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Introduction to

Quantum Computers
Gennady P Berman
Gary D Doolen
Ronnie Mainieri
Vladimir I Tsifrinovich

World Scientific
Introduction to

Quantum Computers
Intro duct ion to

Quantum Computers

Gennady P Berman
Gary D Doolen
Ronnie Mainieri
Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies
Los Alamos National Laboratory

Vladimir I Tsifrinovich
Polytechnic University, New York

lh World Scientific
IP Singapore• New Jersey• London•Hong Kong
'
Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
P O Box 128, Farrer Road, Singapore 9 I 2805
USA office: Suite 18, 1060 Main Street, River Edge, NJ 07661
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Introduction to quantum computers/ Gennady P. Berman ... [et al.].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9810234902 -- ISBN 9810235496 (pbk)
l. Quantum computers. I. Berman, Gennady P., !946--
QA76.889.154 1998
004.l--dc21 98-23218
CIP

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

First published 1998

Reprinted 1999

Copyright© 1998 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof. may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.

Cover design: The design of the quantum computer on the cover was conceived by the authors after
reading in the note by Gary Taubes [31 J about his quantum-computing coffee cup
discussion with Seth Lloyd.

For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. ln this case permission to
photocopy is not required from the publisher.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

P1inted in Singapore by Uto-Print

Preface
The field of quantum computation is rapidly evolving. Quantum com-
puting promises to solve problems that are intractable on digital com-
puters. Quantum algorithms can decrease the computational time for
some problems by many orders of magnitude. The main advantage of
quantum computation is the rapid parallel execution of logic operations
achieved by using superposition (entangled) states. To build a work-
ing quantum computer several problems must be solved, including the
utilization of entangled states, the creation of quantum data bases and
implementation of quantum computation algorithms.
The book explains how quantum computation works and how it can
do many amazing things. It is intended to be useful for students and sci-
entists who are interested in quantum computation but face difficulties
in reading the original papers and reviews.
In the Introduction we present a very short history of quantum com-
putation. The basic ideas on the Turing Machine are explained in Chap-
ter 2. In Chapter 3 we describe the binary system and Boolean algebra,
which are widely used in computer science. Some initial ideas on quan-
tum computing are presented in Chapter 4. Using simple examples,
we discuss the following quantum algorithms in Chapters 5 and 6: the
discrete Fourier transform and Shor's algorithm on prime factorization.
In Chapters 7, 8, and 9 we give an overview of digital logic gates and
discuss reversible and irreversible logic gates, and how to implement
these gates in semiconductor devices and transistors. Some important
quantum logic gates are discussed in Chapters 10-14. A summary of
unitary transformations and elements of quantum dynamics are given
in Chapter 15. Quantum dynamics at finite temperature is discussed in
Chapter 16. The implementation of quantum computation in real phys-
ical systems is considered in Chapter 17. In Chapters 18 and 19, we
describe a realization of quantum logic gates in an ion trap. In Chapters
20, 21, and 22, quantum logic gates and quantum computation are dis-
cussed in linear chains of nuclear spins. Experimental logic gates and
their achievements and possibilities are described in Chapter 23. One

V
vi PREFACE

of the simplest schemes for error correction is discussed in Chapter 24.

The dynamics of quantum CONTROL-NOT gate is described in Chapter
25. Quantum logic gates in a spin ensemble at room temperature are
discussed in Chapters 26, 27 and 28. Concluding remarks are given in
Chapter 29.
This is a many-author book, and each ofus has contributed to differ-
ent parts of the book. Berman, Tsifrinovich, and Doolen produced the
first draft of the book. They were then joined by Mainieri who also pro-
duced the figures and tables for the book. In the rapidly changing field
of quantum computation it is difficult to judge what should be covered
in an introductory text, and we hope that we have covered the essentials.
We thank D. K. Ferry, L. M. Folan, R. Laflamme, and D. K. Camp-
bell for useful discussions, and R. B. Kassman and R. W. Macek for
critical reading of the manuscript. We thank G. V. L6pez with whom
the results on the dynamics of quantum logic gates were obtained. This
work was partially supported by the Linkage Grant 93-1602 from the
NATO Special Programme Panel on Nanotechnology, by the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency, and by the Department of Energy
through the Center for Nonlinear Studies and the Theoretical Division
of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

March 1998

G. P. Berman,
G. D. Doolen,
R. Mainieri,
V. I. Tsifrinovich
Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 The Turing Machine 8

3 Binary System and Boolean Algebra 13

4 The Quantum Computer 20

5 The Discrete Fourier Transform 31

6 Quantum Factorization of Integers 36

7 Logic Gates 38

8 Implementation of Logic Gates Using Transistors 44

9 Reversible Logic Gates 51

10 Quantum Logic Gates 59

11 Two and Three Qubit Quantum Logic Gates 64

12 One-Qubit Rotation 69

13 Ai - lransformation 78

vii
viii CONTENTS

14 Bjk-Transformation 83

1S Unitary Transformations and Quantum Dynamics 85

16 Quantum Dynamics at Finite Temperature 90

17 Physical Realization of Quantum Computations 101

18 CONTROL-NOT Gate in an Ion Trap 109

19 Aj and Bjk Gates in an Ion Trap 116

20 Linear Chains of Nuclear Spins 120

21 Digital Gates in a Spin Chain 124

22 Non-resonant Action of ,r-Pulses 127

23 Experimental Logic Gates in Quantum Systems 136

24 Error Correction for Quantum Computers 143

2S Quantum Gates in a Two-Spin System 1S4

26 Quantum Logic Gates in a Spin Ensemble

at Room Temperature 160

27 Evolution of an Ensemble of Four-Spin Molecules 167

28 Getting the Desired Density Matrix 174

29 Conclusion 178
Chapter 1

Introduction

At present there are two basic directions on the intersection of modem

physics, computer science, and material science. The first is the tradi-
tional approach, struggling to squeeze more devices on a computer chip.
This direction is a central focus of nanotechnology - a modem science
which uses a nanometer scale 00-9 m) to measure the size of electronic
devices. Since the late 1980s, researchers around the globe have tried
to create single-electron devices to replace the conventional M0SFETs
(metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect-transistor). These devices op-
erate by moving a single electron in and out of a conducting region.
Single-electron devices may serve as transistors, memory cells, or build-
ing blocks for logic gates [l]-[7]. The single-electron transistor has
evolved so that it is now possible, at room temperature, by applying
a voltage to the operating electrode (gate), to transfer a single electron
from a reservoir into a semiconductor island (so-cal1ed "quantum dot")
surrounded by non-conducting material. Once an electron is in the dot,
it blocks the transfer of other electrons due to the strong Coulomb repul-
sion (Coulomb blockade effect) [5, 6]. The current through a transistor
depends on the number of electrons stored in the dot, allowing one to
"write" and to "erase" the information. Another promising idea explores
the use of molecules as naturally occurring nanometer-scale structures
to design molecular devices [5],[8]-[11]. Devices in these classes take

1
2 INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM COMPUTERS

advantage of the quantum physics that dominates the nano-meter scale.

All these devices are described by conventional current-voltage charac-
teristics and are intended for traditional digital computers that operate
using two values of a bit, "O" and "1".
The second approach is quantum computation, the main topic of this
book. A quantum computer is intended not for accelerating digital com-
putation using quantum effects, but to utilize new quantum algorithms
which are not possible in a digital computer. In a quantum computer, the
information is loaded as a "string" of quantum bits - "qubits". A qubit
is a quantum object, for example, an atom (an ion) which can occupy
different quantum states. Two of these states are used to store digital
information. An atom in the ground state corresponds to the value "O"
of the qubit. The same atom in the excited state corresponds to the value
"1" of this qubit. So far, there is nothing new in comparison with the
traditional digital computer except a higher density of digital informa-
tion.
The main advantage of the quantum computer is not connected with
the density of qubits. The difference is that quantum physics allows one
to operate with a superposition of quantum states. For one atom, one can
produce an infinite number of superpositional states using just two basic
quantum states, which correspond to "O" and "1". For example, if two
states have the energies, E 0 and E 1, one can prepare a superposition of
states, "O" and "1", which corresponds to any average value of energy
between the values E 0 and E 1• However, measuring the energy of a
single atom, one can get only one of two results, E 0 or E 1, i.e., the
states "O" or "1". To measure the average value of energy, one must use
large number of identically prepared atoms.
Utilization of superpositional states allows one to work with quan-
tum states which simultaneously represent many different numbers. This
is called "quantum parallelism". What is the main advantage of quan-
tum parallelism? If one has an efficient algorithm for calculation, like
an algorithm for calculation of a sum, a product, or a power, then the su-
perposition of numbers is not important. But there are problems which
are considered today as intractable - problems which do not have an ef-
1 Introduction 3

ficient algorithm. One such very important problem is the factorization

of an integer. It can take thousands and thousands years for the most
powerful digital computers to find the prime factors of a 200-digit num-
ber. A quantum computer can operate simultaneously on many numbers,
leaving for an "observer" only the few desired numbers. The undesired
numbers are removed by destructive interference. The usual comparison
for this process is reflection of a light beam from a mirror. The reflected
light is a superposition of photons moving in many different directions.
Only one direction is selected by nature - the direction which corre-
sponds to the law of reflection. Quantum computing makes use of a
similar effect - constructive interference in the "desired" direction and
destructive interference in all others.
Note, that unlike a digital bit which, in the process of calculation, as-
sumes a definite sequence of values, "O" and "l ", a qubit can be involved
in a complex superposition of states with other qubits. One cannot de-
termine the value of a specific qubit until the end of the calculation when
the final measurement destroys the superposition. The output of quan-
tum computation is very similar to the output of digital computation.
The output is the same sequence of data obtained by measuring the state
of the qubits: "there is voltage" (represented by "1"), and "there is no
voltage" (represented by "O"). For example, after the action of the ap-
propriate electromagnetic pulse, the excited metastable state of the ion
produces a fluorescence which can be transformed into an electric sig-
nal. For the same input, one can get different outputs which correspond
to the output from probabilistic digital computation. For more sophisti-
cated schemes of quantum computation, for example, computation with
an ensemble of nuclear spins at room temperature, an output is an elec-
tromagnetic signal (the signal due to nuclear precession) which can be
analyzed by standard electromagnetic methods.
The history of quantum computing began with the academic ques-
tion concerning the minimum amount of heat produced in one com-
putational step. In 1961, Landauer showed that the only logical opera-
tions which require dissipation of energy are irreversible ones [12]. This
led Bennet to the discovery of the possibility of reversible dissipation-
4 INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM COMPUTERS

less computation [13]. Then, Toffoli suggested the famous reversible

CONTROL-NOT gate (or CN-gate), which changes the value of a target
bit (0 -+ 1, or 1 -+ 0) if the control bit has a value 1 [14]. Toffoli
also showed that reversible three-bit-gates (CONTROL-CONTROL-NOT,
or TOFFOLI-gates) are universal for digital computation, i.e. combina-
tions of these gates can produce any digital computation.
In the early 1980s, the idea of the quantum computer was intro-
duced by Benioff [15] and Feynman [16]. They showed that bits rep-
resented by quantum-mechanical states can evolve under the action of
quantum-mechanical operators to provide reversible computation. In
1989, Deutsch introduced the universal three-qubit quantum logic gate
[17]. He showed that due to the exploration of a superposition of quan-
tum states, quantum computation can be much more powerful than digi-
tal ones. In 1993, Lloyd proposed the implementation of quantum com-
putation using electromagnetic pulses which induce resonant transitions
in a chain of weakly interacting atoms [18].
In 1994, an explosion of interest in quantum computation was caused
by Shor's discovery of the first quantum algorithm which can provide
fast factorization of integers [19]. Shor's algorithm· requires a time
proportional to L 2 for a factorization of a number with L digits, com-
pared with~ exp(L 113), for the best known digital computer algorithms.
Quantum computers represent a potential threat to modem cryptography
which assumes that fast factorization algorithms do not exist. In 1995,
Barenco et al. [20] showed that a two-qubit CONTROL-NOT gate, in
combination with a one-qubit rotation, are universal for quantum com-
putation. This discovery made a quantum CONTROL-NOT gate of central
importance for quantum computation. In the same year, Cirac and Zoller
[21] suggested the practical implementation of quantum computation
using laser manipulations of cold trapped ions. The first two-qubit quan-
tum logic gate was demonstrated experimentally by Monroe et al. [22],
who used the Cirac-Zoller scheme for a single Be+ ion in an ion trap.
Results on very interesting the Los Alamos trapped ion quantum com-
puter experiment can be found in [23]. Turchette et al. demonstrated
two-qubit quantum logic gates for polarized photons in a quantum elec-
1 Introduction 5

trodynamic cavity [24]. In 1995, Shor suggested the first scheme for a
quantum error correction code [25]. His work stimulated a large num-
ber of papers which discuss different approaches to this problem. In
1996 Grover [26] (see also [27]) developed a fast quantum algorithm
for pattern recognition or data mining. For N elements in the data base
only about ,JN trials are required for Grover's algorithm to find a given
element, compared with N /2 trials for the classical algorithm.
In 1996, Gershenfeld, Chuang and Lloyd [28, 29], and, simultane-
ously, Cory, Fahmy and Havel [30] showed the possibility of quantum
computation in an ensemble of quantum systems at room temperature.
The experimental implementation of this idea (which utilizes a system
of weakly interacting nuclear spins in molecules of liquid) is now be-
ing attempted [30]-[32]. One might think, that room temperature is .
incompatible with the idea of quantum computation, which relies on
manipulation with complicated superpositional states. (These "entan-
gled states" cannot be represented as the product of states of individual
atoms.) Indeed, the interaction with the environment quickly destroys
superpositional states. These superpositional states do not "survive" in
our "classical" world. This phenomenon of losing quantum coherence
is commonly called "decoherence" [33, 34]. Decoherence has a charac-
teristic time-scale. Quantum computation must be done on a time-scale
less than the time of decoherence. This is true for both the "pure" quan-
tum system, at zero temperature, and for a room temperature ensemble
of quantum systems (molecules). The characteristic time of decoher-
ence depends not only on temperature, but also on the system. For nu-
clear spins, this decoherence time is long enough, even at room tempera-
ture. The main problem which prevented an implementation of quantum
computation using room temperature ensembles is the following: How
can one prepare a sub-ensemble, where only one state, for example, the
ground state, will be populated? This problem was solved in references
[28, 29, 30].
Discussions of a potentially realizable quantum computer involve
a new field of investigation, quantum computer material science. This
new field requires finding a medium which has a long enough charac-
6 INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM COMPUTERS

teristic time of decoherence. The theory of decoherence is the theory of

relaxation processes for complex quantum states. Future development
of this theory could significantly influence the progress in quantum com-
putation. However, the problems connected with decoherence have no
a direct relation to the main ideas of quantum computation. So we will
not discuss decoherence further in this book.
The increasing number of reviews on quantum computation (see,
for example, references [35]-[43]) reflects the rapidly growiqg interest
in the field. At the same time, many students and scientists interested in
quantum computation face all the difficulties common to any research
which requires a knowledge of several different disciplines. A computer
scientist often is not familiar with the ideas or even the terminology of
quantum physics. Physicists have a similar problem with computer sci-
ence. Overcoming this language barrier is the main reason for writing
this introduction to quantum computers. The second reason is connected
with our own work in the area of dynamics of quantum logic gates and
quantum computation. This book includes the basic physics and com-
puter science information necessary to understand quantum computa-
tion and the main directions in this quickly developing field. We avoid
rigorous proofs and concentrate on specific illustrations which clarify
the main ideas. At the same time, for simple examples, we present all
necessary calculations. The reader can see how an idea works without
omitting the details which often prevent the essential understanding of
the whole idea.
We discuss almost all of the main topics of quantum computation
which have been discussed in the literature. We consider Shor's algo-
rithm and the discrete Fourier transform; quantum-mechanical operators
(quantum logic gates) which are used in quantum calculations; physical
implementations of quantum logic gates in ion traps and in spin chains,
including an analysis of an ensemble of four-spin molecules at room
temperature. We also discuss one of the simplest schemes for quan-
tum error correction; correction of errors caused by imperfect resonant
pulses; and correction of errors caused by the non-resonant action of a
pulse. Because of the central importance of the quantum CONTROL-NOT
1 Introduction 7

gate for quantum computation, we included in this book our results

on numerical simulations of dynamical behavior of this gate. We also
present a short review of some basic elements of computer science, in-
cluding the Turing machine, Boolean algebra, and logic gates. These are
topics familiar to students of computer science, but are not well-known
to many physicists. We also explain, where we felt it was necessary, the
basic principles of quantum mechanics, which are probably not known
to many computer scientists.
Our introduction is intended to be useful for students and scientists
who are interested in quantum computation but do not have time or in-
clination to examine the original articles and reviews. We hope that this
book will help a new generation of researchers who want to be involved
in this new field of science which is expected to become of great prac-
tical importance. We also expect that this book will provide a new and
deeper appreciation of the fundamental quantum phenomena.
Chapter 2

The Turing Machine

The simplest "theoretical" digital computer is the Turing machine [44,

45]. Here the word "digital" indicates that the computer operates only
with definite numbers (and does not use any quantum mechanical su-
perposition of states). This machine was suggested by the British math-
ematician, A.M. Turing. The Turing machine has three parts, a tape
divided into the squares, a scanner, and a dial, as in Fig. 2.1. This ma-
chine can write a symbol X or 1 in a blank square, and erase them. Any
positive integer is written as a sequence of 1's. For example, the number
5 corresponds to the sequence 11111. The symbol X indicates where
a number begins or ends. For example, Fig. 2.1 shows two numbers
1 which are "prepared" for addition. The program for addition is pre-
sented in Tbl. 2.1. The symbol D is the command to "write the digit 1"
in the corresponding square on the tape; X means "write X"; E means
"erase"; R means "move the tape one square to the right"; L means
"move tape one square to the left". The numbers 1 to 6 after the letter
indicate the command to "change the dial setting to this number". The
question mark represents a "mistake"; an exclamation mark means "job
is completed".
Now we shall describe the process of addition. First, the scanner
sees the number. 1 on the tape, and the dial setting 1. The instruction on
the intersection (1, 1) is R 1: "move the tape one square to the right, and

8
2 The Turing Machine 9

I I I
X 1 X I I X 1 X I
i scanner

2
dial

Figure 2.1: The Turing machine

dial
setting

scanner__..
+
X 1
symbol
1 D6 E2 R1
2 R2 E3 ?
3 R3 E4 ES
4 L4 ? R6
5 L5 ? R1
6 X6 ! R3

Table 2.1: The program for addition in the Turing machine.

10 INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM COMPUTERS

set the dial to l". The second position is shown in Fig. 2.2. Here, the

Figure 2.2: The second position of the Turing machine

scanner sees an X on the tape, and the dial setting is 1. The second
instruction ( 1,X) is E2: "erase X, and set the dial to 2". The third
position is shown in Fig. 2.3. The third instruction (2,0) is R2. Tbl. 2.2

Figure 2.3: The third position of the Turing r

shows the sequence of positions and instructions following Fig. 2.3. The
number in parentheses inside the square indicates the dial setting at the
2 The Turing Machine 11

instructions ~

X 1 X (2) 1 X R2
X 1 x(2) 1 X E3
X 1 (3) 1 X R3
X 1(3) 1 X E5
X (5) 1 X L5
X (5) 1 X L5
X (5) 1 X L5
X (5) 1 X L5
X 1(5) X R1
X (1) 1 X D6
X 1(6) 1 X R3
X (3) 1 1 X R3
X (3) 1 1 X R3
X (3) 1 1 X R3
x(3) 1 1 X E4
(4) 1 1 X · L4
(4) 1 1 X L4
(4) 1 1 X L4
(4) 1 1 X L4
1(4) 1 X R6
(6) 1 1 X X6
x(6) 1 1 X !

Table 2.2: The sequence of positions and instructions following Fig. 2.3.
12 INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM COMPUTERS

position of the scanner. For example, 1(5) indicates that the scanner
points to the square whose index is 1 and the dial setting is 5. If the
scanner points the blank square, and the dial setting is 6, the correspond-
ing notation in the Tbl. 2.2 is (6). The last row in the Tbl. 2.2 shows the
result of addition: 1+ 1=2. The program for multiplication requires 15
numbers on the dial, but the idea of the programming is the same.
The Turing machine has the same main components that any com-
puter has. The writing and erasing elements represent the arithmetic
unit, which perform calculations. The table of instructions (Tbl. 2.2) is
the control unit. The tape and the dial are the memory unit.
Chapter 3

Binary System and Boolean

Algebra

Most "practical" computers make use of the binary system. In this sys-
tem, any integer N is represented in the form,

where an takes the values, 0 or 1. For example, 59 = (111011), is a

notation for,

59 = 1. 25 + 1. 24 + 1. 23 + o. 24 + 1. 2 1 + 1 . 2°.
Let us assume that a practical computer will add the two numbers, 2
and 3. Because 2 = 1 • 2 1 + 0 • 2°, and 3 = 1 • 2 1 + 1 • 2°, we have in
the binary system, the two numbers, ( 10) and (11 ). First, we add O and
1 (right column) to get 1. Then, we add 1 and 1 (second column from
the right), and get O for the second column, and a carry-over of 1 for the
third column. So, the sum is equal to (101). In the decimal system (101)
is l . 22 + 0 • 2 1 + 1 • 2° = 5. A table for the addition of the binary digits
(bits) is given in Tbl. 3.1.
In Tbl. 3.1, A is the value of the bit in any column of the first num-
ber; B is the value in the same column of the second number; C is the

13
14 INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM COMPUTERS

A B C s D
1 1 1 1 1
1 1 0 0 1
1 0 1 0 1
1 0 0 1 0
0 1 1 0 1
0 1 0 1 0
0 0 1 1 0
0 0 0 0 0

Table 3 .1: The table of addition in the binary system.

carry-over from the addition in the column to the right; S is the value
of the bit in the sum, and Dis the value of the carry-over to the next
column to the left.
To work with this table, it is convenient to use the methods of the
Boolean algebra [45]. These methods are especially useful, because, as
we discuss below, the expressions written in terms of Boolean algebra
are convenient for implementation in electrical circuits. A two-valued
Boolean algebra can be defined by the tables of addition (Tbl. 3.2a) and
multiplication (Tbl. 3.2b). In Boolean terminology the two operations
are often referred as the OR and AND operations, respectively. The digits
in the first row and column of each of the tables 3.2 refer to the values of
each of the two input bits upon which the operation is performed, while
those in the interior of the tables 3.2 give the value of the resulting output
bit.
In terms of the Boolean algebra, the expression for S in Tbl. 3 .1 can
be written as,

s =(AB+ AB)C +(AB+ AB)C, (3.1)

where "bar" means "complement". (The complement of Ois 1, the com-

3 Binary System and Boolean Algebra 15

(a) (b)
1 0 1 0
1 1 1 1 1 0
0 1 0 0 0 0

Table 3.2: The tables of addition, (a), and multiplication, (b), for the
two-valued Boolean algebra.

plement of 1 is 0). Let us check, for example, the second row in Tbl. 3.1.
We have,
A = I, B = 1, C = 0.
So,
A = o, B = o, c = 1.
According to the Tbl. 3.2b,

AB = 0 · 1 = 0, AB = I · 0 = 0.

Then, according to the Tbl. 3.2a,

AB+AB =0+0=0, AB+AB =0= 1,

(AB+ AB)C = 1 -0 = 0.
The second term in expression (3 .1) is equal to 0 • 1 = 0. So, the final
value of the right side in (3 .1) is, 0 + 0 = 0, which is equal to the value
of S in the second row in the Tbl. 3.1. The expression for D can be
written as,
D =(AB+ AB)C + AB. (3.2)
For example, for the second row in Fig. 3.1 we have,

(AB+ AB)C +AB= O · O + 1 · 1 = O + I = 1,

which is equal to the value of D in this row.
16 INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM COMPUTERS

Figure 3.1: The left system of circuits, A 3 A 2 A 1 , is loaded with the num-
ber 2. The right system of circuits, B3 B 2 B 1, is loaded with the number
3.

Now, we can ask what is the simplest "practical" computer for addi-
tion, using Boolean algebra. Consider a system of circuits, each circuit
having two current states - "current" or "no current". The first state
corresponds to the value of the binary unit 1 and the second state corre-
sponds to 0. We can write any number in the binary system using this
system of circuits. Another system of circuits keeps the second number.
In Fig. 3.1, the left system of circuits (A) is loaded with the number 2
((10), in the binary system). In Fig. 3.1, the number 2 is represented in
the form, A 3 A 2 A 1 = 010. The right system of circuits (B) is loaded
with the number 3 ((11), in the binary system; B 3 B 2 B 1 = 011). The
Other documents randomly have
different content
have married in the meantime, there are two lives spoiled, instead of
one just a little scorched--and that only for the moment, perhaps,"
he added, after a pause. Then pulling himself together,--"But what
makes you talk like this to a crusty old bachelor? You cannot expect
sympathy in your love-affairs from one who has resisted the illusions
of sentiment as successfully as I have, surely?"

"I don't know. People are not bachelors and old maids for being
harder than their neighbours, I suspect. I often fancy it is the other
way. But at least you are not against my trying, are you? You will not
do anything to make my chances less than they are already?"

"No, Blount; I'll do nothing against you. I could almost wish the
girl took a fancy to you, for I believe you are real; and if she does, I
will do nothing to dissuade her. Money and position are not
everything, by any means."
 CHAPTER VII.
A TABLEAU.

Mrs Deane and her party returned early from their drive. The
loungers on the galleries saw them alight. They also saw Naylor
come hurriedly forward, uncovered beneath the penetrating glare of
noon, which singled out the scattered hairs of white among the
brown about his temples, and made them glitter in a way not
grateful to the feelings of a well-preserved bachelor in middle life--if
he had but known it.

Why can a man not stick fast at five-and-thirty?--at least till he

marries? He is at his best then physically, though mentally--if he has
a mind worth mentioning--he may go on improving for another
decade, if not longer. There is so much in life, and in one's self,
worth knowing, and which is not found out till after the time when
the knowledge would have been most precious has slidden by. The
soul grows slower than the body, and may only be coming into
bloom when those weariful crow-feet are beginning to gather round
the eyes. But girls cannot be expected to see all this. How should
they, when youth in themselves is held the crown and perfume of all
their charm?

Still Naylor passed fairly well beneath the scrutiny of curious eyes-
-"the man who had been all but drowned that morning." He looked
active, and even athletic, if somewhat gone to flesh. There was
honesty in the steadfast grey eye, and modest self-possession in the
fresh-coloured face. There was an earnestness, too, at the moment,
which lent his bearing the dignity which is seldom attainable by the
well-fed man of middle age and medium stature.

"Miss Hillyard," he said, "I have not had the happiness of being
introduced to you; but surely, under the debt I owe you from this
morning, you will allow me to offer you my grateful thanks."

"Mr Naylor," she answered, holding out her hand, "pray say
nothing more about it. You have thanked me already, you know. But
I am happy to make your acquaintance. I only did what any bather
must have done who was near enough. I feel a little proud, I
acknowledge, of my success, and pleased to have been of use; but
do not talk of debts and gratitude: it sounds oppressive."

"I cannot take it so easily as that, Miss Hillyard. If you had not
laid hold on me as you did, I should have gone under. I felt myself
sinking when you touched me. I should have been down before
Sefton reached me--I am sure of that. You saved my life: it is an
obligation which I never can repay."

Rosa flushed a little, and looked down. There were a good many
pair of female eyes in the gallery turned upon her, as she felt, with
interest, and just a suspicion of envy, which could not but be
gratifying. Still, it was embarrassing to stand out there on the gravel
when the carriage had driven off, a cynosure for the eyes of all the
people above; and just a trifle stagey, with this bareheaded
gentleman presenting his acknowledgments with demonstrative
respect. Queen Elizabeth would have liked it; but then, she was a
public character: and besides, we prefer nowadays to keep our
theatricals and our private life apart. At the same time, it was
pleasant to hear this earnest and respectful gentleman assure her
that she had saved his life: he looked so manly and so strong. It
made her think well of herself to have been able to help him; and
his clear grey eyes looked so truthful and brave in their level gaze,
that she wondered how their parts in the morning's episode should
have been so strangely reversed, and felt how safe she would have
been in his company had the accident happened to herself.

As for him, standing before her and looking in her face, it seemed
as if the years must have rolled back upon themselves,--the long
savourless years since his youth,--the years which had been so bitter
when first he had passed through his sore probation of sorrow; and
then, when the lacerated spirit had learned to endure, had grown
dull and insipid. He had felt himself alone, and that the joy of life
was not for him; that others might love, but he must stand aside, an
onlooker at the feast at which no place was laid for him. This new
stirring in his benumbed emotions seemed like the summers he
remembered long ago in the South, when the plants, made torpid by
the arid heat, forget to grow, waiting through rainless weeks
beneath a brazen sky. Then come the showers at last, and the roses
put out buds and bloom anew, till winter comes to nip them.

He could not withdraw his eyes from the beautiful face before
him. As he looked, it seemed transformed into another--another, yet
still the same. This was more mature and strong; but that other
might have been so too, if it had been given him to see it later. The
soft brown eyes were the same, which lighted when she spoke, with
the same blueness in the white, a lingering remainder from the
freshness and purity of childhood. The hair was less dark than hers
whom he remembered so well, and it had a crisper wave, which
caught the falling sunbeams here and there, and flashed them
brightly back like burnished bronze. There was rich warm colour, too,
in the cheek, while that other had been pale; but the difference
accorded with the change of scene between the bracing airs of the
North and the thick hot languor of Louisiana. This face had vigour
and maturity; the other had been more tender and more frail. Its
charm had lain in a drooping softness claiming support, and
promises for the future as yet unfulfilled; while this was in the glory
of all her beauty, sufficient for herself in her supple strength--a
companion for manhood, as the other had been the clinging
cherished one for youth.
 The silence had now lasted for nearly a minute. Rosa became
uneasily aware that she was contributing a tableau for the
entertainment of her fellow-guests, which might be interpreted as
"Love at first sight," or a modern and burlesque rendering of
"Pharaoh's daughter and the infant Moses," according to their
several humours. She looked up in her companion's face, with rising
colour in her own, and the flicker of a smile about her lips, while she
held out her hand.

"You are staying here, Mr Naylor, are you not?" she said. "We
shall see each other again. I am pleased to know you. Now I must
follow Mrs Deane," and she turned and went up the stairs.

Naylor awoke from his reverie, and found himself alone. He felt
how few and bald had been his expressions of obligation; and he
had come forward prepared to deliver himself so fully, and in such
carefully chosen words, when the near view of her face had raised
long-buried recollections, and confused him with a sense of
doubleness in the presence before him, and left his memory blank.
The tender girl he had been parted from long ago, seemed
associated and blended with the personality of this beautiful
deliverer before him; and in an effort to disentangle the old
impressions from the new, the precious moment for uttering his little
speech had slipped away. Now he was alone, feeling how tongue-
tied and thankless he must have appeared, and how impossible it
would be to make another opportunity for delivering his speech.

And yet the speech might not be necessary now. She had
received him very graciously, and had even said that she was
pleased to know him--said it twice--and that they would meet again.
"What more could he want?" he thought; "and was he not an ass to
fancy that any set phrases of his could give pleasure to so glorious a
creature?--and shabby at heart, to think that any string of words
could lessen the obligation under which he stood? He must never
forget the debt, or dream that by word or act it could be lessened;
rather, he must treasure the recollection, and watch and be ready, if
haply he might, some day, be privileged to serve or succour in
return."

So thinking, he turned on his heel and went his way, leaving the
spectators in the gallery to find some other object to divert their
leisure.
 CHAPTER VIII.
MRS WILKIE'S POWDER.

Rose left Naylor standing on the gravel, and went into the house,
making her way leisurely up to her room.

The parlour door stood ajar, disclosing only darkness within, to

eyes coming straight from the outer glare of sunshine. It seemed
cool in there, with the rustling sea-breeze sifting fitfully through the
closed Venetians; and there were gurglings of smothered laughter,
which told that the place was not deserted. She stepped within the
gloom, and, as her eyes grew used to it, she became able to make
out the tenants.

A cheerful crew of girls, standing and seated in a ring, occupied

the centre of the floor. In their midst sat old Mrs Wilkie on a low
ottoman, which she occupied by herself, like a kind of throne,
fanning herself industriously till the short grey curls upon her
temples danced and fluttered in the artificial gale. The new blue
ribbons in her cap and the old blue eyes in her head danced in
unison and elation, and a proud self-satisfied smile played about her
lips, and deepened the creases in her cheeks, which looked round
and rosy like an overkept winter apple. She was in her glory, and she
gave yet a more energetic flap to the palm-leaf fan, as she pursed
her lips together, and prepared to speak again.

"Yes, my dears," were her words as Rose joined the circle, "blue
was always my colour. You see I am fair--'like a lily,' the young men
used to tell me I was," and she made a flourish with her fan. "But
that was years ago," and she blew a sigh which made her chest
heave like a portly bellows. "And then I had a colour--like a Cheeny-
rose, the haverels would have it; but the Scotch gentlemen are great
hands to blaw in the lugs of silly girls. Not that I was ever the wan
to let my head be turned with their nonsense--but still they had
grounds for what they said."

"You were a beauty," said Lettice Deane--"I can see that;" and the
girls exchanged glances brimming with amusement and incredulity,
such as those feel whose bloom is still in the present tense, when
one of the have-beens puts in her claim to personal charms.

"Yes, my dear, I was admired--in my day," and the double chin

went up with a snap, to join the rest of the self-complacent
countenance.

"Don't say was, Mrs Wilkie," Lettice answered. "You are a

dangerous woman still. It is well that mamma is with us here, to
look after the old man, or--or---- Nobody knows what might happen.
These old gentlemen are very susceptible."

"I don't think I am acquainted with your papaw, my dear," said

the old woman, looking round the tittering circle with rising colour,
and bridling as if the jest perhaps contained more truth than the
scoffer wot of. "But I never was a flirt; and now, in my poseetion,
one has to be careful, and set an example of propriety. But, as I was
saying--and it's well for young people to know these things--you
don't take proper care of yourselves in this country. You should see
our Scotch complexions when we're young. Strawberries and crame-
-that's what we look like. But then we take a hantle care of our
chairms; and we live healthy. It would be good for some Yankee girls
if they were put through a course of proper conduck"--and she
looked straight at Lucy Naylor, the most flagrant of the titterers--
"and simple living, by one of our old Scotch grandmothers. You're for
ever drinking icewater and hot tea, out here; and how can you
expeck your insides to be healthy after that? And you're all the time
at candies or pickles, not to speak of hot bread, and beef-steaks and
pitaities for breakfast, as if ye had a day's ploughing before you--and
you just lounging on soffies and easy-chairs the whole forenoon,
with some bit silly novel in your hands, and nothing to exercise
either the body or the intelleck. My son, the Deputy Minister of
Edication, says you're just destroying yourselves."

"Tell us about him, dear Mrs Wilkie," said Lettice, cutting short the
prelection. "We know our faults already, though I fear we are not
likely to mend them. Tell us about the young man. That will be far
more interesting. What do you call his profession? Something very
long-winded and grand, I know."

"He is the Deputy Minister of Edication, for the Province. And it is

a grand poseetion for so young a man, or for any man--whatever
you may think. And as for being 'long-winded,' you don't
understand. He doesna preach, my dear--though he could do that
too, if there was occasion. It was that I bred him to. But this pays
better. He has his handsome income for just sitting still in his chair
and seeing that his inferiors work hard enough. And then, there's
what the opposeetion papers, with their ill-scrapet tongues, call
pickin's! Oh yes! there's fine pickin's. But I mustna be telling tales
out o' school."

"He must be a bishop, then, Mrs Wilkie, if he does not preach. We

call boss ministers bishops. Do you call them deputies in Canada?
How odd of you! And yet I danced with him last night. Think of
dancing with a bishop! It sounds positively profane. What a country
Canada must be!"

"The lassie's in a creel! My Peter's no that kind of minister avaw. I

bred him for a minister, it's true--a minister of the Gospel, and very
far from the same kind with your bishops, and their white gowns,
and red things hanging down their backs. It's a U.P. he would have
been, if I had had my way. But Peter preferred being a minister of
the Crown; and there's no denying it pays better. There's no vows
laid on a minister of the Crown. They may dance, or do anything
they like--and very queer things some of them do like, it seems to
me. But Mis-ter Wilkie's very circumspeck. He's Deputy Minister, you
see. 'Deputy' means that all the pickin's"--and she winked, poor
soul--"go to him; though sometimes he has to give a share to the
chief--quietly, you understand, my dears, for the chief is responsible
to Parliament, and there would be a scandal if it came out. They're
fond of having a scandal in Canada when politics are dull. Then the
chief has to resign, but the deputy just sits still. He's a servant of the
Crown, you see; so he goes on drawing his pay just the same,
whatever chief the politeetians may appint over him. That comes of
our having a Crown in Canada. It's a fine institution, and troubles
nobody. It would be telling you Yankees if you had wan. Ye wouldn't
be turned out of your comfortable offices every four years, then; and
more, it would keep you steady. Ye have no respeck and no
reverence here, and no nothing;" and again she looked severely in
Lucy Naylor's face--that ill-regulated young person having fallen a-
laughing worse than ever.

"It must be nice to be married to a Deputy Minister of the Crown,"

Lettice observed, demurely.

"Ye may say that; and there's more than you thinks it, I can tell
you, my dear. The young girls where we come from are just pulling
caps to see who is to be the wan. It's really shameless the way they
behave, and many's the good laugh me and Mis-ter Wilkie has at
their ongoings."

"I suppose you are to choose the successful candidate?"

"A mother must know the kind that will suit her boay best. But it's
a sore responsibeelity, my dears. It would be terrible if the
expurriment didn't answer; and he's very hard to please, and terrible
fond of his own way."
 "Couldn't you say a good word for one of us here, dear Mrs
Wilkie?" asked Lettice with her most winning smile. "Just see what a
lot of us there are!--and we have all to find husbands yet: every
variety of girl you can think of--tall and short, dark and fair. Surely
one of us might answer. It would be a gain to all. If one were
provided for, the chance would be better, by so much, for all the rest
when the next parti came along."

"Peter must have intelleck, he says, and high culture. I'm fear'd
ye wouldn't just answer, my dear--though you're a nice girl, I'll allow,
and--well--and comely."

Lettice coloured to the temples, and her well-arched eyebrows

contracted into something approaching to a frown. It is eminently
provoking, when one fancies one has been rather successful in
drawing out an oddity, and making sport, to find the tables suddenly
turned, and one's self made the butt.

"I was not thinking of myself," she said, and there was a tremor
of crossness in her voice, which made her discomfiture more
amusingly evident to the rest--"or any one else, for that matter. I
know I would not take a gift of the fellow, with his washy grey eyes,
and stiff priggish pomposity."

"The grapes are sour, my dear. Did you never hear tell of the story
of the fox? But never you mind. There's a man appinted for you, I
make no doubt; and if there is, ye'll get him, for as long as he is
about appearing."

There was a scream of laughter, and Lettice, too angry to trust

her voice with a retort, turned on her heel and went out, while the
old lady sniffed vindictively and pursed her lips, as if she could have
said much more, had the offender allowed her time.

"The impident monkey!" she muttered at last. "Does she think she
is to make sport of me, without getting as good as she gives?"
"That's a forward girl," she added aloud. "It isn't becoming for a
young woman to be putting in for a gentleman in that barefaced
way. And ye needn't laugh, my dears; some of you are not much
better. As for Mis-ter Wilkie, ye may keep your minds easy; he can
get better than any of you where we come from, just for the raising
of his finger."

"Poor Lettice!" said Rose. "Are you not a little hard on her? I am
sure she did not mean to be provoking."

"If you say that, my dear, I am willing to suppose it. But really,
I'm just bothered with young girrls trying to catch my son, every
place I go. It's like the way bees come bizzing round a sugar-bowl;
or wasps, I might say," and she flung an angry glance at Lucy
Naylor, caught laughing again. "You are the young lady, if I'm not
mistaken, that saved the man's life this morning? It was a noble ack;
and you're an example to us women, that are more given to hang
about a man till he sinks, than to bear him up when he's in trouble.
You'll be staying here, like the rest of us?"

"Yes; I am here with Mrs Deane and her daughter."

"That girrl that was so impertinent to me just now?--pretending to

cock her nose at a Deputy Minister! Set her up!"

"Miss Deane is an heiress and a beauty. All the men in Chicago

were wild about her last winter. She did not mean to offend you, I
am sure; though perhaps she is a little spoilt by all the attention she
receives."

"An heiress, is she? And these will all be heiresses too, maybe?
They're forward and saucy enough for that or anything," she added,
tossing her head at the retiring figures trooping away to overtake
Lettice, and leaving the old woman, whose good-humour they had
worn out, standing alone with Rose. "If it was you, now, I would be
proud to hear that ye were an heiress, and to know you. Ye've got
spurrit; and I'm sure ye have sense as well as good looks. Ye're not
so young as thae light-headed tawpies, with their empty laughs, that
have gone out just now, but you're just in your prime."

"I am five-and-twenty," said Rose, with a twinkle of dawning

mischief.

"That's within two years of the age I was myself when I was
married. It would be just one like you that I could welcome to my
bosom, for a daughter," and she looked graciously in the other's
face, to accept the answering look of gratitude which she felt was
her due. "It's a sore responsibeelity, I can tell you, to a right-thinking
mother, to get her only son--and such a son!--properly settled in life.
They've no sense, even the best of men, when it comes to choosing
a wife. There's a glamour comes over them, and they just fall a prey
to some designing cuttie that has nothing but the duds she stands
in, and neither sense nor experience. But I mean to stand between
my boay and that misfortune, at any rate."

"He must feel deeply indebted to you."

"I don't know if he does, my dear. The men are contrar' cattle,
and very thrawn. But I have my duty to do. He's my objeck in life. I
left home to come out and live with him in a foreign land; and that
was no small sacrifice at my time of life, I can tell you. It's true he
has a fine piseetion and a good income; but if ye had seen the way
he was being put upon, and the waste, when I came out to look
after him, it would have made your hair stand up. A whole peck of
pitaities biled every day for wan man's dinner! The cook's mother
kept pigs, ye see. That's where the pitaities went. But I made a
cleen sweep, I can tell you."

"It must have been rather trying to you."

"Eh yes! it's been very hard upon my nerves. I'm not strong;
though perhaps ye wouldn't think it. My colour's so good that
nobody will believe there's much the matter with me. But my heart's
affecket, my dear. If you could just feel the palpitations--thump--
thump--like a smiddie hammer! ever since thae girrls with their
jawing went out,"--and she laid her hand upon her ample chest and
closed her eyes.

"How distressing! Does your medical man give you hopes of

getting over it?"

"That's in Higher Hands, my dear. We are trying the effecks of

sea-air on my complaint, just now. That's what has brought us all
the way down from Ontario. The doctor thinks I want bracing, and
he gives me poothers to take. You see, it's homoeopathy we are
trying. And that 'minds me: this is my time for a poother. What can
have come over Peter that he isn't here to give me it?"

"Can you not take your powder yourself?"

"No; it's small and delicate, and not easy to apply. The doctor
ordered it to be sprinkled on the tongue. I wish Peter was here. The
thoughtless rascal!"

"On the tongue? How odd! Do you think I could do it for you?"

"My dear, if you would! Ye're a dear lamb, and ye'll be a treasure
to any mother-in-law that gets you."

"Have you the powder?"

"I carry them about with me, to prevent accidents, when I'm
living in a strange house. The maids might be for tasting them, ye
see, and nobody knows what might happen."

Mrs Wilkie sat down in a chair facing the window, handed a tiny
parcel to Rose, and stretched out her feet in front, while she laid
back her head, grasping the chair-arms, shutting her eyes tight, and
opening her mouth wide to display the flat red tongue. It was a
moment of tension with her; she was stretched to her utmost,
holding her breath, and with every muscle tightened in expectant
rigidity.

Rose opened the parcel, which contained a pinch of white powder,

and proceeded to administer; but the appearance of the patient was
so comic that she had to forbear while calming her risible
inclinations, lest her hand should shake and the precious remedy fall
on a wrong place. At length she felt steady, and began to sprinkle as
directed. But the sprinkling took time. The powder was to be evenly
scattered over the member, or evil results would ensue; and
meanwhile the patient was holding in her breath. She clutched the
chair-arms, and strove valiantly; but nature gave way at length. Just
as the last flake descended to its place, the imprisoned wind broke
loose with a mighty sigh; a white cloud ascended between herself
and Rose, while the outstretched jaws relaxed and came together;
she opened her eyes and sat up, but the "poother" was scattered on
the viewless air, and the old lady had little homoeopathy that
morning.
 CHAPTER IX.
BETWEEN FRIENDS.

There is considerable monotony in seaside life, but it is monotony

of a different kind from the everyday existence of the rest of the
year; and in this complete change its principal charm and benefit
consist. The home-life of a number of households is laid aside for
the time, and the heterogeneous elements are thrown for the
moment into a larger whole, forming an unstable compound--a salad
of humanity where the sweets, the sours, and the bitters find
themselves in new combinations with one another, and united for
the time in a sauce piquante of fresh air and idleness. There can be
no great variety in the occupations; picnics, excursions, drives, rides,
walks, form an ever-recurring ditto, to which the unaccustomedness
alone gives flavour.

There is rest for the workers, and society for the home-keeping,
but genuine delight only for the very young, whose gregarious
instincts are still unblunted, and who find in the presence of one
another the exhilaration of spreading their callow wings in early
flights.

For the mother-birds, however, there is anxiety. In this larger

poultry-yard their chicks grow wilder than they have ever known
them before. The broods get mixed, and wander into undreamt-of
mischief, pullets consorting with cockerels of another breed, chickens
with ducklings venturing into the water, while Dame Partlet clucks
and flutters about, pecking and distracted.
 Mrs Naylor sat fidgeting and restless among the matrons who
presided over and superintended the enjoyments of their youthful
charges. Lucy was causing her anxiety. "Who was that tall man she
was dancing with?--dancing not for the first time or the second, but
the third time without a break. And how unnecessarily intimate they
appeared! Could she not fan herself if she felt warm, when they
stopped for breath?--instead of letting an awkward stranger raise
tempests which were blowing her hair into unsightly confusion, and
making her so needlessly conspicuous." If a gentleman was
warranted "nice," she did not object to his paying attention to her
girls, but she wanted assurance of the niceness. She leant over to
the nearest neighbour who seemed at leisure to answer her
inquiries, and with whom, being a stranger, she would not
compromise herself, whatever might be said.

The neighbour was Miss Maida Springer, a damsel scarcely any

longer young, seeing her thirtieth birthday would be her next, who
hovered on the confines of the dance, and looked hungrily after
young men leading other maidens out, and wondering why no one
came for her. She sat under the wing of an elder as lonely as herself-
-the widow Denwiddie, who varied the sober tenor of her life by
spending a fortnight each summer among the gaieties and
dissipations by the sea. She was bidding the widow observe things
curious in the whirling crowd of dancers as they passed.

"See that great thing in pink," she had said last. "Positively stout.
And what a colour for a large woman to wear! If it had been black,
now, or blue, or even white----" and she glanced down approvingly
at her own blue and white washed muslin. "Just watch the slow
revolving heap. Ain't she like an iceberg out at sea, growing pink in
the setting sun? And her poor little bit of a partner, racing to get
round her on time! My! mustn't he feel warm! He reminds me of an
ant trying to carry home a seed of wheat. Why don't he choose a
slim one like himself?" and she ran her eye down her own spare
form, which was certainly as slim as the absence of superfluous
tissue could make it, with spider-like arms and wrists which would
not be kept out of sight,--thinking how much freer the gentleman
would have felt in the clasp of these slender tendrils.

"Look at that one's feet. Well, I never! What a size! I wonder how
she can venture to stand up and dance. Ain't it good for the beetles
they ain't none of them here?" and then, by a strange coincidence, a
pair of number-one shoes stole out in front to show themselves--
things small and narrow, on which it seemed wonderful that a
human being could stand. But then a few bones can be packed away
in very little room.

"Will you kindly tell me," asked Mrs Naylor, "who is that
gentleman by the wall, with a lady's fan in his hand?--the one with
the limp hair, brushed up so strangely above his forehead."

"The tall fine man with drab hair? That's Mr Aurelius Sefton of
Pugwash--one of the most rising pork-packers in the whole West,
they do say."

"Pugwash? What a name! And pork! That accounts for the

sleekness of his hair. Lard--depend upon it."

"You think the lard has got in his hair? Well, now, ain't you droll!
Perhaps it has. But if lard has got in the hair, they do tell there has
money got in the pocket. Do you lumber folks in Canady, now, have
chips in your hair--chips and sawdust?"

Mrs Naylor looked dignified, and turned away. The magnates of

her country deal in lumber. It is quite a high-class pursuit, and not to
be spoken of in the same breath with pork--a horrid butcherly
business, in which no person of refinement would condescend to
make his fortune.

Maida raised her eyebrows, and turned to her friend.

"Ain't we high-strung, just! we aristocrats from Canady? What

difference can it make whether it's hogs or logs a man makes his
pile by, so long as he makes it? And I guess, if there's been less
money made in pork, there's been a sight more lost in lumber. I had
a friend once----" and she coloured faintly, looking down, and
heaving a sigh so demonstrative that her friend turned and looked at
her.

"Yes, my dear?" said the widow, with a droop in her voice in token
of sympathy. "You had a friend? That sounds sad. Whaar did he go
to?"

"He went away; and that's why it always seems as if something

was catching my breath and making me feel low, whenever lumber
is spoken of. He went to Canady in the lumbering interest, because
prospects were better there than in old Vermont. He promised to
come back when he had made his pile, and I promised to wait. It's
nothing so mighty unusual for young folks to do; and it's real feelin'
of you to shake your head and look at me like that, Mrs Denwiddie.
But don't let folks see you a-doing it; they might wonder."

"Ah yes!" heaved the widow, in deep sympathy; "I can

understand. It's the tender way us trustin' women always has. We
never tell our love, but just let folks think it's a big caterpillar has got
in the heart of the cabbage, so to speak; or rather, I should say, liver
and dispepsy that's eatin' our young looks away. It's disappinted
love, now--is it, my dear--that's wearin' you to a shaddy? I know the
feelin' well," and another sigh undulated her portly figure. "It's
twenty years, come Fall, since I was left a lone woman, and hope
has been tellin' me flatterin' tales ever since; but the men are that
backward--they just look foolish when I shake their hands friendly-
like and invite them to sit a bit, after seein' me home from evenin'
meetin'; and away they go, sayin' never a word, and leavin' me with
no more appetite for supper than if I'd eaten it a'ready."

"Do you mean that you would marry again?"

"I would then--and don't you forget it--if ever I get the chance."
 Maida glanced sidewise, and shrank the least bit possible away.

"You think me light-minded now, maybe, my dear? I don't wonder

at it. Them as hain't been married don't know how lonesome it feels
to see just the one cup and saucer laid out beside the teapot at
mealtimes."

"There must be memories. It would be sweet, I should have

thought, to dwell on the idea that one had gone before, and was
waiting across the river to be joined by the old companion."

"Oh yes; that's sweet--in a way. At least it was, when it was a

dear young minister that was sayin' beautiful things about the
Golden Shore, and comfortin' the bereaved. But twenty years is a
long time. The Rev. Mr Beulah is a married man now, with a fine
young family of his own. Folks have forgotten about my affliction this
many a year. And as for Hezekiah----I don't hold with them
spiritualists. He's more to do, you bet, than to be coming around
frightenin' a lone woman with messages rapped out on a tea-table,
or to mind whether I'm married or single. I'll be laid beside him
when the time comes; that's as it should be. But it would be real
pleasant to have some one for company in the meantime. It's a vale
of tears--we've Gospel for that; but if ever you come to my time of
life, you'll be wishin', like me, you had some one to dry your eyes in
it."

Maida sighed disappointedly. Her friend's sentiments were too

robust for the plaintive tone in which that word "lumber" had been
tempting her to indulge. Mrs Denwiddie, on the other hand, felt
talkative, and there being no one else whom she could address, she
accommodated herself to her friend's mood.

"Is it long, now, since you saw him last?--your friend, I mean."

"He went ten years ago."

 "Ten years! That's half a lifetime. Have you been gettin' letters
from him for ten years?"

"He used to write--at first, that is. Then he would send a

newspaper. Now, I don't know where he is, or what he is doing. I
wish I did. All would be forgiven and forgotten, if he only would
return."

"It's real good of you to speak like that, my dear. It takes a

woman to be true and forgivin' like that. I wonder what the young
man will be doin', now, all this time?"

"He is trying hard to make that weary fortune, to be sure. He is

ambitious."

"And he don't allow himself even the encouragement of writin' to

tell you how he's gettin' on. Do you think there could be some one
up there encouragin' him?"

"Mrs Denwiddie!"

"There's no tellin', my dear, what the men are up to. They ain't
faithful and endurin' like us."

"I have waited. I can wait."

"It does you credit, my dear. But a girl's youth won't wait. How
about settlin' yourself in life?"

Maida tightened her lips. She knew all that as well as Mrs
Denwiddie; but what right had the woman to inspect her life in this
fashion? to pull open the fold in which she chose to hide her inner
self, and pry and probe in wanton curiosity?--the merciless and
contemptuous curiosity with which married women will card out and
examine the tangled threads of a spinster's being. She knew well
enough the hopelessness of what, for want of another name, she
thought of as her "attachment." Yet why could it not be taken at
such small worth as she put upon it? She had not boasted of it. She
knew its little value too well. But it was all she had, and why might
she not wear it, having nothing else? That evening she was sitting a
wallflower while the rest were merry--with no one to lead her out or
make her a sharer in the gaiety. What wonder if she should wish to
refer to a deferred engagement, and furbish up the poor little relic of
a might-have-been, the one bit of romance she ever had, if only to
seem less forlorn in her own eyes? And this old thing by her side, as
lonely and shut out from the revelry as herself, and who, but for her,
would have sat absolutely solitary--that she should take upon her to
be inquisitive and unpleasant! It was intolerable. She gathered her
spare skirts more tightly round her, and edged some inches away
upon the haircloth sofa she divided with her "friend." She would
have risen altogether, but where was she to go? To what other
companion could she join herself? She was not intimate with any of
the other guests, married or single, old or young. She belonged,
poor soul, to the order of bats--both bird and quadruped, yet
accepted by neither. In the marrying aspect, she was regarded as
altogether out of the running, while old and young agreed each in
classing her with the other variety--too old to be a girl, not old
enough to be a tabby--and nobody minded her when other company
could be got. She felt it all, though she bravely ignored and
struggled with her fate, living through many a tragic pang which no
one ever suspected. She dared not put her position to the test by
quarrelling with the widow. Already she saw herself flitting in and
out among the revellers, unheeded, like a disembodied spirit. Where
she sat she had at least a companion, and was safe from pity. She
choked back her anger as a luxury she could not afford, and was
ready to respond when Mrs Denwiddie, warned by symptoms that
she might be left solitary in the crowd, realised that she must have
been disagreeable, and set herself to open a new conversation in a
less personal strain.

How many of us would dispense with our dear friends, if we were

only sure we could get on without them!
 CHAPTER X.
A MOTHER'S CARES.

Mrs Naylor went back to her chair to digest the information she
had received. Pork and Pugwash were not ideas attractive to her
refined imagination; but if there was money! The sons of "first
families" in the East were sent West at times, she knew. Why not to
Pugwash as well as other places? If Mr Aurelius Sefton were indeed
well off, even Pugwash might be an endurable place to live in.
Millinery is sent from New York by express all over the country, and
railways have brought Everywhere within reach of civilisation. "Yes;
if the man had his hair cut, and his manners chastened down by a
judicious mother-in-law, he really was not ill-looking. She would find
out brother Joseph, and bid him have an eye on the man, and try
what he could find out about him from the other people in the
house. It did seem, to see the pair still circling cheerfully together, as
if something might be brought to pass, if that were desirable. Yet, if
it were not, she must see that the girl did not compromise herself,
and get classed with the easily accessible." "Ah!" she said to herself,
"the anxieties of a fond mother! How are my poor nerves to stand
the strain of settling those two girls?" She realised how good she
was, feeling strengthened thereby, and almost heroic, as she rose
and moved slowly round the outskirts of the dance in search of her
brother-in-law.

The company was more numerous than usual that evening. A

brass band from Lippenstock stood on the verandah, and brayed
waltzes in through the open windows; and three or four omnibus-
loads of strangers from Blue Fish Creek, some miles along the shore,
had arrived to assist. The rooms were full, and it was not easy to
pick out any one in the crowd. She made her way from doorway to
doorway and past the windows, outside which the men not actively
engaged were wont to lounge; but no Joseph could she see--though
it was in such situations that he generally stood watching the
gambols he no longer cared to join. She walked along the
neighbouring galleries; but these seemed taken possession of by
dancers cooling off, and sauntering in the moonlight till they were
ready for another start.

At last, in the shadow of a pillar and leaning on the balustrade,

she came upon a pair looking out seaward, in intimate talk. She
thought she recognised something in the gentleman's back, and
figure, and close-cropped hair. She almost fancied she knew him; yet
who could he be? The lady wore a dress less simple than the attire
of the other girls that evening. There was a shimmer of satin here
and there among the dimness of thinner fabric--

"Like glints of moonshine in a clouded sky"--

and the suggestion of pale yellow, with a bunch of crimson on the

shoulder, where it reached beyond the shadow which fell on the rest
of the figure.

Mrs Naylor was a woman; and while she might not be able to
recall the back of her own father, a gown once seen was imprinted
on her memory, and she recognised it at once. "Miss Hillyard," she
said to herself, "the heroine--in her lovely Paris dress. I wonder
whom she has got there. That is not the contradictious Scotch
schoolmaster, at any rate, with his awkward knees and elbows. The
men seem wild about her. Natural, that, in the men. But a little
unfeminine," she could not help thinking, "in a lady to swim so well.
And it would have been in better taste if she had dressed more
quietly for this once, after making herself so remarkable in the
morning. But then she is a Yankee, and perhaps not altogether a
lady. One never knows how to class those people. Best let them
alone;" and her thoughts reverted to Mr Sefton of Pugwash, and she
felt much inclined to return to the ball-room and get Lucy away from
him without further seeking enlightenment.

At that moment the gentleman in shadow began to speak more

loudly, pointing to where the moonlight made a patch of flickering
lustre on the hazy sea.

"How bright the moonlight lies out yonder on the water! Every
ripple catches it a moment and throws it back, till the surface seems
to burn.... How different it was this morning! How different it must
be down deep below, and how easily I might be there now--cold and
stiff, rolling amongst the sea-weed, and slime, and things nibbling in
the darkness! It is a horrible reflection, and it would have come true
if it had not been for you."

The lady demurred, and moved, and asked if they had not better
go in now; and Mrs Naylor beheld her brother-in-law turn round and
lead his companion back among the dancers.

She could scarcely believe her eyes. Joseph was forty-seven. She
knew the date of his birth. He had never cared to dance within her
recollection, and she had known him almost since her marriage. She
remembered his coming home from sea about that time, a sad-eyed
youth, who avoided company, and lived in a sort of patient gloom,
finding his sole distraction in close application to business. Her
husband whispered that he had met with a disappointment into
which they must not pry, but rather strive by unspoken sympathy
and kindness to reconcile him to his lot, and wean him from his
sorrow.

In time the cloud upon his spirits had seemed to lift. He was too
kind-hearted not to take interest in the people among whom he
lived; and, sympathising with them in their joys, his own depression
by degrees was lightened. A man's capacity, even for suffering, is
limited. Divide his attention, and you mitigate the intensity of his
woes. It is the self-centred egotist whose troubles kill him, or may
drive him mad, because he is incapable of distraction. To Joseph the
better part of his life had seemed over, and work his only remaining
resource. Yet he had never closed his heart against the cares and
pleasures of his fellows, and he felt a wholesome interest in all that
went on around him, like a father watching the opening hopes of
children, who have not learnt to misgive, or dread the nipping frosts
of disappointment.

His sister-in-law, not being addicted to moral analysis, probably

did not consider this; but she had seen his despondency clear away,
and knew that he was the kindest, most cheerful, and most popular
man she had ever met--ready to join in every pastime, and differing
from the rest only in a premature middle-aged benevolence, setting
in before he was thirty, which found pleasure in amusing others,
without seeking anything for himself. He had seemed impervious to
female charms through all the years she had known him, and
especially he had avoided dances--or if by chance he found himself
at one, only joining when charity led him to the side of some
neglected wallflower. And here he was to-night, when there was no
benevolent occasion for it whatever, leading out the best-dressed
woman in the room, with an ardour which would have seemed more
natural in him twenty years before. True, the lady had saved his life;
but it seemed a droll way of manifesting gratitude to dance with her,
at his age. Her eyebrows made a satirical twitch upwards, and she
sighed impatiently at men's lack of common-sense. The present was
no time to unburden her anxieties--that was plain; and meanwhile
she would saunter round the crowd, and watch him in his new
character of middle-aged youngster.

The evening was warm, but in the dancing-room it was positively

hot. The atmosphere quivered with the blare of sounding brass, and
the whirling figures, chasing the fleeting strains, raised a sirocco of
sultry air and dust. Still the young people seemed to like it, and Mrs
Naylor looked on in wonder, forgetting that she had once been
young herself. But who were those in the farthest corner, keeping
themselves so well clear of the hurrying hubbub?--revolving dreamily
on the outer edge, in perfect sympathy and time, and in an orbit of
their own--avoiding collision with the meteors and comets of the
greater system, spinning calmly and smoothly on the flood of sound,
engrossed with themselves, and indifferent to all the world beside.

She looked again. The girl was her own daughter Margaret; but
who was the man in whose arms she was so restfully and intimately
revolving? Her self-reliant daughter was not wont to dance in that
clinging fashion, and she could not imagine what dweller at Clam
Beach could have won her to such unaccustomed softness. What
masterful bird could so have won upon the fancy of her favourite
chick? Was he one of the proper sort? But Margaret was too high-
spirited to take up with a cross-breed, and she felt less solicitous
than had it been that featherhead Lucy. Still she was curious to
know who could have tamed proud Meg to so mild a demeanour. It
was not young Petty. She could have wished that it had been. This
one was not so tall, neither was he raw-looking, as--candour
compelled the admission--was Mr Walter Petty--just a little; but then
he was young yet, and it would soon wear off, with his prospects
and assured position. This one was thoroughly in possession of
himself and all his limbs. How deftly he steered and threaded their
way, without stop or collision, among the less skilful dancers! How
strong he looked, and calm, without heaviness! She could have
wished herself young again, to be danced with by a partner such as
he. In their continuous whirling, and the perpetual intervening of
other couples, she could not make out or recognise his face. After a
while they stopped, and she moved from where she had been
standing, to get a better view. How intimately Margaret stood up to
him and talked, with her flapping fan interposed between them and
the rest of the world!

Mrs Naylor's curiosity increased, and she drew nearer. "What!"

she almost cried out aloud. "Walter Blount! How comes he here?
This must not be!" And flushing, and tightening her lips, she walked
across to where they stood. To think that after all the management
she had expended in making her brother-in-law bring them to the
seaside, and so remove her girl for a while beyond the reach of the
"detrimental" whose fascinations threatened to ruin her prospects,
the aggravating youth should have followed them! It was too
provoking. She sniffed indignantly, and bore down on the offenders,
tightening her lace shawl about her shoulders, and looking tall and
stately with all her might.

"Margaret, my dear," she said, "you are dancing a great deal too
much. You will be knocked up to-morrow, and I mean you to
accompany me to Boston."

Margaret was taken aback. Her mother's habitual seat was in the
conversation-room, at the other end of the suite, with two pairs of
folding-doors and all the dancers between. It was to avoid her
observation that they had been confining their career to this far-off
corner, and her sweeping thus down on them was altogether
unexpected. She let go her partner's arm, and with drooping eye
and pouting lip prepared to follow her mother, like a naughty child
detected in the act.

"Mrs Naylor," said Blount, "will you not speak to me?"

"How d'ye do, Mr Blount? I was not aware you were at Clam
Beach."

"It used to be 'Walter,' and you allowed me to call you aunt. Why
this change?"

"That was nonsense. We are not related. You are not a stripling
now, Mr Blount, and my daughters have grown to be young women
since then."

"That does not make me feel the less regard for you and them,
dear Mrs Naylor. It is not our fault that we grow older."
 "Why have you left your farm? These haunts of idleness and
dissipation are no good place for a young man who should be
making his fortune. Your stock will be straying and breaking down
fences; and how is your harvest-work to go on in your absence? I
am sure your friends would not approve if they knew."

"I have sold the farm--sold it very well--and I shall soon be

looking out for another."

"I am sorry to hear you are becoming unsettled. Roving from

place to place is the sure way for a young man to ruin himself.
Remember the proverb about rolling stones.... Now, Margaret, if you
are ready we will go." And drawing her daughter's arm through her
own, she sailed away, leaving Blount disconsolate.

"I am amazed, Margaret, at your want of common-sense and

proper feeling," she began, as she led the captive back by the
gallery towards the place where she was wont to sit. But she got no
further with her harangue. Mr Peter Wilkie, coming through a
window, intercepted her retreat, requesting Margaret for the favour
of a dance.

Margaret was declining with thanks, being in no mood for further

exercise; but her mother, whose brow had cleared at once on the
new-comer's appearance, interposed.

"Indeed, Margaret, I think a dance would do you good. What an

oppressive evening, Mr Wilkie! We came out here for a breath of
coolness, but I do think it is better for young people not to yield.
The more you give way to the heat, Margaret, my dear, the limper
you will become. A dance with a good partner is far the best way of
throwing off the oppression."

Margaret felt a little doubtful about the goodness of the partner,

but she said nothing, and took Mr Peter's arm without further demur.
What did it matter? Her evening was irretrievably spoilt. Besides, her
mother meant to be disagreeable--that was abundantly plain--and
she had better accept the offered deliverance. She accompanied
Peter back into the room. She laid her hand on his shoulder and they
began to dance.

If there is no method of motion more perfect than a good waltz,

there is no purgatory so grievous as a bad one. Racing, stumbling,
jolting, and running into other couples, with the danger of getting
entangled among the feet and knees of her partner at every stride,
and her ear outraged by his disregard of the music, Margaret could
only liken their progress to a hurdle-race at a country fair, as they
broke through the bars of the music, or cleared them helter-skelter.
At length she was able to stop, and Mr Peter, somewhat giddy, and
holding on till his head grew steady, drew a long breath.

"Heh! that was fine! The best dance I've had to-night. You and
me suit one another splendid, Miss Margaret. Let's have another
turn. Are you ready?"

"Really, Mr Wilkie, you must let me rest a moment, I am quite out

of breath;" and she fanned herself industriously, taking care,
however, not to include the partner this time. "How oppressive it is
here! Do you not think a breath of fresh air on the gallery would be
pleasant?" and Mr Wilkie, without at all intending it, found himself
promenading in the moonlight, when he would rather have been
regaling the company with his antics in the dance. Like other rugged
and ungraceful men, he had a high opinion of his personal graces;
and his doting mother, who worshipped his very shadow, had
conspired with his natural vanity to breed a self-admiration which
tempted him in expansive moments to display himself before an
admiring world. He would have liked to exhibit under the lights in
the crowded ball-room, with this fine girl hung gracefully on his
shoulder, as he knew she could pose herself; but if that was not to
be, at least she was a young person of intelligence who could
appreciate a man of talent. He resigned himself to the comparative
seclusion, stroked his chin, and cleared his voice, preparatory to
saying something smart.
 What the observation was to have been, nobody knows. It is in
Limbo with other good things which have missed their opportunity. It
was Margaret who spoke--

"Mr Blount! You out here! Found it too warm inside? So did we.
How pleasant it is here!"

At that moment the music ceased. The dance was ended, and Mr
Peter Wilkie, his smart saying unsaid, found himself exchanging a
valedictory smile with his companion, who somehow had become
detached from him, and, before he well understood the situation,
was wafting away with Mr Blount, leaving him alone with his
handsome shadow in the moonlight.
 CHAPTER XI.
DISCUSSING A SUITOR.

Is there some connection between a maiden's tresses and the

workings of her mind? When the braids are coiled in shining order
for the captivation of the world, are her thoughts as well confined in
conventional rolls and waves conforming to the fashion of the time?
Poets love to dwell upon her "locks": can it be because they guard
her confidences that they have named them so? There is more in
this than a mere wretched pun; there is a connection between sound
and sense--involuntary, no doubt, but the beginnings of language
are all involuntary. When the hair is unbound, the mind is freed from
the trammels of convention and reserve; and this may be why, at
hair-brushing time, as I have heard, girls' tongues are wont to wag
so freely.

There must be infinite relief to the poor little head, and brain
benumbed, when the weight of firmly drawn and twisted hair is
unbuckled and let down, and a refreshing stimulation of thought in
the action of brush and comb, spreading and airing and drawing out
the uncomfortable glory.

Margaret and Lucy Naylor had retired for the night, but not as yet
to rest. Relieved from hair-pins, they stood before their glasses in
freedom and disarray, more charming far than when decked out to
meet the public eye, which might not, alas! be privileged to behold
them now.
 Yet doubtless there is a happiness in being handsome, for its own
sake, even if one is alone. One may legitimately rejoice in beauty
though it be one's own; and it were churlish to libel that as vanity
which is common to all things beautiful. See how the roses spread
their petals to the light, and how birds of starry plumage perch in
solitary places in the sun, to preen their feathers and display their
brilliant dyes!

The girls were pretty seen at any time, but when busied in these
secret mysteries they were vastly more so. The glossy abundance
hung down like mantles over the pearly shoulders and far below
their waists, and the supple white arms held up and played among
the falling waves of hair, which flashed like skeins of pale and ruddy
gold-thread in the flicker of the candles. The glittering veil half hid
their smiling features, but ever and anon the eyes flashed out
beneath the shadow, more brightly than their wont, answering to
lips of red, and rows of small white teeth, and gurgling rounds of
laughter.

The doings of the evening were all gone over again, the
successes won anew; and in relation, what had seemed but trifling
incidents at the time, grew bigger, and under merry comment vastly
entertaining. Lucy had most to say. She was the chatterbox, and had
much to tell about the gentlemen she had danced with, and their
sometimes rather vapid talk. Could those lordly wiseacres have
heard the résumé and description of their stiff-backed endeavours to
converse and please, they would have been surprised, and some of
them not over-gratified, at the shrewd commentaries of the pretty,
timid, and not too clever little thing they had trifled with so
condescendingly.

Margaret had much less to say, but she was in equally good
spirits. It was with a very old friend that she had mostly been
passing the time, so there was nothing to tell, though Lucy looked a
little incredulous when she said as much; but her evening had been
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