These plans should include: military and national security planning; strategic economic planning and preparation; private sector support and cooperation; geopolitical planning, especially as it pertains to OPEC countries and regions whose economies are very dependent on oil exports and the price of oil; international cooperation and security; among others. I personally stand ready to assist the Congress in any way possible to facilitate our use of these new energy sources. Having dealt with this and related sensitive matters for over 10 years, I can recommend a number of individuals who can be subpoenaed to provide testimony on such technologies, as well as people who have information on Unacknowledged Special Access Projects (USAPs) within covert government operations which are already dealing with these issues. If we face these challenges with courage and with wisdom together, we can secure for our children a new and sustainable world, free of poverty and environmental destruction. We will be up to this challenge because we must be. Steven Greer, M.D. Crozet, Virginia 10
- 11. SCIENCE SECTION J. L. Naudin's latest electric field gradient shaping, asymmetric capacitor lifters from his website www.jlnlabs.org 11
- 12. What is Electrogravitics and Has It Been Validated? Thomas Valone, PhD, PE This book offers an updated viewpoint on the confusing and often misinterpreted concept of electrogravitics or electrogravity, compared to electrokinetics. It is now time to set the record straight for the sake of all of the researchers who have sought to learn the truth behind a propulsion mystery spanning almost a century. It is helpful if the reader has already familiar with the first volume, Electrogravitics Systems: A New Propulsion Methodology "Volume I", which has been in print for over ten years. However, Volume II both predates and postdates the first volume, thus giving a wider historical perspective. What is Electrogravitics When asked, "What is electrogravitics?" a qualified answer is "electricity used to create a force that depends upon an object's mass, even as gravity does." This is the answer that I believer should still be used to identify true electrogravitics, which also involves the object's mass in the force, often with a dielectric. This is also what the "Biefeld- Brown effect" of Brown's first patent #300,311 describes. However, we have seen T. Townsend Brown and his patents evolve over time which Tom Bahder emphasizes. Later on, Brown refers to "electrokinetics" (a subset of electrogravitics), which requires asymmetric capacitors to amplify the force. Therefore, Bahder's article discusses the lightweight effects of "lifters" and the ion mobility theory found to explain them. Note: electrogravitics includes electrokinetics. To put things in perspective, the article "How I Control Gravitation," published in 1929 by Brown,1 presents an electrogravitics-validating discovery about very heavy metal objects (44 lbs. each) separated by an insulator, charged up to high voltages. T.T. Brown also expresses an experimental formula in words which tell us what he found was directly contributing to the unidirectional force (UDF) which he discovered, moving the system of masses toward the positive charge. He seems to imply that the equation for his electrogravitic force might be F = Vm1m2/r2 . But electrokinetics and electrogravitics also seem to be governed by another equation (Eq.l). Reprinted on p. 71 of this book. 12
- 13. Zinsser Effect versus the Biefeld-Brown Effect There is another very similar invention which has comparable experiments that also involve electrogravity. It is the discovery of "gravitational anisotropy" by Rudolf G. Zinsser from Germany. I met with Zinsser twice in the early 1980's and corresponded with him subsequently regarding his invention. He presented his experimental results at the Gravity Field Conference in Hanover in 1980, and also at the First International Symposium of Non-Conventional Energy Technology in Toronto in 1981.2 For years afterwards, all of the scientists who knew of Zinsser's work regarded his invention as a unique phenomenon, not able to be classified with any other discovery. However, upon reading Brown's 1929 article on gravitation referred to above, I find striking similarities. Zinsser's discovery is detailed in The Zinsser Effect book by this author.3 To summarize his life's work, Zinsser discovered that if he connected his patented pulse generator to two conductive metal plates immersed in water, he could induce a sustained force that lasted even after the pulse generator was turned off. The pulses lasted for only a few nanoseconds each. Zinsser called this input "a kinetobaric driving impulse." Furthermore, he points out in the Specifications and Enumerations section, reprinted in my book, that the high dielectric constant of water (about 80) is desirable and that a solid dielectric is possible. Dr. Peschka calculated that Zinsser's invention produced 6 Ns/Ws or 6 N/W.5 This figure is twenty times the force per energy input of the Inertial Impulse Engine of Roy Thomson, which has been estimated to produce 0.32 N/W.6 By comparison, it is important to realize that any production of force today is extremely inefficient, as seen by the fact that a DC-9 jet engine produces only 0.016 N/W or 3 lb/hp (fossil-fuel-powered land and air vehicles are even worse.) 2 Zinsser, R.G. "Mechanical Energy from Anisotropic Gravitational Fields" First Int'l Symp. on Non-Conventional Energy Tech. (FISONCET), Toronto, 1981. Proceedings available from PACE, 100 Bronson Ave #1001, Ottawa, Ontario KIR 6G8 3 Valone, Thomas The Zinsser Effect: Cumulative Electrogravity Invention of Rudolf G. Zinsser, Integrity Research Institute, 2005, 130 pages, IRI #701 4 Cravens, D.L. "Electric Propulsion/Antigravity" Electric Spacecraft Journal, Issue 13, 1994, p. 30 5 Peschka, W., "Kinetobaric Effect as Possible Basis for a New Propulsion Principle," Raumfahrt-Forschung, Feb, 1974. Translated version appears in Infinite Energy, Issue 22, 1998, p. 52 and The Zinsser Effect. 6 Valone, Thomas, "Inertial Propulsion: Concept and Experiment, Part 1" Proc. of Inter. Energy Conver. Eng. Conf., 1993, See IRI Report #608. 13
- 14. Let's now compare the Zinsser Effect with the Biefeld-Brown Effect, looking at the details. Brown reports in his 1929 article that there are effects on plants and animals, as well as effects from the sun, moon and even slightly from some of the planetary positions. Zinsser also reports beneficial effects on plants and humans, including what he called "bacteriostasis and cytostasis."7 Brown also refers to the "endogravitic" and "exogravitic" times that were representative of the charging and discharging times. Once the gravitator was charged, depending upon "its gravitic capacity" any further electrical input had no effect. This is the same phenomenon that Zinsser witnessed and both agree that the pulsed voltage generation was the main part of the electrogravitic effect.8 Both Zinsser and Brown worked with dielectrics and capacitor plate transducers to produce the electrogravitic force. Both refer to a high dielectric constant material in between their capacitor plates as the preferred type to best insulate the charge. However, Zinsser never experimented with different dielectrics nor higher voltage to increase his force production. This was always a source of frustration for him but he wanted to keep working with water as his dielectric. Electrically Charged Torque Pendulum of Erwin Saxl Brown particularly worked with a torque (torsion) pendulum arrangement to measure the force production. He also refers the planetary effects being most pronounced when aligned with the gravitator instead of perpendicular to it. He compares these results to Saxl and Allen, who worked with an electrically charged torque pendulum.9 Dr. Erwin Saxl used high voltage in the range of +/- 5000 volts on his very massive torque pendulum.10 The changes in period of oscillation measurements with solar or lunar eclipses, showed great sensitivity to the shielding effects of gravity during an alignment of astronomical bodies, helping to corroborate Brown's observation in his 1929 article. The pendulum Saxl used was over 100 kilograms in 7 See "Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Health Effects" IRI Report #418 and Bio electromagnetic Healing book #414 by this author, which explain the beneficial therapy which PEMFs produce on biological cells. 8 Mark McCandlish's Testimony (p. 131) shows that the Air Force took note in that the electrogravitic demonstration craft shown at Norton AFB in 1988 had a rotating distributor for electrically pulsing sections of multiply-layered dielectric and metal plate pie-shaped sections with high voltage discharges. 9 See Saxl patent #3,357,253 "Device and Method for Measuring Gravitational and Other Forces" which uses +/- 5000 volts. 10 Saxl, E.J., "An Electrically Charged Torque Pendulum" Nature, July 11, 1964, p. 136 14
- 15. mass. Most interesting were the "unexpected phenomena" which Saxl reported in his 1964 Nature article (see footnote 10). The positively charge pendulum had the longest period of oscillation compared to the negatively charged or grounded pendulum. Dirunal and seasonal variations were found in the effect of voltage on the pendulum, with the most pronounced occurring during a solar or lunar eclipse. In my opinion, this demonstrates the basic principles of electrogravitics: high voltage and mass together will cause unbalanced forces to occur. In this case, the electrogravitic interaction was measurable by oscillating the mass of a charged torque pendulum (producing current) whose period is normally proportional to its mass. Electrogravitic Woodward-Nordtvedt Effect12 Fig. 1 Force (10-5 N = dynes) output vs. capacitor voltage (V) input of a Woodward force transducer "flux capacitor" Referring to mass, it is sometimes not clear whether gravitational mass 11 Saxl & Allen, "Observations with a Massive Electrified Torsion Pendulum: Gravity Measurements During Eclipse," IRI Report #702.(Note: 2.2 lb = 1 kg) 12 Graph of Fig. 1 from Woodward and Mahood, "Mach's Principle, Mass Fluctuations, and Rapid Spacetime Transport," California State University Fullerton, Fullerton CA 92634 15
- 16. or inertial mass is being affected. The possibility of altering the equivalence principle (which equates the two), has been pursued diligently by Dr. James Woodward, whose patents can be reviewed in the Patent Section of this book. His prediction, based on Sciama's formulation of Mach's Principle in the framework of general relativity, is that "in the presence of energy flow, the inertial mass of an object may undergo sizable variations, changing as the 2nd time derivative of the energy."13 Woodward, however, indicates that it is the "active gravitational mass" which is being affected but the equivalence principle causes both "passive" inertial and gravitational masses to fluctuate.14 With barium titanate dielectric between disk capacitors, a 3 kV signal was applied in the experiments of Woodward and Cramer resulting in symmetrical mass fluctuations on the order of centigrams.15 Cramer actually uses the phrase "Woodward effect" in his AIAA paper, though it is well-known that Nordtvedt was the first to predict noticeable mass shifts in accelerated objects.16 The interesting observation which can be made, in light of previous sections, is that Woodward's experimental apparatus resembles a combination of Saxl's torsion pendulum and Brown's electrogravitic dielectric capacitors. The differences arise in the precise timing of the pulsed power generation and with input voltage. Recently, 0.01 uF capacitors (Model KD 1653) are being used, in the 50 kHz range (lower than Zinsser's 100 kHz) with the voltage still below 3 kV. Significantly, the thrust or unidirectional force (UDF) is exponential, depending on the square of the applied voltage.17 However, the micronewton level of force that is produced is actually the same order of magnitude which Zinsser produced, who reported his results in dynes (1 dyne =10" Newtons).18 Zinsser had activators with masses between 200 g and 500 g and force production of "100 dynes to over one pound."19 Recently, Woodward has been referring to his transducers as "flux capacitors" (like the movie, Back to the Future). 13 Cramer et al., "Tests of Mach's Principle with a Mechanical Oscillator" AIAA-2001-3908 email: cramer@phys.washington.edu 14 Woodward, James F. "A New Experimental Approach to Mach's Principle and Relativistic Gravitation, Found. of Phys. Letters, V. 3, No. 5, 1990, p. 497 15 Compare Fig. 1 graph to Brown's ONR graph on P. 117 of Volume I 16 Nordtvedt, K. Inter. Journal of Theoretical Physics, V. 27, 1988, p. 1395 17 Mahood, Thomas "Propellantless Propulsion: Recent Experimental Results Exploiting Transient Mass Modification" Proc. of STAIF, 1999, CP458, p. 1014 (Also see Mahood Master's Thesis www.serve.com/mahood/thesis.pdf) For comparison, 1 Newton = 0.225 pounds - Ed. note 19 Zinsser, FISONCET, Toronto, 1981, p. 298 20 Woodward, James "Flux Capacitors and the Origin of Inertia" Foundations 16
- 17. Jefimenko's Electrokinetics Explains Electrogravitics Known for his extensive work with atmospheric electricity, electrostatic motors and electrets, Dr. Oleg Jefimenko deserves significant credit for presenting a valuable theory of the electrokinetic field, as he calls it.21 A W.V. University professor and physics purist at heart, he describes this field as the dragging force that electrons exert on neighboring electric charges. He identifies the electrokinetic field by the vector Ek where It is one of three terms for the electric field in terms of current and charge density. Equations like F = qE also apply for calculating force. The significance of Ek, as seen in Eq. 1, is that the electrokinetic field simply the third term of the classical equation for the electric field: This three-term equation is a "causal" equation, according to Jefimenko, because it links the electric field E back the electric charge and its motion (current) which induces it. This is the essence of electromagnetic induction, as Maxwell intended, which is measured by, not caused by, a changing magnetic field. The second electric field term, designated as the electrokinetic field, is directed along the current direction or parallel to it. It also exists only as long as the current is changing in time. Lenz' Law is also built into the minus sign. Parallel conductors will produce the strongest induced current. By examining the vector potential A equation which depends upon the current density J, he finds that Ek can be expressed as the time derivative of A, which leads to of Physics, V. 34, 2004, p. 1475. Also see "Tweaking Flux Capacitors" Proc. of STAIF, 2005 21 Jefimenko, Oleg Causality, Electromagnetic Induction and Gravitation, Electret Scientific Co., POB 4132, Star City, WV 26504, p. 29 17
- 18. The significance of Eq. 2 is that the magnetic vector potential is seen to be created by the time integral which amounts to an electrokinetic impulse "produced by this current at that point when the current is switched on" according to Jefimenko.22 Of course, a time-varying sinusoidal current will also qualify for production of an electrokinetic field and the vector potential. An important consequence of Eq. 1 is that the faster the rates of change of current, the larger will be the electrokinetic force. Therefore, high voltage pulsed inputs are favored. However, its significance is much more general. "This field can exist anywhere in space and can manifest itself as a pure force by its action on free electric charges." All that is required for a measurable force from a single conductor is that the change in current density (time derivative) happens very fast, to overcome the c2 in the denominator. The electrogravitics experiments of Brown and Zinsser involve a dielectric medium for greater efficacy and charge density. The electrokinetic force on the electric charges (electrons) of the dielectric, according to Eq. 1, is in the opposite direction of the increasing 22 Jefimenko, p. 31 18
- 19. Exploring the Variety of Random Documents with Different Content
- 20. “I must catch the early train,” said Cuthbert, “and I will take care that you have further news as soon as possible.” “I must go to Jos Howarth,” said old Cooper, getting up. “I’ll hear what he has to say first.” He went away to find his old fellow-worker, and the younger men looked at each other. “It’s very difficult,” said John Henry Cooper, “to say what will come next!” Cuthbert went off; and as this first train did not compel a delay at the junction, it was still quite early when he reached Kirk Hinton, where a Rilston fly was waiting for him, and in this he was soon driving up to the house of which he had heard so often, but which he had never seen. The rain had all cleared off, the air was fresh and the sky blue, the old elms near the house stood up like pillars of gold, the house itself was clothed in every shade of russet and dark green. The first impression on one coming from the noisy, smoky Ingleby was of utter peace. Mrs Palmer hurried out to meet him, with a sense of relief at sight of his brown, sensible face, and at sound of his kind, quiet voice, and behind her stood Godfrey with a dazed, scared look, and never a word of greeting. “Oh, Mr Staunton, I am indeed glad to see some one to speak to. We have done nothing; Guy has been too ill to give directions, except to send for you, and Godfrey is not willing to act without him.” She proceeded, as he questioned her, to tell him of the events of the day before, and of Guy’s condition. He had been a long time unconscious after his aunt’s death, and
- 21. had fainted over and over again afterwards. He was better now, but the doctor had insisted on perfect stillness, and had seemed much alarmed about him. “I think,” said Cuthbert, “that Guy has been too reserved about his state of health. He was not at all fit for so much exertion and for such a shock. But Godfrey, hadn’t you better see if your aunt has left any directions, anything to show you what she wished?” “She did, certainly,” said Mrs Palmer, “in a table by her bed. She told my daughter to burn a certain envelope if she gave her orders to do so, when Guy arrived.” “What did she tell her?” exclaimed Godfrey, suddenly. “To burn a blue envelope. But as you know, dear aunt never spoke a word after Guy came, and if she had, I should never have allowed Jeanie to do such a thing.” Cuthbert was perplexed by Godfrey’s scared look. “Can he have seen the ghost?” he thought. “I think,” he said aloud, “that you had better see if you can find any directions. May I go to Guy at once, Mrs Palmer? I have been with him lately, and I think I shall know how to manage.” “Oh, Mr Staunton, I am only too thankful to see you here, to share the responsibility.” When Guy looked up into his friend’s welcome face, it seemed to Cuthbert that there was a new and different expression in the black-ringed eyes. The hands he held eagerly out, shook, and he was as white as his pillow; but the colourless lips smiled a little, and in his eye a was a sort of triumph.
- 22. “I’ve been very bad. I mustn’t talk,” he whispered. “You’ll understand, and not mind—if I get—frightened.” “I shall not mind at all. I’ll take care of you. You’ll be better in a few hours.” “Perhaps!” said Guy, quietly. In the mean time, Godfrey, to whom Mrs Palmer had given his aunt’s keys, went into the deserted bedroom, and, shutting the door, sat down in an old square chair by the writing-table, and tried to collect himself and to command his senses. Constancy had shown him that his action in disobeying the telegram had either been ridiculously childish, or despicably mean; in either case contemptible. The shock that met him on his arrival had startled away, for the moment, all feelings but those of real and natural grief, till the alarm at Guy’s condition had forced him to recollect whose fault the over- exertion had been, whose doing was whatever anxious waiting had befallen his old aunt on her death-bed, and whatever grief his brother would feel at being absent from it. And now the report of Jeanie’s words filled him with a vague fear, born perhaps of his own bad conscience, which caused him to dread turning the key in the lock. There was, too, the first chilling experience of the change made by death. The day before, he would never have dreamed of touching those keys. He opened the drawer, however, at last. There were various packets of bills and letters, and on the top a long white parchment envelope, a long blue one, and a smaller square one of the cream-laid paper, which Mrs Waynflete had always used.
- 23. Godfrey took this last timidly in his hand. It was labelled, “Directions as to my Funeral.” He looked at the parchment envelope on which was engrossed, “Last Will and Testament of Mrs Margaret Waynflete, April 5th, 1880.” Then he looked at the blue one, and on this was written in his aunt’s laboured writing—writing which, if not acquired, had been practised since childhood, “My Will, September 25th, 189-.” The blue envelope which his aunt had perhaps meant to destroy! Godfrey caught up all three documents in his hand, all were unsealed, but he could not resolve to open them by himself, and hurried up to Guy’s room. On the way he met Jeanie, in a black frock, her face swelled with crying, and some autumn flowers in her hand. Poor Jeanie! All that had passed bore for her the message, “We shall not live with Godfrey any more.” Godfrey caught her arm. “Jeanie, what did she say about the blue envelope?” “She said, ‘burn it,’ if she told me, and she would perhaps tell me when Guy came. She was wondering why he did not come all day. She had never told us she wrote to him.” Godfrey dropped his hold and went on upstairs. He found Guy lying still, with Cuthbert beside him. There was but little light through the old-fashioned deep-set windows, and the room was full of the glow of the fire. “Must Guy see these papers?” said Cuthbert, moving. “Can’t we manage without troubling him?” “I—I cannot look at them without Guy,” said Godfrey, in confused, stammering accents.
- 24. “What is it?” said Guy. “About the funeral? Read it to me, I can listen.” Godfrey slowly took the paper out of the square envelope, his hand shook, and he could not get his voice. Cuthbert took it from him, and read— “It is my desire that I should be buried by my husband’s side in Ingleby churchyard, and that all members of my husband’s family, who are within reach, should be invited to attend. Also all my work-people. I wish Matthew Thompson, of Ingleby, to be the undertaker, and that everything should be done the same as at my husband’s funeral. I consider that in being laid in my grave at Waynflete, I should be putting a slight on my dear husband, which I am not willing to do. I have sometimes regretted that I gave up my married name, and I should wish it to be placed on my tombstone. Waynflete belongs to the one of my great- nephews I consider the least likely to follow the evil example of those who went before him, and I hope he will restore the family to its right position, and lead a sober and God-fearing life. Also that he will never consider himself above the business, to which he owes his education and his property. And I hope that those who come after me will conduct the business honestly, and never take a penny that is not fairly earned. “And I wish it to be remembered that the recovery of Waynflete is owing to my having kept to one purpose all my life, and to my dear husband’s generosity and business abilities. “I desire that my Will may be read at once on my decease, as I object to people’s minds being disturbed at such times by speculations. I have acted all my life on such judgment as the Almighty has chosen to give me, and though I have
- 25. endeavoured to reflect on my past conduct, I cannot see that I have judged amiss. “I forgive all my enemies. I forgive every one who made a mock of my family when I worked in the mill. I forgive my brother’s wife, who was a fine lady, and no good to him. I forgive Vendale, Vendale and Sons, who supplied me with worthless goods, and charged a dishonest price for them. I consider that I was wrong in objecting to my great-nephew Guy forgiving the enemies of his family, though I warn him not to gamble or lay bets with a person who comes of Maxwell blood. And I pray that my trespasses may be forgiven, as I forgive other peoples’. “Margaret Waynflete.” There was a silence as Cuthbert ceased. He himself felt how strange it was that he should be the reader of this manifesto. Godfrey sat on the foot of the bed, his face turned away and his broad shoulders heaving. Guy listened intently. He was the first to speak, in a quiet level tone. “Now, let us look at the Will. Give it to me.” Cuthbert took up the blue envelope, opened it, and put the long parchment it contained into Guy’s hand, helping him to raise himself a little. Godfrey hid his face in his hands. Guy looked down the page with his lips set hard. He laughed a little as he read to himself, then flung the parchment towards his brother. “You can act for yourself, now, Godfrey,” he said. “Aunt Margaret has followed out her principles. You are the one least likely to follow the sins of our fathers, and you are master of Waynflete. So—so—that couldn’t have been what ‘He’ wanted?”
- 26. “She meant to burn it—and I will,” cried Godfrey, seizing the paper. “So help me, God, I’ll never—” “Hold hard!” cried Guy, starting up and seizing his arm, “don’t be such an infernal fool! Stop him, Cuthbert!” But Cuthbert had already laid detaining hands on the parchment. “Stop—stop. That’s no earthly good. I’ve seen it. I’ll not allow it to be done. Hang it all, Godfrey, come to your senses, and control yourself!” “Guy,” cried Godfrey, rushing back and throwing himself on his knees beside him. “You know—you know I did not want it. Say you know it, or I shall go mad. I wanted to keep you from Moorhead—I never thought—I did not know— If I had —and now it is too late—” “What’s all this?” said a new voice, as the doctor came into the room. “Funeral? You’ll have two funerals to arrange for, Mr Godfrey if you can’t settle this one without your brother. Go at once, and take all your confounded business papers with you.” But Cuthbert, not thinking Godfrey’s hands safe ones, put both the wills into his own pocket, and giving the stupefied, half-maddened youth the paper of directions, told him to give it to Mrs Palmer, and pushed him out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Godfrey stumbled past Mrs Palmer as he met her on the stairs, and threw the paper towards her. “Telegraph—settle it,” he said, and pushing blindly on to the old unused library, shut himself into it.
- 27. A young man, with a strong physique, sufficient talent, and a good wholesome record, is unaccustomed to emotional agonies, Godfrey woke from the simple take-it-for-granted life of healthy, prosperous youth, to the dreadful consciousness of having committed a disgraceful action, from which he reaped advantage at his brother’s expense. The cruel wound of a slighted and rejected passion had sapped his powers of endurance. He went a little mad for the time under the awful pressure. At whatever cost, it must be lightened. He stood in the window leaning his head against the black oak panel behind him, and staring out with haggard eyes at the fair fields and gardens, which were, it seemed, his own; the hateful inheritance which he had gained for himself. He could not bear the days as they passed, he could not look into a human face, much less into that of his brother, unless he could find some means of lightening his passionate self-disgust. He took his way slowly through the darkened house up to the chamber of death. Margaret Waynflete was still lying in the octagon-room where her end had come upon her. The place had all been made scrupulously tidy, and the little bedstead was standing in the middle of the polished floor. There was no attempt at softening the chill, bare fact of death, by flowers or lights. “Aunt Waynflete wouldn’t have liked it,” Mrs Palmer said, in answer to Jeanie’s faint suggestion; nor was there any emblem of hope and faith. The white, cold daylight came in through the half-closed shutters, and fell upon the grand and awful outlines of the tall old woman whose vigour in life emphasised the contrasting stillness of death. The long, strong hands that
- 28. had worked so hard, the strong will that had known no paralysing doubts, were idle and inoperative now. Godfrey had never seen death before, and he saw it with a grim and unsoftened aspect; but he was so set on his own purpose that his natural grief and awe were in abeyance. He stood by the prostrate figure looking down at it, while the picture over his head looked at them both. Then he knelt down, and laid his hand on that of the dead woman, starting a little at the unaccustomed chillness of the touch, and before her face, and in the sight of God, he vowed that he would never profit by the results of his wicked action, never enjoy the fortune from which he had ousted Guy, never be master of Waynflete. “As she had one purpose, so will I. I’ll free myself from this property that ought not to be mine, and till I have, I’ll seek no good for myself, and I’ll have no other object. Even Constancy shall not come before it. So help me, God!” Then Godfrey got up from his knees, and felt the sting of shame and self-reproach a little blunted, so that his natural reticence and pride began to revive, and he felt that he would behave properly and not make the family affairs a spectacle for surprised and disapproving Palmers. He did not again go near Guy, who was, indeed, quite unfit to talk to him, and who puzzled Cuthbert more than ever, as, even while the perilous faintness was hardly kept at bay, he whispered, with a sort of triumph— “Remember; if I die, I’m not beaten.” “I shall remember,” said Cuthbert, quietly. He could not himself resist the discomfort of the creaks and the whispers,
- 29. the cracks and the murmuring which were always the talk of visitors to Waynflete; he noticed the low, incessant sound of the horseman coming nearer and never coming close. He turned his head to the window as the dusk was closing in, and Guy said, coolly— “That’s the horseman, I suppose, I never heard it before. Miss Vyner says it is certainly the effect of wind in the narrow valley.” “I suppose all old houses have odd noises,” was Cuthbert’s original remark. “Yes; there’s nothing in these. I say, where are those two wills?” “I have them safe till the solicitor comes.” “Read the last one over. I must know about the mill. Excite me? No. I’m getting better.” Cuthbert judged it best to comply, and Guy lay quite still and listened. “Ha!” he said finally; “there’s a chance then for us.” He smiled his secretive, self-reliant smile, and said nothing further; but in a few minutes more he beckoned Cuthbert close, and grasped his arm, as if in agony beyond control. But he mastered himself at last. “I will not go crazy!” he muttered, and, at length, clinging to the hand that seemed to hold him back from the abyss, he fell asleep. The young vicar of the parish came to offer help, and the family solicitor, Mr Manton, arrived on the next morning,
- 30. much hurt that his old client should have made a second will without applying to him. He interviewed his Rilston brother, and even hinted a question as to the old lady’s faculties; but every one in the house answered for her full possession of these to the last. He managed the arrangements for the funeral, which was to take place on the Tuesday, at Ingleby, a short service being held first in the old church at Waynflete. This was the vicar’s proposal, and by Guy’s desire, it was accepted. “I shall be able to go on Tuesday,” he said; “and, Cuthbert, I want you to send for a beautiful white wreath for me. Yes; I know Aunt Margaret disapproved of flowers, but I want this one.” In spite of this disapproval, when a wreath of deep-coloured autumn flowers came from Constancy, “more like her than white flowers, and in memory of an intercourse, unlike every other to me;” there was no question as to its use. Rawdie, miserable in the changed house, took refuge in Guy’s room. “We can sympathise,” said Guy, with an odd look; and he liked to have his hand on the long, hairy slug, as Rawdie lay stretched out beside him. Rawdie’s master kept away until the Monday evening, when Guy sent for him, and he went reluctantly, and with secret dread. Guy was dressed, and sitting up by the fire. “Come in, Godfrey,” he said; “I’m much more fit to-day, and I want to talk to you before to-morrow.”
- 31. Godfrey sat down and looked at him. He had so much to say that he was quite silent. “There’ll be a good deal to surprise you, presently,” said Guy; “but as to the will, it represents Aunt Margaret’s wishes exactly. She had very good reason to distrust me, and the end has been shaped, no doubt, quite rightly.” “She would have burnt it, but for me,” said Godfrey. “What do you mean?” “She meant to burn it if you came in time. She told Jeanie so; and—I tore up your telegram, and did not send the trap on purpose.” “What did you do that for?” “It was my last chance of a word with—with Constancy Vyner; and I thought you wanted to go to Moorhead—to get the chance.” “Well,” said Guy, slowly, “I shouldn’t have thought it of you.” “I met the telegraph-boy on the bridge. I shouldn’t have thought it of myself. I believe some fiend lay in wait to tempt me.” “Very likely he did! Well, I’ve never had any thought of Miss Vyner. Of course, I have always known that you were gone on her—you wasted your trouble.” Even at that moment, Godfrey felt a sense of relief at the convincing dryness of Guy’s tone. But it stung him. “I was mad,” he said; “but don’t imagine I shall profit by the consequences. I shall treat the will as so much waste paper.
- 32. As if it had been burnt, as it ought to have been.” “There are two words to that,” said Guy. “I’ve spoken mine,” said Godfrey, standing up and speaking hotly. “I swore before—by her side, as solemnly as I knew how, that I wouldn’t inherit under that will, and I will not.” “What did you do?” Then Godfrey told him what he had done, ending passionately, with— “I could never have faced you otherwise.” “You have only got yourself and everybody into a hopeless hole. Making vows like a romantic girl, which depend on your own state of mind for their meaning,” said Guy, angrily. “The fiend was handy then, I should say;” and he laughed in an odd, fierce fashion. “I know what I meant,” said Godfrey; “but, of course, I’ve given you the right to say what you please to me.” “No,” said Guy, after a moment’s silence. “Don’t be angry. I’m disappointed, and there’s more in it than I can tell you now. But—shake hands. There’s only us two in the world. Of course I knew you wouldn’t wrong me of a halfpenny. And I’ll take good care no one thinks you have.” Godfrey shook the offered hand, in a formal, schoolboy fashion. He had nothing more to say. His feelings were too strong to be articulate, and he was, moreover, desperately afraid of making Guy faint. So that he was not sorry when Cuthbert came back and turned him out. He had made his confession, but nothing in
- 33. those dreary days seemed real to him, not even himself.
- 34. Part 2, Chapter IX. The White Wreath. There could not be much sorrow at Waynflete for so new a comer, but there was much respectful interest. All the villagers crowded into the little church and churchyard on the stormy morning of Mrs Waynflete’s funeral, at their head “soft” Jem, with a bit of crape on his sleeve; and the neighbouring gentry and clergy either came themselves or sent their carriages to follow the procession from the church to Kirk Hinton station. The actual mourners were few, and Cuthbert Staunton came into the church behind the two brothers. “She said that she forgave your family,” Guy said gravely. “It is right that you should be there.” Guy seemed quite able to bear his part. He hardly looked paler than Godfrey, and was less agitated, as he stood with the white wreath in his hand, looking down at the pavement. It was a day of heavy driving clouds, and the light in the dark old church dimmed and brightened alternately, catching now and then the stony figures of the older Waynfletes, till Cuthbert felt as if it would hardly have surprised him if the ghostly form of the traitor ancestor had stood among the mourners and mocked their grief. It grew so dark as the service went on that he could see little but the fair heads of the two brothers before him, and the white surplice of the vicar. The prayers and hymns were over, the coffin was lifted up again and carried out across the nameless grave of the unhappy Guy, whose shortcomings she who was gone had
- 35. retrieved so resolutely. But the Guy who followed the funeral, who had also lost the inheritance for himself, stopped short. He stooped and laid the white and scented wreath over the brief record on that unhonoured stone, then drew himself up, and slowly and resolutely looked all round the church, his eyes resting at last on the door in front of him. There was, or Cuthbert fancied so, an instant’s recoil, then he walked straight on, as if he were walking up to a cannon’s mouth, and followed the coffin out of the church. Godfrey, who had stood with drooping head, fighting with boyish tears, stared after him in amazement at his action. The long drive to Kirk Hinton, and the weary commonplaces of the railway journey were got through in time, and at Ingleby station the scene changed. The invited guests were waiting on the platform—rough, sensible-looking business men, with some few of the more nearly connected ladies, in handsome black. Outside, it might have been the burying of a princess—the open space in front of the station was filled with grave, weather-beaten faces. And two and two, the work-people, in their Sunday clothes, formed behind the funeral party and walked after them through the smoky town, into the big, ugly parish church, full of pews and galleries, and with plain square windows letting in a dull glare of cold grey light. It was soon filled to overflowing with silent men and women. There were only two surpliced figures; but in the west gallery were the choir, by their own request, and the funeral hymn rose up, full, sweet and strong, joined in by all the vast concourse of people.
- 36. Then they passed out into a large churchyard, filled with square grey stones, in which the family vault of the Palmers had been opened, and there Margaret Waynflete’s body was laid among those for whom, and with whom, she had worked through all her long life. In consideration of Guy’s fatigue, and of Godfrey’s obstinate reluctance to take his place, there was no formal meal, but the party gathered in the big dining-room at the Mill House, where various cold refreshments were placed on the table, with a great display of heavy, handsome plate. Presently Guy, after such civilities as were required of him, raised his voice above the decorous murmur of the guests, and said— “I have asked Mr Manton to read aloud my great-aunt’s will, as I have no doubt every one here will wish to know what it is. And, first, I wish to say that, though its contents were a great surprise to my brother Godfrey, they were not at all unexpected by me. I know the grounds on which my aunt acted, and I am fully aware that, to the best of her belief, she acted rightly.” It perhaps goes without saying that the two young Waynfletes were not very popular with the Palmer clan. Guy, in especial, with his delicate face and girlish eyes, was an incomprehensible person to them. He compelled attention now, however, as after this little speech he sat down near the head of the table, while Godfrey shrank into a dark corner, only withheld from a protest by the force of his brother’s will. In the silence that ensued, the solicitor began to read; the various Palmers listened critically, John Cooper and Joshua Howarth, with their two sons, with deep anxiety. They
- 37. listened to the statement of various legacies to old servants, and more considerable ones to Cooper and Howarth, and then to the startling fact that Godfrey Waynflete was to be heir of Waynflete Hall and all the land belonging to it, and of certain sums of money invested in various railways and securities. The management of the business was entirely in the hands of the two brothers, and Ingleby Mill House was also left for the use of both or either as should be convenient, neither being able to let or sell it without the consent of the other. It was soon evident to the intelligent audience that besides the money spent on Waynflete, and invested in the business, the fortune realised was unexpectedly small, and the long-standing family suspicion of Thomas Palmer’s wisdom in leaving everything in the hands of his wife gained in strength. Godfrey heard nothing after the little murmur of surprise that greeted his name. His ears and face burned and tingled with the sense of shame and wrongful dealing. Guy sat looking at the table. He knew, of course, exactly what was coming, but the sound could not be other than bitter. He knew that his character was gone in the eyes of these shrewd, suspicious men of business. He set his mouth hard, and his eyes fell on the old-fashioned stand of small cut-glass spirit-decanters that stood in front of him. He stretched out his hand and poured out a wine-glassful of whisky. He forgot the will, and ceased to hear the solicitor as he drew it towards him, till Mr Manton, in the long dry catalogue of farms and fields, read: “the land going by the name of Upper Flete, lying between the river and the township of Kirk Hinton—” Guy moved his hand, and knocked the full glass over, then pushed his chair back from the table, and sat absolutely still till the reading was over.
- 38. “Well, Mr Guy,” said Mr Matthew, the oldest and most important of the Palmers, “your great-aunt was a very shrewd woman of business, for a woman, so to speak, and you don’t seem to have met with her approval.” “No,” said Guy, shortly, “I did not. Hush, Godfrey,” he added, as the poor boy pushed desperately forward and stood beside him. “Hold your tongue—there’s nothing you can say. We understand each other.” “I’ve been at work in Ingleby Mills for sixty-five years,” said John Cooper, coming to the front, “and I’m not at all dissatisfied to work under Mr Guy. He knows the business as well as a lad of his age can do.” “Thank you, John Cooper,” said Guy, with a look of almost disproportionate pleasure. He rose rather unsteadily, and caught at Godfrey’s arm. “Come,” he said, in a sharp, imperative whisper, “get me out of sight.” He rather pulled Godfrey, than was guided by him, through the door behind him into the empty library, and sank into a chair, while Godfrey broke down into a tempest of uncontrollable misery. “Now, look here,” said Guy, in the same faint, sharp tones, “you have nothing like the bargain you think for. To-morrow I’ll go into it all. I’m done for now; you must manage without me.” How Godfrey managed through the rest of the hateful formalities of that wretched day he hardly knew; but when it was at last over, and he went to bed, he was so worn out with the weary misery of it that he fell dead asleep and slept till morning. He woke, with a sudden impulse so strong upon him that it seemed like an inspiration that had come in sleep. He would cut the whole concern. He would
- 39. take his younger brother’s fair portion, whatever it might be, and make a new life for himself, somewhere, at the ends of the earth, away from Constancy’s scorn and his own conscience. So he would keep his vow, and cut the knot which he himself had tied so tight. Then Guy would see that he must take his own, and she would no longer despise him. A definite purpose, however rash, made him feel more himself. As he came downstairs he met Cuthbert. “Guy wants you to go down to the mill,” he said, “and tell old Mr Cooper that he will see him to-morrow, and to ask for any message from him. And then he wants to talk to you. He will do it; but be as careful as you can. He is not fit for business.” “Very well,” said Godfrey; “I want to talk to him too. He won’t mind what I want to tell him, and it won’t take five minutes to discuss it.”
- 40. Part 2, Chapter X. Grit. Godfrey paid but scant attention to poor old Cooper’s feelings when he reached the mill. He hardly took the trouble to glance round him, and never realised that he was, in part, owner of the great concern, and a person on whom its future depended. He gave Guy’s message, and asked indifferently if there was any in return. Cooper looked up the whole length of the young man’s tall figure, ending with the gloomy, indifferent face. “Nay,” he said, “I’ve no message to send by you, Mr Godfrey.” “All right, then,” said Godfrey, going, still thinking of nothing but his own purpose. He found Guy on the sofa in the study, with some papers in his hands. Godfrey sat down opposite, and stared straight before him. Guy lay, looking down, very quiet but with a curious air of something held under and suppressed. “I’m not up to long explanations,” he said; “but you ought to know at once that matters are in a bad way at the mill. It will take every penny we both possess, and all the energy and sense too, to pull through and turn the corner. Things have been going downhill for some time. Look here—” Here he showed the statement which he had partly prepared to lay before his aunt, adding a few explanations and comments. “Then—is the mill going to fail?” said Godfrey, confusedly.
- 41. “Not if I can help it,” answered Guy. “No! But we’ve got our work cut out for us.” “But we couldn’t take out—realise—any part of the capital.” “Rather not,” said Guy, with a shrug. “But what I want to say is this. You can’t do anything till you have taken your degree—except give your consent to certain measures. I’ll explain by-and-by. But, then, if you come back, and give your mind to it and work, as the old folks did, we’ll get on our legs again. I—of course Aunt Margaret thought you would be able to live at Waynflete.” “Nothing would induce me to live at Waynflete, apart from the horrible injustice of it—I hate it. I should never endure it!” “Shouldn’t you?” said Guy, and paused for a minute. “Then, I think you should use some of the investments to put it properly to rights, and let it again. Don’t sell it.” “I don’t regard it as mine to sell,” said Godfrey; “and no— that would be undoing all she lived for.” “Just so. And remember this. We owe it to her strong purpose that we’re not driving some one else’s plough, or working at some one else’s looms; that we are as we are, such as it is. That work can’t be undone. I don’t mean to give up. But, I can’t depend on my own health, or powers; I mayn’t live long, or be able to work constantly. But if you co-operate, we’ll pull through. Aunt Margaret trusted you, and you’re bound not to disappoint her. Her memory shall not be dishonoured.” Guy was moved to speak more warmly from the kind of stupefaction with which Godfrey heard him. He thought that he had been too abrupt.
- 42. “You’re surprised,” he said more gently. “I’ve known how it was for a long time. It’s not at all a hopeless case.” “I can’t take it in,” said Godfrey. How could he propose to “cut the whole concern,” and go away in the face of this news. Even if he went without a penny, how could he leave his sick brother with such a weight on his shoulders? Did dropping Waynflete out of his hands merely mean shirking a hard struggle? At any rate, he could not tell Guy his intention at that minute. “You know,” said Guy, “after all the legacies are paid, and Waynflete is put to rights, I’m afraid you’ll have very little ready money. The work of restoring the family isn’t complete. You’ve got it to finish.” “If—if the will had been burned, you wouldn’t have sold Waynflete, and put the money into the business?” “No!” said Guy. He stopped to rest a minute, and then said, “If the business really failed, neither of us could honourably keep Waynflete. It would have to be sold to pay the creditors. And it is possible that, to save the business— But no, Godfrey—no—it won’t come to that. It shall not. Aunt Margaret shan’t be defeated.” “I’ll think it over,” said Godfrey, after a moment. “Ought I to take my degree?” “Of course, what’s the use of leaving a thing half-finished? But you’ll have to understand a little what has to be done at once, and give your consent to it. I’ll tell you about it another time. Take these papers, and read them.” “Yes,” said Godfrey, escaping; “anything. I consent to whatever you wish. That is the least I can do!”
- 43. So then, there was no such easy way of escape as he had hoped. It was a burden, not an honour, that he had unduly won. For the momentary act there was no momentary atonement; but years of uncongenial labour. He hated the mills. Surely, if he dropped all claim on the profits, and gave his brother an entirely free hand, it would be enough? He would willingly sell Waynflete, and throw the price into the business, if Guy had not objected so vehemently. He had thought that his mind was settled, and behold! it was more unsettled than ever before. To give Waynflete to Guy, he could have worked tooth and nail; without a settled purpose, he was all at sea. Guy felt a little baffled and disappointed. He had expected to find, as he put it, more grit in Godfrey. “I suppose you will have to go away soon,” he said to Cuthbert afterwards. “Yes—on the 18th, I fear—but I want you to come with me. There’s no one here to look after you even as clumsily as I can. I suppose Mrs Palmer stays; but her notions are limited to good beef-tea.” “It’s not a bad notion. Cuthbert, don’t you want to know what happened to me?” “Yes—when you can tell me.” “I’m going to tell you now. Come here—quite close—lock the door first.” Cuthbert did as he was told, and sat down quietly. “Well,” he said, “how was it?”
- 44. “Well, that night when I was walking from Kirk Hinton, I got on very slowly, and it was a long—long time.” “Yes—you got very tired.” “Yes, but I thought hard. I almost made up my mind that the whole thing was a craze inherited from the other Guy, or at least shared with him. I thought nothing existed outside my own brain; that the old Guy had probably got drunk at the old public in the valley, and that I should too. That the cause of the whole horror was in me, because my brain was made wrong or crooked.” He paused, and Cuthbert said no more than, “Well?” “You’ve always wanted me to think that. You don’t know what it’s like to think so, when there is a great horror that your brain has made for you.” Guy spoke very quietly. Cuthbert hardly ventured to answer him. “You would never understand what I meant by ‘feeling.’ But then I felt—nothing. I don’t think even Christ felt like that—quite, when He said God had forsaken Him. For I felt that there was no one even to forsake me.” “But, my dear boy,” exclaimed Cuthbert, distressed, “I do not think so. I never meant to teach you to think so. That one hallucination—” “If you knew what a spiritual presence in your soul is, good or evil—you would know what is involved in finding it a delusion. I was glad when I felt him come.” “Did you see—it?” “I saw the figure on the bridge, standing in my way. Well, it was a question of drowning myself or letting him drown me.
- 45. I was almost mad—I—I think he laughed at me—I’m not sure. His eyes—” Guy dropped his voice, and into his own eyes there came a wild, uncertain look, as of a sorely shaken brain. But he sat up and spoke emphatically. “Suddenly I knew that I could try to get across. That’s the point, you see, Cuthbert—that’s the point! One can try, one can fight—devil or delusion—I don’t know which—one can resist, and he will flee. I think he will always flee—for there’s help. All spiritual presences are not evil; something helped me. I fainted, I suppose; but I got across the river— I set myself to get on, but the hill was so steep—and long— I was so deadly faint. It took an awful time, I had to stop so often; oh, I don’t wonder the other Guy was too late! But I got there in time. Aunt Margaret knew it, she quite understood.” “It is all over now,” said Cuthbert, soothingly; “you won’t see the figure again.” Guy slowly turned his eyes away from Cuthbert’s face, and looked straight in front of him. “I see it now,” he said. “Listen—don’t stop me. I saw it ahead all the way. I’ve seen it ever since. But—but—it’s not him—now. Oh, you won’t understand. I know he’s not here now. This is a spectre—a delusion—but it’s very bad to bear. Stop; let me rest a bit.” He put his hand over his eyes and lay still—whispering, “I’ve some more to say.” “Yes, tell me everything—tell me just what it is,” said Cuthbert, gently.
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