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Operator Theory
Advances and Applications
275
Daniel Alpay
Mihaela B. Vajiac
Editors
Linear Systems,
Signal Processing
and Hypercomplex
Analysis
Chapman University, November 2017
Operator Theory: Advances and Applications
Volume 275
Series Editors:
Joseph A. Ball (Blacksburg, VA, USA)
Albrecht Böttcher (Chemnitz, Germany)
Harry Dym (Rehovot, Israel)
Heinz Langer (Wien, Austria)
Christiane Tretter (Bern, Switzerland)
Subseries
Linear Operators and Linear Systems
Subseries editors:
Daniel Alpay (Orange, CA, USA)
Birgit Jacob (Wuppertal, Germany)
André C.M. Ran (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Subseries
Advances in Partial Differential Equations
Subseries editors:
Bert-Wolfgang Schulze (Potsdam, Germany)
Michael Demuth (Clausthal, Germany)
Jerome A. Goldstein (Memphis, TN, USA)
Nobuyuki Tose (Yokohama, Japan)
Ingo Witt (Göttingen, Germany)
Linear Systems,
Signal Processing
and Hypercomplex
Analysis
Chapman University, November 2017
Editors
Daniel Alpay Mihaela B. Vajiac
Schmid College of Science Schmid College of Science
and Technology and Technology
Chapman University Chapman University
Orange, CA, USA Orange, CA, USA
This book is published under the imprint Birkhäuser, www.birkhauser-science.com by the registered company
Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Contents
M. Bożejko
Conditionally Free Probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
A. Yger
Algebraic Residue Calculus Beyond the Complex Setting . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Operator Theory:
Advances and Applications, Vol. 275, vii–viii
c Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Editorial Introduction
Daniel Alpay and Mihaela Vajiac
The present volume contains ten refereed papers written by experts in their fields
on the occasion of the conference Mathematics, Signal Processing and Linear Sys-
tems: New Problems and Directions, held at Chapman University on November
14–19, 2017. The topics of the conference were at the intersection between mathe-
matical analysis, signal processing and applications to electrical engineering prob-
lems. The research presented belongs both at the forefront and at the crossroad of
several branches of mathematics in particular complex analysis, functional analysis
and stochastic processes and electrical engineering.
This conference was part of a series of yearly mathematics conferences and
workshops held at Chapman University since 2010. The topics of this conference
were carefully chosen to further mathematical research to include applications to
engineering, due to the forthcoming opening of Chapman University’s new School
of Engineering scheduled for the Fall of 2020.
The papers can be divided in the following overlapping categories: two papers
in Schur analysis, three papers on differential operators and inverse scattering, two
papers in hypercomplex analysis and three papers in non-commutative analysis
and free probability. More precisely, we have the following classification:
Schur analysis and function theory: In the paper Multiplicative Stieltjes functions
and associated pairs of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces, by Joseph A. Ball and
Vladimir Bolotnikov use state space methods to study pairs of reproducing
kernel Hilbert spaces associated to the (new and defined in the paper) family
1 (1993) Prospero Press, 35 Commonwealth Part, Newton, MA 02159, USA
viii D. Alpay and M. Vajiac
1. Introduction
Let G be a Hilbert space and let L(G) stand for the set of all bounded linear
operators on G. A Hilbert space H of G-valued functions which are defined on a
domain Ω ∈ C is said to be a reproducing kernel Hilbert space if there exists a
L(G)-valued function K(z, ω) such that for every point ω ∈ Ω and every vector
c ∈ G, the function Kω c := K(· , ω)c belongs to H and has the reproducing-kernel
property for the space H:
f, Kω cH = f (ω), cG for all f ∈ H. (1.1)
The function K(z, ω) turns to be a positive kernel on Ω in the sense that
n
cj∗ K(zj , z )c ≥ 0
j,=1
kernel property (1.1) (as is easily verified), and we then say that K is the repro-
ducing kernel of H and write H = HK . A result of Aronszajn [8] states that, for
every positive kernel K on Ω, there is a unique reproducing kernel Hilbert space
HK with K as its reproducing kernel. Moreover, the set H0 consisting of func-
tions of the form K(· , ωj )cj , where {cj } and {ωj } are finite sequences in G and
Ω, respectively, is a dense linear manifold in HK . Let us note also the following
characterization of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces.
Theorem 1.1 (See, e.g., [8]). A given Hilbert space H consisting of G-valued func-
tions on a domain Ω has the form H = HK for some positive kernel K : Ω ×
Ω → L(G) if and only if the operator Eω : H → G induced by point-evaluation
Eω : f → f (ω) is continuous for each ω ∈ Ω.
An up-to-date account of all this information together with more recent ap-
plications (e.g., support vector machines and machine learning) can be found in
the book of Paulsen–Raghupathi [38].
G = G ⊕ JG. (1.3)
We choose and fix a non-empty open subset Ω ⊂ C which is symmetric about the
real axis R and consider a Hilbert space H whose elements are G-valued functions
meromorphic in Ω. Any reference to the value of a meromorphic function at α ∈ Ω
assumes that the function is analytic at α.
The later paper of Alpay–Dym [5] worked out the result for a general setting
containing that of Theorem 1.3 and of [10] as special cases. Observe that the
left-hand side expressions in (1.7) and (1.8) can be written respectively as
Rα F, (I + βRβ )G − (I + αRα )F, Rβ G ,
(I + αRα )F, (I + βRβ )G − Rα F, Rβ G ,
disclosing the hidden role played by the operator
zF (z) − αF (α)
I + αRα : F (z) → .
z−α
As we shall see below, in the Stieltjes-class context Rα and I + αRα appear in a
combined form displaying their intertwined roles as equally important.
If Ω contains a real point μ and all functions from H(Θ) are analytic at μ,
then Θ(μ) is J-unitary (by (1.5)); since Θ is defined only up to a constant J-
unitary factor, we can normalize Θ so that Θ(μ) = IG. Letting ω = μ in (1.4)
gives
Θ(z) = IG + i(z − μ)KΘ (z, μ)J. (1.9)
To express Θ in terms of KΘ in case Ω ∩ R = ∅ requires some extra efforts, with
the resulting formulas being rather implicit (see [41]). In case μ is real, we can use
the formula (1.9) for Θ to get fairly explicit state-space realization formulas for
Θ once we have state-space realizations formulas of this type for the reproducing
kernel KΘ . This last goal can be accomplished via realizing the space H(Θ) as the
range space of some sort of observability operator, as we now explain. We shall be
particularly interested in observability operators of the form
OΠ,A,μ : x → Π(I − (z − μ)A)−1 x,
A ∈ L(X ), Π ∈ L(X , G).
The pair (Π, A) is called observable if OΠ,A,μ is injective, i.e., x = 0 whenever
OΠ,A,μ x ≡ 0. In the case when OΠ,A,μ is bounded as an operator from X to H,
we may form the gramian operator
∗
GΠ,A,μ = (OΠ,A,μ ) OΠ,A,μ ∈ L(X ).
Suppose that H is a Hilbert space of analytic functions which has a realization of
the form H = Ran OΠ,A,μ for some observable pair (Π, A) and bounded operator
OΠ,A,μ : X → H, i.e.,
H = {OΠ,A,μ x : x ∈ X } with OΠ,A,μ x2H = GΠ,A,μ x, xX . (1.10)
Then, as a consequence of the Open Mapping Theorem (see [40, Theorem III.11]),
it follows that the inverse mapping (OΠ,A,μ )−1 : H → X is also bounded, and
hence the inverse gramian operator (GΠ,A,μ )−1 is a bounded operator on X as
well. Furthermore, H is Rα -invariant for α in a neighborhood of μ, as follows from
the easily verified identity
Rα OΠ,A,μ x = OΠ,A,μ (I − (α − μ)A)−1 Ax. (1.11)
Stieltjes Functions 5
By analytic continuation we have the relation (OEμ ,Rμ ,μ f )(z) = f (z) continuing
to hold for z in all of Ω, i.e., the observability operator OEμ ,Rμ ,μ : H → H amounts
to the identity operator IH ; in particular, the pair (Eμ , Rμ ) is observable and the
gramian GEμ ,Rμ ,μ = IX is bounded and boundedly invertible.
The following theorem can be viewed as a state-space reformulation of The-
orem 1.3.
Theorem 1.4. Let H be a reproducing kernel Hilbert space of G-valued functions
which are meromorphic on a connected open set Ω ⊂ C and analytic at μ ∈ Ω.
Then:
1. H is Rμ -invariant if and only if it admits an observable realization (1.10)
One such choice of X , A, Π and GΠ,A,μ is
with A ∈ L(X ) and Π ∈ L(X , G).
X = H, A = Rμ , Π = Eμ : f → f (μ), GEμ ,Rμ ,μ = IH .
2. H is an H(Θ) space if and only if it admits an observable realization as in
part (1) and in addition, the observability gramian G = GΠ,A,μ satisfies the
Stein–Lyapunov identity
GA − A∗ G + i(μ − μ)A∗ GA = iΠ∗ JΠ. (1.13)
6 J.A. Ball and V. Bolotnikov
Remark 1.5. Let us note that the strategy of the proof of part (2) in Theorem
1.4 foreshadows what will be done in the more complicated setting of Stieltjes
functions discussed below (see specifically Theorem 4.1).
1.2. The Pick class and connections with the multiplicative Pick class
through the Potapov–Ginzburg transform
Let us recall the Pick class P(G) (in the literature also known as Nevanlinna–
Herglotz class and sometimes also simply as R-class) consisting of L(G)-valued
functions holomorphic on the upper half-plane C+ with values there having positive
semidefinite imaginary part, i.e., the functions S : C+ → L(G) such that the kernel
S(z) − S(ω)∗
KS (z, ω) = (1.18)
z−ω
is positive on C+ . In fact, if the kernel (1.18) is positive on a domain Ω ⊂ C+ ,
it can be (uniquely) extended as a positive kernel to all of C+ due to the Pick
interpolation theorem. It is convenient (and is consistent with Nevanlinna–Herglotz
integral formula) furthermore to extend Pick functions to the lower half-plane by
reflection: define S(z) = S(z)∗ for z ∈ C− .
Let us note that the kernel KS can be rewritten in a more aggregate form as
0 iIG I
I S(z)
−iIG 0 S(ω)∗
KS (z, ω) =
i(ω − z)
I
I S(z) JP
S(ω)∗ 0 iIG
= , where JP = . (1.19)
i(ω − z) −iIG 0
For S a meromorphic L(G)-valued function on Ω, we say that S is in the domain
D(TPG ) of the Potapov–Ginzburg transform TPG if (A+S(z)C)−1 is a well-defined
meromorphic L(G)-valued function on Ω and then we define TPG [S] by
TPG [S](z) = (A + S(z)C)−1 (B + S(z)D). (1.22)
R
Dually we define the (right) Potapov–Ginzburg transform TPG by
R
TPG [S](z) = (iJC ∗ S(z) + iJA∗ )(iJD∗ S(z) + iJB ∗ )−1
with domain consisting of all meromorphic L(G)-valued functions on Ω such that
∗ ∗ −1
(iJD S(z) + iJB ) is also a well-defined meromorphic function on Ω. Note that
−1 ∗
A B J 0 A C∗ 0 iIG −iJC ∗ iJA∗
= = .
C D 0 −J B ∗ D∗ −iIG 0 iJD∗ −iJB ∗
The calculation
−S(z)
0 = I S(z)
I
A B −iJC ∗ −iJA∗ −S(z)
= I S(z)
C D −iJD∗ −iJB ∗ I
A B −I 0 iJC ∗ iJA∗ S(z)
= I S(z) · (−1)
C D 0 I iJD∗ iJB ∗ I
−TPG
R
(S)
= (A + S(z)C) I TPG [S](z) (−1) · (iJD∗ S(z) + iJB ∗ )−1
I
enables us to conclude that
R
TPG [S] = TPG [S] if S ∈ D(TPG ) ∩ D(TPGR
).
A B
iJC ∗
iJA∗
In case A, B, C, D are as in (1.21), then the coefficient matrix C D
= iJD∗ iJB ∗
R
for TPG works out to be
A B −A B
=
C D C −D
and hence in this case we have
TPG [S](z) = (A + S(z)C)−1 (B + S(z)D)
= (−AS(z) + B)(CS(z) − D)−1 = TPG
R
[S](z).
The following is the key property of the Potapov–Ginzburg transform TPG .
Proposition 1.6. (See [27].) Given S ∈ D(TPG ), then S is in the Pick class P(G)
if and only if Θ := TPG [S] is in the multiplicative Pick class MP(G).
With assumptions as in the
Proof. Suppose first that S is in the Pick class P(G).
statement of the theorem, we use the aggregate formula (1.6) for the MP-class
Stieltjes Functions 9
From this representation it is clear that not only S(x) 0 for x < 0, but also
t − z
S(z) = γ + dμ(t) 0 whenever z < 0.
R+ |t − z|2
Combining this fact with (1.26) we conclude that the functions from the class
MS(G) are J-contractive on the left half-plane. It is tempting to conjecture that
Stieltjes Functions 11
the kernels
S(z) + S(ω)∗ J − Θ(z)JΘ(ω)∗
and
z+ω z+ω
are positive on the left half-plane for S ∈ S(G) and Θ ∈ SM(G), i.e., that the
matrices
N N
S(zi ) + S(zj )∗ J − Θ(zi )JΘ(zj )∗
,
zi + zj i,j=1 zi + zj
i,j=1
are positive semidefinite for all z1 , . . . , zN in the left half-plane (not just their
diagonal entries positive semidefinite). However this turns out not to be the case
in general.
we apply
To explore the alternative characterization (1.25) of the class S(G),
the Potapov–Ginzburg transform (1.22) to the function zS(z). Let P (z) be the
L(G)-valued function defined by
zIG 0
P (z) = (1.28)
0 IG
with respect to the decomposition (1.3). It is readily seen from (1.21) that
z −1 A = AP (z)−1 , C = CP (z)−1 , z −1 B = BP (z)−1 , D = DP (z)−1 .
Then
TPG [zS](z) = (A + zS(z)C)−1 (B + zS(z)D)
= (z −1 A + S(z)C)−1 (z −1 B + S(z)D)
= (AP (z)−1 + S(z)CP (z)−1 )−1 (BP (z)−1 + S(z)DP (z)−1 )
= P (z)(A + S(z)C)−1 (B + S(z)D)P (z)−1
= P (z)TPG [S](z)P (z)−1 .
We have already seen that Θ = TPG [S] is in the class MP(G) whenever S ∈ P(G).
If S belongs to the Stieltjes class S(G), then the preceding calculation shows that
the function
ΘP (z) := P (z)Θ(z)P (z)−1 (1.29)
also belongs to MP(G), that is, the kernel
J − ΘP (z)JΘP (ω)∗
KΘP (z, ω) =
i(ω − z)
J − P (z)Θ(z)P (z)−1 JP (ω)−1∗ Θ(ω)∗ P (ω)∗
= (1.30)
i(ω − z)
is positive on C+ . Observe that due to the obvious equalities
P (z)∗ JP (z) = P (z)JP (z)∗ = zJ,
12 J.A. Ball and V. Bolotnikov
2. Preliminaries
In this section we present some auxiliary results. Recall that an operator M is
called J-unitary if M JM ∗ = J.
be such that
Lemma 2.1. Let operators A, B ∈ L(G)
AJA∗ = A∗ JA = BJB ∗ = B ∗ JB = 0, (2.1)
∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
B JA + A JB = AJB + BJA = J. (2.2)
Then there exist J-unitary operators M and N in L(G ⊕ G) such that
I 0 0 0
A=M G N and B = M N. (2.3)
0 0 0 IG
is J-unitary. Indeed, by making use of (2.10) and the relation (2.13), we can check
that V is J-coisometric:
−1 ∗
∗ Δ 0 A1 A2∗ 0 I A1 −A2 Δ−1 0
VJV = i
0 I −A2∗ A∗1 −I 0 A2 A1 0 I
−1 ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
−1
Δ 0 A1 A2 − A2 A1 A1 A1 + A2 A2 Δ 0
=i
0 I −A∗2 A2 − A∗1 A1 −A2∗ A1 + A1∗ A2 0 I
−1 −1
Δ 0 0 Δ Δ 0
=i
0 I −Δ 0 0 I
0 I
=i = J.
−I 0
To show that V is J-unitary given that V is J-coisometric, it suffices to show that
Ker V = {0}. Suppose therefore that V [ xy ] = [ 00 ]. Thus we have
∗
A1 A2∗ x 0
= . (2.15)
−A∗2 A∗1 y 0
Multiplying (2.15) on the left by A02 A01 then gives
A2 A∗1 x + A2 A2∗ y = 0,
−A1 A∗2 x + A1 A∗1 y = 0.
Adding these equations while recalling (2.10) then gives
Δy = (A2 A2∗ + A1 A1∗ )y = 0.
As Δ is invertible,
we conclude that y = 0. Similarly, multiplying (2.15) on the
left by A01 A02 leads to
A1 A1∗ x + A1 A2∗ y = 0,
−A2 A∗2 + A2 A1∗ y = 0.
Subtracting the second equation from the first then leads to
Δx = (A1 A1∗ + A2 A2∗ )x = 0
which then forces x = 0 as well. We conclude that V is J-unitary as claimed.
We note next that, on account of (2.9) and (2.14),
I 0
VAU = G . (2.16)
0 0
Let
α β
VBU =: B = . (2.17)
γ δ
Since the operators U, V and A + B are J-unitary, it follows from (2.1) that
∗ IG 0 ∗ IG 0
BJ B = 0 and J B + BJ = J. (2.18)
0 0 0 0
Stieltjes Functions 17
into the
By substituting the block decompositions (1.2) and (2.17) of J and B
second relation in (2.18), we see that
β = β∗, δ = IG .
This combined with the same substitution plugged into the first relation in (2.18)
then leads us to
γ = γ ∗ , α = βγ.
Thus,
= βγ β , γ = γ ∗ , β = β ∗
B (2.19)
γ IG
and conversely, any B = α β of the form (2.19) satisfies the relations (2.18).
γ δ
Since the operators β and γ are selfadjoint, the operators
I β I 0
C= G and D = G
0 IG γ IG
are J-unitary. Moreover,
IG 0 I 0 =C 0 0
=C G D and B D. (2.20)
0 0 0 0 0 IG
If we set
M = V−1 C and N = DU−1 (A + B),
then M as well as N is the product of J-unitary operators and hence are themselves
also J-unitary. By plugging in the definitions of M and N and then making use
of (2.20), (2.16), (2.17) and (2.4), we calculate
I 0 I 0
M G N = V−1 C G DU−1 (A + B)
0 0 0 0
I 0
= V−1 G U−1 (A + B) = A(A + B) = A
0 0
and
0 0 −1 0 0
M N =V C DU−1 (A + B)
0 IG 0 IG
−1 (A + B) = B(A + B) = B,
= V−1 BU
which completes the proof.
Remark 2.2. The J-unitary operators M and N in (2.3) are defined uniquely up
to, respectively, a right and left J-unitary factors of the block diagonal form. More
precisely, if
IG 0 0 0
A = M1 N and B = M1 N1 (2.21)
0 0 1 0 IG
is an another representation of A and B with J-unitary operators M1 and N1 ,
then
M1 = M T and N1 = T −1 N,
18 J.A. Ball and V. Bolotnikov
is of the form
where T ∈ L(G)
τ 0
T = , τ ∈ L(G). (2.22)
0 (τ −1 )∗
Proof. Comparing representations (2.3) and (2.21) and setting
T = M −1 M1 and T1 = N N1−1 , (2.23)
one can easily get
IG 0 I 0 0 0 0 0
T = G T and T = T . (2.24)
0 0 0 0 1 0 IG 0 IG 1
Summing up the two last equalities
we conclude
that T = T1 and that T commutes
therefore, with projections I0G 00 and 00 I0G . Therefore, T is of the block diagonal
form
τ 0
T = . (2.25)
0 τ1
Since M and M1 are J-unitary, T is also J-unitary and the blockwise comparison
in the equality
τ 0 0 iIG τ ∗ 0 0 iIG
=
0 τ1 −iIG 0 0 τ1∗ −iIG 0
leads to τ1 = (τ −1 )∗ . The latter equality together with (2.23) and (2.25) implies
the desired conclusion.
Corollary 2.3. Let
Φ(z) = Az + B (2.26)
be a linear L(G)-valued function such that
Φ(z)JΦ(z)∗ = Φ(z)∗ JΦ(z) = zJ. (2.27)
such that
Then there exist J-unitary operators M and N in L(G)
Φ(z) = M P (z)N, (2.28)
where P (z) is given by (1.28).
Proof. Upon substituting (2.26) into (2.27) we conclude that the operators A and
B satisfy relations (2.1) and (2.2). By Lemma 2.1, A and B admit representa-
tions (2.3) for some choice of J-unitary operators M and N . Substituting these
representations into (2.26), we get (2.28).
Lemma 2.4. Let Ω be a non-empty open set which is symmetric with respect to R,
let Θ be a L(G)-valued function which is meromorphic on Ω, let KΘ and KΘP be
the kernels defined in (1.4) and (1.30). Then
(ω − α)P (z)KΘ (z, ω) − (z − α)KΘP (z, ω)JP (ω)J
= −iP (α)J + iΘP (z)P (α)JΘ(ω)∗ , (2.29)
Stieltjes Functions 19
I + αRα 0 KΘP (· , ω)JP (ω)J − KΘP (· , α)JΘP (α)P (α)JΘ(ω)∗
KΘ (· , ω) = ,
0 Rα ω−α
(2.30)
∗
Rα 0 KΘ (· , ω)P (ω) − KΘ (· , α)JΘ(α)JP (α)ΘP (ω)
K (· , ω) = ,
0 I + αRα ΘP ω−α
(2.31)
KΘ (· , ω) − KΘ (· , α)JΘ(α)JΘ(ω)∗
Rα KΘ (· , ω) = , (2.32)
ω−α
KΘP (· , ω) − KΘP (· , α)JΘP (α)JΘP (ω)∗
Rα KΘP (· , ω) = (2.33)
ω−α
for any choice of points ω and α in Ω.
Proof. We tackle one formula at a time:
Proof of (2.29). From the definition of P (z) (1.28) it is easily verified that
(ω − α)P (z) − (z − α)P (ω) = (ω − z)P (α). (2.34)
The definition of ΘP (z) (1.28) together with associativity gives
P (z)Θ(z) = ΘP (z)P (z). (2.35)
A straightforward computation gives the identity
JP (ω)JP (ω) = ωIG
and hence
JP (ω)JP (ω) · Θ(ω) = Θ(ω) · JP (ω)JP (ω).
Taking adjoints gives us
Θ(ω)∗ P (ω)JP (ω)J = P (ω)JP (ω)JΘ(ω)∗
which we prefer to write as
ΘP (ω)∗ JP (ω)J = JP (ω)JΘ(ω)∗ . (2.36)
Therefore, making use of (2.34), (2.35), (2.36) gives us
(ω − α)P (z)Θ(z)JΘ(ω)∗ − (z − α)ΘP (z)JΘP (ω)∗ JP (ω)J
= (ω − α)ΘP (z)P (z)JΘ(ω)∗ − (z − α)ΘP (z)P (ω)JΘ(ω)∗
= ΘP (z) {(ω − α)P (z) − (z − α)P (ω)} JΘ(ω)∗
= (ω − z)ΘP (z)P (α)JΘ(ω)∗ .
Multiply the equality (2.34) by J on the right and then subtract from this the last
equality above; the result is
(ω − α)P (z)(J − Θ(z)JΘ(ω)∗ ) − (z − α)(J − ΘP (z)JΘP (ω)∗ )JP (ω)J
= (ω − z)(P (α)J − ΘP (z)P (α)JΘ(ω)∗ ).
Dividing this last equality by i(ω − z) and recalling the definitions (1.4) and (1.30)
of KΘ and KΘP then leads us finally to the identity (2.29).
20 J.A. Ball and V. Bolotnikov
Don Black had not himself built the cabin where he lived. While he
was still a boy jingling his first spurs, two young Englishmen had
hewn its logs out of the untouched forest on the western slope of
Pegleg Pass. They were remittance men, exiled from their country
for the peace of mind of their families. In the casual fashion of their
class they had drifted to the Rockies to hunt for big game and, less
industriously, for elusive fortune. Long since they had returned to the
estates which Britishers of this type seem always to be inheriting
from convenient relatives.
By the simple process of moving in, Black had become owner of the
cabin. He hung his pinched-in cowboy hat on a peg in the wall and
thereby took possession. His title was perfectly good in the eyes of
the range riders who dropped in occasionally and made themselves
at home. Whether Don was or was not on the place, they were
welcome to what they found. The only obligation on them was to cut
a fresh supply of firewood in place of that they used.
One room was enough for Black’s needs. The other served as a
place in which to store old saddles, mountain-lion pelts, worn-out
boots, blankets, unused furniture, and a hundred odds and ends.
With the help of the owner, Lon Forbes set to work housecleaning.
Useless litter went flying out of doors. A vigorous broom in the hands
of Lon raised clouds of dust. In the fireplace old papers and boxes
blazed cheerfully. A Navajo rug, resurrected from the bottom of a
hingeless trunk, covered the floor in front of a walnut bed imported
by one of the Englishmen from Denver.
It took hours to make the transformation, but the foreman was quite
pleased with himself when he ushered Betty into the bedroom he
had prepared for her.
She clapped her hands softly. “My, Lon! What a fine wife some
Suffragette’s lost in you. Maybe it isn’t too late yet. You can keep
house while she—”
“Help! Help!” expostulated Forbes.
“Oh, if you’ve got your eye on one of these little flapper girls, of
course, there’s no use my saying a word,” she teased. “I know how
stubborn you are when you get ‘sot.’”
She was in a mood of happy reaction from the fears that had
oppressed her all day. Dr. Rayburn had told her—with some
reservations, to be sure—that, barring unexpected complications,
Hollister ought to get well. It would take time and nursing and good
food, but all of these the patient would get.
“You’re right I’ve got my eye on one of them li’l’ flapper girls—this
very minute,” he rapped back promptly. “An’ she’s a sure-enough
warnin’ to a fellow to play his hand out alone unless he wants to be
bossed somethin’ scandalous.”
“It would do you good to be bossed,” she told him, eyes dancing.
“The refining influence of a young woman—say about forty-five or
maybe fifty—”
“You’re pickin’ her for me, are you?” he snorted.
“She’ll do the picking when the time comes. I suppose you’ll have to
give up smoking—and you’ll have to shave every day—and probably
be a deacon in the church at Wild Horse—”
“Yes, I will not. All I got to do is look at Clint an’ see how a half-grown
kid has got a check rein on him. That scares me a plenty.” He shook
his head in mock despair, but his eyes gave him away. “Gallivantin’
into the hills, through ’steen million tons of snow, to nurse a
scalawag who—”
“He’s no scalawag, Lon Forbes.”
“Like to know why he ain’t. Nothin’ but a hobo when you first met up
with him.”
“Now, Lon, you know very well you told me you thought he was a
man from the ground up. Those were the very words you used.”
“Well, a hobo may be a man,” he defended. “Anyways, that don’t
mean you’d ought to bust up yore happy home to hike over the hills
for him.”
“Justin’s been talking to you,” she charged.
“Maybeso, an’ maybe not. That ain’t the point. While Clint’s away, it’s
up to me to run the Diamond Bar K.”
“With Justin’s help,” she cut in.
Betty thought, though she did not express it in words, that Lon would
have his hands full if he intended to take charge of her activities as a
part of the ranch. She knew that this would never have occurred to
him as included in his duties if it had not been suggested by Merrick.
“I’m not askin’ any one’s help. I reckon I’m as grown-up as I’ll ever
be. Anyways, Clint put me in charge, figurin’ I was man-size an’
competent. Question is, Would yore father want you up here?”
Betty decided to carry the war indignantly into the territory of the
enemy. “Of course, he would. After knowing Dad all these years I
should think you’d be ashamed to doubt him. Dad pays his debts.
He’s a good friend. This boy—this young fellow Hollister—tried to do
us a good turn after we had behaved pretty bad to him. You know
Dad has been looking for a chance to help him. Well, it’s come. What
are we going to do about it? Go through—or quit on the job?”
“Go through. I ain’t proposin’ anything else. But you don’t have to
stay here. I can look after him, an’ Merrick’ll see you home.”
“What do you know about nursing?” she scoffed. “Or cooking? You
know what the doctor said. He’s got to have nice things to eat after
he gets a little better. And good nursing. Dr. Rayburn told you—I
heard him say it—that he was glad I’d come because Mr. Hollister
needs a woman’s nursing.”
Lon scratched his head to help him think. It was sometimes a
laborious process. He knew cattle and crops, but chaperoning a
young woman was untried territory.
“Times has changed, Betty,” he explained. “You kinda growed up
helter-skelter an’ run wild. But you’re a young lady now, an’ you can’t
be too careful. You gotta think about what folks’ll say.”
“Fiddlesticks! What’ll they say? What can they say if you stay up
here with me? It’ll be only a day or two till Dad gets home. It’s just
that you’ve been getting notions from Justin. He’s a city man and
doesn’t know our ways. But you’ve always lived here, Lon. I’m
surprised at you.”
“O’ course there ain’t any real harm in yore stayin,” he conceded
hesitantly. “I’ll be here to look after you an’ see Prowers don’t trouble
you. An’ it won’t be long.”
“I’m staying because I really can help, Lon. Justin thinks it’s only
foolishness, but you know it isn’t. In Denver, where he lives, there
are plenty of trained nurses, but it’s different here. If Bridget could
get in, I wouldn’t say a word about staying. But she can’t. If I went
away and left this poor boy, you’d never respect me again.”
“I would, too. But there. You’re gonna stay. I see that.”
“Yes, I am.” She caught the lapels of the big foreman’s coat and
coaxed him with the smile that always had proved effective with him.
“And you know I’m right. Don’t you, Lon?”
“Nothin’ of the kind,” he blustered. “An’ you needn’t try to come it
over me. I know you too blamed well, miss. You’re bound an’
determined to have yore own way—always were since you were a
li’l’ trick knee-high to a duck. Trouble is, you’ve been spoiled.”
“Yes,” she admitted, “and you did it.”
“No such a thing. I always did tell Clint he’d find out some day what’d
come of lettin’ you boss the whole works.” To save his face he
finished with a peremptory order. “Don’s fixin’ up some supper. Soon
as you’ve had yours, why, you’ll go right straight to bed. Doc an’ me
are aimin’ to look after Hollister to-night.”
“Yes, Lon,” Betty replied meekly. She had got what she wanted, and
she was willing to propitiate him by a demure obedience calculated
to remove the sting of her victory.
Don opened the door and announced that supper was ready.
Betty saw Merrick’s eye flash a question at Forbes as they came into
the larger room. She went directly to him. Betty was a woman;
therefore complex. But she usually expressed herself simply.
“It’s all settled, Justin. Lon is going to stay with me.”
He made no answer in words, but his salient jaw set grimly. Like
many masterful men, he did not relish defeat.
They drank coffee from tin cups and ate bacon, tomatoes, and beans
served in tin plates. Don’s biscuits were appetizing, and four or five
pans of them disappeared before his guests were fed.
Betty lived up to the promise she had made Lon. She whispered with
Dr. Rayburn for a minute, then said “Good-night” to the company
generally, and vanished into her bedroom.
The day had been a full one. To come in over the snow had taxed
the strength of her muscles. She was tired, and, as she sat before
the glowing coals taking the pins out of her hair, she yawned
luxuriously.
Just now her mind was on Merrick. The vague disappointment in
their relationship had crystallized to-day into definite dissatisfaction.
To use one of her father’s expressions, Justin and she had not come
out of the same pasture. They thought in different languages.
That he had not sympathized with the urge in her to spend herself in
service for the wounded man was important beyond the immediate
question. And, even if he did not agree with her, he should have
understood her obligation to do as she thought best. It involved their
whole future. The trouble was that he did not recognize her right to
follow the guidance of her own judgment. She must defer to him,
must accept his decision as final.
Betty knew she could not do that. In essence she was a twentieth-
century woman.
CHAPTER XXIX
A CHILD OF IMPULSE
The days followed each other, clear, sparkling, crisp, with mornings
in which Betty’s lungs drew in a winey exhilaration of living, with
evenings which shut the cabin on the slope of Pegleg Pass from a
remote world of men and women engaged in a thousand activities.
Betty had time to think during the long winter nights after she had
retired to her room. Some of her thoughts hurt. She was shocked at
the termination of her engagement, at the manner of it. That was not
the way it should have been done at all. She and Justin should have
recognized frankly that their views of life could not be made to
harmonize. They should have parted with esteem and friendship.
Instead of which there had been a scene of which she was
ashamed.
Her cheeks burned when she recalled his crass charge that she was
infatuated with Hollister. Why hadn’t he been able to understand that
she had signed a pact of friendship with the ex-service man? If he
had done that, if he had been wise and generous and sympathetic
instead of harsh and grudging, he would (so Betty persuaded
herself) have won her heart completely. He had been given a great
chance, and he had not been worthy of it.
Merrick had humiliated her, shattered for the time at least the gallant
young egoism which made her the mistress of her world.
Her father came up as soon as he returned from Denver. She talked
over with him the break with her fiancé. Clint supported her, with
reservations that did not reach the surface.
“Never did like it,” he said bluntly, referring to her engagement.
“Merrick’s a good man in his way, but not the one for you. I been
figuring you’d see it. I’m glad this came up. His ideas about marriage
are crusted. He’d put a wife in a cage and treat her well. That
wouldn’t suit you, Bess. You’ve got to have room to try your wings.”
She clung to him, crying a little. “You don’t blame me, then, Dad?”
“Not a bit. You did right. If Merrick had been the proper man for you,
he’d have understood you well enough to know you had to come
here. Maybe it wasn’t wise to come. Maybe it was impulsive. I reckon
most folks would agree with him about that. But he’d have known his
Betty. He’d ’a’ helped you, even though it was foolish. You wouldn’t
be happy with any man who couldn’t let you fly the coop once in a
while.”
“Was it foolish to come, Dad?” she asked.
He stroked her dark hair gently. “It’s the foolishness we all love in
you, honey—that way you have of giving till it hurts.”
Betty had inherited her impulsiveness from him. He, too, could be
generous without counting the cost. He rejoiced in the eagerness
with which her spirit went out to offer the gift of herself. But he had to
be both father and mother. Generosity might easily carry her too far.
“I do such crazy things,” she murmured. “And I never know they’re
silly till afterward.”
“This wasn’t silly,” he reassured her. “I’d have figured out some other
way if I’d been home. But I wasn’t. Rayburn says your cooking an’
your nursing have helped young Hollister a lot. I’m glad you came,
now it’s over with. I reckon you’ve paid my debt in full, Bettykins.”
“He’s absurdly grateful,” she said. “I haven’t done much for him.
You’d think I’d saved his life.”
“Soon now we’ll be able to get him back to the ranch and Bridget can
take care of him. Ruth’s wearyin’ for you. I’ll be more satisfied when
we’re there. I’ve got old Jake Prowers on my mind some. Never can
tell what he’ll be up to.”
Hollister was grateful to Betty, whether absurdly so or not is a matter
of definitions. His big eyes followed her about the room as she
cooked custards with the eggs and milk brought from the Howard
place just below. “Sweet Marie” did not entrance him when Black
tunelessly sang it, but the snatches of song she hummed at her work
filled the room with melody for him. She read “David Copperfield”
aloud after he began to mend, and his gaze rested on her with the
mute admiration sick men are likely to give charming nurses
overflowing with good-will and vitality. Her laugh lifted like a lark’s
song. Even her smile had the radiant quality of one who is hearing
good news.
He noticed that she was no longer wearing Merrick’s ring, and his
thoughts dwelt on it a good deal. Was the engagement broken? He
could not see that she was unhappy. Her presence filled the place
with sunshine. It was a joy to lie there and know that she was near,
even when she was in another room and he could not see her. There
was something permeating about Betty Reed. She lit up men’s souls
as an arc-light does a dark street.
He hoped that she and Merrick had come to the parting of the ways.
The engineer was the last man in the world to make her eager spirit
happy. His strength never spent itself in rebellion. He followed
convention and would look for the acceptance of it in her. But Betty
was cast in another mould. What was important to him did not touch
her at all, or, if it did, seemed a worthless sham. She laughed at
social usage when it became mere formalism. No doubt she would
be a disturbing wife. Life with her would be exciting. That was not
what Justin Merrick wanted.
The right man for her would be one who both loved and understood.
He must be big enough to let her enthusiasms sweep over their lives
and must even give them moral support while they lasted. Also, he
must be a clean and stalwart outdoor man, not one who had been
salvaged from the yellow swamp waters of vice. This last Hollister
kept before him as a fundamental necessity. He laid hold of it to
stamp down the passionate insurgent longings that filled him.
It was an obligation on him. He must not abuse her kindness by
forgetting that he had been an outcast, had himself shut a door upon
any future that included the fine purity of her youth. An effect of her
simplicity was that he stood in constant danger of not remembering
this. There was nothing of the Lady Bountiful about Betty. Her star-
clear eyes, the song and sunlight of her being, offered friendship and
camaraderie with no assumption of superior virtue. She saw no
barrier between them. They came together on an equal footing as
comrades. The girl’s unconscious generosity enhanced her charm
and made the struggle in his heart more difficult.
Those days while he lay there and gathered strength were red-letter
ones in his life. Given the conditions, it was inevitable that he should
come to care for the gracious spirit dwelling in a form that expressed
so lovingly the mystery of maiden dreams. In every fiber of him he
cherished her loveliness and pulsed to the enticement of her.
She gave the dull cabin atmosphere. A light burned inside her that
was warm and bright and colorful. Black looked on her as he might a
creature from another world. This slip of a girl had brought
something new into the range rider’s life, something fine and spiritual
which evoked response from his long-dormant soul. He had till now
missed the joy of being teased by a girl as innocent and as vivid as
she.
Hollister was won the easier because her tenderness was for him.
Black must hunt ptarmigan for broth, Clint Reed go foraging for milk
and eggs. They submitted cheerfully to be bullied in the interest of
the patient. His needs ruled the household, since he was an invalid.
Betty pampered and petted and poked fun at him, all with a zeal that
captivated his imagination.
In the evenings they talked, three of them in a semi-circle before the
blazing logs, the fourth sitting up in the bed propped by pillows. The
talk ranged far, from cattle to Château-Thierry. It brought to the sick
man a new sense of the values of life. These people lived far from
the swift currents of urban rush and haste, but he found in them
something the world has lost, the serenity and poise that come from
the former standards of judgment. The feverish glitter of post-war
excitement, its unrest and dissatisfaction, had left them untouched.
Betty and her father were somehow anchored to realities. They did
not crave wealth. They had within themselves sources of
entertainment. The simple things of life gave them pleasure. He
realized that there must be millions of such people in the country,
and that through them it would eventually be saved from the effects
of its restlessness.
CHAPTER XXXI
BETTY MAKES A DISCOVERY
“To-morrow,” Betty said, and did a little skip-step across the floor to
put away the frying-pan she had been washing.
“You have dancing feet,” Hollister told her.
“When I have a dancing heart.”
To the man sitting before the fire she bloomed in that dark cabin like
a poppy in the desert. She was a hundred miracles each hour to him.
He saw the exquisite mystery of her personality express itself in all
she was and did—in the faint crimson just now streaming through
her cheeks beneath the warm and tawny skin, in the charmingly shy
gesture with which she had accepted his compliment, in the low,
vibrant voice that played so wonderfully on his heartstrings. Not often
is a sweet and singing soul clothed so exquisitely in a body of grace
so young and lissom and vital.
“And that’s whenever there’s an excuse for it,” he said, smiling at her.
“But why feature to-morrow? Is it your birthday?”
“We’re going home to-morrow.”
“Are you? I didn’t know.”
He fell silent, looking into the fire. It was not an unexpected
announcement. These good days could not go on forever. She had
done more for him than any other friend he had ever had. But, of
course, life made its claims on her. She had to respond to them. It
was a wholly undeserved happiness that she had stayed till he was
out of danger and on the road to health. He wanted to tell her how he
felt about it, but he would never be able to do that. Inside, he
seemed to melt to a river of tears whenever he let himself dwell on
her amazing goodness to one who had been dead when first she
gave him her little hand and now was alive again.
“Umpha, to-morrow. I’m crazy to see Ruthie, and what the boys are
doing on the ranch.”
“I’ve been an awful nuisance,” he admitted.
“Haven’t you?” The little laugh that welled out of her was sweet and
mocking. It enveloped him with her gracious and tender young
womanhood.
He liked to think that her nursing had pulled him through just as
earlier her faith had rekindled in him self-respect and courage. The
facts might not quite justify this, but he did not intend to let brutal
actualities murder a beautiful dream.
“But you can always point with pride, as the politicians say. I’m a
credit to your nursing. Off your hands in ten days.”
“You’re not off my hands yet. You’re going to the Diamond Bar K with
us.”
The blood drummed faster through his heart. He felt a stinging of the
senses. Was there no end to the goodness of this astonishing and
disturbing girl? Must she always be flinging out life lines to him?
“Good of you—awf’ly good of you.” He looked at the fire, not at her.
His voice was suspiciously low. “I might have known, knowing you.
But I can’t impose myself any longer. I’ll be all right now at the
camp.”
“Do you think Dad and I will quit in the middle of a good job? No, sir.
We’re going to get credit for finishing it. Lon’s breaking the road with
a sled to-day. You’re to go down in it. Dr. Rayburn says he hasn’t
time to go up to the camp to look after your bandages. You’ll have to
put up with us for a while.”
“I could go to the hotel at Wild Horse,” he suggested.
“You’ve never eaten a meal there. I see that. It’s impossible. No, it’s
all settled. You’re coming to the ranch.”
“Of course you know I can’t ... I can’t ... thank you.” His voice shook.
This annoyed him. He told himself savagely not to act like a baby.
“Oh, everybody works at the Diamond Bar K,” she said lightly.
“Ruthie can’t go to school through the deep snow. You claim to be a
college man. We’ll find out whether you can teach the First Reader
and two times two.”
He tried to answer in the same spirit. “If you’re going to call every
bluff I make, I’ll be more careful. Anyhow, I didn’t study the First
Reader at college. Don’t think they teach it at Massachusetts Tech.”
Later in the day he spoke to Reed on the subject. “I don’t want to
make a nuisance of myself. I can put up at the Wild Horse House till
I’m strong enough to go back to camp.”
Reed had come out of the old-time cattle days when there were
always a plate and a bed at the ranch for whoever might want them.
He still kept open house.
“Always room for one more, boy. Anyhow, if Betty’s got it fixed up
that way in her mind, you’d as well make up yours to do as she says.
It’ll be her say-so.” The owner of the Diamond Bar K grinned at him
confidentially, as one fellow victim of feminine tyranny to another.
Forbes arrived late in the afternoon and reported heavy roads. He
had brought a four-horse team, and it had been all they could do to
break through. They had dragged a sled with the body of a wagon on
the wide runners.
“Deep drifts below the rim in the cut the other side o’ Round Top. Be
all right if the wind don’t blow to-night,” he said.
The wind blew, and was still whistling when it came time to start. But
the sun was shining and the sky clear.
Betty was doubtful, on account of the patient.
“If we wrop him up good, he’ll be all right,” Lon said. The big foreman
did not want to stay in the hills until the trail he had broken was filled
up again with drifts.
“Yes,” agreed Reed.
Tug and Betty were tucked in with warm blankets. Forbes took the
reins and drove out of the draw, past the Howard place, and up the
steep hill beyond. Betty had seen to it that her patient was wrapped
to the nose in an old fur coat of her father. The whipping wind did not
distress him.
From the summit they could see the great white wastes, stretching
mile on mile. The snow was soft and heavy, and the wind had not
drifted it a great deal since Lon had driven through the previous day.
But the horses were pulling a load, and soon the sweat stood out on
their bodies.
They reached and circled Round Top, passed a treacherous dugway,
and moved into the deep drifts below the rim. Betty looked up once
and a little shudder ran down her spine. The wind up on the bluff had
a clean sweep. Over the edge yawned a great snow comb that might
at any moment loosen and come down to bury them in an immense
white mausoleum. It might, on the other hand, hang from the rim for
months.
Lon cracked his whip close to the ear of the off leader. It might
almost have been a signal. From far above came the sound of an
answering crack. Reed looked up quickly. The snow comb slid
forward, broke, and came tearing down. It gathered momentum in its
plunge, roaring down like an express train.
The cowman flung Betty into the bed of the sled and crouched over
her as a protection against the white cloud of death rushing at them.
The avalanche swept into the ravine with thunderous noise, a
hundred tons of packed snow. The bulk of its weight struck in front of
the horses, but the tail of the slide whipped a giant billow upon them
and buried team and sled.
Betty fought and scrambled her way out of the snow. From it her
father’s head was emerging a few yards away.
“Hurt?” he asked.
“No. You?”
“Jarred up. That’s all. Seen anything of Lon?”
The head and broad shoulders of the foreman pushed up. Lon shook
snow out of his hair, eyes, and ears.