The Mighty Atom

Front matter

THE MIGHTY ATOM THE MIGHTY ATOM BY MARIE CORELLI Author of *• The Sorrows of Satan" " Barabbas" "Thetnta" etc. LONDON HUTCHINSON AND CO 34, PATERNOSTER ROW MDCCCXCV1 Printed by Hatell, IVatson, <£■ I'mty, Ld., London and Aylesbury. Ho THOSE SELF-STYLED 'PROGRESSI VISTS' 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 masque rade ; 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 Zbe ffltgbtB atom 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 permeate nature ; flowers, draggled with rain, essayed 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 encouragement 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 Zbe /iDtabtg Htom 9 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 have been the babyish upper curve of his sensitive little mouth, was almost though not quite obliterated 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 disap pointed 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 wonder 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 re joices, — yet here is a living creature shut up with a book which surely God never had the making Zbe jfflMflbts Btoni 10 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 reflections from the glory of some un barred gate of Paradise, — and the sun, flaming with August fires, suddenly burst forth in all his splendour.

Full on Combmartin, with its grey old church, stone cottages, 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.

Zbe iUMgbts Htom 11 " 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 ! " I " Here he squared himself, and made playfully threatening gestures after the most approved methods of boxing. The boy smiled, and rose from his chair, " 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 stupidity 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 nowadays, has it ? " " No,— but it goes under the head of general information," — answered Montrose laughing, — v Anyhow, you can leave the tithes alone for the present, — forget them, — and forget all the bishops and kings too if you like ! You looked fagged Zbe flDtobts atom 12 out, — what do you say to a first-class Devonshire tea at Miss Payne's? " " Jolly ! " and a flash of something like merri ment 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 materials.

He did this with an almost painful care : 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 ex emplary tidiness himself, would have preferred to see this mere child leaving everything in a disorderly heap, and rushing out into the fresh air with a wild whoop and bellow. But he gave his thoughts no speech, and studied the me thodical goings to and fro of the patient little Zbe /DMgbtv atom 13 lad from under his half-drooped eyelids with an expression of mingled kindness 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 par ticular 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 some what timidly. Their two figures could soon be discerned among the flowers 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 ! " Zbe fUMgbt-o atom 14 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 disappeared.

The woods and hills around Combmartin were now all aglow with the warm luminance of the descending sun, and presently, out on the sea which was still rough and sparkling with a million diamond-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 affectionate 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 stem, but almost at the end of the prow, his dreamy eyes watching with keen delight every wave that advanced 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 doses !

" Lionel did not hear this observation, — he was Zbe fllMabts atom ■5 absorbed in catching a string of seaweed, slimy and unprofitable 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 minutely studied the dainty net-work of ocean's weaving, 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 separate 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 vanitaiim ! ' 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 Zbe flDiQbts atom over the ' Hangman's Hills ' as they are curiously styled, — the Great and the Little Hangman. 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 contemplation of his treasure-trove of sea-weed and shells. "What have you got there, Lionel? " he asked. The boy turned round and faced him. *' Thousands of little people ! " he answered, Zbe flbigbts atom 17 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 themselves as we do."

His eyes darkened, and the smile on his young face vanished. " What do you think about it, Mr. Montrose ? I 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 somewhat pitying air.

The tide was flowing in, and the boat went swiftly with it, — the healthful exercise sent colour into Lionel's pale cheeks and Zbe /HMgbtE atom 18 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 imperturbably, " 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 Zbe tfoiQbtV atom 19 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 down cast ! — 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 sur prised ; 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. abe /ibtgbts atom 20 Lionel smiled, — a dreary little cynical smile.

"Shall we go and have our tea?" he suggested quietly — " I'm ready." And they walked slowly up from the shore together, — 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 discerned framed in a wreath of brilliant nasturtiums, and bearing the following device, CLARINDA CLEVERLY PAYNE.

NEW LAID EGGS. DEVONSHIRE CREAM. JUNKETS. TEAS PROVIDED. Zbe iUMflbtg atom 21 Within this rustic habitation, tutor and pupil disappeared, 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 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, conversing 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 feelings or the pockets of either party. Whenever the Valliscourts were in town for the season at their handsome residenqe in Grosvenor Place, Sir Charles was always ' dropping in,' and dropping out again, a constant and welcome guest, a purveyor of fashionable scandals, and a thoroughlv reliable informant concerning the ins and outs of the newest approaching divorce.

But his appear ance at Combmartin was quite unlooked-for, he Zbe sllMabts atom 23 having been supposed to have gone to his 'little place ' (an estate of several thousand acres) in Inverness-shire. And it was concerning his present change of plan and humour that Mr. Valliscourt was just now rallying him in ponderously 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 walnut and beginning to peel the kernel with a deliberate and fastidious nicety which showed off his long, white, well-kept fingers to admirable advantage, — " Nothing lower than a baronet, eh? " Zbe /ilMgbtg atom 24 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 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 exhaustion 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 — Zbe sllMgbts atom 25 " 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 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 horrid little hole for a summer holiday residence." " You know very well why I took it," returned Mr. Valliscourt stiffly — " It was not for my per sonal enjoyment, nor for yours. I am old enough, I presume, 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 somewhat 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." He said all this in a dry methodical way, cracking 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, glistening 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 themselves. 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 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 formulated 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 amusements. Moreover, I have discovered to my extreme concern, that Mr. Montrose has not yet thrown off the shackles of superstitious legend and ob servance, 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 immortality 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 annoyed that I was not made aware of these barbarous predilections and preju dices 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 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 ele gant languor towards the door. " You had better come into the drawing-room, Sir Charles, and have a chat with me" she said, Zbe Ætgbts atom 29 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 apart ment 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-windows, 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. 1 Oor Willie ' looked pale, and his lips v/ere hard set.

His employer nodded to him carelessly in 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." Zbe flbtflbtg atom 30 " 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. Valliscourt," he returned composedly — " They can get on without your good opinion I daresay, and certainly 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 confronted the audacious speaker in such in dignation as almost choked his utterance. " Ch — ch — child -murder ! " he spluttered, trembling 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 Zbe /Ibigbtg atom 31 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 training.