Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Air Pollution Control A Design Approach 4Th Edition Version Full Chapter PDF
Air Pollution Control A Design Approach 4Th Edition Version Full Chapter PDF
https://ebookmass.com/product/catalytic-air-pollution-control-
commercial-technology/
https://ebookmass.com/product/abnormal-psychology-a-scientist-
practitioner-approach-4th-edition-ebook-pdf-version/
https://ebookmass.com/product/air-transportation-a-management-
perspective-ebook-pdf-version/
https://ebookmass.com/product/air-pollution-1st-edition-mn-rao/
https://ebookmass.com/product/clinical-orthopaedic-
rehabilitation-a-team-approach-e-book-4th-edition-ebook-pdf-
version/
https://ebookmass.com/product/chemistry-a-molecular-approach-4th-
edition-ebook-pdf/
https://ebookmass.com/product/refrigeration-and-air-conditioning-
technology-ebook-pdf-version/
https://ebookmass.com/product/operating-system-design-the-xinu-
approach-second-edition-ebook-pdf-version-2nd/
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page v Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
Contents
1 An Overview 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Definitions and Types of Pollutants 2
1.3 Pollutants of Global Concern 6
Ozone Depletion 6
Global Climate Change 7
Sources of Global Climate Change 10
What Can We Do? 15
1.4 Legislative and Regulatory Trends
in the United States 17
Federal Legislation 17
Federal Regulations and Standards 22
The Permitting Process 29
1.5 The Ideal Gas Law and
Concentration Measurements in Gases 30
1.6 Other Applications of the Ideal Gas Law 34
1.7 Gas Flow Measurement 37
1.8 Causes, Sources, and Effects 48
Particulate Matter 50
Sulfur Dioxide 53
Nitrogen Oxides 54
Photochemical Oxidants and VOCs 56
Carbon Monoxide 57
An Air Quality Index 59
1.9 National Air Quality Trends 61
▲ Problems 66 References 70
v
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page vi Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
vi Contents
4 Cyclones 135
4.1 Introduction 135
Cyclone Dimensions 138
4.2 Theory 140
Collection Efficiency 140
4.3 Design Considerations 141
Collection Efficiency 141
Pressure Drop 146
Other Considerations 148
4.4 Costs 152
▲ Problems 155 References 159
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page vii Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
Contents vii
viii Contents
Contents ix
x Contents
Contents xi
xii Contents
Contents xiii
xiv Contents
Appendixes 765
Appendix A: Conversion Factors 766
Appendix B: Properties of Air and Other Materials 769
Appendix C: Some Properties of
a Gaussian Distribution 786
Appendix D: Computer Programs 790
Appendix E: Practice Problems (with solutions)
in Air Quality for the P.E. Examination
in Environmental Engineering 797
Appendix F: Answers to Odd-Numbered Problems 813
Index 819
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page xv Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
Preface to the
Fourth Edition
xv
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page xvi Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
C. D. Cooper
F. C. Alley
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page 1 Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
An Overview
1.1 Introduction
The preceding quote was chosen to herald the start of this chapter
and this book because it clearly demonstrates that air pollution is not a
new phenomenon, but was a problem in some local areas centuries ago.
In fact, according to Te Brake (1975), the smoke from the burning of
“sea-coale” in lime kilns in London was a serious problem as early as
A.D. 1285. The air pollution situation in London persisted, and, in
1307, King Edward I banned the burning of sea coal in lime kilns (Te
Brake 1975). By the last quarter of the fourteenth century, the problem
diminished, only to reappear by the middle of the sixteenth century.
According to Te Brake (1975), the periods of peak air pollution
problems in preindustrial London corresponded roughly to periods of
population expansion and fuel “crises”; that is, sea coal (the less-desir-
able and more-polluting fuel) was burned when wood (the preferred
fuel) went into periods of short supply and/or high prices. British
woodlands were subjected to many population-related pressures
including the need for arable land, the need for building materials,
and the need for fuel. The sudden switch in the fifteenth century from
the use of the polluting sea coal to clean-burning wood may have been
the result of the sudden drastic decline in London’s population caused
by the Black Death (plague).
Today much of our air pollution is directly related to the combus-
tion of fuels for industrial production, for transportation, and for pro-
1
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page 2 Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
35
VOCs
30
PM-10
25
SOx
20
15
NOx
10
0
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Figure 1.1
Long-term trends in U.S. annual emission rates for SOx, VOCs, NOx, and
PM-10.
Notes: PM-10 data inconsistent prior to 1990; PM includes fugitive dust after 1980; PM-2.5
unavailable before 1990.
(Sources: EPA-454/R-00-003, 2000; U.S. EPA, “National Emissions Inventory (NEI),” n.d.)
Pb Emissions Rate – thousands of tons/year
CO Emissions Rate – millions of tons/year
250
200
CO
150
100
Pb
50
0
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Figure 1.2
Long-term trends in U.S. annual emission rates for CO and lead.
Note: Lead data unavailable prior to 1970.
(Sources: For CO data, U.S. EPA, “National Emissions Inventory (NEI),” n.d.; for lead data,
Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Table 4-46: Estimated National Emissions of Lead, n.d.)
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page 5 Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
over the past forty years, the United States has reduced its total emis-
sions, whereas in many other countries, emissions have risen rapidly.
By 1987, it was estimated that the United States emitted from 12%
(for particulate matter) to 40% (for hydrocarbons) of total world emis-
sions (Faiz et al. 1992). By the early 2000s, due to growth in China,
India, and other LDCs, and to improved pollution control in the
United States, U.S. emissions accounted for less than 10% of the
world’s particulate emissions, and no more than about one-third of
worldwide emissions of any other pollutant. Over the last twenty
years, leaders in the World Bank and other organizations and the
individual governments of these countries have recognized these cru-
cial air quality problems. It is encouraging to note that they have now
started to address their air pollution problems through technical and
regulatory approaches.
The only secondary pollutant for which there is an AAQS and
which is also of major concern in urban centers throughout the world
is ozone (or more generally, photochemical oxidants). Oxidants are
secondary pollutants because they are not emitted directly; rather,
they are formed in the lower atmosphere by chemical reactions involv-
ing sunlight, VOCs, and nitrogen oxides. It is important to distinguish
between ozone near the ground (the pollutant) and ozone in the upper
atmosphere (which helps protect us from ultraviolet radiation).
The pollutants mentioned above mostly impact people and the
environment on a local or urban scale. However, a pollutant with seri-
ous regional-scale impact is acid rain (more correctly, acidic deposi-
tion). Acid precursors, such as sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, react
with oxygen and water in the atmosphere to form acids that can then
fall to the ground with rain, snow, sleet, or as dry particulates. The two
most important constituents of acid deposition are HNO3 and H2SO4,
which contribute about 98% of the free acidity found in acid rain (Lik-
ens 1976). In the 1970s, over two-thirds of the acidity in rainfall was
sulfur based and one-third was nitrogen based. Title IV of the Clean
Air Act Amendments of 1990 called for significant reductions of both
SO2 and NOx emissions. These reductions have mainly come from the
largest sources (power plants for SO2 and motor vehicles for NOx).
Since 1990, U.S. sulfur oxides emissions have been reduced by 43% and
nitrogen oxides have dropped by 33%. The overall amounts of acids
deposited in the U.S. have decreased proportionately, but now the acid-
ity in rainfall derives almost equally from sulfur and nitrogen com-
pounds. More information about the acid rain program and its
successes can be found in the comprehensive report “National Acid Pre-
cipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) Report to Congress: An Inte-
grated Assessment” (National Science and Technology Council 2005).
Monitoring in the eastern United States and in Scandinavia
showed a marked decrease in the pH of rainfall from the mid-1950s
through the mid-1970s. Rainfall pHs were measured in the range from
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page 6 Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
less than 2 to 5.5 (U.S. EPA 1979). In many lakes with little natural
buffering capacity, lake water pH dropped rapidly. At pHs less than
about 4.5, fish die because of the acidity itself and because of the acid
leaching of toxic metals from nearby soils into the water; at pH 5, most
fish eggs cannot hatch (U.S. EPA 2008). Other effects include disrup-
tion of terrestrial ecosystems, forest and soil degradation, corrosion of
steel structures, deterioration of paint and stone (e.g., marble and
limestone), and indirect effects on human health (U.S. EPA 2007,
2009). An aggressive program to reduce emissions of SOx from power
plants since 1990 has helped stop this trend in increasing acidity. Cur-
rent pH monitoring data—including isopleths of pH maps of the coun-
try—can be found at http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu.
Ozone Depletion
In the 1930s, chemists invented a “miracle” chemical. It was
extremely stable, nontoxic, nonflammable, and could be used in many
commercial applications. This chemical and its derivatives that fol-
lowed are called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs (also known as fre-
ons) came to be used throughout the world (as refrigerants, aerosol
propellants, foam-blowing agents, cleaning solvents, air conditioning
gases, and other substances).
For a long time, no one suspected any adverse consequences to the
use of CFCs. However, in 1974, the theory was put forward that
CFCs—which are stable in the lower atmosphere—break down in the
stratosphere, releasing chlorine atoms (Molina and Rowland 1974).
Chlorine atoms and other radicals remove stratospheric ozone very
effectively through a set of catalytic reactions that regenerate the
chlorine atom or radical; thus, tens of thousands of ozone molecules
can be destroyed by one chlorine atom before it is removed from the
stratosphere. Stratospheric ozone is a key factor in protecting all life
on earth, because it absorbs almost all of the ultraviolet (UV) radia-
tion coming into the earth’s atmosphere, preventing the UV radiation
from reaching ground level. Again, keep in mind that while ozone near
the ground is a pollutant with serious health effects, ozone in the
stratosphere is good and must be protected.
In 1985, the dramatic discovery of a huge ozone “hole” over Ant-
arctica proved the theory of ozone depletion. The hole (as big as the
United States) showed as much as 50% reduction in the protective
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page 7 Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
ozone layer in that region during the winter months. Since that time,
ozone depletion also has been observed over the northern latitudes,
including parts of Canada, the United States, Europe, and Russia.
Such ozone depletion has likely already accounted for millions of cases
of skin cancers and cataracts among humans, similar effects among
livestock and wild animals, perhaps billions of dollars of damages in
reduced crop yields, and degradation of plastics due to the increased
UV radiation reaching the earth’s surface.
The discovery of the ozone hole was dramatic; it shocked the world
into action. In 1987, 46 countries manufacturing CFCs developed a
treaty (the Montreal Protocol) to reduce CFC production and use on a
scheduled basis, and by 1989, 39 countries had ratified it. In 1992, the
U.S. Congress voted to accelerate the phaseout of CFCs. However, no
provisions have been made for recovering and destroying the millions
of tons of CFCs that still exist in items such as old refrigerators and
old cars. Because CFCs released in the past are still working their way
up to the stratosphere, ozone depletion will be a concern for many
years to come. For more information, a good Web site to visit is
www.epa.gov/docs/ozone/index.html.
that the deviations from year to year can be large compared to the rate
of change of the long-term average); nevertheless, it is being reported
and used today by many groups.
The average global temperature anomaly (AGTA) for the
past 130 years is plotted in Figure 1.3. The average of the years 1951
through 1980 is the base period from which the temperature devia-
tions are calculated. Examination of Figure 1.3 reveals an interesting
and sobering trend. From the late 1800s to the mid-1940s, the AGTA
increased by about 0.3 degrees C. From then until about the mid-
1970s, the AGTA fluctuated up and down but showed no trend. Since
the mid-1970s, however, the AGTA has increased by an incredible 0.6
degrees C. The total change over the past 130 years has been about 1.0
degree C. This is a huge temperature change over a very short (geolog-
ical) time period. It seems an almost inescapable conclusion that such
a change must be due in large part to anthropogenic emissions.
As can be seen in Figure 1.3, the bulk of the warming has occurred
in two periods—from 1910 through 1940 and from 1980 to the present.
Part of the argument against global climate change in the past has
been that climate models have been unable to properly reproduce the
temperature deviations (both AGTA and those at various locations
throughout the world). This is especially true of the earlier period of
temperature rise (Zwiers and Weaver 2000). Thus, it was argued that
natural forcings (such as changes in the sun’s intensity and volcanic
0.6
Temperature Anomaly, deg C
0.4
0.2
0
Base period:
1951–1980
-0.2
-0.4
1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Figure 1.3
Recent behavior of average global temperature anomaly (land and ocean
combined).
(Source data from http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp.graphs/)
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page 10 Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
Table 1.1 World CO2 Emissions from the Burning of Fossil Fuels, Gt of CO2
444444444
Example 1.1
Assume an average car in the United States gets 20 miles per gal-
lon of gasoline, is driven 12,000 miles per year, and weighs 3500
pounds. Further assume that gasoline weighs 5.9 pounds per gallon
and contains 85% carbon by weight. Is there any truth to the state-
ment that each car emits its own weight in carbon dioxide each year!?
Next, given that there are about 800 million vehicles worldwide,
estimate the annual global carbon emissions from motor vehicles. Give
your answer in Teragrams (1 Tg = 1 trillion grams = 1 million metric
tons) per year.
Solution
The carbon contained in the gasoline burned annually is
12, 000 mi 1 gal 5.9 lbs 3010 lbs C
¥ ¥ ¥ 0.85 =
year 20 mi gal year
The carbon dioxide emitted is
3010 lbs C/yr ¥ 44 lb CO2 /12 lb C = 11,040 lbs CO2 /yr
So the average U.S. car emits much more than its own weight in car-
bon dioxide each year!
To estimate worldwide emissions from vehicles, we must make a
number of gross assumptions as to the average vehicle in the world
(including cars, trucks, buses, mopeds, and so on). Let us assume that
the average vehicle in the world travels 24,000 km per year, gets 9 km
per liter, and burns fuel with a density of 0.75 kg/L and with a carbon
content of 87%. With these assumptions, annual carbon emissions
from vehicles are:
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page 12 Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
or so, about half of the new emissions have remained airborne (Mas-
ters 1991), steadily increasing the CO2 content of the atmosphere.
Based on measurements of air bubbles trapped in glacial ice corings, it
is widely accepted that, prior to the industrial revolution, the carbon
dioxide content of the atmosphere was fairly stable at 280 parts per
million (ppm). [Parts per million is a common unit of measure for gas
concentrations and will be defined later in Eq. (1.4).] By 1900, the
level had reached about 300 ppm, reflecting the net increase in global
emissions of carbon dioxide.
In 1958, the first accurate and precise measurements of atmo-
spheric CO2 concentrations were begun by Charles D. Keeling at the
Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii (see Figure 1.4). His now-classic
work showed that the 1958 concentration of CO2 was 315 ppm (Bacas-
tow, Keeling, and Whorf 1982). Compared with the CO2 level of 200
years earlier, the 1958 level of 315 ppm was a 12.5% increase (giving
an average annual rate of increase over two centuries of 0.0625% per
year). By 1980, the CO2 level was 340 ppm, and by 2008 it had
reached 387 ppm—a 22% increase from its 1958 value (giving an aver-
age rate over 50 years of 0.44% per year, a sevenfold increase in the
rate of growth).
The other three gases in the atmosphere that are responsible for
the recent increases in the heat retention capability of the atmo-
400
390
CO2 concentration, ppmv
380
370
360
350
340
330
320
310
300
1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Year
Figure 1.4
Growth in concentration of atmospheric CO2 as measured at Mauna Loa,
Hawaii.
Note: Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 are expressed in parts per million by volume
(ppmv) and reported as a dry mole fraction.
(Source: Tans, P. “Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.” National Oceanic & Atmospheric
Administration, Earth System Research Laboratory, n.d. Accessed March 2010 from http://
www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends)
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page 14 Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
sphere are methane, nitrous oxide, and CFCs. All have increased rap-
idly. Methane grew from 1.48 ppm in 1978 to 1.69 ppm in 1988, a
14% increase in 10 years. Nitrous oxide (N2O) grew from 296 parts
per billion (ppb) in 1978 to 307 ppb in 1989, a 4% increase. CFC-11
concentration in the atmosphere grew from about 157 parts per tril-
lion (ppt) in 1978 to 232 ppt in 1987 (Studt 1991), a 48% increase in
nine years.
There have been a number of estimates made about how much of a
contribution each of these gases makes to the overall warming effect.
Each gas absorbs infrared differently, with some CFCs being as much
as 15,000 times as powerful as carbon dioxide (molecule for molecule)
in terms of heat retention. Previous estimates (Flavin 1989) put the
relative contributions as follows: carbon dioxide, 57%; CFCs, 25%;
methane, 12%; and nitrous oxide, 6%, based on their concentrations in
the air. However, based on more recent data regarding the current
rates of emissions of all these gases (EIA 2008), carbon dioxide emis-
sions have grown much faster, and it is now thought to have a relative
contribution of more than 75% of the total.
There is no doubt that greenhouse gases are increasing rapidly in
our atmosphere. AGT appears to be increasing as well, but what evi-
dence is there that global climate change is occurring? Other evidence
of global warming is more anecdotal, partly because the weather is
subject to large fluctuations from season to season and from year to
year, and partly because the earth is so huge that it takes a long time
for real changes to show up. “Real changes” are defined here as those
that are large enough to say “without a doubt” that they are not part
of the “noise” (normal random fluctuations about the mean), and that
they are caused by global warming. However, there are several exam-
ples of anecdotes that seem particularly compelling. The U.S. Weather
Service keeps temperature records that show that 8 of the 10 hottest
years in the previous century occurred in the ten years from 1990
through 1999. The year 2000 was the warmest in the twentieth cen-
tury. There were widespread incidents of droughts and fires through-
out the United States during the 1990s. The Inuit Indians in
northwestern Canada have stated in research interviews that there
are fewer seals and polar bears to hunt due to thinning sea-ice, and
warmer weather has brought more mosquitoes that stay longer
(Orlando Sentinel 2000). Biologists have noted that the range where
certain butterflies live has crept northward by more than 100 miles
during the past 30 years. It was noticed in the year 2000 (for the first
time since such observations have been recorded) that there was no
solid ice—only open water—at the north pole.
Because there are so many apparently random influences on local
weather, and so much natural variation from place to place and from
year to year, most people cannot grasp the concept of climate changes
over a 100- to 200-year period. They want hard scientific evidence of
Cooper-Alley 4E.book Page 15 Tuesday, October 1, 2013 9:26 AM
Could her guardian angel have whispered to Neva that her father did
indeed still live, and that at the very moment of her vivid dream he
stood upon the veranda of Major Archer’s Indian bungalow, weak,
wasted and weary, but with the principle of life strong within him,
what agony she might have been spared in the near future! what
terrors and perils she might perhaps have escaped!
But she did not know it—she could not guess that life held for her a
joy so rare, so pure, so sweet, as that of welcoming back to his
home her father so long and bitterly mourned as dead.
As we have said, she remained awake during the remainder of the
night, walking her floor in her white gown and slippered feet, now
and then wringing her hands, or sobbing softly, or crying silently; and
thus the weary hours dragged by.
Before the clear sunlight of the soft September morning, which stole
at last into her pleasant rooms, Neva’s dream lost its vividness and
semblance of reality, and the conviction settled down upon her soul
that it was indeed “only a dream.”
She dressed herself for breakfast in a morning robe of white, with
cherry-colored ribbons, but her face was very pale, and there was a
look of unrest in her red-brown eyes when she descended slowly
and wearily to the breakfast-room at a later hour than usual.
This room faced the morning sun, and was octagon shaped, one half
of the octagon projecting from the house wall, and being set with
sashes of French plate-glass, like a gigantic bay-window. One of the
glazed sections opened like a door upon the eastern marble terrace,
with its broad surface, its carved balustrade, and its rows of rare
trees and shrubs in portable tubs.
There was no one in the room when Neva entered it. The large table
was laid with covers for five persons. The glazed door was ajar, and
the windows were all open, giving ingress to the fresh morning air.
The room was all brightness and cheerfulness, the soft gray carpet
having a border of scarlet and gold, the massive antique chairs being
upholstered in scarlet leather, and the sombreness of the dainty
buffet of ebony wood being relieved by delicate tracery of gold,
drawn by a sparing hand.
Neva crossed the floor and passed out upon the terrace, where a
gaudy peacock strutted, spreading his fan in the sunlight, and giving
utterance to his harsh notes of self-satisfaction. Neva paced slowly
up and down the terrace, shading her face with her hand. A little later
she heard some one emerge from the breakfast room upon the
terrace, and come behind her with an irregular and unsteady tread.
“Good-morning, Miss Neva,” said Rufus Black, as he gained her
side. “A lovely morning, is it not?”
Neva returned his salutation gravely. She knew that Rufus Black had
slept under the same roof with herself the preceding night, after the
ball, and that a room at Hawkhurst had been specially assigned him
by Lady Wynde, now Mrs. Craven Black.
“You ought to have sacrificed your scruples, and come down to the
drawing-rooms last night,” said Rufus Black. “I assure you we had a
delightful time, but you would have been the star of the ball. I
watched the door for your appearance until the people began to go
home, and I never danced, although there was no end of pretty girls,
but they were not pretty for me,” added Rufus, sighing. “There is for
me now only one beautiful girl in the whole world, and you are she,
sweet Neva.”
“Did you ever love any one before you loved me?” asked Neva, with
a quiet frankness and straightforwardness, looking up at him with her
clear eyes full of dusky glow.
“Ye—no!” stammered Rufus, turning suddenly pale, and his honest
eyes blenching. “Almost every man has had his boyish fancies, Miss
Neva. Whatever mine may have been, my life has been pure, and
my heart is all your own. You believe me?”
“Yes, I believe you. Mr. and Mrs. Black have come down to
breakfast, Mr. Rufus. Let us go in.”
She led the way back to the breakfast room, Rufus following. They
found the bride and bridegroom and Mrs. Artress waiting for them.
Neva greeted Lady Wynde by her new name, and bowed quietly to
Craven Black and Mrs. Artress. The little party took seats at the
table, and the portly butler, with a mute protest in his heart against
the new master of Hawkhurst, waited upon them, assisted by skillful
subordinates.
Mrs. Craven Black, dressed in white, looked the incarnation of
satisfaction. She had so far succeeded in the daring game she had
been playing, and her jet-black eyes glittered, and her dark cheeks
were flushed to crimson, and her manner was full of feverish gayety,
as she did the honors of the Hawkhurst breakfast table to her new
husband.
Three years before she had been a poor adventuress, unable to
marry the man she loved. Now, through the success of a daring and
terrible conspiracy, she was wealthy, the real and nominal mistress
of one of the grandest seats in England; the personal guardian of
one of the richest heiresses in the kingdom; and the wife of her
fellow-conspirator, to obey whose behests, and to marry whom, she
had been willing to peril her soul’s salvation.
Only one thing remained to render her triumph perfect, her fortune
magnificent, and her success assured. Only one move remained to
be played, and her game would be fully played.
That move comprehended the marriage of Neva Wynde to Rufus
Black, and Mrs. Craven Black, from the moment of her third
marriage, resolved to devote all her energies to the task of bringing
about the union upon which she was determined.
The breakfast was eaten by Neva almost in silence. When the meal
was over Mr. and Mrs. Craven Black strolled out into the gardens,
arm in arm. Mrs. Artress, who had fully emerged from her gray
chrysalis, and who was now dressed in pale blue, hideously
unbecoming to her ashen-hued complexion, retired to her own room
to enjoy her triumph in solitude, and to count the first installment of
the yearly allowance that had been promised her, and which had
already been paid her, with remarkable promptness, by Lady Wynde.
Neva went to the music-room, and began to play a weird, strange
melody, in which her very soul seemed to find utterance. In the midst
of her abstraction, the door opened, and Rufus Black came in softly.
He was standing at her side when her wild music ceased abruptly,
and she looked up from the ivory keys.
“Your music sounds like a lament, or a dirge,” said Rufus, leaning
upon the piano and regarding with admiration the pale, rapt face and
glowing eyes.
“I meant it so,” said Neva. “I was thinking of my father.”
“Ah,” said Rufus, rather vacantly.
“I dreamed of papa last night,” said Neva softly, resting her elbow on
the crashing keys and laying one rounded cheek upon her pink palm.
“I dreamed he was alive, Rufus, and that I saw him standing before
the door of an Indian hut, or bungalow, or curious dwelling; and my
dream was like a vision.”
“A rather uncomfortable one,” suggested Rufus. “You were greatly
excited yesterday, Neva, I could see that; and, as your mind was all
stirred up concerning your father, you naturally dreamed of him. It
would make a horrid row if your dream could only turn out true, and
you ought to rejoice that it cannot. You have mourned for him, and
the edge of your grief has worn off—”
“No, no, it has not,” interrupted the girl’s passionate young voice. “If I
had seen him die, I could have been reconciled to the will of God.
But to lose him in that awful manner—never to know how much he
suffered during the moments when he was struggling in the claws of
that deadly tiger—oh, it seems at times more than I can bear. And to
think how soon he has been forgotten!” and Neva’s voice trembled.
“His wife whom he idolized has married another, and his friends and
tenantry have danced and made merry at her wedding. Of all who
knew and loved him, only his daughter still mourns at his awful fate!”
“It is hard,” assented Rufus, “but it’s the way of the world, you know.
If it will comfort you any, Neva, I will tell you that half the county
families came to the wedding breakfast to support and cheer you by
their presence, and the other half came out of sheer curiosity. But
few of the best families remained to the ball.”
“Papa thought much of you, did he not, Rufus?” asked Neva,
thinking of that skilfully forged letter which was hidden in her bosom,
and which purported to be her father’s last letter to her from India.
Rufus Black had been warned by his father that Neva might some
day thus question him, and Craven Black had told his son that he
must answer the heiress in the affirmative. Rufus was weak of will,
cowardly, and timid, but it was not in him to be deliberately
dishonest. He could not lie to the young girl, whose truthful eyes
sought his own.
“I had no personal acquaintance with Sir Harold Wynde, Neva,” the
young man said, inwardly quaking, yet daring to tell the truth.
“But—but—papa said—I don’t really comprehend, Rufus. I thought
that papa loved you.”
“If Sir Harold ever saw me, I do not know it,” said Rufus, cruelly
embarrassed, and wondering if his honesty would not prove his ruin.
“I was at the University—Sir Harold may have seen me, and taken a
liking to me—”
Neva looked strangely perplexed and troubled. Certainly the
awkward statement of Rufus did not agree with the supposed last
declaration of her father.
“There seems some mystery here which I cannot fathom,” she said.
“I have a letter written by papa in India, under the terrible foreboding
that he would die there, and in this letter papa speaks of you with
affection, and says—and says—”
She paused, her blushes amply completing the sentence.
A cold shiver passed over the form of Rufus. He comprehended the
cause of Neva’s blushes, and a portion of his father’s villainy. He
understood that the letter of which Neva spoke had been forged by
Craven Black, and that it commanded Neva’s marriage with Craven
Black’s son. What could he say? What should he do? His innate
cowardice prevented him from confessing the truth, and his awe of
his father prevented him from betraying him, and he could only
tremble and blush and pale alternately.
“Papa might have taken an interest in you, without making himself
known to you,” suggested Neva, after a brief pause. “Some act of
yours might have made your name known to him, and he might
secretly have watched your course without betraying to you his
interest in you, might he not?”
“He might,” said Rufus huskily.
“I can explain the matter in no other way. It is singular. Perhaps poor
papa might not have well known what he was writing, but the letter is
so clearly written that that idea is not tenable. After all, so long as he
wrote the letter, what does it matter?” said Neva wearily. “He must
have known you, Rufus—or else the letter was forged!”
Rufus averted his face, upon which a cold sweat was starting.
“Who would have forged it?” he asked hoarsely.
“That I do not know. I know no one base enough for such a deed. It
could not have been forged, of course, Rufus, but the discrepancy
between your statement and that in the letter makes me naturally
doubt. Papa was the most truthful of men. He hated a lie, and was
so punctilious in regard to the truth that he was always painfully
exact in his statements. He trained me to scorn a lie, and was even
particular about the slightest error in repeating a story. How then
could he speak of knowing you? Perhaps, though, I am mistaken. I
may find, on referring to the letter, that he speaks of liking you and
taking an interest in you, without alluding to a personal
acquaintance.”
“If I had known Sir Harold, I should have tried to deserve his good
opinion,” said Rufus, his voice trembling. “I have the greatest
reverence for his character, and I wish I might be like him.”
“There are few like papa,” said Neva, a sudden glow transfiguring
her face.
“How you loved him, Neva. If I had had such a father!” and Rufus
sighed. “I would rather have an honorable, affectionate father whom I
could revere and trust than to have a million of money!”
Neva reached out her hand in sympathy, and the young man seized
it eagerly, clinging to it.
“Neva,” he exclaimed, with a sudden energy of passion, “it is more
than a month since I asked you to be my wife, and you have not yet
given me my answer. Will you give it to me now?”
The girl withdrew her hand gently, and rested her cheek again on her
hand.
“I know I am not worthy of you,” said Rufus, beseechingly. “I am poor
in fortune, weak of character, a piece of drift-wood blown hither and
thither by adverse winds, and likely to be tossed on a rocky shore at
last, if you do not have pity upon me. Neva, such as I am, I beseech
you to save me!”
“I am powerless to save any one,” said Neva gently. “Your help must
come from above, Rufus.”
“I want an earthly arm to cling to,” pleaded Rufus, his tones growing
shrill with the sudden fear that she would reject him. “I have in me all
noble impulses, Neva; I have in me the ability to become such a man
as was your father. I would foster all noble enterprises; I would
become great for your sake. I would study my art and make a name
of which you should be proud. Will you stoop from your high estate,
Neva, and have pity upon a weak, cowardly soul that longs to be
strong and brave? Will you smile upon my great love for you, and let
me devote my life to your happiness and comfort?”
His wild eyes looked into hers with a prayerfulness that went to her
soul. He seemed to regard her as his earthly saviour—and such
indeed, if she accepted him, she would be, for she would bring him
fortune, and, what he valued more, her affection, her pure life, her
brave soul, on which his own weak nature might be stayed.
“Poor Rufus!” said Neva, with a tenderness that a sister might have
shown him. “My poor boy!” and her small face beamed with sisterly
kindness upon the tall, awkward fellow, the words coming strangely
from her lips. “I am sorry for you.”
“And you will marry me?” he cried eagerly.
The young face became grave almost to sternness. The lovely eyes
gloomed over with a great shadow.
“I want to obey papa’s wishes as if they were commands,” she said.
“I have thought and prayed, day after day and night after night. I like
you, Rufus, and I cannot hear your appeals unmoved. I believe I am
not selfish, if I am true to my higher nature, and obey the instincts
God has implanted in my soul. I must be untrue to God, to myself,
and to my own instincts, or I must pay no heed to that last letter and
to the last wishes of poor papa. Which shall I do? I have decided first
one way, and then the other. The possibility that that letter was—was
not written by papa—and there is such a possibility—I cannot now
help but consider. Forgive me, Rufus, but I have decided, and I think
papa, who has looked down from heaven upon my perplexity and my
anguish, must approve my course. I feel that I am doing right, when I
say,” and here her hand took his, “that—that I cannot marry you.”
“Not marry me! Oh, Neva!”
“It costs me much to say it, Rufus, but I must be true to myself, to my
principles of honor. I do not love you as a wife should love her
husband. I could not stand up before God’s altar and God’s minister,
and perjure myself by saying that I thus loved you. No, Rufus, no; it
may not be!”
Rufus bowed his head upon the piano, and sobbed aloud.
His weakness appealed to the girl’s strength. She had seldom seen
a man in tears, and her own tears began to flow in sympathy.
“I am so sorry, Rufus!” she whispered.
“But you will not save me? You will not lift a hand to save me from
perdition?”
“I will be your sister, Rufus.”
“Until you become some other man’s wife!” cried Rufus, full of
jealous anguish. “You will marry some other man—Lord Towyn,
perhaps?”
The girl retreated a few steps, a red glory on her features. A strange
sweet shyness shone in her eyes.
“I see!” exclaimed Rufus, in a passion of grief and jealousy. “You will
marry Lord Towyn? Oh, Neva! Neva!”
“Rufus, it cannot matter to you whom I marry since I cannot marry
you. Let us be friends—brother and sister—”
“I will be all to you or nothing!” ejaculated Rufus violently. “I will marry
you or die!”
He broke from the grasp she laid upon him, and with a wild cry upon
his lips, dashed from the room.
In the hall he encountered Craven Black and his bride, just come in
from the garden. He would have brushed past them unseeing,
unheeding, but his father, seeing his excitement and agitation,
grasped his arm forcibly, arresting his progress.
“What’s the matter?” demanded Craven Black fiercely. “What’s up?”
“I’m going to kill myself!” returned Rufus shrilly, trying to break loose
from that strong, unyielding clasp. “It’s all over. Neva has refused
me, and turned me adrift. She is going to marry Lord Towyn!”
“Oh, is she?” said Craven Black mockingly. “We’ll see about that.”
“We will see!” said Neva’s step-mother, with a cruel and fierce
compression of her lips. “I am Miss Wynde’s guardian. We will see if
she dares disobey her father’s often repeated injunctions to obey
me! If she does refuse, she shall feel my power!”
“Defer your suicide until you see how the thing turns out, my son,”
said Craven Black, with a little sneer. “Go to your room and dry your
tears, before the servants laugh at you.”
Rufus Black slunk away, miserable, yet with reviving hope. Perhaps
the matter was not ended yet? Perhaps Neva would reconsider her
decision?
As he disappeared up the staircase, Mrs. Craven Black laid her hand
on her bridegroom’s arm, and whispered:
“The girl will prove restive. We shall have trouble with her. If we
mean to force her into this marriage, we must first of all get her away
from her friends. Where shall we take her? How shall we deal with
her?”
CHAPTER XXIV.
LALLY FINDS A NEW HOME.