MIGHTY I ATOM
MARIE CORELLI
LIBRARY
wty ! Cal
IRVINE
[BRARY
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CAT [FORNIA
GIFT OF
LEISURE WORLD LIBRARY
LACUNA HILLS
THE MIGHTY ATOM
By
MARIE CORELLI
AUTHOR OF " THE SORROWS OF SATAN,
" BARABBAS," " CAMEOS," " VENDETTA," ETC.
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1897.
Mis Florenct G. Bailey
76 Fellsway, West
Somerville Massachusetts
COPYRIGHT, 1896,
BY
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
ELECTROTVPED AND PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.
TO
THOSE SELF-STYLED " PROGRESSIVISTS,"
WHO BY PRECEPT AND EXAMPLE
ASSIST THE INFAMOUS
CAUSE OF
EDUCATION WITHOUT RELIGION
AND WHO, BY PROMOTING THE IDEA, BORROWED FROM
FRENCH ATHEISM, OF DENYING TO THE
CHILDREN IN BOARD-SCHOOLS
AND ELSEWHERE,
THE KNOWLEDGE AND LOVE OF GOD
AS THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF NOBLE
LIVING,
ARE GUILTY
OF A WORSE CRIME THAN MURDER.
THE MIGHTY ATOM
CHAPTER I.
A HEAVY storm had raged all day on the north
coast of Devon. Summer had worn the garb of
winter in a freakish fit of mockery and masquer-
ade; and even among the sheltered orchards
of the deeply-embowered valley of Combmartin,
many a tough and gnarled branch of many a
sturdy apple-tree laden with reddening fruit, had
been beaten to the ground by the fury of the
blast and the sweeping gusts of rain. Only now,
towards late afternoon, were the sullen skies be-
ginning to clear. The sea still lashed the rocks
with angry thuds of passion, but the strength of
the wind was gradually sinking into a mere breeze,
and a warm saffron light in the west showed
where the sun, obscured for so many hours, was
about to hide his glowing face altogether for the
night, behind the black vizor of our upward-moving
earth. The hush of the gloaming began to per-
meate nature ; flowers, draggled with rain, essayed
i* 5
6 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
to lift their delicate stems from the mould where
they had been bowed prone and almost broken,
and a little brown bird fluttering joyously out of
a bush where it had taken shelter from the tempest,
alighted on a window-sill of one of the nearest
human habitations it could perceive, and there piped
a gentle roundelay for the cheering and encourage-
ment of those within before so much as preening
a feather. The window was open, and in the room
beyond it a small boy sat at a school-desk reading,
and every now and then making pencil notes on
a large folio sheet of paper beside him. He was
intent upon his work, yet he turned quickly at
the sound of the bird's song and listened, his deep
thoughtful eyes darkening and softening with a
liquid look as of unshed tears. It was only for
a moment that he thus interrupted his studies,
anon, he again bent over the book before him
with an air of methodical patience and resignation
strange to see in one so young. He might have
been a bank clerk, or an experienced accountant in
a London merchant's office, from his serious old-
fashioned manner, instead of a child barely eleven
years of age ; indeed, as a matter of fact, there was
an almost appalling expression of premature wisdom
on his pale wistful features ; the " thinking furrow"
already marked his forehead, and what should still
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 7
have been the babyish upper curve of his sensitive
little mouth, was almost though not quite obliter-
ated by a severe line of constantly practised self-
restraint. Stooping his fair curly head over the
printed page more closely as the day darkened,
he continued reading, pondering, and writing; and
the bird, which had come to assure him as well
as it could, that fine bright weather, such weather
as boys love, might be expected to-morrow, seemed
disappointed that its gay carol was not more appre-
ciated. At any rate it ceased singing, and began
to plume itself with fastidious grace and prettiness,
peering round at the youthful student from time to
time inquisitively, as much as to say, " What won-
der is this ? The rain is over, the air is fresh,
the flowers are fragrant, there is light in the sky,
all the world of nature is glad, and rejoices, yet
here is a living creature shut up with a book which
surely God never had the making of! and his face
is wan, and his eyes are sad, and he seems not to
know the meaning of joy !"
The burning bars of saffron widened in the western
heavens, shafts of turquoise-blue, pale rose, and
chrysoprase flashed down towards the sea like re-
flections from the glory of some unbarred gate of
Paradise, and the sun, flaming with August fires,
suddenly burst forth in all his splendour. Full on
8 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
Combmartin, with its grey old church, stone cot-
tages, and thatched roofs overgrown with flowers,
the cheerful radiance fell, bathing it from end to end
in a shower of gold, the waves running into the
quiet harbour caught the lustrous glamour and
shone with deep translucent glitterings of amber
melting into green, and through the shadows of
the room where the solitary little student sat at
work, a bright ray came dancing, and glistened on
his bent head like the touch of some passing angel's
benediction. Just then the door opened, and a
young man entered, clad in white boating flannels.
" Still at it, Lionel !" he said, kindly. " Look
here, drop it all for to-day ! The storm is quite
over ; come with me, and I'll take you for a pull
on the water."
Lionel looked up, half surprised, half afraid.
" Does he say I may go, Mr. Montrose?"
" I haven't asked him," replied Montrose, curtly,
" / say you may, and not only that you may, but
that you must! I'm your tutor, at least for the
present, and you know you've got to obey me,
or else !"
Here he squared himself, and made playfully
threatening gestures after the most approved
methods of boxing.
The boy smiled, and rose from his chair.
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 9
" I don't think I get on very fast," he said,
apologetically, with a doubtful glance at the volume
over which he had been poring " It's all my stu-
pidity, I suppose, but sometimes it seems a muddle
to me, and more often still it seems useless. How,
for instance, can I feel any real interest in the
amount of the tithes that were paid to certain
bishops in England in the year 1054? I don't
care what was paid, and I'm sure I never shall care.
It has nothing to do with the way people live now-
adays, has it ?"
" No, but it goes under the head of general in-
formation," answered Montrose, laughing, " Any-
how, you can leave the tithes alone for the present,
forget them, and forget all the bishops and kings
too if you like ! You look fagged out, what do
you say to a first-class Devonshire tea at Miss
Payne's ?"
" Jolly !" and a flash of something like merriment
lit up Lionel's small pale face " But we'll go on
the water first, please ! It will soon be sunset, and
I love to watch a sunset from the sea."
Montrose was silent. Standing at the open door
he waited, attentively observing meanwhile the quiet
and precise movements of his young pupil who was
now busy putting away his books and writing ma-
terials. He did this with an almost painful care:
10 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
wiping his pen, re-sharpening his pencil to be ready
for use when he came back to work again, folding
a scattered sheet or two of paper neatly, dusting the
desk, setting up the volume concerning " tithes" and
what not, on a particular shelf, and looking about
him in evident anxiety lest he should have forgotten
some trifle. His tutor, though a man of neat taste
and exemplary tidiness himself, would have preferred
to see this mere child leaving everything in a dis-
orderly heap, and rushing out into the fresh air with
a wild whoop and bellow. But he gave his thoughts
no speech, and studied the methodical goings to and
fro of the patient little lad from under his half-
drooped eyelids with an expression of mingled kind-
ness and concern, till at last, the room being set in
as prim an order as that of some fastidious old
spinster, Lionel took down his red jersey-cap from
its own particular peg in the wall, put it on, and
smiled up confidingly at his stalwart companion.
" Now, Mr. Montrose !" he said.
Montrose started as from a reverie.
" Ah ! That's it ! Now's the word !"
Flinging on his own straw hat, and softly whistling
a lively tune as he went, he led the way downstairs
and out of the house, the little Lionel following in
his footsteps closely and somewhat timidly. Their
two figures could soon be discerned among the flow-
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 1 1
ers and shrubs of the garden as they passed across
it towards the carriage gate which opened directly
on to the high road, and a woman watching them
from an upper window pushed her fair face through
a tangle of fuchsias and called,
" Playing truant, Mr. Montrose ? That's right !
Always do what you're told not to do ! Good-bye,
Lylie!"
Lionel looked up and waved his cap.
" Good-bye, mother !"
The beautiful face framed in red fuchsia flowers
softened at the sound of the child's clear voice,
anon, it drew back into the shadow and disap-
peared.
The woods and hills around Combmartin were
now all aglow with the warm luminance of the de-
scending sun, and presently, out on the sea which
was still rough and sparkling with a million dia-
mond-like points of spray, a small boat was seen,
tossing lightly over the crested billows. William
Montrose, B.A., " oor Willie," as some of his affection-
ate Highland relatives called him, pulled at the oars
with dash and spirit, and Lionel Valliscourt, only
son and heir of John Valliscourt of Valliscourt in
the county of Somerset, sat curled up, not in the
stern, but almost at the end of the prow, his dreamy
eyes watching with keen delight every wave that ad-
12 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
vanced to meet the little skiff and break against it in
an opaline shower.
" I say, Mr. Montrose !" he shouted " This is
glorious !"
"Aye, aye!" responded Montrose, B.A., with a
deep breath and an extra pull" Life's a fine thing
when you get it in big dosesjjj
Lionel did not hear this observation, he was ab-
sorbed in catching a string of seaweed, slimy and un-
profitable to most people, but very beautiful in his
eyes. There were hundreds of delicate little shells
knitted into it, as fragile and fine as pearls, and every
such tiny casket held a life as frail. Ample material
for meditation was there in this tangle of mysterious
organisms marvellously perfect, and while he mi-
nutely studied the dainty net-work of ocean's weav-
ing, across the young boy's mind there flitted the
dark shadow of the inscrutable and unseen. He
asked within himself, just as the oldest and wisest
scholars have asked to their dying day, the " why"
of things, the cause for the prolific creation of so
many apparently unnecessary objects, such as a sep-
arate universe of shells, for example, what was the
ultimate intention of it all ? He thought earnestly,
and, thinking, grew sorrowful, child though he was,
with the hopeless sorrow of Ecclesiastes the
Preacher, and his incessant cry of " Vanitas vanita
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 13
tern!" Meantime, the heavens were ablaze with
glory, the two rims of the friendly planets, earth
and the sun, seemed to touch one another on the
edge of the sea, then, the bright circle was covered
by the dark, and the soft haze of a purple twilight
began to creep over the " Hangman's Hills," as they
are curiously styled, the Great and the Little Hang-
man. There is nothing about these grassy slopes at all
suggestive of capital punishment, and they appear to
have derived their names from a legend of the
country, which tells how a thief, running away with
a stolen sheep tied across his back, was summarily
and unexpectedly punished for his misdeed by the
sheep itself, who struggled so violently as to pull the
cord which fastened it close round its captor's throat
in a thoroughly " hangman"-like manner, thus killing
him on the spot. The two promontories form a bold
and picturesque headland as seen from the sea, and
Willie Montrose, resting for a moment on his oars,
looked up at them admiringly, and almost with love
in his eyes, just because they reminded him of a
favourite little bit of coast scenery in his own more
romantic and beautiful Scottish land. Then he
brought his gaze down to the curled-up small figure
of his pupil, who was still absorbed in the con-
templation of his treasure-trove of sea-weed and
shells.
14 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" What have you got there, Lionel ?" he asked.
The boy turned round and faced him.
" Thousands of little people !" he answered, with
a smile, " All in pretty little houses of their own,
too, look !" and he held up his dripping trophy,
" It's quite a city, isn't it ? and I shouldn't wonder
if the inhabitants thought almost as much of them-
selves as we do." His eyes darkened, and the smile
on his young face vanished. " What do you think
about it, Mr. Montrose ? / don't see that we are a
bit more valuable in the universe than these little
shell-people."
Montrose made no immediate reply. He pulled
out a big silver watch and glanced at it.
"Tea-time!" he announced, abruptly "Put the
shell-people back in their own native element, my
boy, and don't ask me any conundrums just now,
please ! Take an oar !"
With a flush of pleasure, Lionel obeyed, first
dropping the seaweed carefully into a frothy billow
that just then shouldered itself up caressingly
against the boat, and watching it float away. Then
he pulled at the oar manfully enough with his weak
little arms, while Montrose, controlling his own
strength that it might not overbalance that of the
child, noted his exertions with a grave and some-
what pitying air. The tide was flowing in, and the
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 15
boat went swiftly with it, the healthful exercise
sent colour into Lionel's pale cheeks and lustre
into his deep-set eyes, so that when they finally
ran their little craft ashore and sprang out of it,
the boy looked as nature meant all boys to look,
bright and happy-hearted, and the sad little furrow
on his forehead, so indicative of painful thought
and study, was scarcely perceptible. Glancing first
up at the darkening skies, then at his own clothes
sprinkled with salt spray, he laughed joyously as
he said,
" I'm afraid we shall catch it when we get home,
Mr. Montrose."
"/ shall, you won't," returned Montrose, im-
perturbably. " But, as it's my last evening, it
doesn't matter."
All the mirth faded from Lionel's face and he
uttered a faint cry of wonder and distress.
" Your last evening ? oh, no ! surely not ! You
don't, you can't mean it !" he faltered, nervously.
Willie Montrose's honest blue eyes softened with
a great tenderness and compassion.
" Come along, laddie, and have your tea !" he
said kindly, his tongue lapsing somewhat into his
own soft Highland accentuation ; " come along,
and I'll tell you all about it. Life is like being
out on the sea yonder, a body must take the
1 6 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
rough with the smooth and just make the best of it.
One mustn't mind a few troubles now and then,
and and partings and the like ; you've often heard
that the best of friends must part, haven't you ?
There now, don't look so downcast ! come along to
Miss Payne's cottage where we can get the best
cream in all Devonshire, and we'll have a jolly
spread and a talk out, shall we ?"
But Lionel stood mute, the colour left his
cheeks, and his little mouth once more became set
and stern.
" I know !" he said at last, slowly, " I know
exactly what you have to tell me, Mr. Montrose!
My father is sending you away. I am not surprised;
oh, no ! I thought it would happen soon. You see
you have been too kind, too easy with me, that's
what it is. No, I'm not going to cry," here he
choked back a little rising sob bravely, "you
mustn't think that, I am glad you are going away
for your own sake, but I'm sorry for myself, very
sorry ! I'm always feeling sorry for myself, isn't it
cowardly ! Marcus Aurelius says the worst form of
cowardice is self-pity."
" Oh, hang Marcus Aurelius !" burst out Montrose.
Lionel smiled, a dreary little cynical smile.
" Shall we go and have our tea ?" he suggested,
quietly " I'm ready."
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 17
And they walked slowly up from the shore to-
gether, the young man with a light yet leisurely
tread, the child with wearily-dragging feet that
seemed scarcely able to support his body. Painful
thoughts and forebodings kept them silent, and they
exchanged not a word even when a sudden red and
golden after-glow flashed across the sea as the very
last salutation of the vanished sun, indeed they
scarcely saw the fiery splendour that would, at a
happier moment, have been a perfect feast of beauty
to their eyes. Turning away from the principal
street of the village they bent their steps towards a
small thatched cottage, overgrown from porch to
roof with climbing roses, fuchsias and jessamine,
where an unobtrusive signboard might be just dis-
cerned framed in a wreath of brilliant nasturtiums,
and bearing the following device :
CLARINDA CLEVERLY PAYNE.
NEW LAID EGGS. DEVONSHIRE CREAM. JUNKETS.
TEAS PROVIDED.
Within this rustic habitation, tutor and pupil dis-
appeared, and the pebbly shore of Combmartin was
left in the possession of two ancient mariners, who,
seated side by side on the overhanging wall, smoked
1 8 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
their pipes together in solemn silence and watched
the gradual smoothing of the sea as it spread itself
out in wider, longer, and more placid undulations, as
though submissively preparing for the coming of its
magnetic mistress, the moon.
CHAPTER II.
THAT same evening, John Valliscourt, Esquire, of
Valliscourt, sat late over his after-dinner wine, con-
versing with a languid, handsome-featured person
known as Sir Charles Lascelles, Baronet. Sir
Charles was a notable figure in " swagger" society,
and he had been acquainted with the Valliscourts
for some time, in fact he was almost an " old friend"
of theirs, as social " old friends" go, that phrase
nowadays merely meaning about a year's mutual
visiting, without any unpleasant strain on the feel-
ings or the pockets of either party. Whenever the
Valliscourts were in town for the season at their
handsome residence in Grosvenor Place, Sir Charles
was always " dropping in," and dropping out again,
a constant and welcome guest, a purveyor of fashion-
able scandals, and a thoroughly reliable informant
concerning the ins and outs of the newest approach-
ing divorce. But his appearance at Combmartin was
quite unlooked-for, he having been supposed to have
gone to his " little place" (an estate of several thou-
sand acres) in Inverness-shire. And it was concern-
ing his present change of plan and humour that Mr.
'9
20 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
Valliscourt was just now rallying him in ponder-
ously playful fashion.
" Ya-as !" drawled Sir Charles, in answer " I
have doosid habits of caprice. Never know what
I'm going to do from one day to another! Fact,
I assure you ! You see a chum of mine has got
Watermouth Castle for a few weeks, and he asked
me to join his house-party. That's how it is I
happen to be here."
Mrs. Valliscourt, who had left the dinner-table
and was seated in a lounge chair near the open
window, looked round and smiled. Her smile was
a very beautiful one, her large flashing eyes and
brilliantly white teeth gave it a sun-like dazzle that
amazed and half bewitched any man who was not
quite prepared to meet it.
" I suppose you are all very select at Water-
mouth," observed Mr. Valliscourt, cracking a wal-
nut and beginning to peel the kernel with a de-
liberate and fastidious nicety which showed off his
long, white, well-kept fingers to admirable advantage
" Nothing lower than a baronet, eh ?"
And he laughed softly.
Sir Charles gave him a quick glance from under
his lazily drooping eyelids that might have startled
him had he perceived it. Malice, derision, and
intense hatred were expressed in it, and for a second
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 21
it illumined the face on which it gleamed with a
wicked flash as of hell-fire. It vanished almost as
quickly as it had shone, and a reply was given in
such quiet, listless tones as betrayed nothing of the
speaker's feelings.
" Well, I really don't know ! There's a painter
fellow staying with us, one of those humbugs
called ' rising artists,' gives himself doosid airs
too. He's got a commission to do the castle. Of
course he isn't thought much of, we keep him in
his place as much as we can, still he's there, and
he doesn't dine with the servants, either. The rest
are the usual lot, dowagers with marriageable but
penniless daughters, two or three ugly ' advanced'
young women who have brought their bicycles and
go tearing about the country all day, and a few stupid
old peers. It's rather slow. I was bored to exhaus-
tion at the general tea-meeting this afternoon, so
knowing you were here I thought I'd ride over and
see you."
" Delighted !" said Mr. Valliscourt, politely" But
may I ask how you knew we were here ?"
Sir Charles bit his lip to hide a little smile, as he
answered, lightly,
" Oh, everybody knows everything in these little
out-of-the-way villages. Besides, when you take the
only available large house in Combmartin you can't
22 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
expect to hide your light under a bushel. It's really
a charming old place, too."
" It's a barrack," said Mrs. Valliscourt, speaking
now for the first time, and looking straight at her
husband as she did so. " It's excessively damp, and
very badly furnished. Of course it could be made
delightful if anybody were silly enough to spend a
couple of thousand pounds upon it; but as it is, I
cannot possibly imagine why John took such a hor-
rid little hole for a summer holiday residence."
" You know very well why I took it," returned
Mr. Valliscourt, stiffly " It was not for my personal
enjoyment, nor for yours. I am old enough, I pre-
sume, to do without what certain foolish people call
' a necessary change,' and so are you for that matter.
I was advised to give Lionel the benefit of sea-air,
and as I was anxious to avoid the noise and racket
of ordinary sea-side places, as well as the undesirable
companionship of other people's children who might
endeavour to associate with my son, I chose a house
at Combmartin because I considered, and still con-
sider, Combmartin perfectly suited for my purpose.
Combmartin being off the line of railway and some-
what difficult of access, is completely retired and
thoroughly unfashionable, and Lionel will be able
to continue his holiday tasks under an efficient tutor
without undue distraction or interruption."
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 23
He said all this in a dry methodical way, crack-
ing walnuts between whiles, with a curious air as of
coldly civil protest against the vulgarity of eating
them.
Mrs. Valliscourt turned her head away, and looked
out into the tangled garden where the foliage, glis-
tening with the day's long rain, sparkled in the silver
gleam of the rising moon. Sir Charles Lascelles
said nothing for a few moments, then he suddenly
broke silence with a question. " You are giving
Montrose the sack, aren't you ?"
" I am dismissing Mr. Montrose, yes, certainly,"
replied Valliscourt, his hard mouth compressing
itself into harder lines, " Mr. Montrose is too young
for his place, and too self-opinionated. It is the
fault of all Scotchmen to think too much of them-
selves. He is clever ; I do not deny that ; but he
does not work Lionel sufficiently. He is fonder of
athletics than classics. Now in my opinion, athletics
are altogether overdone in England, and I do not
want my son to grow up with all his brains in his
muscles. His intellectual faculties must be de-
veloped "
" At the expense of the physical ?" interposed Sir
Charles "Why not do both together?"
"That is my aim and intention," said Valliscourt,
somewhat pompously " but Mr. Montrose is not
24 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
fitted either by education or temperament to carry
out my scheme. In fact, he has refused point-blank
to go through the schedule of tuition I have formu-
lated for the holiday tasks of my son, and has taken
it upon himself to say to me, to me ! that Lionel
is not capable of such a course of study, and that
complete rest is what the boy requires. Of course
this is an excuse to obtain a good time for himself in
the way of boating and other out-of-door amuse-
ments. Moreover, I have discovered, to my extreme
concern, that Mr. Montrose has not yet thrown off
the shackles of superstitious legend and observance,
and that in spite of the advance of science, he is
really not much better than a savage in his ideas of
the universe. He actually believes in Mumbo-
Jumbo, that is, God, still ! and also in the im-
mortality of the soul !" Here Mr. Valliscourt
laughed outright. " Of course, if it were not so
ridiculous, I should be angry, all the same, one
cannot be too particular in the matter of a child's
training and education, and I am considerably an-
noyed that I was not made aware of these barbarous
predilections and prejudices of his before he took
up a responsible position in my house."
" Of course you would not have engaged him if
you had known ?" queried Sir Charles.
" Certainly not." Here Mr. Valliscourt looked
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 25
at his watch. " Will you excuse me ? It is nine
o'clock, and I told Montrose to attend me at that
hour in my study to receive the remaining portion
of his salary. He leaves by the early coach to-
morrow morning."
Mrs. Valliscourt rose, and moved with an elegant
languor towards the door.
" You had better come into the drawing-room,
Sir Charles, and have a chat with me," she said,
favouring the baronet with one of her dazzling
smiles as she glanced back at him over her
shoulder, " I suppose you are in no very special
hurry to return to Watermouth ?"
" No, not just immediately !" he replied with an
answering smile, as he followed her out across the
square oak-panelled hall and into the apartment she
had named, which had the merit of being more
comfortably furnished than any other part of the
house, and moreover boasted four deep bay-win-
dows, each one commanding different and equally
beautiful views of the surrounding country. Mr.
Valliscourt meantime went in an opposite direction,
and entered a small parlour, formerly a store-room,
but now transformed into a kind of study, where he
found William Montrose, B.A., awaiting him.
" Oor Willie" looked pale, and his lips were hard
set. His employer nodded to him carelessly in
2 6 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
passing, and then sitting down at his office-desk,
unlocked a drawer, took from thence his cheque-
book, and wrote out a sum that was more than
"oor Willie's" due. As he handed it over, the
young man glanced at it, and coloured hotly.
" No, thank you, Mr. Valliscourt," he said,
" The exact sum, please, and not a farthing over."
" What !" exclaimed Valliscourt, in a satirical
tone " A Scotchman refuse an extra fee ! Is this
the age of miracles ?"
Montrose grew paler, but kept himself quiet.
" Think what you like of Scotchmen, Mr. Vallis-
court," he returned, composedly " They can get
on without your good opinion, I daresay, and cer-
tainly they need none of my defending. I merely
refuse to accept anything I have not honestly
earned, there is no miracle in that, I fancy. It
is not as if I took my dismissal badly, on the
contrary, I should have dismissed myself if you
had not forestalled me. I will have no share in
child-murder."
If a bomb had exploded in the little room, Mr.
Valliscourt could not have looked more thoroughly
astounded. He sprang from his chair and con-
fronted the audacious speaker in such indignation
as almost choked his utterance.
" Ch ch child-murder!" he spluttered, trem-
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 27
bling all over in the excess of his sudden rage
" D d did I hear you rightly, sir ? Ch child-
murder!"
" I repeat it, Mr. Valliscourt," said Montrose,
his blue eyes now flashing dangerously and his
lips quivering " Child-murder ! Take the phrase
and think it over! You have only one child, a
boy of a most lovable and intelligent disposition,
quick-brained, too quick-brained by half! and
you are killing him with your hard and fast rules,
and your pernicious ' system* of intellectual train-
ing. You deprive him of such . pastimes and ex-
ercises as are necessary to his health and growth,
you surround him with petty tyrannies which
make his young life a martyrdom, you give him
no companions of his own age, and you are, as
I say, murdering him, slowly, perhaps, but none
the less surely. Any physician with the merest
superficial knowledge of his business, would tell
you what I tell you, that is, any physician who
preferred truth to fees."
White with passion, Mr. Valliscourt snatched up
the cheque he had just written and tore it into frag-
ments, then opening another drawer in his desk,
he took out a handful of notes and gold, and count-
ing them rapidly, flung them upon the table.
" Hold your insolent tongue, sir !" he said in
28 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
hoarse accents of ill-suppressed fury, "There is
your money, exact to a farthing ; take it and go !
And before you presume to apply for another situa-
tion as tutor to the son of a gentleman, you had
better learn to know your place and put a check on
your Scotch conceit and impertinence ! Not another
word ! go !"
With a sudden proud lifting of his head, Montrose
eyed his late employer from heel to brow and from
brow to heel again, in the disdainful " measuring"
manner known to fighting men, his eyes sparkled
with anger, and his hands involuntarily clenched.
Then, all at once, evidently moved by some thought
which restrained, if it did not entirely overcome his
wrath, he swept up his wage lightly in one hand,
turned and left the room without either a " thank
you" or " good-evening." When he had gone, John
Valliscourt burst into an angry laugh.
" Insolent young cub !" he muttered " How such
fellows get University honours and recommenda-
tions is more than I can imagine ! Favouritism and
jobbery I suppose, like everything else. An in-
efficient, boastful, lazy Scotchman if ever there was
one, and the worst companion in the world for
Lionel. The boy has done nothing but idle away
his time ever since he came. I'm very glad Pro-
fessor Cadman-Gore is able to accept a few weeks
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 29
of holiday tuition, he is expensive, certainly, but
he will remedy all the mischief Montrose has done,
and get Lionel on ; he is a thoroughly reliable man,
too, on the religious question."
Soothed by the prospect of the coming of
Professor Cadman-Gore, Mr. Valliscourt cooled
down, and presently went to join his wife and Sir
Charles Lascelles in the drawing-room. He found
that apartment empty, however, and on inquiry of
one of the servants, learnt that Sir Charles had been
gone some minutes, and that Mrs. Valliscourt was
walking by herself in the garden. Mr. Valliscourt
thereupon went to one of the deep bay-windows
which stood open, and sniffed the scented summer
air. The day's rain had certainly left the ground
wet, and he was not fond of strolling about under
damp trees. The moon was high, and very beau-
tiful in her clear fullness, but Mr. Valliscourt did
not admire moonlight effects, he thought all that
kind of thing " stagey." The grave and devotional
silence of the night hallowed the landscape, Mr.
Valliscourt disliked silence, and he therefore coughed
loudly and with much unpleasant throat-scraping, to
disturb it. Throat-scraping gave just the necessary
suggestion of prose to a picture which would oth-
erwise have been purely romantic, a picture of
shadowed woodland and hill and silver cloud and
30 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
purple sky, in all of which beauteous presentments,
mere humanity seemed blotted out and forgotten.
Mr. Valliscourt coughed his ugly cough in order to
get humanity into it, and as he finished the last
little hawking note of irritating noise, he wondered
where his wife was. The garden was a large and
rambling one, and had been long and greatly neg-
lected, though the owners of the place had shrewdly
arranged with Mr. Valliscourt, when he had taken
the house for three months, that he should pay a
gardener weekly wages to attend to it. A decent
but dull native of Combmartin had been elected to
this post, and his exertions had certainly effected
something in the way of clearing the paths and
keeping them clean, but he was apparently incapa-
ble of dealing with the wild growth of sweet-briar,
myrtle, fuchsia, and bog-oak that had sprung up
everywhere in the erratic yet always artistic fashion
of mother Nature, when she is left to design her
own woodland ways, so that the entire pleas-
aunce was more a wilderness than anything else.
Yet it had its attractions, or seemed to have, at
least for Mrs. Valliscourt, for she passed nearly
all her time in it. Now, however, owing to the
long shadows, her husband could not perceive
her anywhere, though presently, as he stood at
the window, he heard her voice carolling an ab-
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 31
surd ditty, of which he caught a distinct fragment
concerning
" Gay
We're not particular what we do
In gay Bo-hem-i-a^,"
whereat his face, cold and heavy-featured as it was,
grew downright ugly in its expression of malign
contempt.
" She ought to have been a music-hall singer !"
he said to himself with a kind of inward snarl
" She has all the taste and talent required for it.
And to think she is actually well born and well
educated ! What an atrocious anomaly !"
He banged the window to violently and went
within. There was a smoking-room at the back
of the house, and thither he retired with his cigar-
case, and one of the dullest of all the various dull
evening papers.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY the next morning between six and seven
o'clock, little Lionel Valliscourt was up and dressed
and sitting by his bedroom window, cap in hand,
waiting eagerly for Montrose to appear. He was
going to see his friendly tutor off by the coach, and
the idea was not without a certain charm and excite-
ment. It was a perfect day, bright with unclouded
sunshine, and all the birds were singing ecstatically.
The boy's sensitive soul was divided between sadness
and pleasure, sadness at losing the companionship
of the blithe, kindly, good-natured young fellow who
alone, out of all his various teachers, had seemed
to understand and sympathise with him, pleasure
at the novelty of getting up " on the sly" and slip-
ping out and away without his father's knowledge,
and seeing the coach with its prancing four horses,
its jolly driver and its still jollier red-faced guard, all
at a halt outside the funny old inn, called by various
wags the " Pack o' Cards" on account of its peculiar
structure, and watching Mr. Montrose climb up
thereon to the too-tootle-tooing of the horn, and then
finally, beholding the whole glorious equipage dash
away at break-neck speed to Barnstaple ! This was
32
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
33
something for a boy, as mere boy, to look forward
to with a thrill of expectation ; but deep down in
his heart of hearts he was thinking of another de-
light as well, a plan he had formed in secret, and
of which he had not breathed a word, even to Willie
Montrose. The scheme was a bold and dreadful
one, and it was this, to run away for the day. He
did not wish to shirk his studies, but he knew there
were to be no lessons till his new tutor, Professor
Cadman-Gore arrived, and Professor Cadman-Gore
was not due till that evening at ten o'clock. The
whole day therefore was before him, the long beau-
tiful sunshiny day, and he, in his own mind, re-
solved that he would for once make the best of it.
He had no wish to deceive his father, his desire for
an " escapade" arose out of an instinctive longing
which he himself had not the skill to analyse, a
longing not only for freedom but for rest. Turning it
over and over in his thoughts now, as he had turned
it over and over all night, poor child, he could not
see that there was any particular harm or mischief
in his intention. Neither his father nor mother ever
wanted him or sent for him except at luncheon,
which was his dinner, all the rest of the time he
was supposed to be with his tutor, always engaged
in learning something useful. But now, it so hap-
pened that he was to be left for several hours with-
34
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
out any tutor, and why should he not take the chance
of liberty while it was offered him ? He was still
mentally debating this question, when Montrose
entered softly, portmanteau in hand.
" Come along, laddie !" he said, with a kind smile,
" Step gently ! Nobody's astir, and I'll aid and
abet you in this morning's outing. We're going to
breakfast together at Miss Payne's, the coach won't
be here for a long time yet."
Lionel gave a noiseless jump of delight on the
floor, and then did as he was told, creeping afcer his
tutor down the stairs like a velvet-footed kitten, and
reddening with excess of timidity and pleasure when
the big hall-door was opened cautiously and closed
again with equal care behind them, and they stood
together among the honeysuckle and wild rose-
tangles of the sweetly-scented garden.
" Let me help you carry your portmanteau,
Mr. Montrose" he said, sturdily " I'm sure I
can !"
" I'm sure you can't !" returned Montrose with a
laugh. " Leave it alone, my boy, it's too heavy for
you. Here, you can carry my Homer instead !"
Lionel took the well-worn leather-bound volume,
and bore it along in both hands reverently as though
it were a sacred relic.
" Where are you going, Mr. Montrose ?" he asked,
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
35
presently, " Have you got another boy like me to
teach ?"
" No, not yet. I wonder if I shall manage to
find another boy like you, eh ? Do you think I
shall ?"
Lionel considered seriously for a moment before
replying.
" Well, I don't know," he said at last," I sup-
pose there must be some. You see when you're an
only boy, you get different to other boys. You've
got to try and be more clever you know. If I had
two or three brothers now, my father would want to
make every one of them clever, and he wouldn't have
to get it all out of me. That's how I look at it."
" Oh, that's how you look at it," echoed Montrose,
studying with some compassion the delicate little
figure trotting at his side, " You think your father
wants to get the brain-produce of a whole family out
of you ? Well, I believe he does !"
" Of course he does !" averred Lionel, solemnly,
" And it is very natural, if you think of it. If you've
only got one boy, you expect a good deal from him !"
"Too much by half!" growled Montrose, sotto-
voce, then aloud he added " Well, laddie, you
needn't fret yourself, you are learning quite fast
enough, and you know a good deal more now than
ever I did at your age. I was at school at Inverness
36 THE MIGHTY ATOM,
when I was a little chap, and passed nearly all my
time fighting, that's how I learned my lessons !"
He laughed, a joyous ringing laugh which was
quite infectious, and Lionel laughed too. It seemed
so droll for a boy to pass his time in fighting ! so
very exceptional and extraordinary !
" Why, Mr. Montrose" he exclaimed " what did
you fight so much for ?"
" Oh, any excuse was good enough for me !"
returned Montrose, gleefully. " If I thought a boy
had too long a nose, I pulled it for him, and then we
fought the question out together. They were just
grand times ! grand !"
" I have never fought a boy" murmured Lionel,
regretfully, " I never had any boy to -fight with !"
Montrose looked down at him, and a sudden
gravity clouded his previous mirth.
" Listen to me, laddie," he said, earnestly " When
you have a chance, ask your father to send you to
school. You've a tongue in your head, ask him,
say it's the thing you're longing for, beg for it
as though it were your life. You're quite ready for
it ; you'll take a high place at once with what you
know, and you'll be as happy as the day is long.
You'll find plenty of boys to fight with, and to
conquer ! fighting is the rule of this world, my
boy, and to those who fight well, so is conquering.
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
37
And it's a good thing to begin practising the busi-
ness early, practice makes perfect. Tell your
father, and tell this professor who is coming to
take my place, that it is your own wish to go to a
public school, Eton, Harrow, Winchester, any of
them can turn out men''
Lionel looked pained and puzzled.
"Yes, I will ask," he said "But I'm sure I
shall be refused. Father will never hear of it. The
boys in public schools all go to church on Sundays,
don't they? Well, you know I should never be
allowed to do that /"
Montrose made no reply, and they walked on in
unbroken silence till they reached the abode of Miss
Clarinda Cleverly Payne, where on the threshold
stood a bright-eyed, pleasant-faced active personage
in a lilac cotton gown and snow-white mob-cap of
the fashion of half a century ago.
" Good-morning, sir ! Nice morning ! Good-
morning, Master Lionel ! Well now, toe be sure, I
dew believe the eggs is just laid for you ! I heerd
the hens a-clucking the very minute you came in
sight ! Ah dearie me ! if we all did our duty when
it was expected of us, like my hens, the world
would get on a deal better than it dew ! Walk in,
sir ! walk in, Master Lionel ! the table's spread
and everything's ready, the window's open too, for
4
38 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
there's a sight o' honeysuckle outside and it dew
smell sweet, I can assure you ! Nothing like Dev-
onshire honeysuckle except Devonshire cream !
Ah, and you'll find plenty o' that for breakfast !
And I'm sure this little gentleman's sorry his kind
master's going away, eh ?"
" Yes, I am very sorry, ma'am," said Lionel, ear-
nestly, taking off his little cap politely as he looked
up at the worthy Clarinda's sunbrowned, honest
countenance " But it isn't much use being sorry, is
it ? He must go, and I must stay, and if I were to
fret for a whole year about it, it wouldn't make any
difference, would it ?"
" No, that it wouldn't," returned Miss Payne,
staring hard into the pathetic young eyes that so
wistfully regarded her, " But you see some of us
can't take things so sensibly as you do, my dear !
we're not all so clever !"
" Clever !" echoed Lionel, with an accent of such
bitterness as might have befitted a cynic of many
years' worldly experience " I am not clever. I am
only crammed."
" Lord bless us !" exclaimed Clarinda, gazing
helplessly about her, " What does the child
mean ?"
"He means just what he says," answered Mon-
trose with a slight, rather sad smile, " If you
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
39
had to learn all the things Lionel is supposed to
know "
" Larn ?" interrupted Miss Clarinda, with a sharp
sniff " Thank the Lord I ain't had no larnin 1 ! I
know how to do my work and live honestly without
runnin' into debt, and that's enough for me. To
see the young gels nowadays with their books an'
their penny papers, all a-gabblin' of a parcel o' rub-
bish as doesn't consarn 'em, it dew drive me wild,
I can tell you ! My niece Susie got one o' them
there cheap novels one day, and down she sat,
a-readin' an' a-readin', an' she let the cream boil
and spoilt it, an' later on in the day, she slipt and fell
on the doorstep with a dozen new-laid eggs in her
apron and broke eight o' them, then in a week or
two she took to doin' her hair in all sorts o' queer
towzley ways, and pinched her waist in, till she
couldn't fancy her dinner and her nose got as red as
a carrot. I said nothing, for the more you say to
they young things the worse they get, but at last I
got hold o' the book that had done the mischief and
took to readin' it myself. Lor! I laughed till I
nearly split ! a parcel o' nonsense all about a fool
of a country wench as couldn't do nothing but make
butter, and yet she married a lord an' was took to
Court with di'monds an' fal-lals ! such a muck o'
lies was printed in that there book as was enough to
40 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
bring the judgment of the Almighty on the jackass
as wrote it ! I went to my niece ancl I sez to her,
sez I ' Susie, my gel, you're a decent, strong, well-
favoured sort o' lass, taken just as God made ye,
and if you behave yourself, you may likely marry
an honest farmer lad in time, but if ye get such no-
tions o' lords and ladies as are in this silly lyin'
book, an' go doin' o' your hair like crazy Jane,
there's not a man in Combmartin as won't despise
ye. An' ye 11 go to the bad, my gel, as sure as a
die !' She was a decent lass, Susie, an' she knew I
meant well by her, so she just dropped the book
down our old dry well in the back yard, seventy feet
deep, and took to the cream agin ! She's married
well now and lives over at Woolacombe, very com-
fortably off She's got a good husband, a poultry-
farm and three babies, an' she's no time for novel-
readin' now, thanks to the Lord !"
This narrative, delivered volubly with much ora-
torical gesture and scarcely any pauses, left Miss
Clarinda well-nigh out of breath, and as she and
her visitors were now in the one " best parlour" of
the cottage, she ceased talking, and bustled about to
get them their breakfast. Montrose leaned out of
the open lattice-window where the " sight o' honey-
suckle" hung in fragrant garlands, and inhaled the
delicious perfume with a deep breath of delight.
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 41
" It's a bonnie place, this Devonshire," he said,
half to himself and half to Lionel " But it's not so
bonnie as Scotland."
Lionel had sat down in the window-nook with
rather a weary air, the Homer volume still clasped
in his hands.
" Are you going to Scotland soon ?" he asked.
" Yes. I shall go straight home there for a few
days and see my mother." Here the young man
turned and surveyed his small pupil with involun-
tary tenderness. " I wish I could take you with
me," he added, softly " My mother would love
you, I know."
Lionel was mute. He was thinking to himself
how strange it would seem to be loved by Mr.
Montrose's mother, as he was not loved by his own.
At that moment, Clarinda Cleverly Payne brought
in the breakfast in her usual smart, bustling way ;
excellent tea, new milk, eggs, honey, cream, jam,
home-made bread, and scones smoking hot, were
all set forth in tempting profusion, and to crown the
feast, an antique china basket filled with the rosiest
apples and juiciest pears, was placed in the centre
of the table. William Montrose, B.A., and his little
friend sat down to their good cheer, each with very
different feelings, " oor Willie" with a hearty and
appreciative appetite, the boy with only a faint
42 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
sense of hunger, which was over-weighted by
mental fatigue and consequent physical indifference.
However, he tried to eat well to please the kindly
companion from whom he was so soon to be parted,
and it was not till he had quite finished, that Mon-
trose, pushing aside his cup and plate, addressed the
following remarks to his late pupil,
" Look here, Lionel," he said, " I don't want you
to forget me. If ever you should take it into your
head to run away," here a deep blush crimsoned
Lionel's face, for was he not going to run away that
very day? "or or anything of that sort, just
write and tell me all about it first. A letter will
always find me at my mother's house, The Nest,
Kilmun. I don't, of course, wish to persuade you
to run away" (he looked as if he did, though !)
"because that would be a very desperate thing to
do, still, if you feel you can't hold up under your
lessons, or that Professor Cadman-Gore is too much
for you, why, rather than break down altogether,
you'd better show a clean pair of heels. I expect
I'm giving you advice which a good many people
would think very wrong on my part, all the same,
boys do run away at times, it has been done !"
Here his merry blue eyes twinkled. " And if you
have any more of that giddiness you complained
of the other day, or if you go off in a dead
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
43
faint as you did last week, you really mustn't
conceal these sensations any longer, you must
tell your father and let him take you to see a
doctor."
Lionel listened with an air of rather wearied
patience.
" What's the good of it !" he sighed" I'm not
ill, you know. Besides, I've had the doctor before,
and he said there was nothing the matter with me.
Doctors don't seem to be very clever, my mother
was ill two years ago, and they couldn't cure her.
When they gave her up and left her alone, she
got well. Things always appear to go that way,
the more you do, the worse you get."
Montrose was quite accustomed to such a hope-
less tone of reasoning from the boy, yet somehow,
on this bright summer morning, when he, in the
full enjoyment of health and liberty, was going
home to those who loved him, the absolute loneli-
ness of this child's life and his pathetic resignation
to it, smote him with a keener sense of pain than
usual.
"And as for running away" continued Lionel,
flushing as he spoke " I might do that perhaps for
a few hours, . . . but if I tried to run away for good
and go for a sailor, which is what I should like, I
should only be brought back, you know I should.
44 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
And if I wrote to you about it, I should get you
into dreadful trouble. You don't seem to think of
all that, Mr. Montrose, but /think of it."
"You think too much, altogether," said Mon-
trose, almost crossly, it vexed him to realise that
this boy of barely eleven years was actually older
and more reflective in mind than himself, a man of
seven -an d-twenty ! " You are always thinking !"
" Yes" agreed Lionel, gravely " But then there's
so much to think about in this world, isn't there ?"
To this Montrose volunteered no answer. He sat
gazing at the dish of rosy apples in front of him
with a brooding frown, and presently Lionel laid
one little cold trembling hand on his arm.
" But I shall never forget you, Willie !" he said,
pausing before the name " you know you said I
might call you Willie sometimes. You have been
very good to me, you are the youngest tutor I
have ever had and the kindest; and though I
can't keep all the lessons in my head, I can keep the
kindness. I can indeed !"
He looked so small and fragile as he spoke, his
sensitive little face a-quiver with emotion, and his
soft eyes full of wistful affection and appeal, that
Montrose was much inclined to give him a hearty
kiss, just as he would have kissed a pretty baby.
But he remembered in time all the dry morsels of
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 45
so-called wisdom that had been packed into that
little curly head, all the profound meditations of
dead-and-gone philosophers that were stored in the
recesses of that young mind, and he reflected, with
an odd sense of humorous pity, that it would never
do to kiss such a learned little man. So he gave
him a couple of pleasant pats on the shoulder in-
stead, and answered " All right, laddie ! I know !
Only just think now and again of what I've said to
you, and when you're getting puzzled and dazed-like
over your books, go into the fresh air and never
mind the lessons, and if you get a thrashing for it,
well, all I can say is, a thrashing is better than a
sickness. Health's the grandest thing going, a far
sight better than wealth." At that moment the
" too-too-tootle" of the coach-horn came ringing
towards them in a gay sonorous echo, and he started
up. " By Jove ! I must be off! Miss Payne !
Clarinda !"
" Now, if it isn't like your impudence, Mr. Mont-
rose," said Miss Payne, appearing at the doorway
with her strong bare arms dusty with the flour of the
scones she had just been making, "to be calling
me Clarinda ! Upon my word I don't know what
the gentlemen are coming to," heres he giggled and
simpered in spite of her fifty-two years, as Montrose,
nothing daunted, dropped more than the money due
46 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
for the breakfast into her hand, and audaciously
kissed her on the cheek, (he had no scruples about
kissing her, oh, no ! not at all ! though he had
about kissing Lionel, ) " Really they seem to be
quite reckless nowadays, it was very different, I
dew assure you, when I was a gel "
" Oh, no, it wasn't, Clarinda, I dew assure you !"
laughed Montrose, with a playful mimicking of her
voice and manner " It was just the same, and
always will be the same to the crack of doom !
Men will always be devils, and women, angels !
Good-bye, Clarinda !"
" Good-bye, sir ! A pleasant journey to you !"
and Miss Payne bobbed up and down under her
rose-covered porch, after precisely the same fashion
in which the greatest ladies of the land make their
" dip" salutation to Royalty " Hope to see you
here again some day, sir !"
" I hope so, too !" he answered, cheerily, waving
one hand, while he grasped his portmanteau with
the other and walked with a swinging stride down
the village street, followed by Lionel, to the " Pack
o' Cards" inn, where the coach had just arrived. It
was a picturesque " turn-out," with its four strong,
sleek horses, its passengers, all rendered more or
less bright-faced by the freshness of the morning
air, its white-hatted coachman, and its jolly guard,
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 47
who blew the horn more for the pleasure of blow-
ing it than anything else, and Lionel surveyed it in
a kind of sober rapture.
" You are glad to go, Mr. Montrose" he said
" you must be glad to go !"
" Yes, I am glad in one way" replied Montrose,
" But I'm sorry in another. I'm sorry to le'ave you,
laddie, I should like to be living here for awhile
just to keep you out of harm's way."
" Would you ?" Lionel looked at him sur-
prisedly. " But I am never in the way of harm,
nothing ever happens to me of any particular sort,
you know. One day is just like another."
" Well, good-bye !" and Montrose, having given
over his portmanteau to the coach-guard, laid both
his hands on the boy's fragile shoulders " When
you get home, tell your father it was I who took
you out with me this morning to see me off, and
that if he wants to question me about it, he knows
where a letter will find me. / take all the blame,
remember ! Good-bye ! my dear wee laddie ! and
and God bless you !"
Lionel's lip quivered and the smile he managed
to force was very suggestive of tears.
" Good-bye !" he said, faintly.
" Too-too-too-tootle-too !" carolled the guard on
his shining horn, and Montrose climbed nimbly
48 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
up to his place on the top of the coach. The red-
faced driver bent a severe eye on certain village
children that were standing about agape with ad-
miration at himself and his equipage. " Now then !
Out of the way, youngsters !" There followed a
general scrimmage, and the horses started. " Too-
too-tootle-too !" Up the village street they galloped
merrily in the cheerful sunlight, their manes blown
back by the dancing breeze.
" Good-bye ! Good-bye !" shouted Montrose once
more, waving his straw hat energetically to the
solitary small figure left standing in the road.
But Lionel's voice could not now " carry" far
enough to echo the farewell, so he only lifted his
little red cap once in response, the parting smile
soon fading from his young face, and the worn
pucker on his brow deepening in intensity. He
stood motionless, watching till the last glimpse of
the coach had vanished, then he started, as it were
from a waking dream, and found that he still held
the Homer volume, Montrose had forgotten it.
Some of the village children were standing apart,
staring at him, and he heard them saying some-
thing about the " little gemmun livin' up at the big
'ouse." He looked at them in his turn ; there
were two nice red-cheeked boys with red-cheeked
apples in their hands, their faces were almost the
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
49
counterpart of the apples in roundness and shininess.
He would have liked to talk to them, but he felt
instinctively that if he made any advances in this
direction, they would probably be either timid or
resentful, so he dismissed the idea from his mind,
and went on his own solitary way. He was not
going home, no, he was quite resolved to have a
real holiday all to himself, before his new teacher
arrived. And as he knew the ancient church of
Combmartin was considered one of the chief objects
of interest in the neighbourhood, and as, owing to his
father's " system" of education and ideas concerning
religion or rather non-religion, he had been forbidden
to visit it, he very naturally decided to go thither.
And the tears he had resolutely kept back as long
as Willie Montrose had been with him, now filled
his eyes and dropped slowly, one by one, as he
thought sorrowfully that now there would be no
more pleasant tossings in an open boat on the sea,
no more excursions into the woods for " botany
lessons" which had served as an excuse for many
do-nothing but health-giving rambles, and the read-
ing or reciting of stirring ballads such as "The
Battle of the Baltic," and " Henry of Navarre," un-
der the refreshing shade of the beautiful green trees,
nothing of all this in future, nothing to look
forward to but the dreaded society of Professor
c d 5
5
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
Cadman-Gore. Professor Cadman-Gore had a terri-
ble reputation for learning, all the world was as
one mighty jackass, viewed in the light of his pro-
digious and portentous intellect, and the young
boy's heart ached under the oppression of his
thoughts as he walked, with the lagging step and
bent head of an old man, towards the wooden
churchyard gate, lifted the latch softly and went
in, Homer in hand, to stroll about and meditate,
Hamlet-wise, among the graves of the forgotten
dead.
CHAPTER IV.
HUSHING his little footsteps instinctively as he
went up the moss grown path between the grassy
graves that rose in suggestive hillocks on either side
of him, he paused presently in front of an ancient
tombstone standing aslant, on the top of which sat a
robin-redbreast contentedly twittering, and now and
then calling " Sweet !" to its unseen mate. It was a
fearless bird, and made no movement to fly away as
Lionel approached. Just beneath its brown wings
and scarlet bosom the grey headstone had blossomed
into green, tiny ferns and tufts of moss had man-
aged to find root-hold there, and spread themselves
out in pretty sprays of delicate foliage over the worn
and blackened epitaph below,
HEERE LYETH
YE EARTHLIE BODIE OF SIMON YEDDIE
Saddler in Combmartin
WHO DYED
FULLE OF JOYE AND HOPE TO SEE
HIS DEARE MASTER
CHRISTE
ON THE I/TH DAYE OF JUNE 1671. AGED IO2.
" And He lodged in ye House of one Simon, a Tanner"
5'
52 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
With much difficulty Lionel made out this quaint
inscription, standing, as he did, at some little distance
off, in order not to frighten away the robin. He had
to spell each word over carefully before he could
understand it, and even when he had finally got it
clear, it was still somewhat incomprehensible to his
mind. And while he stood thinking about it, and
wondering at the oddly chosen text which completed
it, the robin-redbreast suddenly flew away with an
alarmed chirp, and a man's head, covered with a lux-
uriant crop of roughly curling white hair, rose, as it
seemed, out of the very ground, goblin-wise, and
looked at him inquisitively. Startled, yet by no
means afraid, Lionel stepped back a few paces.
" Hulloa !" said the head. " Doan't be skeer'd,
little zur ! I be only a-diggin' fur Mother Twiley."
The accent in which these words were spoken was
extremely gentle, even musical, despite its provincial
intonation, and Lionel's momentary misgiving was
instantly dispelled. Full of curiosity he advanced
and discovered the speaker to be a big, broad-shoul-
dered and exceedingly handsome man, the bulk of
whose figure was partially hidden in a dark, squarely-
cut pit of earth, which the boy's instinct told him
was a grave.
" I'm not scared at all, thank you," he said, lift-
ing his little red cap with the politeness which was
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 53
habitual to him " It was only because your head
came up so suddenly that I started ; I did not know
anybody was here at all except the robin that
flew away just now. What a big hole you are
making!"
" Aye !" And the man smiled, his clear blue eyes
sparkling with a cheery light as he turned over and
broke a black clod of earth with his spade,
" Mother Twiley allus liked plenty o' room ! Lor'
bless 'er ! When she was at her best, she 'minded
me of a haystack, a comfortable, soft sort o' hay-
stack for the chillern to play an' jump about on,
an' there was allus chillern round her for the matter
o' that. Well ! Now she's gone there's not a body
as has got a word agin her, an' that's more than can
be said for either kings or queens."
" Is she dead ?" asked Lionel, softly.
" Why, yes, s'fur as this world's consarned, she's
dead," was the reply "But, Lord! what's this
world ! Nuthin' ! Just a breath, an' we're done
wi't. It's the next world we've got to look to, little
zur, the next world is what we should all be a-
workin' fur day an' night.
" ' There's a glory o' the moon
An' a glory o' the stars,
But the glory o' the angels shines
Beyond our prison bars !' "
5*
54 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
He sang this verse melodiously in a rich sweet
baritone, digging the while and patting the sides of
the grave smooth as he worked.
Lionel sat down on one of the grassy mounds
and stared at him thoughtfully.
" How can you believe all that nonsense ?" he
asked, with reproachful solemnity " Such a big
man as you are, too !"
The grave-digger stopped abruptly in his toil, and
turning round, surveyed the little lad with undis-
guised astonishment.
" How can I believe all that nonsense ?" he re-
peated at last, slowly, " Nonsense ? Is a wee
mousie like you a-talkin' o' the blessed sure an'
certain hope o' heaven as nonsense ? God ha' mercy
on ye, ye poor little thing ! Who has had the
bringin' of ye up, anyway ?"
Lionel flushed deeply and his eyes smarted with
repressed tears. He was very lonely ; and he wanted
to talk to this cheery-looking man who had such a
soft musical voice and such a kindly smile, but now
he feared he had offended him.
" My name is Lionel, -Lionel Valliscourt," he
said, in low, rather tremulous tones, " I am the
only son of Mr. Valliscourt who has taken the big
house over there for the summer, that one, you
can just see the chimneys through the trees" and
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 55
he indicated the direction by a little wave of his
hand " And I have always had very clever men
for tutors ever since I was six years old, I shall be
eleven next birthday, and they have taught me lots
of things. And why I said the next world was
nonsense was because I have always been told so.
One would be very glad, of course, if it were true,
but then, it isn't true. It is only an idea, a sort of
legend. My father says nobody with any sense now-
adays believes it. Scientific books prove to you,
you know, that when you go into a grave like that"
and he pointed to the hole in which the white-haired
sexton stood, listening and inwardly marvelling,
"you are quite dead for ever, you never see the
sun any more, or hear the birds sing, and you never
find out why you were made at all, which I think is
very curious, and very cruel ; and you are eaten
up by the worms. Now it surely is nonsense, isn't
it, to think you can come to life again after you are
eaten by the worms ? and that is what I meant, when
I asked how you could believe such a thing. I hope
you will excuse me, I didn't wish to offend you."
The grave-digger still stood silent. His fine reso-
lute features expressed various emotions, wonder,
pain, pity, and something of indignation, then, all
at once these flitting shadows of thought melted
into a sunny smile of tenderness.
56 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" Offend me ? No indeed ! ye couldn't do that,
my little zur, if ye tried, ye're too much of a babby.
An' so ye're Mr. Valliscourt's son, eh ? well, I'm
Reuben Dale, the verger o' th' church here, an'
sexton, an' road-mender, an' carpenter, an' anything
else wotsoever my hand finds to do, I does it with
my might, purvided it harrums nobody an' gits me a
livin'. Now ye see these arms o' mine" and he
raised one of the brown muscular limbs alluded to,
" They ha' served me well, they ha' earned bread
an' clothing, an' kep' wife an' child, an' please God
they'll serve me yet many a long day, an' I'm grateful
to have 'em for use an' hard labour,-rbut I know the
time '11 come when they '11 be laid down in a grave
like this 'ere, stark an' stiff an' decayin' away to the
bone, a-makin' soil fur vi'lets an' daises to grow over
me. But what o' that? I'll not be a-wantin' of 'em
then, no more than I'm a-wantin' now the long
clothes I wore when our passon baptised me at t' old
font yonder. I, who am, at present, owner o' these
arms, will be zumwheres else, livin' an' thinkin', an'
please the Lord, workin' too, for work's divine
an' wholesome, I'll 'ave better limbs mebbe, an'
stronger, but wotsoever body I get into ye may
depend on't, little zur, it '11 be as right an' fittin' for
the ways o' the next world as the body I've got
now is right an' fittin' fur this one. An' my soul
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 57
will be the same as keeps me up at this moment,
bad or good, onny I pray it may get a bit wiser
an' better, an' not go down like." He raised his
clear blue eyes to the bright expanse above him, and
murmured half inaudibly, " Let him that thinketh he
standeth, take heed lest he fall" and seemed for a
moment lost in meditation.
" Please, Mr. Mr. Dale, what do you mean by
your soul ?" asked Lionel, gravely.
Reuben Dale brought his rapt gaze down from the
shining sky to the quaint and solemn little figure
before him.
" What do I mean, my dear ?" he echoed, with a
note of compassion vibrating in his rich voice " I
mean the onny livin' part o' me, the ' vital spark o'
heavenly flame ' in all of us that our dear Lord died
to save. That's what I mean, an' that's what you'll
mean too, ye poor pale little chap, when ye'se
growed up and begins to unnerstand all the marvels
o' God's goodness to us ungrateful sinners. Onny
to think o' the blessed sunshine should be enough
fur the givin* o' thanks, but Lord pity us ! we're
sore forgetful of all our daily mercies !"
" And your friend, Mother Twiley," hinted
Lionel, almost deferentially, " Had she what you
call a soul ?"
" Aye, that she had ! an' a great one, an' a true
58 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
one, an' an angel one, fur all that she wor old, an'
not so well-looking in her body as she must ha' been
in her mind," replied the sexton " But ye may be
sure God found her right beautiful in His sight when
He tuk her to Himself t'other evening just as the
stars were risin.' "
" But how do you know," persisted Lionel, who
was getting deeply, almost painfully interested in the
conversation " Do tell me, please ! how do you
know she had a soul ?"
" My dear, when you see a very poor old woman,
with nothing of world's comfort or world's goods
about her, bearing a humble an' hard lot in peace an'
contentment, wi' a cheerful face an' bright eye, a
smile for every one, a heart fur the childer, forgive-
ness for the wrongdoers, an' charity for all, who can
look back on eighty years o' life with a ' Praise God'
for every breath of it, you may be sure that some-
thin' better an' higher than the mere poor, worn,
tired body o' her, keeps 'er firm to 'er work an' true
to her friends, an' so 'twas with Mother Twiley. S'
fur as her body went 'twas just a trouble to her,
twitched wi' rheumatiz, an' difficult to manage in the
matter o' mere breathing, but her soul was straight
enough an' strong enough. Lord, 'ere in Comb-
martin we knew her soul so well that we forgot all
about the poor old case it lived in, I hardly think
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 59
we saw it ! Our bodies are weak, bothersome things,
my dear, an' without a soul to help 'em along we
should never keep 'em going."
" I believe that," said Lionel, heaving a little
sigh, " I can't help believing it though it's not what
I've been taught. My body is weak ; it aches all
over often. Still, I think, Mr. Dale, that souls, such
as you talk about, must be exceptions, you know.
Like blue eyes, for instance, everybody hasn't
got blue eyes ; well, perhaps everybody hasn't got a
soul. You see that might be how it is. My father
would be very angry if you told him he had a soul.
And I know he will never let me have one, not even
if I could grow it somehow."
Reuben Dale was speechless. He gazed at the
boy's small sad face in wonder too great for words.
Himself a simple-hearted God-fearing man who had
lived all his life at Combmartin, working hard for his
daily bread, and entirely contented with his humble
lot, he had never heard of the feverish and foolish
discussions held in over-populated cities, where de-
luded men and women shut out God from their con-
sciences as they shut out the blue sky by the toppling
height and close crowding together of their hideous
houses, where the very press teaches blasphemy
and atheism, and permits to pass into the hands of
the public, with praise and recommendation, such
60 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
lewd books as might move even a Rabelais to sick
abhorrence. And he certainly had never deemed it
possible that any form of government could exist in
the world, which favoured the bringing up and edu-
cation of children without religion. He had heard
of France,- but he was not aware that it had es-
chewed religion from its public schools and was rap-
idly becoming a mere forcing-bed for the production
of child-thieves, child-murderers, and child-parricides.
He believed in England as he believed in God, with
that complete and glorious faith in mother-country
which makes the nation great, and it would have
been a shock to his steadfast, deeply religious nature,
had he been told that even this beloved England of
ours, misled by those who should have been her best
guardians, was accepting lessons from France in
open atheism, " Simianism " and general " free " mo-
rality. Thus, the child that sat before him was a
kind of unnatural prodigy to his sight, the little
pale face framed in an aureole of fair curling hair
might have aptly fitted an angel, but the elderly
manner, the methodical, precise fashion in which
this young thing spoke seemed to honest Reuben
" uncanny," and he ruffled his beard with one hand
in dire perplexity, quite taken aback, and at a loss
how to continue the conversation. For how could
he give any instruction in the art of " growing " a
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 6 1
soul ? Happily, however, a diversion here occurred
in the sudden almost noiseless approach of a tiny
girl, with the prettiest little face imaginable, that
peered out like a pink rose from under a white
" poke" sun-bonnet and a tangle of nut-brown curls,
a little girl who appeared to Lionel's eyes like a
vision of Helen of Troy in miniature, so lovely and
dainty was her aspect. He had never been allowed
to read any fairy-tales, so he could not liken her to a
fairy, which would have been more natural, but he
had done a lot of heavy translation-work in Homer,
and he knew that all the heroes in the " Iliad" quar-
relled about this Helen, and that she was very beau-
tiful. Therefore he immediately decided that Helen
of Troy when she was a little girl (she must have
been a little girl once !) was exactly like the charm-
ing small person who now came towards him, car-
rying a wicker basket on her arm, and tripping
across graves as delicately as though she were noth-
ing but a blossom blown over them by the summer
breeze.
" Halloa !" exclaimed Reuben Dale, throwing
down his spade, " Here's my little 'un ! Well, my
Jas'min flower ! Bringin' a snack for th' old
feyther ?"
At this query the little girl smiled, creating a
luminous effect beneath her poke-bonnet as though
6
62 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
a sunbeam were caught within it, then she made a
small round O of her tiny red mouth, with the
evident intention to thereby convey a hint of some-
thing delicious. And finally she opened her basket,
and took out a brown jug, full of hot fragrant coffee,
lavishly frothed at the top with cream, and two big
slices of home-made bread and butter.
" Is that right, feyther ?" she inquired, as she
carefully set these delicacies on the edge of the
grave within her father's reach.
" That's right, my bird !" responded Reuben,
lifting her in his arms high above his head, and
giving her a sounding kiss on both her rosy cheeks
as he put her down again " An* look 'ere, Jessa-
mine, there's a little gemmun for ye to talk to. Go
an' say how-d'y-do to 'im."
Thus commanded, Jessamine obeyed, strictly to
the letter. She went to where Lionel sat admiringly
watching her, and put out her dumpy mite of a hand.
" How-d'y-do !" said she. And before Lionel
could utter a word in reply she had shaken her
curls defiantly, and run away ! The boy sprang up,
pained and perplexed ; Reuben Dale laughed.
"After her, my lad! Run! the run'll do ye
good! She's just like that at first, fur all the
world like a kitten, fond o* fun ! Ye'll find 'er a-
hidin' round the corner !"
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 63
Thus encouraged, Lionel ran, actually ran, a
thing he very seldom did. He became almost a
hero, like the big men of the " Iliad !" His " Helen"
was " a-hidin' round the corner," he was valiantly
determined to find her, and after dodging the little
white sun-bonnet round trees and over tombs till he
was well-nigh breathless, she, like all feminine things,
condescended to be caught at last, and to look shyly
in the face of her youthful captor.
" What boy be you ?" she asked, biting the string
of her sun-bonnet with an air of demure coquetry
" You be prutty, all th' boys roond 'ere be
oogly."
Oh, what an accent for a baby " Helen of Troy !"
and yet how charming it was to hear her say
"oogly," because she made another of those little
round O's of her mouth that suggested delicious-
ness, even the deliciousness of kissing. Lionel
thought he would like to kiss her, and coloured
hotly at the very idea. Meanwhile his " Helen of
Troy" continued her observation of him.
" Would 'ee like an aaple ?" she demanded, pro-
ducing a small, very rosy one from the depths of a
miniature pocket, " I'll gi' ye this if s'be ye'se let
me bite th' red bit oot."
If ever a young lady looked " fetching," as the
slang phrase expresses it, Miss Jessamine Dale did
64 THE MIGHTY A TOM.
so at that moment. What with the mischievous
light in her dark blue eyes, and the smile on her
little mouth as she suggested that she should " bite
th' red bit," and the altogether winsome, provoca-
tive, innocent allurement of her manner, Lionel
quite lost his head for the moment, and forgot every-
thing but the natural facts that he was a little boy
and she was a little girl. He laughed merrily,
such a laugh as he had not enjoyed for many a
weary day, and taking the apple from her hand
held it to her lips while she carefully closed her tiny
teeth on the "red bit" and secured it, the juice
dropping all over her dimpled chin.
" I'm to have the rest, am I ?" said Lionel, then,
venturing to hold her by the arm and assist her over
a very large and very ancient grave, wherein reposed,
as the half-broken tombstone said, " Ye Bodie of
Martha Dumphy, Aged Ninety-seven Yeeres."
Long, long ago lived Martha Dumphy, long, long
ago she died, but could anything of her have still
been conscious, she would have felt no offence or
sacrilege in the tread of those innocent young feet
that sprang so lightly over her last resting-place.
" Yes, you're to 'ave the rest," replied Jessamine,
benevolently, then with an infinite slyness and hu-
mour she added " I've got 'nuther i' my poacket !"
How they laughed, to be sure ! Forgetful of" Ye
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 65
Bodie of Martha Dumphy," they sat down on the
grass that covered her old bones, and enjoyed their
apples to the full, Miss Jessamine generously be-
stowing the " red bit" of the second apple on Lionel,
who, though he was not really hungry, found some-
thing curiously appetising in these stray morsels of
juicy fruit lately plucked from the tree.
" Coom into th' church," then said Jessamine,
" Feyther's left the door open. Coom an' see th' big
lilies on th' Lord's table."
Lionel looked into her lovely little face, feeling
singularly embarrassed by this invitation. He knew
what she meant, of course, he had been duly in-
structed in the form of the Christian " myth," as a
myth only, in company with all the other creeds
known to history. They had been bracketed to-
gether for his study and consideration in a group of
twelve, thus :
1. Of Phta, and the Egyptian mythology.
2. Of Brahma, Vishnu and the Hindoo Cults.
3. Of the Chaldean and Phrenician creeds.
4. Of the Greek and Roman gods.
5. Of Buddha and Buddhism.
6. Of Confucius and the Chinese sects.
7. Of the Mexican mythology.
8. Of Odin and the Norse beliefs.
9. Of Mohammedanism and the Koran.
e 6*
66 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
10. Of the Talmud and Jewish tradition.
11. Of Christ, and the gradual founding of the
Christian myth, on the relics of Greek and Roman
Paganism.
12. Of the Advance of Positivism and Pure
Reason, in which all these creeds are proved to
be without foundation, and merely serving as
obstacles to the Intellectual Progress of Man.
The above " schedule" had formed a very special
and particular part of Lionel's education, and he
had been carefully taught that only semi-barbarians
believed nowadays in anything divine or super-
natural. The intellectual classes fully understood,
so he was told, that there was no God, and that
the First Cause of the universe was merely an
Atom, productive of other atoms which moved in
circles of fortuitous regularity, shaping worlds in-
differently, and without any Mind-force whatever
behind the visible Matter. Thus had the intel-
lectual classes fathomed the Eternal, entirely to
their own satisfaction, and, of course, he, poor
little Lionel, was being brought up to take his
place among the intellectual classes, where his
father was already a shining light of dogmatic
pedantry. He was assured that only the poor,
the ignorant, and the feeble-minded still appealed
to God as " Our Father," and believed in the
THE MIGHTY ATOM, 67
socialist workman, Jesus of Nazareth, as a Divine
Personage whose way of life and death had shown
all men the road to Heaven. One of the chief
faults found with Willie Montrose as a tutor had
been his implicit faith in these supernatural things,
and his point-black refusal to teach his young pupil
otherwise. Hence the subject, Religion, had been
removed altogether from Lionel's " course of study,"
and the unswerving firmness Montrose had shown
on the matter had led, among other more trifling
drawbacks, to his dismissal. All this was fresh in
the boy's mind, and now Jessamine said, " Coom
an' see th' big lilies on th' Lord's table!" She,
then, was one of the " semi-barbarians," this pretty
little girl, and yet how happy she seemed ! what
an innocent, dove-like expression of tenderness and
trust shone in her eyes as she spoke ! How very
young she was ! and alas, how very old he felt as
he looked at her! She knew so little, he had
learned so much, and though he was but four
years her senior, he seemed in his own pained
consciousness to be an elderly man studying the
merry pranks of a child.
" Coom!" repeated Jessamine, her "coom" sound-
ing very like the soft note of a ring-dove, as she got
up from the grassy bed of " Martha Dumphy's" ever-
lasting sleep " It be cool i' th' church, we'll sit i'
68 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
th' poopit an' y' shall tell me a story 'bout Heaven.
Y' know all 'bout angels, don't 'ee ? How they
cooms down all in white an' kisses us when we'se in
bed asleep ? Did ever any of 'em kiss 'ee ?"
Lionel's lonely little heart beat strangely. An
angel kiss him! what a sweet fancy, but how
foolish ! Yet with Jessamine's face so near his own
he could not tell her that he did not believe in
angels, she looked so like a little one herself. So
he answered her quaint question with a simple
" No !"
" I would ha' thowt they did," continued Jessa-
mine, encouragingly "Ye bain't a bad boy, be
ye?"
Lionel smiled rather plaintively.
" Perhaps I am," he said, " and perhaps that's
why the angels don't come."
" My mother's an angel," "went on Jessamine
" She couldn't abear bein' away from God no longer
an' so she flew to Heaven one night quite suddint,
with big white wings an' a star on her head. Feyther
says she often flies doon jes' for a minute like an'
kisses 'im, an' me, too, when we'se asleep. Auntie
Kate takes care of us since she went."
" Then she is dead ?" queried Lionel.
" Nowt o' that," replied Jessamine, peacefully
" Hasn't I told 'ee she's an angel ?"
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 69
" But have you ever seen her since she went
away ?" persisted the boy.
" No. I hain't good enough" and a small sigh
of pathetic self-reproach heaved the baby breast
" I'se very little yet, an' bad offen. But I'll see her
some day for sure."
Lionel could find nothing to say to this, and in
another minute they had entered the church to-
gether. The subtle sweet fragrance of the "big
lilies on th' Lord's table" came floating towards
them on a cool breath of air as the heavy old
oaken door swung open and closed again, and they
paused in the aisle, hand in hand, looking gravely
up and down, first at the tall white flowers that
filled the gilt vases on either side of the altar, mys-
tically suggesting in their snowy stateliness, the
words, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
see God ;" then, at the patterns of blue, red, and
amber cast on the stone pavement by the reflections
of the sun through the stained -glass windows. The
ancient roof with its crookedly planned oak mould-
ings of the very earliest English style of archi-
tecture, had a grave and darkening effect on the
sunshine, and the solemn hush of the place, ex-
pressive of past prayer, impressed Lionel with a
sweet yet unfamiliar sense of rest. Jessamine
grasped his hand closer.
70 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" Coom into th' poopit," she whispered " There
be soft cushions there an' a big, big Bible, I'll show
'ee a pictur" here she opened her eyes very wide
" my pictur ! my own very best pictur !"
Somewhat curious to see this treasure, Lionel
climbed with her up the pulpit-stairs, feeling that he
was really having what might be called an adven-
ture on this his stolen holiday. Jessamine was
evidently quite familiar with the pulpit as a coign of
vantage, for she hauled the big Bible she had spoken
of out of its recess with much care and much breath-
less labour and placed it on a velvet cushion on the
floor. Then she curled herself down beside it and,
turning over a few pages, beckoned Lionel to kneel
and look also.
" Here 'tis !" she said, with a soft chuckle of
rapture " See ! See this prutty boy ! you's some-
thin' a bit like, aint'y? An' see all these oogly ole
men ! They'se wise people, so they thinks. An'
th' prutty boy's tellin' 'em how silly they be, an' aw'
in a muddle wi' their books an' larnin', an' how
good God is, an' all 'bout Heaven, see ! An'
they'se very angry wi'm an' 'stonished, 'cos He's
onny a boy, an' they'se all ol' men as cross as sticks.
An' there He is y' see, an' He knows all about what
they oogly men doan't know, 'cos He's the little
Jesus."
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 71
The subject of the picture was Christ expounding
the Law to the doctors of the Temple, and Lionel
studied it with an almost passionate interest. Only
a boy! and yet in His boyhood He was able to
teach the would-be wise men of His day ! " Though,"
thought Lionel, with his usual melancholy cynicism,
" perhaps they were not really wise, and that is why
He found it easy."
Meanwhile Jessamine having gloated over her " own
best pictur" sufficiently, shut the book, put it relig-
iously back in its place, and sat herself down beside
her companion on the top step of the pulpit-stair.
" Wot's y' name ?" she demanded.
" Lionel," he answered.
" Li'nel ? How funny ! Wot's Li'nel ? 'Tain't a
flower?"
" No. Your name is a flower."
" 'Iss ! Our jess'mine tree was all over bloom the
mornin' I was born, an' that's why I'm called Jessa-
mine. I likes my name better'n your'n."
" So do I," said Lionel, smiling " Mine is not
nearly such a pretty name. My mother calls me
Lylie."
" I likes that, that's prutty, I'se cally* Lylie,
too," declared Miss Jessamine promptly, and as she
spoke she slipped an arm confidingly round his neck
" You be a nice boy, Lylie ! Now tell me a story !"
CHAPTER V.
LIONEL gazed at her in deeper perplexity than
ever. What story could he tell her? He knew
none that were likely to charm or interest a creature
so extremely young. It was very delightful to feel
her warm chubby arm round his neck and to see her
dear little face so close to his own, and he thought,
as he looked, that he had never seen such beautiful
blue eyes before, not even his mother's, which he had
till now considered beautiful enough. But Jessa-
mine's eyes had such heavenly sweetness in their
liquid depths, and something moreover beyond mere
sweetness, the untroubled light of a spotless inno-
cence such as sometimes makes the softly-tinted cup
of a woodland flower remind one involuntarily of a
child's eyes. Only a very few flowers convey this
impression, the delicate azure circle of the hepatica,
the dark purple centre of the pansy, the pensive
blue of the harebell, the frank smiling sky-tint of
the forget-me-not, or the iris-veined heart of the
Egyptian lotus. But the child-look is in such blos-
soms, and we often recognise it when we come sud-
denly upon them peering heavenwards out of the
green tangles of grass and fern. Jessamine's eyes
72
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 73
were a mixture of grave pansy-hues and laughing
forget-me-nots, and when she smiled both these
flowers appeared to meet with a pretty rivalry in her
shining glances. And once again Lionel thought of
Helen of Troy.
" Ain't 'ee got no story ?" quoth she, presently,
after waiting a patient two minutes " What book
be that there ?"
And she put a dumpy little red finger on the copy
of Homer left behind by Willie Montrose and still
carried under Lionel's arm.
" It's Homer," replied the boy, promptly " My
tutor went away by the first coach this morning and
he forgot to take it with him. It's his book, and a
favourite copy, I must send it to him by post."
" 'Iss, 'ee must send it to him," echoed Jessamine,
approvingly " What be 'Omer ?"
" He was a great poet, the first great poet that
ever lived, so far as history knows, and he was an
ancient Greek " explained Lionel " He lived oh,
ages ago. He tells all about the Trojan wars in this
book ; it's an epic."
"What's epik?" inquired Jessamine " An' what's
Drojun wors ?"
Lionel laughed softly. The gravity of the old
church roof hung over him, otherwise his laughter
would have been less restrained.
74 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" You wouldn't understand it, if I told you, dear,"
he said, becoming suddenly protective and manful as
he realised her delightful ignorance and weakness
" Homer was a poet, do you know what poetry is ?"
" 'Iss, 'deed I do !" declared Jessamine, allowing
her head to droop caressingly on his shoulder " I've
'eerd a lot o't. I'll tell you some, it be like this,
" ' Gentle Jesus, meek an' mild,
Look upon a little child,
Pity my simplicitzV,
An' suffer me to come to Thee ! ' "
She looked up as she finished the familiar stanza
with one of her radiant baby smiles.
" Didn't I say that nice ?" she demanded.
" Very nice !" murmured Lionel, while thoughts
were flying round and round in his brain concerning
the " semi-barbarians who still believed in the Chris-
tian myth," which was one of his father's constantly
repeated and favourite phrases.
" Now tell me some more 'Omer an' Drojun wors"
she said, nestling against him like a soft kitten
" Is it 'bout angels ?"
" No," replied Lionel, " It is all about great big
men, very big men "
" Too big to get into this church ?" queried Jessa-
mine in awe-struck tones.
" Yes I believe they would have been too big to
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 75
get into this church" said Lionel, smiling involun-
tarily "And they all fought about a lady called
Helen, who was the most beautiful woman in the
world."
" Why did she let 'em fight ?" asked Jessamine
gravely " She was not a good lady to let the poor
big men fight an* 'urt theirselves for 'er. She should
'ave made 'em all friends."
" She couldn't" said Lionel " You see they
wouldn't be friends."
" They must ha' been funny big men !" murmured
Jessamine " Where be they all now?"
" Oh, dead ever so long ago !" laughed the boy
" Some people say they never lived at all !"
" Oh, then it's all fairy-tale like Puss-in-Boots,"
said Jessamine "Your Drojun wors is a fairy-book
like mine. Only I like Puss-in-Boots better. Do
'ee know my fairy-book ?"
Lionel had never had what is called a " fairy-
book" in his life, fairy-books having been considered
by his father in the same light as that with which
Mr. H. Holman, one of Her Majesty's Inspectors
of Schools, recently regarded them, publicly de-
nouncing them as " dangerous to morality and mis-
chievous as to knowledge, contradicting the most
obvious and elementary facts of experience." (Alas,
good Dry-as-Dust Holman ! How much thou art
76 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
to be pitied for never having been in the least young !
And dost thou not realise that Religion itself in all
its forms of creed, " contradicts the most obvious
and elementary facts of experience" ?) The little
Lionel was unacquainted with Mr. Holman, but he
knew his own father's stern contempt for fairy-tales,
even for those which have, in many cases, strangely
foretold some of the most brilliant recent discoveries
in science, so he replied to Jessamine's question by
a negative shake of his head, the while he gazed
admiringly at the nut-brown curls that rippled in
charming disarray on bis shoulder.
" I'll tell 'ee somethin' in it," she continued, with
the thinking, dreamy air of a child-angel rapt in
some sublime reverie " There wos once a little girl
an' a little boy, 'bout s' big as we be, they wos good
an* prutty, an' they'd got a bad, bad ole uncle. He
couldn't abide 'em 'cos they wos s' good an' 'e wos
s' bad; so one day 'e took 'em out in a great big
dark wood where no sun couldn't shine, an' there
'e lost 'em both. An' when they wos lost, they
walked 'bout, up an' down, an' couldn't get out
nohow, an' they got tired an' 'ungry, an' so they laid
down an' said their prayers, an' put their arms round
each other's necks, so " and here Jessamine cud-
dled closer "an' died jest right off, 'an' God took
'em straight to Heaven. An' then all the robin-red-
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 77
breasts F th' wood were sorry 'bout it, an' they came
an' covered 'em all over wi' beautiful red an* green
leaves, 'cos God told the robins to bury 'em jest so,
'cos they wos good an' their ole uncle was bad, an'
the robins did jest what God told 'em." Her voice
died away in a soft croodling whisper, and her eye-
lids drooped. " Was that a nice story ?" she asked.
" Very !" responded Lionel, almost paternally, feel-
ing quite old and wise, as he ventured now to put
his own arm round her.
"I fink," murmured Jessamine then "that 'oor
bad ole Drojun wors 'as made me sleepy."
And as a matter of fact, in a couple of minutes, the
little maiden was fast asleep, her pretty mouth half
open like a tiny rosebud, and the light rise and fall
of her breathing suggesting the delicate palpitations
of a dove's breast. Lionel sat very quiet, still encir-
cling her with his arm, and looked dreamily about
him. He studied the altar-screen immediately in
front of him, regarding with somewhat of a gravely
inquiring air the ancient, roughly carved oaken figures
of the twelve apostles that partly formed it. He
knew all about them of course, that they were
originally common fishermen picked up on the
shores of Galilee by Jesus the son of Joseph the car-
penter, and that they went about with Him every-
where while He preached the new strange Gospel of
78 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
Love which seemed like madness to a world of con-
tention, envy, and malice. They were just poor
ordinary men ; not kings, not warriors, not nobly
born, not distinguished for either learning or cour-
age, and yet they had become far greater in history
than any monarch that ever lived, they were evan-
gelists, saints, nay almost secondary gods in the
opinion of a section of " semi-barbaric" mankind. It
was very strange ! very strange indeed, thought
Lionel as he gazed earnestly at their quaint wooden
faces, and stranger still that a mere man who was a
carpenter's son should have made the larger and
more civilised portion of humanity believe in Him as
God for more than eighteen hundred years ! What
had He done? Why nothing, but good. What
had He taught ? Nothing but purity and unselfish-
ness. What was He ? A determined reformer, who
strove to upset the hard and fast laws of Jewish tra-
dition, and unite all classes in one broad and holy
creed of love to God and Brotherhood, a union of
the Divine and Human which should ultimately lead
to perfection. Even the various tutors who had
taken their several turns at setting poor Lionel's
little mind like a knife to the grindstone of learning,
had been unable to say otherwise than that this
Nazarene carpenter's son was good and wise and
brave. In goodness none ever surpassed Him, that
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 79
was certain. Socrates was wise and brave, but he
was not actually good ; many sins could be laid to
his charge, and the same could be asserted of all the
other famous moralists and philosophers who had
essayed to teach the various successive generations
of men. But against Christ nothing could be said.
True, He denounced the Jewish priesthood on the
score that they were hypocrites ; " and surely,"
thought Lionel with a prescience beyond his years
" He would have to denounce the Christian priest-
hood too if it is true, as my father says that they all
preach what they don't believe, simply to gain a
living." He sighed, and his eyes wandered to
the " big lilies on th' Lord's table" with a wistful
yearning. Those great white cups of fragrance !
with what sweet pride they stood up, each on its
green stem and silently breathed out praise to the
Creator of their loveliness ! " Behold the lilies of the
field ! they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I
say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these." How true that was!
Put " Solomon in all his glory" or any monarch that
ever existed beside " one of these" tall fair flowers,
and he, in his coronation-robes and crown, would
seem but a mere doll-puppet decked out in tawdry
tinsel. Lionel drew the little Jessamine closer to
him as she slept, and sighed again, the unconscious
80 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
sigh of a tired young thing overweighted with
thought, and longing for rest and tenderness. The
summer sunlight streamed down upon the two chil-
dren with a broad beneficence, as though the love of
Christ for the weak and helpless were mixed with the
golden rays, as though the very silence and purity
of the light expressed the Divine meaning, " These
' little ones' are Mine as the lilies are Mine ! Suffer
them to come to Me and forbid them not, for of such
is the Kingdom of Heaven." And as Lionel mused
and dreamed, becoming gradually drowsy himself, the
church-door swung softly open, and Reuben Dale
the verger entered with another and younger man
who carried a roll of music under his arm, and who
immediately ascended alone to the organ-loft. Dale
meanwhile paused, lifting his cap reverently and
looking about him in evident search for his little
girl. Lionel beckoned to him from the pulpit-stairs,
at the same time laying a ringer on his lips to inti-
mate that Jessamine was asleep. Honest Reuben
advanced on tip-toe, and surveyed the two small
creatures encircled in one another's arms, with undis-
guised and good-natured admiration.
" Now that's jest prutty !" he murmured, inaudibly
to himself " An' as nat'ral as two young burrds.
An" yon poor pale little lad looks a'most as if he
was 'appy for once in's life !"
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 8 1
At that moment a solemn chord of sound stirred
the air, the organist had commenced his daily
practice, and was deftly unweaving the melodious
intricacies of a stately fugue of Bach's, made doubly
rich in tone by the grave pedal-bass with which it
was sustained and accompanied. Lionel started,
and Jessamine awoke. Rubbing her chubby little
fists into her eyes, she sat up, yawned and stared,
then smiled bewitchingly as she saw her father.
" We wos babes i' th' wood," she explained,
sweetly " An' we wos waitin' fur the robins to come
an' cover us up. Onny I 'specs they couldn't git
froo th' windows to bring th' leaves."
" I 'specs not, indeed !" said Dale, the kind smile
broadening on his mouth and lighting up his fine
eyes " Now ye jest coom out o' that there poopit,
ye little pixie it's dinner-time an' we'se goin*
'ome."
Jessamine rose promptly and skipped down the
pulpit-stairs, Lionel following her.
" Coom along wi' us," she said, taking him affec-
tionately by the arm "Ain't 'e a'-coomin,' feyther?
'e be a rare nice boy !"
" If s' be as 'e likes to coom, why sartinly an'
welcome !" responded Reuben, " But he's a little
gemmum as 'as got a feyther an' mother o's own,
an' mebbe they wants "im."
82 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
Lionel stood silent and inert. They were going
away " home," this cheery verger and his pretty
child, and the old creeping sense of oppression and
loneliness stole over the boy's mind and chilled his
heart. The music surging out from the organ-loft
moved him strangely to thoughts hitherto unfamiliar,
and he thought he would stay alone in the church
and listen, and try to understand the subtle meaning
of such glorious, yet wordless eloquence. It seemed
like angels singing, only there were no angels ! it
made one fancy the gates of Heaven were open,
only there was no Heaven ! it suggested God's
great voice speaking tenderly, only there was no
God! A deep sigh broke from him, and all un-
consciously two big tears rose in his eyes and
splashed down wet and glistening on his little blue
woollen vest. In a second the impulsive Jessamine
had thrown her arms about him.
" O don't 'ee ky !" she crooned fondly in his ear
" We'se both goin' 'ome wi' feyther, an' 'e'll be kind
t' ye ! An' when we've 'ad our dinner I'll show 'ee
my dee ole 'oss ! such a nice ole 'oss 'e be !"
Despite himself, Lionel laughed, though his lips
still trembled. Poor boy, he could hardly himself
understand the cause of his own emotion, why his
heart had given that sudden heave of pain, why the
tears had come, or why he had felt so desolately,
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 83
sorrowfully alone in a huge, cold, pitiless world,
but he was grateful to Jessamine all the same for
her sympathy. Reuben Dale meanwhile had been
studying him gravely and curiously.
" Would 'ee reely like to coom an" take a snack
wi' us, little zur ?" he asked gently and with a cer-
tain deference " Ours is onny a poor cottage, ye
know, an* sadly out o' repair, we'se 'ad no lord o'
th' manor coom nigh us for many a year to look
arter us an' see how we be a-farin', none o' them
fine folks cares for either our souls or bodies, pur-
vidin' they gits their money out o' our labour an'
worrit. All we 'as by way o' remembrance from
'em is a ' love-letter' twice a year a-claimin' o' their
rent, they never fails to send us that 'ffectionate
message" and his eyes twinkled humorously " but
as fur puttin' a new fence or a new roof or makin'
of us comfortabler like for our money, Lor' bless 'ee,
they never thinks o't. But if ye'll take us as ye find
us, ye'll be right welcome to coom on an' play wi'
Jessamine a bit longer."
" Thank you very much, I should dearly like to
come," said Lionel, wistfully " You see I am all
alone just now, my tutor went away this morning,
and another tutor is coming to-night to take his
place, but in the meantime there is nothing for me
to do, as the plan of my studies is going to be
84 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
changed, it is always being changed, and so I
may as well be here as at home. I am giving my-
self a holiday to-day " here he raised his eyes and
looked Reuben Dale straight in the face " and I
wish to tell you, Mr. Dale, that I am doing it with-
out my father's knowledge or permission. I am so
tired of books ! and I love to be out in the fresh
air. Of course now you know this, you mayn't wish
to have me, but then if you will please say so, I will
go into the woods for the rest of the day, or stay by
myself in the church. I should like to see more of
the church, it interests me."
Dale regarded the little fellow steadfastly, first in
doubt and perplexity, then with a broadening smile.
" Tired o' books, be 'ee ?" he queried" Well !
ye're young enough, sure-/y / An' books can wait
awhile for ye. Reyther than go wanderin' i' th'
woods by y'self, ye'd better coom along wi' me an*
Jessamine, onny mind, ye must tell yer feyther
where ye ha' been, ye must be sartin zure o' that!"
" Of course I'll tell him," responded Lionel, man-
fully " I always tell him everything, no matter how
angry he is. You see he is very often angry, what-
ever I do or say, though he means it all for my
good. He is a very good man, he has never done
anything wrong in all his life !"
" Ay, ay ! Then he's jest a miracle !" said Reuben,
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 85
drily, " Well now, little zur, Tore we goes I'll take
ye round th' church, there ain't much to see, but
what there is I know more about than anyone else in
Combmartin. Coom ! look at these 'ere altar-
gates."
He spoke in soft tones and trod softly as befitted
the sanctity of the place, and the two children fol-
lowed him, hand in hand, as he approached the
oaken screen and pointed out the twelve apostles
carved upon it.
" Now do 'ee know, little zur," said he, " why this
'ere carvin' is at least two hunner' years old an*
likely more'n that ?"
" No," answered Lionel, squeezing Jessamine's
little warm hand in his own, out of sheer comfort
at feeling that he was not to be separated from her
yet.
" Jest watch these 'ere gates as I pull 'em to an'
fro," continued Reuben, " Do what ye will wi'
'em, they won't shut, see !" and he proved the fact
beyond dispute, " That shows they wos made 'fore
the days o' Cromwell. For in they times all the
gates o' th' altars was copied arter the pattern o'
Scripture which sez ' An' the gates o' Heaven shall
never be shut, either by day or by night.' Then
when Cromwell came an' broke up the statues an'
tore down the picters or whited them out wheresever
86 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
they wos on th' walls, the altars wos made different,
wi' gates that shut an' locked, I s'pose 'e wos that
sing'ler afraid of idolatry that 'e thought the folks
might go an' worship th' Communion cup on th'
Lord's table. S'now ye'll be able to tell when ye
sees the inside of a church whether the altar-gates
is old or new, by this one thing, if they can't shut
they're 'fore Cromwell's day, if they can they're
wot's called modern gimcrackery. Now, see the
roof!"
Lionel looked up, much impressed by the verger's
learning.
11 Folks 'as bin 'ere an' said quite wise-like ' O
that roof's quite modern,' but 'tain't nuthin' o' th'
sort. See them oak mouldings ? not one o' them's
straight, not a line ! They couldn't get 'em exact
in them days, they wasn't clever enough. So
they're all crooked an' 'bout as old as th' altar-
screen, mebbe older, for if ye stand 'ere jest where
I be, ye'll see they all bend more one way than
t'other, makin' the whole roof look lop-sided like,
an' why's that d'ye think? Ye can't tell? Well,
they'd a reason for what they did in them there old
times an' a sentiment too, an' they made the
churches lean a bit to the side on which our Lord's
head bent on the Cross when He said' It is finished!'
Ye'll find nearly all th' old churches lean a bit that
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 87
way, it's a sign of age as well as a sign o' faith.
Now look at these 'ere figures on the pews, ain't
they all got their 'eads cut off?"
Lionel admitted that they had, with a grave little
nod, Jessamine, who copied his every gesture for
the moment, nodded too.
"That wos Cromwell's doin'," went on Reuben,
" 'E an' 'is men wos consumed-like wi' what they
called the fury o' holiness, an' they thought all these
figures wos false gods and symbols of idolatry, an'
they jest cut their 'eads off, executed 'em as 'twere,
like King Charles hisself. Now look up there,"
and he pointed to a narrow window on the left-hand
side of the chancel " There's a prutty colour comin'
through that bit o' glass ! It's the only mossel o'
real old stained glass i' th' church, an' it's a rare
sight older than the church itself. D'ye know how
to tell old stained glass from new ? No ? Well, I'll
tell ye. When it's old it's very thick, an' if ye put
your hand on its wrong side it's rough, very rough,
jest as if 'twere covered wi' baked cinders, that's
allus a sure an' sartin proof o' great age. Modern
stained glass ye'll find a'most as smooth an' polished
on its wrong side as on its right. Now, if ye coom
into th' vestry I'll show ye the real old chest what
wos used for Peter's pence when we wos under Papist
rule."
88 THE MIGHTY A TO AT.
He led the way across the central aisle, Lionel
followed, interested and curious, thinking mean-
while that this handsome white-haired verger could
not exactly be called a stupid man, or even a " semi-
barbarian," he was decidedly intelligent, and seemed
to know something about the facts of history.
"There's an old door fur ye!" he said, with
almost an air of triumph as he paused on the vestry
threshold and rapped his ringers lightly on the thick
oak panels of the ancient portal " That's older
than anything in the church I shouldn't a bit
wonder if it came out o' some sacred place o' Nor-
man worship, it looks like it. An' here's th' old
key" and he held up a quaint and heavy iron im-
plement that looked more like a screw-driver with a
cross handle than anything else, " An' here's Peter's
little money-box," showing a ponderous oak chest
some five feet long and three high " that 'ud 'old a
rare sight o' pennies, wouldn't it ! Now don't you
two chillern go a-tryin' to lift the lid, for it's mortal
'eavy, an' it 'ud crush your little 'ans to pulp in
a minnit. I'll let ye see the inside o't, there
y'are !"
And with a powerful effort of his sinewy arms he
threw it open, disclosing its black worm-eaten in-
terior, with a few old bits of tarnished silver lying
at the bottom, the fragments of a long disused Com-
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 89
munion-service. Lionel and Jessamine peered down
at these with immense inquisitiveness.
" Lor' bless me !" said Reuben, then, laughing a
little, " There's a deal of wot I calls silly faith
left in some o' they good Papist folk still. There
wos a nice ole leddy cam' 'ere last summer, an' she
believed that Peter hisself cam' down from Heaven
o' nights, an' tuk all the money offered 'im, specially
pennies, fur they'se the coins chiefly mentioned i* th'
Testament, an' she axed me to let 'er put a penny in,
I s'pose she thought the saint might be in want
o't. ' For, my good man,' sez she to me, ' 'ave you
never 'eerd that St. Peter still visits th' world, an'
when he cooms down 'ere it may be he might need
this penny o' mine to buy bread.' ' Do as ye like
marm/ sez I, ' it don't make no difference to me,
I'm sure !' Well, she put the penny in, bless 'er
'art ! an' this Christmas past I was a-cleanin' an*
rubbin' up everything i' th' church, an' in dustin'
out this 'ere box there I saw that penny, St. Peter
'adn't come arter it. So / just tuk it!" and he
chuckled softly " I tuk it an' giv' it to a poor ole
beggar-man outside the church-gate, so I played
Peter fur once i' my life, an' not s' badly I 'ope but
wot I shall be furgiven !"
The smile deepened at the corners of his mouth
and sparkled in his fine eyes as he shut the great
8*
9 o
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
coffer, and stood up in all his manly height and
breadth, surveying the two small creatures beside
him.
"Well, do 'ee like th' old church, little zur?" he
asked of Lionel, whose face expressed an intense
and melancholy gravity.
" Indeed I do !" answered the boy " But I think
I like the music even better, listen ! What is
that?" And he held up one hand with a gesture
of rapt attention.
"That's the hymn we allus sings on Harvest
Thanksgiving Sunday,
" ' Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee,' "
replied Reuben " It's a rare fine tune, an' fills th'
heart as well as th' voice. Now little 'uns coom
'ome to dinner!"
They passed out of the church into the warm
sunlit air, fragrant with the scent of roses, sweet-
briar and wild thyme, and drowsy with the hum
of honey-seeking bees, Reuben Dale calling Lionel's
attention as he went to a great iron ring which was
attached to the ancient door of entrance.
" Could 'ee tell me wot that ring's there for ?" he
demanded.
Lionel shook his head.
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 91
" Well, ye must ha' read in yer hist'ry books
'bout sanctuary privilege," said Reuben "When
any poor wretched thief or mis'rable sinner wos
bein' a-hunted through the country by all the
townspeople an' officers o' justice 'e 'ad but to
make straight for th' church-door an' ketch 'old
of a ring like this an' 'e was safe. It wos ' sanc-
tuary' an' no one dussn't lay a finger on 'im.
'Twos a rare Christian custom, it wos a'most as
if 'e 'ad laid 'old of our dear Saviour's garment
an' found the mercy as wos never denied by Him
to the weakest and wretchedest among us," con-
cluded Reuben, piously, raising his cap as he spoke
and looking up at the bright sky with a rapt ex-
pression, as though he saw an angel of protection
there " An' that's the meaning o' th' iron ring."
Lionel said nothing, but his thoughts were very
busy. He was only a small boy, but his store of
purely scientific information was great, and yet he
knew not whether to pity or envy this " semi-
barbarian" for his simple beliefs. " I should not
like to tell him that all the clever men nowadays
say that Christ is a myth" he considered, seriously
" I am sure it would vex him."
So he walked on soberly silent, holding the hand
of the little Jessamine who was equally mute, and
Reuben led the way out of the churchyard, across
92 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
the high road, and up a narrow street full of old-
fashioned, gable-windowed, crookedly-built houses
which at first sight appeared to lean over one
another in a curiously lop-sided helpless way, as
though lacking proper foundation and support. At
one of these, standing by itself in a little patch of
neatly trimmed garden, and covered with clusters of
full-flowering jessamine and wistaria, Dale stopped
and rapped on the door with his knuckles. It was
opened at once by a clean, mild-featured elderly
dame in a particularly large white apron, who opened
her lack-lustre yet kindly eyes in great astonishment
at the sight of Lionel.
"Auntie Kate! Auntie Kate!" exclaimed Jessa-
mine, eagerly " This be a little gemmun boy,
nice an' prutty 'e be ! we'se been playin' babes i'
th' wood an' Drojun wors all th' mornin' an' we'se
going' to 'ave our dinner an' see my ole 'oss arter-
wards !"
Auntie Kate did her best to understand this bril-
liant explanation on the part of her small niece, but
failing to entirely grasp its meaning, looked to Reu-
ben for further enlightenment.
" This is Master Valliscourt," said the verger,
then " The little son o' the gemmun wot 'as took
the big 'ouse yonder for summer. He's bin fagged-
like wi's lessons, an' 'e's just out on the truant, as
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 93
boys will be at times when they've got any boyhood
in 'em ; giv' 'im a bit an' a sup wi' us, Kitty, an' 'e'll
play a while longer wi' Jessamine 'fore 'e goes
'ome."
Auntie Kate nodded and smiled, then, in defer-
ence to " Master Valliscourt," curtseyed.
" Coom in, sir ! coom in, an' right welcome !"
said she " Sit 'ee down an' make 'eeself comfort-
able. Dinner's ready, an' there's naught to wait
for but jest to let Reuben wash 'is 'ands an' ask a
blessin.' Now my Jessamine girl, take off your
bonnit an' sit down prutty !"
Jessamine obeyed, dragging off the becoming
white sun-bonnet in such haste that she nearly tore
one of her own brown curls away with it. Lionel
uttered an exclamation of pain at the sight, and
went to detach the rebellious tress from the string
with which it had become knotted. He succeeded
in his effort, and when the bonnet was fairly taken
off, he thought the little maid looked prettier than
ever with her rough tumbled locks falling about
her and her rosy face like a blossom in the midst
of the chestnut tangle. Throwing off his own cap
he sat down beside her at the table, which was
covered with a coarse but clean cloth, and garnished
with black-handled steel forks and spoons, and so
waited patiently till Reuben came in from the wash-
94
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
ing of his hands, which he did very speedily. Auntie
Kate then lifted off the fire a black pot, steaming
with savoury odours, and poured out into a capa-
cious blue dish a mixture of meat and vegetables,
(more vegetables than meat) and set round plates
to match the dish. Reuben stood up and bowed
his head reverently ; " For what we are going to re-
ceive may the Lord make us truly thankful !" said
he, and Jessamine's sweet little cooing voice an-
swered, " Amen !" Whereupon they began the meal,
which though so poor and plain was good and
wholesome. Auntie Kate was no mean cook, and
she was famous in the village for a certain make of
" pear cordial," a glass of which she poured out for
Lionel, curtseying as she did so, and requested him
to taste it. He found it delicious ; and he likewise
discovered, to his own surprise, that he had an appe-
tite. It was very remarkable, he thought, that Reu-
ben Dale's frugal fare should have a better flavour
than anything he had ever had at his father's luxuri-
ously appointed table. He did not realise that the
respite from study, the temporary liberty he was en-
joying, and the romp with Jessamine had all given
room for his physical nature to breathe and expand,
and a sense of the actual pleasure of life when lived
healthily had roused his exhausted faculties to new
and delightful vigour. With this momentary de-
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 95
velopment of natural youthful energy had come
the appetite he wondered at, when the simplest food
seemed exquisite and Auntie Kate's " pear cordial"
suggested the ambrosial nectar quaffed by the gods
of Olympus. The dinner over, Reuben Dale again
stood up and said, " For what we have received may
the Lord make us truly thankful !" and once more
his little girl responded demurely, " Amen !" Then
he proceeded to fill and smoke a pipe before re-
turning to the churchyard to complete the digging
of " Mother Twiley's" last resting-place, and Jessa-
mine, still wearing the " pinny" her aunt had tied
round her while she ate her dinner, seized Lionel by
the hand and dragged him off to the " back yard,"
which was half garden, half shed, where Reuben
kept his tools, and where a couple of smart bantams
with their clucking little harem of prettily-feathered
wives and favourites, strutted about behind a wire
netting and imagined themselves the rulers of the
planet.
" Coom an' see my ole 'oss !" said Jessamine, ex-
citedly " Such a good ole 'oss 'e be ! 'Ere 'e is !
a-hidin' behin* th* wall ! See 'im ? O my bee oo
ful old 'oss !"
And she threw her arms round the neck of the
quadruped in question, which was nothing else but a
battered wooden toy that had evidently once been a
96 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
gallant steed on " rockers," but which now, without
either mane, tail, or eyes, and with only three shaky
legs and a stump of wood to support it, presented a
very sorry spectacle indeed. But to Jessamine this
" ole 'oss" was apparently the flower of all creation,
for she hugged it and kissed its pale nose, from
which the paint had long since been washed off by
wind and weather, with quite a passionate ar-
dour.
" Oh, my dee 1 ole 'oss !" she murmured, tenderly,
patting its hairless neck, " Do 'ee know why I loves
'ee ? 'Cos 'ee's poor an' ole, an' no one wants to
ride 'ee now but Jessamine ! Jessamine can get on
'ee's poor ole back wizout 'urtin' of 'ee, good ole
'oss! Kiss 'im, won't 'ee?" she added, turning to
Lionel, "Do 'ee kiss 'im ! it makes 'im feel comfort-
abler now 'e's poor an' ole !"
Who could resist such an appeal ! Who would
refuse to embrace a superannuated wooden rocking-
horse, described with so much sweetly pitiful fervour
as " poor an' ole" and therefore in need of affection-
ate consolement ! Not Lionel, despite the many
learned books he had studied, he fully entered into
the spirit of all this childish nonsense, and bending
over the dilapidated toy, he kissed its wan nose with
ardour in his turn.
" That's right !" cried Jessamine, clapping her
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 97
hands, delightedly " Now 'e feels 'appy ! Now 'e'll
give us a ride !"
And forthwith she clambered up on the gaunt and
worn back of her beloved steed, showing a pair of
little innocent-looking white legs as she did so, and
jerked herself up and down to imitate a gallop.
" Ain't 'e goin' well !" she exclaimed, breathlessly,
her hair blowing in a golden-brown tangle behind
her and her cheeks becoming rosier than the rosiest
apples with her exertions, while the laughter in her
pretty eyes rivalled the brightness of the sunlight
playing round her " Oh, 'e be a rare nice ole 'oss !
Now, Lylie, 'ee must git up an' 'ave a ride !"
Lionel started at the sound of his mother's pet
name for him, then he remembered he had told
it to Jessamine, and smiled as he thought how
sweet it sounded from her lips. And he answered
gently
" I'm afraid I'm too big, dear ! Your horse
couldn't carry me, I might hurt him."
"O no, 'ee won't 'urt 'im !" declared Jessamine,
springing lightly to the ground " Try an' git on
'im ! I'se sure 'e'll be good t'ye!"
Thus adjured, Lionel threw a leg across the
passive toy, and pretended to ride at full gallop as
Jessamine had done, much to the little maiden's
delight. She danced about and shrieked with
E g 9
9 8 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
ecstasy, till the bantams behind the wire netting
evidently thought the end of the world had come,
for they ran to and fro clucking in the wildest ex-
citement, no doubt imploring their special deities to
protect them from the terrible human thing that
showed its white legs and danced in the sun almost
as if it had as good a right to live as a well-bred
fowl. Reuben Dale, hearing the uproar and having
finished his pipe, came out to see what was going
on, and laughed almost as much as the children did,
now and then playfully urging the wooden steed to
a wilder exhibition of its " mettle" by a stentorian
"Gee-up, Dobbin!" which rather added to the general
hilarity of the scene. When the game was quite
over, and Lionel, flushed and full of merriment, re-
signed the " ole 'oss" to Jessamine, who at once
offered it a handful of hay and whispered tender
nothings in its broken ear, the verger said,
" Now, my little zur, I'm a-goin' back to my
work i' th' churchyard, for I must finish Mother
Twiley's bed 'fore nightfall. Ye'll find me there if
ye'se want me. If s'be ye care to stay on wi' Jessa-
mine a bit ye can, she's a lonesome little un' since
'er mother went to God, an' mebbe you're lone-
some too, a little play '11 do neither o' ye 'arm, an'
Auntie Kate's i' th' 'ouse all day an' she'll look arter
ye. But ye mustn't be away too long from yer
THE MIGHTY A TOM. 99
feyther an' mother, ye must git 'ome 'fore the sun
sets, my lad, promise me that !"
" Yes, Mr. Dale, I promise : and thank you !" re-
sponded Lionel, eagerly " I've had such a happy
time ! you don't know how happy ! I may come
again some day and see you and Jessamine, mayn't
I?"
" Why sartin zure ye may !" said Reuben, heartily,
" Purvidin' they makes no objections at your own
'ome, little zur, ye must make that clear an' straight
fust."
" Oh, yes ! of course !" murmured the boy, but
a shadow clouded his hitherto bright face. He knew
well enough that if his father were asked about it,
not only the acquaintance but also the very sight of
the kindly verger and his pretty child would be alto-
gether forbidden him. However, he said nothing of
this, and Reuben, after a few more cheery words,
strode off to the resumption of his labours. With
his departure a silence fell on the two little creatures
left alone together; the excitement engendered by
the " ole 'oss " had its reaction, and Jessamine grew
serious, even sad.
"\fink I wants my sun-bonnet," she remarked in
an injured tone " My facie burns."
Lionel ran into the house at once and obtained
the desired head-gear from Auntie Kate, whereupon
100 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
Miss Jessamine adjusted it sideways and peered at
him in a sudden fit of shyness.
" 'Specs 'ee'd better go 'ome now," she said, se-
verely " You'se tired of me an' my ole 'oss, I sees
you'se tired !"
"Tired, Jessamine! Indeed I'm not tired, I'll
play with you ever so long ! as long as you like.
What shall we do now ?"
"Nuffink!" replied the little lady, putting the
string of her bonnet in her mouth, which was a fa-
vourite habit of hers, and still regarding him with an
odd mixture of coyness and affection ; then, with
sudden and almost defiant energy, she added, " I
knows you'se tired of me, Lylie !"
" Now, Jessamine dear /" expostulated Lionel, with
quite a lover-like ardour, as he saw that the tiny
maiden was inclined to be petulant " Come and sit
under that beautiful big apple-tree !"
" My big apple-tree !" put in Jessamine, with an
air of grave correction " That's my tree, Lylie !"
" That's why it's such a nice one," declared Li-
onel, gallantly, taking her little hand in his own
" Come along and let us sit there, and you'll tell me
another story, or I'll tell you one. You know I'm
going away very soon and perhaps I shall never see
you again."
He sighed quite unconsciously as he said this, and
THE MIG PITY ATOM. ioi
Jessamine looked up at him with eyes that were an-
gelically lovely in their momentary gravity.
" Will 'ee be sorry ?" she asked.
" Very sorry ?" he answered " Dreadfully sorry !"
Jessamine's doubtful humour passed at this assur-
ance, and she allowed him to lead her unresist-
ingly to the big apple-tree, which was the chief orna-
ment of Reuben Dale's back garden, her tree,
against whose gnarled trunk a rough wooden seat
was set for shelter and repose.
" I'll be sorry, too !" she confessed " 'Specs I'll
ky when you'se gone, Lylie !"
There was something touching in this remark, or
they found it so, and a deep silence followed.
They sat down side by side, under the spreading
apple-boughs laden with ruddy fruit that shone with
a bright polish in the hot glow of the afternoon sun,
and holding each other's hands, were very quiet,
while round and round them flew butterflies and
bees, all intent on business or love-making, and a
linnet, who had just cooled his throat at the bantams'
water-trough, alighted on an opposite twig and es-
sayed a soft cadenza. There were a thousand sweet
suggestions in the warm air, too subtle for the
young things who sat so demurely together, hand in
hand, to perceive or comprehend ; the beautiful
things of God and Nature, which wordlessly teach
102 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
the eternal though unheeded lesson that happiness
and good are the chief designs and ultimate ends of
all creation, and that only Man's perverted will,
working for solely selfish purposes, makes havoc of
all that should be pure and fair. Yet even children
have certain meditative moments when they are
vaguely conscious of some great Beneficence ruling
their destinies, and some of them have been known
at a very early age to express the wonder as to why
God should be so good and their own parents so
bad!
" What will 'ee do when 'ee gits 'ome ?" inquired
Jessamine, presently " Will 'ee ky ?"
Lionel smiled rather bitterly. " No, Jessamine, it
would never do for me to cry," he said " I'm too
big."
" Too big !" she echoed " You'se onny a weeny
bit bigger 'n me! An' I'se little."
" Yes, but you're a girl," said Lionel " Girls
can cry if they like, but boys mustn't. I do cry
sometimes though, when I'm all by myself."
" I seed 'ee ky to-day," observed Jessamine,
gravely " I' th' church, jest 'fore we came 'ome to
dinner. What did 'ee ky then for ?"
" It was the music, I think," answered Lionel,
with a far-away look in his deep-set eyes " I'm very
fond of music, but it always seems sad to me. My
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
103
mother sings beautifully, but somehow I can never
bear to hear her sing, it makes me feel so
lonely."
Jessamine gazed at him sympathetically. He was
surely a very strange and funny boy to feel " lonely"
because his mother sang. Presently she essayed
another topic.
" I knows th' big 'ouse where 'ee lives," she an-
nounced " There's a 'ole in th' edge, an' I can creep
froo, into th' big garden ! I'll coom an' see 'oor
muzzer!"
This statement of her intentions rather startled
Lionel. He looked earnestly into her sweet blue
eyes.
" You mustn't do that, Jessamine, dear !" he said,
sadly "You would get scolded, I'm afraid. My
mother would not scold you, but I expect my
father would."
Jessamine put a finger into her mouth and sucked
it solemnly for a minute, then spoke with slightly
offended dignity.
" 'Oor feyther's a bad ole man !" she said, calmly
" Onny a bad ole man would scold me, 'cos I allus
tries to be good. My feyther never scolds me, nor
my ole 'oss neither."
Lionel was silent. She cuddled closer to him.
" I muss see 'ee 'gain, Lylie !" she crooned,
104 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
plaintively "Doesn't 'ee want to see me no
more?"
Her baby voice was inexpressibly sweet as she
pathetically asked this question, and Lionel, un-
accustomed as he was to any kind of affectionate
demonstration, felt a strange beating of his young
heart as he looked down at the small child-face that
was turned so wistfully towards him.
" Yes, dear, dear little Jessamine, I do want to
see you again, and I ivill see you, I'll come as
often as ever I can !" and daring thoughts of
shirking his tasks and eluding Professor Cadman-
Gore's eye, flitted through his brain, in the same
way as the scaling of walls and the ascending of
fortified towers have suggested themselves to more
mature adventurers as worthy deeds to be accom-
plished in the pursuit of the fair. " I'll come and
play with you whenever I can get away from my
lessons, I promise !"
" 'Iss, do!" said Jessamine, coaxingly "'Cos
I likes 'ee, Lylie, I doesn't like any other boys 'ere,
they'se all oogly. You'se prutty, an' an' \ fink
I'se prutty too ! sometimes !"
Oh, small witch ! That " sometimes" was the
very essence of delicate coquetry, and accompanied,
as it was, by a little smile and arch upward twinkle
of the blue eyes, was irresistibly fascinating. Lionel
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 105
felt, though he knew not why, that this little damsel
must be kissed, kissing seemed imperative, yet
how was it to be done ?
" You are very pretty, Jessamine, dear," he said,
with a winsome mingling of boldness and timidity
"You are just as pretty as a flower!" Jessamine
nodded in serene self-complacency, while her youth-
ful admirer peered at her close-curved red lips much
as a bird might look at a ripe cherry and was silent
so long that at last she gazed straight up into his
eyes, the heavenly blue of her own shining with a
beautiful wonder.
" What's 'ee thinkin' 'bout, Lylie ?" she asked.
" You, Jessamine !" the boy answered, tenderly,
" I was thinking about you, and the flowers."
And bending down his curly head he kissed her,
and the little maiden, nestling closer, kissed him
innocently back again. Overhead the fragrant apple-
branches swung their sweet burden of ruddy fruit
and green leaf to and fro with a soft rustle in the
summer breeze, and the linnet who lived in the top-
most bough carolled his unpretentious little song,
and the fairness of the world as God made it, seemed
to surround with an enchanted atmosphere the two
children who, drawn thus together by the bond of a
summer-day's comradeship and affection, were happy
as they never would be again. For the world as God
106 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
made it is one thing, but the world as Man mars it
is another, and life for all the little feet that are to
trudge wearily after us in the hard paths which we
in our arrogant egoist-generation, have strewn for
them so thick with stones and thorns, offers such a
bitter and cruel prospect, that it is almost a matter
of thanksgiving when the great Angel of Death,
moved perchance by a vast pity, gently releases
some of the fairest and tenderest of our children
from our merciless clutches, and restores them to
that Divine Master and Lover of pure souls who
said " Take heed that ye despise not one of these
little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their
angels do always behold the face of My Father."
NOTE. The description of Combmartin Church in these pages is
given as nearly as possible in the words of the verger, one James
Norman, (may he long enjoy his cheerful, manly, and contented
life!) who, all unconsciously, "sat" to the author last summer for
the portrait of " Reuben Dale."
CHAPTER VI.
THE sun was well-nigh upon sinking, when Lionel,
walking slowly and with reluctant steps, returned to
his home. As he approached the house he saw his
mother at the entrance gate, apparently waiting for
him. Looking at her from a little distance he
thought how very beautiful she was, more beauti-
ful than ever he had quite realised her to be. Her
rich hair shone in the brilliant sun-glow with won-
derful golden glints and ripples, and her eyes were
lustrous with a dreamy tenderness which softened
and grew deeper as he came up to where she stood.
She stretched out her hand to him, a delicate little
hand, white as a white rose-petal and sparkling with
the rare diamond rings that adorned the taper fingers.
" Why, Lylie, where have you been all day ?" she
asked, gently " Your father's very angry ; he has
been searching for you everywhere and making all
sorts of inquiries in the village. Some one has told
him that you were at the inn this morning, seeing
Mr. Montrose off by the early coach, and that after-
wards you ran away with some common boys to
play hide-and-seek ; is that true ?"
" No, mother, it isn't true," the boy answered,
107
108 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
quietly "not altogether. I did go to see Mr.
Montrose off by coach, that's correct enough ; but
I never ran away to play hide-and-seek with any
common boys, if I had wanted to they wouldn't
have had me, I daresay. I don't play games ; you
know that ; there's no one to play them with me. I
fancied I would like to stroll about all by myself, I
was tired of books, so I went into the old church-
yard and found the sexton there at work digging a
grave, and he is such a nice old man that I stayed
there and talked to him. Then his little girl came
to bring him his coffee, and I went with her inside
the church, and Mr. Dale that's the sexton
showed me all over it and explained all the old
historical bits, and then he asked me to his house
to dinner. I thought it very kind of him, and I was
pleased to go. I've just come from there, and that's
the truth, mother, exactly as it happened."
Mrs. Valliscourt slipped her arm round his neck.
She was smiling to herself rather oddly.
" Poor Lylie !" she said, caressingly " So you
were really tired, were you, and determined to have
a real good time for once in your own way ? Well,
I don't blame you ! I should do the same if I were
in your place. But your father's in a great rage,
he wanted you to be here to receive Professor Cad-
man-Gore "
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 109
" But, mother, he's not expected till ten o'clock to-
night !" exclaimed Lionel.
" I know, that's the time we thought he was
coming. But he's got rheumatism or lumbago or
something of that sort, and decided at the last
minute that it would be best for him to arrive in
daytime and avoid the night air. So he took an
earlier train from London and caught the afternoon
coach from Ilfracombe, and he's here, in fact, he
has been here nearly two hours shut up with your
father in his room."
Lionel was silent for a minute or two, then he
asked,
" What's he like, mother ? Have you seen him ?"
Mrs. Valliscourt laughed a little.
" Oh, yes, I've seen him. He was formally intro-
duced to me on arrival. What's he like? well, I
really don't know what he's like, he's a cross be-
tween a veiy old baboon and a camel, rather a
difficult animal to define!"
Her flashing smile irradiated her whole counte-
nance with a gleam of scorn as well as amusement,
Lionel, however, looked pained and puzzled. She
gave him a little side-glance of infinite compassion,
and suddenly drawing his head against her breast,
kissed him. Any caress or sign of affection from
her was so rare a thing that the sensitive little lad
10
HO THE MIGHTY ATOM.
actually trembled and grew pale with the emotion it
excited in him, it left him almost breathless, and
too astonished to speak.
" I mean, dear," she continued, still keeping her
arm about him, "that he is just like all those won-
derfully learned old men who have ceased to care
about anything but themselves and books, they are
never by any chance handsome, you know. He's
very clever, though, your father thinks him a pro-
digy, and so, I believe, do all the Oxford and Cam-
bridge dons, and now he's here you'll have to
make the best of him, Lylie !"
" Yes, mother." The answer came faintly, and
with a smothered sigh. Then after a brief pause
Lionel took the white hand that rested against his
neck, kissed it, and gently put it aside.
" I think I'd better go straight in to father at once
and tell him where I've been," he said, bravely
" Then it's over and done with. No matter how
angry he is he can't kill me, and if he could it
would be worse for him than for me !"
With this unanswerable piece of cynical logic
and a wistful parting smile, he quickened his steps
almost to a run and went into the house. Mrs.
Valliscourt stood still on the garden-path, idly ruf-
fling the petals of a rose in her waistband, and watch-
ing the thin, delicate figure of her little son till he
THE MIGHTY A TOM. 1 1 1
disappeared ; then she turned away across the lawn,
moving vaguely and unseeing where she went, for
her eyes were heavy and blind with a sudden rush
of tears.
Meanwhile Lionel reached his father's room and
boldly knocked at the door.
" Come in !" cried the harsh voice he knew so
well, whereupon he entered.
" Father " he began.
Mr. Valliscourt rose in his chair, a stiff, bristling-
haired spectre of wrath.
" So, sir !" he said. " You have come home at
last ! Where have you been since the early hours
of the morning? And what business had you
to leave this house at all without my permis-
sion?"
Lionel looked at him full in the eyes with a
curious coldness. He was conscious of a strange
feeling of contempt for this red-faced man, splutter-
ing with excitement, whose age, experience, educa-
tion, and muscular strength could help him to no
better thing than the bullying of a small boy. It
might be a wicked feeling, considering that the
red-faced man was his own father, but wicked
or no, it existed. And so, without any soft or
weak emotion of regret or penitence, he replied,
indifferently,
112 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" I was tired. I wanted to be in the open air and
rest."
" Rest !" Mr. Valliscourt's eyes protruded, and he
put his hand to his shirt-collar in evident doubt as
to whether his throatful of bubbling rage might not
burst that carefully-starched halter " Rest ! Good
heavens, what should a lazy young animal like you
want with rest ! You talk as if you were an over-
worked bank clerk begging for an out-of-time
holiday! You are always resting; while Mr.
Montrose was here you never did anything, your
idleness was a positive disgrace. Do you think I
am going to waste my money on giving you the
best tuition that can possibly be procured, to be
rewarded in this ungrateful manner, this shameful,
abominable manner "
" Is lie the best tuition ?" demanded Lionel sud-
denly, pointing at a second personage in the room
whom he had noted at once on entering and whom
he recognised to be the " cross between a baboon
and camel" his mother had described, a forbidding-
looking old man with a singularly long pallid face
and sharply angular shoulders, who sat stiffly up-
right in a chair, regarding him through a pair of
very round spectacles. Mr. Valliscourt stared, ren-
dered almost speechless by the levity of the question.
" How dare you, sir ! How dare you make such
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 113
an unbecoming observation !" he gasped " What
what do you mean, sir ?"
" I only asked," returned Lionel, composedly
" You said you were throwing your money away
on the best tuition, and I asked if he was the best
tuition" again pointing to the round spectacles
opposite " I didn't say he wasn't, I suppose he
is. But I'm afraid he'll find me rather a trouble."
" I'm afraid he will indeed !" said Mr. Valliscourt,
with cutting severity, then, turning to the gaunt
individual in the chair beside him, he continued " I
much regret, Professor, that you should have such
an unpromising introduction to your pupil. My
son this is my son has been sadly demoralised by
the influence of the young man Montrose, but I trust
not so completely as to be beyond your remedy."
Professor Cadman-Gore, the dark-lantern of learn-
ing and obscure glory of University poseurs, slowly
raised his bony shoulders up to his long ears and as
slowly settled them in their place again, this being
his own peculiar adaptation of the easy foreign
shrug, then, smiling a wide and joyless smile, he
replied in measured monotonous accents,
"I trust not, I trust not." And he readjusted
his spectacles. " But I will not disguise from you,
or from myself, that this is a bad beginning, very
bad!"
h 10*
114 THE MIGHTY A TOM.
" Why?" asked Lionel, quickly " Why is it a bad
beginning to rest when you are very tired and want
it ? Some people believe that even God rested on
the seventh day of creation, and that's why we keep
Sunday still in spite of its being only an idea and a
fable. I've taken a holiday to-day, and I'm sure I
shall do my lessons all the better for it. I've been
talking to the sexton of Combmartin Church, and
I've had dinner with him, he's a very nice old man,
and very clever too."
" Clever ! The sexton of Combmartin !" echoed
Mr. Valliscourt with a loud fierce laugh " Dear
me ! What next shall we be told, I wonder ! Nice
associates you pick up for yourself, sir, after all the
labour and expense of your training ! I might as
well have kept my money !"
"Why not begin to keep it now, father?" sug-
gested Lionel, rather wistfully, the pallor deepening
on his delicate small face " It's no use spending it
on me, I know it isn't. I'm tired out, perhaps
I'm ill too, I don't know quite what's the matter
with me, but I'm sure I'm not like other boys. I
can see that for myself, and it worries me. If you'd
let me rest a little I might get better."
" Desire for rest," remarked Professor Cadman-
Gore with a sardonic grin, " appears to be the leading
characteristic of this young gentleman's disposition."
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 115
" Incorrigible idleness, you mean !" snapped out
Mr. Valliscourt, " united, as I now discover, to my
amazement and regret, with an insolence of temper
which is new to me. I must apologise to you, Pro-
fessor, for my son's extraordinary conduct on this
occasion. Starvation and solitude will probably
bring him to his senses in time for the morning's
studies. I may as well explain to you that I never
use corporal punishment in the training of my son,
I employ the mortification of appetite as the more
natural means of discipline. That and solitary con-
finement seem to me the best modes of procedure for
the coercion of a refractory and obstinate nature."
The Professor bowed, and, linking his leathery hands
together, caused the knuckles to emit a sharp sound
like the cracking of bad walnuts. " Lionel," con-
tinued Mr. Valliscourt " Come with me !"
Lionel paused a moment, looking at his new tutor
with an odd fascination.
" Good-night, Professor !" he said at last " To-
morrow I shall ask you a great many questions."
" Indeed !" returned the Professor, grimly " I
have no doubt I shall be able to answer them !"
" Will you come, sir !" roared Mr. Valliscourt.
Lionel obeyed, and followed his father passively
upstairs to his own little bedroom, where Mr. Vallis-
court took the matches carefully away, and shut
1 1 6 THE MIGHTY A TOM.
down and fastened the window. This done, he
turned to the boy and said,
" Now here you stay till to-morrow morning, you
understand? You will have time to think over your
wicked disobedience of to-day, the anxiety you
have caused me, and the trouble, the disgraceful
exhibition you have made of yourself to the Pro-
fessor and I hope you will have the grace to feel
sorry. And if you cry or make a row up here "
"Why do you talk like that, father?" queried
Lionel, simply " You know well enough that I
never make a row."
Mr. Valliscourt stopped, looking at him. For a
moment he was embarrassed by the direct truth of
the remark, for he did know, Lionel never showed
any sign of petulance or fury. The boy, meanwhile,
put a chair at the window facing the sunset, and sat
down.
"What made you run away to-day?" asked his
father, after a brief pause.
" I have told you already," responded Lionel,
somewhat wearily " I was tired."
" Tired of what ?"
" Of books and everything in them. They are
very puzzling, you know, no two writers agree on
any one point no two histories are alike it is all
quarrel, quarrel, muddle, muddle. And what's the
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 117
good of it all ? You die, and you forget everything
you ever knew. So your trouble's wasted and your
knowledge useless."
" Little fool ! You have to live first before you
die, and knowledge of books is necessary to life,"
said Valliscourt, harshly.
" You think so ? Ah ! well, I haven't quite made
up my mind about that," answered the boy, with a
quaintly reflective air " I must consider it carefully
before I decide. Good-night, father."
Mr. Valliscourt gave no reply. Striding out of
the room he banged the door angrily, and locked it
behind him. Lionel remained by the window, look-
ing straight into the golden glare of the west. He
was not at all unhappy, he had had one day of
joyous and ever-memorable freedom, and that this
lonely room should be the end of it did not seem to
him much of a hardship. He was not afraid of
either solitude or darkness, it was better to be alone
thus than to have to endure the presence of the gaunt
and unwholesome looking object downstairs, who
was reputed by a certain " set" to be one of the
wisest men in the world. A pity that wisdom made
a person so ugly ! thought Lionel, as he recalled
one by one the Professor's unattractive lineaments.
What lantern-jaws he had ! what cold, cruel little
ferret eyes ! what an unkind slit for a mouth !
Il8 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
and how very different was his crafty, artificially-
composed demeanour to the open and sincere bear-
ing of Reuben Dale !
" Reuben Dale could teach me a lot, I know,"
mused the boy " He doesn't read Greek or Latin, I
suppose, but I'm sure he could help me to find
out something about life, and that's what I want.
I want to understand what it means, life, and
death."
He lifted his eyes to the radiant sky and saw two
long shafts of luminous amber spring outward and
upward from the sinking sun like great golden leaves
between which the orb of light blossomed red like a
fiery rose in heaven.
" I wish there were angels, really" he said, half
aloud " One would almost think there must be, and
that all that splendid colour was put into the sky
just to show us what their beautiful wings are like.
Little Jessamine Dale believes in angels, I should
like to believe in them, too, if I could."
His gaze wandered slowly down from the sunset
to the shrubs and trees of the garden below him,
and presently he saw among the darkening shadows
two figures moving leisurely up and down. One
was his mother, he recognised her by the white
serge dress she wore, the other was a man whose
personality he was not at first quite sure of, but
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 119
whom he afterwards made out to be Sir Charles
Lascelles.
" I suppose he's come to dinner," thought Lionel
" I remember now, Mr. Montrose mentioned that
he was staying quite near here at Watermouth Castle.
I wonder why I don't like him ?"
He considered this for some time without clearing
up the point satisfactorily, then, before it grew
quite dark, he took out Montrose's copy of Homer
from under his blue jersey vest where he had se-
creted it, out of his father's sight, and put it care-
fully by in readiness to post to its rightful owner
next day, smiling a little to himself as he thought
of Jessamine's odd pronunciation of the "Drojun
wors." This done, he resumed his seat by the
window and watched the skies and the landscape
till both grew dark and the stars began to twinkle
out dimly in the hazy purple distance. His little
mind was always restless and actively evolving ideas,
and though his immediate reflections dwelt for the
most part on the pretty face and winsome ways of
Jessamine Dale, they now and then took a more
serious turn and strove to make something out of
what appeared to him an ever-deepening problem
and puzzle, namely, why should some people be-
lieve in a God, and others not ? And why should
so many of those who professed belief, live their
120 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
lives in direct opposition to the very creed they as-
sumed to follow? There must be adequate cause
for all these phases of human nature. Did the
world make itself? or did it owe its origin to a
reasoning and reasonable Creator ? and not only
the world, but all the vast universe, the thousands
of millions of glorious and perfect star-systems
which, like flowers in a garden, bloomed in the pure
ether, what was the object of their existence if any,
and why was it decided that they should exist, and
WHO so decided it ? Deep in the child's brain the
eternal question burned, the eternal defiance which
always asserts itself when there is neither faith nor
hope, the suicidal scorn which disdains and up-
braids a Force that can give no reason for its actions,
and which refuses to act in blind obedience to the
cross-currents of a fate that leads to Nothingness.
" If you can offer me no worthy explanation of my
existence, and I can supply none for myself," says
the tortured and suffering soul, " then not all the
elements shall hinder me from putting an end to that
existence, if I please. This much I can do, if you
give me no satisfactory motive for my hold on life I
can cease to live, and thus are your arguments con-
futed and your surface-knowledge made vain."
The seed of this spiritual rebellion was in Lionel's
mind though he knew it not, it had been sown
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 121
there by others, and was not of his own planting,
nor the natural out-put of his being. His unceasing
query as to the " why" of things, had never been
answered by the majestic reason known to those
whose faith is raised upon high pinnacles of thought
and aspiration, and who hold it as a truth that
their lives are lived by God's will and ordinance in
the school of temporal beginnings as a preparation
for eternal fulfilment. This supreme support and
hope had not been given to the boy's frail life to
raise it like a drooping flower from the dust of
material forms and facts, he had been carefully
instructed in all the necessary sciences for becoming
a man of hard calculation and cool business-apti-
tude, but his imagination had been promptly
checked, he had never even been taught a prayer,
although he had been told that there were people
who prayed, in churches and elsewhere. When he
propounded the usual " why ?" he was informed that
the fashion of praying was the remains of old super-
stition, followed now out of mere ordinary usage
because the " masses" of the people were not yet
sufficiently educated to do entirely without the
observances to which they had for so many centuries
been accustomed, but that it was only a matter of
foolish habit. And then his teachers pointed out to
him that the laws of the universe being inflexible, it
F II
122 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
was ridiculous to suppose that prayer could alter
them, or that the deaf, blind, dumb forces of nature
could possibly note a human being's trouble, or
listen to a human being's complaint, much less
accede to a human being's request, for human
beings, compared with the extent of Creation gen-
erally, were no more than motes in a sunbeam or
ants on an ant-hill. Hearing this and quickly
grasping the idea of man's infinite littleness, Lionel
at once set about asking the cause of man's evident
arrogance. If he was indeed so minute a portion of
the creative plan and so valueless to its progress,
why was he so concerned about himself? If he
were but a mote or an ant, what did it matter
whether he were learned or ignorant? and did it
not seem somewhat of a cruel jest to fill him with
such pride, aspiration, and endeavour, when, accord-
ing to scientific fact, he was but a grain of worthless
and perishable dust? To all these serious ques-
tions, the small searcher after truth never got any
satisfactory replies. Montrose indeed had told him
with much emphasis, that man possessed an immor-
tal Soul, a conscious, individual, progressive Self
which could not die, which took part in all the
designs of God, and which, filled with the divine
breath of inspiration and desire of holiness, was borne
on through infinite phases of wisdom, love, and glory
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
I2 3
for ever and ever, always increasing in beauty,
strength, love, and purity. Such a destiny, thought
Lionel, would have made one's present life worth
living, if true. But then, according to modern
scientists, it wasn't true, and Montrose was a poor
" semi-barbarian" who still believed in God, and who
had got his dismissal from his post as tutor, chiefly
on that account.
" I wonder," mused Lionel, " what it is that makes
him believe? It can't be stupidity, -for he is very
clever and kind and good. I wish I knew exactly
why he thinks there is a God, and Reuben Dale
too, he has just the same idea, only when I ask,
no one seems able to give me any clear explanation
of what they feel."
Darker and darker grew the evening shadows,
but still he sat at the window, solemnly considering
the deep problems of life and time, and never
thought of going to bed. Soon a misty white glory
arose out of the gathering blackness, the moon,
pallid yet brilliant, lifted her strangely sorrowful face
over the plumy tree-tops and cast a silvery reflection
on the grass below. It was a mournful, almost spec-
tral night, a faint bluish haze of heat hung in the
stirless air, dew sparkled thickly in patches upon
the distant fields, with a smooth sheen as of shining
swamps or suddenly risen pools, and in the furthest
124 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
thickets of the garden, a belated nightingale, who
ought by laws ornithological to have hushed his
voice more than a month since, sang drowsily and as
if in a dream, without passion yet with something of
pain. Lionel heard the faint throbbing fluty notes
afar off, and would have liked to open the window to
listen more attentively, but as his father had shut and
fastened it he decided to leave it so ; and presently,
what with watching the moon and the lengthening
ghostly shadows, and thinking and wondering, he
fell fast asleep in his chair, his head leaning against
the wall. For a long time he remained thus, dream-
ing odd disjointed dreams, in which the various facts
he had learned of history got mixed up with little
Jessamine Dale and the " ole 'oss," the latter ob-
ject becoming in his visions suddenly endowed
with life and worthy to bear a Cceur de Lion to
the field of battle. All at once he was startled
into broad wakefulness by a voice calling softly
yet clearly,
" Lionel ! Lionel !"
He jumped up, and to his amazement saw the stal-
wart figure of Sir Charles Lascelles comfortably
perched on a branch of the big elm-tree that grew
just outside his window. The baronet had a pack-
age in his hand and with it made signs of peremptory
yet mysterious meaning. Not knowing what to
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 125
think of this strange proceeding, the boy noiselessly
unfastened and raised the window.
" Oh, there you are, little chappie !" said Sir
Charles, showing his white teeth in a pleasant smile,
and swinging himself further along the branch in
order to approach the window more nearly " Look
here, your mother sends you this catch !" and he
dexterously threw the packet he held straight into
the room, where it fell on the floor, " Sandwiches,
cake, and pears, my boy! eat 'em all and go to
bed. The old man's been boasting of his cleverness
in starving you, he's shut himself up now with that
blessed ass of a professor, so he won't know anything
about it, and your mother says you're to eat every
morsel, to please her. Ta-ta !"
Lionel thrust his little, pale eager face out of the
window.
" Oh, please, Sir Charles !" he called faintly after
the retreating baronet. Lascelles looked back.
" Well ? "
" Give mother my love, my dear love ! and
thank her for me."
Sir Charles turned his face upward in the silver
shimmer of the moon. There was a curious ex-
pression upon it, of shame, mingled with tenderness
and remorse.
" All right, my boy, I will. Good-night !"
11*
I 2 6 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" Good-night !" responded Lionel. And he stood
at the open window for a minute or two, inhaling
the night air, fragrant with the odour of flowers
and the breath of the sea, and marvelling at the
athletic adroitness with which Sir Charles, who
generally "posed" as a languid and lazy man of
fashion, slipped along the elm-branch, swung him-
self downward by both hands, dropped stealthily to
the ground and disappeared. No burglar could
have been more secret or swift in his actions, or
more sudden in his coming and going. Alone
once more, the boy shut and fastened the window
again with soft precaution, then he felt along the
floor for his mother's package. He soon found
and opened it, there were plenty of good things
inside, and, spreading his repast on the window-
sill with the moonbeams for light, he was surprised
to find himself really hungry. He very seldom
felt any decided relish for food, and he did not
realise that his one day's free " outing" in the
Devonshire air was the cause of his healthy ap-
petite. To-morrow, and the next day, and the
next, when he should resume his poring over
books, and his patient if weary researches into
" works of reference," he would find the old in-
difference, lassitude, and nausea upon him again,
the lack of energy which deprived him not only
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 127
of appetite, but even of joy in exercise, which
made a walk fatiguing and a run impossible. But
now his little moonlit feast seemed delightful, and
he was quite happy when, having finished the sur-
reptitious meal, he undressed and slipped into bed.
He was soon asleep, and the white moon-rays
streaming in at the uncurtained window fell slant-
wise on his small classic face and ruffled curly hair.
Some pleasing vision sweetened his rest, for he
smiled, that divine, half-wondering, half-solemn
smile which is never seen save on the lips of
sleeping children and the newly dead.
CHAPTER VII.
THE next morning Professor Cadman-Gore sat
awaiting his pupil in what was called the " school-
room," the bare, uncurtained apartment in which
Lionel had been puzzling over his books when Willie
Montrose had called him out from study to the fresh
air and the salty scent of the sea. It was an old-
fashioned room, with a very low ceiling which was
crossed and recrossed by stout oak rafters after the
style common to Henry the Eighth's period, and
had evidently been formerly used as a storeroom
both for linen and provisions, for all round the
walls there were large oaken cupboards holding
many broad shelves, and here and there among the
rafters were yet to be seen great iron hooks strong
enough to support a pendant dried haunch of veni-
son, or possibly a whole stag, antlers included.
The Professor, being tall, found some of these hooks
considerably in his way, he had already knocked
his bald pate rather smartly against one of them,
which he had instantly turned upon as though it
were a sentient enemy and endeavoured to wrench
out of position. But the tough rusted iron resisted
128
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
129
all his efforts, and he had only scratched his hands
and wasted his time without gaining his object.
Somewhat irritated at this trifling annoyance, trifles
always irritated him, he seated himself in the most
comfortable chair available and looked out of the
window, which was a quaint and pretty lattice-work
casement opening on two sides in the French fashion.
The lovely scent of sweet-briar assailed his nose and
offended it, the gardener was cutting the grass, and
the dewy smell suggested hay-fever at once to his
mind.
" What a fool I was to consent to come to this
out-of-the-way place !" he muttered, ill-temperedly
" Considering the distance from town and the dis-
comfort of the surroundings I ought to ask double
fees. The man Valliscourt is a prig thinks he
knows something and doesn't know anything, his
wife is good-looking and has all the impudent self-
assurance common to women of her type, and the
boy seems to be a little puny-faced ass. Talk of the
quiet of the country ! ugh ! I was wakened up
this morning by the incessant crowing of a cock,
what people buy such brutes of birds for I don't
know, then a wretched cow began lowing, and as
for the twittering of the birds, why it's a positive
pandemonium, worse than a dozen knife-grinders
at work. I'll have all those creepers cut away that
1 30 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
are climbing round my bedroom window, they har-
bour insects as well as birds, and the sooner I get
rid of both nuisances the better."
He blew his long nose violently with a startlingly-
tinted silk handkerchief of mingled red and yellow
hues, and the idea of hay-fever again recurring to
him, he shut the window with a bang. Then he
unfolded a large sheet of paper which Mr. Vallis-
court had given him the previous night, and on
which was written out in neatest copper-plate the
" schedule" or plan of study Lionel had been fol-
lowing for the past six months. Over this docu-
ment he knitted his yellow forehead, grinned and
frowned, as he read on he blinked, sucked his
tongue and smacked his lips, and twisted himself
about in so many fidgety ways that he became a
perfectly appalling spectacle of ugliness, and in his
absorbed condition of mind was not aware that the
door of the room had quietly opened and as quietly
closed again, and that Lionel stood confronting him
with a calmly speculative and critical stare. Two
or three minutes passed silently in this way, then
Lionel spoke.
" Good-morning, Professor !"
The Professor started, and rapidly disentangled
his long legs from the uncouth knot in which he
had gathered them over the rung of the chair he
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 131
occupied, put down the " plan," adjusted his
round spectacles and surveyed his pupil.
" Good-morning, sir !" he responded, drily " I
trust you have slept off your temper and are pre-
pared for work ?"
" I haven't slept off my temper," said Lionel,
quietly, " because I had no temper to sleep off.
Father knew that as well as I did. It's always silly,
I thmk, to accuse somebody else of being in a
temper when you're in one yourself. But that's
all over now, that was yesterday, this is to-day,
and I am quite prepared for work."
" Glad to hear it !" and Professor Cadman-Gore
smiled his usual pallid smile " Have you had your
breakfast ?"
" Yes."
" And have you ' rested' sufficiently ?" demanded
the Professor, with sarcastic emphasis.
" I don't know, I don't think so," the boy an-
swered, slowly " I often feel I should like to go to
sleep for days and days."
" Really !" and a prolonged sniff indicated the
learned tutor's deep disdain " Possibly you are of
the hybernating species ?"
" Possibly !" responded Lionel, with cynical calm
" A hybernating animal is a creature that goes to
sleep all the winter. I shouldn't mind that at all,
132 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
it would take off a lot of trouble from one's life.
Don't you ever feel tired ?"
" Physically speaking, I am occasionally fatigued,"
said the Professor, eyeing him severely " Particu-
larly when I have to train and instruct foolish
and refractory natures. Mentally, I am never
weary. And now, if you have no further observa-
tions of immediate importance to make, perhaps
you will condescend to commence the morrting's
work."
Lionel smiled, and tossed back his curly hair with
a pretty, half-proud, half-careless gesture.
" Oh, I see what you are like now !" he said
" You are what they call of a satirical turn of mind,
and it is part of your particular kind of fun to ask
me if I will ' condescend' to work, when you know
a boy like me can't have his own way in anything,
and has to do what he's told. I know what is meant
by satire, Juvenal was a satirist. I made an essay
on him once, he began as a poet, but he got tired
of writing beautiful things for people who wouldn't
or couldn't understand them, so he turned round
and ridiculed everybody. He got exiled to Egypt
for making fun of one of the Emperor Hadrian's
favourites, and they say he died out there of vexa-
tion and weariness, but I think it was more from old
age than anything else, because he lived till he was
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 133
eighty, and that made him older I daresay than even
you are now."
The Professor's nose reddened visibly with irrita-
tion.
"Older? I should think so indeed! very much
older !" he snapped out " It will be a very long time
before /am eighty."
"Will it?" queried Lionel, simply "Well, one
can only go by looks, you know, and you look old,
and I'm not at all clever at guessing people's ages.
Will you ask me some questions now, or will you
teach me something I am very anxious to know,
first?"
The Professor glanced him over from head to foot
with grim disparagement.
" I think," he said, " it is my turn to examine you,
if you have quite done examining me. It is neces-
sary for me to know how far you have actually pro-
gressed in your studies, before I set you fresh tasks.
Referring to the plan so admirably drawn up by
your father, it seems you should know something of
Greek and Latin, you should also be considerably
advanced in mathematics, and you should be fairly
strong in history. Stand where you are, please,
put your hands behind your back, in case you should
be inclined to twiddle your fingers, I hate all ner-
vous movements " the learned gentleman was ap-
12
134 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
parently unaware of his own capacity for the " fidg-
ets," " and when you give an answer, look me
straight in the face. 1 have my own special method
of examination, which you will have to accustom
yourself to."
" Oh, yes !" replied Lionel, cheerfully " Eveiy
tutor has his own special method, and no two meth-
ods are alike. It is difficult at first to understand
them all, but I always try to do my best."
The Professor made no response, but set to his
work of catechising in terrible earnest, and before an
hour had passed was fairly astonished at the pre-
cocity, intelligence, and acute perception of his pupil.
The child of ten had learnt more facts of science and
history than he, in his time, had known when he was
twenty. He concealed his surprise, however, under
the cover of inflexible austerity, and the more apt of
comprehension Lionel proved himself to be, the
more the eminent pedagogue's professional interest
became excited and the more he determined to work
such promising material hard. This is often the fate
of brilliant and intelligent children, the more quickly
they learn, the more cruelly they are " crammed,"
till both heart and brain give way under the unnat-
ural effort and forced impetus, and disaster follows
disaster, ending in the wreck of the whole intellectual
and physical organisation. Happy, in these days of
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 135
vaunted progress, is the dull, heavy boy who cannot
learn, who tumbles asleep over his books, and gets
a caning, which is far better than a " cramming,"
who is " plucked " in his exams, and dubbed " dunce "
for his pains ; the chances are ten to one that though
he be put to scorn by the showy college pupil
loaded with honours, he will, in the long run, prove
the better, aye, and the cleverer man of the two.
The young truant whom Mother Nature coaxes out
into the woods and fields when he should be at
his books, who laughs with a naughty reckless-
ness at the gods of Greece, and has an innate
comic sense of the uselessness of learning dead
languages which he is never to speak, is probably
the very destined man who, in time of battle, will
prove himself a hero of the first rank, or who,
planted solitary in an unexplored country, will be-
come one of the leading pioneers of modern prog-
ress and discovery. Over-study is fatal to originality
of character, and both clearness of brain and strength
of physique are denied to the victims of " cram."
Professor Cadman-Gore was an advocate of " cram-
ming" he was esteemed in many quarters as the
best " coach" of the day, and he apparently con-
sidered a young human brain as a sort of expanding
bag or hold-all, to be filled with various bulky
articles of knowledge useful or otherwise, till it
136 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
showed signs of bursting, then it was to be
promptly strapped together, locked and labelled
" Registered Through Passenger for Life." If the
lock broke and the whole bag gave way, why then
so much the worse for the bag, it was proved to
be of bad material, and its bursting was not the
Professor's fault. His filmy eyes began to sparkle
with a dull glitter, and his yellow cheeks reddened
at their jaw-bone summits, as he took note of the
methodical precision and swiftness with which the
young Lionel assorted his " facts" in sequence and
order, of the instantaneous, hawk-like fashion in
which the boy's bright brain pounced, as it were,
on a difficult proposition in Euclid and solved it
without difficulty, and a lurking sense of the un-
naturalness of such over-rapid perception and anal-
ysis in a child of ten intruded itself now and then
on his consciousness, for, among other matters, the
Professor had studied medicine. Yet his knowledge
of the science was so slight that he was not without
fears of instant death whenever he had a mild attack
of dyspepsia, and he considered himself seriously
wounded if he managed to run a pin into his finger.
Nevertheless, a few trite medical statements did
occur to his memory as he put Lionel through his
paces, recognised axioms concerning over-precocity
of brain and acute cerebral excitement of nerve-
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 137
centres, but he did not permit himself to dwell
upon them. On the contrary, he worked the boy as
he would have worked a muscular young fellow of
eighteen or twenty, and Lionel himself showed no
signs of weariness, owing to the complete rest and
release from tension he had enjoyed the previous
day. Things that often presented themselves to
him as a useless " muddle," now suddenly seemed
quite simple and clear, and he was sensible of a
curious, almost feverish desire to astonish his new
tutor by his quickness. An inward precipitate voli-
tion hurried him on, causing him to spring at diffi-
culties and overcome them, and he gave all his
answers with a fluency and rapidity that was be-
wildering even to himself. At the conclusion of the
morning's work Professor Cadman-Gore reluctantly
stated that he was " fairly well satisfied" with the
results of his preliminary interrogations.
" You will, however," he continued, " need to
apply yourself more closely to study than you have
hitherto done, if you are to be at all a credit to me.
I must tell you I very seldom undertake the tuition
of a boy of your age, it is too much trouble, and
too little honour, but as you have gone on so far,
and your father seems anxious about you, I shall do
my best to put you well ahead. I am now going to
write down the course of reading you will undertake
12*
138 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
this afternoon, and the dozen 'subjects' you will
prepare for to-morrow, I shall expect you not only
to be word-perfect but sense-perfect. I want abso-
lute and distinct comprehension, not parrot-like
repetition merely."
"I am only having holiday tasks," put in Lionel,
with a wistful air " Do you know that ?"
" Of course I know it. Such work as you are
given now is comparatively light to what you will be
able to perform when the regular term begins. You
are preparing for a public school, Winchester ?"
"No, I don't think so, I should like to,
but "
" H'm h'm ! Now let me think !" And twitch-
ing his forehead and mouth in his usual nervous
fashion, the Professor began to scribble his list of
" themes," while Lionel stood quietly beside him,
watching the great bony fingers that guided the
pen.
" When you have done that, may I ask you the
thing I want so much to know?" he inquired.
The Professor looked up with some curiosity. He
was inclined to negative the proposition, but the
boy's aptitude and intelligence, combined with his
obedience and gentleness, had, to a very great de-
gree, mollified the chronic state of irritation in which
he, as a sort of modern Diogenes, was wont to exist,
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 139
so after a pause, during which he went on writing,
he replied,
" You may, certainly. Is it a matter of impor-
tance ?"
" I think so !" and the boy's eyes darkened and
grew dreamy " It seems so to me, at any rate. I
am very anxious about it."
Professor Cadman-Gore laid down his pen, and
leaning back in his chair widened his thin lips into
what he meant to be an encouraging smile.
" Well, speak out !" he said" What is it ?"
Lionel came closer to him and looked earnestly
in his face.
" You see you are very clever," he observed with
deferential gentleness " Cleverer than anybody in
all England, some people say. Well, then, you must
have found out all about it, and you can explain
what has been puzzling me for a long, long time.
What I want to know is this, Where is the Atom?"
The Professor gave a violent start, almost a
jump, and stared.
" Where is the Atom ?" he repeated " What
nonsense are you talking ? What do you mean ?"
" It's not nonsense," declared Lionel, with pa-
tient firmness " It can't be nonsense, because it
is the cause of everything we know. We are alive,
aren't we? you and I and millions of people, and
1 40 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
we're all in this world together. But books tell
you that this world is only a very little planet, one
of the smallest in the sky, and there are thousands
and thousands and millions and millions of other
planets ever so much larger, some of which we
cannot see even with the longest and strongest
telescope. Then, look at our sun ! we should not be
able to live without it, but there are millions of other
suns and systems, all separate universes. Now if
all these things are atoms, and are designed by an
Atom, where is it? that wonderful little First
Atom which, without knowing in the least what it
was about, and with nobody to guide it, and having
no reason, judgment, sight or sense of its own,
produced such beautiful creations ? And then, if
you are able to tell me where it is, will you also tell
me where it came from ?"
The Professor's eyes rolled wildly in his head, and
he glared at the composed little figure and wistful,
earnest face of his pupil with something of dismay
as well as annoyance.
" You see," continued the boy, anxiously " I
should not have mentioned it to you, unless I had
heard that you were so wise. I've been waiting for
a very wise man to talk to about it, because it's been
on my mind a long time. The tutor I had who is
just gone, Mr. Montrose, had quite different ideas to
THE MIGHTY ATOM. I 4I
those of all the scientists, he believed in a God,
like all the uneducated, ignorant people. But before
Mr. Montrose came I had a very clever tutor, a Mr.
Skeet, he was a Positivist, he said, and a great
friend of a person named Frederic Harrison, and he
told me all about the Atom. He even showed me
the enlarged drawing of an Atom, as seen through
the microscope, a curious twisty thing with a sort
of spinal cord running through it, something like
the picture of a man's ribs in my anatomy book,
and he explained to me that it was a fortuitous com-
bination of such things that made universes. And
it puzzled me very much, because I thought there
must be a beginning even to these atoms, and I could
not imagine how such a twisty little object as a First
Atom could think out a plan by itself and create
worlds with people bigger than itself on them. But
he was a very funny man, Mr. Skeet, I mean, he
used to say that nothing was everything, and every-
thing was nothing. He said this so often and
laughed so much over it, that I was afraid he was
going quite mad, so I used to avoid the subject
altogether. Now you have come, I am sure you can
make it clear to me so that I shall understand
properly, because it is very interesting, don't you
think, to know exactly where the Atom is and what
it's doing ?"
142 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
Slowly, and with an uncomfortable sense of baffle-
ment, Professor Cadman-Gore rallied his scattered
forces.
" You ask to know what no one knows," he said,
harshly " That there is a First Cause of things is
evident, but where it is and where it came from is
an unfathomable mystery. It is, in all probability,
now absorbed in its own extended forces, all we
know is that it works, or has worked, and that we
see its results in the universe around us."
Lionel's face darkened with disappointment.
" You call it a First Cause," he said " And are
you really quite sure the First Cause is an Atom ?"
" No one can be sure of anything in such matters,"
answered the Professor, wrinkling his brows " We
can only form a guess from what we are enabled to
discover in natural science."
A strange smile, half disdainful, half sorrowful,
flashed in the boy's eyes.
" Oh, then you only ' guess' at the Atom, as other
people ' guess' at a God !" he said " No one is
sure about anything ! Well, I think it is very silly
to settle upon an Atom as the cause of anything.
It seems to me much more natural and likely that
it should be a Person. A Person with brain and
thought and feeling and memory. You see, an
Atom under the microscope has no head, or any
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 143
place where it could grow a brain, it is just a
thing like two cords knotted together, and in the
works of nature there is nothing of that description
which thinks out a universe for itself, if there were,
it would rule us all "
But here the Professor rose up in all his strength,
and swung a heavy battering-ram of explicit fact
against the child's argument.
" And as a matter of positive truth and certainty,
atoms do rule us !" he interrupted with some excite-
ment " The atoms of disease which breed death,
the atmospheric atoms which work storm and earth-
quake, the atoms which penetrate the brain-cells
and produce thought, the atoms moving in a state
of transition which cause change both in the de-
velopment of worlds and the progress of man,
good heavens ! I could go on quoting hundreds
of instances which prove beyond a doubt that we
are entirely governed by the movement and con-
glomeration of atoms, but you are too young to
understand, you could never grasp the advanced
scientific doctrines of the day, it is ridiculous to
discuss them with a boy like you !"
" f don't think it is ridiculous," said Lionel,
placidly "because, you see, I am rather an un-
happy sort of boy. I think a good deal. If I were
happy I might not think ; Mr. Montrose says there
144 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
are lots of boys who never think at all, and that
they get on much better than I do. But when one
can't help thinking, what is one to do ? Oh, dear !"
and he heaved a profound sigh " I did hope you
would be able to clear up all my difficulties for me !"
The Professor rubbed his great hands together,
cracked his knuckles and coughed awkwardly, but
was otherwise silent.
" You know," went on Lionel, pathetically " it
doesn't make you care very much about living, if
you feel there's no good in it, and that you are only
the smallest possible fraction of the results of an
Atom which didn't care and didn't know what it
was about when it started making things. I should
be ever so much happier if I thought it was a
Person who knew what He was doing. We are
supposed to know what we are doing even in very
small trifles, and if we don't know, we are con-
sidered quite silly and useless. So it does seem
rather funny to me that we should decide that all
the beautiful work of the universe is done by a
twisty thing that hasn't any notion what it is about.
It would be much easier to understand, I think,
if the scientific people could agree that the First
Cause was a Person who knew."
Still the Professor was silent.
" A Person who knew," continued the boy, thought-
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 145
fully " would have ideas ; and if He were a good
Person, they would all be grand and beautiful ideas.
And if He were an eternal Person, He would be
eternally designing new and still more wonderful
things, so we should not be surprised at knowing
He had made millions and millions of stars and
universes. And if He were good Himself He would
never quite destroy anything that had good in it,
He would be kind too, and He would always be im-
proving and helping on everything He had made.
Because as a Person He would have feeling; and
when people get into trouble, or sickness, or poverty,
He would comfort them somehow. We might not
see how He did it, but He would be sure to manage
it. He could not help being sorry for sorrow if He
were a good Person. Yes, the more I think of it
the more likely it seems to me; beautiful flowers
and beautiful colours in the sky, and music, these
things make the idea of a Person much pleasanter
and more natural to me than an Atom."
" An Atom may be a Person or a Person an Atom,"
said the Professor, beguiled involuntarily into argu-
ment, by the weird sagaciousness and old-mannish
air of the little lad who still stood confidently close
to his knee looking frankly up into his hard furrowed
face, and who at this observation, laughed softly.
"That sounds like Mr. Skeet, who said everything
G k 13
146 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
was nothing and nothing was everything !" he re-
marked " But I don't think it could be so, you
know. You can't make anything of an Atom but
the twisty object the microscope shows you, you
couldn't say it thinks or sees. It would have to
think and see to arrange colours perfectly, and it
would have to hear in order to make harmonies.
I've gone over all this ever so many times in my
own mind, and this is how it seems to me. I be-
lieve, I do really believe, with all the wonderful
discoveries we are making, we shall find out the
Atom to be a Person after all ! And that He knows
exactly what He's doing and what we're doing!
What a good thing that will be, won't it ? Because
then we can some day ask Him to explain all that
we don't understand. Of course we might ask the
Atom, but I don't see how it could be expected to
answer, as it is only supposed to be just twisting
about with no object in particular."
The Professor felt an odd chill as of cold water
running down his back at the strange arguments of
this child, whom he began to consider " uncanny."
The suggestion that it would be " a good thing " if
the scientific Atom were discovered to be a Person,
had something in it of positive terror, and the learned
Cadman-Gore was disagreeably conscious that for
him and his particular " set" such a discovery would
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 147
be anything but pleasant. Uncomfortable thoughts
occurred to him, he knew not why, of the time
when he, dry-souled man of dogmatic theory though
he now was, had been a small inquisitive boy him-
self, and when he had recognised the very Person
Lionel dimly imagined, the pure, fearless, grand
image of God in Christ, to whom at his mother's
knee he had daily and nightly prayed, but against
whose divine faith and noble teaching, he, led away
by plausible modern sophistries, now turned with a
mockery and sarcasm exceeding the bitterness of
any old-world Pharisee. For he was one of that
new and " select " band of men and women, who,
enjoying the singular liberties and privileges of the
Christian creed, are nevertheless unwearying in their
attempts to destroy it, and who scruple not to stone
the God- Founder, and crucify Him afresh with an in-
gratitude as monstrous as it is suicidal. Women
especially, who, but for Christianity, would still be
in the low place of bondage and humiliation formerly
assigned to them in the barbaric periods, are most
of all to be reproached for their wicked and wanton
attacks upon their great Emancipator, who pitied
and pardoned their weaknesses as they had never
been pitied or pardoned before. And was not the
Professor himself thinking seriously of espousing
one such Christ-scorning female with short hair and
1 48 THE MIGHTY A TOM.
spectacles, who had taken high honours at Girton,
and who was eminently fitted to become the mother
of a brood of atheists who like human cormorants
would be prepared to swallow benefits and deny the
Benefactor? Such disjointed reflections as these
chased one another through the eminent pundit's
mind and ruffled his scholarly equanimity, he al-
most felt as if he would like to shake the boy who
stood there, calmly propounding puzzles which could
never be solved.
" You have talked quite enough on this subject,"
he said, roughly " and if you were to ask me ques-
tions for a year, I could tell you no more than
science teaches. All religions are fables and impos-
tures, the universe is not and could never be the
work of a Person or persons. The ignorant may
build themselves up a God if they choose, we know
better. All creation, as you have already been told,
is the result of a fortuitous concurrence of atoms,
but where the first atom is, or where any of the
atoms came from is beyond human ingenuity to dis-
cover. We know nothing of the reasons why we
live."
Lionel's face grew very pale.
" Then life is a very cruel thing, and not worth
having," he said " It is wicked, indeed, that people
should be born at all, if no good is to come of it. If
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 149
there's no reason for anything, and no future object
for anybody, I don't see why we should take the
trouble to live. It's all a mistake and a muddle, and
a very stupid business, I think."
The Professor rose from his chair and, stretching
his long legs at ease, smiled a capacious smile.
" What you think is of no import," he observed,
grandiloquently " We are here, and being here,
we must make the best of our time."
V" But what you think is of no import, either," re-
turned Lionel, simply " The Atom doesn't care any
more about you than it does about me./^It's all the
same, you see. You are clever and I am stupid,
and you are clever, I suppose, because you like to
please people by your cleverness, now I should
never care about pleasing people, I would rather
* ^please the Atom if it could be pleased, because it is
Everything, people included. But it can't be pleased,
because it is blind and deaf and senseless, it just
goes on twirling, twirling, and doesn't know anything
even about itself. And whatever best we make of
our time, it's no use, because we die, and there's an
end. Will you like to die?"
The Professor felt himself becoming impatient and
irascible.
" Certainly not ! No sane man likes to die. I
intend to live as long as possible."
13*
150 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" Do you, really ? Just fancy !" and Lionel's eyes
grew larger with genuine astonishment " Now how
different that is to me! I would much rather die
than .live to be as old and wise as you are!"
" Do you mean to be insolent, sir ?" demanded the
Professor, growing suddenly livid with anger.
" Insolent? Oh, dear, no ! indeed, no !" exclaimed
the boy, quickly " Did I say anything rude ? If I
did, I am sorry ! Please excuse me, I meant no
harm. Only I do think it seems dreadful to look
forward to so many long, long years of work and
trouble and worry, all for nothing, and that is why
I would not like myself to live to be very old. Are
you going out in the garden ? here is your hat,
and your stick," and he handed these articles with
a pretty grace to the irritated pundit who glowered
down upon him, uncertain what to do or say
" There are lots of beautiful roses growing wild,
you will find them near the hedge that makes the
boundary of the grounds, any quantity of them.
Do you know I'm very glad the Atom managed to
make roses as well as human beings !"
Professor Cadman-Gore clapped his hat well down
on his bald head, and fixed his severe eye on the
small philosopher.
" Read that chapter I have marked for you in
Caesar's Commentaries," he said, gruffly " It will
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 151
steady your ideas. You are inclined to be flighty
and fantastic, now let me tell you once for all,
I don't like fads or fancies of any kind. Stick to
facts, master them thoroughly, and it is possible
I may make something of you. But let me hear
no more nonsense about atoms and universes,
this world is your business, and beyond this world
you have no business."
With that, he strode out, and Lionel, left alone,
sank wearily into his vacated chair.
" It's very funny, but I've always noticed people
get angry over what they can't understand !" he
mused " And they won't listen to any sugges-
tions, or try to learn, either. The Professor knows
as well as I do, that there is a Cause for everything,
only he won't take the trouble to reason it out as
to whether it's an Atom or a Person. He's got
a theory, and nothing will alter it. Now Reuben
Dale believes in a Person, I wish I could see
Reuben again and ask him one or two questions."
He sighed profoundly, and feeling the air of the
room oppressive, he opened the lattice-window and
looked out. It was high noon-tide ; the sun was
hot on the flower-beds, the geraniums flared scarlet
fire, the petunias drooped fainting on their slim
velvety stalks, only the great sunflowers lifted
themselves proudly aloft to give their bright deity
152 THE MIGHTY A TOM.
golden stare for stare, the birds overcome by the
heat were mute, and in hiding under cool bunches
of green leaves. On a side-path shaded by elm-
trees, Lionel presently caught sight of the Professor
walking up and down with his father in earnest con-
versation, and as he watched them he smiled, a weird
little smile.
" They are talking about me, I daresay !" he re-
flected "The Professor is very likely telling my
father what a curious boy I am to ask him questions
about the Atom, or anything that has to do with
the reasons of our being alive, and perhaps they
will get into an argument on the subject themselves.
Well ! it may be curious, and no doubt it's very
troublesome of me to want to know why we live
and what's the good of it, but I can't help it. I do
want to know, I don't see how any one can help
wanting to know, and I think it would be much
" more interesting and useful to study and find out
these things than to learn Greek and Latin."
Then, being a very docile little creature and wish-
ful to please even the grim old tutor now placed in
h authority over him, he moved away from the window,
seated himself at the big table-desk, and opened
Caesar's Commentaries at the marked chapter, which
he read and meditated upon with grave patience till
called to dinner.
y,..
CHAPTER VIII.
THE days now went on monotonously in a dull and
regular routine of study. To learn, was made the
chief object of Lionel's existence, and the only
relaxation and exercise he had was a solemn walk
with the Professor along the dusty high-road every
afternoon. That distinguished pedagogue did not
care for woods and fields, he detested the sea, and
the mere suggestion of a scramble on the shingly
beach of Combmartin would have filled him with
horror. Nothing could ever have induced him to
enter a row-boat or climb a hill, and his sole idea
of a walk was a silent tramping " constitutional"
along a straight road in the glare of the sun. He
took large strides, and sometimes Lionel's little legs
had difficulty in keeping up with him, while as to
conversation, there was none. The Professor's
knowledge of things in general was derived from
books, Lionel's ideas were the instinctive efforts of
natural aspiration, and the two did not commingle.
Moreover, if his young pupil showed the slightest
tendency to discuss any more difficult and vexa-
tious problems concerning life, death, or eternity,
the learned Cadman-Gore invariably became ab-
154 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
stracted and lost in the profoundest of profound
reveries, and twitched his brows and sucked his
tongue and made himself look altogether so alarm-
ingly ugly that he successfully warned off and kept
at a distance all undue familiarity and confidence.
Lionel, however, had by this time discovered the
wisdom of holding his peace, he shut up his
thoughts within himself, though at times they seemed
to be getting too much for him, and often kept him
awake at night, giving him an odd burning pain and
heaviness in his head. And the old lassitude and
languor from which he was wont to suffer had re-
turned upon him with redoubled intensity, while the
vivacity and brightness with which he had astonished
his tutor on the first morning of his examination by
that eminent " coach," had completely vanished. His
progress now. was slow, and the Professor declared
him to be a " disappointment." As a matter of fact
the poor little lad found his tasks growing heavier
and heavier each day, each day he felt less inclined
to work, and the mass of information he was ex-
pected to master grew daily more and more of a con-
fusion and muddle. At times, too, he was conscious
of a very dreadful sensation which frightened him,
a kind of wild desire to scream aloud, jump from the
open window, or do something that would be wholly
unlike himself and inexplicable to reason. At such
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 155
moments he would clench his small, hot hands hard,
bite his lips, and apply himself more assiduously to
his lessons than ever, though the nervous terror of
his own feelings often became so strong as to make
him tremble and turn cold from head to foot. But
he never complained ; and save that to a close ob-
server his eyes appeared heavier and his mouth
more set in the pained line of hard self-control, his
looks never betrayed him.
One fine day fortune favoured him with a brief
respite from toil and an equally brief glimpse of hap-
piness. His father and Professor Cadman-Gore
suddenly decided to go on an excursion together to
Lynmouth and Lynton, called by some enthusiasts
"the Switzerland of England," though this term is
sadly misapplied. The snowy peaks and glittering
glaciers of the Alps cannot be brought into a mo-
ment's comparison with the up-hill and down-dale
prettinesses of Lynton, which is surpassed even in its
own neighbourhood by the romantic loveliness of
the ideal village known as Clovelly, while its over-
abundance of foliage makes it somewhat gloomy and
depressing to the spirits, though it offers a beautiful
picture to the eyes. The Professor, however, was
anxious to test its claim to be a " Switzerland" per-
sonally, and Mr. Valliscourt, who prided himself
on having " read up " the local centres of interest,
156 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
resolved to accompany him as " guide, philosopher,
and friend." They arranged, therefore, to go by
coach, remain the night at the " Castle Hotel,"
which commands the finest view of the whole valley
of Lynmouth, and return to Combmartin the follow-
ing morning. Lionel was left well supplied with
work, and was likewise severely warned not to go
further astray than the garden surrounding the
house, Mrs. Valliscourt had driven early into Ilfra-
combe to spend the day with some of her London
friends who were staying there, and she was not ex-
pected back till late in the evening.
" You will have the house to yourself, and this
will be an excellent test of your obedience," said Mr.
Valliscourt, as, when he was prepared to start on
his pleasure trip, he stood for a moment frowning
heavily down on his small, pale son " I suppose
you know what is meant by a word of honour ?"
" I suppose so," answered the boy, with a slight
weary smile.
" Then you will give me your word of honour not
to leave these grounds," went on his father " This
is a large garden, quite sufficient for you to take
exercise in, and if you conscientiously study the
subjects selected for you, you will not have much
time to waste in rambling. No more running about
Combmartin like one of the common village boys,
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 157
and scraping acquaintance with sextons, do you
hear ?"
" I hear !" said Lionel.
" And you promise not to leave the grounds ?"
" On my word of honour !" and Lionel again
smiled, this time almost disdainfully.
" He has a fairly good idea of the obligations of
duty," put in Professor Cadman-Gore, gathering to-
gether his shaggy brows " I consider that to be his
strongest point."
Lionel said nothing. He had nothing to say ; if
he had uttered what was in his mind, it would
neither have been understood nor attended to.
Grown men have little patience with the troubles of
a child, though such troubles may be as deep and
acute as any that are endured by the world-worn
veteran. Nay, possibly more so, for sorrow is a
strange and cruel thing to the very young, but to
the old it has become a familiar comrade, whose
visitations, being of almost daily occurrence, are met
with comparative equanimity.
When at last his father and the Professor had
fairly gone, and he had actually seen them pass the
house on the top of the coach being driven away
from Combmartin, the boy was sensible of a sudden
great relief, as though a burden had been lifted from
his heart and brain. He leaned out of the school-
'4
158 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
room window inhaling the fresh air, and his weirdly
thoughtful little visage looked for a few moments
almost as young as Nature meant it to be. He was
sorry his mother was not at home, he would have
liked to run down-stairs and find her, and kiss that
beautiful face which had softened into such unusual
tenderness for him when he had returned home
from his stolen holiday. Perhaps she might come
back early from Ilfracombe, he hoped she would !
If her friends did not detain her as long as she
expected, it was possible he might see her and talk
to her before he went to bed. A vaguely com-
forting idea stole into his mind that she his
own dear, beautiful mother loved him after all,
though it was difficult to believe it ! Very difficult,
because she hardly ever spoke to him, never ex-
pressed a wish to have him with her, and truly
appeared to take little or no interest in his existence.
And yet, . . . Lionel could not forget the sweet
look of her eyes or the sudden kiss she had given
him on that memorable afternoon of his truant wan-
derings, now nearly a fortnight ago. He sighed ; a
whole fortnight had passed ! and he had had no
cessation from work, no respite from the crushing
society of Professor Cadman-Gore, till to-day ! To-
day was a real godsend, and must be made the best
of, he said to himself, as he gazed wistfully at the
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 159
lovely undulations of wood and hill and meadow, all
bathed in the amber haze of summer warmth which
softened every feature of the landscape and made it
look more dream-like than real. The sun was so
bright and the grass so green, that he presently de-
cided to go and study his lessons in the garden,
and selecting a couple of books from the pile which
the Professor had left in order on the school-room
table, he put them under his arm and went out. He
drew a long breath of pleasure when he found him-
self in the side-path running parallel to the boundary
hedge where the roses grew, their exquisite fresh
faces, pink, white, and red, seemed to smile at him
as he approached, and the odour exhaled from their
dewy centres suggested happy fancies to his mind.
Strolling up and down in delightful solitude he
forgot all about his books, or rather thought of them
just sufficiently to relieve himself from the burden
of them by putting the two he carried aside on a
garden-seat there to await his pleasure. And pres-
ently he threw himself down full length on a slop-
ing bank of mossy turf warmed by the sun, and
folding his arms behind him let his head rest upon
them while he gazed straight up into the infinite
reaches of the glorious blue sky. There sailed a
stray bit of fleecy cloud, here flew a swift-winged
swallow, and immediately above him, quivering
160 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
aloft among the sunbeams like a jewel suspended
in mid-heaven, carolled a lark, with all that tender
joyousness which has inspired one of the sweetest
of our English poets to write of it thus,
" From out the roseate cloud, athwart the blue,
I hear thee sound anew
That song of thine a-shimmering down the sky,
And daisies, touched thereby,
Look up to thee in tears which men mistake for dew.
I see thee clip the air and rush and reel,
As if excess of zeal
Had giddied thee in thy chromatic joys ;
And overhead dost poise
With outstretched wings of love that bless while they appeal.
Thou hast within thy throat a peal of bells,
Dear dainty fare-thee-wells !
And like a flame dost leap from cloud to cloud :
Is't this that makes thee proud ?
Or is't that nest of thine, deep-hidden in the dells ?
Whate'er thy meaning be, or vaunt or prayer,
I know thy home is there ;
And when I hear thee trill, as now thou dost,
I take the world on trust,
And with the world thyself, thou foeman of despair !" *
The leafy branches of the trees were delicately
outlined in air as with an artist's careful pencil,
* ERIC MACKAT. From "A Song of the Sea and Other Poems."
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 161
no breeze stirred them, and the exceeding loveli-
ness of nature, without man's cruelty to mar it, gave
the boy's heart a strange pang. If the jarring voice
of his father had suddenly startled the silence, some-
thing dark yet undefinable would, he knew, have
blotted out all the beauty of the scene. A thrush
alighted near him, and ruffling out its speckled
breast, looked at him inquisitively with its bright
round black eyes, there was no discordant element
in the bird's intrusion, but there would have been
in his father's presence. He tried in his own odd
way to analyse this feeling, and started on his usual
themes of troubled thought ; did his father really
love him ? did his mother ? was there any good
in his loving them ? and what was to come of it
all ? All at once, as he lay musing, some one called
him by his pet-name,
"Lylie! Lylie!"
He jumped to his feet and looked about every-
where, but could see nobody.
" Ly-lee-e !"
This time the prolonged sound seemed to come
from the boundary hedge against which the roses
grew, and where there was a mixture of many other
blossoms such as are found growing in wild and
varied beauty all along the lanes in Devonshire.
He went close up to it, and glancing eagerly hither
/ 14*
1 62 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
and thither, suddenly perceived a little rosy face in
an aureole of gold-brown curls, cautiously peep-
ing through a tangle of white jessamine and green
bryony, and smiling at him with a half-bold, half-
frightened glee.
" 'Ullo, Lylie ! I sees 'ee !" and the face pushed
itself further through the veiling screen of foliage
and flowers" 'Ullo, Lylie."
" Why, Jessamine dear !" exclaimed Lionel, flush-
ing with pleasure at the sight of the winsome little
maid he had hardly ever expected to meet again
" How did you manage to come ? How did you
find your way ?"
Little Miss Dale did not reply immediately.
Looking round in every direction she demanded,
" Can't I git right froo ? an' see 'oor muzzer ?"
Lionel thought rapidly of the chances of detec-
tion, of the gardener who might be acting as a
spy on him by his father's orders, of the other
servants who might also, be on the watch, and
though not at all afraid for himself, he had no desire
to get Reuben Dale and his little girl into trouble. So
he went down on his knees in front of the jessamine
flowers and Jessamine herself, and drawing her little
baby face to his own, kissed it with a simple boyish
tenderness that was very sweet and commendable.
" My mother isn't here to-day," he said, softly, for
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 163
fear of being overheard " She's gone to Ilfracombe
to see some friends and won't be back till evening.
My father and my tutor are away too, and I'm all
alone. I've promised not to leave this garden, or I
should have come to see you, Jessamine. How's
Mr. Dale ?"
" My feyther's quite well," responded Jessamine
with some solemnity " He's diggin' another grave,
a weeny weeny grave, for a little tiny baby. Oh,
such a prutty grave it be !"
She sighed, put her finger in her mouth, and
raised her blue eyes pensively like a dreaming
angel.
" How's 'ee feelin', Lylie ?" she asked, presently,
with sudden concern " you looks white, very
white, Lylie, you looks, like my muzzer when she
went to Heaven."
Lionel smiled.
" I've been doing a lot of lessons, Jessamine," he
replied " That's how it is, I suppose. Books make
you get pale, I think. You never read books, do
you ?"
Jessamine shook her head.
" I can't read," she confessed " I can spell, an'
I know my fairy-book. Auntie Kate tells me my
fairy-book an' God's Book. That's all."
Fairy-book and God's Book ! Here began and
1 64 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
ended Jessamine's literary knowledge. Lionel
smiled, as the grim picture of Professor Cadman-
Gore involuntarily presented itself, and he thought
of the disdain in which that erudite individual held
both fairy-books, God's Book and the very idea of
God, that wishdd-for " Person" whom Lionel would
have preferred to recognise rather than the scientific
Atom. And kneeling on the warm grass that was
filled with the small unassuming blossoms of pim-
pernel and eye-bright, he playfully drew a handful
of Jessamine's brown curls through the green hedge
and tied them with a knot of her own namesake-
flowers.
" Now you can't go away !" he said, merrily " I
have fastened you up, and you are my little pris-
oner!"
She peered sideways over her shoulder at what he
had done and chuckled, then laughed till her
pretty cheeks were dented all over with dancing
dimples, and, perfectly satisfied with the arrange-
ment, she settled herself down more comfortably
among the leaves with a dove-like croon of pleasure.
" I told 'ee there wos a 'ole in the 'edge where
I could creep froo !" she said, triumphantly " This
is the 'ole ! It's allus bin 'ere. I've often coom'd
when nobody's by, an' got roses for my own self.
There be lots o' roses, bain't there ?"
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 165
This with an inquiring glance and suggestive
pout.
Lionel took the hint, and springing up, ran to
gather for her a posy of the prettiest half-open
buds he could find, then, tying them up with a
bit of string he had in his pocket, he knelt down
again and gave them gently into her hands. She
buried her tiny nose deep among the scented petals.
" O how bee-oo-ful !" she sighed " 'Ee'se a
rare nice boy, Lylie ! I likes 'ee ! Where's your
Drojun wors now?"
He laughed joyously
"Just where they always were, dear, I expect!"
he answered, " I don't suppose anything will ever
move them out of Homer's epic ! It's always the
same old story, you know !"
Jessamine nodded demurely.
" Always the same ole story !" she echoed with a
comical plaintiveness " I 'member ! 'bout a bad
lady an' big men. Oh, Lylie ! there's a bee !"
She huddled herself and her roses up into a
heap, her pretty little face expressive of the direst
dismay as a big boozy bumble-bee circled round
and round her in apparent doubt as to whether
she might not be some new specimen of floral
growth full of delicious honey, and Lionel, arming
himself with a long fern-leaf, did manful battle with
1 66 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
the winged epicurean till it became thoroughly con-
vinced that these small pretty creatures were human
beings, not flowers, and boomed lazily off on another
quest for dainty novelties.
" He wor a bad bee !" said Jessamine, looking
after the offending insect, and slowly relaxing her
close-cuddled attitude " He's got all the flowers
F th' garden, an' they oughter be 'nuff for him
wizout mine, oughtn't they ?"
" Of course they ought !" agreed Lionel, feeling
quite happy in the companionship of his little vil-
lage friend, as he parted the dividing screen of
flowers and leaves and drew closer to her " Tell
me, Jessamine, did you come all by yourself across
that big field over there ?"
" 'Iss !" she replied, proudly "The field's just
'tween th' church an' this big 'ouse where 'ee lives,
Auntie Kate calls it ' short cut.' Sometimes it's
full o' cows, an' I'se 'fraid of 'em, an' I can't coom,
but to-day there's no cows, so I runned all th'
way to see 'ee, Lylie !" and she looked at him
affectionately " When's 'ee coomin' to see me ?"
Lionel's bright face clouded. " I don't know,
Jessamine !" he said, sadly " I wish I could come,
you don't think I wouldn't come if I could ! fast
enough ! But I have such a lot of lessons to do
just now they take up all my time, besides, I'm
THE MIGHTY A TOM. 167
not allowed to go anywhere except with the Pro-
fessor."
"The 'Fessor? Wot's 'e?" inquired Jessamine.
" He's my tutor, a very clever man, who teaches
me."
Jessamine looked puzzled.
" Well, can't the 'Fessor coom with 'ee ? an' see
me an' my feyther ?"
" I'm afraid he wouldn't care to, he's a very old
man "
"/ know !" interrupted Jessamine, with a nod of
her head " He's a bad ole man, he doesn't want
to see me. He's like the bad man i' th* fairy-book
wot lost the babes i' th' wood, an' he's like 'oor
feyther, Lylie! didn't 'ee say 'oor feyther would
scold me if I came froo this 'edge, eh ?"
" Yes, and I expect he would !" said Lionel.
" Then he's bad !" declared the small lady with
emphasis. " Nobody oughtn't to scold me, 'cos I'se
allus tryin' to be good." Then, with a sudden
change of tone, she added, " Poor Lylie ! I'se so
sorry for 'ee !"
There was something strangely moving in her
voice, and Lionel, always sensitive, felt the tears
rising very near his eyes.
" Why, dear ?" he asked, rather tremulously,
while, to hide his feelings, he busied himself in un-
1 68 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
tying the twist he had made of her hair and the
jessamine blossoms.
' 'Cos I fink you'se lonely, an' I'se 'fraid you
won't see me never no more !"
And again she raised her blue eyes to the blue
heavens and looked as if she saw some dawning
splendour there.
Lionel took both her little hands in his own and
fondled them. There was a sadness at his heart,
but not the kind of sadness she seemed to sug-
gest.
" You mustn't say that, Jessamine," he murmured,
gently " I'll be sure to see you again often. Even
when we go away from Combmartin, I sha'n't forget
you. I shall come back and see you when I'm a
big man."
She peeped wistfully up at him.
" You'se be a long, long time 'fore you'se a big
man, Lylie !" she said.
He was silent. What she suggested was very
true. It would indeed be a " long, long time" be-
fore the " big man" stage of existence came to him,
if it ever came to him at all. He was perfectly con-
scious within himself that he did not want to be a
" big man," and that it was quite enough sadness
for him to be a small boy. He could not realise the
possibility of his living through years and years of
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 169
work and worry to attain this end of mere manhood,
and then to go on through more years of worse
work and worry, just to become old, wrinkled, and
toothless, and drop into the grave forgetful of all
that he had ever known and senseless to the fact
that he had ever existed. He was entirely aware
that most people went through this kind of thing
and didn't seem to mind it, but somehow it did
not commend itself to him as his own particular
destiny. If there were another life to be taken up
after death, then he could understand the necessity
there might be for living this one nobly, but the
scientists had done away with that hope, and had
declared death to be the only end of every soul's
career. Thoughts such as these flitted vaguely
through his brain while he knelt in front of Jessa-
mine, holding her wee warm hands in his, she in
her turn regarding him seriously with her large soft
angelic eyes. Over the two children a silence and
a shadow hung, inexplicable to themselves. Or was
it not so much a shadow as a brightness ? made
impressive by the very stillness of its approach and
the mystic glory of its presence ? It seemed in-
credible that the thorny and cruel ways of the world
should be waiting to pierce and torture these inno-
cent young lives, it was monstrous to imagine the
dreamy-eyed tender-hearted boy growing up into the
H IS
170
777,5 MIGHTY ATOM.
usual type of modern man, the orthodox pattern
demanded by the customs and conventionalities of
his kind, and still more repellent was the idea that
the sweet baby-girl with her pure look and heavenly
smile should be destined for the rough lot of a mere
peasant drudge, so to pass her days and end them
without a touch of the finer essences which should
nourish and expand all the delicate susceptibilities
of her nature. Was there nothing better in store
for these children than what we call life? Who
could tell ! If the deep charm which held them
both mute could have dissolved itself in music some
answer might have been given ; but God's meanings
cannot be construed into the language of mortals,
hence the reason of many expressive silences often
encompassing us, silences more eloquent than
speech. Presently Jessamine stirred uneasily in her
nest of leaves.
" I'se goin' now, Lylie," she announced.
"Oh, must you go so soon?" exclaimed Lionel
" Can't you stay a little longer ?"
Jessamine pursed up her rosy lips with a gravely
important air.
"I'se 'fraid not!" she said "I'se promised to
fetch my feyther 'ome to dinner, an' 'e'l be waitin'
for me."
" Well, will you come back again, this afternoon ?"
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 171
urged the boy " Come back about four o'clock and
I'll be here to see you."
The little maid looked coquettishly doubtful.
"I doesn't know 'bout that!" she murmured,
coyly " My ole 'oss 'spects me this arternoon."
" But you might leave the old horse for once to
come to me !" pleaded Lionel " You know I may
have to go away altogether from Combmartin soon !"
" 'Iss !" sighed Jessamine, her eyes drooping de-
murely, then with a quick brightening of her face
she added " Well, I'll try, Lylie. P'r'aps I'll coom
an' p'r'aps I won't be able to coom. But I'm sure
I'll see 'ee soon again ; I won't 'ave to wait till you'se
a big man. I'll see 'ee long 'fore then. You mustn't
forgit me, Lylie !"
" Forget you ! Certainly not !" responded the boy,
almost ardently, as he set the little white sun-bonnet
straight on her head and tied the strings of it under
her pretty chin " I shall never forget you, dear little
Jessamine !"
She pushed herself further through the hedge on
her hands and knees, and smiled up at him.
" Wouldn't 'ee like to kiss me 'gain, Lylie ?" she
demanded, with ineffable sweetness.
For answer he put his arms round her neck, all
among the blossoms, and tenderly pressed the little
cherry of a mouth so frankly uplifted to his own.
172 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" Good-bye, Lylie !" she said, then, beginning to
scramble out from among the leaves.
" Good-bye, Jessamine ! But not for long !" he
answered.
" Not for long !" she echoed " You'se sure not to
forgit me, Lylie !"
" Sure !" declared the boy, smiling at her some-
what sadly, as she now stood upright behind the
hedge, and her little figure could only be dimly seen
through the close network of leaves. She turned to
go, then on a sudden impulse ran back and with
her two hands made a round peep-hole through the
trailing sprays of jessamine, so that her winsome
baby face looked literally framed in her own blos-
soms.
" Good-bye, Lylie ! Not for long !" she said.
And with that she disappeared.
Left alone once more, Lionel did not feel quite so
happy as he had done before his little visitor came.
Somehow the pretty child's quick departure grieved
him, he longed to break through the boundary
hedge and run after her, and have another long and
happy day of rest and freedom, but he had given
" his word of honour" to his father not to leave the
grounds, and he manfully resisted the sore tempta-
tion that beset him. Yet certain it was that with
Jessamine the light of the landscape seemed to have
THE MIGHTY A TOM. 1 73
fled ; a sense of desolation oppressed him ; and to
distract his thoughts he took up the two books he
had left on the garden-seat and set himself to study
them. But in vain, his mind wandered, he could
not fix his attention, and he began watching the
graceful movements of two butterflies that flew
in and out among the roses, pale blue pretty
creatures like corn-flowers on wings. And all at
once the terrible callousness of nature forced itself
upon his attention as it had never done before, and
filled him with gloom.
" Nothing cares !" he thought " If the best and
wisest person that ever lived were in trouble, or
were to die, everything would go on just the same;
the birds would sing and the butterflies dance,
and the flowers grow and the sun shine. I suppose
that is really why they have fixed upon an Atom as
the first cause of it all, you can't expect an Atom
to care !"
He moved slowly down the path and went
towards the carriage-drive where plenty of deep
shade was cast by a double row of broad and
full-foliaged elms. Outside the closed carriage-
gate he saw, through the bars, a man standing,
holding a basket in one hand and making uncouth
signs to him with the other. He advanced quickly,
then as quickly stopped, as he more plainly per-
15*
174 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
ceived the hideous aspect of the unhappy creature
who confronted him, a miserable human deformity
with twisted tottering limbs, protruding lack-lustre
eyes and a deathly grin upon the wide mouth which
through illness, idiotcy, or both, slobbered and
mumbled continuously and incoherently. The head
of the wretched man jerked to and fro with an
incessant convulsive motion, in the basket he car-
ried were a number of exquisite white roses, to-
gether with several large, beautifully polished rosy
apples, the fresh loveliness of these natural products
forming a strange and cruel contrast to the appear-
ance of their ragged and miserable vendor, who
continued to beckon Lionel with his twitching hand,
smiling that fixed and ghastly smile of his which, no
doubt, he meant, poor fellow, as an expression of
deference and good-will. But the boy, chilled to the
marrow by the sight of such an unexpected image
of horror in human shape, stood stock still for a
minute, staring then turning, he ran with all his
might into the house and up to the school-room,
every pulse in his body throbbing with nervous
shock and repulsion.
" Oh, it is quite right it must be right !" he
gasped, as he flung himself down in a chair and
tried to forget the gruesome figure he had just seen
" It is an Atom that created everything ! it
THE MIGHTY A TOM. 1 75
couldn't be a Person ! No Person with pity or
kindness could allow such a poor dreadful man as
that to live on and suffer ! A good God would have
killed him !"
He shuddered, hiding his face in his hands. His
forehead throbbed and burned, the burden of the
horror of merely human things suddenly came down
upon him and seemed greater than he could bear.
Human toil, human torture, human weakness, human
helplessness, all endured, for nothing! and only to
end in death ! Life then was a mere rack in which
poor humanity was bound, tormented, and slain
uselessly ! for so indeed must Life appear to all who
leave God out of it, or set Him aside as an unknown
quantity. He got up and walked to and fro restlessly.
" How wicked it is !" he mused, his young soul
fired with strange and feverish indignation " How
vile ! to make us live against our wills ! We didn't
ask to come into the world, it is shameful we
should be sent here. Unless there were some reason
for it, but there's none ; if there were one it would
surely be explained. A reasonable Person would
explain it. Reuben Dale believes there's a reason
and thinks it's all right, but then he's quite igno-
rant he doesn't know any better. I wonder what he
would say about that beggar-man ? could -he tell
why his God made such a dreadful creature ?"
1 7 6 THE MIGHTY A TOM.
He stopped in his uneasy rambling, and struck by
a sudden thought went downstairs in search of a
particular book. He looked in the drawing-room,
and in his father's study, and everywhere where
books were kept, but vainly, then, still possessed
by the one idea, he went along the stone passage that
led to the back of the house and the servants' offices,
and called one of the housemaids who had always
been rather kind to him.
" Lucy ! are you there ?"
" Yes, Master Lionel ! What is it ?"
" Have you got a Testament you can lend me ? I
want to look at it just for a few minutes."
" Why, certainly !" And Lucy, a bright whole-
some-faced girl of about twenty came out of the
kitchen, smiling " I'll lend you my school-prize
one, Master Lionel, I know you'll take great care
of it."
"That I will!" the boy assured her, whereupon
she tripped away, and soon returned with a book
carefully wrapped up in white tissue-paper. She
unfolded this, and showed a handsome morocco-
bound square volume, bearing its title in letters of
gold " New Testament."
"Don't you ink it, there's a dear!" she said
"And give it me back when you've done with
it."
THE MIGHTY A TOM. 1 7 7
Lionel nodded, and returning to the school- room,
shut the door. Then, with a fluttering heart he
opened the book. What he looked for he soon
found, the story of Christ healing the lepers.
Leprosy, he had been taught, was the most fright-
ful disease known, both hereditary and infectious,
it was a deadly scourge that tortured the limbs,
distorted the countenance and made of the human
frame a thing //zhuman and ghastly, yet Christ
never turned away in loathing from any miserable
creature so afflicted. On the contrary He healed
all who came to Him, and sent them on their way
rejoicing, yet on one such occasion, when ten
lepers were cleansed, only one returned to give
thanks to his great Benefactor. Lionel felt that
there was something more in this narrative than
was quite apparent in the mere reading of it,
something subtle and significant which he could
not quite grasp, though he began to reason with
himself " Is it because we are ungrateful that life
is made cruel for us, or what is it ?"
His head ached and his eyes smarted, he closed
the Testament sorrowfully, and with a deep sigh.
" It's no use to me," he said " Because though it's
all very beautiful, my father says it isn't true. And
in one of the books I have, the writer, who is a very
clever man, says it isn't at all certain that Christ
1 78 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
ever existed, and that it was Peter and Paul who
invented Him. Oh, dear me ! I wish I knew what
to believe, because even in the scientific arguments
no one man agrees with the other. It's all a muddle
whichever way you turn !"
He went downstairs again, and returned the Tes-
tament to its owner with a gentle
" Thank you, Lucy."
" Did you find what you wanted, Master Lionel ?"
asked the good-natured girl.
" Not exactly !" he answered " But it's all right,
Lucy " here he hesitated " Lucy, did you see a
beggar-man selling roses and apples just now out-
side the carriage-gate ? he was all twisted on one
side and had such a dreadful face !"
" Poor fellow !" said Lucy, pityingly " Yes, Mas-
ter Lionel, I often see him. He's the ' silly man'
of the village, the children call him ' Hoddy-
Doddy.' But he's not a beggar, though he's more
than half-witted, he's a rare good heart of his own,
and an idea of what's right and honest, for he
manages to make his own living and is a burden
to nobody. It's wonderful how he manages it, I
suppose God looks after him, for no one else
does."
" God looks after him !" This gave Lionel new
subject-matter for reflection, and he returned to the
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 179
school-room slowly and thoughtfully. His dinner was
brought up to him there, and afterwards he set him-
self to work at his lessons assiduously. Hot head
and trembling hands did not deter him from applica-
tion, and he worked on so steadily that he never
knew how time went till a sudden sick giddiness
seized him and he was obliged to get up and go out
in the garden for fresh air, lest he should faint. He
found then that it was four o'clock, and remembering
that he had asked Jessamine to come back to the
" 'ole in th' 'edge ' at that hour, he went to the ap-
pointed spot and waited there patiently till nearly
five. But the little maiden did not appear, and he
was quite down-hearted and weary with disappoint-
ment as well as with overwork, when at last he went
in to his tea. Lucy had prepared that meal for him,
and she stood looking at him somewhat compas-
sionately as he listlessly threw off his cap and ap-
proached the table.
" I should get to bed early if I were you, Master
Lionel," she said, kindly, " you look quite tired
and wore out, that you do."
" I want to wait up till mother comes home," he
answered.
Lucy fidgeted about and seemed uneasy in her
mind at this.
" Oh, I think you'd better not," she observed
l8o THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" your pa'd be very angry if you did. You know
you're always to be in bed by nine, and your ma
said she couldn't possibly get back before eleven.
You go to bed like a good boy, or you'll get us all
into trouble."
" Very well !" he said, with an indifferent air " I
don't mind! after all, it isn't as if she cared, you
know. If she cared " here quite suddenly his
lip began to tremble, and to his own amazement and
indignation he burst out crying.
The warm-hearted Lucy had her arms round him
in a minute.
" Why, what's the matter, dear ?" she asked, caress-
ingly, drawing the sobbing boy to her good wom-
anly breast " Lor' sakes ! how you're trembling !
There, there ! don't cry, don't cry ! you're tired ;
that's what it is. Poor little fellow! you've got too
many lessons to learn and too little play. I'm real
sorry, that I am, that Mr. Montrose has gone away."
"So am I," murmured Lionel, very much ashamed
of his own emotion, though he was child enough to
feel a certain pleasure and comfort in having Lucy's
kind arm round him " I liked Mr. Montrose."
Here he choked back his tears, and fingered Lucy's
brooch, which was a brilliant masterpiece of the vil-
lage silversmith's skill, being a heart with a long
dagger run through it, the said dagger having the
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 181
name " Lucy " engraved on its harmless point.
" Who gave you that, Lucy ?"
" My young man," replied Lucy, with a giggle
" I'm the dagger, and I'm supposed to have run
right through his heart, don't you see? Isn't it
funny?"
" Very funny !" agreed Lionel, beginning to smile
faintly.
Lucy giggled afresh.
" That's what I said when he gave it to me, but
he was very cross, and told me it wasn't funny at all,
it was poetry. You're feeling better now, aren't
you, dear ?"
" Oh, yes !" and Lionel dried his eyes on her
apron " Don't you mind me, Lucy. I'm only a
little tired, as you say. I'll have my tea now."
He sat down to table and made such a brave show
of being hungry, that Lucy soon withdrew, quite
satisfied. But when she had gone he ceased eating,
and went to his old seat in the window, there to
dream and muse. He tried conscientiously, before
the evening closed in, to study some more of the
" subjects " Professor Cadman-Gore had left for his
consideration, but he could not, his head swam di-
rectly he bent pver a printed page, so he gave up the
attempt in despair. He watched the sun sink and
the stars come out, and then went willingly enough
16
1 82 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
to bed. Before he shut his little bedroom-window
he heard an owl hoot among the neighbouring
woods and thought what a pitiful cry it uttered.
" Perhaps it is like me, wondering why it was ever
made !" he said to himself " And perhaps it thinks
the Atom as cruel as I do !"
CHAPTER IX.
TIRED out as he was, sleep came reluctantly to
Lionel's eyes that night. There was an odd quick
palpitation behind his brows which teased him for a
long time and would not let him rest, it seemed to
him like a little mill for ever turning and grinding
out portions of facts which he had recently com-
mitted to memory, bits of history, bits of gram-
mar, bits of Euclid, bits of Latin, bits of Greek,
till he began to wonder how all the bits would piece
themselves together and make a comprehensive
ground-work for further instruction. By-and-by he
found himself considering how very stupid it was of
Richard Coeur de Lion to make so much fuss over
the Holy Sepulchre, when now there were so many
clever men alive who were all agreed that Christ
was a myth, and that there never was any Holy
Sepulchre at all ! What a very dense king was
Richard ! what a brave dunce ! with his perpetual
oath " Par le Splendeur de Dieu !" While all the
time, if he had only known it, the Atom was just a
mechanical twisty thing with no " Splendeur de
Dieu" about it ! And oh, what a wicked waste of
183
1 84 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
life there had been ! what terrific martyrdoms for
the " Faith" ! merely to end in an age which was
scientifically prepared to deny and utterly condemn
all spiritual and supernatural beliefs whatsoever!
Gradually and by gentle degrees, Cceur de Lion and
the " Splendeur de Dieu," and the Atom and Jessa-
mine Dale, with bits of facts, and bits of Professor
Cadman-Gore's unhandsome features curiously joined
on to the dreadful physiognomy of the " silly man"
of the village, got jumbled all together in inextrica-
ble confusion, and the little tiresome mill in his head
turned slower and slower and presently ceased to
grind, and he fell into a profound slumber, the
deep, stirless trance of utter exhaustion. So dead
asleep was he that a voice calling " Lylie ! Ly-
lie !" only reached his consciousness at last as
though it were a faint far-off sound in a dream,
and .not till the call had been repeated many times
did he start up, rubbing his heavy eyelids and gazing
in speechless alarm at a mysterious cloaked figure
bending over his bed. The room was dark save for
the moonlight that struck one wide slanting beam
across the floor, and he could not for a moment im-
agine what strange and spectral visitant thus roused
him from his rest. But before he had time to think,
the figure's arms were round him, and its voice mur-
mured tenderly,
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 185
" Lylie ! Have I frightened you ? Poor boy !
poor baby ! Don't you know me ?"
" Mother !" And in his sudden surprise and joy
he sprang up half out of bed to return her embrace.
" How good of you to come and see me ! and you
haven't even taken your hat and cloak off! Did
Lucy tell you I wanted to wait up for you ?"
" No, Lucy didn't tell me," answered Mrs. Vallis-
court, drawing him more closely to her breast
" Poor child, how thin you are ! Such a little bag
o' bones ! You mustn't catch cold, curl yourself
under my cloak, so ! There ! Now, Lylje, I want
you to be very quiet and listen to me attentively,
will you ?"
" Yes, mother !"
Cuddled under the warm cloak with her arms
round him, Lionel was in a state of perfect happi-
ness, this unexpected nocturnal visit seemed too
good to be true. He was secretly astonished but
entirely glad, he had never dreamed of the possi-
bility of so much consolation and delight.
" You feel so small !" said his mother then with
a tremulous laugh " In your little nightgown you
seem just a mere bundle of a baby, the very same
sort of bundle I used to carry about and be so proud
of. You were a baby once, you know !"
Lionel nestled closer and kissed her soft hand.
16*
1 86 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" Yes, mother, I suppose I was !"
" Well, now, Lylie," she went on, speaking rapidly
and in low tones " You must try and understand
all I say to you. I am going away, dear, for a
time ... on a visit .... with a friend who wishes
to make me happy. I'm not very happy just at
present, . . neither are you, I daresay, . . you see
your father is exceptionally clever and good" and
her voice here rang with a delicate inflection of
mockery " and very naturally, he does not care
much for people who are not equally clever and
good, so it makes it difficult to get on with him
sometimes. He does not like me to sing and dance
and amuse myself any more than he likes you to
play games with other boys. You are too young to
go about by yourself and have a good time, yet,
but by-and-by you will grow up and you will know
what a good time means. You will find out that
when people get very, very dull, and are almost
ready to kill themselves for dulness, their doctors
advise them to have a change of scenery and a
change of society. That's what I want. Good
people like your father never want a change, I'm
not good, and I do !"
Lionel began to feel pained and perplexed.
" You are good, mother !" he said, with emphasis.
" No, darling, I'm not," she answered, quickly
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 187
"And that is just what I want to impress upon
you. I'm not good ; I'm a bad, selfish, cold-hearted
woman. I don't love anybody not even you !"
" Oh, mother !" The little cry was piteous, like
that of a wounded bird.
She stooped and gathered him up suddenly in her
arms, lifting him completely out of bed, and hold-
ing him thus with an almost passionate tenderness,
rocked him to and fro as if he were the merest
infant.
" No !" she said, a mingled scorn and sweetness
thrilling in her voice " No, I don't love my baby
at all, I never did ! I never had any heart, Lylie,
never ! I never rocked you in my arms like this
all day and kissed your dear little rosy feet and
hands, and sang you to sleep with all the funny little
nonsense songs I knew ! No, my pet ! I never
loved you, I never did, I never shall !"
And bending down she kissed him again and
again with a burning force and fervour that frightened
him. He dared not move, she clasped him so con-
vulsively, and he dared not speak, for as the moon-
beams glittered on her face he saw that she was
deadly pale and that her eyes looked wild, he
feared she was ill, an instinctive feeling that some-
thing terrible was about to happen made his heart
beat fast, and he trembled violently.
1 88 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
"Are you cold, dear?" she murmured, sitting
down in a chair by the bed and still holding him
jealously in her embrace " There !" and she drew
the ample folds of her fur-lined cloak more snugly
around him with all the cosseting fondness of an
adoring mother " That's cosier, isn't it, little one ?
Now, let ms finish my talk. You know, Lylie dear,
when you were a baby I used to have you all to my-
self, and that made a great difference to me I was
quite happy then. I used to plan such pretty things
for you, I had so many hopes, too oh, so many !
I was only a girl when you came to me, and girls
often have pretty fancies. And you were such a
darling baby, so plump and round and rosy and
merry! oh, so merry! And I was very proud of
you and very jealous, too, I used to nurse you and
dress you all myself because I could not bear the
idea of any common paid woman taking care of you.
And when you began to speak I did not want you
to be taught lessons, I wanted you to play all day
and grow big and strong, just as I often wanted to
dance and sing myself. But your father made up
his mind that you were to be a very clever man, and
he had you taught all sorts of things as soon as you
could spell. And so gradually I lost my baby. And
I never cared afterwards. I cared a good deal at
first, because I saw you were getting thin and pale
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 189
and tired-looking, but it was no use so I gave up
caring. I don't care now, because you see you are
growing quite a man, Lylie, though you are not
eleven yet, poor little man ! and you won't want
me at all. I am only in your way, and I am always
vexing your father and making trouble by giving
my opinions about you and your studies. That is
one of the reasons why I am going on this this
visit, just to enjoy myself a little. If it hadn't
been for you I shouldn't have come back here to-
night, but I couldn't go without bidding my boy
good-bye, I couldn't /"
She said this wildly, great tears filled her eyes
and dropped heavily one by one among Lionel's
curls. He sat up in her arms, his little bare feet
dangling down from her knee, and put one hand
coaxingly against her cheek.
" Are you really going to-night, mother ? So
late ?" he asked, plaintively " Must you go ?"
She looked straight at him and smiled through
her tears.
" Yes, I must ! I want a good time for once in
my life, Lylie, and I'm going to have it ! I'm
like you, I want a long holiday no lessons, and
no tutors !"
A sense of impending desolation filled his
soul.
190
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" Oh, mother, I wish you'd take me with you !"
he said " I do love you so much !"
What strange expression was that which dark-
ened her beautiful face ? Was it guilt, shame or
despair ? or all three in one foreboding shadow ?
" You love me so much ? Poor boy, do you ? It
is strange, for I've given you little cause to love
me. You mustn't do it, Lylie ! it's a mistake!
and to-morrow your father will tell you why."
She was silent a minute, then, glancing at the
little feet that gleamed in the moonbeams, frail and
white against her dark draperies, she took them
both in her hand and kissed them.
" Poor cold little tootsies !" she said, laughing
nervously, though the tears still glistened on her
cheeks " I mustn't keep you too long out of bed.
See here, Lylie" and she drew a small soft parcel
from her pocket " I want you to keep this in some
safe place for me till till I come back, it is the
only remembrance I have of my baby, when you
were a baby. I was a very proud little mamma as I
have told you, and no sash in any of the London
shops seemed good enough or pretty enough for my
boy. So I had this one specially, woven on one of
the French looms after my own design for you
to wear with your little white frocks. It is blue
silk, and the pattern on it is a daisy chain. Don't
THE MIGHTY ATOM. ! 9 I
let your father see it, but keep it for me till I return
and ask you for it. I don't feel like taking it with
me where I am going. See, I'll put it under
your pillow, and you must hide it somewhere in the
morning will you ?"
" Yes, mother. But but will you be long away ?"
He asked this timidly, bewildered and frightened
by he knew not what.
" I don't know, darling," she answered, evasively
" It all depends ! Your father will give you all the
news of me ! And he will be sure to tell you that
you mustn't love me, Lylie ! do you hear that ?
you mustn't love me !"
" But I shall," he said, gently" Nobody can
prevent it. I shall always love you."
She sat very still a moment, the brooding
shadow heavy on her face.
" You think so now," she murmured more to
herself than to him " Poor boy you think so now
but when you know "
Then she caught him close to her breast and
kissed him.
" Now for the downy nest !" she said, lifting him
up and laying him tenderly back into bed again, her
eyes resting upon him with a miserable yearning,
though she forced a strange distraught smile " All
the moonlight shines on your pale face, Lylie,
I 9 2 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
and you look oh, you look like a little dead child,
my darling ! like a little dead child !"
And suddenly falling on her knees, she threw her
arms across the bed and dropping her head upon
them, sobbed as though her heart were breaking.
Poor Lionel shivered in every limb with alarm and
distress, his sensitive soul was racked by his moth-
er's anguish, though it was incomprehensible to him,
and he felt as if indeed it would be better to die
than to see her thus.
" Don't cry, mother !" he faltered at last, faintly
"Oh, don't cry!"
She raised herself and dried her eyes with a hand-
kerchief from which the delicate odour of violets
came floating, sweet as the breath of the living
flowers.
" No, I won't cry, darling !" she answered, begin-
ning to laugh hysterically, " I don't know really why
I should, because I am quite happy quite !" And,
rising to her feet, she fastened her cloak about her
with hands that trembled greatly Lionel saw the
diamonds on her white fingers shake like drops of
dew about to fall, " I'm going to have a splendid
time and enjoy myself thoroughly !" this she said
with a curiously defiant air " and whatever happens
afterwards may happen as it likes, I don't care !"
She repeated the words with hard emphasis. " /
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
193
don't care ! Years ago I should have cared dread-
fully, but I've been taught not to care, and now I
don't. ' Don't Care ' was hung, they say, but as far
as I'm concerned it really doesn't matter whether one's
hung or drowned, or dies of a fever or a surfeit, it's
all the same a hundred years hence !" She lifted her
hands to her head, and with a coquettish touch set-
tled the small velvet hat she wore more becomingly
on her clustering hair, while Lionel, looking up at
her from his pillow, saw all her wonderful beauty
transfigured, as it were, in the ethereal radiance of the
moon, and as he looked felt, by some strange in-
stinct, that he must try to hold her back from some
unknown yet menacing peril.
" Mother, don't go !" he pleaded " Stay to-night,
at any rate ! Wait till to-morrow, oh, do mother !
Don't leave me !"
He stretched out his emaciated little arms, and
his eyes, full of child-yearning and student thought
commingled, appealed to her with a speechless elo-
quence. She bent over him again and taking his
hands pressed them close to her bosom.
" Dear, if I had any heart I shouldn't leave you,"
she said " I know that. But I have none, not a
scrap. I want you to remember this, and then you
will not feel at all sad about me. People without
hearts always get on best in this world. Your
in 17
1 94 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
mother used to have a heart, full of romance and
nonsense and sentiment and faith, Lylie! yes,
dear, even faith. Your mother was a very ignorant
woman once, so ignorant as to actually believe in a
God ! You know how angry your father is with
silly folks who believe in a God ? Well, he soon
got me out of all those foolish ways, and taught
me that the only necessary rule of life was Re-
spectability. Oh, you don't know how dull Re-
spectability can be ! how insufferably, hopelessly
dull! You don't know, you can't understand that
when the only object in life is to be respectable and
nothing more, no other ambition, no other future,
no other end, it becomes deadly ! even desperate !
You can't understand you are too young, poor
Lylie ! you are only a child, and I'm talking to
you as if you were a man. Good-bye, dear ! Love
me for to-night you may love me a little just till
morning comes, I like to think you are loving me,
Good-bye!"
He clung round her neck.
" Don't go, mother !" he whispered.
She kissed him passionately.
" I must, Lylie ! I should die or go mad if I
didn't. I am tired to death, I want a change !"
" But you won't be long away ?" he murmured,
still holding her fast.
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 195
" Not long," she replied, mechanically ; " Not
long ! See, I'll make you a promise, Lylie I'll
come back directly your father sends for me !"
and she laughed, a little cold mirthless laugh
which somehow chilled Lionel's blood, " My little
boy, my pet, you must not cling to me so!
you hurt me ! I cannot bear it oh, I cannot bear
it!"
A faint cry that was half a sob escaped her, and
she almost roughly unloosened his arms from about
her neck and put him back on his pillow. He was
pained and bewildered.
" Did I really hurt you, mother ?" he asked, wist-
fully.
" Yes, you really hurt me. You you pulled
my hair" and she smiled, her beautiful eyes shining
down upon him like stars in the semi-darkness
" and I felt as though your little fingers were pulling
at my heart, too ! Only I have no heart ! I forgot
that, but you mustn't forget it." She paused, for
at that moment the crunching noise of wheels was
heard outside on the gravel of the carriage-drive,
and she listened, with a strange wild look of expec-
tation on her face.
" You've read all about the French Revolution,
Lylie, haven't you ? Oh, yes, poor little manikin,
I know you have! I daresay you've got all the
196 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
troubles of Louis Seize by heart. You remember
when the tumbrils or death-carts used to come rat-
tling along the streets to fetch the people for execu-
tion ? Well, I heard the wheels of my death-cart
just now, it has come for me, and I'm going to
execution, by choice, not by compulsion !"
Roused to sudden energy, Lionel sprang up in
his bed.
" Mother, mother, you sha'n't go !" he exclaimed,
quite desperately " I'll come with you if you do !
you mustn't leave me behind !"
Her fair features hardened, as with a determined
grasp she caught hold of him and laid him down
again.
" Naughty boy !" she said, sharply " You'll make
me very angry, and I shall be sorry I came to see
you and say good-night. Lie still, and go to sleep.
If you love me you must obey me !"
Shivering a little, he turned from her and hid his
face in the pillow, shrinking from the imperious
regard of those wonderful eyes of hers which could
flash with wrath as well as deepen with tenderness,
and the old dull sense that he was nothing to her
and less than nothing, stole upon him almost un-
awares. Presently, moved by quick penitence, she
stooped towards him and ran her fingers caressingly
through his curls.
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
197
" There ! I did not mean to be cross, Lylie ! For-
give me ! And kiss me good-bye, darling !"
Silently he put his arms round her, the moon-
light fell pallidly across the bed, spectrally illumin-
ing the faces of both child and mother, on the one
was written with touching pathos the last hopeless,
helpless appeal of innocence and grief, on the other
a reckless resolve, and a callous, despairing self-
contempt. Life gone to waste and ruin through
lovelessness and neglect ; such was the history de-
clared in every line of Helen Valliscourt's counte-
nance, as she clasped her boy once more to her
breast, kissing him on lips, cheeks, and brow, and
ruffling the thick soft clusters of his hair with
loving lingering fingers.
" Good-bye ! good-bye!" she whispered " I have
no heart or it would break, Lylie ! Good-bye, my
pet, my baby! Love me till to-morrow good-
bye!"
With this last " good-bye" she tore herself reso-
lutely away from him, and before he could quite
realise it she had gone. He lay still for a moment
trembling, then on a sudden impulse left his bed
and ran bare-footed out on the landing, where he
paused at the top of the stairs, frightened and
irresolute. All was dark and silent.
" Mother !" he called, faintly. A door swung to
17*
198 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
with a creaking groan and rattle, a rising wind
sighed through the crevices.
"Mother!"
The plaintive cry was swallowed up and lost in
the darkness, but as he listened, with every
nerve strained and every sense on the alert, he
heard the noise of trotting horses' hoofs and
carriage-wheels apparently retreating at a rapid
rate up the Combmartin road. He rushed back
to his room and, hastily opening the window,
looked out. It was full moonlight, every object
in the landscape was as clearly defined as in broad
day, but not a trace of any human creature was
visible. The night air was chilly, and his teeth
chattered with cold, but he was hardly aware of
this, so great was the burden of sorrow and desola-
tion that had fallen on his heart. He raised his
eyes to the clear sky, one splendid star, whose
glowing lustre was scarcely lessened by the rays
of the moon, shone immediately opposite to him
like a silver sanctuary-lamp in heaven. Owls
hooted, answering each other with dismal per-
sistence, and scared bats fluttered in and out
among the trees which were now beginning to
sway languidly to and fro in a light breeze coming
up from the sea. And the impression of disaster
and gloom deepened in the boy's soul, and once
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 199
again from his trembling lips came the piteous
wailing cry,
" Mother ! Oh, mother !"
Then a great rush of tears blinded his sight,
and feeling his way back to bed through the salt
haze of that bitter falling rain, he shiveringly
huddled himself into a forlorn little heap of misery
and sobbed himself to sleep.
CHAPTER X.
NEXT morning he showed few signs of the grief
he had suffered during the night. True, he was
much paler than usual and very silent, but being
well accustomed to hide his emotions and keep his
troubles to himself, he complained of nothing, not
even to Lucy, when, as she brought him his breakfast,
she said, in rather a flurried manner,
" Your ma came home last night, Master Lionel,
and went away again, what do you think of that ?"
" I don't think anything," he replied, wearily
" Why should I ? It's not my business."
Lucy hesitated. Should she tell him what all the
servants in the house too truly suspected ? what
the very villagers in Combmartin were already gos-
siping about at their cottage doors and in the com-
mon room of the inn ?
" No, I can't do it !" she mentally decided " He
looks as white as a little ghost, he do, and I won't
bother him. He wouldn't understand, maybe, and
he's got all his lessons to learn, poor little chap, and
it'll only unsettle him. Anyhow, he'll hear it fast
enough !" Aloud she said, " I suppose your pa and
200
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 20 1
the Professor will be home by the first coach from
Lynton this morning ?"
" I suppose so," assented Lionel, indifferently.
" I don't like Lynton myself," went on Lucy
" People talk about it a lot, but it's just a nasty, damp
up-and-down place without any real comfort in it.
They've got a queer tram-car now that slides up the
hill from Lynmouth to Lynton and that doesn't make
it any prettier, I can tell you !" She paused, then
added, by way of a totally irrelevant after-thought,
" There's a letter addressed to your pa in your ma's
writing, waiting for him on his study table."
Lionel remained silent, pretending to be entirely
absorbed in the enjoyment of his breakfast.
Lucy, finding he was not inclined to talk, soon
left him to himself, much to his relief, for when
quite alone he was free to push away the food
that nauseated him to even look at, and to think
his own thoughts without interruption. His
mother's strange visit to his bedside during the
night, her stranger words, her tears, her kisses,
seemed this morning more like the vague impres-
sions of a dream than a reality, and unless he had
found the sash, his own baby-sash, she had left
with him, under his pillow, he would have been in-
clined to doubt the whole incident. As it was, he
was afraid to dwell too much upon it, for he had a
202 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
horrible presentiment that it meant something more
than he dared formulate, something dreadful,
something hopeless, something that for him would
bring great misery. He had carefully hidden away
the " baby-sash," a four yards' length of broad soft
ribbon with the delicate design of a daisy-chain
straying over its pale blue silken ground, he had
looked at it first with critical interest, wondering
what he had been like when as an infant he had
worn such a pretty thing, and noting that it was
scented with the same delicious odour of violets that
had been wafted from his mother's handkerchief
when she had dried her eyes after her sudden fit of
weeping. Having put it by in a safe place he knew
of, he went to his books and set himself desperately
to work in order to try and forget his own dis-
quietude. Beginning by translating a passage of
Virgil into English blank verse, he went on to
" Caesar's Commentaries," then he did several diffi-
cult and puzzling sums, and was stretching every
small fibre of his young brain well on the rack of
learning, when a coach-horn sounded, and he saw
the Lynton coach itself come rattling down-hill into
Combmartin. His father and Professor Cadman-
Gore were on top, that he saw at a glance, and in
another few minutes he, taking cautious peeps from
the school-room window, perceived their two famil-
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
203
iar figures walking up the drive and entering the
house. And now something seemed to stop the
boy from the resumption of his tasks, a curious
sensation came over him as though he were imperi-
ously bidden to wait and hear the worst. What
worst ? He could not analyse any " worst" satis-
factorily to himself yet ....
A violent ringing of bells in the outside corridor
startled him and set his heart beating rapidly, he
got up from his chair and stood, anxiously listening
and wondering what was the matter. All at once
his father's voice, pitched in a high hoarse key of
utmost wrath, called loudly,
" Lionel ! Lionel ! Where is the boy ? Has he
turned tramp, as his mother has turned "
The sentence was left unfinished, for at that moment
Lionel ran down the stairs quickly and faced him.
" I am here, father !"
He trembled as he spoke, for he thought his father
had suddenly gone mad. Crimson with fury, his
eyes rolling wildly in his head, his wolfish teeth
clenched on his under-lip, he was a terrible sight to
see, and his fiendish aspect overwhelmed poor
Lionel with such alarm that he scarcely perceived
the Professor who stood in the back-ground, crack-
ing his great knuckles together and widening his
mouth into a strangely sardonic grin. Directly his
204 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
little son appeared, Mr. Valliscourt pulled himself up
as it were by a violent effort, and bringing his eye-
brows together so that they met in a hard black line
on the bridge of his nose, he said in choked fierce
accents,
"Oh, you are here! Did you "he paused,
took breath, and resumed " Did you see your
mother .yesterday ?"
" Yes," answered the boy, faintly " I saw her last
night. I was in bed, and she came and woke me up
and said good-bye to me."
Mr. Valliscourt glared at the fragile trembling
little figure in frowning scorn.
" Said good-bye to you ? Was that all ? or was
there anything else ? Speak out !"
Lionel's teeth began to chatter with fear.
" She said, she said she was going on a visit with
with a friend who would make her happy," here a
deep and awful oath sprang from Mr. Valliscourt's
lips, causing the Professor to cough loudly by way
of remonstrance " and and she said she was not
very happy just now, and that she wanted a change.
She said she would not be gone long, and she cried
very much and kissed me. And she promised she
would come back as soon as you sent for her. Oh
dear ! whatever is the matter ? Oh father, do tell
me, please."
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 205
He staggered a little, his head swam, and he
lost breath.
" Yes, I will tell you !" cried his father, furiously
" I will tell you truths as she has told you lies !
Your mother is a vile woman ! a wretch, a drab !
a disgrace to me and to you ! Do you know what
it is when a wife leaves her husband, and runs away
like a thief in the night with another man ? If you
do not know, you must learn, for this is what your
mother has done ! The ' friend' who is to ' make
her happy,' " and Mr. Valliscourt's angry visage
darkened with a hideous sneer " is Sir Charles
Lascelles, the fashionable pet blackguard of society,
she has gone with him, she will never come
back ! She has dishonoured my name, and glories
in her dishonour ! Never think of her again, never
speak of her ! From this day, remember, you have
no mother !"
Lionel put up his trembling little hands to his
head as though he sought to shield himself from a
storm of blows. His heart beat wildly, he tried to
speak but could not. He stared helplessly at Pro-
fessor Cadman-Gore, and half fancied he saw a gleam
of something like pity flicker across the wrinkled
and sour physiognomy of that learned man, but all
was blurred and dim before his sight, and the only
distinct things he realised were the horror of his
18
206 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
father's face and the still greater horror of his father's
words.
" You know the meaning of a shamed life," went
on Mr. Valliscourt, ruthlessly " Young as you are,
you have read in history how there have been men,
and women, too, who have chosen to die rather
than live disgraced. Not so your mother ! She de-
lights in her wickedness, she elects to live in open
immorality rather than in honour. In her wanton
selfishness she has thought nothing either of me or
of you. She is thoroughly bad, in olden times she
would have been set in the pillory or whipped at the
cart's tail ! And richly would she have deserved
such punishment !" and as he spoke his right hand
clenched suddenly as though in imagination he held
the scourge he would fain have used to bruise and
scarify the flesh of his erring wife " When you are a
man, you will blush to remember she ever was your
mother. She has made herself a scandal to society,
she is a debased and degraded example of impu-
dence, dishonesty, and infamy ! she "
But here Lionel stumbled forward giddily and laid
his weak little hand appealingly on his father's arm.
"Oh, no, father, no ! I can't bear it, I can't bear
it !" he cried " I love her ! I love her ! I do in-
deed ! I can't help it. She kissed me only last
night, father ! yes, and she took me in her arms,
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 207
oh, I can't forget it, I can't, really ! I love her I
do ! Oh, mother mother !"
Stammering thus incoherently he saw his father's
eyes flame upon him like balls of fire, his father's
form seemed to dilate all at once to twice its nat-
ural dimensions, as in a dream he heard the growl-
ing voice of the Professor interpose with the words
" The boy has had enough, let him be !" . . . then
on a blind impulse he ran, ran, ran headlong out of
the house, not knowing in the least where he was
going, but only bent on getting away somewhere
anywhere only away ! Down the Combmartin
road he rushed panting, like a little escaped mad
thing, the noonday sun beating hot on his uncovered
head, as in a wild vision he heard voices calling
him, and saw strange faces looking at him, till
suddenly he became aware of a familiar figure ap-
proaching him, a figure he dimly recognized as
that of his old acquaintance, Clarinda Cleverly Payne,
whom he had never seen since his tutor Montrose
had left Combmartin. Running straight towards
her, he cried aloud,
" Oh, Miss Payne ! it isn't true, is it ? Oh, do tell
me! it can't be true! My mother hasn't gone
away for ever, has she ? oh no, surely not ! Oh no,
no, no ! She loves me, I know she does ! She
would not leave me, she wouldn't, I'm sure ! Oh, do
208 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
tell me, dear Miss Payne ! you do not think she is
wicked, do you ?"
Over the weather-beaten face of the kindly Cla-
rinda came an expression of the deepest, aye, almost
divine compassion. In one moment her womanly
soul comprehended the child's torture, his bewilder-
ment, his grief, his exceeding loneliness, and with-
out a word in answer, she opened her arms. But
Lionel, gazing at her in passionate suspense, met the
solemn and pitying look of her eyes, a look that
confirmed all his worst fears, and sick to the very
heart, seeing the sky, the earth, and the distant sea
all gather together in one great avalanche of black-
ness that came rolling down upon him, he staggered
another step forward and fell senseless at her feet.
CHAPTER XI.
" BETTER take him away for a few days," said Dr.
Hartley, a brisk bright-looking type of the country
physician, as he held his watch in one hand and felt
Lionel's feeble pulse with the other, " Give him a
little change, move him about a bit. He's had a
sort of nervous shock, yes yes very sad ! I
heard the news in the village, . . . shocking un-
happily these domestic troubles are becoming very
common, . . . most distressing for you, I'm sure !"
These disjointed remarks were addressed to Mr.
Valliscourt, who alternately flushing and paling,
under the influence of his mingled sensations of
indignation at the dishonour wrought upon him by
his wife, and vexation at the sudden illness of
his son, presented a somewhat singular spectacle.
Lionel had been brought into the house in a dead
faint in the arms of a a person, a common person
who sold eggs and butter and milk in the village and
called herself Clarinda Cleverly Payne, what ridicu-
lous names these Devonshire people gave themselves,
to be sure ! and the the person had presumed to
express sympathy for him, for him, John Valliscourt
of Valliscourt ! in his "great misfortune," and had
o 18* 209
210 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
also dared to compassionate his son yes, had
actually, before certain of the servants, said " May
God help the poor dear little motherless lamb !" It
was most offensive and intrusive on the part of the
person who called herself Clarinda, and Mr. Vallis-
court, as soon as she departed, had given strict injunc-
tions that she was never again to be admitted inside
the premises on any pretext whatever. This done, he
had sent for the principal doctor in Combmartin,
who had attended the summons promptly, trotting
rapidly to the house on a stout cob, which, when he
alighted from its broad back, was handed over to the
care of an equally stout boy who turned up mys-
teriously from somewhere in the village, and appear-
ing simultaneously with the doctor, seemed to have
been groom-in-ordinary to the cob all his life. The
stout boy had, by some unknown process, trans-
ferred the roundness and ruddiness of two prize
Devonshire apples into his cheeks, and he had
another Devonshire apple in his pocket which he
presently took out, cut with a clasp-knife and divided
into equal proportions between the cob and himself,
to occupy the time spent by them both in waiting
for the doctor outside Mr. Valliscourt's hall-door.
The doctor meanwhile had successfully roused Lionel
from the death-like swoon that had lasted till he
came, and Lionel himself, breathing faintly and
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 211
irregularly, had half opened his eyes, and was vaguely
trying to think where he was and what had happened
to him.
" Yes," continued Dr. Hartley musingly, now lift-
ing with delicate ringer one of the boy's eyelids and
peering at the ball of the soft eye beneath it " I
should certainly take him away as quickly as con-
venient to yourself "
" It's not convenient to me at all," said Mr. Vallis-
court, irritably "/ can't go anywhere with him,
my time is fully occupied, and his lessons will be
materially interfered with "
" Humph !" and the doctor glanced him over from
head to foot with considerable disfavour " Well
you must decide for yourself, of course, but it is
my duty as a medical man to inform you that if the
boy is not moved at once and given some change
from his present surroundings, there is a danger of
meningitis setting in. And his constitution does not
appear to me sufficiently robust to withstand it.
Lessons just now are entirely out of the question."
Mr. Valliscourt frowned. He took a sudden and
violent aversion to Dr. Hartley. He disliked and
resented the expression of the shrewd blue eye that
gave him such a straight look of criticism and cen-
sure, and he felt that here was another " semi-bar-
baric fool" like Willie Montrose, who had beliefs and
212 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
sentiments. He coughed in a stately manner, and
said, stiffly,
" Perhaps I can persuade Professor Cadman-
Gore "
" Who is he ?" asked the doctor, abruptly, laying
his big gentle hand on Lionel's brow and smoothing
back the curls that clustered there with the suave
soft touch of a woman. Mr. Valliscourt stared,
then smiled a superior smile at the ignorance of this
village Galen.
" Professor Cadman-Gore," he announced with
laboured politeness " is one of our greatest
thinkers and logicians. His fame is almost uni-
versal, I should have thought it had penetrated
even to this part of the country, that is, among
the more cultured inhabitants" and he laid a slight
emphasis on the word " cultured" "He is the author
of many valuable scientific works, and is an admira-
ble trainer and cultivator of youth. As a rule, he
never undertakes the instruction of a boy so young
as my son, but out of consideration for me, hear-
ing that I had been compelled to dismiss, rather
suddenly, an incompetent tutor, he very kindly ac-
cepted the task of my son's holiday tuition. It is
possible he might be willing to accompany the boy
for the change you advise, if indeed you consider
such a change absolutely necessary "
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 213
" I do, most decidedly," said Dr. Hartley, filling a
teaspoon with some reviving cordial, and gently
placing it to Lionel's lips, while Lionel in his turn,
feeling all the time as if he were in a dream, swal-
lowed the mixture obediently " I don't say take
him far, for he must on no account be over-
fatigued. Clovelly would be a good place. Let
him go there with his tutor and scramble about
as he likes. The sooner the better. Here he will
only think and fret about his mother. In fact
you'd better order a carriage and have him taken on
as far as Ilfracombe this very afternoon then the
rest of the way can be done by easy stages. The
coach would be too jolty for him. You can't go
with him yourself, you say ?"
" Impossible !" and Mr. Valliscourt's mouth hard-
ened into a thin tight line, indicative of inward
and closely repressed rage " I must go to town
at once for a few days I have to consult my
my lawyers."
" Oh ah ! Yes I see I understand !" and the
doctor gave a little nod of comprehension " Well,
can I have a talk to the boy's tutor ? I should like
to explain a few points to him."
" Certainly. He is in the schoolroom, permit me
to show you the way there."
"One moment!" and Dr. Hartley gave a keen
214 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
glance round the small apartment in which they
were. It was Lionel's bedroom, whither he had
been carried in his swoon by the warm-hearted
Clarinda Cleverly Payne. The window was shut,
but the doctor threw it wide open. " Plenty of
fresh air, nourishing food, and rest," he said
" That's what the boy wants. And he must be
amused, he mustn't be left alone. Send one of
the servants up here to sit with him till he's ready to
start this afternoon."
" Send Lucy !" murmured Lionel's faint voice from
the bed.
" What's that, my little man ?" inquired the doc-
tor, bending over him " Send whom ?"
" Lucy," and Lionel looked up fearlessly in his
physician's round, shiny face " She is a house-maid,
and a very nice girl. I like her."
Dr. Hartley smiled. " Very good ! You shall
have Lucy. The desirable young woman shall
come up to you at once. Now, how do you
feel ?"
" Much better, thank you !" and the boy's eyes
softened gratefully " But you know ... I can't,
I can't forget things, . . . not very easily!"
The doctor made no answer to this remark, but
merely settled the pillows more comfortably under
his small patient's head, Then he went away with
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
215
Mr. Valliscourt to make the acquaintance of Pro-
fessor Cadman-Gore. And when Lucy came creep-
ing softly up, as commanded, to watch by Lionel's
bedside, she found the little fellow sleeping, with
traces of tears glistening on his pale cheeks, and
his aspect was so touching and solemn in its inno-
cence and sorrow and helplessness, that being noth-
ing but a woman and a warm-hearted woman too,
she took out her handkerchief and had a good quiet
cry all to herself. " How could she how could she
leave the little dear !" she wondered dolefully, as she
thought of the reckless and shameful flight of her
recent mistress " To leave him" meaning Mr.
Valliscourt, " isn't so surprising, howsumever it's
wicked, for he's a handful to live with and no
mistake ! but to leave her own boy, that's real
downright bad of her! that it is!" Poor Lucy!
She had never read the works of Ibsen, and was
entirely ignorant of the " New Morality," as incul-
cated by Mr. Grant Allen. Had she been taught
these modern ethics, she would have recognised in
Mrs. Valliscourt's conduct merely a "noble" out-
break of " white purity" and virtue. But she had
"barbaric" notions of motherhood, she believed in
its sacredness in quite an obstinate, prejudiced, and
old-fashioned way. She was nothing but a " child
of nature," poor, simple, Ibsen-less housemaid Lucy !
2 1 6 THE MIGHTY A TOM.
and throughout all creation, nature makes mother-
love a law, and mother's duty paramount
Meanwhile Dr. Hartley had the stupendous honour
of shaking hands with Professor Cadman-Gore, and
not only did he seem totally unimpressed by the
occurrence, but he had actually the sublime impu-
dence to ask for a private interview with the great
man, that is, an interview without the presence of
Mr. Valliscourt. The latter personage, surprised
and somewhat offended, reluctantly left the two gen-
tlemen together for the space of about fifteen min-
utes, at the end of which time the Professor looked
more ponderously thoughtful than usual, and Dr.
Hartley took his leave, trotting off on his stout cob
amid many respectful salutations from the stout boy
who straightway disappeared also, to those unknown
regions of Combmartin whence he had emerged, as
if by magic, directly his services were required.
And Lionel slept on and on, till at a little after
three o'clock in the afternoon, Lucy roused him and
gave him a cup of soup, which seemed to him par-
ticularly strong and well-flavoured.
" There's wine in it, isn't there ?" he asked, with a
surprised glance, whereat Lucy nodded smiling
" Fancy giving me wine in my soup ! Oh, I say !
It's too good for me !"
Lucy gave a slight sniff, and stated she had a cold.
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 217
" It's my belief that this old house is damp !" she
said "And the whole village is crazy-built and
green-mouldy in my opinion ! And what do you
think, Master Lionel ? If that blessed old ' Hoddy-
Doddy/ the silly man you saw the other morning,
ain't been here shaking his wobbly head over the
gate and giving all his roses in for you, for nothing !
and here they are !" and she raised a beautiful clus-
ter of deep red, pale pink, and white half-open buds,
fragrant and dewy " We couldn't make out what
he wanted at first, he was so wobbly and couldn't
speak plain, but at last we got at it it was ' For
the little boy the little boy ' over and over again.
So we took the flowers just to please the poor crea-
ture, he wouldn't have any money for them. He
saw you being carried home in your faint by Miss
Payne, and he thought you were dead."
" Did he ?" murmured Lionel, wistfully " And
that is why he brought the flowers, I suppose,
thinking me dead ! Poor man ! He's very dreadful
to look at, but he's very kind, I daresay and he
can't help his looks, can he ?"
" No, that he can't," agreed Lucy, simply "And,
after all, it's what we are that God cares about, not
what we seem to be."
At these words a deep sadness clouded the boy's
eyes, and he thought of his mother. Was there a
K 19
2l8 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
God to care what become of her f Or was there
only the Atom, to whom nothing mattered, neither
sin, nor sorrow, nor death ? Oh, if he could only
be sure that it was really a God who was the Su-
preme Cause and Mover of all things, a wise, lov-
ing, pitiful, forgiving, Eternal and Divine Being, how
he would pray to Him for his lost, unhappy, beau-
tiful mother, and ask Him to bring her back ! But
he had no time to ponder on such questions, for
Lucy was now busy putting on his overcoat and
finding his hat, and packing his little valise, and
doing all sorts of things, and while he was yet won-
dering at these arrangements and trying to stand
firmly on his legs, which were curiously weak and
shaky, who should come striding largely across the
threshold of his bedroom but Professor Cadman-
Gore ! Professor Cadman-Gore, with broad, soft
wide-awake on, and extensive flapping over-all, his
habitual costume when travelling, even in the hottest
weather, and more wonderful than the wide-
awake or the over-all, was the smile that wrinkled
the Professor's grim features in several new places,
making little unaccustomed lines of agreeable sug-
gestiveness among the deeper furrows of thought,
and even turning up the stiff corners of his mouth in
quite a strange manner, inasmuch as his usual sort
of smile always turned those corners down.
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 219
" Hullo !" said the learned man, with a sprightly
air " How are you now ?"
" Better, thank you !" answered Lionel, gently
" My head is a little swimmy, that's all."
" Oh, that's all, is it ? Well, that isn't much !" and
the Professor stood alternately glowering and grin-
ning with a distinctly evident desire to make himself
agreeable " Can you ride pick-a-back ?"
Lionel stared wonderingly, then smiled.
" Why, yes ! I haven't often done it, but I know
how !"
" Come along then !" and the Professor squatted
down and bent his bony shoulders to the necessary
level " I'll take you to the carriage that way. Hold
on tight !"
Lionel was stricken quite speechless with sheer
amazement. What ! Professor Cadman-Gore, the
great scholar, the not-to-be-contradicted logician,
condescending to carry a boy pick-a-back ! Such a
thing was astounding, unheard-of! Surely it ought
to be chronicled in the newspapers under a bold
head-line thus,
GRACIOUS CONDUCT OF AN OXFORD
PROFESSOR.
"Do you mean it? Really?" he asked, timidly,
flushing with surprise.
220 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" Certainly I do ! Only don't keep me waiting
long in this this absurd attitude !" And ferocity
and kindness together played at such cross-purposes
on his lantern-jawed visage that Lionel lost no time
in getting his little legs astride round the sinewy
neck of the distinguished man, trembling as he did
so at the very idea of taking such a liberty with
a walking encyclopaedia of wisdom. And down-
stairs they went, master and pupil, in this wondrous
fashion, to the hall-door, outside which there was
a big landau and pair of sleek brown horses waiting,
and where Lionel was slipped easily off the Pro-
fessor's back into a pile of soft cushions and covered
up with warm rugs. Then Lucy bustled about, pack-
ing all manner of odds and ends into the carnage, and
openly flirting with the coachman in the very
presence of the great Cadman-Gore, one or two
of the other servants came out to look and wave
their hands, then the horses started, Lucy called,
" Good-bye, Master Lionel ! Come back quite
well !" and away they drove through the beautiful
sunshiny air, down the one principal street of
Combmartin, past the quiet little harbour, and up
the picturesque road leading to Ilfracombe. Mr.
Valliscourt had not appeared to bid his little son
good-bye, and Lionel, though he noticed the fact,
did not regret it. Resting comfortably among
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 221
his pillows he was very silent, though now and
then he stole a furtive glance at the Professor,
who sat bolt upright surveying the landscape
through his spectacles with the severely critical
air of a man who knows just how scenery is
made and won't stand any nonsense about it,
and it was not till they had left Combmartin some
distance behind them that he ventured to ask
gently,
" Where are we going ?"
" To Clovelly," replied the Professor, bringing
his owl-like glasses to bear on the little wistful face
upturned to him " But not to-night. We only get
as far as Ilfracombe this afternoon."
" Is my father coming ?"
" No. He's going to London on business. He'll
be away a week or ten days and so shall we. Then
we shall return to Combmartin and stay there till
your father's summer tenancy of the house expires."
" I see !" murmured Lionel " I understand !"
And two great tears filled his eyes. He was
thinking of his mother. But her name never
passed his lips. He turned his face a little away
and thought he had hidden his emotion from his
tutor, but he thought wrongly, for the Professor
had seen the gleam of those unfailing tears, and,
strange to say, was moved thereby to what was
19*
222 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
for him a most unusual sentiment of pity. He who
had frequently witnessed the ruthless vivisection of
innocent animals, he who had tranquilly watched a
poor butterfly writhe itself to death on his scientific
pin, was at last touched in the innermost recesses of
his heart by the troubles of a child. And so, per-
chance, he established a claim for himself in the
heaven he so strenuously denied, a claim that
might possibly be of more avail to him in the Great
Hereafter than all his book-lore and world-logic.
Meanwhile, John Valliscourt of Valliscourt, shut
up in his own room in the now lonely house at
Combmartin, wrote to his lawyers preparing them
for his visit to their office next day, and instructed
them at once to sue for his divorce from Helen
Valliscourt, the co-respondent in the case being
Charles Lascelles, Baronet. There would be no de-
fence, he added, and then, turning from his own
methodical statement of the facts, he took up and
re-read the letter his recreant wife had written him
by way of farewell. It ran thus,
" I leave you without shame and without remorse.
While I was faithful to you, you made my life a
misery. Your pride and egotism need humbling,
I am glad to be at least the means of dragging you
down in the dust of dishonour. You have killed
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 223
every womanly sentiment in me, you have even
separated me from my child. You have robbed me
of God, of hope, of every sense of duty. I have
gone with Charles Lascelles, whose chief merit in
my eyes is that he hates you as much as I do ! In
other respects you know his character, and so do I.
When you divorce me he will not marry me, I
would not have him if he offered. I have consented
to be his mistress in exchange for a year's amuse-
ment, attention and liberty and for the rest of my
life what shall I do ? I neither know nor care !
Perhaps I shall repent perhaps I shall die. To me
nothing matters, your creed, the creed of Self,
suffices. Your Self is content with dull respect-
ability, my Self craves indulgence. If anything
could have kept me straight and given me patience
to bear with your arrogance and pedantry, it would
have been my boy's love, but that you are deliber-
ately bent on depriving me of. Every day you set
up new barriers between him and me. And yet I
loved you once you ! I laugh now to think of my
folly ! You did everything you could to crush that
love out of me, you have succeeded ! What rem-
nant of a heart I have is left with Lionel, my spirit
is in the boy's blood, and already he rebels against
your petty tyranny. Sooner or later he will escape
you, may it be soon for the poor child's own sake !
224 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
and then, whether there be a God or no God,
you will reap the curses you have so lavishly sown.
May they amply reward you for your ' generosity' to
" Your wife no longer,
" HELEN."
Over and over again Mr. Valliscourt read these
words till they seemed burned into his brain, far
into the night he mused upon their purport, and
the phrases " My spirit is in the boy's blood,"
" already he rebels," " sooner or later he will
escape you," sounded loudly in his ears like threats
from some unseen enemy.
" No !" he muttered, rising from his chair at last,
and thrusting the letter into a secret drawer of his
desk " Let her go, the jade ! the way of all such
trash ! let her mix herself with the mud of the
street and be forgotten, but the boy is mine ! he
shall obey me, and I will crush her spirit out of
him and make of him what I choose."
CHAPTER XII.
POOR Clovelly, beautiful Clovelly ! Once an ideal
village for poets to sing of and artists to dream of, to
what " base uses" hast thou come ! Now no longer a
secluded bower for the " melancholy mild-eyed lotus-
eaters" of thought, no longer a blessed haven of
rest for weary souls seeking cessation from care and
toil, thou art branded as a "place of interest" for
cheap trippers, who with loud noise of scrambling
feet and goose-like gigglings, crowd thy one lovely
upward-winding street, which is like nothing so
much as a careless garland of flowers left by chance
on the side of a hill, and thrust their unromantic
figures and vulgarly inquisitive faces through thy
picturesque doorways and quaint fuchsia-wreathed
lattice-windows. It is as though a herd of swine
should suddenly infest a fairy's garden, nosing the
fine elfin air, and rooting up the magic blossoms.
Demoralised Clovelly ! Even thy inhabitants, origi-
nally simple-hearted, gentle, and hospitable with all
the unaffected primitive sweetness of oldest English
hospitality, are tainted by the metropolitan disease
of money-grubbing, love of " the chinks" is fast
superseding the love of nature, and this to such an
p 225
226 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
extent that even a damsel in waiting at the New Inn,
a native of the place, hath had no scruple in dyeing
her hair an outrageous straw-tint with some " sun-
beam" or " aurora" mixture. Dyed hair in the village
of Clovelly ! it is a curious anomaly, and gives one
a kind of shock. Dyed hair, painted cheeks, and
blackened eyebrows are the ordinary tawdry deface-
ments wherewith the women of our large and over-
crowded cities foolishly strive to make themselves
look as much like their " fallen" sisters as possible,
and as it were, voluntarily label themselves promi-
nently as " under surveillance," but in a tiny vil-
lage tenderly nestling between two flowery hills,
itself in a flowery clime, and crowded at the sum-
mit by a flowery knoll, a village apparently born
of nature, cherished by nature, and meant for
nature, what stranger sight can there be than an
"artless" native maiden with dyed hair! As
strange as though one should find a clown in full
theatrical paint and costume seated among the prim-
roses and bluebells of the " Hobby Drive." Yet
the girl's dyed hair serves somewhat as a sign and
symbol of the gradual spoiling of Clovelly, though
Dame Nature with many fond tears of appealing
love still twines the jessamine and pushes the may-
blossom over the roofs and against the walls of the
cherished spot, and pleads in all her tenderest ways
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 227
for its preservation. " Leave Clovelly to me !" she
cries " Let the tramping herd wander over the face
of foreign lands if they must and will, let them
break their soda-water bottles against the ruins of
the Coliseum in Rome, let them write their worth-
less names on the topmost statue adorning Milan
Cathedral, let them paint their glaring advertise-
ments across the rocks and glaciers of Switzerland,
let them chip at the features of the Sphinx, and
scrawl vile phrases on the Pyramids, but spare me
Clovelly ! Let me still keep the guardianship of my
own sea-paradise, let me twist the crimson fuchsia
round the doors and bunch the purple blossoms of
wistaria above the windows, let me grow my daisies
and bright pimpernels in the crannies of the climb-
ing street, let me trail the golden ' creeping-Jenny'
down the stone steps of side-dwellings and in quaint
hole-and-corner alleys, let me wreathe the honey-
suckle in fragrant tufts about the balconies and
chimneys, and let me put all the sweetness of my
flowers, my sea-foam, my bright air, and my fresh foli-
age into the hearts of the people ! I would fain keep
them a race apart, the women simple, noble, mater-
nal, the men strong, brave, God-fearing, and manly,
with eyes grown blue in the fronting of the sea, and
hearts kept young by the companionship of flowers
and children, so that even when storm rushes in
228 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
from the Atlantic and makes of my Clovelly nothing
but a shining gleam of light in a haze of rain, and
the thunder of the billows on the shore is as God's
voice arguing with His creation, these village-folk
may be unafraid and calm, with faith in their souls
and love in their hearts, a contrast to the dwellers
in cities, who, pampered and spoilt in their fancied
security of wealth and ease, cower and scurry away
from the slightest touch of misfortune as rats fly
from a falling house. Release me from the scourge
of savages and pilferers who have thrust themselves
in upon this my deeply-hidden work and favourite
bower ! let me keep Clovelly ' unspotted from the
world' !"
Thus Dame Nature, but her appeal is vain. She
could not save Foyers, she will not save Clovelly.
The spoiler's hand has fallen, the work of destruc-
tion has already begun, not outwardly but inwardly.
What though the present owners of the land have
vowed to keep Clovelly as it is ? what though they
rightly and justly refuse to have hotels built and
lodging-houses set up to deface one of the most
unique and exquisite spots in all creation ? The
taint is in the hearts of the people, the love of
gain, the greed of cash ; discontent and ambition,
like two evil genii, have crept into Fairyland, and
their promptings and suggestions will in time pre-
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
229
vail more strongly than all the earnest voices of
good angels.
Lionel led a curious sort of life at Clovelly. He
and the Professor occupied the quaintest and funniest
little rooms that ever were designed, rooms with
floors that sloped and ceilings that slanted, and that
altogether suggested the remains of some earthquake,
by reason of numerous wide cracks in the walls and
gaps in the chimney-nooks, and that yet were pretty
with an odd old-world prettiness not found every-
where. The landlady of these " desirable apart-
ments " was a bakeress by profession, though she
did many other useful things besides baking bread
and letting lodgings. She was a clean, buxom-look-
ing woman, and had excellent notions concerning
the wholesomeness of fresh air and sweet linen,
so that all her beds were lavender-scented, and her
entire abode neatly ordered and redolent of the honey-
suckle and the rose that clambered round her win-
dows. She was unceasing in her care for her lodg-
ers, her anxious deference towards the grim-featured
long-legged Professor knew no bounds, while her
warm heart was quite taken captive by the plaintive
gentleness and pretty ways of Lionel, whom she
always called " the dear little boy," a term which set
Lionel himself thinking. Was he so very little ? He
was nearly eleven, surely that was almost a man !
20
230 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
True, his mother had called him her " baby " and
his inwardly-grieving soul suffered an additional
pang at this recollection of her tenderness. He dared
not dwell upon the image of her face as it had looked
in the white moonlight when she kissed him for the
last time, was it indeed the last time, he wondered,
sadly ? should he ever see her again ? He had
full leisure now for thought, the Professor let him
wander about just as he liked, and was altogether
extraordinarily kind to him. He could not quite
make it out, but he was grateful. And he used to
show his gratitude in odd little ways of his own
which had a curious and softening effect on the mind
of the learned Cadman-Gore. He would carefully
brush the ugly hat of the great man and bring it to
him, he would pull out and smooth the large sticky
fingers of his loose leather gloves and lay them side
by side on a table ready for him to wear, he would
energetically polish the top of his big silver-knobbed
stick, and he would invariably make a " button-
hole" of the prettiest flowers he could find for him
to put in his coat at dinner. The astonishment with
which the distinguished disciplinarian first received
these attentions, and afterwards grew to expect them
every day as a matter of course, was somewhat
remarkable. And it is to be noted that the worthy
Cadman-Gore was so far moved from his usual self
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 231
during these sunshiny days at Clovelly as to go
rummaging down, down, into the far recesses of his
own past youth and search there for fragments of
fairy-tales, which fragments, laid hold of after much
difficulty, he would piece together laboriously for
Lionel's benefit and amusement. One day it oc-
curred to him that he would relate in " fairy" style
the beautiful old classic legend of Cupid and Psyche,
and see what the boy made of it. They had gone
for a walk that afternoon along the " Hobby Drive,"
and had paused to sit down and rest on a grassy
knoll from which the sea gleamed distantly like a
turquoise set in diamonds between the tremulous
foliage of the bending trees. And in his harsh
hoarse voice which he vainly strove to soften, the
Professor told the tender and poetic story, of the
happiness of Psyche with her divine lover, till that
fatal night when she held her little lamp aloft that
she might satisfy her curiosity and see for herself the
actual shape and lineaments of the god, then came
the thunder and the darkness, the breaking and
extinguishing of the lamp, the rush of great wings
through the midnight and lo, Love had fled, and
poor Psyche was left alone weeping. And ever
since has she not been solitary? searching for the
vanished Glory which she knows of, yet cannot find ?
Lionel listened in rapt silence, his earnest eyes every
232
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
now and then raised to his tutor's furrowed visage,
which, under the influence of the beauty of Clovelly
and the wistful presence of the child, had taken upon
itself a certain expression of benevolence that strug-
gled to overcome and banish the old long lines of
practised austerity.
" I like that story," he said, when it was finished
"And I see a lot of meaning in it, quite serious
meaning, you know ! May I tell you what I think
about it?"
Professor Cadman-Gore nodded. Lionel, taking
up the large wide-awake hat that lay on the grass,
proceeded delicately to remove without injury a tiny
grasshopper that had boldly presumed to settle
on that misshapen covering of one of the wisest
heads in Christendom.
" You see, Psyche didn't know, and she wanted
to find out," he went on musingly "That's just
like me and you and everybody, isn't it? And
then we light our little lamps, and begin to try
and discover things, and perhaps we think we
have found the Atom, when all at once the thunder
comes and the darkness, and we die ! our lamps
go out ! But we don't hear the rush of wings,
do we? If we only heard that, just the rush
of wings, we should feel that Someone had gone
Somewhere! and we should try to follow I'm
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 233
sure we should try. Perhaps we shall hear it when
we die that rush of wings, and we shall know
what we can't know now, because our lamps go out
so quickly."
The Professor was silent. He could find nothing
to say, inasmuch as there was no contradiction to
offer to the boy's logic. Lionel meanwhile doubled
one leg loosely under him on the grass, and throw-
ing off his cap, let the light flower-scented wind
play with his fair curly locks.
" Now for people who believe in Christ," he
continued " There it is that rush of wings !
because they say ' He rose from the dead and
ascended into Heaven.' And they have just that
feeling, I suppose that Someone has gone Some-
where, and they try to follow as best they can.
That's how it is, I am sure, and it must be a great
help to them. I should dearly like to believe some
of the beautiful things in the Bible. In old Genesis,
for instance, you know if there were a God, it would
be quite natural that when He made a place like
Clovelly He should be pleased. And then those
words would be exactly right ' And God saw all
that He had made, and behold it was very good !' "
Professor Cadman-Gore's love of argument stirred
rebelliously in him, but he gave it no speech. He
would have liked to say that there were a great
20*
234 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
many learned persons who, thinking that they saw
all that God had made, said, " behold, it was very
bad " ! Humane persons, too, who, unable to look
behind the veil, could not understand the reason of
the stress and worry and torture of life ; but to this
little, frail, sorrow-stricken lad, but lately tottering
on the verge of a dangerous illness, he could not
propound any problems, so he was mercifully silent.
Once a thought leaped across his brain like a blind-
ing flash of light, startling him with its acute shock,
and it was this ; " What a monstrous crime it is
to bring up this child without a faith /" Amazed at
his own involuntary and unusual feeling, he reso-
lutely crushed it back into the innermost depths of
his consciousness, yet every now and then it would
persistently recur to him, accompanied by other
thoughts of a like nature, which worried him, and
which he had never dwelt upon with so much per-
tinacity before. A teasing, inward voice asked him
questions, such as " Was it right to attack and en-
deavour to pull down Faith, when nothing could be
offered in place of it ?" For Faith, substitute Reason,
argued the Professor. " But," went on the voice,
" Reason is apt to totter on its throne. Grief will
subdue it, Passion overcome it. The ecstasy of
love will hurl its votaries beyond all the bounds of
sense or argument, into folly, sin, desperation,
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 235
death ! The madness and abandonment of grief will
make of the miserable human thing a mere despair-
ing clamour, a figure of frenzy with wild hair and
piteous eyes, what can Reason do with such ?
Only Faith can save, faith in a God of Love; and
the words ' Whoso shall offend one of these little
ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a
millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were
drowned in the depth of the sea ;' must rest forever
as a curse upon every man or woman who by word,
deed or example, strives to tear down the one di-
vine support of struggling souls, the one great prop
of a world contending with ceaseless storm." So
murmured the inward voice, and hearing it discourse
thus plainly, the Professor thought his intellectual
faculties must be decaying. Something strange was
at work within him, something to which he could
not give a name, something which perchance would
make of him in time a wiser man than he had yet
assumed himself to be.
During this peaceful and absolutely idle holi-
day at Clovelly, Lionel used often to go down
the winding way from the village to the rough
cobbly beach, and sit and talk to the boatmen
gathered there. They liked the little lad, and would
frequently take him out in their fishing-smacks for a
toss on the sea, though from these excursions he did
236 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
not return much the brighter, but rather the sadder.
The Clovelly men have many a harrowing tale to
tell of shipwreck, and of poor drowned creatures
washed ashore with eyes staring open to the pitiless
sky, and hands clinging convulsively to a bit of rope
or spar, and such narratives as these they would
relate to the boy in their own roughly-eloquent re-
alistic way till his heart grew cold within him and
he almost learned to hate the sea. The old weary
wonder came back to his brain and tortured him,
what was the good of it all ! What was the use of
living or loving, or hoping or working ? None, that
he could see !
On one rather stormy afternoon towards sunset
he was strolling as usual down to the beach, when he
was attracted by a little crowd of men that stood
closely grouped round the door of an open boat-
house. They were all peering in with an expression
of mingled horror and morbid fascination in their
faces, and as he came near, one of them motioned
him to stand back.
" What's the matter ?" he asked, anxiously " Is
some one drowned ?"
" No, no, little measter," answered a tough old
seaman standing by. " The sea's not to blame
this time. But it's no sight for you, it's a stran-
ger to us, a sort o' queer tourist-like chap he's
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 237
bin an' hanged hisself in Davey Loame's boat-
house."
" Hanged himself!" cried Lionel, horrified " Why,
how could he do that?"
" Easy enough, nothin' easier if ye've got a neck-
ercher an' a nail. An' he had both. He made a
loop wi' 's neckercher an' swung on to an iron hook
in the roof. They've cut him down, but he's stone
dead, 'tain't no use tryin' to revive him. We don't
know who he is, anyway. But you go right home,
little measter, 'tain't the thing for you to be here,
now run along just like the good boy y' are It's
too rough to take y' out sailin' to-day."
Lionel felt a strange sickness at his heart as he
turned away obediently and began to climb the
ascent towards the village. His vivid imagination
pictured the dreadful strange dead body found in the
boat-house, and involuntarily he paused and looked
back over his shoulder out to sea. Great billows
rolling in from the Atlantic were racing shorewards,
crested with foam, the long lines of snaky-white
intermingled and wove themselves together like a
glittering net spread out to catch and drown poor
helpless men. The impression of the universal
Cruelty of things weighed on the boy's mind with
renewed force, and at his evening meal he looked so
pale and weary, that Professor Cadman-Gore, glow-
238 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
ering anxiously at him through his round spectacles,
asked him what was the matter ? Lionel could not
very well explain, but at last, after some hesitation,
said he thought it was the hanged man that made
him feel miserable.
" What hanged man ?" inquired the startled Pro-
fessor.
Whereupon Lionel related all that he knew con-
cerning the disagreeable incident, and the worthy
Cadman-Gore was somewhat relieved. He had
thought that perhaps his young pupil had been
allowed to see the body, and was glad to learn that
this was not the case.
" Oh, well, hanging is a very easy death," he said,
placidly " Quite painless and merciful. I daresay
the man was some tramp who had no money and
didn't know where to get any."
" But isn't that very, very dreadful ?" asked Lionel
" Isn't it cruel that a poor man should not be able
to find one friend in the whole world to save him
from hanging himself?"
" It seems cruel," admitted the Professor, gently,
he was always gentle with Lionel now " But,
after all, who knows ! Death is not the worst evil,
we must all die, and there are some people who
wish to die before their time, and who would be
very sorry if they were hindered in making the
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
2 39
' happy dispatch.' The Chinese and Japanese, as
you have read in some of your books, attach no im-
portance to the act of dying, and with them, suicide
is often considered honourable. This particular man
had the means of death at hand, a neckerchief and
a strong nail, and that's all he wanted, I suppose.
It was rather selfish of him though to use another
man's boat-house for the purpose, when he could
have done it just as well by throwing himself into
the sea."
Lionel said no more on the subject, nor did he
make inquiries in the village respecting the "Un-
known case of suicide" which was presently chroni-
cled in all the Devon newspapers. But the incident
had a considerable effect upon him, and remained a
fixture in his memory, all the more pertinaciously
that he was silent concerning it.
They returned at last to Combmartin, after having
stayed at Clovelly nearly a fortnight. Lionel was
looking, on the whole, much better for the rest and
change, though his face was still thin and colourless.
The sad expression of his eyes had not altered, nor
had the inward sorrow of his heart for his mother's
loss abated, but a kind of passive resignation
mingled with hope now possessed and tranquillised
him, and he had secretly determined to try and get
on extra fast with his studies, and grow up quickly,
240 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
so that as soon as he became a man he might seek
his mother out wherever she was and persuade
her to come back to him. Of her faults or her
shame he never thought, she was his mother
and that was enough for him. He said some-
thing about his intention of studying hard to the
Professor as they drove along the lovely Devon-
shire lanes on their homeward way, but that
gentleman did not seem to take up the matter very
enthusiastically.
" Certainly," he said, " you can continue a few
of your studies if you like, but you must not
resume the whole course at once. To-morrow
morning, for instance, you can go for a ramble
just as you have been doing at Clovelly, and if
you feel inclined to take a book with you, why
do so by all means. But as you have been ill, we
must not commence work in too much of a hurry
or we shall have the doctor coming round again."
He produced his new smile, the smile he had
been cultivating with such success during the
past twelve days, and Lionel smiled gratefully
in response. A happy thought flashed across the
boy's mind, as he was to enjoy the freedom of
a " ramble" all to himself the next morning, he
would go and see Jessamine Dale ! How pleased
she would be ! how surprised ! how her beautiful
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 241
little face would dimple all over with mischievous
and winsome smiles ! how her sweet blue eyes
would shine and sparkle ! A quiver of delight
and expectancy ran through him and sent colour
to his cheeks, and as the carriage rattled up the
Combmartin street and turned into the familiar
avenue leading up to the house he at present
called home, he felt almost happy. His father
had returned from London, and received him with
chilly dignity.
" I am glad to see you looking so robust, Lionel,"
he said, as he touched his son's tremblingly-offered
little hand, then turning to Professor Cadman-Gore,
he added " I trust, Professor, your patience has not
been too severely tried ?"
The Professor looked at him with quite a whimsi-
cal air.
" Well, to tell you the truth, Valliscourt, it hasn't
been tried at all !" he answered " I've enjoyed my-
self very much, and that's a fact. Clovelly's a
charming place, and the people are interesting as
being just in the transition-stage between primitive
simplicity and modern cupidity. There are rather
too many tourists and amateur photographers, but
one can't have everything one's own way in this
world, even you must have found that out occa-
sionally."
L a 21
242 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
Mr. Valliscourt's smooth brow reddened slightly.
He had indeed " found that out" to his cost ; but he
had yet to discover that even so far as the Theory
of Atoms went, the human atom was bound to follow
the course of the Divine one, or else get into a
strangely contrary path of its own, ending in dark-
ness and disaster. For the universe is composed as
a perfect harmony, and if one note sounds a dis-
cord it is sooner or later invariably silenced. Every
instrument must be in tune to play the great Sym-
phony well, otherwise there is a clashing of ele-
ments, a casting out of unworthy performers, and a
new beginning.
CHAPTER XIII.
NEXT day the weather was warm and sunny,
and when Lionel formally applied to his tutor for
permission to go and enjoy the already promised
" ramble," it was at once granted. Being a con-
scientious little fellow he voluntarily suggested taking
his Latin grammar with him, but the Professor did
not encourage him in this idea.
" No," he said " As I told you yesterday, you
can amuse yourself as you like this morning, to-
morrow, perhaps we will resume the lessons."
With a bright smile and flashing eye, Lionel
thanked him, and quickly putting on his cap, he
hastened out of the schoolroom, down the stairs
and into the garden. He was quite light-hearted,
indeed he felt almost ashamed to be so glad. Life
had not changed for him just because the sun was
shining and the birds were singing, and he was going
to see little Jessamine Dale! Things remained
exactly as they were, he was nothing but a lonely
boy whose mother had wilfully deserted him, had
he forgotten that misery and her disgrace so soon ?
No, he had not forgotten ; his was a nature that
could never forget ; but youth is youth, and will, in
243
244 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
its own season, have its way despite all sorrow and
restraint, and somehow on this beautiful bright
morning he could not feel sad. There was some-
thing radiant and hopeful in the aspect of the very
landscape, green with leafage and golden with ripe
corn, and as he swung open his father's carriage-
gate and went out along the high road towards the
grey and ancient church of Combmartin, where he
thought it was most likely he should find Reuben
Dale and Jessamine also, he was quietly happy.
All sorts of plans were forming in his little head,
he was beginning to like Professor Cadman-Gore,
and he meant to ask him if he might not go on
studying under him at his (the Professor's) own
house for a time before entering a public school,
that is, if he were indeed intended to enter a
public school, of which he was always doubtful.
True, his father had once said " Winchester," but
whether he meant Winchester, was quite another
matter. Mr. Montrose had urged sending him to
a public school, and Mr. Valliscourt had curtly
negatived the proposal entirely. Lionel's own
opinion was that his education would always be
carried on under a series of selected tutors, in
order to avoid the conventional " church going" on
Sundays common to all schools, and to which his
father had such a rooted and obstinate objection.
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 245
And as, according to all accounts, no wiser man
than Professor Cadman-Gore existed, why should
he not remain with that head and front of all
available knowledge ? He thought his father could
not possibly raise any obstacle to such a scheme,
" and then," he reflected, " though even the Pro-
fessor can't tell me what I want to know about the
Atom, he might put me gradually in the way of rind-
ing that out for myself. I believe he really likes me
a little now, I suppose we got to know each other
better at Clovelly. At any rate, for all his queer
looks he understands me more than my father does.
It is very difficult for a boy to be understood by old
people, I think. I'm sure a great many boys never
get understood at all, and yet they have their ideas
about things quite as much as grown-up persons do.
How pretty the church looks with all that sunshine
streaming on the old tower ! and there's Mr. Dale !
digging a grave, as usual !"
With a smile he quickened his pace to a run, and,
opening the churchyard gate, went in quickly but
noiselessly, meaning to take Jessamine by surprise
if she were anywhere near. Treading lightly and
almost on tiptoe he came to within about an arm's
length of Reuben Dale without the latter perceiving
him, and then stopped short, struck by a sudden
alarm. For Reuben's silvery head was bent low and
21*
246 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
heavily over his work, and from Reuben's broad
breast came great choking sobs terrible to hear, as
one by one the spadefuls of red-brown earth were
thrown up on the green turf, and the significant hol-
low in the ground was shaped slowly in a small dark
square, to the length of a little child. A mist rose
before Lionel's eyes, a strange contraction caught
his throat with a sense of suffocation, he advanced
tremblingly, his hands outstretched.
" Mr. Dale," he faltered, " Oh Mr. Dale . . ."
Reuben looked up, great tears were rolling down
his face, and for a moment he said nothing. The
dreadful inarticulate despair expressed in his features
and attitude was harrowing to behold ; and Lionel
felt as though an icy hand had suddenly clutched
his heart and stilled its beating. Fear held him
speechless, he could only wait in breathless terror
for something to be told, something he could not
guess at, but which instinctively he dreaded to hear.
And all at once Reuben spoke, in hoarse, tremulous
accents,
" She sent her love t'ye, my dear, she sent her
love, 'twos the last thing, ' my love to Lylie,' I
wosn't to forgit it, the blessed little angel-smile she
had too in sayin' it, my Jas'min flower ! ' my love to
Lylie !' they wos her last words, a minit 'fore she
died."
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 247
" Died !" gasped Lionel, a horrible tremor shaking
his limbs "Died! Jessamine? . . . Jessamine,
dead ? No, no, no / It's not possible, it can't be !
you know it can't, you're dreaming ... it can't
be true . . ."
A loud noise was in his ears like the rushing of
waters, the haze that hung before his eyes turned
a dull red, and with a sudden wild scream he sprang
to Reuben like some poor little hunted, frantic ani-
mal, clinging to him, hiding his head against him,
and gripping his arms convulsively.
" No no ! not dead ! Don't say it ! not little
Jessamine ! Oh, you're not you're not going to
put her down there in the cold earth ! not little
Jessamine ! Oh, hold me ! I'm frightened I am,
indeed ! I can't bear it, I can't, I can't ! oh, Jessa-
mine ! . . . she isn't dead, not really ! oh, do say
she isn't, it would be too wicked too cruel . . ."
Reuben Dale, startled out of his own grief by the
boy's terrible frenzy, let his spade fall, and held the
little fellow tenderly in his arms, close to his breast,
and with a strong effort strove himself to be calm in
order to soothe the younger sufferer.
" Didn't ye hear of it, my dear ?" he murmured, in
low, broken tones " But no, I forgot ye wouldn't
hear, ye've bin away a goodish bit ; I heerd as
how ye'd been ill an' taken to Clovelly, an' 'twosn't
248 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
likely any folks would tell ye of just a poor man's
trouble. I went down yon to your feyther's house
to tell ye, for Jas'min was iver talkin' of ye, when-
soever the fever in her little throat would let her
speak, an' that's how I heerd ye were gone. 'Twos
the diphtheria the darlin' caught, it's bin bad about
the village, an' 'twos onny a matter o' fower days
that she suffered. An' we did all we could for the
lamb, an' Dr. Hartley, God bless 'im, wos wi' her
day an' night, an' scarcely breakin' fast, the good
man that he is, an' I do b'lieve he'd 'a' laid down
his own life to save 'er, as I'd ha' laid down mine.
But 'twos all no use, she wos just too sweet a blos-
som to be spared to the likes of us, my lad, an'
an' so God took 'er, as it's right an' just He should
do what He wills wi' 's own, but oh, my lad, it's
powerful 'ard on me, who am a weak an' a selfish
sinner at best, it's powerful 'ard ! First the mother,
then the child ! Lord, give me strength to say,
' Thy will be done,' for my own force as a man is
gone out o' me, an' I'm but a broken reed in a rough
wind !"
His head drooped forlornly over the boy he held
clasped in his arms and who still clung nervously to
him shaking like an aspen leaf and moaning queru-
lously as though in physical pain. The blue sky
above them was clear of all clouds, and the sun
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
249
shone royally, pouring down its golden beams into
the little unfinished grave, like a ray of light from
some left- open gate of Paradise. Suddenly, and
with a pale horror imprinted on his countenance
that made it look older by a dozen years, Lionel
lifted himself and turned slowly round, his eyes
were dry and feverishly bright, his forehead puck-
ered like that of some aged man.
"You are going to put her down there?" he
whispered, fearfully pointing to the grave, " Little
Jessamine ? You are going to cover up her beauti-
ful curls and blue eyes in all that red-brown earth ?
How can you have the heart to do it ! oh, how can
you ! She used to laugh and play, she will never
laugh or play any more you will hide her down
there for ever for ever!" and his voice rose to a
wail of agony " We shall never see her again,
never ! oh, Jessamine ! Jessamine !"
The stricken Reuben pierced to the very soul by
this wild grief in which he had the greatest share,
knew of no other consolation save that which he
derived from his simple and steadfast faith in God,
but this supported him when otherwise he would
have altogether broken down. Gently stroking the
boy's curls with one big work-worn hand he mur-
mured, pityingly,
" Poor lad, poor lad ! She wos fond of ye, she
250 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
sent ye her love at the last, ye must think o' that,
my dear. An' once when the pain wos better an'
she could speak clear, she said, ' Tell Lylie I'll see
'im soon, long 'fore he grows up to be a big man.'
Them wos her very words, the darlin', but she wos
a-ramblin' like an' didn't know what she wos a-talkin'
of. She died easy, bless the Lord for all His
mercies ! night afore last she put her arms out to
me an' said, ' Dada !' quite bright like, that wos
how she called me when she wos a babby, then,
smilin', ' My love to Lylie' an' just went off quiet.
An' there she lies in her little coffin, \vi' a wreath o'
jessamine round her hair, an' a posy o' jessamine in
her wee hands, ay, we ha' pulled all the jess'min
flowers off the tree at our door to put wi' her; we
want none o' them for our sad selves, now !"
A rising sob choked his brave utterance, but
Lionel was still dry-eyed, and now moving restlessly,
withdrew from the kind embrace which had sup-
ported him. Stumbling giddily forward a step or
two he fell on his knees beside the dark little square
in the ground.
" Down there !" he whispered, hoarsely, peering
into the very depths of the grave " Down there !
Jessamine !''
He gave a convulsive gesture with his hands,
clasping and unclasping them nervously, and prying
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 251
still with an intense, passionate searching horror into
the dank mould. Reuben's touch, light and caress-
ing as a woman's, fell gently on his shoulder.
" Nay, my little lad !" he said, the tears in his
voice shaking its deep tone to tenderest pathos
" Not down there ! don't ye think it ! Up there,
my dear, up there !" and he raised his steadfast eyes
to the perfect blue of the radiant heaven " Up there,
beyond all that summer light an' shinin' glory, in
the lands o' God an' His holy angels, that's where
Jess'mine is now ! ' With Christ, which is far better !'
Ay, my dear, far better ! For its onny my selfish
heart which grudges her to God, it's just me, a
weak, ignorant man what can't see the Lord's
meanin' in takin' her from me, but surely He knows
best, He must know best. An' mebbe He has seen
the darlin' wosn't fitted for the hard an' thorny ways
o' life, an' so in very kindness has took her to
Himself an' made of her an angel 'fore her time.
For angel she is now ye may be sure, as innocent
as ever stood afore the Great White Throne, an'
it's not Jess'mine I'm layin' down here among the
daisies, my lad, but just the little earthly shape of
her what was s' pretty an* light an' gamesome like,
we couldn't choose but love it, all of us, but
Jess'mine herself is livin' yet, yes, my dear, livin'
an' lovin' o' me as much an' more than ever she did,
252 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
an' there's naught shall come atween us now.
Mother an' child are wi' the Lord, an' in a matter
o' short years I'll meet them both again an' know as
how 'twos for the best, though now it seems a mys-
tery an' partin's hard !"
Lionel looked up, his face was ashen pale, his
lips were set in a thin, vindictive line.
" You believe all that !" he said, wildly " But you
are wrong, quite wrong! It isn't true, it's all
silly superstition ! There is no God, no heaven !
there are no such creatures as angels ! Oh, you
poor, poor man ! you do not know you have
never learnt ! There is nothing more for us after
death nothing ! you will never see little Jessa-
mine again never never !" He rose slowly from
his kneeling position on the turf, looking so old and
weird and desperate that Reuben recoiled from him
as from something unnatural and monstrous. " You
will put her down there," he went on, " in her
coffin, with all the jessamine flowers about her, and
you will shovel the earth over her, and very soon
the worms will crawl over her poor little face and
in and out her curls, and make of her what you
would not look at, what you would not touch /"
and he trembled violently as with an ague fit "And
yet you loved her ! And you can talk of a God !
Why a God who would wilfully take Jessamine
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 253
away from you would be the cruellest, wickedest
monster imaginable ! What reason could He give
what object could there be, in first giving her to
you and then killing her and making you miserable?
No, no ! there is no God ; you have not read,
you have not studied things and you do not know,
but you are all wrong. There is no God, there
is only the Atom which does not care !"
Reuben, filled with alarm as well as grief, thought
the boy raved, and endeavoured to take him again
into his arms, but Lionel shrank back, and shud-
deringly repulsed him.
" Poor little fellow, he's just crazed wi' the shock
an' doesn't for the moment know what he's sayin',"
thought the simple-hearted man, as he compassion-
ately watched the childish figure of despair, frozen,
as it seemed, into a statuesque immobility on the
edge of Jessamine's grave " If he could onny cry a
bit 'twould do him good, surely." And struck by a
sudden idea, he said aloud " Will ye come wi' me,
my dear, an' see Jess'mine now as she lies asleep
among her flowers? 'twouldn't frighten ye, she's
just a little smilin' angel, wi' God's love written on
her face. Will ye come ?"
" No !" answered Lionel, loudly and almost
fiercely " I cannot ! You forget I came out
this morning to see her alive, with all her curls
254 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
dancing about, and her eyes shining, oh, I was
so happy ! And all the time she was dead ! No, I
couldn't look at her, I couldn't ! I should be
thinking of this grave, . . . and the worms, . . .
there is one down there just now, . . . crawling
crawling, see !" and he suddenly began to laugh
deliriously, dry sobs intermingling with his laughter
" Oh ! and you you can actually believe it is a
good God that has killed Jessamine !"
Flinging his hands up above his head, he sud-
denly turned away and ran, ran furiously, out of
the churchyard and away up the road, not in the
direction of his home, but up towards the deep green
woods that hang like a glorious pavilion over the
nestling village, giving it shade even in the most
scorching heats of the summer sun. Reuben looked
after him, wondering and half afraid.
" God help the child !" he murmured " He seems
gone clean mad like in 's grief! An' it's something
more than my Jess'mine's death that's working in 's
mind, poor lad, it's a trouble out o' reach some-
where. An' now I mind me, he's lost his mother by
a far worse partin' than death, disgrace ! Ah,
well !" and taking up his spade he went resolutely
to the resumption of his sad task, carefully smooth-
ing and patting the earth round the interior of his
little child's grave, with his own tender hands and
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 255
removing the poor worm Lionel had perceived,
gently and without loathing, in the manner of one
for whom all God's creation, even the lowest portion
of it, had a certain sacredness because of the Divine
Spirit moving in all and through all. " It's hard for
a grown man like me to bear a sorrow, an' it's
double hard for a little lad like him. He sees nowt
o' God in 's trouble, onny the trouble itself. Lord
help us all for the poor sinful creatures that we be !
Ah, Jess'mine, Jess'mine ! my little lass, my little
flower! who'd ha' thought God would ha' wanted
ye s' soon !" Tears rushed to his eyes and blotted
out the landscape, falling one by one into the small
grave as he dug it deeper " But He's a God o'
Love, an' He winnut mind my grievin' a bit, He
knows it's just human-like, an' comes from the poor
broken heart o' me that's weak an' ignorant, an' by-
an'-by, when my mind clears, He'll gi' me grace to
see 'twos for the best, aye, for the best ! Mother
an' child in heaven, an' I alone on earth, all the joy
for them an' all the sorrow for me ! well, that's right
enough, an' surely God'll send down both my
angels to fetch me when my time comes to go. An'
that's onny a little while to wait, my Jess'mine
flower ! onny a little while !"
He dashed away his tears with one hand, and con-
tinued digging patiently till his melancholy work was
256 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
done, then, untying a bundle of sweet myrtle he
had beside him, he completely lined the little grave
with the fragrant sprays, making it look like a nest
of tender green, then placing two boards above it
to protect it from the night-dews and the chance of
rain, he shouldered his spade and went slowly home-
ward, pondering sadly on the heavy trial awaiting
him next day when all that was mortal of his darling
child would be committed, with prayer and holy
blessing, to the dust.
Meanwhile, Lionel had passed a strange time of
torture alone in the woods. When he ran away
from the churchyard, he was hardly conscious of
what he was doing, and it was not till he found
himself in a bosky grove among thickly planted
oaks and pine-trees that he became aware of his
own sentient existence once more. There was a
heavy burning pain in his head, and his eyes were
aching and dim. He flung himself down on the
mossy turf and tried to think. Jessamine was
dead ! The little laughing thing with the divine
blue eyes and the sweet baby smile was lying cold
and stiff in her coffin. It seemed incredible. He
remembered her as he had last seen her, peeping
through the tangle of her own namesake flowers
and saying in her pretty soft plaintive voice, " Poor
Lylie! I'se 'fraid you won't see me never no
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 257
more !" And then that final farewell, " Good-
bye, Lylie ! Not for long !"
Not for long! and now it was good-bye for
ever ! A faint cry broke from the boy's lips
" Oh, little Jessamine ! Poor little Jessamine !"
But no tears fell, the fountain of those drops
of healing seemed dried up beneath the scorching
weight that pressed upon his brain. Jessamine !
could it be possible that there was nothing left of
her, nothing but senseless clay ? All that trust-
ful tenderness, that lovely innocence, that quaint
and solemn faith of hers in Christ and in the
angels, what was it all for ? Why should such a
sweet and delicate little spirit be created, only to
perish ?
" It is cruel !" he said aloud, turning his pale,
small, agonised face up to the network of leafy
branches crossing the blue of the sky " It is cruel
to have made her, it is cruel to have made me,
if death is the only end. It is senseless, even
wicked ! If death were not all, then I could under-
stand" He paused, and his eyes rested on a tuft of
meadow-sweet growing close beside him " Where
&Q you go to when you die?" he asked, addressing
the flower " Have you what some people call a
soul, a soul that takes wings and flies away to
bloom again in a more beautiful shape elsewhere?
r 22*
258 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
You might do this, of course you might, and we
should never know!" He rose to his feet and
stood, musing darkly, with small hands clenched
and lips set hard. " Perhaps the learned men are
not so wise as they think, it is possible they may
be mistaken. The Atom they argue about may
be a God after all, and even Christ, whom some
say is a myth, and others describe as merely a
good man who wished to reform the Jews, may be
the Divine Being the Testament tells us of. And
there may be another life after this one, and another
world where Jessamine is now. The question is
how to be quite sure of it?" He walked one or
two paces, then a sudden thought flashed across
him, a thought which lit his eyes with strange
brilliancy and flushed his cheeks to a feverish red.
" I know !" he whispered, " I know the best way
to discover the real secret, I must find it out and
I will !"
And all at once invested with a curious tran-
quillity of movement and demeanour, he went slowly
out of the woods, and down the hill up which he had
scrambled in such frenzied haste, and looking
at the ground steadfastly as he walked, he passed
the church and churchyard gate without once
raising his eyes. In a few minutes he had entered
his father's domain, where he met Professor
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
2 59
Cadman-Gore marching briskly up and down the
carriage-drive.
" Hullo !" said that gentleman " Had a good
scramble ?"
Lionel made no answer.
The Professor eyed him narrowly.
" Feeling ill again ?" he demanded.
Lionel forced a pale smile.
" Not exactly ill," he answered " I've been to
the churchyard, and and the sexton there is
digging a grave for his little girl, his only child,
who died suddenly of diphtheria while we were
away at Clovelly. She was quite a baby only
six, and and I knew her her name was
Jessamine."
Professor Cadman-Gore was a little bewildered.
The dull precise manner in which the boy spoke,
the way he kept his eyes fixed on the ground, and
the odd frowning contraction of his brows, struck
the worthy preceptor as somewhat singular. But
being quite in the dark as to the Jessamine Dale
episode, he took refuge in generalities.
" You shouldn't wander about in churchyards,"
he said, testily " Nasty damp places . . ."
" Yes, where we must all go at last," said Lionel,
still smiling his stiff difficult little smile " Down
among the worms all of us and nothing more !"
260 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
" Dear, dear me !" growled the Professor, begin-
ning to feel almost angry "I wish you wouldn't
talk such nonsense, Lionel, I've told you of it be-
fore it's absolutely provoking !"
" Why ?" asked the boy" We do die, all of us,
don't we ?"
" Of course we do, but we needn't talk about it
or think about it," snapped out the Professor
"While we live, let us live, that was a favourite
maxim with the ancient Greeks, who enjoyed both
life and learning, and it's a very sensible one too."
"Do you really think so? really?" and Lionel
looked at him with such an aged and worn pucker-
ing of his features that his tutor was quite startled
" But they were only fools after all, they died and
their cities and wonderful colleges perished, and
what was the good of all their learning ?"
" It has come down to us /" replied the Professor,
drawing himself up and expanding his meagre chest
in a sudden glow of intellectual pride " It has
formed the foundation of all literature. Isn't that
something ?"
Lionel sighed. " I suppose it is, it all depends
on how you look at it," he said " But you see one
would like to know where even such a thing as liter-
ature leads to, and where it is to end. I don't
think we can trace its actual beginning, because there
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 261
have been so many civilisations which are all for-
gotten and buried now. For instance, the ancient
Mexicans believed that the existence of the world
was made up of five successive ages, and five suc-
cessive suns, there have been four suns lit and
burnt out according to them, and ours now shining
is the fifth, and last! Of course that's only their
myth and idea, but I do think everything ever dis-
covered is in time forgotten, and has to begin all
over again. It seems very stupid and useless to me,
the constant repetition of everything for nothing."
The Professor glowered severely at him.
" I think you're tired," he said, with affected gruff-
ness "you'd better go and sit quietly in the school-
room, or lie down. It's no use over-fatiguing
yourself. And what you wanted to go to the
churchyard and see a grave dug for, I can't imagine.
It's rather a morbid taste !"
" I didn't go to see a grave dug," answered Lionel,
steadily, " I went to see the little girl who is dead.
I thought she was alive, I didn't know I didn't
expect . . ." there was a painful throbbing in his
throat, he bit his lips hard, anon he resumed
slowly " You know for I've often told you that
I can't see any sensible reason why there should be
life or death. Everything seems explainable but
that I am very interested in it, but even you can't
262 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
tell me what I want to know, and so I must try to
find it out as well as I can, by myself."
He lifted his cap with the usual gentle salute he
always gave his tutor, and went indoors. The Pro-
fessor looked after him with an uncomfortable sense
of foreboding.
" An odd boy !" he mused " A very odd boy,
yet a thinking boy, and clever and docile. If his
strength will only hold out he will be a brilliant
man and a magnificent scholar, but his health is
capricious." He walked with long strides a few
paces, and suddenly stopped, a grim smile playing
across his features. " It's a singular thing, a very
singular thing, I should never have thought it pos-
sible, but I certainly find him a lovable boy. Pos-
itively lovable ! It is ridiculous, quite ridiculous of
course, that I should find him so, but I do ! Yes,
positively lovable !"
And he laughed ; his laugh never by any means
added to the beauty of his appearance, but on this
occasion there was an affectionate twinkle in his
filmy eye which might almost be called handsome.
CHAPTER XIV.
NIGHT came, calm and dewy. There was no
moon, and in the depths of the purple ether the
great stars ruled supreme. Jupiter rose in all his
full effulgence, a golden-helmeted leader among the
planet-gods of the sky, and over the unruffled
breast of the dark sea Venus hung low like a
pendant jewel. Afar off the outline of the land-
scape was blurred and indistinct, softening into a
fine haze that presented the delicate suggestion of
some possible fairyland hidden behind the last dim
range of the wood-crowned hills. Through the
still air floated a wandering scent of newly-stacked
hay and crushed sweet-briar ; an almost impercep-
tible touch of autumn sobered the heavy green
foliage of the trees to a deeper sombreness of hue,
while over all things reigned a curious and im-
pressive silence, as though the million whispering
tongues of Nature had suddenly been checked by
the command of that greater Voice which in olden
time had hushed the storm with its calm " Peace !
Be still !" In the " big house," for so the residence
temporarily occupied by Mr. Valliscourt was styled
by the villagers of Combmartin, there was an
263
264 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
equally solemn silence. Every one was asleep,
save Lionel. He, broad awake, sat on the edge of
his little bed, with bright eyes a-stare, and brain
busily at work and every pulse and nerve in his
body thrilling with excitement. Never had he
looked so young as now, a flush of colour was in
his cheeks and lips, and the little smile that played
across his features from time to time was, if some-
what vague, still singularly sweet and expressive of
pleasure. He had gone to bed at the usual hour,
he had said " Good-night" to his father who had
been reading the evening paper and who had
merely looked over the edge of it and nodded by
way of response, he had then gone to Professor
Cadman-Gore who was poring over an enormous
quarto volume printed in black-letter, and who
answered absently " Good-night ? Yes er ah !
of course! Certainly, very good, indeed! You
are going to bed, exactly ! that's right !" and
so murmuring, had pressed his little hand kindly,
and then had resumed his book-worm burrowings.
And he had called downstairs to housemaid Lucy
" Good-night !" a thing he rarely ever did ; and she
had replied from the kitchen depths, " Good-night,
Master Lionel !" in a bright tone of surprise and
pleasure agreeable to hear. And then he had reached
his bedroom, but he had not undressed, or prepared
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 265
for bed at all, or laid his head down on the pillow for
a moment. Clad in the navy-blue jersey suit he had
worn all day, he only slipped off his shoes in order
not to make any noise, and then he paced softly up
and down his room thinking, thinking all the while.
Such a whirl of thoughts, too! Thick as snowflakes
and as dizzying to the brain, thoughts seemed to rain
upon him, fire-red and flame-white, for they took
strange burning colours and ran in strange grooves.
He had put out his candle, he liked the sensation
of moving to and fro in the darkness, as then he
could imagine things. For instance, he could imag-
ine his mother was with him, sitting just in the very
chair where she had sat when she rocked him in her
arms and called him her " baby," and so strong
was the delusion he excited in himself that he actu-
ally went and knelt down beside her visionary figure
and said 1' Mother ! Mother, darling, I love you !
I shall always love you !" and then had laughed a
little and shuddered, as he realised that, after all, it
was only his fancy, that she was gone, gone for
ever ! and that he was quite alone. | And presently,
retreating to the window and looking out into the
starlit night he thought he could see Jessamine
standing in the garden below, with a wreath of her
own flowers round her hair and her blue eyes up-
turned to him where he watched her, yes ! he could
M 23
266 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
even hear her calling, ..." Lylie ! Lylie ! Come
an' play !" And he almost felt inclined to open the
window and jump down to that little shadow-figure
on the dark turf, till he suddenly bethought him
that it was a mistake, Jessamine was dead, her
grave was ready, she was going to be put down
into the earth and hidden away from the sunshine,
she would never call him any more, never ! Hur-
rying away from the corner whence he could see her
so plainly, and where it frightened him to look out at
her lonely little ghost in the garden, he climbed up
on his bed and sat there, swaying his feet to and fro
and thinking, still thinking. He heard his father
come up the stairs with a firm and heavy tread,
enter his bedroom, and shut and lock the door,
then the Professor followed, coughing loudly and
shuffling his slippered feet along the landing to the
apartment he occupied at the very end of the corri-
dor, and presently the old " grandfather's clock" in
the hall below chimed eleven. After this the great
silence fell, the silence that was so mystically sug-
gestive of undiscoverable things.
And Lionel listened, as it were, to that silence, till
he grew restless under its spell. Springing off his
bed he lit his candle in haste and looked nervously
round him as though he half expected to see some
one in the room, then, rallying his forces, he softly
THE MIGHTY ATOM, 267
opened a large cupboard that was made to appear
like a part of the wall, and setting a chair within it,
stood thereon, and reached his hand up to the corner
of a particular shelf, where, snugly secreted in the
pocket of one of his little overcoats, he kept the
" baby sash" his mother had given him as a parting
souvenir. Taking possession of this, he got down
from the chair, put it back in its place, and shut the
cupboard carefully again, then he stood still for a
moment, thinking. After a little while, he unfolded
and shook out the sash to its full length, and
dreamily admired its pretty blue colour and the
graceful design of the daisy-chain so deftly woven
upon it. Re-folding it once more, he slipped it inside
his vest, then putting on his shoes by mere force
of habit, he took his candlestick, the candle in it
burning steadily, and opening his bedroom door
listened breathlessly. There was not a sound in the
house, not so much as a crack of wood in the old
Chippendale press that stood up, gaunt and shadowy,
on the outer landing. Swiftly and noiselessly, hold-
ing the light well above his head that he might see
clearly and not stumble, he sped downstairs to the
school-room. The door was wide open, and as he
went in and pushed it to after him, he gave a sigh of
relief and satisfaction, as though he had attained at
last some long-desired goal of ambition. There was
268 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
more light in this apartment than in his bedroom ;
there were no trees to shadow the window, and
through its crossed lattice-panes the stars twinkled
with a white brilliance not unworthy of the moon
herself. Setting his candle on the table-desk at
which he had worked so many weary hours and
days, pondering on things that never would and
never could be of any use to any one's practical
after-life, Lionel took out paper, pen and ink, and
seating himself, proceeded to write certain words
with careful slowness and most business-like pre-
cision. Shaping his letters roundly and neatly he
took a great deal of pains to make his meaning un-
mistakably clear, and having covered one sheet of
paper, he folded it in four with mathematical exacti-
tude, addressed it, and commenced another. When
this was also done, he folded it in the same way as
the first, and addressed it likewise, then he put the
two missives together on the table, one beside the
other, and looked at them with a kind of naive in-
terest and admiration. Their superscriptions were
turned uppermost, and one read thus,
" To my Father.
John Valliscourt> Esq., Of Valliscourt"
The other was more simply inscribed,
" To Professor Cadman-Gore"
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 269
For some minutes he studied these addresses
minutely, and with something of a smile on his face.
" It is just as if I were going to run away !"
he said, half aloud, " And so I am ! That is exactly
what I am going to do. I am going to run away !"
And the smile deepened. " I remember what
Willie Montrose told me ' rather than break down
altogether you'd better show a clean pair of heels.'
And that's just what I'm going to do. By-the-bye,
I never sent poor Willie his Homer."
He rose, and turning towards the book-shelves,
two of which were ranged along the opposite wall,
soon found the volume and packed it neatly up in
readiness for posting, addressing it in a large clear
hand to "W. Montrose, Esq., B. A. The Nest.
Kilmun, Scotland." Then after considering awhile,
he sat down again and wrote another letter, which
ran as follows
DEAR WILLIE,
You left your favourite copy of Homer
behind when you said good-bye to me. I meant
to have sent it to you before, but somehow it
slipped my memory. Now, as I am going away,
it might get mislaid among my father's books, so
I have left it with Professor Cadman-Gore (who is a
very nice old man) all ready for him to post to
23*
270
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
you. Thank you for all your kindness to me, I
have never forgotten it, and I'm almost sure I shall
never forget. You needn't be anxious about me any
more, I'm all right.
Your affectionate and grateful
LIONEL.
He put this letter in an envelope which he
addressed but left open, and wrote a slip of paper
which he laid above it and the Homer volume
together, giving the following instruction,
DEAR PROFESSOR Will you please post this letter
and also the book to Mr. Montrose for me. It is his
copy of Homer which he left with me by mistake,
and he is sure to want it.
LIONEL.
" That's done !" he said, as he wiped his pen and
put by the ink and paper in their respective places
with his usual methodical neatness, " It's no use
writing to mother, if I did, she would never get
the letter."
He went to the window and opened it. It was a
glorious night, and as he threw back the lattice,
the sweet air flowed in laden with a thousand de-
licious odours from the forest and ocean. So deep
was the stillness that he could barely hear the vague
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 271
murmur of small waves lapping the shore now and
again, though the sea was not half a mile distant.
It was such a night as when the trustful and be-
lieving heart is filled like a holy chalice with the
rich wine of joy and gratitude, when the soul rises
to an angel's stature within its fleshly tenement and
sings " Magnificat," when nature wears her most
serene and noble aspect, when it seems good to
live, good to work, good to hope, good to love,
good to be even the smallest portion of the divine
and splendid order of the Universe. But to the
young boy who stood gazing out on the infinite
majesty of the moving earth and heavens, there was
no order, but mere chaos, a black conflicting con-
tradiction of forces, a non-reasoning production of
things that neither sought nor desired existence, and
that have no sooner learned to love life than they are
plunged into death and eternal nothingness. In the
" Free-Thinker's Catechism" (Catechisrne du Libre-
Penseur), by one Edgar Monteil, a code of ethics
which has been circulated assiduously among chil-
dren's schools in France for the past ten years,
the unhappy little beings whose ideas of morality
are engrafted upon this atheistical doctrine, are
taught that " the passions of man are his surest and
most faithful guides," and that " God is a spectre in-
vented by priests to frighten timid minds" this, too,
272
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
in utter and wicked oblivion of the grand truth pro-
claimed with such a grand simplicity " God is
Love." " As the soul," writes the self-deluded com-
piler of the " Free-Thinker's Catechism," " no longer
constitutes for us an independent and imperishable
individuality, there is no future life." And what are
the results of this " new" confession of faith ? Too
terrible and devastating to be easily gauged, though
something of their danger may be gathered from
the discussions of the Conseil d? Arrondissement de
Nantes, the members of which declare that " Con-
sidering that the suicides of young children and per-
sons of tender age (formerly almost unknown among
us) have multiplied recently to such a degree as to
reach the alarming extent of 443 cases in one year"
and furthermore " considering the deplorable in-
crease of vice and crime among children and youths,
we take the vow" says the Council with almost
passionate solemnity "that 'in the schools of this
Arrondissement, morality shall not be separated from
religion, and that the teaching of duty towards GOD
shall be the fundamental and necessary base of all
duties which are incumbent upon man."
Such is the wise decision of Nantes, but unhap-
pily the good example is not followed throughout
France in general. In almost every educational de-
partment the principles of the " Libre-Penseur " are
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 273
sowing the seeds of ruin to the nation, and making
of the average human being a creature worse than
the lowest and most untamable of ferocious beasts.
And these principles, largely adopted by the Free-
Thinking societies in England, are being gradually
disseminated among the children of our own secular
schools, for the agents or " missionaries" of Free-
Thought are to the full as active in distributing their
tracts and pamphlets as the most fervid Salvationist
that ever tossed the " War Cry" in the faces of the
public, more stealthy in their movements, they are
none the less cunning, and in our once God-fearing
country many can now be found who passively ac-
cept as truth the deadening and blasphemous lie
uttered in the words " As the soul no longer con-
stitutes an independent and imperishable individu-
ality, there is no future life." And yet, in sober
earnest this " independent and imperishable individu-
ality" is more self-assertive than ever it was, it
passionately claims to be heard and acknowledged,
it clamours with all its immortal strength at the
barriers of the Unknown, crying " Open ! Open !
Unveil the hidden Glory which / know and feel,
yet cannot speak of! Open ! that Doubt may
see, and seeing, die !" For the Soul in each one
of us is instinctively aware that the hidden Glory
exists, though it cannot explain in mortal speech
274 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
why, whence, or how. Nevertheless the Psyche
feels her lover, and through the darkness of earth's
perplexities stretches out yearning hands to grasp
the actual Divine which Is, and which reveals itself
to mortals in a thousand subtle tender ways of
promise, warning, knowledge, or sweet comfort.
But our lamps of learning, ill-trimmed and dull,
cannot shed light on such Eternal Splendour,
they needs must be extinguished in the greater
radiance, even as sparks in a blaze of sunshine.
Little Lionel, dimly conscious of " the imperishable
and independent individuality" in his own slight
frame, though he could not analyse what he felt,
gazed straight out on the shining planets, which
like great golden eyes regarded him as straightly,
and thought what a strange thing it was that there
should be millions and millions of worlds in the
sky, all created by an Atom, for Nothing! If he
had been a man, grown callous and cold-hearted
through the sameness of life as generally lived, he
might possibly have found, with Edgar Monteil,
some satisfaction in the terrific satire " The pas-
sions of man are his surest and most faithful
guides," but being only a child he had no pas-
sions save an endless desire to know, a desire
that nothing ever written by all the atheists in the
world will satisfy or restrain. A child's first in-
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 275
quiries concerning spiritual and transcendent things,
need noble answers evolved from purest thought,
for, as the Italian proverb has it " The ' why' of a
child is the key of philosophy." Woe betide those
who crush the high aspirations of innocent and hope-
ful youth by the deadening blow of Materialism !
worse than murderers are they, and as a greater
crime than murder shall they answer for it. For
truly has it been said " Fear not them which kill
the body, but fear them which kill the soul." Kill-
ing the soul is the favourite occupation of the so-
called " wise men" of to-day, spreading their per-
nicious influence through the press and through
current literature, they congratulate themselves
when they have dragged their readers down into
a slough of pessimism and atheism, and caused
them to think of God as the supreme Evil instead
of the supreme Good. Yet every anti-Christian
author nowadays has his or her commendatory
clique and salvo of applause from the press, and
the more blasphemous, vulgar, and obscene the
work, the louder the huzzas. In this way, things
are tending fast towards the attitude of the " Libre-
Penseur," so that soon when the children ask us
" Who made heaven and earth ?" we shall answer
flippantly according to that Catechism " Neither the
heaven, nor infinity, nor the earth has been created."
276 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
Question. " There is no First Cause then ?"
Answer. " No, for all that we cannot prove
scientifically has no existence."
And here was the boy Lionel's difficulty. He
was actively conscious of something he could not
" prove scientifically," and it was impossible for him
to believe that that something "had no existence."
For IT, that undefinable vague Something, to him
meant Everything. As he stood at the open window
looking at the stars, the impression of a sudden vast-
ness, an all-sufficing Goodness and Perfection swept
over his mind, like a wave rolling in upon him from
the Infinite, giving him a vague yet soothing sense
of peace.
" It is beautiful !" he murmured " Beautiful to
think that in a very little while I shall know all,
why, I may even meet Jessamine the very first thing !
who can tell ! It is wrong, I daresay, to want to
find out so quickly, but I couldn't bear to go on
and on every day, learning a lot of useless things,
and always missing the one thing."
He turned suddenly and looked about him. The
wan star-beams illumined one side of the room more
than the other, and as he glanced up at the rough
oak rafters that crossed the ceiling, he easily per-
ceived, by the mingled rays of starlight and flickering
candle, one of the large iron hooks, so many of which
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 277
were embedded in the old wood, and apparently
struck by its position he went and looked at it curi-
ously. Then he got up on a chair and felt it, it
was as firm as the beam itself. He smiled dreamily,
and his thoughts flew back to beautiful Clovelly,
and to the strange tourist who had been found
hanged in the boat-house there. He remembered
the words of the old boatman who had explained
the deed as, " nothin' easier when ye've got a neck-
ercher an' a nail." And then, slowly and with ex-
treme tenderness, he drew from under his vest his
mother's gift, the soft glistening " baby sash" of
daisy-sprinkled ribbon, and shaking it out, slipped
one end dexterously and firmly over the nail, and
arranged the other in a " running noose," the art
of making which, together with other knots of a
like kind, had been taught him by Montrose in many
a boating and sailing expedition. When it was fixed
to his satisfaction he got off the chair which, how-
ever, he left just where it was immediately under the
nail and dangling ribbon, and looking round once
more, blew out the candle. Alone in the semi-
darkness he now stood, his wistful gaze turned to-
wards the window through which the soft air shed
fragrance and the stars flashed their luminant splen-
dours, and with a faint sensation of giddiness and
fear upon him he advanced a few steps towards that
24
278 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
open square of sky, and suddenly fell on his knees.
Clasping his hands he raised his pale eager wonder-
ing little face to the great planets that rolled in their
mystic orbits far above him, their silver rays
gleamed fitfully on his fair curls and glittered in his
eyes as from an over-burdened brain and breaking
heart he prayed aloud,
" Almighty Atom ! I am going to pray to you,
though I have never said any prayers, and don't
know how to pray rightly. Perhaps you can't
hear me, and wouldn't listen if you could, yet
I can't help thinking there is Something or
Somebody somewhere to whom I must tell just
what I feel. Oh, dear Atom ! if you really
know or care anything about all the worlds you
have made and the poor people living on them,
you must be much more than I have been taught
to believe you are, and perhaps you will be able
to understand what I mean. I am coming to try
and find you ; and if you should be after all,
not an Atom, but a God, a good, loving God,
you will understand me still better, and I'm sure
you will be sorry for me. Yes, because you will
see it is not all my fault that I am so puzzled and
unhappy, and that I can't help wishing to know
truly if there is not something better than this
world, where we can never keep anything we love,
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 279
and where everybody dies and is forgotten. Oh,
if you are a God, you will pity me, and I shall
not be afraid of you. I have always wanted to
believe in you as God, and if they would have let
me I would have loved you ! But if you are an
Atom only, I cannot see why you exist at all, and
I think some one must have made even you. I
must find out that Some one, and if I have a
soul, as I feel I have, and as Reuben Dale says
we all have, then I shall soon discover everything
I want to know. And if you are a God, an
eternal, beautiful, thinking, feeling Spirit-Person,
whose ways are all wise and loving, how glad I
shall be! For then you will not let me lose
myself, you could not possibly be cruel to me,
and you will take me, like little Jessamine, straight
to the world you live in, and show me where the
angels are. I shall see things quite clearly and
understand what they all mean, and if I have
done any wrong in my life, I think you will forgive
me, I hope you will, because you will know I was
always taught not to believe in you."
His voice trembled, he paused a moment, then
went on again, softly,
" Just now, though I can't tell why, I feel that
you must be a God really and truly, and that the
men who write books to try and prove you have no
280 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
existence, except as a figure of speech, are all wrong.
Poor men ! I wonder how they will feel when they
come to die! Will you forgive them for all the
misery they make ? Because, of course, there must
be many others who are quite as unhappy as I am,
and who, when they are in trouble about anybody,
as I am about my mother, or when they lose their
little children, as poor Reuben has lost Jessamine, must
think it very hard to have to suffer so much, without
any reason for it, or any hope of comfort. But if they
felt you were God they would not be so miserable,
they would be like Reuben, who, though he is very
sad, believes you know what is best, and that you
will give Jessamine back to him in a better world.
So I shall pray to you now for the last time as God,
and not as Atom, and I do ask you, dear God, to
be kind to my darling mother. Perhaps, when I
come to you, you will show me some way of taking
care of her. If I deserved, like Jessamine, to be an,
angel, I could always be near her and watch over
her. Will you think of this, if you are a loving God,
as many people say you are, and try to arrange it
for me ? I could never do it by myself. I don't
think one can do anything by one's self except die.
Out there in the heavens I am looking at, there are
a number of worlds ever so much larger than ours,
with people on them, most likely, perhaps they are
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 281
all asking you about themselves just as I am doing.
But if you are God you can read every one's thoughts,
and you will know that it isn't so much of myself
that I'm thinking, as of every thing ever made. There
is such a great deal of pain and suffering everywhere,
and I couldn't bear to see it going on always,
always, without feeling sure of some good cause
for it and some good end of it. And these things
are never explained clearly to me by my father or
my tutors, perhaps nobody can explain them; land
so I think, before I make any more serious mistakes
myself, it's better to come straight to you, and ask
you to clear up all the trouble for me. I am only a
boy, but I should never like to grow up a man if I
could give no reason for being one. If I thought, in
truest truth, that You were God, I could easily
understand it all, but I have studied so much and
am so puzzled that though I feel you are, I am not
sure. So I must find out, and there's no other way.
Oh, You, whoever You are that made all the stars
and suns, and all the mountains and seas, and all the
forests and birds and flowers, I am coming to You !
If nothing You have created is ever lost, then You
will not lose me, nor shall I lose You ! I shall find
You wherever You are ! This world frightens me,
but of You I am not afraid !"
His half-whispered words thrilled the silence with
24*
282 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
strange passion, then they seemed to be carried
away, as it were, out and up into the lofty vastness
of the heavens, and when he ceased, the great hush
of the night deepened. Still on his knees, with
hands upraised and clasped, and eyes fixed on the
glittering stars, he thought and smiled, and smiled
and thought, another minute's space.
" Shall I say anything else ?" he mused " Yes !
I will say just what little Jessamine would say if
she were here."
And the dawning angel-smile rested on his lips
and transfigured his small, pale features, as he re-
peated clearly, steadily, and sweetly,
" Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
Look upon a little child,
Pity my simplicitie,
And suffer me to come to Thee."
Then, with one more look at the starlit sky and
the solemn beauty of the sleeping world, he rose
quickly from his kneeling attitude and crept stealthily
across the room to the spot where the "baby sash"
hung from the firm iron hook in the oak rafter,
dangling its smooth silky length over the chair in
position below. Pausing here, he stared fixedly
upward and hesitated a moment, then went to the
door which was slightly ajar, and with careful noise-
THE MIGHTY A TOM. 283
lessness, shut it fast, locked and bolted it. Safe now
from any chance of interruption, and all alone except
for the unseen " cloud of witnesses" encompassing us
all, this mere child, nerved to sternest resolution,
calmly confronted the vast Infinite, and went forth on
his voyage of discovery to find the God denied him
by the cruelty and arrogance of man. And not
another sound disturbed the quietude of the house,
save the quick dull " thud" of a chair overturned
and thrown down. After that came a heavy still-
ness, . . . and a sudden sense of cold in the air as
of the swift passing of the Shadow of Death.
CHAPTER XV.
A GOLDEN morning dawned, one of those morn-
ings peculiar to late August and early September,
when something of the colour of ripe harvest seems
transfused into the light, imparting a deeper warmth
and mellowness to the atmosphere and a richer
bloom to the landscape. The sweep of the gar-
dener's scythe mowing the dewy grass, hissed
through the air, every stroke sending aloft whiffs of
delicate fragrance, the hum of bees and the twit-
tering of birds mingled with faint echoes of laughter
from the men and women who in the neighbouring
fields were busy tossing the hay, and a sweet light
wind blew in from the sea bringing health and
freshness on its wings. And when Mr. Valliscourt
went down to breakfast he was so far sensible of the
invigorating influences of such a morning, that
he set the hall-door wide open in order that the
house should obtain the full advantage of the tonic
contained in the revivifying breeze, which he himself
inhaled approvingly as though he were for once
tolerably satisfied with the general arrangements of
nature. Refreshed, he turned towards the breakfast-
room, where on the threshold he was confronted by
284
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 285
housemaid Lucy, who, trembling, and with tears
in her eyes, nervously faltered out that " Master
Lionel's bedroom was empty, that his bed had
not been slept in" and " that the school-room
door was locked." And " Oh, sir !" she con-
tinued, beginning to sob outright, " I'm afraid
something has happened to the dear, I am, really,
sir ! you see he hasn't been well "
"Who hasn't been well? What's the matter?"
demanded Professor Cadman-Gore, suddenly ap-
pearing on the scene.
Mr. Valliscourt turned to him.
" It appears that Lionel is not in his bedroom,"
he said, his hard features growing livid, and his
mouth contracting at the corners, " and the house-
maid here says he has not slept in his bed at all. I
suppose," and his eyes narrowed like those of
a snake and flashed with a furtive gleam of rage
" I suppose he has followed his mother's example
and run away."
And the words of his wife's parting letter,
" My spirit is in the boy's blood, already he
rebels, sooner or later he will escape you" re-
curred to him as he spoke, working within his mind
a paroxysm of silent fury that for the moment gave
him the expression of a fiend.
" Nonsense !" retorted the Professor, sharply.
286 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
"He's not the kind of boy to run away, he's too
sensible and tractable. Perhaps he was restless and
couldn't sleep, perhaps he's gone out, it's a fine
day and there's nothing astonishing in his taking a
ramble before breakfast."
" The school-room door is locked, this girl tells
me," continued Mr. Valliscourt, knitting his dark
brows into a frown, then abruptly addressing the
frightened Lucy, he asked, " On the inside or out-
side ? Is the key gone ?"
" No, sir ; the key's in the lock, and the door's
fastened on the inside. That's what's so strange, sir.
I've knocked and called, but it's no use, and sup-
pose Master Lionel should have had a bad faint in
there all by himself! oh dear, it would be dreadful !"
and her tears flowed unrestrainedly.
" Here, get out of the way !" growled the Profes-
sor, with sudden irritation " Let me go and see
what's the meaning of all this. I know that door,
the lock is rickety and the bolt is loose, give me a
hammer or anything weighty, I'll soon force it
open."
He strode along the corridor, Mr. Valliscourt fol-
lowing him. Lucy ran for the garden hammer, and
soon returned with it, accompanied by the gardener,
bringing other useful forcing tools.
" Lionel !" called the Professor.
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 287
There was no answer, only a bird's sweet song
that came floating upwards from the garden through
the open hall-door. Smitten with a sudden vague
sense of horror, which he could not define, Professor
Cadman-Gore looked round at Mr. Valliscourt.
" Hadn't you better go away, Valliscourt ?" he
said, in a low tone, " In case anything has happened
to the boy "
Mr. Valliscourt stood immovable. His face was
pale, but he forced a smile.
" There's no occasion for any alarm" he answered
" It's a mere trick, a runaway plot. He is the
son of his mother, and I daresay is not deficient in
cunning. He has, no doubt, locked the door on the
inside to mislead us and has escaped through the
window. Nothing more likely."
The Professor made no reply, but with the aid
of the gardener, set to work forcing the lock. It
was, as he had said, an old lock, and was soon
pushed back, while with the strong impetus applied
the bolt likewise gave way, and the door burst open.
Then ... a loud scream from Lucy . . . and . . .
" My God ! My God !" cried the Professor, wildly
invoking the Deity whose existence he denied
" Valliscourt go go ! Don't look, don't look !
The boy has killed himself!"
But Mr. Valliscourt pushed past him into the
288 THE MIGHTY A TOM.
room, and there stood, . . . rigid and dumb, . . .
staring, . . . staring upward at a strange and awful
thing, a piteous sight to make God's angels weep,
... a child-suicide ! A child's dead body swinging
heavily from the oaken rafters, a child, hung by a
length of soft blue sash-ribbon, which though shining
with tender hues in the morning sunlight, and
daintily patterned with an innocent daisy-chain, yet
held the little throat fast in an inexorable death-grip !
Was that child his son? His son? for whose
future he had planned many a proud scheme of
worldly ambition ? and on whose behalf he had re-
solved to exert all the tyrannical and petty despotism
of which an arrogant father is capable, in order to
force his intellect on in advance of his age, and
make of him a prodigy, not for the boy's sake, but
for his own self-glorification ? His son ? That
small dead thing hanging there ! . . . And his wife's
voice seemed to whisper in his ears " My spirit is
in the boy's blood, sooner or later he will escape
you !" . . . It was true, he had escaped !
As in a dull dream he heard Lucy's hysterical
sobbing, unmoved himself, he watched the Pro-
fessor and the gardener between them unloose the
silken sash of self-execution, take tender hold of the
little corpse, and lay it gently down on the ground,
then, with great blinding tears in his old eyes, the
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 289
Professor felt the young heart that had long ceased
to beat, and held a small mirror to the cold closed
lips to see if the faintest breath clouded its surface.
In vain, in vain ! Lionel's " happy dispatch" had
been made with a sureness and a resolution worthy
of the most antique Roman, he had plunged into
the Great Mystery, and for him there was no re-
call.
" My God !" groaned the Professor again in utter
despair " That it should have come to this ! Poor
little fellow ! Poor little fellow !"
Then Mr. Valliscourt spoke, stiffly, and enunci-
ating his words with difficulty.
" Is he quite dead ?"
"Quite! It's horrible! it's sickening! Lucy,
don't cry so much, there's a good young woman,
you unnerve me, just help me to lay him here,
yes on this sofa, there, that will do. God ! what
an appalling tragedy ! A mere child ! to think
of it ! It is hideous monstrous ! . . . Valliscourt,
I am grieved to the heart for you, he was a noble
little fellow . . ."
Here the Professor was fain to turn away and
hide his face, while Lucy, weeping bitterly, bent
over the little corpse, smoothed the fair curls, and
folded the small hands cross-wise on the breast,
sobbing more than ever as she noticed the grave
N / 25
290 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
peace of the closed eyelids, the sweet smile on the
lips, and the solemn air of infinite knowledge that
hallowed and tranquillised the fine waxen-white
features of the dead boy.
" Temporary insanity, of course," said Mr. Vallis-
court, presently, speaking in a strange, dull mono-
tone, " It occasionally breaks out, even in chil-
dren."
He paused. All this time he had not moved a
step nearer to the corpse, he had an instinctive
horror of it. He found himself wishing that it
could be carried out of the house at once and
covered up, so that he might never see it again,
for then he thought it would be easier to summon
up the principles of his materialistic philosophy
and discuss this this unfortunate incident calmly.
But with that small, frozen, patient image of death
confronting him, he felt cold, and at the same time
wrathful, why was it, how was it, that his will was
always thwarted, and his plans interfered with ? His
will ! God's will concerned him not at all.
" There are two letters here," he said, suddenly,
calling Professor Cadman-Gore's attention to the
carefully folded and neatly addressed papers on the
desk, " One for you, and and one for me."
He hesitated, and stole a furtive glance at his
dead son, as he opsned the missive addressed to
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
291
himself. Would the boy accuse him of having
driven him to suicide by overwork and worry ? . . .
There were no reproaches of the kind contained in
the letter, it was very simple, and ran thus
MY DEAR FATHER,
I have often heard you say that when one
is dead and done for, it doesn't matter what becomes
of one's body, whether it is buried, or burnt or
thrown into the sea so now that I am dead, I
hope you will please have my body buried in
Combmartin churchyard. The sexton there, Mr.
Reuben Dale, digs graves very well, and I want him
to dig mine by the side of the one he has made
for his little girl, Jessamine. I played with Jessa-
mine one day, and liked her very much. Now
she is dead, and so am I, and it can't make any
difference to you that I am buried beside her,
because dead people are of no account anyway.
They are soon forgotten, and you'll soon forget
me. I couldn't go on living, I was so tired.
I should like the ribbon you will find round my
neck buried with me, please, and if you could
ever possibly do it, I should be glad if you would
give my mother my love.
Your son,
LIONEL VALLISCOURT.
292
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
Meanwhile the Professor, with much coughing and
wiping of his spectacles, perused his own letter, which
was a good deal longer than the above, and which
was written by the little dead lad in such a strain of
gentle and appealing confidence as touched the book-
worn scholar to the quick, and made havoc of all his
learned and logical equanimity.
DEAR PROFESSOR,
I am very much obliged to you for getting
to be so kind to me, because I know you didn't like
me at first, and I hope you won't think very badly
of me because I have given up the idea of trying to
live. You see I should have to study very hard for
years and years before I could be at all as clever as
you would want me to be, and I feel it wouldn't be
any use to go on learning and learning, unless I knew
what it was all for. It would seem to me only a
waste of time. Because of course the principal
thing one wants to know is about the Atom, or
God, and even you can't explain this. If it were
explained, then there would be some reason for try-
ing to be wise and good, but without an explanation,
I don't see that anything matters really, one may
just as well be stupid as clever. All this has been
very much on my mind, and when I found my
mother had gone away, and then that little Jessa-
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
2 93
mine Dale whom I left quite well, had died while
we were at Clovelly, everything seemed so strange
and cruel, that I made up my mind to find out for
myself what reason God or the Atom has to
give for making people so miserable. I believe, you
know, that it's not an Atom really, but God, and I
shall ask Him all about things as soon as I find Him.
I shouldn't be surprised if I found Him to-night,
He seems quite near to me even now. You will
always remember our pleasant days at Clovelly,
won't you ? and how you told me about Psyche
and Eros. I think that was a very beautiful story.
I've been trying, as Psyche did, to see with my little
light, but I've got it into my head that if I put out
my lamp altogether I shall see much better. God
must be far too splendid to need any lamps to look
at Him. You know, dear Professor, in all the
learned books I have been studying with you, how
each person contradicts the other, and how difficult
it is to make out what they all mean. One says one
thing, and then another man declares the first man
to be all wrong. So it is just like what you once
said about the waste of time it was to read the
newspapers, because on one morning you get a
piece of news by telegram and you think it is true,
and the next day it is contradicted and proved to be
a false report. One might go on for ever bothering
25*
294 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
one's self and getting puzzled in this silly way, and
never be any nearer to the real Cause of it all, the
God I am going to. I do indeed think it is God,
and I hope you will consider everything carefully
over again before you quite make up your mind it is
an Atom. You see, you are not quite sure ; and
you know, if it is God, and He lives in a great and
splendid world of His own, and we have souls which
all fly to Him like angels when we die, I might meet
you again, and I should be very glad of that. I
didn't like you at first any more than you liked me,
but I grew quite fond of you at Clovelly, and I was
going to ask my father to let me go and live with
you while I went on studying, but when I found
poor little Jessamine dead, somehow everything
changed. I told you she was quite a baby-girl, and
I only saw her twice, but I liked her very much,
and I couldn't understand why such a dear little
thing should have to die. And so I determined I
would find out, and I shall find it out, I'm sure.
Good-bye, now. I think it would be better for boys
like me'if you could teach them that the First Cause
was God, and that He loved everybody, and meant
to explain the universe to us some day, things
would be so much easier for us, and life would be so
much happier. Of course you will have to think it
out again, before you decide, you being so clever,
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 295
but please, for my sake, do consider it whenever you
have another boy to teach.
Thanking you for all your kindness, I am,
Your grateful pupil,
LIONEL VALLISCOURT.
This, and the slip which confided Montrose's
copy of Homer and the letter accompanying it to
his care, was the Professor's " legacy," and to his
honour be it said that he was not ashamed of the
tears that fell down his furrowed cheeks, as he read
the quaint confession of a thinking child's mind
bewilderment so plaintively expressed. Wiping his
eyes undisguisedly with his large yellow silk hand-
kerchief, he turned and looked at Mr. Valliscourt,
who during the past few minutes had stood stiffly
erect with folded arms, staring hard at his dead son.
Becoming conscious now of the Professor's com-
passionate gaze, he moved restlessly, then spoke
in slowly measured tones,
" It is very curious, is it not, how resemblances
come out in death !" he said " This boy has noth-
ing of me in his looks, he is the image of his
mother. She was always erratic, he, by natural
sequence, has proved himself insane. She revelled
in common things, music-hall songs and dances
and the like, he, in his last words, can find nothing
296 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
better to ask of me than to be buried by a common
village child with whom it appears he associated
during one day's truancy from home, the daughter
of the sexton here. Of course I shall pay no
attention to such a foolish request; he must be
buried at Valliscourt, as is customary with all the
members of my family."
Whereupon Professor Cadman-Gore suddenly gave
way to an unexpected outburst of passionate indig-
nation.
" By Heaven, Valliscourt, you have no more heart
than a stone !" he cried " Can you, in the very
presence of your dead child, self-slain, refuse or
think of refusing his poor little last wish ? What
matter is it to you where or how he is buried ? In
life he has never asked a single favour at your hands,
he has obeyed you in your most trifling caprices,
he has worked himself to death to please you,
and even I, I who have promoted, more than any
one in England, the severe training and discipline
of boys, have hesitated to carry out all your injunc-
tions with regard to his education, considering them
too despotic for a lad so sensitively organised. The
doctor here, Dr. Hartley, privately assured me
before we went to Clovelly that the boy was being
killed by overwork, and warned me to be careful of
him. I was careful of him, and he was better for
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 297
complete change and rest, but he was still in a
doubtful condition of health, and the sudden shock
of hearing of the death of a little child whom he
had left alive and well, was evidently too much for
the delicate balance of his brain. His end, his
horrible and unnatural end, is due to overpressure,
of that I am convinced. But his last wishes shall
be fulfilled, or else" here the Professor advanced
a step or two, looking singularly ugly and impressive
at the same moment, while he managed to impart
to his voice a very disagreeable hissing quality,
" or else ! well, you know me, and you know I
can write with some eloquence, when I choose !
Moreover people are in the habit of listening to
what I say. And I will tell the whole story of this
distinctly murdered boy, murdered by over-cram-
ming, to the newspapers, for it is a case of over-
cramming in which you have had by far the greatest
and the cruellest share. There's not a tutor alive
who would not have pitied such a child as he was !
left to his own thoughts, without sympathy from
either father or mother, and deprived of youthful
companionship, / pitied him from my soul, and
meant to give him all the relaxation possible.
Mind ! when I say I will make the whole story
public, I mean it! I will cloud your name with
reproach and opprobrium and furnish an excellent
298 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
reason to society for your wife's desertion of
you !"
Mr. Valliscourt grew white to the lips, he
breathed quickly as though he had been running a
race, and for the moment he seemed to shrink and
cower beneath the angry glance and fierce attitude
of the irate Professor ; then, with a slight shrug of
his shoulders, he said, composedly,
" I am surprised, really surprised, to hear such
violent language from you, Professor ! Pray do not
excite yourself! You have been very kind and pa-
tient with . . . with my son, and if it is at all a
matter of importance and obligation to you that his
last wishes should be complied with, I really have no
very serious objection to carrying them out, the
more especially as they help to prove his utterly un-
sound state of mind. No well-born boy in such a
station of life as that occupied by my son, would
wish to be buried beside a common peasant, if he
were not insane. Your accusation of ' over-cram-
ming' is quite ridiculous, excuse me for saying so !
it is impossible to over-cram a really strong brain,
and the younger the brain, the more vivid and
lasting the impressions of knowledge. I naturally
supposed my son's brain was of a healthy and vig-
orous quality, and it is a decided shock to me to find
I was mistaken. This affair will cause a great deal
THE MIGHTY A TOM.
299
of talk and trouble, I think I had better call on Dr.
Hartley, and place matters in his hands for speedy
arrangement. There will have to be an inquest, of
course, and these things are excessively tiresome."
The Professor gazed at him reproachfully.
" Valliscourt," he said, " you never loved your son.
You could not have loved him, or you would not
speak as you do now, in his dead presence !"
And he pointed to the couch where lay the pas-
sive little form, lulled into that perfect rest which no
clash of tongues in wordy argument should ever
again disturb.
Mr. Valliscourt's glance followed his gesture, but
not a quiver of emotion moved the composed cold-
ness of his features.
" Love is a mere figure of speech," he said
" And it only applies to the temporary attraction we
feel for a woman or women. No reasonable father
' loves ' his children, his sole business is to look
upon them as the results of the natural law of the
reproduction of species, and as future citizens of the
world, whom he is bound to train befittingly for
their calling. Sentiment should have no share in
their education, that, I believe, is your principle, or
used to be, it is certainly mine. I expected great
things of my son, but I see now how much I should
have been disappointed in him. His brain was
300 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
weak, possibly diseased, and as a consequence of
weakness or disease he has killed himself. It is very
distressing, of course, but no doubt, as time wears
on, I shall realise that it was the very best thing he
could have done. I think I had better go at once to
Dr. Hartley."
He left the room with a firm, easy step and un-
ruffled demeanour, the materialistic " Positivist "
asserting itself in every line of his stiff figure as he
went. And Professor Cadman-Gore, the " oracle "
of Universities, left alone with the Head Lionel, rev-
erently approached the piteous little corpse, and
there lost sight of himself and his various " theories"
in sorrowful contemplation. Studying the quiet,
fair child-face intently, he murmured,
" The best thing you could have done ! Well !
perhaps it is, poor boy ! perhaps it is ! With such
a father, and such a mother, aye, and such a
F teacher, too! for who knows whether I may not
have done him harm ? Who can tell whether I am
right or wrong in my ideas of Deity ? Can there be
nothing higher than humanity? the Valliscourt
humanity, for instance ? Heaven help us if that is
all !"
And then considering that he was a learned
pundit, supposed to be altogether devoid of senti-
ment he did a strange thing. Raising the dead
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 301
boy in his arms, he kissed the cold brow just beneath
the clustering curls, and said,
" Yes ! I will consider it, Lionel ! I promise, for
your sake, that when I have another boy to teach, I
will consider whether it is not best and wisest to lead
him up as far as a God of Love ! and leave him
there."
26
CHAPTER XVI.
ALL the little world of Combmartin turned out
to attend Lionel's funeral. His brief but tragic life-
history, his sorrow for his mother, his despair at
the death of his one day's playmate, little Jessamine
Dale, and his determined suicide, were quickly
rumoured through the village ; and the sympathetic
" touch of nature which makes the whole world kin,"
communicated itself from house to house, and from
heart to heart, till every man, woman, and child in
the place was moved by genuine pity and grief for
the little fellow's untimely end. The verdict on his
death was the usual one, " Suicide during temporary
insanity," this judgment being always passed out
of purest Christian charity in order to allow the so
desperately departed the rites of Christian burial.
Dr. Hartley, who was present at the inquest, had no
hesitation in asserting that he considered the boy
had been driven to his rash act by over-study, which
had caused extreme pressure on the brain, and Pro-
fessor Cadman-Gore manfully supported the state-
ment, thus voluntarily taking a certain share of the
blame on his own shoulders. Though, had the
old scholar spoken all his mind, he would have
302
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
33
added, that in his opinion, it was the nature of
the education insisted upon, namely, scientific
positivism and lack of all religious training, which
was the real cause of the wreckage of the boy's
young life. But he said nothing of this, though
it may be he thought the more. And the morning
came at last, when Reuben Dale, looking older by
ten years, leaned on his spade by the little grave
he had newly dug, next to that of his own
beloved child, and watched the reverent crowd
of his fellow-villagers as they gathered with hushed
footsteps in the quiet old churchyard and listened
with tearful attention to the aged, white-haired
parson who had known most of them all their
lives, and whose clear voice, now and then faltering
with emotion, pronounced the beautiful, triumphant
words,
"So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is
sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption,
it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory, it
is sown in weakness, it is raised in power, it is
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body
.... So when this corruptible shall have put
on incorruption and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, O Death, where is thy
sting ? O Grave, where is thy victory ?"
304 THE MIGHTY A TOM.
With bent head and softened features, Professor
Cadman-Gore listened, looking down into the square
of earth wherein Lionel's little coffin had been
lowered, covered with flowers, the free-will offerings
of the tender-hearted village women. A large
wreath of honeysuckle from good Miss Payne was
one of the most conspicuous and beautiful of the
various garlands, she having stripped her entire
cottage-porch of blossom for this purpose, but
even the poor afflicted " Hoddy-Doddy " had
brought a funeral token in the shape of a long
branch of rare white roses fit for the adornment of a
queen's bower, and Reuben Dale had dropped
into the grave a single knot of jessamine, the
smallest tribute of all, yet perhaps the sweetest
and most significant. And the Professor was
troubled by a rising lump in his throat and a
great mist before his eyes as he heard, amid sup-
pressed sobs from the little crowd, the parson's
tremulous accents, saying,
" Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God to
take unto Himself the soul of our dear young
brother departed" and the compassionate speaker
hesitated as he put in with soft emphasis the word
" young," " we therefore commit his body to the
ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to
dust, in sure and certain hope of the resurrec-
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 305
tion to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body that it may be
like unto His glorious body, according to the mighty
working, whereby He is able to subdue all things to
Himself."
Mr. Valliscourt listened with a frown of contempt
on his features and anger in his heart. " The
mighty working, whereby He is able to subdue
all things to Himself!" He resented this phrase, r
it affronted him singularly. And he hated the
situation in which he found himself, namely, that
of. being compelled to give over the dead body
of his son at last to the rites of the Creed he
abhorred. When at the " Our Father" every one
knelt down on the warm daisy-sprinkled turf,
he stood proudly erect, glancing disdainfully at the
Professor, who, though too stiff in the joints to
kneel, nevertheless bowed his head out of respect
for the sacredness of the ceremony. The service
ended, the venerable clergyman dismissed all present
with the usual blessing, pronounced with more than
usual fervency, and went his gentle tottering way
with his assistants, leaving Reuben Dale to his
appointed work of filling in the newly-made grave.
The villagers moved away noiselessly, some crying
in company with Clarinda Payne, others endeavour-
ing to comfort the girl Lucy, who wept as though
u 26*
306 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
her heart would break, and others again whispering
strangely about Mr. Valliscourt's cold and cruel
looks, while, huddled up in a corner at the
churchyard gate sat the forlorn " Hoddy-Doddy,"
blubbering to himself and refusing to be comforted.
" No no !" he muttered vacantly in answer to
one of the women who endeavoured to persuade
him to accompany them, "I'll stay 'ere. Wi'
the children an' the roses. All the roses, ... all
the children, . . . dead ! dead ! I'll stay 'ere,
summer's over !"
Mr. Valliscourt remained in the churchyard till
the little crowd had quite dispersed. Standing by
his son's grave he gazed fixedly down into it, saying
nothing. Reuben Dale watched him in deep com-
passion for a moment, then he murmured gently,
" God comfort ye, sir, on this sad day ! He alone
can help ye to bear sich a sore an' bitter trou-
ble!"
Mr. Valliscourt started irritably, and turned to
Professor Cadman-Gore.
" Does this fellow want an extra fee beyond the
ordinary charges ?"
" Good God, no !" answered the Professor, hastily,
for he had taken the measure of Reuben's proud and
independent character, and hoped the tactless ques-
tion had not been overheard.
THE MIGHTY ATOM.
37
Reuben, however, had caught its purport, and
he now looked steadily at Mr. Valliscourt, with a
slight flush on his brown cheeks.
" Ye mistake me, sir, altogether, I'm thinkin'," he
said, with a simple dignity which well became him,
" Tis a matter o' barely five days since I buried
my own little 'un here, wi' my own hands, an' my
fool tears a-flowin' on her coffin, an' though you're
a gentleman born, an' I'm onny a poor workin' man,
there's summat of a tie atween us in the sorrow o'
our broken 'arts. For our two childer played to-
gether just one summer's day, an' the last words
that iver my Jess'mine said, wos ' Give my love to
Lylie.' An' the poor boy's askin' to be buried be-
side of her here in Combmartin, showed plain enough
that he thought of her too, when he took to his
death so willing like. The ways o' God are not as
our ways, sir, an' there wos a heavenly link 'tween
they two little angel lives as we're not able to see.
That they be gone an* we be here, is better for them
though worse fur us, an' knowin' all the ache an'
trouble o' the time I made bold to say God comfort
ye, without meanin' no liberty nor offence, nor aught
save just a word o' sympathy from man to man."
" Sympathy from man to man !" Mr. Valliscourt
stared in haughty wonder at the amazing impudence
of this coarsely clad peasant, this verger, sexton,
308 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
road-mender, and what not, who dared to claim a
brotherhood with him in sorrow !
" Thank you !" he said, stiffly " You mean well,
no doubt. Personally, I look upon the day that my
unfortunate son played truant from his home, as the
most ill-fated of his life. It is probable that had he not
met your child, and afterwards taken her loss to heart,
he might not have met with such an unnatural death.
And I cannot admit of there being any ' ways of God,'
in the matter, I have no belief in a God at all."
A shadow darkened Reuben's fine face, but he
answered, quietly,
" Ay sir ! is that so ? Then I'm sorrier fur ye
than iver ! There's no poor soul I pity more than a
man as feels no God near 'im. Fur a grief strikes
ye to the very core o' the heart then, an' there's
naught can heal the wound. God or no God, ye
can't do away wi' trouble, ye've lost a child !"
Mr. Valliscourt looked once more into the little
open grave, then at the sexton, and a very slight
ironical smile lifted the corners of his mouth and
gleamed in his hard eyes.
" Losses can always be remedied," he said, coldly,
"And I shall marry again." With that he turned
away, and walked steadily down the path leading to
the churchyard gate, never once looking back.
But Professor Cadman-Gore lingered, and after
THE MIGHTY ATOM. 309
a little pause, impulsively lifted his old wide-awake
hat from his bald pate with one hand, and silently
held out the other to Reuben. Reuben, astonished
at the action, hesitated a moment out of deference,
but looking at the Professor's face and seeing tears
in his old eyes, he understood, and warmly grasped
the scholar's thin fingers in his own rough palm.
" I loved the little lad," said the Professor then,
tremulously, " I, who love nobody, learned to love
him. You are a good man, and you have a heart,
I need not ask you to keep his grave as, as it
should be. His father will dismiss all memory of
him from his mind, it is his nature to forget the
dead. But I should not like the poor child's last
resting-place to be neglected, and if there is any
cost I will gladly defray it "
But here Reuben interrupted him.
" Cost, sir ? Nay, there'll be no cost but a few
tears o' mine as mebbe will help the flowers grow !
For he lies next to my Jess'mine ye see, sir, there's
barely a two-inch distance 'tween their little coffins;
an' as long as I live an' have hands to work wi', so
long will they two little graves be the sweetest an'
prettiest i' the churchyard. All covered wi' the
blessed green turf, sir, an' planted thick wi' vi'lets an'
daisies, an' the cost o' they things is onny just a
little love an' thoughtfulness."
310 THE MIGHTY ATOM.
The Professor looked up, then down ; finally he
again offered his hand, and again Reuben shook it.
" Good-bye ! God bless you !" he said.
" God bless you, sir !" responded Reuben.
And with another lingering glance of farewell
down into Lionel's grave where nothing could be
seen but a pile of flowers, the learned Professor once
more raised his hat to the untutored villager, and,
reluctantly departing, went his lonely and reflective
way.
Long before the shadows darkened, the church-
yard was deserted and solitary, though in the church
itself the organist was practising for the coming
Sunday, and the sweet appealing notes of the beau-
tiful hymn, " Nearer, my God, to Thee," floated out
through the ancient doorway and soared, high up,
into the calm air. Lionel's grave was closed in, and
a full-flowering stem of the white lilies of St. John
lay upon it like an angel's sceptre. Another similar
stem adorned the grave of Jessamine ; and between
the two little mounds of earth, beneath which two
little innocent hearts were at rest forever, a robin-
redbreast sang its plaintive evening carol, while the
sun flamed down into the west and the night fell.
THE END.
By Julien Gordon.
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COUNTESS ERIKA'S APPRENTICESHIP By Ossip Schubin.
"O THOU, MY AUSTRIA !" By Ossip Schubin.
ERLACH COURT By Ossip Schubin.
THE ALPINE FAY By E Werner.,
THE OWL'S NEST By E. Marlitt.
PICKED UP IN THE STREETS . . . By H. Schobert.
SAINT MICHAEL By E. Werner.
VIOLETTA By Ursula Zoge von Manteufel.
THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES By E. Marlitt.
VAIN FOREBODINGS By E Oswald.
A PENNILESS GIRL By W. Heimburg.
QUICKSANDS By Adolph Streckfuss.
BANNED AND BLESSED By E. Werner.
A NOBLE NAME By Claire von Glumer.
FROM HAND TO HAND By Golo Raimund.
SEVERA By E. Hartner.
A NEW RACE By Golo Raimund.
THE EICHHOFS By Moritz von Reichenbach.
CASTLE HOHENWALD By Adolph Streckfuss.
MARGARETHE By E. Juncker.
Too RICH By Adolph Streckfuss.
A FAMILY FEUD By Ludwig Harder.
THE GREEN GATE By Ernst Wichert.
ONLY A GIRL By Wilhelmine von Hillern.
WHY DID HE NOT DIE ? By Ad. von Volckhauser.
HULDA By Fanny Lewald.
THE BAILIFF'S MAID By E. Marlitt.
IN THE SCHILLINGSCOURT By E. Marlitt.
COUNTESS GISELA By E. Marlitt.
AT THE COUNCILLOR'S By E. Marlitt.
THE SECOND WIFE By E. Marlitt.
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET By E. Marlitt.
GOLD ELSIE By E. Marlitt.
THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS By E. Marlitt.
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the fact that among her more than thirty translations that have been published by
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judgment of selection is to be added the rare excellence of her translations, which
has commanded the admiration of literary and linguistic scholars." Boston Home
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