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Costas A. Varotsos
Vladimir F. Krapivin
Microwave
Remote
Sensing Tools in
Environmental
Science
Microwave Remote Sensing Tools in Environmental
Science
Costas A. Varotsos • Vladimir F. Krapivin
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
ix
x Contents
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Summary
xv
Abbreviations and Acronyms
xvii
xviii Abbreviations and Acronyms
RF Radiative Forcing
RIV Residual Income Valuation
RMD Radiation-Moistening Dependence
RMSE Root Mean Square Error
ESAR Radar SAR
SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar
SAT Surface Atmospheric Temperature
SARVI Soil Adjusted Total Vegetation Index
SAVI Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index
SCE Snow Cover Extent
SCIAMACHY SCanning Imaging Absorption 5 spectroMeter for Atmospheric
CHartographY
SCOPE Statewide Communities Of Practice for Excellence
SDI Scalled Shadow Index
SeaWiFS Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor
SES Seismic Electric Signals
SGPE SGPE Southern Great Plains Experiment
SHF Super High Frequency
SL Surface Level
SLAR Side-Looking Airborne Radar
SMASHF Simulation Model of the Aral Sea Hydrophysical Fields
SMMR Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer
SMOS Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity
SPF Soil-Plant Formation
SPOT Systéme Probatoire d’Observation de la Terre
SR Simple Ratio
SRB Surface Radiation Budget
SSAPP Simulation System for the Atmosphere Pollution Physics
SSM/I Spatial Sensor Microwave/Imager
SST Sea Surface Temperature
SVI Spectral Vegetation Index
SWRF Short Wave Radiative Forcings
TAR Third Assessment Report
TEM Transverse Electric and Magnetic
THC ThermoHaline Circulation
TIM Theory-Information Model
TIR Thermal Infrared Radiometer
TOA Top-Of-Atmosphere
TOGA Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere
TOMS Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
TPP Total pure Primary Production
TRITION TRIangle Trans-Ocean buoy Network
TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
TTP Technology Transfer & Promotion
Abbreviations and Acronyms xxiii
1.1 Introduction
Super High Frequency (SHF) radiometry began to develop in the 1950s mainly in
the former Soviet Union and the United States, with the aim of studying the emission
of natural and anthropogenic objects in all weather conditions, the composition of
radio-landscapes maps, the development of the recognition methodology for the land
and water surfaces and on their basis the application of the radio-landscape
navigation.
Remote sensing of land surfaces is based on recordings of natural or reflected and
scattered electromagnetic emissions. A possibility to obtain information about the
characteristics of land covers depends on the mechanisms of electromagnetic emis-
sion transformation that are functions of physical and geometrical characteristics of
the surface. Practically, the investigation of land and water objects is accomplished
using the wave range from 0.8 cm to 21 cm. Parameters that govern the intensity and
polarization of microwave emission are dielectric permittivity, temperature, miner-
alization, roughness of earth and water surfaces, vegetation covers, foam formations,
pollutant films on the water surface, etc.
Waves of electromagnetic radiation used for remote sensing of land cover occupy
a light range, infrared range, and radiowaves. Alternative spectrum for remote
sensing is defined by the character of the phenomenon studied and the absorption
and scattering of electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere. Transparency of the
atmosphere for a given band of electromagnetic waves is the principal factor of this
band for remote sensing. Therefore, remote sensing measurements give acceptable
results when multi-channel system is used. One example of these systems is the
Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) which measures dual-
polarized microwave radiances from Earth’s atmosphere and surface providing
all-weather measurements of sea surface temperature, wind speed, and atmospheric
liquid water and water vapor.
The theory and practice of microwave remote observations widely use such basic
notions as brightness and noise temperature a precision of calculation of which
depends on the sensitivity limit of a microwave radiometer. Therefore, a quality of
remote measurement results is defined by the types of passive microwave devices
including their specified physical features and transformation type of a signal
(Janssen 1993; Krapivin and Shutko 1989, 2002, 2012; Pampaloni 2004).
Microwave region extends from 0.3 to 300 GHz frequency in different micro-
wave regions represented by P-, L-, S-, C-, X-, K- bands as indicated in Table 1.1.
Real production of remote sensing monitoring can be received after an inverse
task solution that is usually incorrect due to different errors of radiometric measure-
ments, noises of the used sensors, and inaccuracy of the used functions. Therefore,
remote sensing tools include a stage of radiometer calibration using in-situ test
measurements (Andreas and Wilcox 2016). The quality of microwave radiometer
calibrations determines the accuracy of geophysical retrievals from delivered bright-
ness temperatures after proper inverse task solution. The quality and reliability of
data collected with a microwave radiometer depends on the instrument’s thermal
stability, noise level, and the calibration accuracy (Solheim et al. 1998). The
calibration is needed to convert measured voltages/counts into brightness tempera-
tures (Tb).
Remote sensing methods include two main classes: active and passive. This book
mainly considers passive radiometric tools that analyse natural (heat) radiation
emitted by natural objects. In particular, microwave sensors of different range are
used effectively to solve environmental problems in different applications including
the study of:
• crops, forest cover, snow and ice fields, soil moisture and soil types;
• hydrological processes such as floods;
• surface temperature with detection of anomalies;
• water surface pollution from different sources; and
• productivity of natural and agricultural ecosystems.
Areas of application for microwave remote sensing technologies include the
following themes:
• On land: estimation of soil moisture, identification of crops, mapping of floods,
evaluation of snow characteristics, assessment of parameters in geology, forestry,
urban land use and control of hydrocarbons dynamics.
1.2 Principal Concept of Remote Monitoring Technology 3
The elements of SHF-radiometry relate to the 1950s when in the USA and the
Former Soviet Union all-weather control of the Earth begun with both satellite
launches and remote sensing sensors designed for:
• realization of latent all-weather radio observations;
• synthesis of maps for the radio landscapes;
4 1 Basic Concepts of Microwave Radiometry
soil-vegetation system. LAI can be determined relatively cheaply and easily using
imagery from various satellites. The most commonly used satellites for determining
LAI are SPOT, NOAA AVHRR and Landsat TM, all with differing spatial and
spectral resolutions. Multi-channel image data, such as TM, and empirical relation-
ship, such as NDVI-LAI relation or SR-LAI relation, are used to estimate LAI.
While multi-angular remote sensing data provide more information for canopy
structure. Particularly, multi-angular data and model inversion method is used to
estimate LAI.
Enormous information about the environmental sub-systems is provided by the
Earth Observing System (EOS). EOS technologies provide the global perspective
needed for an integrated, long-term, scientific, integration of our home planet.
Combined change in the Earth system is inevitable. Numerous environmental
problems associated with global climate change are the subject of debate among
scientists. Unfortunately, the limits of future global changes remain to be assessed.
Kondratyev et al. (2004) proposed a methodology for solving this problem based on
EOS data.
The numerous instruments and platforms hardware of EOS supply the spacious
information really about all sub-systems of the Earth system:
• Clouds, radiation, water vapor, precipitation.
• Oceans (circulation, productivity, air-sea exchange, temperature).
• Greenhouse gases and tropospheric chemistry.
• Land surface (ecosystems and hydrology).
• Ice sheets, polar and alpine glaciers, and seasonal snow.
• Ozone and stratospheric chemistry.
• Volcanoes, dust storms, and climate change.
The EOS Program includes scientific and technical support of the environmental
investigations (Asrar and Dozier 1994; Tianhong et al. 2003). The EOS missions and
EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS) provide data and infrastructure to
facilitate interdisciplinary research about the Earth system. EOSDIS, as NASA’s
Earth science data system, enables the Earth science data collection, command and
control, scheduling, data processing, and data archiving and distribution services for
EOS missions. The EOSDIS science operations are performed within a distributed
system of many interconnected centers with specific responsibilities for production,
archiving, and distribution of Earth science data products. These data centers provide
search and access of science data and data products to many science data users. The
EOSDIS is managed by the Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS)
which is part of the Earth Science Projects Division under the Flight Projects
Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center and is responsible for:
• Processing, archiving, and distributing Earth science satellite data (e.g., land,
ocean and atmosphere data products).
• Preparation of tools to facilitate the processing, archiving, and distribution of
Earth science data.
6 1 Basic Concepts of Microwave Radiometry
• Collecting metrics and user satisfaction data to learn how to continue improving
services provided to users.
• Ensuring scientists and the public have access to data to enable the study of Earth
from space to advance scientific understanding and meet societal needs.
But there is no effective technology that enables this infrastructure to adapt to the
basic environmental problems. The GIS and modeling technique being coupled give
such technology. The GIS provides efficient analytical tools for generating prospec-
tive maps by several combination processes in a knowledge driven approach includ-
ing Boolean logic combination, algebraic combination, index overlay combination,
fuzzy logic and vector fuzzy logic combinations, and so on (Givant and Halmos
2009; Anaokar and Khambete 2016). There are several synthetic modeling tech-
niques including standard modeling languages such as Unified Modeling Language
(UML), Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) and Enterprise Unified Process (EUP).
However, these languages do not cover all existing models of environmental systems
and processes. Many models have been created based on other approaches
(Cracknell et al. 2009). Combination of such models with GIS is realized by
means of GIMS-technology (Krapivin et al. 2015; Krapivin and Shutko 1989;
Krapivin et al. 2006).
Over the last few years, the global carbon cycle problem has gained particular
prominence because of the greenhouse effect. Knowledge of the state of the SPF and
ocean ecosystems allows one to have a real picture of the spatial distribution of
carbon sinks and sources on Earth’s surface. As is well known, among the types of
remote sensing techniques, microwave radiometry proves effective for observations
of SPF environmental parameters. However, these observations are a function of
different environmental conditions mainly depending on the SPF type. That is why it
is necessary to develop data processing methods for microwave monitoring that
allow reconstruction of the SPF characteristics with consideration of vegetation
types and that provide the possibility of synthesizing their spatial distribution.
As noted by Chukhlantsev (2006), the problem of microwave remote sensing of
vegetation cover requires the study of the attenuation of electromagnetic waves
(EMW) within the vegetation layer. The solution to the problems arising here is
made possible by the combination of experimental and theoretical studies. The
vegetation cover is usually characterized by varied geometry and additional param-
eters. Therefore, knowledge of the radiative characteristics of the SPF as functions of
time and spatial coordinates can be acquired by means of a combination of in-situ
measurements and models. General aspects of such an approach have been consid-
ered by many authors (Del Frate et al. 2003; DeWitt and Nutter 1988; Dong et al.
2003; Friedi et al. 2002; Lopez-Iturri et al. 2015). But these investigations were
mainly restricted to investigating models describing the dependence of vegetation
medium on environmental properties, as well as the correlation between morpho-
logical and biometrical properties of vegetation and its radiative characteristics.
One of prospective approach to solving the problems arising here is GIMS-
technology (GIMS ¼ GIS[Model). This approach was proposed by Krapivin and
Shutko (1989, 2002, 2012) and developed by Varotsos and Krapivin (2017). A
1.3 Microwave Emission from the Water and Land Surfaces 7
T b ¼ κT eff : ð1:1Þ
where κ ¼ 1-R is the emission coefficient (or absorbing surface ability, or blackness
level), Teff (K) is the effective surface temperature, R is the reflectivity of the ground
at the land-air interface:
8 1 Basic Concepts of Microwave Radiometry
8
> η cos θ η cos θ 2
< ηa cos θaa þηg cos θgg for horizontal polarization,
R¼
a g
2
>
: η cos θ η a cos θ g
ηg cos θa þηa cos θg for vertical polarization:
g a
where ηa(ηg) is the intrinsic impedance of the air (ground), θa is the incidence angle,
θg is the transmission angle.
Emissivity coefficient of uniform by depth media restricted by slot surface at the
wavelength λ of the electromagnetic wave is described by means of reflective
Fresnel formulas that include environmental characteristics such as complex dielec-
tric transmissivity ελ ¼ ε0λ iε00λ , incidence angle θ and are defined by vertical
(V) and horizontal polarizations (H). Microwave radiometers measure emitted
microwave radiation, expressed in terms of brightness temperature, for vertical or
horizontal polarization. The emission of microwave energy is commonly referred to
as microwave brightness temperature (Tb). Brightness temperature, in common case,
can be calculated starting from the following expression:
T b ¼ τ ðH, θÞ Rτsky þ ð1 RÞT surf þ T atm ðH, θÞ ð1:2Þ
2hc2 1
Iλ ¼ 5 exp ðhc=k TλÞ 1
, ð1:4Þ
λ B
Fig. 1.2 Example of spatio-temporal Tb variations depending on the rainfall regime. Wavelength
λ ¼ 21 cm
intensity of the black body If, its thermodynamic temperature T (by the Kelvin scale)
and frequency f (Hz) of the emission is given by the Planck law:
2hf 3 1
If ¼ ð1:5Þ
c2 exp hf 1
kB T
II
The trouble with Gil was that he was so very suspicious by nature
and not very clever. He was really a clerk, with a clerk’s mind and a
clerk’s point of view. He would never rise to bigger things, because
he couldn’t, and yet she could not utterly dislike him either. He was
always so very much in love with her, so generous—to her, at least—
and he did the best he could to support her and Tickles which was
something, of course. A lot of the trouble was that he was too
affectionate and too clinging. He was always hanging around
whenever he was not working. And with never a thought of going any
place without her except to his lodge or on a business errand that he
couldn’t possibly escape. And if he did go he was always in such
haste to get back! Before she had ever thought of marrying him,
when he was shipping clerk at the Tri-State and she was Mr.
Baggott’s stenographer, she had seen that he was not very
remarkable as a man. He hadn’t the air or the force of Mr. Baggott,
for whom she worked then and whose assistant Gil later became.
Indeed, Mr. Baggott had once said: “Gilbert is all right, energetic and
faithful enough, but he lacks a large grasp of things.” And yet in spite
of all that she had married him.
Why?
Well, it was hard to say. He was not bad-looking, rather
handsome, in fact, and that had meant a lot to her then. He had fine,
large black eyes and a pale forehead and pink cheeks, and such
nice clean hands. And he always dressed so well for a young man in
his position. He was so faithful and yearning, a very dog at her heels.
But she shouldn’t have married him, just the same. It was all a
mistake. He was not the man for her. She knew that now. And, really,
she had known it then, only she had not allowed her common sense
to act. She was always too sentimental then—not practical enough
as she was now. It was only after she was married and surrounded
by the various problems that marriage includes that she had begun
to wake up. But then it was too late.
Yes, she had married, and by the end of the first year and a half,
during which the original glamour had had time to subside, she had
Tickles, or Gilbert, Jr., to look after. And with him had come a new
mood such as she had never dreamed of in connection with herself.
Just as her interest in Gil had begun to wane a little her interest in
Tickles had sprung into flame. And for all of three years now it had
grown stronger rather than weaker. She fairly adored her boy and
wouldn’t think of doing anything to harm him. And yet she grew so
weary at times of the humdrum life they were compelled to live. Gil
only made forty-five dollars a week, even now. And on that they had
to clothe and feed and house the three of them. It was no easy
matter. She would rather go out and work. But it was not so easy
with a three-year-old baby. And besides Gil would never hear of such
a thing. He was just one of those young husbands who thought the
wife’s place was in the home, even when he couldn’t provide a very
good home for her to live in.
Still, during these last few years she had had a chance to read and
think, two things which up to that time she had never seemed to
have time for. Before that it had always been beaux and other girls.
But most of the girls were married now and so there was an end to
them. But reading and thinking had gradually taken up all of her
spare time, and that had brought about such a change in her. She
really wasn’t the same girl now that Gil had married at all. She was
wiser. And she knew so much more about life now than he did. And
she thought so much more, and so differently. He was still at about
the place mentally that he had been when she married him,
interested in making a better place for himself in the Tri-State office
and in playing golf or tennis out at the country club whenever he
could afford the time to go out there. And he expected her to curry
favor with Dr. and Mrs. Realk, and Mr. and Mrs. Stofft, because they
had a car and because Mr. Stofft and Gil liked to play cards together.
But beyond that he thought of nothing, not a thing.
But during all of this time she had more and more realized that Gil
would never make anything much of himself. Alice had cautioned her
against him before ever they had married. He was not a business
man in any true sense. He couldn’t think of a single thing at which he
could make any money except in the paper business, and that
required more capital than ever he would have. Everybody else they
knew was prospering. And perhaps it was that realization that had
thrown her back upon books and pictures and that sort of thing.
People who did things in those days were so much more interesting
than people who just made money, anyhow.
Yet she would never have entered upon that dangerous affair with
Mr. Barclay if it hadn’t been for the awful mental doldrums she found
herself in about the time Tickles was two years old and Gil was so
worried as to whether he would be able to keep his place at the Tri-
State any longer. He had put all the money they had been able to
save into that building and loan scheme, and when that had failed
they were certainly up against it for a time. There was just nothing to
do with, and there was no prospect of relief. To this day she had no
clothes to speak of. And there wasn’t much promise of getting them
now. And she wasn’t getting any younger. Still, there was Tickles,
and she was brushing up on her shorthand again. If the worst came
—
But she wouldn’t have entered upon that adventure that had come
so near to ending disastrously for herself and Tickles—for certainly if
Gil had ever found out he could have taken Tickles away from her—if
it hadn’t been for that book Heyday which Mr. Barclay wrote and
which she came across just when she was feeling so out of sorts
with life and Gil and everything. That had pictured her own life so
keenly and truly; indeed, it seemed to set her own life before her just
as it was and as though some one were telling her about herself. It
was the story of a girl somewhat like herself who had dreamed her
way through a rather pinched girlhood, having to work for a living
from the age of fourteen. And then just as she was able to make her
own way had made a foolish marriage with a man of no import in any
way—a clerk, just like Gil. And he had led her through more years of
meagre living, until at last, very tired of it all, she had been about to
yield herself to another man who didn’t care very much about her but
who had money and could do the things for her that her husband
couldn’t. Then of a sudden in this story her husband chose to
disappear and leave her to make her way as best she might. The
one difference between that story and her own life was that there
was no little Tickles to look after. And Gil would never disappear, of
course. But the heroine of the story had returned to her work without
compromising herself. And in the course of time had met an architect
who had the good sense or the romance to fall in love with and
marry her. And so the story, which was so much like hers, except for
Tickles and the architect, had ended happily.
But hers—well—
But the chances she had taken at that time! The restless and yet
dreamy mood in which she had been and moved and which
eventually had prompted her to write Mr. Barclay, feeling very
doubtful as to whether he would be interested in her and yet drawn
to him because of the life he had pictured. Her thought had been that
if he could take enough interest in a girl like the one in the book to
describe her so truly he might be a little interested in her real life.
Only her thought at first had been not to entice him; she had not
believed that she could. Rather, it was more the feeling that if he
would he might be of some help to her, since he had written so
sympathetically of Lila, the heroine. She was faced by the problem of
what to do with her life, as Lila had been, but at that she hadn’t
expected him to solve it for her—merely to advise her.
But afterwards, when he had written to thank her, she feared that
she might not hear from him again and had thought of that picture of
herself, the one Dr. Realk had taken of her laughing so heartily, the
one that everybody liked so much. She had felt that that might entice
him to further correspondence with her, since his letters were so
different and interesting, and she had sent it and asked him if his
heroine looked anything like her, just as an excuse for sending it.
Then had come that kindly letter in which he had explained his point
of view and advised her, unless she were very unhappy, to do
nothing until she should be able to look after herself in the great
world. Life was an economic problem. As for himself, he was too
much the rover to be more than a passing word to any one. His work
came first. Apart from that, he said he drifted up and down the world
trying to make the best of a life that tended to bore him. However if
ever he came that way he would be glad to look her up and advise
her as best he might, but that she must not let him compromise her
in any way. It was not advisable in her very difficult position.
Even then she had not been able to give him up, so interested had
she been by all he had written. And besides, he had eventually come
to U—— only a hundred and fifty miles away, and had written from
there to know if he might come over to see her. She couldn’t do other
than invite him, although she had known at the time that it was a
dangerous thing to do. There was no solution, and it had only
caused trouble—and how much trouble! And yet in the face of her
mood then, anything had been welcome as a relief. She had been
feeling that unless something happened to break the monotony she
would do something desperate. And then something did happen. He
had come, and there was nothing but trouble, and very much trouble,
until he had gone again.
You would have thought there was some secret unseen force
attending her and Gil at that time and leading him to wherever she
was at just the time she didn’t want him to be there. Take for
example, that matter of Gil finding Mr. Barclay’s letters in the fire
after she had taken such care to throw them on the live coals behind
some burning wood. He had evidently been able to make out a part
of the address, anyhow, for he had said they were addressed to her
in care of somebody he couldn’t make out. And yet he was all wrong,
as to the writer, of course. He had the crazy notion, based on his
having found that picture of Raskoffsky inscribed to Alice, some
months before, that they must be from him, just because he thought
she had used Alice to write and ask Raskoffsky for his picture—
which she had. But that was before she had ever read any of Mr.
Barclay’s books. Yet if it hadn’t been for Gil’s crazy notion that it was
Raskoffsky she was interested in she wouldn’t have had the courage
to face it out the way she had, the danger of losing Tickles, which
had come to her the moment Gil had proved so suspicious and
watchful, frightening her so. Those three terrible days! And imagine
him finding those bits of letters in the ashes and making something
out of them! The uncanniness of it all.
And then that time he saw her speeding through the gate into
Briscoe Park. They couldn’t have been more than a second passing
there, anyhow, and yet he had been able to pick her out! Worse, Mr.
Barclay hadn’t even intended coming back that way; they had just
made the mistake of turning down Ridgely instead of Warren. Yet, of
course, Gil had to be there, of all places, when as a rule he was
never out of the office at any time. Fortunately for her she was on
her way home, so there was no chance of his getting there ahead of
her as, plainly, he planned afterwards. Still, if it hadn’t been for her
mother whom everybody believed, and who actually believed that
she and Alice had been to the concert, she would never have had
the courage to face him. She hadn’t expected him home in the first
place, but when he did come and she realized that unless she faced
him out then and there in front of her mother who believed in her,
that she as well as he would know, there was but one thing to do—
brave it. Fortunately her mother hadn’t seen her in that coat and hat
which Gil insisted that she had on. For before going she and Alice
had taken Tickles over to her mother’s and then she had returned
and changed her dress. And before Gil had arrived Alice had gone
on home and told her mother to bring over the baby, which was the
thing that had so confused Gil really. For he didn’t know about the
change and neither did her mother. And her mother did not believe
that there had been any, which made her think that Gil was a little
crazy, talking that way. And her mother didn’t know to this day—she
was so unsuspecting.
And then that terrible night on which he thought he had seen her in
Bergley Place and came in to catch her. Would she ever forget that?
Or that evening, two days before, when he had come home and said
that Naigly had seen her coming out of the Deming. She could tell by
his manner that time that he thought nothing of that then—he was so
used to her going downtown in the daytime anyhow. But that Naigly
should have seen her just then when of all times she would rather he
would not have!
To be sure it had been a risky thing—going there to meet Mr.
Barclay in that way, only from another point of view it had not
seemed so. Every one went through the Deming Arcade for one
reason or another and that made any one’s being seen there rather
meaningless. And in the great crowd that was always there it was
the commonest thing for any one to meet any one else and stop and
talk for a moment anyhow. That was all she was there for that day—
to see Mr. Barclay on his arrival and make an appointment for the
next day. She had done it because she knew she couldn’t stay long
and she knew Gil wouldn’t be out at that time and that if any one else
saw her she could say that it was almost any one they knew casually
between them. Gil was like that, rather easy at times. But to think
that Naigly should have been passing the Deming just as she was
coming out—alone, fortunately—and should have run and told Gil.
That was like him. It was pure malice. He had never liked her since
she had turned him down for Gil. And he would like to make trouble
for her if he could, that was all. That was the way people did who
were disappointed in love.
But the worst and the most curious thing of all was that last
evening in Bergley Place, the last time she ever saw Mr. Barclay
anywhere. That was odd. She had known by then, of course, that Gil
was suspicious and might be watching her and she hadn’t intended
to give him any further excuse for complaint. But that was his lodge
night and he had never missed a meeting since they had been
married—not one. Besides she had only intended to stay out about
an hour and always within range of the house so that if Gil got off the
car or any one else came she would know of it. She had not even
turned out the light in the dining-room, intending to say if Gil came
back unexpectedly or any one else called, that she had just run
around the corner in the next block to see Mrs. Stofft. And in order
that that statement might not be questioned, she had gone over
there for just a little while before Mr. Barclay was due to arrive with
his car. She had even asked Mr. Barclay to wait in the shadow of the
old Dalrymple house in Bergley Place, under the trees, in order that
the car might not be seen. So few people went up that street,
anyhow. And it was always so dark in there. Besides it was near to
raining which made it seem safer still. And yet he had seen her. And
just as she was about to leave. And when she had concluded that
everything had turned out so well.
But how could she have foreseen that a big car with such powerful
lights as that would have turned in there just then. Or that Gil would
step off the car and look up that way? Or that he would be coming
home an hour earlier when he never did—not from lodge meeting.
And besides she hadn’t intended to go out that evening at all until
Mr. Barclay called up and said he must leave the next day, for a few
days anyhow, and wanted to see her before he went. She had
thought that if they stayed somewhere in the neighborhood in a
closed car, as he suggested, it would be all right. But, no. That big
car had to turn in there just when it did, and Gil had to be getting off
the car and looking up Bergley Place just when it did, and she had to
be standing there saying good-bye, just as the lights flashed on that
spot. Some people might be lucky, but certainly she was not one of
them. The only thing that had saved her was the fact that she had
been able to get in the house ahead of Gil, hang up her cape and go
in to her room and undress and see if Tickles was still asleep. And
yet when he did burst in she had felt that she could not face him—he
was so desperate and angry. And yet, good luck, it had ended in his
doubting whether he had really seen her or not, though even to this
day he would never admit that he doubted.
But the real reason why she hadn’t seen Mr. Barclay since (and
that in the face of the fact that he had been here in the city once
since, and that, as he wrote, he had taken such a fancy to her and
wanted to see her and help her in any way she chose), was not that
she was afraid of Gil or that she liked him more than she did Mr.
Barclay (they were too different in all their thoughts and ways for
that) or that she would have to give up her life here and do
something else, if Gil really should have found out (she wouldn’t
have minded that at all)—but because only the day before Mr.
Barclay’s last letter she had found out that under the law Gil would
have the power to take Tickles away from her and not let her see him
any more if he caught her in any wrongdoing. That was the thing that
had frightened her more than anything else could have and had
decided her, then and there, that whatever it was she was thinking
she might want to do, it could never repay her for the pain and agony
that the loss of Tickles would bring her. She had not really stopped to
think of that before. Besides on the night of that quarrel with Gil, that
night he thought he saw her in Bergley Place and he had sworn that
if ever he could prove anything he would take Tickles away from her,
or, that he would kill her and Tickles and himself and Raskoffsky
(Raskoffsky!), it was then really that she had realized that she
couldn’t do without Tickles—no, not for a time even. Her dream of a
happier life would be nothing without him—she knew that. And so it
was that she had fought there as she had to make Gil believe he
was mistaken, even in the face of the fact that he actually knew he
had seen her. It was the danger of the loss of Tickles that had given
her the courage and humor and calmness, the thought of what the
loss of him would mean, the feeling that life would be colorless and
blank unless she could take him with her wherever she went,
whenever that might be, if ever it was.
And so when Gil had burst in as he did she had taken up Tickles
and faced him, after Gil’s loud talk had waked him. And Tickles had
put his arms about her neck and called “Mama! Mama!” even while
she was wondering how she was ever to get out of that scrape. And
then because he had fallen asleep again, lying close to her neck,
even while Gil was quarreling, she had told herself then that if she
came through that quarrel safely she would never do anything more
to jeopardize her claim to Tickles, come what might. And with that
resolution she had been able to talk to Gil so convincingly and
defiantly that he had finally begun to doubt his own senses, as she
could see. And so it was that she had managed to face him out and
to win completely.
And then the very next day she had called up Mr. Barclay and told
him that she couldn’t go on with that affair, and why—that Tickles
meant too much to her, that she would have to wait and see how her
life would work out. And he had been so nice about it then and had
sympathized with her and had told her that, all things considered, he
believed she was acting wisely and for her own happiness. And so
she had been. Only since he had written her and she had had to say
no to him again. And now he had gone for good. And she admired
him so much. And she had never heard from him since, for she had
asked him not to write to her unless she first wrote to him.
But with how much regret she had done that! And how
commonplace and humdrum this world looked at times now, even
with the possession of Tickles. Those few wonderful days.... And that
dream that had mounted so high. Yet she had Tickles. And in the
novel the husband had gone away and the architect had appeared.
XIV
THE “MERCY” OF GOD
“Once, one of his disciples, walking with him in the garden, said:
‘Master, how may I know the Infinite, the Good, and attain to union
with it, as thou hast?’ And he replied: ‘By desiring it utterly, with all thy
heart and with all thy mind.’ And the disciple replied: ‘But that I do.’
‘Nay, not utterly,’ replied the Master, ‘or thou wouldst not now ask how
thou mayst attain to union with it. But come with me,’ he added, ‘and I
will show thee.’ And he led the way to a stream, and into the water,
and there, by reason of his greater strength, he seized upon his
disciple and immersed him completely, so that presently he could not
breathe but must have suffocated and drowned had it not been his
plan to bring him forth whole. Only when, by reason of this, the
strength of the disciple began to wane and he would have drowned,
the Master drew him forth and stretched him upon the bank and
restored him. And when he was sufficiently restored and seeing that
he was not dead but whole, he exclaimed: ‘But, Master, why didst thou
submerge me in the stream and hold me there until I was like to die?’
And the Master replied: ‘Didst thou not say that above all things thou
desirest union with the Infinite?’ ‘Yea, true; but in life, not death.’ ‘That
I know,’ answered the Master. ‘But now tell me: When thou wast thus
held in the water what was it that thou didst most desire?’ ‘To be
restored to breath, to life.’ ‘And how much didst thou desire it?’ ‘As
thou sawest—with all my strength and with all my mind.’ ‘Verily. Then
when in life thou desirest union with the All-Good, the Infinite, as
passionately as thou didst life in the water, it will come. Thou wilt know
it then, and not before.’”
Keshub Chunder Sen.
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