Download the full version of the textbook now at textbookfull.

com

Observer s Guide to Variable Stars Martin

Griffiths

https://textbookfull.com/product/observer-s-guide-
to-variable-stars-martin-griffiths/

Explore and download more textbook at https://textbookfull.com

 Recommended digital products (PDF, EPUB, MOBI) that
you can download immediately if you are interested.

Astronomy of the Milky Way The Observer s Guide to the

Northern Sky 2nd Edition Mike Inglis (Auth.)

https://textbookfull.com/product/astronomy-of-the-milky-way-the-
observer-s-guide-to-the-northern-sky-2nd-edition-mike-inglis-auth/

textbookfull.com

The Performing Observer Essays on Contemporary Art

Performance and Photography 1st Edition Martin Patrick

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-performing-observer-essays-on-
contemporary-art-performance-and-photography-1st-edition-martin-
patrick/
textbookfull.com

The St Martin s Guide to Writing Short Edition Rise B.

Axelrod

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-st-martin-s-guide-to-writing-
short-edition-rise-b-axelrod/

textbookfull.com

Lectures on General Relativity Cosmology and Quantum Black

Holes 1st Edition Badis Ydri

https://textbookfull.com/product/lectures-on-general-relativity-
cosmology-and-quantum-black-holes-1st-edition-badis-ydri/

textbookfull.com
SOFTWARE DESIGN creating solutions for ill -structured
problems. 3rd Edition David Budgen

https://textbookfull.com/product/software-design-creating-solutions-
for-ill-structured-problems-3rd-edition-david-budgen/

textbookfull.com

Web and Internet Economics 16th International Conference

WINE 2020 Beijing China December 7 11 2020 Proceedings
Xujin Chen
https://textbookfull.com/product/web-and-internet-economics-16th-
international-conference-wine-2020-beijing-china-
december-7-11-2020-proceedings-xujin-chen/
textbookfull.com

MATLAB Bioinformatics Toolbox User s Guide The Mathworks

https://textbookfull.com/product/matlab-bioinformatics-toolbox-user-s-
guide-the-mathworks/

textbookfull.com

Wrecked 1st Edition Mink

https://textbookfull.com/product/wrecked-1st-edition-mink/

textbookfull.com

Future Challenges in Evaluating and Managing Sustainable

Development in the Built Environment 1st Edition Peter S.
Brandon
https://textbookfull.com/product/future-challenges-in-evaluating-and-
managing-sustainable-development-in-the-built-environment-1st-edition-
peter-s-brandon/
textbookfull.com
Luhmann and Socio Legal Research An Empirical Agenda for
Social Systems Theory 1st Edition Celso Fernandes
Campilongo (Editor)
https://textbookfull.com/product/luhmann-and-socio-legal-research-an-
empirical-agenda-for-social-systems-theory-1st-edition-celso-
fernandes-campilongo-editor/
textbookfull.com
Martin Griffiths

Observer’s
Guide
to Variable
Stars

The Patrick Moore

The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series

Series Editor
Gerald R. Hubbell
Mark Slade Remote Observatory, Locust Grove, VA, USA

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/3192

The stars are friends of mine; to lofty height
When falls the sombre canopy of night
Upon a slumbering world, my spirit flies
And treads with them the highways of the skies
I leap from world to world while they rehearse
The mighty chorus of the Universe
I explore skies of azure blue,
Sprinkled with diamonds of varied hue
Seek the lost Pleiad through skies aflame
And learn from her the secret of her shame.
Stars mark the ways of men and shake with mirth
At all the customs of this lowly Earth
Great wisdom and great mysteries they know
They tell the tales of long ago,
Ere time was born and chaos had its way
And darkness held its mantle over day
Why should I prize the boasted things of Earth
when I can walk with stars and share their mirth?
To know their wonders is to be divine
I’d rather walk with stars; they’re friends of mine.

- Richard Mann
Observer’s
Guide to
Variable
Stars
Martin Griffiths
Martin Griffiths
Dark Sky Wales, Blackmill, Bridgend
Wales, UK

ISSN 1431-9756     ISSN 2197-6562 (electronic)

The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series
ISBN 978-3-030-00903-8    ISBN 978-3-030-00904-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00904-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018957655

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims
in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Image Credit: NASA

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to my wonderful wife Dena with thanks
for all your support and love and to our mad dogs Gloria,
Ianto and Jango that drive us crazy.
 Preface

Variable stars are one of the most diverse and rewarding fields of study in
astronomy. Such stars not only vary in brightness, but understanding the
nature of this variability leads us to know the most amazing and wonderful
sets of objects and a deeper knowledge of stellar systems and evolution. In
short, variable stars are fascinating, beautiful and enchanting.
I have been an astronomer from a young age and have been captivated by
many objects that have become personal favourites; as with most other
astronomers, one returns time and again to old familiar ones no matter how
often they have been examined in the past. Variable stars provide an
observer with such a range of objects and a diversity of forms that the
observer will always find something new to occupy them.
I have set this book out in a format that will hopefully enable the novice
to pick up the information and go with it into the observing field. I do not
expect everyone to engage completely with the astrophysical concepts,
although learning about such adds stimulus to variable star research, as I
believe that a good understanding of the processes involved can add to the
observing experience. This field of research is also one in which individual
discoveries can still be made, and the contribution of amateur astronomers
is often all that we have as a scientific community on the nature and pro-
cesses behind such stars. It is a field where the mundane is anything but that.
I hope that this volume will provide the tools necessary to start searching
for these wonderful entities. It does not matter what the aperture of your
telescope is or how frequently you observe. The stars included in this book
I hope will please and delight most observers. I have attempted to strike a
balance between easily visible objects that can be seen in any telescope or
viii Preface

binoculars and variable stars that are a direct challenge to those with large
aperture equipment or access to photometric tools and methods.
I have also attempted to cover a brief historical and physical analysis of
variable stars in order that readers have a ready volume covering both obser-
vational and astrophysical aspects of the subject, which will give added
understanding and impetus to their search. I find that when teaching stu-
dents, the ability to see anything through a telescope is augmented by the
fuller physical understanding of its intrinsic nature, leading to a greater
appreciation for the object. Observing any object with relatively small tele-
scopes is not going to reveal a professional, observatory quality image. But
this lack can be turned to our advantage by imparting some foreground
knowledge on the inherent nature of the item viewed, enabling an apprecia-
tion of cosmic distance, scale and stellar power from our fleeting earthly
platform.
In the final analysis, I want observers to enjoy their experiences in hunt-
ing down these wonderful stars and discovering them for themselves. I hope
this small book will help one to grow in knowledge and appreciation of one
striking facet of the universe around us.

Dark Sky Wales, Blackmill, Bridgend, Wales, UK Martin Griffiths

2018
 Acknowledgements

I have been looking at the stars since I was a young boy and have spent
many nights marvelling at the wonders of the night sky. As I moved from
amateur to professional astronomy, my love of the sky and my amazement
at all it contains have never dimmed. Along the way, I have encountered
many people who have encouraged me and have helped make my dreams
come true, not least of which are those who encouraged me to write. This is
the sixth book that I have written and one which I have enjoyed researching
and writing. As an astronomer, I am keenly aware of the importance of vari-
able stars and their application to so many fields of astronomical science.
I would like to thank the staff at Springer for their help and encourage-
ment and also the helpful staff at the BAA Variable Star Section, especially
Roger Pickard, to whom I am indebted for the images of star fields and
comparisons for the final chapter of the book. In addition, the AAVSO staff
and observers have proved to be very helpful in offering advice and allow-
ing me to draw upon their expertise and online materials to provide exam-
ples and to illustrate how much help is available to variable star observers
should they take up this field of research.
Unless otherwise indicated in the text, all photographs are copyrighted.
 Contents

1 An Introduction to Variable Stars..............................................    1

History of Variable Stars................................................................    2
Broad Groups of Variable Stars.....................................................    7
Catalogue Classifications...............................................................   10
2 The Astrophysics of Variable Stars............................................   13
Population Types............................................................................   14
Stellar Classification......................................................................   14
Stellar Evolution............................................................................   21
The Interstellar Medium................................................................   22
Cloud Collapse and the Jeans Mass...............................................   24
From Protostars to the Main Sequence..........................................   26
Early Variability – The YY Orionis and T Tauri Stars..................   28
On the Main Sequence...................................................................   30
Variability After the Main Sequence.............................................   34
Variability in Red Giants...............................................................   38
Beyond the Red Giant Branch.......................................................   39
Supernovae.....................................................................................   42
Parameters of Eclipsing Variable Stars..........................................   43
Conclusion.....................................................................................   45
3 Observing Techniques.................................................................   47
Seeing and Transparency...............................................................   47
The Bortle Scale............................................................................   49
Magnitudes and True Brightness...................................................   51
Dark Adaptation.............................................................................   52
Visit https://textbookfull.com
now to explore a rich
collection of eBooks, textbook
and enjoy exciting offers!
xii Contents

Additional Materials for Variable Star Observing.........................   53

Red Flashlight............................................................................   53
A Watch or Clock.......................................................................   53
Notebook for Recording............................................................   54
Variable Star Chart.....................................................................   54
Limiting Magnitudes for Various Optical Instruments..............   55
Visual Estimation of Variable Stars...............................................   56
Corrections for Atmospheric Extinction........................................   59
Drawing a Light Curve..................................................................   59
Observing Notes and Records.......................................................   61
4 Instruments and Equipment.......................................................   69
Choosing and Using a Telescope...................................................   69
Eyepieces.......................................................................................   75
Camera Equipment........................................................................   77
Lenses........................................................................................   78
Focal Length and Field of View.................................................   79
A Telescope as a Long Focus Lens............................................   79
CCD Cameras............................................................................   79
Filters for Photometry................................................................   82
The Johnson-Cousins Photometric System...................................   84
5 Variable Star Photometry...........................................................   87
Starting in Photometry – Some Tools of the Trade........................   88
Software and Data reduction.........................................................   90
Resolution, Image Size and Field of View....................................   90
Photometry Basics.........................................................................   92
Using Makali’i...............................................................................   95
DSLR Photometry.........................................................................   98
6 Observing Variable Stars with Binoculars................................  101
Making and Recording Your Observations....................................  104
7 Giant Stars and Their Variability..............................................  111
Pulsating Variables.........................................................................  113
ACEP..........................................................................................  113
ACYG........................................................................................  114
BCEP..........................................................................................  114
BXCIR.......................................................................................  114
CEP............................................................................................  114
CW.............................................................................................  115
DCEP.........................................................................................  115
DSCT.........................................................................................  115
Contents xiii

GDOR........................................................................................  116
RR..............................................................................................  116
RRAB.........................................................................................  116
SPB............................................................................................  117
Irregular Variable Stars..................................................................  117
SRA............................................................................................  118
SRB............................................................................................  118
SRD............................................................................................  119
PVTEL.......................................................................................  120
PVTELII....................................................................................  120
PVTELIII...................................................................................  120
The Big Pulsators – Red Giants.....................................................  120
LB..............................................................................................  121
M ...............................................................................................  121
RV..............................................................................................  123
8 Cepheids and Other Variable Types..........................................  135
ACEP.............................................................................................  137
CW.................................................................................................  137
DCEP.............................................................................................  138
DSCT.............................................................................................  139
GDOR............................................................................................  140
L.....................................................................................................  140
9 Rotating Variable Stars...............................................................  141
Rotating Ellipsoidal Variables.......................................................  143
α Canum Venaticorum (ACV types)..........................................  143
BY..............................................................................................  143
CTTS/ROT.................................................................................  143
ELL............................................................................................  144
FKCOM.....................................................................................  144
LERI...........................................................................................  144
PSR............................................................................................  144
R ...............................................................................................  145
RS...............................................................................................  145
SXARI........................................................................................  146
WTTS/ROT................................................................................  146
10 Following the Light – Eclipsing Variable Stars......................... 149
EA..................................................................................................  150
EB..................................................................................................  151
EP...................................................................................................  151
EW.................................................................................................  152
xiv Contents

AR..................................................................................................  153
D....................................................................................................  153
DM.................................................................................................  153
DS..................................................................................................  153
GS..................................................................................................  153
K....................................................................................................  153
KE..................................................................................................  154
WD.................................................................................................  154
W Ser.............................................................................................  154
11 Explosive and Eruptive Variable Stars......................................  155
Early Type Eruptive Variable Stars................................................  155
Classical T Tauri stars (CTTS)...................................................  156
FU Orionis.................................................................................  156
EXor...........................................................................................  156
γ CAS.........................................................................................  157
IN ............................................................................................... 157
UVN...........................................................................................  158
UX Ori.......................................................................................  159
Luminous Blue Variables...............................................................  159
WR............................................................................................. 160
Late-Type Eruptive Variable Stars.................................................  160
UV Ceti......................................................................................  160
RCB............................................................................................ 161
DY Perseus.................................................................................  162
Classical Novae..............................................................................  163
NA.............................................................................................. 164
NB..............................................................................................  164
NC..............................................................................................  164
NR/RN.......................................................................................  165
Dwarf Novae..................................................................................  165
Z ...............................................................................................  167
SU..............................................................................................  167
U Geminorum............................................................................  167
AM.............................................................................................  168
CBSS..........................................................................................  169
DQ..............................................................................................  169
IBWD.........................................................................................  170
Supernovae.....................................................................................  170
Type I Supernovae......................................................................  172
Type II Supernovae (and Odd Type I’s).....................................  173
Contents xv

12 Unusual Variables – X Ray and Visual GROs...........................  175

Main Types of X-ray Variable Stars...............................................  176
HMXB........................................................................................  176
LMXB........................................................................................  177
XB Variables..............................................................................  177
XJ...............................................................................................  178
XN..............................................................................................  178
XP..............................................................................................  178
XPR............................................................................................  178
ZZ...............................................................................................  179
13 Variable Star Associations..........................................................  181
The BAA VSS................................................................................  182
The AAVSO...................................................................................  182
14 Variable Stars to Observe...........................................................  185
Autumn Stars.................................................................................  186
Winter Stars...................................................................................  208
Spring Stars....................................................................................  235
Summer Stars.................................................................................  255
Circumpolar Stars..........................................................................  272

Appendix: Spectroscopy of Variable Stars.......................................  291

Glossary of Astronomy Terms............................................................  299

References and Further Reading.......................................................  311

Index.....................................................................................................  313
 Chapter 1

An Introduction
to Variable Stars

Monitoring and recording variable stars is one of the oldest and noblest
activities in amateur astronomy. In very few other fields is it possible for the
modestly equipped observer to make discoveries of extreme significance
and enable professional astronomers to follow up on the astrophysical
aspects of such phenomena.
We have learned an enormous amount from watching the differences in
light output from such stars. Although the heavens were seen to be
immutable and unchanging for millennia, the discovery of variable stars
showed that the ancient ideas were incorrect. Variable stars ushered in a new
era in science as their true nature demanded the application of various
disciplines from physics and mathematics, from chemistry to spectroscopy
and to photography, photometry and cartography.
With this in mind, it would seem that modern variable star observation
by amateurs is redundant. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
There are a huge range of large instrumental surveys of variable stars, but it
must be remembered that they do not provide the same coverage that visual
observers historically have. In addition, very few surveys fully cover the
same brightness range available to visual observers, and many surveys are
from a single location and are dependent on weather conditions and other
factors. Having a host of observers worldwide covering many objects and
overlapping some provides adequate coverage, a sense of purpose and the
bonds of sharing something special together.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 1

M. Griffiths, Observer’s Guide to Variable Stars, The Patrick Moore
Practical Astronomy Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00904-5_1
2 1 An Introduction to Variable Stars

What are variable stars? How were they discovered and what distinct
types of variable stars are there? As one reads through this book it may seem
to be a mindstorm of letters, abbreviations and catalogues, but remember
that we are standing at the end of over 400 years of astronomical discovery.
Let us examine the history of discovery and then turn to a brief overview of
their types.

History of Variable Stars

According to S. Porceddu et al writing in the Cambridge Journal of

Archaeology in 2008 andagain in 2013, there exists an ancient Egyptian
calendar comprised of lucky and unlucky days. Exactly what this means is
not relevant here, but this calendar, composed some 3,200 years ago,
contains some interesting astronomical information, and these scholars
suggest that it may be the oldest preserved historical document of the
discovery of a variable star. The star is the eclipsing binary Algol in the
constellation of Perseus. We know that the Egyptians, among many other
ancient civilizations, were avid watchers of the sky, so such an observation
may well be possible. Indeed, the Persian astronomer Al Sufi in his Book of
the Fixed Stars mentions the possibility of Algol’s variability in the year
a. d. 964.
The first definitive variable star was recorded in 1638 when Johan
Holwarda noticed that o Ceti (later named Mira) pulsated in a cycle taking
about 11 months. However, the star had previously been discovered by
David Fabricius in 1596, but he thought that it was a nova. Holwarda’s
discovery, combined with the earlier supernova of Tycho Brahe in 1572 and
that of Johannes Kepler in 1604, were ground breaking in that they proved
that the stars were not invariable as Aristotle and other ancient philosophers
had taught. In this way, the discovery of variable stars contributed to the
astronomical revolution of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
The second variable star to be described was the eclipsing variable Algol,
by Geminiaro Montanari in 1669, but it was left to John Goodricke to
present the correct explanation of its variability in 1784. The long period
variable χ Cygni was identified in 1686 by the astronomer Gottfried Kirch,
then the star R Hydrae in 1704 by Dominico Maraldi.
To understand the variability of such stars, astronomers had to observe
their variability over specified time periods and draw a graph showing the
differences in brightness over time. Such graphs are known as light curves.
In the study of objects that change their brightness over time, such as novae,
supernovae, and variable stars, the light curve is a simple but valuable tool
History of Variable Stars 3

Brightness (Magnitude)
9

10

May June July Aug

Time of 1995

Fig. 1.1 Simple light curve (Image from https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/tool-

box/timing1.html)

to an astronomer and a tool that reveals much about the system under
scrutiny. An example can be seen in Fig. 1.1.
The record of changes in brightness that a light curve provides can help
astronomers understand processes at work within the object they are
studying and identify specific categories (or classes) of variable events.
Thanks to successive generations of astronomers studying variables and
drawing light curves based upon observation, astronomers know generally
what light curves look like for a class of variable star. In this fashion, when
a new light curve of a variable star is plotted, we can compare it to standard
light curves in order to identify the type of star under observation.
The gifted British astronomer John Goodricke discovered the variability
of both δ Cephei and β Lyrae, while his astronomical companion Edward
Piggott discovered η Aquilae in 1783. Working in concert with each other
and communicating via letters (Goodricke was deaf and mute) Goodricke
and Piggott distinguished two classes of variable star. The first type
consisted of objects such as Algol, which exhibited a single sharp change in
brightness on a regular basis. In the case of Algol, Piggott and Goodricke
correctly surmised that the changes in brightness could be explained by
transits of some dimmer object across the star, and they even postulated that
it might be caused by a transiting planet. This remarkable achievement was
4 1 An Introduction to Variable Stars

tempered once it was known that Algol has a transiting fainter companion
star rather than a planet.
The second type the pair distinguished included variable stars such as δ
Cephei, whose brightness changed continuously and whose peak brightnesses
were not necessarily identical from period to period. They inferred correctly
that these irregularities meant that something had to be happening internally
to the star, as a transit would produce a regular light curve with no
differences between successive periods. Thus they heralded a new field of
astrophysical phenomenon that took almost two centuries to understand.
Goodricke’s notes can be seen here in Fig. 1.2.
By 1786 at least ten variable stars were known. The astronomer William
Herschel also drew attention to variable stars and studied the light curves of
δ Cephei, β Lyrae and η Aquilae in 1784. In 1787 he discovered that the

Fig. 1.2 Goodricke’s notes of δ Cephei (Image from https://www.researchgate.net/

figure/John-Goodricke-1764-1786-Pastel-portrait-by-James-Scouler-now-the-
property-of-the_fig1_224861563.)
History of Variable Stars 5

fainter component of the binary star ι Bootis was variable, and in 1795 he
also discovered the irregular variations of the star α Herculis. His son, John
Herschel, added to the catalogues of known variable stars with his
observations of the southern hemisphere sky from Feldhausen in South
Africa in the 1830’s.
The following table lists the known variable stars up to the beginning of
the 19th century.

Star Year Discovered Discoverer

o Ceti (mira) 1596 Fabricius
β Persei 1669 Montanari
χ Cygni 1687 Kirch
R Hydrae 1704 Maraldi
R Delphini 1751 Hencke
R Leonis 1782 Koch
μ Cephei 1782 Herschel
β Lyrae 1784 Goodricke
δ Cephei 1784 Goodricke
η Aquilae 1784 Pigott
R Coronae Borealis 1795 Pigott
R Scuti 1795 Pigott
α Herculis 1795 Herschel

The increase in discoveries in the latter half of the 18th century typifies
the way in which scientific observations of the sky were being made in
systematic sweeps by people such as William Herschel and Edward Pigott.
It was important that these new types of stars be given some significance
so that observers could follow them as often as possible. Therefore, a sys-
tem was developed by the German astronomer Friedrich Argelander, who
gave the first previously unnamed variable in a constellation the letter R,
which was the first letter not used by Johannes Bayer in his 1603
Uranometria. Today, in any given constellation, the first set of variable stars
discovered is designated with letters R through Z. The letters RR through
RZ and SS through SZ, and up to ZZ are used for the next variable stars in
the constellation. Later discoveries used letters AA through AZ, BB through
BZ, and up to QQ through QZ (the letter J is omitted, however). Once those
334 combinations are exhausted, variables are then numbered in order of
discovery, starting with the prefixed V335 onwards.
Argelander’s seminal star catalogue Uranometria Nova, published in
1843, encouraged worldwide interest in the study of variable stars. In fact,
Benjamin A. Gould was a pupil of Argelander and became the first
American astronomer to receive training in Germany. When he returned to
America he encouraged variable star observation and produced his own
catalogue of southern variables, called Uranometria Argentina, in 1879.
6 1 An Introduction to Variable Stars

The 19th century saw the application of astronomers such as J. R. Hind

in London and the American observers Seth C. Chandler, Edwin F. Sawyer
and Paul S. Yendell to variable star work, who all observed from New
England.
Chandler produced three catalogues of variable stars, and in 1878 he
even produced papers on how to observe variable stars that were circulated
among astronomers. In the following years, Chandler continued his variable
star work at Harvard College Observatory, although he never became a
member of the faculty. Edwin Sawyer was discovered to be a remarkable
observer by Chandler, who promoted his interests to produce a catalogue of
over 3,400 southern variable stars. The third member of this remarkable
trio, Paul Yendell, contributed 140 papers in just 10 years to the journal
Popular Astronomy. The incredible thing about all three observers was that
they were amateurs with no formal training. Chandler was an insurance
clerk, Sawyer a bank clerk and Yendell was a shopkeeper! However, being
in close association with the director of the observatory at Harvard College,
Edward C. Pickering could see the need for a formal society to collate
information and disseminate ideas.
Pickering personally made over 6,000 variable star observations and
produced catalogues for astronomical use, but by 1910 it was obvious that
the sheer number of observations – and observers – required a fresh and
organized approach. Eventually it was, once again, an amateur astronomer
who took up the responsibility and began to correspond with variable star
observers all over the United States. William Tyler Olcott offered his
services to Pickering, and an American variable star observer’s society
began with an article in the November issue of Popular Astronomy. The
dedication and patience of generations of observers laid the foundations for
a society that has become instrumental in amateur and professional variable
star work – the American Association of Variable Star Observers, or the
AAVSO.
In Great Britain a similar society was inaugurated under the British
Astronomical Association (BAA), and it predates the AAVSO. The BAA
was founded in 1890, and in the same year a section of variable star
observers was set up to encourage observations and produce papers and
materials for distribution to other amateurs. The Variable Star Section
(VSS) still maintains the aim of collecting and analyzing observations of
variable stars. Reports to its members are given via the VSS circulars
published four times a year, and there are many articles in the bi-monthly
BAA journal.
With the invention of the spectroscope and astronomical photography,
the number of known variable stars increased rapidly to the point that now,
Visit https://textbookfull.com
now to explore a rich
collection of eBooks, textbook
and enjoy exciting offers!
Broad Groups of Variable Stars 7

in the 21st century, the General Catalogue of Variable Stars lists more than
46,000 variable stars in the Milky Way alone, as well as 10,000 in other
galaxies and over 10,000 ‘suspected’ variables.

Broad Groups of Variable Stars

Variable stars are so different in type and variety that trying to pull them all
together into simple headings is a difficult task. However, astronomers
noticed that there is a broad distinction that can be used. Whatever happens
to cause the variability of any star is due to just two factors: something is
happening to the star internally, or something is affecting the star externally.
These two reference points then can produce a broad category for variable
star discovery once we have a good light curve.
Intrinsic variable stars are stars where the variability in light output is
being caused by changes to the physical body of the stars themselves. The
following light curve in Fig. 1.3 illustrates the activity of such stars.
As can be seen, the period of variability is over 5.4 days. There a sharp
rise to maximum light (maxima), which reveals that the underlying
mechanism inflates the star quite quickly to maximum size and luminosity.
As the stellar surface cools and relaxes, the star returns to normality in a
smooth decline that is not as sharp as the original rise. This shows that
radiation is escaping the star in a gradual process almost like a release valve,
allowing the surface to return to normal in a controlled fashion before the

Fig. 1.3 Intrinsic variable light curve (δ Cephei). (Image from http://hyperphysics.
phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Astro/cepheid.html.)
8 1 An Introduction to Variable Stars

whole process starts again. We will deal with the mechanism of expansion
and contraction in the chapter on the astrophysics of such objects.
Overall, intrinsic variables follow a general pattern of the above light
curve, with subtle or extreme changes dependent on the type. Intrinsic
variable stars can be divided into three main subgroups:

Pulsating variables:
Wherein the star’s radius alternately expands and contracts as part of its
natural evolutionary processes. The stars literally swell in size before
declining back to their (almost) original size (see Fig. 1.3).

Eruptive variables:
These are stars that experience physical eruptions on or from their surfaces
such as flares or mass ejections.

Cataclysmic or explosive variables:

These are stars that undergo a cataclysmic change in their properties, like
novae or supernovae. Although some of these types interact with a
companion star they fall within the intrinsic variable bracket, as the
mechanism of variability happens to the main star.
The second major group of variable stars is what are called extrinsic vari-
able stars. These are stars where the variability is caused by external proper-
ties such as rotation or eclipses with a binary companion. The illustration
here in Fig. 1.4 shows the mechanism behind an eclipsing variable star.
This is the light curve of Algol, a typical eclipsing binary and one of the
most studied objects in the heavens. As Piggott and Goodricke discovered,
the light curve and period of variability are very constant.
When the line is flat, both stars are visible from Earth; then a primary
eclipse begins as the fainter companion stars moves in front of the primary
and causes the light output to decline rapidly. In some eclipsing variables
there will be a flat bottom to the prime eclipse. This shows that the eclipsing
star takes some time to move across the line of sight of the primary. Details
such as this give us such information as relative size of each star, the orbital
period and a host of other factors.
Once the companion moves away from the primary, a sharp increase to
normal light is achieved before the secondary star goes into eclipse behind
the primary, and a smaller, shallower eclipse of the fainter star is seen before
the orbit brings both into view and the light output returns to normal once
more.
Broad Groups of Variable Stars 9

Fig. 1.4 Eclipsing variable (Algol) (Image from http://www.adirondackdailyenter-

prise.com/opinion/columns/2016/12/look-into-medusas-eye-for-the-demon-star/.)

With extrinsic variable stars there appear to be two main subgroups:

Eclipsing binaries:
These are double stars where, as seen from our vantage point here on Earth,
the stars occasionally eclipse one another as they orbit their common
centers.

Rotating variables:
These are stars whose variability is caused by phenomena related to their
rotation. Rotating variables may be subject to such phenomena as extreme
‘sunspots,’ which then affect the apparent brightness of the star or in some
cases they are stars that have fast rotation speeds, which cause them to
become ellipsoidal, or egg shaped!
In both intrinsic and eclipsing variable stars, the subgroups themselves
are further divided into specific types of stars that are usually named after
their prototypes.
10 1 An Introduction to Variable Stars

Catalogue Classifications

The common types as seen above are of course subdivided due to type and
into subgroups that illustrate the peculiarities of some of the variable star
systems. There are additional identification markers that illustrate the wide
variety of variable stars and also show that just one sort of variability is not
inimical to some systems. Several sub-types show behavior that is typical of
several different types, and as a result, these features need to be illustrated for
correct classification.
The most important reference source for variable stars is the General
Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS), which contains data for 52,011
individual variable objects discovered and named as variable stars by the
year 2015 and located mainly in the Milky Way. From this source is taken
the International Variable Star Index (VSX) used by the AAVSO, and one
can register and scan the VSX at this website: https://www.aavso.org/vsx/.
It is instructive to note that variable classes and types are all in uppercase
bold letters, so a star such as R Coronae Borealis will be known as RCB,
while γ Cassiopeia systems will be GCAS. Some measure of knowledge of
constellations is required to tease the names out, but this should be de rigeur
for amateurs who are going to undertake such work with variables. To learn
more about the General Catalogue of Variable Stars and to peruse it, then
check out this website: http://www.sai.msu.su/gcvs/gcvs/vartype.htm.
Some of the types of variable stars that one will encounter in this book
are placed here as a rough and quick guide with some examples of the
nomenclature given for certain stars. We shall examine these types in more
detail in each chapter on them.

Eruptive variables:
BE, FU, GCAS, I, IA, IB, IN, INA, INB, INT, IT, IN(YY), IS, ISA, ISB,
RCB, RS, SDOR, UV (UV Ceti), UVN, WR (Wolf-Rayet types).
It should be noted that the I types here are generally poorly studied and
amateurs with the correct photometric equipment may make some valid
scientific contributions to their field of study. Many of them (IN to INYY)
are commonly known as Orion-type variables, so we are generally looking
at young objects.

Pulsating variables:
ACYG, BCEP (β Cephei), BCEPS, BLBOO, CEP, CEP(B), CW, CWA,
CWB, DCEP, DCEPS, DSCT, DSCTC, GDOR, L, LB, LC, LPB, M (Mira
types), PVTEL, RPHS, RR, RR(B), RRAB, RRC, RV, RVA, RVB, SR,
SRA, SRB, SRC, SRD, SRS, SXPHE, ZZ, ZZA, ZZB, ZZO.
Catalogue Classifications 11

The pulsating variables are a fascinating group, as they generally pulsate

in regular fashion in a radial expansion. However, some types, such as L to
LPB, reveal irregular behavior that is probably due to non-radial pulsation.
Sections of the star are moving inward and outward in different modes, and
so the star is no longer a spherical object. Some Mira-type variables exhibit
such behavior.

Rotating variables:
ACV (A Canes Venaticorum), ACVO, BY, ELL, FKCOM, PSR, R, SXARI.
Rotating variables, as the name suggests, are stars without a uniform
surface brightness, although the mechanism for some of their variability
remains unclear. Most often the periods are due to the stars being ellipsoid
in shape due to fast rotation. Occasionally, the stars vary as large spots or
groups of spots are brought into view by the rotation of the star, or there
may be some form of thermal or chemical differences in the photosphere or
chromosphere, possibly created by a magnetic field. It is thought common
to these stars that these intense magnetic fields may not have polar axes in
the same plane as the rotational axis.

Cataclysmic variables:
N, NA, NB, NC, NL, NR (recurrent nova), SN, SNI, SNII, UG
(U Geminorum types), UGSS, UGSU (SU Ursae Majoris types), UGZ,
ZAND (Z Andromedae).
Irregular outbursts characterize these stars, and the group contains not
just the supernovae types but the more common U Geminorum types,
known as dwarf novae. The UGSS types are SS Cygni stars while the UGZ
are very interesting Z Camelopardalis-type stars. After outburst they do not
always return to their original luminosity but remain a magnitude or so
above their mean.

Eclipsing binary systems:

E, EA, EB, EP, EW, GS, PN, RS (RS Canes Venaticorum), WD (stars with
white dwarf components), WR (eclipsing Wolf-Rayet stars), AR, D, DM,
DS, DW, K, KE, KW, SD.
Many eclipsing variables are stars that evolve within binary systems and
thus fill an area known as the Roche lobe. If they do this as they expand,
then materials can tip over the inner Lagrange point and mass transfer
begins. The characteristics of such light curves are complicated by rotation
around their gravitational centers, the spread of material masking the light
output of the stars and the contribution to the light curve from hotspots in
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
The night was already late, a pungent cold, with breezes that
seemed like powerful, icy gasps crossed the silent Engadine country.
The pure night air was rendered quite white by the lofty brilliance of
the moon, suspended over the lake like a lamp in mid-sky.
Meanwhile the mountains around, far and near, were becoming
obscure and gloomy with shadows, and even higher and more
majestic in the gloom those that the moon did not touch and
illuminate, while the opposite shores of the lake, untouched by the
moon's rays, grew gloomy; in the middle its waters, touched by the
moon, were scintillating. All the lake of St. Moritz, in fact, seemed
like a strange cup of peculiar liquid, black and fearsome towards the
deserted shores, beneath the shadow of the mountains, brilliant as a
cold, metallic liquid in the middle; a fantastic cup containing
intoxication and death on the cold summer night in the high
mountains. Like night and moon the silence was supreme and
everything seemed motionless. Up above a few scattered lights
pointed the way from the station to the baths, but no human
shadow passed there. Down below at the baths rarer and feebler
light flickered now and then, if a too impetuously cold breeze
reached them. In an opaque, almost spiritual, whiteness the eternal
snow appeared high above, in the night, on the strange Piz
Languard; pure and spectral it appeared amidst the deep folds of
Monte Corvatsch, and pale as a phantom on the far-off horizon
between the two peaks of the Margna. Their souls trembling with an
immense sensibility, their hearts palpitating with an immense
tenderness, were struck, seized, and conquered by the majesty and
purity of things in the presence of the mountains that for centuries
have seen time and life pass away; in the presence of the motionless
glaciers that no sun's rays could dissolve, and the waters black as
shadows or white as the moon. Side by side, they felt their hearts
lifted above every little transient, paltry entanglement by so much
power, beauty, and nobility; they felt that their hearts were breaking
old bonds, and that the secret of their spirit was more intense,
profound, and overpowering. They felt that here was the master
whom nothing could any longer resist, and that no longer could they
lie or remain silent. Sweetly Lucio bent over her and sweetly he drew
her to him with a light fleeting action, as he brushed the fair hair on
her forehead with his lips.
"Amore mio!" he cried in Italian.
Lilian Temple became as white as her dress and veil, and white as
the eternal snow of the mountains.
 CHAPTER X

"Hoop-la!" cried Mabel Clarke joyously. And bending over the neck of
her yellow-dun horse she urged him to a trot; Vittorio Lante also
brought his horse, a powerful black, to a trot. The amazon and her
cavalier trotted side by side for some minutes in a cloud of dust.
Descending by the hill that separates the Dorf from the valley of
Samaden, going through the little shady, peaceful wood, grazing the
tall hedges, fragrant with aroma beneath the matutinal dew, Mabel
Clarke brought her horse to a walk and Vittorio Lante imitated her.
But when the American girl issued from the wood on to the high
road, where the broad valley of Samaden opens out, she perceived
that the two equipages, the large white brake and the victoria,
containing the rest of the party had made great progress and were
hardly to be distinguished, being ahead beyond Celerina and on the
way to Pontresina; she felt a sudden rush of infantile impatience,
and inciting her horse and the cavalier who accompanied her, she
wanted to catch up and pass the two carriages.
Dexterously firm in the saddle, in a dark blue habit which made her
seem taller and slimmer, and a most attractive dark blue doublet,
fastened by tiny buttons, with a white collar fastened by a big gold
pin, with a tea rose in her buttonhole, and a round straw hat,
surrounded by a blue veil that even restrained the thick, riotous,
chestnut hair, and floated behind in transparent blue waves, gloved
in yellow deer-skin, booted exquisitely, Mabel Clarke was more than
ever fascinating in her florid beauty, in her graceful vigour, and
vibrant youth. She did not look at the very bright, almost white,
morning sky, a sky of an ineffable softness. She took no heed of the
fresh air, so sweet to breathe; and she cared not for a sun that was
very bland, whose rays were bright without fierceness. She gave
herself up, in happy unconsciousness, to the joy of being young,
healthy, beautiful, of guiding and being guided by a strong horse,
faithful and safe, passing at a steady trot along the broad road,
amidst the meadows soft with dew, only turning every minute to see
if her cavalier, Don Vittorio Lante, were following closely. That
perfect cavalier, who was trotting with ease and youthful
heedlessness, was quite close to her, scarcely bending over his
horse, smiling every time at the softly blue-veiled face of Mabel
Clarke, who smiled at him for a moment. In the buttonhole of his
riding-coat he had placed a tea rose; beneath the brim of his soft
grey felt hat a peaceful countenance revealed itself, and an
expression full of happiness that was reflected from his glance. His
surroundings, with their charm of air and light and perfume, did not
affect him; or perhaps they reached him through his dream. Twice
with a gesture of fastidiousness the amazon and her knight were
forced to rein in their horses, putting them to a walking pace, to
pass the little village of Cresta and the district of Celerina, in the
narrow, twisting, badly paved streets. But when once again they
emerged on to the high road and had passed the sounding wooden
bridge over the Inn, they yielded themselves to a strong trot, again
inciting and urging each other, always gaining more ground on the
carriages.
"Go! go! go!" exclaimed Mabel Clarke gutturally, in English.
Already this gay chase was perceived from the carriages, and many-
coloured parasols and white handkerchiefs were to be seen waved in
greeting from the brake; the two ladies in the victoria turned their
heads, more tranquilly, as if to encourage the proud riders more
pacifically, who were advancing and suddenly reached and passed
the victoria, Mabel Clarke sending a kiss with the handle of her whip
to Mrs. Clarke and a nod to the other lady, Mrs. Gertrude Milner, Don
Vittorio Lante bowing and saluting with his whip. They overtook the
large brake, skirting it, the one on the right, the other on the left,
where, laughing and gesticulating, Ellen and Norah West, Susy
Milner, and Rachel Rodd jumped up to welcome them, as well as
several young men, who in French and English also welcomed them
in pleasant, jolly terms, while Mabel and Vittorio, on their part,
laughing and calling out a little, responded to all the enthusiasm.
For a long portion of the road there was a war of chaff between the
brake and the two riders as they came up or passed from time to
time, an exchange of greetings and apostrophes in French and
English, the girls pronouncing Mabel's name a hundred times, and
she shaking her beautiful brown head as she smiled and laughed,
her veil swelling behind her in blue waves, while Vittorio Lante
played his part in regulating his black to Mabel's yellow-dun; and
even he was amused by the playful briskness of their chaff.
Annie Clarke and Gertrude Milner in the victoria more quietly
contented themselves with a kindly wave of the hand or a nod of the
head or an indulgent little smile when Mabel and Vittorio passed
them. Annie Clarke was wearing a light grey dress of masculine cut
and a round hat, wrapped round with a light grey gauze veil;
beneath her white collar on the dark tie, knotted in man's fashion, a
very simple pin was fixed, an enormous shining black pearl, a unique
jewel. Gertrude Milner was austerely dressed in black, but on the
white lace which formed the yoke of her waistcoat she wore a single
string of large pearls, which she never took off. People said that
Gertrude Milner even wore these pearls at night when she slept.
As they sped towards Pontresina neither the amazon nor her
cavalier, nor the young girls in the brake, nor the ladies in the
victoria seemed aware of how they were leaving behind them the
meadows of Celerina, the distances of Samaden, and the heights of
the Muottas and the Corvatsch; the profile of Pizalbris to the left,
and to the right the curve of the Fuorcla, the deep woods that
alternate with arid glebe and stones and rocks, and the white
Flatzbach, that milky, tumultuous torrent which comes from the
white Bernina. They seemed not to see how in grandiose and
solemn line the two mountains opened, to show the gigantic Roseg
glacier in a bluish whiteness beneath the bland sun. Perhaps the
fresh, caressing air, the vault of heaven brighter than ever, and the
soft morning light vibrated within them as intimate and secret
elements of serenity, content, and subtle intoxication. But none of
them wanted to, or knew how to, take account of these hidden
influences. They enjoyed everything without analysing, and the
strong desire of arriving quickly at their goal possessed them. The
horses of the riders, of the brake, of the victoria, urged on by spur
and whip, sped on to arrive together more quickly than anyone had
ever made the journey, with the headstrong anxiety of always being
first, which is one of the forces of the American race. The maids and
youths in the brake were annoyed at every other vehicle, and tried
to pass them, urging on the driver, the robust Joe Wealther, the
fiancé of Ellen West. Mabel and Vittorio were annoyed with whatever
they met in the way, an obstacle to their race; and with smiling and
mischievous eyes they exchanged, the American and the Italian,
their impetuous desire of ever speeding ahead, as they disturbed
groups of pedestrians, and scattered clouds of dust over the other
carriages. In the victoria Annie Clarke and Gertrude Milner, the two
peaceful and dignified matrons, grew weary of all the other road-
farers; they drew the rug over their knees in a distracted and distant
manner, appearing to be not the least aware of other wayfarers on
foot or in carriage. They grew proudly weary, desiring quietly, as the
others desired ardently, to reach the Morteratsch glacier quickly,
whither all were directed, and where they must see everything in the
shortest time and return at once to St. Moritz Dorf for luncheon at
the Palace Hotel.
"The lunch is execrable here at the glacier restaurant," Annie Clarke
declared, with a knowing air.
Still, in spite of all their American hurry, on entering that strange
district of Pontresina, studded with little wooden houses, in two
rows, as if from a child's box of toys, carriage and riders were forced
to go at a foot-pace. The row of carriages became much longer—
hotel omnibuses, barouches coming and going in every direction to
and from the Roseg, towards Samaden and the Bernina. Even
denser were the people on foot, who came and went, and grouped
themselves at the doors of the hotels with their hundred rooms,
before the cafés and the confectionery shops—a bizarre crowd, so
different from that of St. Moritz.
"Très inélégante, Pontresina," declared Gertrude Milner, in her turn,
with American gravity.
However, they were forced to halt in the square before the Post
Office, like all the other carriages, to let the horses have a moment's
breather. The girls in the brake clamoured for the famous chocolate
truffle of the Pasticceria, A Ma Compagne, so their two cavaliers
jumped from the brake to go and fetch some; two others went for a
whisky and soda. Vittorio Lante patiently allowed his horse to drink
at a fountain near by. Mabel approached her mother's carriage and
bent over her as fresh as a flower.
"Happy, Mabel?" asked the mother tranquilly, scarcely smiling.
"Most happy, mammy, very happy!" exclaimed the daughter.
Smiling, chatting, and exchanging chocolates and caramels, the girls
in the brake pretended that Joe Wealther should make the horses go
furiously on leaving Pontresina; but he imperturbably kept an even
pace in spite of their protests. Mabel and Vittorio again trotted
briskly, and even the peaceful victoria was transported at a trot.
Beneath a sky increasingly pale, as if a great pallor had been
diffused beneath the blue, with the light of the sun now veiled, the
countryside was profoundly changed. A broad, deserted valley,
between two rows of black, rocky mountains, opened out, and
stretched monotonously and sadly. Here and there a rare herb grew
between the rocks with some big, dusty, yellow flower. Stones were
everywhere, from the little pebble to the massive boulder, heaps of
dry earth were crumbling, and little mounds of black earth concealed
the meagre course of a stream which now and then reappeared,
weak and tinged. So silent was the sadness of that valley, and the
death of everything lively and gracious, that behind her blue veil
Mabel's grey eyes grew disturbed and she felt the need of breaking
the sad silence that oppressed her, and of hearing the voice of her
cavalier.
"Do you love all this, Lante?"
They were alone, sufficiently far from the carriage; their horses close
together, head to head, relaxed their pace to the reins held slackly in
their hands.
"I love you, Miss Clarke," he replied promptly, with an unwonted
impulse, more passionate than sentimental.
"Do you even love me here, in this arid, gloomy place?" she asked,
as if another, a more intense amorous declaration were necessary for
her, to conquer, perhaps, the melancholy that weighed her down, or
for some other mysterious uncertainty of her soul.
"Here, and everywhere, and always," he said seriously, as if he were
proclaiming a shining truth and pronouncing a sublime oath.
"Ah!" she exclaimed simply, as if in a dream.
For an instant, almost in a dream, Mabel bowed her head, as if she
wished to drive away every molesting care. She pulled sharply at her
horse's rein, to resume a more rapid pace.
The carriages approached. Mabel and Vittorio distanced them again.
The man was silent and thoughtful, as if disturbed at what had
bubbled forth from his soul in a cry of sincerity. She was silent,
watching him now and then, as if to scrutinise his thoughts and
feelings, because the accent, which had been more earnest than she
had previously heard, had reached her. The horses trotted head to
head.
"Is this the Bernina road, Lante?" she asked in a low voice.
"Yes, Miss Clarke," he murmured.
"Then it is the road to Italy?"
"Exactly, to Italy, Miss Clarke."
There was an instant of silence. He leant his head towards her and
said to her in a voice she had never heard before:
"Miss Clarke, shall we gallop to Italy? Together, alone, to Italy, Miss
Clarke?"
She looked him frankly in the eyes, wishing to penetrate his heart
and soul. And he withstood well the woman's glance, directed
sharply at him in its desire to know the truth. A light laugh issued
from her young mouth.
"Why do you laugh, Miss Clarke? It is not right to laugh so," he
exclaimed rather harshly.
The laugh changed into such an affectionate and sincere smile that
without her speaking he understood. He added anxiously, but with
happy anxiety:
"Would you come, Miss Clarke? Would you come?"
"Perhaps I would come, Lante," she replied, again become serious.
"Will you come?"
"Perhaps I will come," she added gravely.
Pale with joy, he stooped and suddenly clasped her hand and kissed
it in an act of devotion and dedication. Nothing more was said. The
brake full of girls and young men came up to them, who continued
to chatter and laugh, emitting guttural exclamations, to conquer the
desolate solemnity of the country through which they were passing,
and up to them came the victoria where Annie Clarke and Gertrude
Milner had drawn on their heavy fur capes, since the sky was now
an immense pallor above the great valley rough with boulders and
rocks, and the sun, that had become a spectral pallor over the
naked, rude mountains, had made them feel cold. Everyone in
carriage and on horseback sighed with relief as, making the last
stretch of road, wooded like the avenue of an oasis in such an
austere landscape, they smiled at the foaming, sounding, clamorous
cascade that in a little gorge among the trees comes from the
Bernina and penetrates underground, and further off reappears a
torrent, and becomes lower down a river. After a few paces all had
to descend.
A wooden bridge was the extreme limit for carriages and horses. To
reach the glacier it was necessary to go on foot.
"Is it impossible for all to drive?" asked Gertrude Milner, very
scandalised in her American dignity.
"Impossible, dearest Gertrude," replied Annie Clarke, shaking her
head. "If you are tired we can stop at the restaurant."
"The glacier is very badly managed," murmured Miss Milner,
offended in her habitual laziness and her American amour-propre.
"Very badly," agreed Mrs. Clarke, who never liked walking.
They began to walk slowly after the young people. The party walked
rapidly, in couples and groups, Mabel far in advance of all, lifting
over her arm the train of her riding habit, showing her slender little
feet and some of her leg. Vittorio was beside her, not leaving her for
a step. But in the frank sense of respect for another's liberty, which
is one of the noblest things in American social life, none of the party
bothered about them. Not even Mabel's mother seemed to be aware
of the very open love-making, even in its correct form. Ellen and
Norah West's mother had remained at Sils Maria, allowing her
daughter, Ellen, to go alone with her fiancé Joe Wealther. Mrs.
Gertrude Milner worried not at all about the flirtation of her
daughter, Susy, with Pierre d'Alfort, the witty and amiable young
Frenchman, who fascinated the girl by the originality of his
boutades, and much less did she trouble herself about the flirtations
of her niece, Rachel Rodd, with the Vicomte de Lynen, the Belgian, a
troublesome and ever-deluded hunter after a big dowry, who even
here was making a false move, for Rachel Rodd was very poor, with
only a dowry of one hundred thousand dollars. At times the couples
met and formed large groups, whence issued jokes and laughter,
only to separate spontaneously and correctly. Only Mabel and
Vittorio, who had dismounted, started off at a brisk walk, as if they
did not wish to be overtaken; but no one followed hard on them, for
they took care to keep the distance, and no one called after them.
Suddenly, however, the party halted to look around.
The Morteratsch valley opened out on two sides, on which the
mountain larches climb to a certain height, slender and brown, with
supple branches; higher up the sides rose even more naked and less
green, until quite high up they were delineated against the sky, to
right and left, in massy profiles of dark rock. In the middle distance
and the background, in gigantic, white, rugged, naked cliffs, in
colossal undulations, that had been immovable for centuries and for
centuries covered with snow, as hard as the rocks it hid, the glacier
opened out, arose, advanced, and took up all the horizon; it
advanced like an immense white wall, and then like an immense
black wall, forward, forward, as if it were walking towards the
onlooker, towards the rapt, ecstatic crowd in front—an immense
peaked wall that seemed of rock but was really of ice. Three
majestic peaks stood above it: on the left the Piz Bellavista, on the
other side towards the left the Piz Morteratsch, and finally, very lofty,
fearsome, and white without a scar or rent, the queen of mountains,
the virgin of mountains—the Bernina.
Here, round the little one-storeyed restaurant, with its tables spread
in the open air, some beneath an awning, round a kiosk, where post
cards and little souvenirs of the Morteratsch were on sale, a whole
squad of silent people were contemplating the glacier. Before it lay a
stretch of ground, covered with big and little rocks brought there by
the winter avalanches; amid the boulders ran a meandering torrent,
while to the right was a faintly traced little path among the rocks
which higher up, as it approached the great black wall of the glacier,
disappeared; and nothing but stones and water proceeded from the
glacier, where a gloomy grotto was hollowed out, which seemed like
a speck in the distance.
"Why is the glacier so black in front?" Gertrude asked Annie, in a low
voice.
"It is covered with rocks and earth," was the reply.
"Dommage," murmured Gertrude in French.
For some minutes the enchantment of the glacier remained over the
crowd that was admiring it, silent and astonished. Then figures
began to separate, attracted as by a magnet, and set out for the
small path, while other figures more in advance were already there,
small and diminishing, flitting from rock to rock—little black specks of
beings who were at the grotto or coming from it. The coming and
going was continuous; the men gave their hands to the ladies to
make them walk more safely, or preceded them to point out the best
way, while the lofty wall, all white in front, all black above, and
finally at the horizon white with reflections of metallic blue and gold,
in altitudes and precipices which seemed the monstrous waves of a
sea petrified for ages, caused the crowd of visitors to seem even
more tiny and miserable.
"We will stay here," said Annie Clarke to the party.
"We will stay," approved Gertrude Milner.
"Au revoir, mama," cried Mabel to her mother from afar, as she
approached the glacier, accompanied by Vittorio.
"Au revoir, au revoir," exclaimed the young people of the party as
they left.
Quietly seated at a restaurant table, beneath the awning, Annie
Clarke and Gertrude Milner took a cup of tea to warm themselves,
watching, without troubling, the figures of their daughters ever
growing smaller, as they proceeded over the sharp rocks, along the
torrent, towards the glacier.
Around them at the tables some were taking tea, others were
drinking beer, and others writing on post cards. People arrived
continuously from the road behind the bridge where the carriages
were halted, and others arrived from the glacier. Everywhere nothing
but German was to be heard, and the very waitresses of the inn
were fräulein who did not understand a word of English or French.
"Even here all are Germans," murmured Gertrude with a sneer, as
she sipped her tea.
"And Jews! What a nuisance, dear," added the very Catholic Annie.
Mabel and Vittorio had almost reached the goal. As they approached
the way became more dangerous amid the great rocks which had to
be jumped, and from which it was easy to slip. Mabel's high heels
made her hesitate and vacillate every moment. Frowning and
anxious about making a stupid fall, she ended by placing her two
hands in Vittorio's, although at first she had refused any support;
then in three leaps she reached the opening of the ice grotto with
him. He made her climb the last boulder, lifting her like a child, as he
deposited her on a mound of earth, and so gracefully that she
smiled at him adorably to thank him. The immense wall stood over
their heads; through two enormous clefts they perceived its
fearsome height and profundity. The enormous walls were dripping
icy water, and drops of icy water fell from the arch of the cleft,
whence was formed the strange grotto. Near at hand, beneath a
colossal and sinuous streak of ice, which was the tail of the glacier,
the torrent bubbled forth mysteriously and sped away. They
penetrated beneath the white arch that overwhelmed them, amid
the ice that surrounded them with a cold embrace; the gelid drops
fell on their cheeks and foreheads. Vittorio felt Mabel's hand
trembling a little as it sought his.
"Would you rather go out?" he asked, guessing her secret wish.
"I would rather," she replied at once.
They completed the short circuit of the grotto and left. She was pale
as if she breathed with difficulty under the immense wall; and she
breathed deeply, in fact, when once again she was on rocks in the
open air. She perceived a little road that climbed among the boulders
to the right.
"Come," she said, approaching Vittorio.
It was not an easy or short ascent for her cavalier to a promontory
which arose to the side; and they still met people who were
descending, chatting harshly in German, while further off the rest of
the party followed them. Turning suddenly, they perceived that they
had climbed higher than the wall of the glacier, and that it was
spreading before their eyes from top to bottom in an immeasurable
breadth, bounded on the right by two great moraines of black rocks,
all white in the middle, and at the back climbing, heaping, sinking,
rugged and profound, towards the two lofty peaks of Bellavista and
Morteratsch, towards the beautiful and virginal Bernina, the mistress
of the mountains. They sat down on a large rock, and both were
seized and conquered by the solemn, majestic, and terrible
spectacle. They were alone; before them was the potent immensity
of things that had lasted for ages and would last through the ages.
Suddenly Mabel Clarke turned to Vittorio Lante and asked him in a
clear, precise voice:
"You really are free, Lante?"
He looked into the quiet eyes that questioned him and replied
sincerely:
"Yes, I am free, Miss Clarke."
Mabel still contemplated for a moment the whiteness of the far-away
ice and the purity of the neighbouring snow; her accent was again
firm and fierce as she asked:
"You are poor, are you not, Lante?"
There rose before the eyes of the Italian gentleman the more than
ever impressing spectacle that elevates souls and exalts them to
supreme truth. Beside him was a creature of truth and beauty. From
his ardent heart there burst forth a pure flame of truth.
Courageously, without shame and with simplicity, he declared:
"I am very poor, Miss Clarke."
Mabel smiled as never before, and her hand brushed Vittorio's in a
grateful, loyal, pure caress.
 CHAPTER XI

"Miss James and I prefer to drive and wait for you at Sils Maria,"
quietly said Miss Ford to Lucio and Lilian.
The girl remained impassive; Lucio Sabini bowed, in token of
consent. The carriage which an hour ago had brought all four to the
hill of the Maloja and had waited for them there—as after having
traversed the highway and the hill paths they reached on foot the
top of the great wall of a peak which divides the Grissons from the
Val Bregaglia, to the lofty gallery of rocks covered with moss and
yellow marguerites, whence the gaze is directed down below
towards Italy—and which was to bring them on the return road, first
to Sils Maria and then to St. Moritz, was drawn up at a few paces
from the Kursaal Maloja. Suddenly turning from that strange gallery
whence, now and then exchanging a fleeting glance, Lucio Sabini
and Lilian Temple had both gazed at the road to Italy, and while they
drew near the vast lake which stretches from the Maloja to Sils,
Lucio had proposed crossing the lake by boat as far as Sils Maria,
while the empty carriage should go on and wait for them there.
Lilian, without speaking, blushed one of those blushes of joy that
mounted in a wave of emotion from her neck right to the roots of
her fair hair. Miss Ford, after having exchanged three or four words
in English with her companion, had quietly announced her desire to
go in the carriage with her, leaving the boat trip to Lilian and Lucio.
While he accompanied the two old maids to the carriage, he was
once again astonished in the back of his mind at the ever-increasing
freedom with which Miss May Ford, who was Lilian's guardian and
friend, often, very often, left the girl alone with him. Now and then,
with his Italian mind accustomed through heredity and tradition to
keep women, and especially girls, under a rigorous surveillance;
accustomed to consider woman in general as a prisoner who strives
constantly to escape and around whom iron chains must be
multiplied, a strange impression struck him when he discovered that
Miss Ford entrusted Lilian Temple to him and Lilian trusted him,
when their love-making had now become so marked that in no way
was it possible to conceal it, and he very nearly felt irritated at Miss
Ford's desertion of Lilian and very nearly sneered at the perfect
confidence Lilian had in him. A flood of evil thoughts was poisoning
him. But afterwards he thought of the admirable rectitude of the
English character, which, incapable of failing, does not believe that
another can fail; he thought of the profound respect that all
Englishmen have for women, above all for their sweethearts and
fiancées; he thought of the respect that all the English have, and
have taught the Americans to have, for the liberty of others; and he
felt vulgar sentiments to be dissolved in his spirit, and ugly thoughts
and mean considerations. He experienced instead the secret emotion
of a man who feels himself esteemed and loved. Moreover, a
singular tenderness invaded him, as he guessed the truth; that Miss
Ford, aware of their love-making, wished to provide them, in perfect
good faith and generosity, with a means of getting a better
understanding, in a solitude that had for witnesses the sky, the
mountains, the lakes and meadows.
"At Sils Maria, then," he said, with a gracious bow as he closed the
door, giving Miss Ford a grateful look.
"In front of the Hôtel Edelweiss," she replied, giving him and Lilian a
friendly nod.
They watched the carriage depart and slowly proceeded towards the
lake.
"Miss Ford is very fond of you, Lilian," he said, in a tender voice.
"Yes," she answered, without further remark.
"And I believe you are very fond of her."
"Yes," she replied.
He restrained a little movement of impatience. The imperturbability,
the silence, and the sober replies of Lilian Temple at certain
moments irritated him; the composure of the beautiful face seemed
indifference to him; the scarcity and the moderation of her words
seemed to him coldness and her silence lack of feeling. Then he
would speak to her in a sharp voice and say violent and sarcastic
things as if to startle her. An expression of wonderment and pain on
Lilian's face would calm him and make him realise the truth, that he
was in the presence of a different soul, a creature of another race
and another land, and a profoundly different heart.
"At any rate you will like to sail on the beautiful lake? Or does
nothing matter to you, Lilian?" he said to her, with a mocking smile
and in an irritated tone.
"Of course it matters to me," she murmured, looking at him with her
dear, blue eyes, rather sorrowfully.
"Forgive me," he said at once, softening again. "I am very exacting,
I know, but sometimes you are so English, dear child."
"I thought," she said, with a mischievous little smile, "that English
women were not displeasing to you."
"I adore them!" he exclaimed, in a sudden transport.
They sat in the stern of the rather large boat, which was rowed by
two men. The boats were Italian and came from the Lake of Como,
being transported up there every year to the lakes of Sils and St.
Moritz, climbing from Chiavenna on the large carts that ascend there
every day at the beginning of the season, and are re-transported
below in the middle of September. The rowers were Italians—
Comaschi. A white awning protected the boat from the sun. For
some time while the Comaschi rowed, cleaving the quiet waters,
Lilian and Lucio were silent, letting themselves go to the train of
their slow passage across the lake and the sequence of their
intimate thoughts. Lucio especially liked to be quiet beside Lilian.
When he was with her—and in the week after the ball at the "Kulm"
he had seen her every day for two or three hours—a profound sense
of sweetness kept him silent: the Italian words which should have
told of his flame remained suspended on his lips; the impetuousness
of his love became placated in the presence of that pure young
beauty and in the complete sentimental dedication which he
recognised in Lilian. He was gladly silent. Moreover, an intimate
terror of saying too much consumed him, of expressing too much, of
showing too much, what manner of thing was the sudden transport
of love that agitated him. He feared by pronouncing definite words
to make Lilian understand and himself understand, alas, how he was
seized and conquered beyond caprice, beyond flirting and love-
making: he feared lest she should be deeply discouraged, and he
himself feared to be discouraged by a revelation that he preferred to
leave latent and concealed. Instead an infinite sweetness came upon
him in Lilian's company, in solitude and in silence. Her presence filled
him with a tenderness that surpassed every other feeling: he
understood in those moments how he would have liked to have
invoked the passing of life thus beside her, and how she carried in
her hands and heart and eyes, in every act of her person, the truest
and most lovable gifts of existence. The boat proceeded quietly
across the limpid waters shining in the sun, and both continued to
dream their soft and quiet dream. Lilian gently clasped a bunch of
Alpine flowers which she placed upon her knees, on her white
cambric dress.
"Lilian, have you seen the Val Bregaglia, and amidst the light, white
clouds Italy, Lilian?" he asked her softly, as if in a dream, placing a
particular stress of sweetness as he pronounced and repeated her
name.
"I have seen it," she replied softly.
"Do you love Italy, Lilian?"
"Of course," she replied.
Nothing more. But he felt how much that soul and heart were his,
even in the modesty and moderation of her words, even in her
reserved attitude and pure actions.
"There is another spot where my beautiful country can be seen," he
added; "a spot loftier and more austere."
"Where?"
"At the Bernina pass, Lilian."
"Is it far?"
"Two hours and a half by carriage, perhaps three from St. Moritz. I
think you have never been up there."
"No, never."
"Will you go there with me?"
"Yes," she replied at once.
"We will go, we will go," he exclaimed, a little disturbed with joy. "Up
there there is a solitary height: one must go there on foot after
leaving the carriage. But one sees the Val di Poschiaro—beautiful
Italy!"
"We will go," she again consented.
A boat came towards them, also propelled by two rowers,
proceeding, however, very slowly. A woman was within, alone, with a
delicate, pale face, a rosy mouth slightly livid, and two deep blue,
velvety eyes. She was Else von Landau, who was enjoying in silence
and solitude the air, the light, and the trees, whatever was healthy
and pure and refreshing. With her gloved hands crossed over her
knees, and her veil raised above her hat, she appeared collected and
serene. With calm eyes she followed the boat with the two lovers.
"She is ill, poor thing!" murmured Lucio Sabini.
"But she will get better," added Lilian, "if she remains here for the
winter."
"How do you know that?"
"The doctors say so, people say so. One gets better here in the
winter. How beautiful it must be here beneath the snow," she
murmured, as if to herself.
"Would you come here? Would you pass a winter here, Lilian? You
are not ill, Lilian!"
"Of course I am not ill," she said slowly. "But I should prefer to be
here rather than in England. There is sun here."
"But our country is Italy, the land of sun!" exclaimed Lucio Sabini.
"That is true," she said, looking at him, expecting another speech.
But he added nothing more. After a moment he resumed.
"Aren't you happy, Lilian, in England?" And he scrutinised her face
keenly.
"Who told you that? My father is so good!" she exclaimed, with
unwonted vivacity.
"You love him, and he loves you?"
"Yes; I love him, and naturally he loves me."
"And your stepmother: is she good?"
She was silent for a moment, seeing that he knew her family history,
but she quickly resumed:
"My stepmother is good, too."
"But you cannot understand her, I believe."
"That is not her fault," she replied, with some vehemence.
"Then it is yours?"
"Not that either. It is no one's fault. It is so."
Lucio was immensely struck by her directness of character and
generosity. He knew how unhappy Lilian Temple was in her family
and how the father, too weak to defend and protect her, preferred to
give her plenty of money and a trusty companion in Miss Ford, to let
her travel as long as possible.
"You have a very beautiful soul, Lilian," he said, with deep emphasis.
She made no reply; her eyes were veiled with tears.
"You deserve to be happy, dear."
"I am happy," she said, looking at him and smiling amidst her tears.
He grew pale with love, as their row towards Sils Maria, where the
two old maids were waiting for them, ended in a gentle movement,
that almost seemed a gliding upon the waters. Both more moved
than at any other time, more touched in the deepest essence of
their souls, by that beautiful hour, by the landscape of peace and
grandeur, by the words they had pronounced, by those they had not
said, they experienced in every glance they exchanged, in every rare
accent and gesture, an emotion they strove in vain to calm. Seated
beside her, his head a little bent towards her, Lucio Sabini said
nothing, but everything within him expressed the immense
sympathy which bound him to the dear creature, so blond, so rosy,
in her white dress beneath the white veil of her white hat:
everything within him showed that the fascination of that beauty, of
that candour, of that purity had subjugated him. Seated beside him,
a figure of indefinable grace, there was in her eyes and smile that
abandonment of fresh hearts, that abandonment which is so
touching, because it is that of a heart which gives everything blindly
for life and death. They pursued their gentle voyage to the green
peninsula of Sils, and only a few sentences of the deepest
tenderness now and then interrupted it with alternate silences.
"You will always dress in white, Lilian?"
"If it pleases you."
And then:
"You are only twenty, dear?"
"Yes, twenty. And you are thirty-five, you told me?"
"So old, Lilian!"
"It doesn't matter: it doesn't matter!"
Again:
"Shall I see you this evening, Lilian?"
"Yes, of course."
"And to-morrow?"
"To-morrow, too."
"Always, then, Lilian? Always?"
"Always."
Theirs was a sweetness even too intense, and a languor even more
overwhelming; while Lilian's eyes of periwinkle-blue were far-away,
and a little trembling Lucio's lips. A dull grating on the ground and a
rush of water where the boat had grounded at Sils: rising, they
again repeated the grand word, as if in a dream.
"Always! Always!"
They went through the meadows of thick grass, along the narrow
canal that unites, as it cuts a long strip of earth, the large lake of Sils
with the smaller lake of Silvaplana; they walked like somnambulists
immersed in a dream of fervid youth and palpitating exhilaration;
they went hand in hand with rapid steps to join the two ladies who
were waiting for them up there beyond the bridge; towards the
large, green wood before the charming, bright houses of Sils Maria,
houses all adorned with galleries, balconies, and little windows. They
went with steps ever more rapid, because the very pale sun was
setting in too clear a sky, and for the first time they observed with
distracted and wandering eyes the pallor of sun and sky.
Miss May Ford and Miss Clara James were seated in the outside,
covered vestibule of the Hôtel Edelweiss which was all adorned with
flowers; they were seated at a table and were taking tea placidly
and waiting. Two men were with them; one was Massimo Granata,
the Italian, one of the oldest lovers of the mountains and sojourners
in the Engadine, with his face of an old child, that is rickety and ill,
where above the yellowishness of the rugged skin, above the scanty,
colourless beard and bony cheek-bones, only the eyes had a ray of
divine goodness, while his awkward body, badly dressed in a coarse
grey mountain suit, abandoned itself on a seat as if disjointed, while
his knotted, shrunken hands were sorting bunches of fresh edelweiss
on a table and making nosegays of them; the other was Paul Léon,
an Italian by origin, whose family must have been called Leone at
Perugia, whence he came, but which had been changed into Léon
after living thirty or forty years in France—Paul Léon, the French
poet, much discussed and much admired for his lofty genius, his
pride, and his wit, now of a cutting irony, now benevolent. At Sils
Maria they found Miss May Ford, with a tender and sensible soul
beneath a cold appearance, and Miss Clara James, the daughter of
England's greatest spiritualist, an illustrious philosopher and poet
who had died three years previously, but who was not dead to his
daughter, since she spoke with him every night or believed she
spoke with him, and she had remained an old maid so as to be able
to have communication with the world of spirits; Massimo Granata,
who every day made long walks, had climbed the most impenetrable
paths and scrambled up the steepest rocks, solely through this
invincible love of his of the mountains and his loving quest of
mountain flowers; and Paul Léon, the friend of Miss James, who
despised the follies of the sojourners at St. Moritz Bad and scoffed at
the cosmopolitans of the "Palace" and the "Kulm," and who in his
poetic pride lodged in a little inn at Sils Maria and every day went to
watch the little window where Friedrich Nietzsche had worked for
fourteen springs and summers in a very modest furnished house,
and in a very modest room of that house, Paul Léon who loved the
country and that district where he had come for years, every year
withdrawing from the advance of the ever-invading crowd from
district to district in the search for solitude, who loved Massimo
Granata as an ideal type of moral beauty, and admired Miss James
for her noble, daughterly hallucination.
The circle grew larger when Lilian and Lucio arrived; the greetings
were sympathetic, for all knew and understood. May Ford offered
tea, as was natural, to Lucio, who to please her accepted, and to
Lilian, who refused sweetly. Massimo Granata offered Lilian a large
nosegay of edelweiss, gathered two hours ago not far from the
glacier of Fexthal, gathered with his fleshless, rickety hands that had
such soft gestures, as he touched the flowers gathered after a four
hours' walk to "Edelweisshalde." Lilian pressed and immersed her
rather too heated face in those delicate, glacial flowers, like stars, as
if to seek there a refuge for her ardour. And scoffing, gracious,
efficient Paul Léon, who had been Lucio Sabini's friend for years,
incited him to fence in a dialogue and a diatribe against all the
people who come to live a life à outrance in a land of simplicity and
peace, against the snobs who nowadays penetrated everywhere,
who climbed the virgin heights and disturbed the sky and earth and
waters of the Engadine. Paul Léon, a little mocking, a little serious,
took Lucio Sabini, since he was fashionable, a born aristocrat, and
because of the surroundings in which he lived, and as an annual
frequenter of all the great cosmopolitan meeting-places, for a
representative of all that world écœurant, dégôutant, oui, dégôutant
—il n'y a pas d'autre mot. To his amazement Lucio Sabini was silent
and smiled, without defending that society of fictitious and real
millionaires, of real Princes and Serene Highnesses, whose kingdoms
are as large as kerchiefs, of false beautiful women, of false rich
women—everything false, everything artificial, everything sham up
there in a land of truth and purity. Lucio, as if absorbed, made no
replies. At a certain point when Paul Léon cursed, with a sarcastic
and refined curse, the lie of those people, whose impetuous and
atrocious motto was, Evviva La Vita, Lucio started and replied
simply:
"Vous avez raison, mon ami."
Paul Léon gave a fleeting glance at Lilian Temple and smiled.
 CHAPTER XII

On the golf links that extend from the extremity of the Hôtel Kulm,
climbing and descending the whole of the hill of Charnadüras, and
which are so green that not even the players' feet have succeeded in
making them less green, early in the afternoon the slow, strange
parties of golfers kept appearing, to the wonderment of bystanders
who did not understand the game, as they leaned over the little
hurdles and watched with staring eyes which at last became tired
and annoyed at understanding nothing. They kept appearing, to the
surprise of wayfarers who stopped a moment to see a man in white
shirt-sleeves or in a bright flannel waistcoat with long sleeves,
advancing along the course, sometimes directly, sometimes
obliquely, holding his club in his hand, stopping as he brandished it
in an aimless blow, and then resuming his way, followed always by a
boy who carried, by a shoulder-strap, a leather bag, which seemed
like a pagan quiver; a silent, patient boy, who regulated each step to
that of the player, who crouched sometimes as he did, and finally
vanished in his wake. Continuously from the green beneath the great
tent of the Golf Club, where the inexpert remained to take lessons
under the direction of two or three professionals, the players started
whither the game and their more or less skill led them, and their
rough outlines grew less and less in the far distance, till at times the
links, or the horizon, became perfectly deserted, as if no players
existed, as if they had been dissolved by the air or swallowed by the
earth. The spectators who had come, as if on some doubtful
invitation, to see a game of golf, saw the man and woman disappear
without understanding the reason, and shrugging their shoulders
they departed, laughing at and mocking golfers, particularly the
Germans, who laughed among themselves and with their wives;
more especially because it was an English game the Germans found
it idiotic, itiote, as they pronounced it, when they wished to talk
French. And the wayfarers, after a minute of contemplation and
waiting, went again on their way, especially as they read on certain
wooden posts the notice: "Prenez garde aux balles du golf." Balls?
Where were the balls? How? The golfers, when they made a stroke,
seemed to be assailing the air as if with a sudden movement of
madness, and afterwards they looked like solitary vagabonds who
were walking without a fixed goal, in spite of the respectful and
silent companionship, at ten paces distance, of the urchin laden with
the bag of clubs.
Those who played in the early afternoon were truly solitary lovers of
that curious sport which obliges one to walk much in silence, in a
sustained and concentrated attention, in the open country, in a
peculiar search for a ball and one's opponent, in a broad horizon,
neither feeling heat nor cold, exercising not only the muscles, but
even a little—really a little—the intellect. They were great solitaries,
who fled from society because they frequented her too much at
other times of their day; great solitaries who loved contact with the
open air and fields and woods, in contrast with the confined, heavy
life they were forced to lead elsewhere; great solitaries who for a
secret reason, sad, perhaps, or tragic, but secret and dissembled,
now hated man and woman; great solitaries whose age and
experience had divorced them from games of love, of vanity, and
perhaps of ambition. In fact, the early golfers were the real, keen
golfers, and for the most part middle-aged men and women. Among
such were the Comte de Buchner, an Austrian diplomat, a pupil of
Metternich, who perceived but did not wish to confess the end of the
diplomatic legend, the end of a policy made by ambassadors, a
septuagenarian who already felt himself dead amongst his
ancestors; the Baron de Loewy, from London, of the powerful Loewy
bank, who sometimes held in his hand the whole of European
finance, a handsome, robust man with white moustaches, full of
spirit, who passed hours out of doors at golf, and who came there to
find equilibrium for his winter life as a great banker; Madame
Lesnoy, a woman of sixty-five, who had made her fortune thirty
years ago, and though une grande bourgeoise, had married her sons
and daughters to the greatest names in European heraldry, and who
now had nothing else to do but play golf by day and bridge by night;
the Marquis de Cléan, whose wife had been killed two years ago
with her lover in an hotel at Montreux, a story which tortured his life
of worldly scepticism and over which he dared not feign cynicism;
the Contessa di Anagni, of the best society of Rome, who had been
loved by a King and had been unable to fix the heart of the volatile
sovereign; Max and Ludwig Freytag, for whom Karl Ehbehard, the
great doctor, had ordered this exercise, as being excellent to
stimulate their weakened temper; the Comtesse Fulvia Gioia, who
thus even better preserved her health and mature beauty, like that
of sappy, ripe fruit; and so many others who at two and three
o'clock deserted their rooms and hotels and directed themselves to
the links and shortly afterwards disappeared in every direction—
great solitaries, true golfers.
Towards half-past four, in the meadow which skirts the high road
from the Dorf and extends beneath the terrace of the Golf Club
House, in that meadow which was almost like a stage, the players
increased in number, in couples and groups, not going far-away,
always returning to the meadow, where at that evening hour there
was a pretence of playing golf. It was a theatre whose pit was the
Dorf high road with its footpath and wall, behind which people who
were passing stopped to watch, whose big and little boxes were the
big and little terraces of the Golf Club, where tea was taken from
half-past four to six. The keen and serious players had been away
for two hours and perhaps had returned. The make-believe players
at tea-time represented the comedy of the game under the eyes of a
hundred spectators, turning continually to the terraces, greeting and
smiling at a friend and beginning with an important air to hit mightily