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 Computational Methods for Process
Engineers
Second Edition
J.P. Mmbaga
Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering
University of Alberta

K. Nandakumar
Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
Louisiana State University

R.E. Hayes
Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering
University of Alberta

August, 2020

© All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any means without permission in writing from the the publisher.

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded
sources. Reasonable effort has been made to publish reliable data and
information, but the authors and publisher do not assume responsibility for the
validity of all materials and their consequences for use. The authors and
publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material
reproduced in this publication and apologise to copyright owners if permission to
publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been
acknowledged, please write and let us know so we may rectify in future prints.
Trademark notice: Product of corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.

MATLAB ® is a registered product of The MathWorks, Inc. 3 Apple Hill Drive

Natick, Massachusetts 01760 USA.

Published by:
ALPHA Education Press
104-2607 Ellwood Drive SW
Edmonton, AB T6X 0P7 Edmonton, AB

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Computational methods for process engineers / J.P. Mmbaga (Department of

Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Alberta), K. Nandakumar (Cain
Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University), R.E. Hayes
(Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Alberta).
Names: Mmbaga, J. P., author. — Hayes, R. E. (Robert E.), author. — Nandakumar,
K. (Krishnaswamy), 1951- author.
Description: Second edition. — Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200323849 — Canadiana (ebook) 20200323881 —
ISBN 9781989024065 (softcover) — ISBN 9781989024072 (Kindle) — ISBN
9781989024089 (EPUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Chemical engineering – Mathematics.
Classification: LCC TP149 .M63 2020 — DDC 660.01/51dc23
Contents
List of Tables

List of Figures
Preface - 1st Edition

Preface - 2nd Edition

Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Classification of chemical process models
1.3 Lumped parameter, steady state models
1.3.1 Example of a stagewise separation process
1.3.2 Process flow sheet simulation
1.3.3 Example of a multicomponent flash
1.3.4 Example of a phenomenalogical model
1.3.5 Example of reactors in series
1.4 Lumped parameter, dynamic models
1.4.1 Example of cooling a molten metal
1.4.2 Ozone decomposition
1.5 Distributed parameter, steady state models
1.5.1 Heat transfer through a tappered fin
1.5.2 Axial dispersion model
1.6 Distributed parameter, dynamic models
1.6.1 Heat transfer through a tappered
1.7 Putting it all together - Overview
1.7.1 Mathematical models and Physical laws
1.7.2 Mathematical models, numerical approximations and
errors.
1.7.3 Algorithms
1.7.4 Errors in numerical computation
 1.8 Summary
2 Single nonlinear algebraic equation
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Bisection method
2.3 Regula-falsi method
2.4 Newton’s method
2.5 Secant method
2.6 Müller’s method
2.7 Fixed point iteration
2.8 Error analysis and convergence acceleration
2.8.1 Convergence of the bisection method
2.8.2 Convergence of fixed point iteration method
2.8.3 Aetkins method for convergence acceleration
2.8.4 Convergence of the Newton’s scheme
2.9 Deflation technique
2.10 Software tools
2.10.1 MATLAB
2.11 Summary
2.12 Exercise problems
3 Review of Linear Algebra
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Matrix notation
3.2.1 Review of basic operations
3.3 Matrices with special structure
3.4 Determinant
3.4.1 Laplace expansion of the determinant
3.5 Vector and matrix norms
3.6 Condition of a Matrix
3.7 Direct methods
3.7.1 Cramers rule
3.7.2 Matrix inverse
3.7.3 Gaussian elimination
3.7.4 Thomas algorithm
3.7.5 Gauss-Jordan elimination
 3.7.6 Gaussian elimination - Symbolic representaion
3.7.7 LU decomposition
3.8 Iterative methods
3.8.1 Jacobi iteration
3.8.2 Gauss-Seidel iteration
3.8.3 Successive over-relaxation (SOR) scheme
3.9 Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization procedure
3.10 The eigenvalue problem
3.10.1 Left and right eigenvectors
3.10.2 Bi-orthogonality
3.10.3 Power iteration
3.10.4 Inverse iteration
3.10.5 Shift-Inverse iteration
3.11 Summary
3.12 Exercise Problems
4 Systems of nonlinear algebraic equations
4.1 Newton’s method
4.1.1 Convergence test
4.2 Summary
4.3 Exercise Problems
5 Functional approximations
5.1 Approximate representation of functions
5.1.1 Series expansion
5.1.2 Polynomial collocation
5.2 Approximate representation of data
5.2.1 Approximation accuracy
5.3 Curve fitting
5.3.1 Least-squares approximation
5.4 General non-linear regression and linearization
5.4.1 Linearization
5.5 Difference operators
5.5.1 Operator algebra
5.5.2 Newton forward difference approximation
5.5.3 Newton backward difference approximation
 5.6 Inverse interpolation
5.7 Lagrange polynomials
5.8 Newton’s divided difference polynomials
5.9 Piecewise continuous functions - splines
5.10 Exercise problems I
5.11 Numerical differentiation
5.11.1 Approximations for first order derivatives
5.11.2 Approximations for second order derivatives
5.11.3 Taylor series approach
5.12 Numerical integration
5.12.1 Romberg integration
5.12.2 Gaussian quadratures
5.13 Summary
5.14 Exercise Problems II
6 ODEs - IVP
6.1 Model equations and initial conditions
6.1.1 Higher order differential equations
6.2 Taylor Series Methods
6.2.1 Explicit Euler scheme
6.2.2 Midpoint method - A modification of Eulers method
6.2.3 Implicit Euler scheme - Backward Euler
6.2.4 Modified Euler - Heun’s Method
6.2.5 Stability limits
6.2.6 Stiff differential equations
6.3 Runge-Kutta Methods
6.3.1 Explicit schemes
6.3.2 Euler formula revisited
6.3.3 A two-stage (v = 2) Runge-Kutta scheme
6.3.4 A fourth order Runge-Kutta scheme
6.3.5 Semi-implicit & implicit schemes
6.3.6 Semi-Implicit forms of Rosenbrock
6.4 Multistep methods
6.4.1 Explicit schemes
6.4.2 Implicit schemes
6.4.3 Automatic stepsize control
 6.5 Summary
6.6 Exercise Problems
7 Boundary value problems
7.1 Finite difference method
7.1.1 Linear boundary value problem with constant
coefficients
7.1.2 Linear boundary value problem with variable
coefficients
7.1.3 Nonlinear boundary value problems
7.1.4 Parallel shear flow with constant dynamic viscosity
(Newtonian fluid)
7.1.5 Parallel shear flow with velocity-dependent dynamic
viscosity (non-Newtonian fluid)
7.2 Shooting method fundamentals
7.3 Shooting method – linear and nonlinear problems
7.3.1 Linear problems
7.3.2 Nonlinear problems
7.4 Summary
7.5 Exercise Problems
8 Partial differential equations
8.1 Definitions
8.2 Elliptic Equations
8.2.1 Backward differentiation
8.2.2 Central derivatives and fictitious points
8.3 Parabolic equations
8.3.1 Fully-discrete methods
8.3.2 Semi-discrete methods
8.4 Hyperbolic equations
8.5 Summary
8.6 Exercise Problems
A MATLAB
A.1 Introduction
A.1.1 Introduction
A.2 Starting a MATLAB session
 A.3 MATLAB basics
A.3.1 Using built in HELP, DEMO features
A.3.2 Data entry, line editing features of MATLAB
A.3.3 Linear algebra related functions in MATLAB
A.3.4 Root finding
A.3.5 Curve fitting
A.3.6 Numerical integration, ordinary differential equations
A.3.7 Basic graphics capabilities
A.3.8 Producing printed output of a MATLAB session
A.3.9 What are m-files?
A.3.10 Programming features
B Number representation, significant figures and errors
B.1 Number Representation
B.1.1 Fixed point system
B.1.2 Floating point system
B.2 Significant figures
B.3 Mathematical operations
B.3.1 Multiplication and Division
B.3.2 Addition and Subtraction
B.3.3 Multistep calculations
B.3.4 Multiplication / Division combined with Addition /
Subtraction
B.4 Rounding and chopping
B.5 Taylor series expansion
B.6 Truncation errors
B.6.1 Big Oh notation
B.7 Error propagation
B.8 Exercise problems
Bibliography
List of Tables
2.1 Example of fixed point iteration
2.2 Feed composition & equilibrium ratio of a natural gas mixture
2.3 Gas mixture for problem P2.2 ,C3: Propane, C4: n-Butane, C5:
n-Pentane
3.1 Loss of precision and need for pivoting
5.1 Convergence of P 2 n +1 (x ), defined in (5.3), to erf(x ) at
selected values of x .
5.2 Steam saturation temperature vs. pressure.
5.3 Some non-linear relations and their transformed linear forms
5.4 Example of a inverse interpolation (tabular form).
5.5 Natural gas composition (mol basis).
5.6 Data for ρC P vs. T
5.7 Temperature ranges
5.8 Vapour pressure for CO 2 .
5.9 Finite difference approximations for the first derivative at x i , f ′
(x i ).
5.10 Finite difference approximations for the second derivative at x i
, f ′′ (x i ).
A.1 List of MATLAB help topics
A.2 General purpose MATLAB commands
A.3 Linear algebra related functions in MATLAB
A.4 Graphics related function in MATLAB
A.5 Program control related help topics
List of Figures
1.1 Scheme of things - a personal perspective
1.2 A typical chemical process
1.3 Three stage separation process
1.4 Linear and nonlinear equilibrium model stages.
1.5 Process flow sheet simulation.
1.6 Multicomponent, isothermal flash process.
1.7 Reactors in series
1.8 Heat transfer from a molten metal.
1.9 Heat transfer through a fin. (a) planar, (b) cylindrical
1.10 Tubular reactor with axial dispersion
1.11 A sphere suspended in an environment at T ∞
1.12 Force balance on a suspended object
1.13 Approximation of the first derivative
1.14 MATLAB script for analytical solution
1.15 Comparison of numerical and analytical solutions
1.16 Pseudo code for numerical computation of velocity
1.17 MATLAB script for numerical solution
1.18 Solution of the falling object with different step sizes
2.1 Graph of f (x ) = sin (x )
2.2 Graphs of some simple functions
2.3 Graphical representation of some simple root finding algorithms
2.4 MATLAB implementation of the bisection algorithm
2.5 The cubic polynomial function f (x ) = x 3 − x 2 + x − 1, defined
as a MATLAB function
2.6 Regula-Falsi iterative steps
2.7 MATLAB implementation of the Regula-Falsi method.
2.8 The derivative of polynomial function f (x ) = x 3 − x 2 +x − 1,
defined as a MATLAB function
2.9 MATLAB implementation of Newton’s method.
2.10 An example where Newton’s method fails to converge.
2.11 Newton’s iterative steps
 2.12 MATLAB implementation of the secant method
2.13 Secant iterative steps
2.14 Graphical representation of Müller’s scheme
2.15 MATLAB implementation of Müller’s method.
2.16 Graphical representation of fixed point scheme: a)
convergence, b) divergence, c) divergence.
2.17 MATLAB implementation of the fixed point iteration method.
2.18 Graphical illustration of mean value theorem
2.19 Graphical illustration deflation technique
2.20 MATLAB implementation of the deflation technique as to find
all the roots of y 1 (x ) = x 3 + 4x 2 +x − 6.
2.21 Plot of f (V ) vs. V for Chlorine gas at T = 313K , 2atm
2.22 Stage separation process
2.23 Turbulent flow in a parallel pipe
2.24 Flow through an orifice meter
3.1 MATLAB implementation of the matrix determinant algorithm.
3.2 MATLAB implementation of Cramer’s rule.
3.3 MATLAB implementation of the matrix adjoint.
3.4 MATLAB implementation of the matrix inverse.
3.5 MATLAB implementation of inverse of an upper triangular matrix
3.6 Naive Gaussian elimination scheme
3.7 MATLAB implementation of Gaussian elimination without
pivoting
3.8 Thomas algorithm
3.9 MATLAB implementation of Thomas algorithm
3.10 MATLAB implementation of LU decomposition algorithm
3.11 MATLAB implementation of Gauss-Seidel algorithm
3.12 Illustration of Gram-Schmidt algorithm
3.13 MATLAB implementation of power iteration
3.14 Laminar flow in a pipe network
3.15 Distillation column for problem P3 . 17.
3.16 Two column distillation train for problem P3 . 18.
4.1 MATLAB implementation of Newton’s method in higher
dimensions.
4.2 The MATLAB function cstrF .
 4.3 The MATLAB function cstrJ .
4.4 Turbulent flow in a pipe network.
5.1 The error distribution, e (x,n ) = | erf(x ) − P 2 n +1 (x )| , for
different levels of truncation.
5.2 MATLAB implementation illustrating the steps associated with
approximating erf(x ) using a polynomial function.
5.3 Plot of data from Table 5.2.
5.4 Interpolation and curve fitting.
5.5 Structure of a Newton forward difference table for m equally
spaced data points.
5.6 Example of a Newton forward difference table.
5.7 Structure of Newton backward difference table for five equally-
spaced data points.
5.8 Example of a Newton backward difference table
5.9 Example of a inverse interpolation (graphical form).
5.10 MATLAB implementation of the Lagrange interpolation formula
given by equation (5.18).
5.11 Divided difference table for four unequally-spaced data points.
5.12 Fitting data using a single polynomial vs. using (cubic) splines.
5.13 Different forms of spline interpolation.
5.14 MATLAB function that applies different interpolation schemes
to 2010 Canada-US exchange rate information (source: Bank of
Canada).
5.15 Output from exchange _rate.m .
5.16 Discretizing the interval between x = a and x = b for purposes
of estimating ∫ a b f (x )dx .
5.17 MATLAB function that uses trapz to estimate ∫ 0 10 cos(x )dx .
5.18 Output from trapz _example.m .
5.19 MATLAB function that contrasts trapezoidal and Simpson’s rule
integration.
5.20 Illustration of Romberg integration.
6.1 Solution of y’ = y using Explicit Euler with different step sizes
6.2 The midpoint method - slope manipulation
6.3 MATLAB implementation of the Modified Euler scheme using a
fixed point iteration method for the iterative solve with the initial
guess provided by Explicit Euler.
6.4 Heun’s method
6.5 Spring and dash pot model
6.6 The comparison of explicit and implicit Euler method using
different step sizes
6.7 MATLAB code (script) for solving ODE using explicit and implicit
Euler method
6.8 Backward Euler (implicit) MATLAB code
6.9 Graphical depiction of RK4 slopes
6.10 MATLAB function that contrasts a fourth order Runge-Kutta
(RK4) scheme with explicit Euler.
6.11 Output from rk4 _euler.m for two different choices of the
time step, h .
6.12 MATLAB function that solves the lumped parameter, dynamic
model from Chapter 1. Parameter values are chosen arbitrarily
(provided, of course, that A _2 > A _1 , T1 _init > T2 _init ,
etc.)
6.13 Output from crucible.m
6.14 MATLAB implementation of the three-term Adams-Bashforth
scheme (as applied in solving dy∕ dt = 2y 2 , y (0) = − 1).
6.15 Output from ab3example.m
6.16 Stepsize control strategies for multistep methods
6.17 MATLAB implementation of ozone decomposition model
6.18 Results of ozone decomposition model shows a stiff system
behavior
6.19 Functions for solving the Van der Pol equation for various μ
using ode45 .
6.20 Graphical output from vdp1.m .
6.21 Heat exchange tank cascade
7.1 One dimensional finite difference grid consisting of equally-
spaced data points.
7.2 MATLAB function that solves for the temperature distribution in
a fin of constant cross-sectional area, A , and having a constant
thermal conductivity, k .
7.3 Output from fin1.m for the following values of Bi: 0.1, 1, 10,
100 and 1000.
7.4 MATLAB function that solves (7.14) using finite differences and a
(homogeneous) Neumann right-hand side boundary condition.
7.5 MATLAB function that solves (7.14) using finite differences and a
(homogeneous) Dirichlet right-hand side boundary condition.
7.6 Output from fin2 and fin3 for the following values of Bi: 0.1
(upper pair of curves) and 10 (lower pair of curves).
7.7 Parallel shear flow driven by a combination of a pressure
gradient and a translating upper boundary.
7.8 MATLAB function that solves the parallel shear flow problem
specified by equation (7.19).
7.9 Output from channel1 .
7.10 MATLAB function that solves the parallel shear flow problem
specified by equation (7.25).
7.11 Output from channel2 .
7.12 MATLAB function that solves the Blasius boundary layer
equations (7.28).
7.13 Output from blasius selecting as input beta0=0.332 .
7.14 MATLAB script that solves equations (7.29) and (7.30) and
computes the launch speed associated with a peak softball elevation
of 5.2 m.
7.15 MATLAB functions associated with the script softball .
7.16 The trajectories associated with softballs launched from angles
of 24. 7 ∘ and 45 ∘ .
7.17 Solution by shooting method
7.18 MATLAB code which produced the shooting solution in Figure
7.17
7.19 Parallel flow in a channel with a y -dependent temperature
variation.
8.1 A rectangular domain with prescribed boundary conditions.
8.2 The discretized domain pertinent to Figure 8.1.
8.3 The discretized domain for Example 8.1.
8.4 The discretized domain for Example 8.2.
8.5 MATLAB code for MOL solution
8.6 Output of MOL example
8.7 Slab with 10 sections
x
B.1 Taylor function approximations to e
Preface - 1st Edition
Revolutionary advances in hardware and software technology have
made computer aided design and analysis a standard tool in
engineering practice. While this puts a lot of power at the hands of
the end user, in order to use them wisely and interpret the results
correctly, the users are expected to have a sound knowledge of the
relationship between the physical world and the mathematical model
and that between the mathematical model and the numerical
approximation.

The text is intended for both senior level undergraduate and first
year graduate students without comprehensive numerical
background. Motivation for the text has grown from the authors
need to provide a text which covers both advanced features of
numerical methods and specific applications in the process
engineering field.
Preface - 2nd Edition
The second edition of this text continues with the emphasis given in
the first edition and is targeted to both senior level undergraduate
and first year graduate students without comprehensive numerical
background. Motivation for the text has grown from the authors
need to provide a text which covers both advanced features of
numerical methods and specific applications in the process
engineering field.

The computational tools available for numerical computation range

from paper and pencil, to desktop computers up to super-
computers. In this text, MATLAB is used as the computing
environment due to its widespread availability to students and
engineers. Computational methods presented in MATLAB are easy to
read and understand and its graphical capabilities provide
convenient method to present engineering results.

In writing the second edition, the authors have had the opportunity
to improve both content and presentation of material, covering
additional examples and end-of-chapter problems as well as
additional coded examples. The text takes a broader view of
presentation under the following chapters:

Chapter 1 sets the groundwork for the rest of the book with
introductory examples and model development steps.
Introduction to computation and programming with MATLAB is
achieved, coupled with appendix A and B. Taylor series
approximation as well as fundamental theorems for number
representation and basic definitions are presented.
Chapter 2 deals with finding the roots of non-linear equations
for functions of single variables as well as numerical
acceleration. Both bracketing and open methods are explored.
Chapter 3 deals extensively with topics from linear algebra.
Direct elimination methods, including LU factorization of
matrices are explored. Numerical methods for finding
eigenvalues and eigen vectors, as well as iterative methods of
Jacobi, Gauss Seidel as well as succesive relaxation techniques
are extensively explored.
Chapter 4 deals with nonlinear functions of several variables.
The multi-dimensional Newton method is emphasized.
Chapter 5 covers numerical methods for functional
approximations. Part I of the chapter covers polynomial as well
as piecewise interpolation. Least-squares approximation of data
is investigated and the development of difference equations
using difference operators is presented. Part II of the chapter
deals with methods for numerical differentiation and integration.
Several Newton-Cotes integration formula (based on evenly
spaced nodes) and the Gaussian quadrature rules (based on
optimally selected points) are explored.
Chapter 6 treats the numerical methods for solving ordinary
differential equations, beginning with basic techniques such as
Euler, Runge Kutta and multistep methods. The methods are
then extended to cover the solution of system of first order
ODE’s and the concepts of stiffness and stability are introduced.
Chapter 7 presents finite difference methods and shooting
methods for the solution of linear and nonlinear boundary value
problems. A number of practical examples from fluid mechanics
and heat transfer are solved.
Chapter 8 introduces finite-difference methods for solving
elliptic, parabilic and hyperbolic equations. The method of lines
is also introduced with examples.
Acknowledgements
No major work can be developed in vacuum. It is neccesary to
acknowledge previous published works which have influenced the
development of this text. A number of authors have influenced our
learning in this field, including Amundson (1966), Finlayson (1980),
Hoffmann (1992), Rao (2002) and Chapra (2005).

Previous course instructors who have taught the subject in the

department, specifically Dr. Carolina Diaz-Goano and Dr. Jos Derksen
are acknowledged. Special thanks to Dr. Petr Nikrityuk for giving
useful and insightful comments on the manuscript. We would also
like to thank Dr. Rajab Litto for re-doing some of the graphs and all
assistants and TA’s who have worked on various numerical problems
during KN’s tenure at the department of chemical and materials
engineering, University of Alberta.

The original manuscript for this book was developed from lecture
notes by KN over the last 25 years, with the aim of introducing the
computing facilities at the department of chemical and materials
engineering. The notes were later expanded and elaborated by JPM
and REH.

Notwithstanding any efforts made by others, all errors and omissions

in this text remain the sole responsibility of the authors.

JPM KN REH
Chapter 1
The physical, mathematical and computational models
To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a
Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in
the palm of your hand, And Eternity in
an hour

— WILLIAM BLAKE

1.1 Introduction
In the Trekkie language, the prime directive of a process engineer should be to explore and understand
physical and chemical processes involved in converting raw materials into useful products. The
engineer uses this knowledge in designing, constructing and operating chemical process plants. This
definition is as arbitrary as anything else that one might propose. In fact, if one substitutes the word
process in the above definition with any other (such a mechanical or electrical) it would remain equally
valid. This is because the basic principles and the scientific methodology we use to uncover such
principles remain the same in any field of engineering or science. A broader, although highly personal,
view of the our attempt to understand the physical world, describe it in the language of mathematics,
and finally investigate its consequence by means of analytical, graphical or numerical methods is shown
in Figure 1.1 .

Figure 1.1: Scheme of things - a personal perspective

A mathematical model is at best an approximation to the physical world. Such models are constructed
based on certain conservation principles and/or empirical observations. Those curious about the nature
of the physical laws should read a delightful little book by Feynman (1967) on the character of physical
laws. As a matter of convenience mathematical models can be classified as linear or non-linear, steady-
state or dynamic, lumped or distributed . Examples to illustrate each type of model are provided later
in this chapter. In general, non-linearity is found to occur quite naturally and frequently in nature; it is
also very dificult to analyse non-linear models without the aid of a computer.

A numerical model is an approximation to the mathematical model. Although the importance of

mathematical modelling in chemical engineering was recognized since the early 1920s, it was the text
by Bird et al. (1960) on Transport Phenomena that has proved to be the major inspiration in exploring
the link between the physical world and the mathematical one for transport processes involving
momentum, heat and mass transfer. Since then, a number of outstanding texts have appeared that
explore this relationship for reaction and equilibrium processes as well. While such studies form the
core of chemical engineering curriculum, the importance of sharpening our mathematical abilities, and
the need to incorporate these as part of the curriculum was recognized and aided by the appearance of
early text books by Amundson (1966) and Jenson & Jeffreys (1963). These dealt specifically with
mathematical applications of chemical engineering. The texts by Lapidus (1962) and Rosenbrock
(1966) served a similar purpose in introducing digital computational methods in the analysis of
chemical processes.

We are now at a new threshold; computers have become quite pervasive. Significant advances have
been made in our ability to analyse non-linear systems. The advances in both the hardware and
software technology have been revolutionary. As a result of these advances, computer aided design
and analysis has become a standard tool as evidenced by the success of several commercial packages
such as ASPEN PLUS, PROCESS, HYSIM, VMGSim (steady state process simulators), FLOW3D, ANSYS
FLOW DYNAMICS, STAR CCM+, COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS (fluid dynamics simulators), HCOMP,
IMPULSE, OLGA, STONER SPS (multiphase and transient pipeline flow simulators) etc. In addition to
such simulators that are specific for certain classes of problems, general purpose mathematical tools
such as MATLAB (for matrix linear algebra functions), Mathematika and MAPLE (for symbolic
computation) provide easy access to a vast array of mathematical functions and the ability to process
them both symbolically and numerically. Such packaged tools tend to accomplish the following:

(i) codify the most advanced algorithms,

(ii) assemble a vast database (in the case of physical properties) and knowledge base in the case of
mathematical functions (in MAPLE and Mathematika) and
(iii) make these accessible to the end user through an intuitive interface.

While this puts a lot of power at the hands of the end user, in order to use them wisely and interpret
the results correctly, the users are expected to have a sound knowledge of the relationship between
the physical world and the mathematical model and that between the mathematical model and the
numerical approximation. One is well served to remember the cliche garbage in, garbage out!

In this text we examine the link between the mathematical and the numerical model. There are a lot of
computational tools available to engineers. A basic introduction to MATLAB can be found in Appendix A.
MATLAB is used throughout in illustrating various algorithms.

1.2 Classification of chemical process models

In modelling chemical processes, one is interested in tracking material and energy of process streams
from the raw material stage to the finished product state. The state of a stream is characterized by the
concentration of the various species that it carries and its temperature, pressure and flow rates.
Applying the laws of conservation of mass, energy and momentum allows us to track changes in the
state of the system. Typically, we subject the raw material streams to either physical treatment to add
or remove chemical species exploiting such property differences as density, solubility, volatility,
diffusivity etc. (transport and equilibrium processes ) or, chemical treatment to alter the chemical
structure (reaction processes ). Figure 1.2 shows a typical sequence for processing raw material from
feed to product.

Figure 1.2: A typical chemical process

If the state variables are assumed to be independent of time and spatial position, then we often have a
lumped parameter, steady state model resulting in a set of coupled algebraic equations. If they are
assumed to have no spatial variation, but are time dependent, then we have lumped parameter,
dynamic models which result in ordinary differential equations of the initial value type. If there is no
time dependence, but there is a spatial variation and that too restricted to one dimension (for reasons
of symmetry or scale), then we have ordinary differential equations of the boundary value type. If both
spatial and time dependence are important, then we end up with partial differential equations, which
are further classified into parabolic, elliptic and hyperbolic equations. The classification outlined in this
paragraph are illustrated with specific examples in the next sections. The examples are drawn from
transport, equilibrium and reaction processes . The objective is to sensitize you to the model building
process in the hope that you would begin to appreciate the relationship between the physical world
and the mathematical model that represents it.

1.3 Lumped parameter, steady state models

1.3.1 Example of a stagewise separation process

Consider a stagewise separation process shown in Figure 1.3 . Suppose we wish to process a gas
stream at a rate of V kmole/s containing a pollutant at a mole fraction of y 4 . We wish to remove the
pollutant by scrubbing it with a solvent in a counter-current 3-stage separation device. The liquid rate
is, say, L kmole/s and it contains a pollutant concentration of x 0 (which may be zero for a pure solvent
stream). Only the pollutant transfers from the gas phase to the liquid phase and we make use of the
solubility differences between the inert carrier gas and the pollutant. So far we have made an attempt
to describe a physical world. Is the description adequate to formulate a mathematical model? How do
we know that such a model should result in a steady state, lumped parameter model? The answer is
no, we dont! We need to further define and refine the problem statement. For a process engineer this
is the most important step viz. understand the objective of the task and the nature of the process (the
physical world) to formulate a mathematical model. Let us continue with the description of the
problem.
 Figure 1.3: Three stage separation process

The state variables in this problem are (L,V, x 0 ,x 1 ,x 2 ,x 3 ,y 1 , y 2 ,y 3 ,y 4 ). By focusing only the
steady state operation, we remove the dependence of state variables on time. Such a model cannot
clearly answer any questions concerning start up or shutdown of this process. Next, we assume that in
each stage the gas and liquid are mixed thoroughly so that there is no spatial variation of concentration
within the equipment. This is the so-called lumped parameter approximation.

We further assume that the streams leaving a stage are in thermodynamic equilibrium. This implies
that for a given inlet streams, no matter what we do inside the process equipment, the exit
concentrations cannot be changed as they have reached an invariant state. To state it another way,
there is a unique relationship, y = f (x ), between the exit concentrations of each stage and this
relationship could be determined in a laboratory and entered into a database. Often this relation is
expressed as, y = Kx where K is called the equilibrium ratio; at extremely low concentration range K
may be assumed to be a constant (results in a linear model), while at higher concentrations the
equilibrium ratio may itself be a function of concentration, K (x ) (results in a non-linear model). While
experience and experimentation suggest that such relationships do exist, study of equilibrium
thermodynamics takes this one step further in attempting to construct predictive models for the
function, y = f (x ) by examining the equilibrium process at a molecular level. Let us continue with the
assumption that the equilibrium model is given by
(1.1)
where we have introduced the subscript i to indicate the equilibrium relationship is valid for each stage
of the separation process. This yields us three equations, but recall that the state of this 3-stage
separation train is described by 10 variables: (L,V,x 0 ,x 1 ,x 2 , x 3 ,y 1 ,y 2 ,y 3 ,y 4 ). At this stage we ask
ourselves if there are other laws or principles that this system should obey. Conservation laws such as
mass, momentum and energy conservation should come to mind. In the present case our objective has
been narrowly focused on tracking the concentration of the pollutant in each of the three stages. In
particular we have not concerned ourselves with flow and heat effects. Let us speculate briefy what
these effects might be! Heat transfer effects might include heat of absorption, while flow effects will
include imperfect mixing in a stage. The later in fact has serious consequence in negating two of our
earlier assumptions: viz. lumped parameter system implying concentration is spatially uniform in each
stage and the exit streams are in thermodynamic equilibrium. Nevertheless, we still proceed with the
assumption of perfect mixing; a model description that takes into accounts such realities often
becomes intractable. Neglecting heat and flow effects, we have only mass conservation principle.
Applying this for the pollutant species around each of the three stages, we obtain,

Stage 1: V (y 2 − y 1 ) = L (x 1 − x 0 )
Stage 2: V (y 3 − y 2 ) = L (x 2 − x 1 ) (1.2)
Stage 3: V ( y 4 − y 3 ) = L ( x 3 − x 2 )
Note that in each of these equations, the left hand side represents the amount of pollutant that has
been removed from the gas phase and the right hand side represents the same amount of material
absorbed into the liquid phase. Now we have a total of six equations, but still ten variables. Hence we
conclude that we have four degrees of freedom. This implies that we can choose four of the variables
and the remaining six variables must be determined by satisfying the six equations.

One can also write an overall balance, taking all three stages as one group:
 (1.3)

This, however, is not an independent equation since summing equations (1.2) produces equation (1.3).
This will be used later in introducing concepts of linear independence and rank of matrices in Chapter 3
.

Specifications: a 3-stage linear system

Let us assume that we pick the four variables associated with the inlet streams to be specified, viz.
(L,V,x 0 ,y 4 ). Defining S = L∕KV (a known value) and eliminating variables (y 1 ,y 2 ,y 3 ) from equations
(1.2) we get the following system of three equations

(1.4)

in the unknowns (x 1 ,x 2 ,x 3 ). This can be represented in compact matrix form as:

(1.5)
where T represents the tridiagonal matrix

and

First variation: n-stage separation sequence

Once we have expressed the mathematical model in a symbolic, matrix form as in equation (1.5), we
can generalize the model to any number of stages. Suppose there are n stages, then we merely have,

Figure 1.4: Linear and nonlinear equilibrium model stages.

where a i = − S,d i = (1 + S ),c i = − 1. Efficient algorithms for solving such system will be developed
in Chapter 3 .

Second variation: nonlinear equilibrium model

Instead of assuming the equilibrium ratios, K in equation (1.1 ) to be constant as in Figure 1.4 a, if
they are found to be dependent on concentrations x , then we have a nonlinear system of equations.
One can then interpret the K (x ) values to be the slopes of the chord as shown in Figure 1.4 b, which
is no longer a constant, but depends on x . This implies that, S (x ) = L∕K (x )V and hence T becomes a
function of x . Thus the elements in T cannot be determined without knowing the solution x . An
intutive approach to resolving this dilemma in solving such systems, T (x )x = b might be to make an
initial guess for x old and use this guess to evaluate, K (x old ), S (x old ) and hence T (x old ) and obtain a
new solution for x new by solving the linearized system, T (x old )x new = b . One can repeat this
procedure until the difference between the new and the old values of x becomes vanishingly small.
Although there are numerous variations on this scheme, a large class of non-linear problems are solved
within the conceptual frame work (i) estimating an initial guess (ii) devising an algorithm to improve
the estimate and (iii) checking for convergence of the result.

Third variation: alternate specification

In all of the previous cases we considered the inlet streams to be specified viz. (L,V,x 0 ,y 4 ). This
would be typical for performance analysis problems where the output of an existing process is desired,
given its inlet conditions. A design engineer, who gets into this game at an earlier stage, might face an
alternate problem. For example, environmental regulations might dictate that the exit concentration of
the pollutant y 1 be below a certain acceptable level. Thus the four degrees of freedom might be used
up in specifying (V,x 0 ,y 4 ,y 1 ). Assuming once again a linear equilibrium model (K constant), the
system of equations (1.2) in the unknown set (L,x 2 ,x 3 ) can be written as:

f 1 (L,x 2 ;V,y 1 ,x 0 ) := V (Kx 2 − y 1 ) − L (y 1 ∕K − x 0 ) =0

f 2 (L,x 2 ,x 3 ;V,y 1 ,x 0 ) := KV (x 3 − x 2 ) − L (x 2 − y 1 ∕K ) =0 (1.6)
f 3 (L,x 2 ,x 3 ;V,y 4 ) := V (y 4 − Kx 3 ) − L (x 3 − x 2 ) =0
In spite of assuming a linear equilibrium model, the above set of equations are non-linear! Why?
Although the mathematical model has remained the same for various specifications, we have a nice
tridiagonal matrix structure for some specifications while no such structure exists for others.

1.3.2 Process flow sheet simulation

Consider the flow sheet shown in Figure 1.5 . It is an extremely simple unit consisting of a reactor and
a separator. We are given the mole fractions of components in the recycle stream and the exit stream
from the reactor. We are asked to determine the molar rates of CO and H 2 in the inlet stream, the
recyle rate R and the product rate, P . In analysing this problem we setup a series of material balance
equations. Focusing on the reactor loop (loop 1) shown in dashed line in Figure 1.5 , we can write the
following three component material balance equations:
 Figure 1.5: Process flow sheet simulation.

or

or

or

Note that the O balance equation is redundant and in the language of linear algebra, these three
equations do not form a linearly independent set of equations. So we proceed to construct additional
equations by examining material balance around the full flow sheet (loop 2). These give rise to:

These five equations can be arranged in a matrix form as,

(1.7)

Recognizing the redundancy between the first and third equations and also combining equations four
and five to eliminate P , we can write the above set in an alternate form as

(1.8)

1.3.3 Example of a multicomponent flash

Next, we examine a model for a multicomponent, isothermal flash process. This also results in a
lumped, steady state model description. It is also an example of how a potentially large system system
of algebraic equations can be reduced to a single equation in one unknown through clever
manipulations. Thus root finding algorithms could be used efficiently to solve this system. A sketch of
the process is shown in Figure 1.6 . A feed stream of known flow rate, F , composition (mole fractions),
{ z i | i = 1⋯ N } , temperature, T F and pressure, P F is flashed into a drum maintained at a
temperature and pressure of (T,P ), respectively. Under right conditions, the feed will split into a vapor
phase and a liquid phase. The objective is to predict the flow rate and compositions of the vapor, (V,y i
) and the liquid (L,x i ) phases. Each exit stream contains (N +1) unknowns. The assumptions are that
the process is operating under steady conditions, perfect mixing takes place inside the drum (lumped
approximation) and the exit streams are in thermodynamic equilibrium. The model equations are as
follows:

Figure 1.6: Multicomponent, isothermal flash process.

Thermodynamic : Vapur Liquid Equilibrium (VLE) -(empirical model)

(1.9)
Component material balance -(mass conservation)
(1.10)

Overall material balance

(1.11)
Mole fraction constraints
(1.12)

A simple count indicates that we have written down (2N + 3) equations for the (2N + 2) unknowns;
but it is easy to verify that summing equations (1.10 ) over all components and using the mole fraction
constraint, results in equation (1.11 ). Thus, equation (1.11 ) is not an independent one. Although
these equations could be solved as a system of nonlinear algebraic equations, a much more efficient
scheme is to eliminate all, except one variable and reduce the system into a single equation. First
eliminate y i from equation (1.10 ) using (1.9 ) to obtain
(1.13)
Rearrange equation (1.12 ) as,

(1.14)
Combine the last two equations as,

(1.15)

Eliminate L from above equation using (1.11 ) and define ψ = V∕F to get the final form of the flash
equation as:

(1.16)

This is the so-called Rachfold-Rice flash equation. It is a single equation in one unknown, viz. ψ . In
general, the number of roots that a nonlinear equation posses cannot be known a priori. A possible
sketch of the function is shown in Figure 1.6 b. Since ψ is defined as the fraction of feed that appears
as vapor, (V/F), the physical world dictates that it must lie between (0, 1) and it is sufficient if the
search for the root is limited to this range. The flash equation (1.16 ) may posses other roots outside
the range of interest (0, 1). Such roots are valid mathematical solutions of the problem, they are not
physically relevant.

1.3.4 Example of a phenomenalogical model

In the previous two examples, models were built based on conservation laws. Models based on
empirical observations are also quite common. The Pressure-Volume-Temperature (PV T ) behavior of
gases, for example, could be modeled by the ideal gas law viz. PV = nRT . A more refined model,
called the Peng-Robinson equation of state is used widely in chemical engineering literature. It is given
by the following equations:
(1.17)

where
a (T ) = 0. 45724 α (T r ,ω )

b = 0. 0778
α 1∕2 =1+m
m = 0. 37464 + 1. 54226ω − 0. 26992. 2ω 2
Here T c ,P c are the critical temperature and pressure of the component and ω is the accentric factor.
These are properties of a component.

We define T r = T∕T c as the reduced temperature, and Z = PV∕RT as the compressibility factor. Equation
(1.17 ) can be rearranged as a cubic equation in Z as follows:
(1.18)
where A = aP∕R 2 T 2 and B = bP∕RT . For the class of problems where the pressure and temperature
(P,T) are given and the material is identified ( i.e. , T c ,P c ,ω are known), the coefficients (A, B) in
equation (1.18 ) can be calculated and hence the cubic equation can be solved to find the roots, Z .
This allows the determination of the volume (or density) from Z = PV∕RT .

1.3.5 Example of reactors in series

An example from chemical reaction engineering process that gives rise to a system of nonlinear
equations is that of a continuously stirred tank reactor in series. A sketch is shown in Figure 1.7 .
Consider an isothermal, irreversible second order reaction.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
his heart. The cold chill was about it still this morning as he walked to his
window before going to the breakfast-table, and stood there looking blankly
out. What he was really looking at was the prospect before him if, as the
doctor had hinted, he should have to lie up for a time. A lodging and a
nurse, or a hospital; solitude and confinement in either case.
He sighed heavily, and turning as though with the instinct to turn away
from his troubles, he sat down to the table, poured out his coffee, and took
up the letters lying by his plate. There were only two—one in a common-
looking envelope directed in an illiterate hand, the other in a clear,
characteristic man’s hand, at the sight of which his face brightened
perceptibly.
“Aston,” he said to himself, and opened it quickly.
His friendship for the little doctor, which time had only served to
strengthen, was, perhaps, the most genial sentiment of Dennis Falconer’s
life, and Dr. Aston’s absence in India at this particular period had been a
bitter disappointment to him. He had hoped for some time that the doctor’s
plans—always of a somewhat erratic nature—might bring him back to
London shortly; and as his eyes fell on the first sentence of the letter a slight
sound of intense relief escaped him; an eloquent testimony to his present
loneliness. Dr. Aston began by telling him that he would be in England
before Christmas.
The letter was long and interesting; it abounded in bits of vivid
description and shrewd observation, and its comments on Falconer’s
proceedings were keen and kindly. Its recipient allowed himself to become
absorbed in it to the total neglect of his breakfast, and his expression was
lighter than it had been for weeks when he came upon these sentences
towards the close of the letter:
“By-the-bye, in the ‘latest intelligence’ of London society—all is fish in
the shape of human nature that comes to my net, as you know, and I study
that curious institution carefully whenever I get the chance—I constantly,
nowadays, come across the name of a Mrs. Romayne. ‘The charming Mrs.
Romayne and her good-looking son’ is the usual formula. It is not by any
chance the little woman with whom I got myself and you into such a
terrible fix years and years ago at Nice—William Romayne’s widow? Is it
any relation? I should like to know what became of that little woman, if you
can tell me; she had stuff in her. And whether the boy has dreed his weird
yet?”
Falconer laid down the letter abruptly, and turned to his breakfast, his
face stern and uncompromising. His interview with Mrs. Romayne, now a
fortnight old, had accentuated markedly his grim disapprobation of her; and
the strong feeling of reprobation that stirred him then had so little subsided
that the least touch was enough to re-endow it with vigorous life.
“Stuff in her!” he muttered, with a world of contempt in the curt
ejaculation. “Stuff in her! If Aston only knew!”
He glanced at the letter again, and a certain disapproval, personal to the
writer, expressed itself in the grave set of his lips as he re-read the words
about Julian; his whole mental and moral attitude was antagonistic to, and
inclined to condemn, what he characterised, now, as “Aston’s dangerous
theories.” He passed with what seemed to him practical sense from
“Aston’s extravagance” to a stern consideration of the heinousness of such a
life and education as Julian’s for a young man in Julian’s position. Julian’s
position, rightly considered, involved in his eyes a reaping in obscurity,
humility, and sombreness of life of the harvest of shame and disgrace which
his father had sown; and that there was anything inconsistent between this
view of the case and his condemnation of Dr. Aston’s theories he was
utterly unaware.
He applied himself to his breakfast, still meditating on Mrs. Romayne
and the probable consequences of her callousness; and then he took up the
other letter and opened it.
At the opening of his last expedition, one of the men attached to it had
met with a disabling accident, and had been sent home. The man had been
with Falconer on a previous expedition, and when the latter returned to
England he had made enquiries about him, and had finally, and with no
little difficulty, traced him out to find him crippled for life, and in a state of
abject poverty. Falconer, according to his narrow and orthodox lights, as
strictly conventional in their way as were Mrs. Romayne’s in hers, was a
good man. The letter he was reading now, from the wife of this man, was
written by a woman by whom he was regarded as a kind of Providence; to
be reverenced indeed, not loved, but to be reverenced with all her heart. She
and her husband had been rescued by him from despair; all that medical
skill could do for the man had been done at his expense. The pair had been
settled by him in a small house in Camden Town, where Mrs. Dixon, a
brisk, capable woman, was to let lodgings. To this house Falconer had been
once or twice to see the crippled man; and he was not now surprised to
receive from the wife the information—conveyed in a style in which natural
loquacity struggled with awe of her correspondent—that the husband had
had one of the bad attacks of suffering to which he was liable, and that if
Mr. Falconer could spare half an hour, Dixon would “take it very kind with
his duty.”
Falconer smiled grimly at the words “if Mr. Falconer could spare half an
hour.” His whole day was practically at Dixon’s disposal. He would go up
to Camden Town that afternoon, he decided; he almost wished he had
thought of going before, and as the thought crossed his mind, the
remembrance of what might possibly be lying in wait for himself in the not
very distant future made him rise abruptly and thrust his letters into his
pocket.
It was about twelve o’clock when he left his rooms and walked slowly
away in the direction of club-land. He usually got through an hour or so at
his club before lunch, reading the papers and so forth. The threatening fog
of three hours earlier had rolled away, and there were gleams of wintry
sunshine about which made walking pleasant. Dr. Aston’s letter had cheered
Falconer considerably; the feeling, too, that he had a definite occupation for
his afternoon, and an occupation which was not invented, was invigorating;
and altogether he was in better spirits than he had been for many a day. He
was walking up Waterloo Place, when his eyes, which could not forego,
even in a London street, their trained habits of keen, accurate observation,
lighted on Marston Loring, who was coming down Waterloo Place on the
opposite side of the road. Loring was a man Dennis Falconer particularly
disliked, and after one disapproving glance he was looking away, when he
saw the other suddenly stop with a movement—and evidently an
exclamation—of surprise and welcome. In the same instant he became
aware that Julian Romayne had turned out of a side-street, and was greeting
his friend apparently with effusion. Falconer’s brow clouded involuntarily.
The instinct of kin was so strong in him that there was a certain touch of
personal feeling, little as he wished it, in his connection with the Romaynes,
which made the thought of them particularly disagreeable to him; and here,
for the second time to-day, the young man and his mother were forced upon
his notice. He pursued his way up the street, watching Julian grimly, and as
he passed, still on the opposite pavement, the corner where the two young
men were standing, Julian happened to look across, saw him, and made a
ready, courteous gesture of salutation. Falconer returned it stiffly enough,
and walked on.
Julian turned to Loring with a laugh.
“Old bear!” he said; “I wish he’d take himself off to Africa or
somewhere. He’s a regular wet blanket to have about! Well, old fellow, and
what’s the news?”
Julian was looking very fresh, vigorous, and full of life. There was a
curious suggestion about him of alertness which was not without a certain
excitement; and his tone and manner as he spoke were almost
superabundantly frank and loquacious.
Ten days before, Loring had received a note from Mrs. Romayne telling
him that Julian was going for a week’s holiday to Brighton, and that the
alteration in his room must be completed if possible in his absence. “It is a
sudden idea with him, apparently,” she had written; “but do let us take
advantage of it.”
If Loring had had his own private notion on the subject of this sudden
idea on Julian’s part he had made no sign to Julian’s mother; he had paid, in
silence, his cynical tribute to the maternal wisdom which had presumably
recognised the fact that if freedom is not granted it will be snatched.
Three days had now passed since Julian’s return, but it had happened—
he himself could perhaps have told how—that until this Saturday afternoon
he and Loring had not met. There was nothing in his face and manner at this
moment, however, but the most lively, even demonstrative satisfaction; and
without giving Loring time to answer his question he went on, with an ease
and gaiety which were very like, and yet unlike, his mother.
“Where were you off to? The club? Come and have some lunch with me,
do! I want to tell you how first-rate I think my room. I hear you’ve taken no
end of trouble over it. It was awfully jolly of you, old man!”
“Glad you like it,” returned Loring nonchalantly. “Yes, I think it’s nice.
But it was Mrs. Romayne who took the trouble.”
He was studying Julian keenly, though quite imperceptibly, as he spoke.
The young man’s manner was assumed—of that Loring was quite aware.
But what, exactly, did it hide? What exactly was the secret?
 He debated this question calmly with himself throughout the lunch
which they took together a little later on; interposing question and remarks
the while into Julian’s flow of fluent talk and laughter. About Brighton, in
particular, Julian was full of chatter; and as he wound up a vivacious
description of his doings there, Loring commented mentally:
“He hasn’t been to Brighton at all!”
Aloud he said, as genially as nature ever allowed him to speak:
“Well, it’s very jolly to see you back again, my boy. Do you know we’ve
seen next to nothing of one another lately, and I vote we turn over a new
leaf, eh? What are you going to do this afternoon, now?”
He was leaning back in his chair lighting a cigarette as he spoke, and
apparently his attention was wholly claimed by the process; as a matter of
fact, however, he was studying Julian’s face intently, and his sense of
annoyance was not untinged with admiration when not a muscle of that
good-looking face moved. Julian leant back and crossed his legs airily.
“I promised to go to the Eastons’, I’m sorry to say!” he said. “It’s an
awful bore! We might have done a theatre together!”
Now, the Eastons were mutual acquaintances of the two men, but it so
happened that they had taken irremediable offence against Loring over
some detail connected with the bazaar, and it was no longer possible for
him to call upon them. Julian was of course aware of the fact, and Loring
smiled cynically at what he recognised as a very clever move.
“A pity!” he said composedly. “Better luck another time. Well, you’re
not in any hurry, anyway.”
“Not a bit!” assented Julian, cheerfully disposing of himself in a most
comfortable and stationary attitude. But a moment later he sprang to his
feet. “By Jove!” he exclaimed, “I nearly forgot! I’ve got a commission to do
for my mother in Bond Street—shop closes at two. Can I do it?”
A hurried reference to his watch assured him that he would just do it, and
with a hasty farewell he dashed out of the room. Loring did not propose to
accompany him. It was not worth while, he told himself; and he smiled
sardonically as Julian departed.
“I shall find out,” he said to himself. “Of course I shall find out! The
question is, is it worth while to wait, or shall I play my game with what I
know? The attached friend of the boy warning his mother in time”—he
smiled again very unpleasantly—“or the sympathising friend of the mother
having made a terrible discovery! Which is the better pose? The latter, I
think. Yes, the latter! I’ll wait until I’ve made my discovery.”
He dropped the end of his cigarette into an ash-tray, sat for a moment
more in deep thought, and then rose and strolled slowly away.
 CHAPTER IV
Julian, meanwhile, hailed a passing hansom, sprang into it, and told the
man to drive, not to Bond Street but to the Athenæum, Camden Town.
There was an air about him as of one who plumes himself on having done a
clever thing, and as he settled himself for his long drive there was a curious
excitement and radiance in his face. When the cab reached its destination at
last he jumped out and walked rapidly and eagerly away.
It was not a neighbourhood likely to be familiar to a young man about
town, but Julian pursued his way with the certainty of a man who had
followed it several times before. In about ten minutes he turned into a neat
and respectable little street, consisting of two short rows of small houses
with diminutive bow windows to the first-floor rooms. About half-way
down he stopped at a house on the right-hand side and knocked with a
quick, decided touch. He was an object of the deepest interest as he stood
upon the little doorstep to a brisk, curious-looking woman who was
standing in the ground-floor window of the house opposite, but her
opportunity for observation was brief. The door was opened almost
immediately, and with a pleasant greeting to the woman, who stood aside,
he passed her and ran upstairs—a course of action evidently expected of
him. He opened the door of the front room on the first floor and went
eagerly in.
“Here I am!” he cried. “Did you expect me so soon?”
Standing in the middle of the room, as though she had suddenly started
from her chair, with her hands outstretched towards him, was Clemence;
and on the third finger of that thin, left hand there shone a bright gold ring.
Her face was a delicate rosy red, as though with sudden joy just touched
with shyness, and all the beauty which had been latent in her tired, work-
worn face seemed to have been touched into vivid, almost startling life, by
the hand of a great magician. By contrast with the face she turned to Julian
now, the large eyes deep and glowing, the mouth trembling a little with
tenderness, the face of a month ago, pure and sweet as it had been, would
have looked like the inanimate mask of a dormant soul. The soul was awake
now, quivering with consciousness; womanhood had come with a purity
and beauty beyond any possibility of girlhood. Looking at her face now, it
was easy to see by what means alone the latent strength of her character
might be developed.
He drew her into his arms with an eager, confident touch, and she
yielded to him completely, clinging to him with the colour deepening in her
face as he kissed it boyishly again and again. It was a fortnight only since
he had kissed her first.
“I was watching for you,” she said softly. “I heard your step.”
He laughed exultantly and kissed her again.
“I thought you’d be watching!” he said. “Though I’m earlier than I told
you, do you know? Much earlier! I say, Clemence, how jolly the room
looks!”
It was a small room, furnished and decorated in the simplest and
cheapest style; as great a contrast as could well be imagined to the rooms to
which he was accustomed. But it was very clean and very comfortable-
looking; and there was a homelike, restful atmosphere about it which might
well have radiated from the slender figure in the plain dress, with that
shining wedding-ring and lovely, flushing face. She smiled, a very sweet,
pleased little smile.
“Do you think so really?” she said. “I am so glad. It is that beautiful
basket-chair you sent, and the flowers.” She glanced as she spoke at a pot of
chrysanthemums standing on a little table in the window. Then she turned to
him again, her eyes a little deprecating. “Do you think you ought to spend
so much money?” she said shyly.
Julian laughed, and flung his arm round her, as he surveyed the little
room with a vivid air of proprietorship. Here he was master. Here his word
was law. Here he was in a world of his own making, and his only fellow-
creature was his subject.
“It looks jolly!” he pronounced again as a final dictum. “Now, come and
sit down, Clemence, and tell me what you’ve been doing since yesterday!”
He settled himself into the arm-chair by the fire with a lordly air as he
spoke, adding: “Come and sit on this stool by me, like the sweetest girl in
the world.”
Clemence hesitated, hardly perceptibly. Hers was a nature to which
trivial endearments came strangely, almost painfully. She had not yet
learned to caress in play; and there was an innate, unconscious, personal
dignity about her to which trivial self-abasement was unnatural. But almost
before she was conscious of her reluctance there swept over her, like a great
wave of hot sweetness, the remembrance that she was his wife! It was her
duty to do as he wished. She came softly across the room, sat down on the
stool he had drawn out, and laid her cheek against his arm.
It was a trivial action, very quietly performed, but it was instinct with the
beauty of absolute self-abnegation; and as if, as her physical presence
touched him, something of her spirit touched him too, a sudden quiet fell
upon the exultant, self-satisfied boy at whose feet she sat. Not for the first
time, by any means, there stole over Julian a vague uneasiness; a vague
realisation of something beyond his ken; something in the light of which he
shrank, unaccountably, from himself. His hand closed round the woman’s
hand lying in his with a touch very different from the boyish passion of his
previous caresses, and for a moment he did not speak. Then he said slowly
and in a low, dreamy voice:
“Clemence, I can’t think why you should ever have loved me!”
The hand in his thrilled slightly, and the head on his shoulder was just
shaken. Clemence could not tell him why she loved him. The bald outline
she could trace as most women can trace it. She could look back upon her
first sense of reliance, her pity, her admiration, her sense of strange,
delightful companionship; but the why and wherefore of it, the mystery
which had given to this young man and no other the key of her soul, this
was to her as a miracle; as, indeed, there is always something miraculous in
it, even when it seems most natural. To account for love; to say that in this
case it is natural, in this case it is unnatural; is to confess ignorance of the
first great attribute of love—that it is supernatural and divine.
There was another silence, a longer one this time, and the strange spell
sank deeper into Julian’s spirit. He said nothing. It would have been a relief
to him to speak; to reduce to words, or, indeed, to definite consciousness,
the vague trouble that oppressed him; but its outlines were too large and too
vague for him. It was in truth a sense of total moral insolvency, but he could
not understand it as such, having no moral standpoint. Clemence neither
moved nor spoke; her hand lay motionless in his; her cheek rested against
him; her beautiful eyes looked straight before them with a dreamy, almost
awestruck gaze.
 At last, with a desperate determination to thrust away so unusual an
oppression, Julian moved slightly and began to talk. He wanted to get back
his sense of superiority, and his voice accordingly took its most boyish and
masterful tone.
“You haven’t told me what you’ve been doing, Clemence?” he said.
“Have you given notice at your bonnet shop as I told you?”
Clemence lifted her head and sat up, clasping her hands lightly on the
arm of his chair.
“No!” she said gently. “I thought I would ask you to think about it again.
I would so much rather go on if you didn’t mind. For one thing, what could
I do all day?” She looked up into his face as she spoke with deprecating,
pleading eyes, which were full of submission, too; and the submission was
very pleasant to Julian.
“I do mind,” he said authoritatively. “I can’t have it, Clemence. I can’t
always see you home, don’t you see, and I won’t have you about at night
alone. Besides, I don’t choose that you should work.”
“But I do so want to!” she said, laying her hand timidly and
beseechingly on his. “It will be so difficult for you to keep us both; you will
overwork yourself, I’m so afraid. Oh, won’t you let me help? I’ve always
worked, you know; it doesn’t hurt me. You don’t want to forget that you’ve
married a work-girl, do you?”
She smiled at him as she spoke, one of her sweet, rare smiles, and he
kissed her impetuously.
“Don’t talk nonsense!” he said imperiously. “I can’t allow it, and that’s
all about it. How do you suppose I could attend to my work when I’m kept
at the hospital in the evening, if I were thinking all the time of you alone in
the streets! No, you must give notice on Monday!”
She looked at him wistfully for a moment. He was condemning her to
long days of idleness, to constant uneasiness and self-reproach on his
behalf, to a certain loss of self-respect. But self-sacrifice was instinctive
with her.
“Very well!” she said simply.
The little victory, the assertion of authority restored Julian’s spirits
completely, and he plunged into discursive talk; more or less egotistical. It
was all, necessarily, founded on falsehood, and it would have been a
delicate question to decide when his talk ceased to be consciously
untruthful, and became the expression of a fictitious Julian in whom the real
Julian absolutely believed.
The afternoon wore on; the winter twilight fell, bringing with it a slight
return of the fog of the morning; two hours had passed before Julian moved
reluctantly, and said that he must go.
“I shall come to-morrow!” he said, taking her face between his hands
and kissing it. “We’ll go out into the country if it’s fine. I wish it were
summer-time! Have you ever seen the river, Clemence?”
“Not in the country,” she said. “It must be nice! How much you’ve seen!
Do you know I often think that you must wish sometimes I was a lady! I
don’t know anything and I haven’t seen anything, and——” she faltered,
and he rose, laughing and drawing her up into his arms.
“Any one can know things,” he said lightly, “and any one can see things.
But no one but you can be Clemence! Do you see? Oh, what a bore it is to
have to go!”
He was lingering, undecidedly, as though a little pressure would have
scattered his resolution to the winds, and seated him once more in the chair
he had just quitted. But, since he had said that he must go, it never occurred
to Clemence to ask him to stay. If it were not his duty he would never leave
her. If it was his duty now, how could she hold him back!
“To-morrow will come!” she said, looking into his face with a brave
smile.
“I don’t believe you want me to stay!” he returned, half laughing, half
vexed.
“Don’t I?” she said simply, and he caught her in his arms again.
“What a shame!” he said. “There, good-bye! Are you coming to the
door?”
She shook her head.
“I’ll stay here,” she said, “and watch you from the window. I see you
farther so. Ah, it’s rather foggy! I’m so sorry! You’ll look up? Good-bye!”
She lifted her face to his and kissed him tenderly and shyly, and he left
her standing by the window.
Julian ran downstairs, let himself out, and stood for a moment on the
doorstep as he realised the disagreeable nature of the atmosphere. At the
same instant the door of the house opposite opened, and a man came out,
attended to the threshold by a woman. She caught sight of Julian instantly,
and said something to the man, as he stood in the shadow, in a deferential
whisper. Julian shook himself, confounded the fog, and then glanced up at
the window from which the light streamed on his face. He waved his hand,
turned away, and walked rapidly down the street, pulling up his coat collar
as he went.
As he went, Dennis Falconer slowly descended the two steps of that
opposite house, and slowly—very slowly—followed him.
 CHAPTER V
>“Good-bye! So glad to have seen you! What, dear Mrs. Ponsonby, are you
going to run away too? So kind of you to come out on such an afternoon!
Good-bye!”
It was a Friday afternoon, and Friday was Mrs. Romayne’s “day.” This
particular Friday had been about as unpleasant, atmospherically, as it is
possible for even a November day to be, short of actual dense fog; it had
been very dark, and a drizzling rain—a dirty rain too—had fallen
unceasingly. Under these circumstances it was rather surprising that any one
should have ventured out, even in the most luxurious brougham, than that
Mrs. Romayne’s visitors should have been comparatively few in number.
The departure of the ladies to whom her farewells had been spoken, and
with whom she had been exchanging social commonplaces for the last
quarter of an hour, left her alone; and as she returned to her chair by the
dainty tea-table and poured herself out a cup of tea, she had apparently very
little expectation of further callers, though it was only just past five o’clock;
for when the door-bell rang a few minutes later she paused, and a look of
surprise crossed her face. She put down her cup with a little sigh, which
was more a concession made to the dictum of conventionality that callers
are a bore than an expression of real feeling; and then, as the door opened,
she rose with a touch of genuine satisfaction.
“My dear Mrs. Pomeroy!” she exclaimed. “How sweet of you to come
out on such a shocking day! Really, you must have had an intuition of my
forlorn condition, I think! Maud, dear, how are you?”
She had given her left hand to the girl in a familiar, caressing way as she
retained Mrs. Pomeroy’s right hand, and now she drew the elder lady with
charming insistence towards a large, inviting-looking chair, indicating to the
daughter with a pretty gesture that she was to take a low seat near the table.
“It is an ill wind that blows no one any good!” she continued gaily, as
Mrs. Pomeroy greeted her placidly. “It is really too delightful to get you all
to myself like this! How seldom one gets the chance of a cosy chat! And
how very seldom it comes with the people of all others with whom one
would thoroughly enjoy it! You’ll have some tea, won’t you—oh, yes, you
really must; it is so much more friendly!” She laughed as she spoke, and
turned to the girl sitting demurely on the low seat near her with a tacit claim
on her sympathy and comprehension which was very fascinating. Miss
Pomeroy’s pretty, expressionless lips smiled sweetly, and her mother, who
was always ready to yield to pressure where a cup of tea was concerned—
that soothing beverage being forbidden her by her medical authorities—
answered contentedly:
“Well, thanks, yes! I think I will! One really wants a cup of tea on a day
like this, doesn’t one?” Mrs. Pomeroy had rarely been known to leave a
statement unqualified by a question. “It is really very disagreeable weather,
isn’t it? Not that it seems to trouble you at all.” Mrs. Pomeroy smiled one of
her slow, amiable smiles as she spoke. “I am so glad to see you looking so
much better!”
Mrs. Romayne laughed.
“I am very well indeed, thanks,” she said. “But I’ve not been ill that I
know of, dear Mrs. Pomeroy.”
Mrs. Pomeroy shook her head gently.
“I thought, do you know, when I first came home, that you looked as
though your holiday had been a little too much for you—so many people’s
holiday is a little too much for them, don’t you think? And how is your boy?
Very hard at work, we hear.”
Mrs. Romayne smiled.
Mrs. Pomeroy’s opinion as to her looks had been quite correct; and it
was only within the last fortnight that they had altered for the better. Within
that fortnight her brightness and vivacity had ceased to be—as they had
been for weeks before—wholly artificial; something of the look of nervous
strain had gone out of her eyes, and her face was altogether less sharpened.
Her smile now was genuine; and her voice was strangely tender and
contented.
“Very hard,” she said. “I have had to get used to a great deal of absence
on his part. He has gone down to Brighton to-day, until Monday; he needs a
little fresh air, of course. It is so long since he has been shut up as he is
now.”
“You must miss him very much,” said Mrs. Pomeroy placidly.
Mrs. Romayne did not answer directly, except with a laugh.
 “I am almost inclined to envy mothers with daughters,” she said, smiling
at Miss Pomeroy again. “I wonder, now”—a sudden idea had apparently
struck Mrs. Romayne—“I wonder whether you would lend me your
daughter now and then, and I wonder whether she would consent to be
lent.”
“I should be delighted,” said Mrs. Pomeroy, with vague amiability, and
an equally vague glance at her daughter. “And I’m sure Maud will be
delighted, too, won’t you, Maud?”
“Delighted!” assented Maud, with pretty promptitude.
“Well, then, we must arrange it some time or other,” declared Mrs.
Romayne gaily. “Perhaps you would come and spend a week with me,
Maud—that would be charming!”
But she did not press the point, letting the subject drop with apparent
carelessness, and talking about other things, always keeping the girl in the
conversation; turning to her now and then with a pleasant, familiar word, or
a gesture which was lightly affectionate. The mother and daughter had risen
to take leave when she said carelessly:
“Oh, by-the-bye, Maud, dear, have you anything to do to-morrow
afternoon? I’ve been bothered into taking two tickets for a matinée, a
charity affair, you know, but they say it will be rather good. It would be so
nice of you to come with me!”
“It will be very nice of you to take me!” was the response. “Thank you
very much!”
A minute or two more passed in the arrangement of the place and hour
for meeting, and then Mrs. Pomeroy drifted blandly out of the room,
followed by her daughter, and Mrs. Romayne was again alone.
She walked to the fireplace this time, and putting one foot on the fender,
stood looking down, her face intent and satisfied.
“Just the right sort of girl!” she said to herself. “Just the right sort of
girl!”
She was wearing the little gold bangle which Julian had given her on her
birthday—the one which Miss Pomeroy had helped him to choose—and she
was turning it on her wrist with tender, contemplative touches. She was so
absorbed in her reflection that she did not hear the servant come into the
room, or notice for the moment that the girl was standing beside her with a
letter. She started at last, and looked up; took the letter, and opened it
carelessly, without looking at it, as the woman took away the tea-table.
“Dear Cousin Hermia,
“Unless I hear from you to the contrary, I propose to call on you to-
morrow (Saturday), at three o’clock, on a matter of grave importance.
“Faithfully yours,
“Dennis Falconer.”
Mrs. Romayne’s face had changed slightly as she began to read—
changed and hardened—and as she finished she drew the letter through her
fingers with a gesture of mere impatience, which was somehow belied by
the look in her eyes. Something of that strained look had come back into
them. She could not see him to-morrow, she was saying to herself briefly;
she was not going to put off Maud Pomeroy; Dennis Falconer must fix
another time, and she would write him a line at once. She walked quickly
across to her writing table, sat down, drew out a sheet of paper and took up
a pen.
And then she paused.
Ten minutes later her note was written, and on its way to the post, but it
was not directed to Dennis Falconer. It began, “My dear Maud,” and it told
Miss Pomeroy that business had “turned up” which would make it
impossible for Mrs. Romayne to go to the theatre on the following
afternoon, and that she enclosed the tickets hoping that Maud might be able
to use them.
Exactly on the stroke of three on the following afternoon the door-bell
rang. Mrs. Romayne was alone in the drawing-room, apparently lazily and
pleasantly enough occupied with the latest number of the latest society
paper; and as the sound reached her ear her lips hardened into a thin,
straight line, and her eyes flashed for a moment with a look of antagonism
which was almost defiant. Then the servant announced:
“Mr. Falconer!”
Dennis Falconer was looking very pale; there was little colour even in
his lips, and his face was set and stern. He took the hand Mrs. Romayne
held out to him, and replied to her greeting in the briefest possible phrase,
with no softening of a something curiously solemn and inexorable about his
demeanour, though his eyes rested on her for an instant with a singular
expression. He disliked and despised the woman before him, and yet at that
moment he pitied her.
“Sit down!” she said. “I am charmed to see you, though, do you know,
you have chosen an inopportune moment. I had a very pleasant engagement
for this afternoon, and I nearly put you off. So I hope the business is really
very grave.”
Her voice was lightness itself, and that very lightness, with the almost
unusual loquacity with which she had received him, seemed to witness to
the presence in her mind of a recollection which she was determined to
ignore—the recollection of their last interview, in that very room. There
was an air about her of having entrenched herself behind a barrier which
she defied him to pass; of being resolute this time against surprise, or
against any other method of attack.
“It is very grave!” said Falconer, and in contrast with her voice, his rang
with stern heaviness. “I must ask you to prepare yourself for bad news!”
“Bad news!” she echoed sharply, as her eyes, fixed on his face, grew
suddenly bright and keen. “Oh—money, I suppose?” Her voice jarred a
little, though she spoke very lightly.
“No!” said Falconer.
His tone was absolutely uncompromising. On his unsympathetic and
unimaginative mind the effect of her manner was to obliterate his sense of
pity beneath a consciousness of the retributive justice of the moment before
her.
“Not money?” she said, with a little, unreal laugh. “Well, that’s a
comfort, at any rate.” Her hand had clenched itself suddenly round the arm
of her chair on his monosyllable, and now she paused a moment, almost as
though her breath had failed her, before she said, with affected carelessness:
“And if not—what?”
Her back was towards the light, and Falconer could not see her face.
“I will answer your question, if you will allow me, with another,” he
said. “Have you noticed anything unusual in the course of the past month—
or more—in the conduct of your son?”
In the instant’s dead silence that followed a slight creaking sound made
itself audible and then died away. The clenched hand on the bar of Mrs.
Romayne’s chair had passed slowly round it with such intense pressure as
to produce the sound. Then she answered him, as he had previously
answered her, in a monosyllable.
“No!” she said. There was a desperate effort in her voice at carelessness,
at nonchalance, at astonishment; but it was penetrated through and through
with all her past antagonism towards, and defiance of, the man before her
accentuated into fierce repudiation. Falconer’s voice, as he answered her,
seemed to confront that defiance with inexorable fate.
“That is almost unfortunate,” he said sternly. “In that case, I fear that
what I have to tell you must fall with double and treble severity, as coming
upon you unawares. Will you not think again? Has he not been absent from
home a good deal? Have his absences been satisfactorily accounted for?
Have you ever proved”—he paused, laying stress upon the last word
—“have you ever proved such accounts, as given by himself, correct?”
With a valiant effort, the power of which Falconer must have appreciated
had he been able to penetrate beyond the ghastly artificiality of the result,
Mrs. Romayne rallied her forces, and strove to throw his words back upon
him; to defend and entrench herself once and for all with the only weapon
she knew. She broke into a thin, tuneless laugh.
“What an absolutely gruesome catechism!” she cried. “Really, it would
take me weeks of solitary confinement and meditation among the tombs—
isn’t there a book about that, by-the-bye?—before I could approach it in a
duly sepulchral spirit. Do you know, it would be an absolute relief to me if
you could come to the point? I am taking it for granted, you see, that there
is a point, which is no doubt a compliment which its infinitesimal nature
hardly deserves. Produce the poor little thing, for heaven’s sake!”
“The point is this,” said Falconer grimly and concisely. “Your son’s life,
as you know it, is a lie. He has a sordid version of what is known as an
‘establishment.’ He is living with a work-girl in Camden Town.”
There was a choked, strangled sound, and Mrs. Romayne’s figure
seemed to shrink together as though every muscle had contracted in one
simultaneous throb. Her face, could Falconer have seen it, was rigid and
blank, except for her eyes. For that first instant she looked as a patient
might look who, having suspected himself of a deadly disease, having
congratulated himself on the subsidence of his symptoms and known hope,
learns from his physician that that subsidence of obvious symptoms was in
itself only a more dangerous symptom still, and that he is indeed doomed.
Her eyes were the eyes of a woman who looks despair full in the face.
But with no human being who keeps hold of life and reason can the
vivid agony of such a vision endure for more than an instant. It dulls by
reason of its very insupportableness. Time is an empty word where mental
suffering is concerned, and the second-hand of the tall clock in the corner
had traversed its dial only once before a kind of film passed over those
agonised eyes, and Mrs. Romayne spoke in a thin, hoarse voice. And the
man so close to her was conscious of nothing but a short pause, and was
revolted accordingly.
“How do you know?” Even in that moment the instinct of defiance of
him personally could not wholly yield, and lingered in her voice.
“I have an old servant who lives in Camden Town. He is an invalid, and
I occasionally visit him. His wife is a garrulous woman, and thinking that I
have some claim on her gratitude, considers it necessary to inform me as to
all her own and her neighbours’ affairs. Visiting the husband last Friday
week, I found the wife greatly excited and alarmed for the reputation of the
street—in which she lets lodgings—by the appearance in the house opposite
of a couple whose relations to one another had instantly been suspected by
their landlady and her neighbours, though they passed as newly-made man
and wife!”
With a sudden, low cry of inexpressible horror and dismay Mrs.
Romayne sprang to her feet, flinging out her hands as though to keep off
something intolerable to be borne.
“No! no!” she cried breathlessly. “No! no! Not that! Not married? It
would be ruin! Ruin! ruin! No! no!”
Dennis Falconer paused, freezing slowly into what seemed to him surely
justifiable abhorrence of the woman before him. What if he knew in his
heart that such a marriage would indeed mean ruin to a young man? So bald
a trampling down of the moral aspect of the position before the practical
was not decent! It was for a woman—and that woman the young man’s
mother—to be overwhelmed by the moral horror to the exclusion of every
other thought! And it was the practical alone that had drawn any show of
emotion from Mrs. Romayne!
“I am sorry to have agitated you!” he said, and his voice was cold and
cutting as steel. “I have no doubt in my own mind that they are not married.
I had better perhaps continue to give you the facts in order. Chance led to
my seeing the young man in question as he was leaving the house. I
recognised your son. I proceeded to make enquiries. He passes as a medical
student, under the name of Roden. The girl is—or was—a hand at one of
the big millinery establishments. From her affectation of innocence and
simplicity, the woman who has most opportunity of observing her is
inclined to think the very worst of her!”
A quick, hissing breath—an unmistakeable breath of relief—parted Mrs.
Romayne’s white lips. She had sunk down again in her chair and was
grasping it now with both hands as she leant a little forward, trembling in
every limb.
“Then it is not likely—it is not likely that he has married her,” she said,
in a low, rapid tone to herself rather than to Falconer, as it seemed. “Go
on!”
“There is very little more to be said,” returned Falconer icily. “They have
occupied the rooms—that is to say, the girl has occupied them, visited every
day by your son—for three weeks now. The woman has discovered that
they had been somewhere in the country together for a week previously.
You will, of course, be able to recall his absence from home. Yesterday he
took her away into the country again; they are to return on Monday!”
He stopped; and as though she were no longer conscious of his presence,
Mrs. Romayne’s head was bowed slowly lower, as if under some irresistible
weight, until her forehead rested on her hand, stretched out still upon the
arm of her wide chair.
She lifted her face at last, white and haggard as twenty added years of
life should not have made it, and rose, helping herself feebly with the arm
of her chair, like a woman whose physical strength is broken. Falconer rose
also. He was utterly alienated from her; he was conscious of only the most
distant pity, but he felt that it was incumbent on him to say something.
“I regret very much that it should have fallen to my lot to break this to
you!” he said, stiffly and awkwardly. “I fear that coming from me——” He
hesitated and paused.
From out the past, confusing, almost numbing him, a vague and ghastly
influence had risen suddenly upon him to strain that strange, intangible, and
awful cord of common knowledge by which he and the woman before him
were bound together, revolt against it or deny its presence as they might.
Under the touch of that influence his last words had come from him almost
involuntarily. He had not known whither they tended; he could bring them
to no conclusion.
Mrs. Romayne looked him in the eyes, holding now to a table by which
she stood, but with no weakness in her ashen face. She seemed to be
concentrating all her force into one final repudiation of him. She ignored his
words as though he had not spoken.
“I will ask you to leave me now!” she said. And her voice, thin and
toneless though it was, left her completely mistress of the situation.
She made no movement to shake hands; he hesitated a moment, then
bowed and left the room.
 CHAPTER VI
“It’s a jolly little place enough!”
“I think it’s lovely.”
There was a certain tone of regret, of lingering, reluctant farewell, in
both voices; though in Julian’s case it was light and patronising; in
Clemence’s, dreamy and tender. As Julian spoke he shifted his position
slightly as he leant against the iron railing by which they stood, and let his
eyes wander over the scene before them with condescending approval.
They were standing on the somewhat embryonic “sea-front” of what a
few years before had been a fishing village, and was now struggling, rather
inefficiently, to become a watering-place. Such season as the place could
boast was entirely confined to the summer months; to the frequenters of
winter resorts it was absolutely unknown; consequently its intrinsic charms
at the moment—in all the lassitude and monotony left by departed glory—
might have been considered conspicuous by their absence. But it was a
glorious winter’s day. A slight sprinkling of snow had been frozen on the
roofs of the somewhat depressed-looking houses and on the unsightliness of
the unfinished sea-front; and brilliant sunshine, almost warm in spite of the
keen, frosty air, was glorifying alike the deserted little town, the country
beyond, and the sparkling, dancing sea. The frosty, invigorating brightness
found a responsive chord in Julian’s heart this morning; he was not always
so susceptible to such simple, natural influences. He was in a good humour
with the place; he had spent two wholly satisfactory days there—two days,
moreover, which had had much the same influence upon his moral tone as a
change to bracing air and simple, wholesome food would have on a
physique accustomed to dissipation.
His survey ended finally with Clemence’s face. She was standing at his
side looking out over the sea, her eyes intent and full of feeling, her
beautiful face flushed and still, absorbed by the mysterious charm of the
ceaseless movement and trouble of the bright water stretching away before
her.
“What are you looking at, Clemence?” he said, boyishly.
She lifted her eyes to his quite gravely and simply.
 “Only the sea,” she said. “It is so beautiful, I feel as if I never could
leave off looking at it. It makes me feel—oh, I can’t tell you, but it is like
something great and strong to take away with one!” She looked away again.
“Oh, I wish, I wish we need not go!” she said with a little sigh.
“I wish we needn’t,” returned Julian; he had been dimly conscious of
something in her eyes and voice which made her previous words, simple as
they seemed, almost unintelligible to him, and he caught at her last sentence
as containing an idea to which he could respond. “It’s an awful nuisance,
isn’t it? And do you know it is time we started? Never mind. We’ll come
down again soon!”
They stood for another moment; Clemence looking out at the sunny sea,
Julian taking another careless comprehensive view of the whole scene; and
then, as though those last looks had contained their respective farewells,
they turned with one accord and walked away in the direction of the railway
station. And as if in turning her back upon the sunlit sea she had turned her
back also upon something less definite and tangible, a certain gravity and
wistfulness crept gradually over Clemence’s face as they went; crept over it
to settle down into a sadness most unusual to it as the train carried them
quickly away towards London. Julian, sitting opposite her, was vaguely
struck by her expression.
“Are you awfully sorry to go back, Clemence?” he said.
She started slightly, and looked at him with a faint smile.
“I suppose I am!” she said. “We have been very happy, haven’t we?”
There was a wistful regret in her voice which touched him somehow, and he
answered her demonstratively, with a cheery and enthusiastic augury for the
future. Clemence smiled again; again rather faintly. “I know!” she said. “I
mean I hope so. Only—I don’t know what’s the matter with me! I feel as if
—something were finished!”
Julian broke into a boyish laugh. Her depression was by no means
displeasing to him; it was a tribute to his importance, to her dependence on
him; and the necessity for “cheering her up” implied the exercise of that
superiority and authority in which he delighted.
“Why, what a dear little goose you are, Clemence!” he said, leaning
forward to take her hands in his. “A ‘Friday to Monday’ can’t last for ever,
you know, but it can be repeated again and again. Why, I shall be up every
day—every single day, I promise you. I shouldn’t wonder if I found I could
spend the evening with you to-morrow! Won’t that console you?”
She did not answer him, but she took one of his hands in hers and
pressed it to her cheek. His consolation had hardly touched that strange
oppression which weighed upon her; and Julian, in high feather, and quite
unaware that only his voice was heard by her, his words passing her by
unheeded, had been talking at great length about all the happiness before
them, when she said, in a hesitating, far-away voice:
“Could you—could you come home with me this afternoon?”
Julian paused a moment. The question was hardly the response his words
had demanded. Then he said decisively:
“Quite impossible, I am sorry to say. I would if I could, you know, dear,
but it’s quite impossible!”
She gave his hand a little quick pressure.
“I know, of course!” she murmured gently. She paused a moment, and
then said in a low voice, rather irrelevantly as it seemed: “Julian”—his
name still came rather hesitatingly from her lips—“do you think—do you
like Mrs. Jackson?”
Mrs. Jackson was the name of the woman whose rooms Julian had taken
for her, and he started slightly at the question.
“She’s not a bad sort,” he said, with rather startled consideration. “At
least, she seems all right. Isn’t she nice to you, Clemence? Don’t you like
the rooms?”
“Oh, yes! yes!” she said quickly, almost as though she reproached
herself for saying anything that could suggest to him even a shadow of
discontent on her part. “I like them so very, very much. It is only—I don’t
know what exactly. Somehow, I don’t think Mrs. Jackson is quite a nice
woman.” She had spoken the last words hesitatingly and with difficulty,
almost as though they came from her against her will.
Julian glanced at her quickly.
“What makes you think that, Clemence?” he said, with judicial
masterfulness. “Have you any reason, I mean?”
But Clemence was hardly able to define, even in her own pure mind,
what it was that jarred upon her in her landlady’s manner; and to Julian she
was utterly unable to put her feelings into words. Her hasty disclaimer and
her hesitating beginnings and falterings, however, served to remove the
misgiving which had stirred him lest some knowledge of his own real life
should have come to the woman’s knowledge. He was the readier to let
himself be reassured and to dismiss the subject in that the train was
slackening speed for the last time before reaching London, and he intended
to move into a first-class smoking carriage at the approaching station. Julian
was well aware of the risks of discovery involved in these journeys with
Clemence; and though he faced them nonchalantly enough, he used wits
with which no one who knew him only in his capacities of man about town
and budding barrister would have credited him, to reduce them to a
minimum. To be seen emerging from a third-class carriage at Victoria
Station was a wholly unnecessary risk to run, and he avoided it accordingly.
“You mustn’t be fanciful, Clemmie,” he said, now in a lordly and airy
fashion. “I’ve no doubt Mrs. Jackson is a very jolly woman, as a matter of
fact. Look here, dear, would you mind if I went and had a smoke now? It
isn’t much further, you know, and one mustn’t smoke in hospital, you see!”
Clemence was very pale when he joined her on the platform at Victoria
—joined her after a quick glance round to see whether he must prepare
himself for an encounter with an acquaintance; and she did not speak, only
looked up at him with a grave, steady smile which made her face sadder
than before. His announcement of his intention of putting her into a hansom
drew from her an absolutely horrified protest. She would go in an omnibus,
she told him hurriedly, or in the Underground! She had never been in a cab!
It would cost so much! But when he overruled her, a little impatiently—it
was not yet dark, and he did not wish to remain longer than was necessary
with her in Victoria Station—she submitted timidly, with a sudden slight
flushing of her cheeks.
“A four-wheeler, Julian!” she murmured pleadingly, as they emerged
into the station yard. With a lofty smile at what he supposed to be
nervousness on her part, he signified assent with a little condescending
gesture, and stopped before a waiting cab.
“Here you are,” he said. “Jump in!”
She got in obediently, and as he shut the door she turned to him through
the open window.
“Good-bye, Julian!” she said, in a low, sweet voice.
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