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Amorphous Nanomaterials
Amorphous Nanomaterials

Preparation, Characterization and Applications

Lin Guo
Author All books published by Wiley-VCH
Prof Lin Guo are carefully produced. Nevertheless,
Beihang University authors, editors, and publisher do not
School of Chemistry warrant the information contained in
No. 37 Xueyuan Road these books, including this book, to
Haidian District be free of errors. Readers are advised
100191 Beijing to keep in mind that statements, data,
China illustrations, procedural details or other
items may inadvertently be inaccurate.
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© 2021 WILEY-VCH GmbH, Boschstr.

12, 69469 Weinheim, Germany

All rights reserved (including those of

translation into other languages). No
part of this book may be reproduced in
any form – by photoprinting,
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transmitted or translated into a
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used in this book, even when not
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be considered unprotected by law.

Print ISBN: 978-3-527-34747-6

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 v

Contents

Foreword xi
Preface xiii

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Introduction of Amorphous Materials 1
1.2 Structural Differences between Amorphous Materials and Crystals 3
1.2.1 Crystals and Quasicrystals 3
1.2.2 Amorphous Materials 5
1.3 History of Amorphous Materials 7
1.3.1 Establishment of Crystallography 8
1.3.2 Enlightenment of Amorphous Materials 9
1.3.3 Modern Amorphous Materials 1-Disordered Elementary Substance 10
1.3.4 Modern Amorphous Materials 2-Metallic Glass 11
1.3.5 Modern Amorphous Materials 3-Nontraditional Amorphous
Nanomaterials 14
1.4 Growth Mechanisms of Amorphous Nanomaterials 15
1.4.1 Classical Nucleation Theory 15
1.4.2 Multistep Transformation Mechanism with Amorphous
Participation 17
1.4.3 Complex Growth Process in Solution 19
1.5 Summary and Outlook 19
References 20

2 Local Structure and Electronic State of Amorphous

Nanomaterials 23
2.1 Spherical Aberration-Corrected Transmission Electron Microscopy 23
2.1.1 Introduction 23
2.1.2 Spherical Aberration-Corrected Transmission Electron Microscopy 24
2.1.3 Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy in TEM 28
2.1.4 Applications in Amorphous Nanomaterial Characterization 34
2.1.5 Summary and Outlook 41
vi Contents

2.2 X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectrum 41

2.2.1 Introduction 41
2.2.2 Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure 42
2.2.3 X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure 45
2.2.4 Application in Amorphous Nanomaterial Characterization 47
2.2.5 Summary and Outlook 51
References 52

3 Defect Characterization of Amorphous Nanomaterials 61

3.1 Introduction 61
3.2 Positron Annihilation Spectrum 64
3.3 Electron Paramagnetic Resonance 71
3.4 Photoluminescence Spectroscopy 79
3.5 Summary and Outlook 82
References 84

4 Synthesis of 0D Amorphous Nanomaterials 89

4.1 Introduction 89
4.2 Bottom-Up Method 90
4.2.1 Solution-Based Chemical Method 90
4.2.2 Thermal Treatment Method 98
4.2.3 Other Methods 101
4.3 Top-Down Method 104
4.4 Summary and Outlook 106
References 106

5 Synthesis of 1D Amorphous Nanomaterials 111

5.1 Introduction 111
5.2 Hydrothermal/Solvothermal Method 113
5.3 Chemical Precipitation Method 116
5.4 Electrochemical Deposition Method 120
5.5 Templating Method 122
5.6 Other Synthetic Methods 124
5.7 Summary and Outlook 131
References 132

6 Synthesis of 2D Amorphous Nanomaterials 137

6.1 Introduction 137
6.2 Thermal Decomposition Method 138
6.3 Exfoliation Method 139
6.4 Deposition Method 143
6.4.1 Physical Vapor Deposition Method 143
6.4.2 Electrodeposition Method 143
6.5 Chemical Precipitation Method 147
6.6 Templating Method 148
 Contents vii

6.7 Phase Transformation Method 151

6.8 Sol–Gel Method 151
6.9 Element Doping Method 152
6.10 Summary and Outlook 155
References 155

7 Synthesis of 3D Amorphous Nanomaterials 163

7.1 Introduction 163
7.2 Template-Engaged Strategies 163
7.2.1 Coordinating Etching Method 164
7.2.2 Acid/Alkali Etching Method 166
7.2.3 Redox Etching Method 169
7.2.4 Self-Templated Method 171
7.3 Electrochemical Method 173
7.4 Hydrothermal/Solvothermal Method 174
7.5 Common Solution Method 176
7.6 Laser/Ultrasonic-Assisted Solution Method 177
7.7 Other Synthetic Methods 179
7.8 Summary and Outlook 182
References 183

8 Synthesis of Amorphous-Coated and Amorphous-Doped

Nanomaterials 189
8.1 Introduction 189
8.2 Amorphous Coated Nanomaterials by ALD 190
8.2.1 Amorphous Metal Oxide Coating 190
8.2.2 Amorphous Metal Fluoride Coating 192
8.3 Amorphous-Coated Nanomaterials With Different Dimensions 193
8.3.1 1D Amorphous-Coated Nanomaterials 193
8.3.1.1 Homojunction Structure 193
8.3.1.2 Hetrojuction Structure 197
8.3.2 2D Amorphous-Coated Nanomaterials 198
8.3.2.1 Carbon-Based Nanomaterials 198
8.3.2.2 Ni-Based Nanomaterials 200
8.3.2.3 Other Metal-based Nanomaterials 201
8.3.3 3D Amorphous-Coated Nanomaterials 202
8.3.3.1 Silica Coating 202
8.3.3.2 Carbon Coating 204
8.3.3.3 Metal Oxide Coating 205
8.3.3.4 Metal Sulfide Coating 207
8.4 Amorphous-Doped or Hybrid Nanomaterials 208
8.4.1 2D Amorphous-Doped Nanomaterials 208
8.4.2 3D Amorphous-Doped Nanomaterial 211
8.5 Summary and Outlook 215
References 215
viii Contents

9 Applications of Amorphous Nanomaterials in

Electrocatalysis 223
9.1 Introduction 223
9.2 Fundamentals of Electrocatalysis 225
9.3 Amorphous Nanomaterials as Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting 226
9.3.1 Amorphous Nanomaterials for HER 226
9.3.1.1 Amorphous Single Metallic Nanomaterials for HER 226
9.3.1.2 Amorphous Binary Metallic Nanomaterials for HER 232
9.3.1.3 Amorphous Composite Nanomaterials for HER 234
9.3.2 Amorphous Nanomaterials for OER 237
9.3.2.1 Amorphous Single Metallic Nanomaterials for OER 238
9.3.2.2 Amorphous Binary Metallic Nanomaterials for OER 241
9.3.2.3 Amorphous Polynary Metal Nanomaterials for OER 244
9.3.2.4 Amorphous Composites for OER 246
9.3.3 Amorphous Nanomaterials for ORR 248
9.3.3.1 Amorphous Noble Metal-based Nanomaterials for ORR 249
9.3.3.2 Amorphous 3d Metal-based Nanomaterials for ORR 249
9.3.4 Amorphous Nanomaterials for CRR 251
9.3.5 Amorphous Nanomaterials for NRR 252
9.3.6 Amorphous Nanomaterials as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts 253
9.3.6.1 Amorphous Nanomaterials as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts of HER and
OER 254
9.3.6.2 Amorphous Nanomaterials as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts of ORR and
OER 256
9.4 Summary and Outlook 256
References 258

10 Applications of Amorphous Nanomaterials in Batteries 269

10.1 Introduction 269
10.2 Negative Electrodes in Batteries 269
10.2.1 Amorphous Phosphorus Compounds 269
10.2.2 Amorphous Silicon Compounds 273
10.2.3 Amorphous Transition Metal Oxides 280
10.2.3.1 Amorphous Iron Oxides 280
10.2.3.2 Amorphous Titanium Oxides 281
10.2.3.3 Amorphous Vanadium-Based Oxides 282
10.2.3.4 Amorphous Tin-Based Oxides 288
10.2.4 Amorphous Carbon 289
10.3 Positive Electrodes in Batteries 295
10.3.1 Amorphous Ferric Phosphate 295
10.3.2 Amorphous Vanadium-Based Oxides 300
10.3.3 Amorphous Metal Polysulfides 302
10.4 Summary and Outlook 304
References 306
 Contents ix

11 Applications of Amorphous Nanomaterials in

Supercapacitors 317
11.1 Introduction 317
11.2 Applications in Electric Double-Layer Capacitors 318
11.3 Applications in Pseudocapacitors 324
11.3.1 Amorphous Metal Oxides 325
11.3.2 Amorphous Metal Sulfides 334
11.3.3 Other Amorphous Nanomaterials 337
11.4 Summary and Outlook 341
References 342

12 Applications of Amorphous Nanomaterials in

Photocatalysis 347
12.1 Introduction 347
12.2 Photocatalytic Degradation 349
12.3 Photocatalytic Decomposition of Water 355
12.4 Photo-Electrocatalysis 359
12.5 Amorphous Nanomaterial as Cocatalyst in Photocatalysis 363
12.6 Other Applications in Photocatalysis 366
12.7 Summary and Outlook 370
References 370

13 Engineering Applications of Amorphous Nanomaterials 375

13.1 Introduction 375
13.2 Mechanical Properties of Amorphous Nanomaterials 376
13.2.1 Amorphous Alloys/Metals 376
13.2.2 Amorphous Nonmetallic Materials 382
13.3 Strategy for Enhancing the Mechanical Performance 386
13.3.1 Introduction of Micro/Nanosecond Phase 387
13.3.2 Introduction of Micro/Nano-Inhomogeneity 393
13.3.3 Surface Modification 395
13.3.4 Amorphous Based Composite Materials 396
13.4 Summary and Outlook 401
References 402

Index 407
 xi

Foreword

The word is unity of opposites, which is described as Yin and Yang in Chinese philos-
ophy. In the field of materials, the structures, features, or properties of materials are
also unities of opposites, for example, hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity in the inter-
face of materials, anisotropy, and isotropy in arrangement of materials, strength, and
toughness in mechanics of materials.
In addition to the traditional crystallography, amorphous materials are a strong
complement to condensed matter physics. Even though the present progress of
solid materials is mainly based on crystal with regular atomic arrangement, the
rule of the disordered word is also fascinating. Nanoscale amorphous materials are
very important member of the non-crystalline solids family and have emerged as
a new category of advanced materials. Compared to the crystalline counterpart,
amorphous nanomaterials with isotropic nature always exhibit fast ion diffusion,
relieved strain, and higher reactivity, which enable amorphous nanomaterials to
exhibit high performance in catalysis, energy storage and mechanics, as well as
other interesting properties.
Based on the rich experience of nanomaterials, Prof. Lin Guo has made great con-
tributions for the propelling of nanoscale amorphous materials. He is one of the
earliest scientists who put forward the universal synthetic strategies of nanoscale
amorphous materials with regular morphologies. He also creatively discovered a
series of systematic laws between amorphous structure and the property of catal-
ysis, energy storage, mechanics, optics, etc. As the colleague and friend of Prof. Guo,
I have known him for more than twenty years. We often discuss about the probable
and potential applications of nanoscale amorphous materials. He is an intelligent
scientist with active mind and inexhaustible creativity.
This book is an excellent treatise for nanoscale amorphous materials, in which
some emerging innovative methods to fabricate well-defined amorphous nanoma-
terials are systematically reviewed, including 0D, 1D, 2D, 3D, and coated or doped
amorphous nanomaterials. Apart from that, some powerful techniques for the char-
acterization of amorphous materials are also addressed. Finally, he focused on the
various fascinating applications related to amorphous nanomaterials, including
the applications in electrocatalysis, batteries, supercapacitors, photocatalysis, and
mechanics.
xii Foreword

This book is informative and valuable in professional and common disciplines,

which is also easy to understand. I believe that this book is of great significance to
promote the rapid development of amorphous nanomaterials. It has reference value
for those engaged in related scientific research.

Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Fellow of American Academy of Engineering
Academician of the third World Academy of Sciences

18 January 2021, Beijing

 xiii

Preface

Throughout the history of human science and technology development, the surge
of new technology is always accompanied by the discovery and improvement of
new materials. From the ancient bone, stone, porcelain, metal materials to the
modern high-performance plastics, alloys, micromaterials, and nanomaterials,
which are still developing constantly, all of them have left a deep imprint in
the history of human development. Compared with the traditional crystalline
materials with a periodic arrangement of basic units, amorphous materials are
of short-range-ordered and long-range-disordered structure. Unlike crystalline
counterparts, amorphous materials do not have grain boundaries, crystal defects,
segregation, and anisotropy, so amorphous materials show macroscopic homo-
geneity and isotropy. For example, amorphous alloys have a unique disordered
structure similar to glass. They share the characteristics of both metal and glass
and thus have unique physical, chemical, and mechanical properties. In the aspect
of mechanical strength, amorphous alloys have high strength, high hardness, high
wear and corrosion resistance, high fatigue resistance, low elastic modulus, and
large elastic strain limit, which is considered to have a broad potential application in
the field of engineering mechanics, biomedical science, and aerospace. In addition
to mechanical properties, amorphous materials have also attracted wide attention
because of their highly unsaturated centers on the surface and homogeneous
catalytic centers in chemical and structural environments, which make them not
only as model catalysts but also as the practical ones.
In addition, the emergence of nanomaterials has been one of the most important
developments in the field of materials since the late twentieth century. Nanomate-
rials refer to a new class of functional materials in which at least one dimension
of materials is reduced to the nanoscale. Because their characteristic size is similar
to the De Broglie wavelength of electrons, the electron movement in this kind of
materials is limited, and their energy is changed from continuous state to discon-
tinuous energy level, thereby deriving many new physical and chemical properties,
which have been widely concerned by the scientific community. In recent years,
nanoscaled amorphous materials have gradually entered people’s field of vision and
shown their excellent performance comparable to or even better than that of crys-
talline nanomaterials in various fields, such as catalysis, electrochemical energy stor-
age, mechanical engineering, and so on.
xiv Preface

Although many studies have verified the broad application prospects of amor-
phous nanomaterials as emerging materials in many fields, their development is
still in its infancy, and many scientific and technical problems need to be solved. For
example, amorphous materials are widely believed to have short-range order, but
their atomic arrangement forms are still unable to be accurately defined even with
the development of electron microscopy techniques today. Besides, it is difficult to
control the growth mode of amorphous materials and obtain specific structures
with regular morphology because of their long-range-disordered internal structure.
A single preparation method can only obtain amorphous nanomaterials with
specific structures, which is far from satisfying the research on the performance
regulation of amorphous materials. In addition, the atomic disorder in amorphous
materials affords a large number of unsaturated centers. In theory, these abun-
dant active sites should have higher catalytic performance than those of crystal
nanomaterial in an order of magnitude, but the existing studies have not been
realized yet.
This book was written based on guaranteeing the integrity of the content,
combined with my experience in the preparation of amorphous nanomaterials,
characterization, and application research practice for many years, not only
expounds the latest information of amorphous nanomaterial preparation tech-
nology and cutting-edge progress, but also take into account some applications of
amorphous nanomaterials. This book focuses on the elaboration of research ideas
and methods, aiming to enable readers to have a full understanding of amorphous
nanomaterials, and easy to grasp the preparation principle, application range, and
existing technical bottlenecks, so as to better carry out innovative research in the
future. This book is divided into 13 chapters, the main contents of each chapter
are written as follows: Chapter 1 mainly introduces the intrinsic characteristics,
development history, and general preparation methods of amorphous nanomate-
rials; Chapters 2 and 3 introduce the local structure, electronic states, and defects
of amorphous nanomaterials, mainly from the perspective of characterization
techniques. In Chapters 4–7, the latest progress of preparation methods of 0D–3D
amorphous nanomaterials is mainly introduced. In Chapter 8, the main ways and
structural characteristics of hybrid nanomaterials, such as amorphous coating
or doped nanomaterial, are introduced. Chapters 9–13 describe the applications
of amorphous nanomaterials in catalysis, electrochemical energy storage, and
mechanical engineering.
I would love to express my special thanks to my group members who have con-
tributed to the scientific research and in the process of book writing and revision: Wei
Zhou, Guangsheng Wang, Hua Wang, Yujie Zhu, Xiaotian Wang, Lidong Li, Jianxin
Kang, Zhao Yang, Xiaoyi Qiu, Jie Yang, Zhi Cai, Baohong Zhang, Binbin Jia, Jian
Yu, Yan Zhang, Juzhe Liu, Xiaogang Niu, Leqing Deng, Xiangyu Chen, Fengshi Li,
Hewei Zhao, Jianwei Nai, etc. Besides, I would also like to thank Prof. Yongjun Tian,
Prof. Xiaodong Han, Prof. Xun Wang, Prof. Zhiyong Tang, Prof. Jing Zhang, Prof. Yi
Luo, Prof. Shihe Yang, Prof. Xiangfeng Duan, Prof. Nicholas Kotov, Prof. Limin Liu,
Prof. Xiaodong Li, Prof. Lin Gu, Prof. Limin Liu, and Prof. Robert Ritchie for their
 Preface xv

great support and help in scientific research cooperation. I would also like to extend
my sincere thanks to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51532001)
for its funding and support.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Prof. Lei Jiang, Prof. Yadong Li,
Prof. Hongjie Zhang, Prof. Yuliang Li, Prof. Jihong Yu, and Prof. Jinghong Li for
their valuable comments and suggestions for this book. I would also like to thank
the Wiley Press and editors for their enthusiastic help during the publication of
this book.
This book is dedicated to those research scholars, students, and business people
who are engaged in the research of amorphous nanomaterials. Because of the rapid
development in the field of amorphous nanomaterials, the emergence of new knowl-
edge and theories, and the inexperience of the author, some mistakes inevitably exist
in the book. We hope that experts and readers can provide valuable suggestions for
timely supplement and revision.

17 January 2021 Lin Guo

Beihang University, Beijing
 1

Introduction

1.1 Introduction of Amorphous Materials

Amorphous material is a type of substance in which basic units do not exhibit
long-range order (LRO) in space but maintain some ordered characteristics only in
the range of several atomic scope. Different from the traditional crystalline materials
with regularly arranged basic units, amorphous materials are characterized by
atomic short-range (<1 nm) order and long-range (>1 nm) disorder [1]. Compared
with anisotropic crystalline materials, amorphous materials exhibit macroscopic
homogeneity and isotropy. Based on this internal structure, amorphous materials
do not have crystal defects such as dislocations, grain boundaries, etc., which
endows the amorphous materials with some excellent mechanical properties such
as high strength, high hardness, high wear resistance, high fatigue resistance,
etc. At the same time, amorphous surface exhibits a high degree of unsaturated
atomic sites or dangling bonds, which made it desirable as a model catalyst or a
practical catalyst. Thus, the special disordered surface structure can provide more
active sites than traditional crystal nanomaterials and further improve the catalytic
performance. Apart from that, the special atomic arrangement of amorphous
structures can effectively regulate the electronic state of the material, leading to
optimized transmission of electrons or ions in catalysis. Therefore, the intensive
study of amorphous materials has important implications for theoretical and
practical exploration of solid materials.
In the order of aggregates, modern physics classifies conventional materials as
solid, liquid, gaseous, and plasma states (Figure 1.1), which are considered to be the
basic material forms that make up our surroundings. In addition to the three states
of solid, liquid, and gas, which are common in our perception, the plasma state
consists of gaseous molecules after ionization (thermal ionization, photoionization,
impact ionization, etc.), and its behavior is mainly controlled by the Coulomb
interaction between ions and electrons. The four basic states are stable under some
certain conditions, and the transformation of physical states from one to another is
due to the change of thermodynamic states such as temperature, volume, enthalpy,
and entropy.
Compared to the stable basic states, the amorphous materials are considered
to be a metastable intermediate state of liquid-to-solid transition. Its precursor is
Amorphous Nanomaterials: Preparation, Characterization and Applications, First Edition. Lin Guo.
© 2021 WILEY-VCH GmbH. Published 2021 by WILEY-VCH GmbH.
2 1 Introduction

Figure 1.1 The research scope of

Stable Metastable
amorphous materials. T, V , H, and S are the
abbreviation of temperature, volume,
Plasma enthalpy, and entropy, respectively.
T
V Gas
H
S Liquid
Viscous
liquid
Amorphous
Solid
Crystal

Research scope of amorphous

a viscous liquid (supercooled liquid) that has begun to undergo agglomeration

transformation. In addition, the next stage of an amorphous structure is a crystal
with a stable periodic arrangement of the constituent elements. Amorphous
materials have a phase similar to that of solid, which is embodied as a solid shape.
Meanwhile, it has a disordered atomic arrangement similar to that of liquid.
Without the fixed atomic pattern as crystal, or the dynamic equilibrium as liquid
and gas, amorphous materials are intervened formatted solid with unstable state.
Few materials researches in the past hundred years discussed the amorphous
system, most of the studies have used crystal models to construct their perceptions
about the formation of materials. A sufficiently sound theoretical system has
been established for crystals owing to its accurately and constantly regular atomic
arrangements. Compared with these traditional crystalline materials, amorphous
materials only have short-range order (SRO) in 1–2 atomic scope, without transla-
tional symmetry or rotational symmetry (Figure 1.2). This disordered state makes
the amorphous material extremely difficult to be studied both experimentally and
theoretically. For example, even though the spherical aberration correction tech-
nique and cryo-electron microscopy technique have achieved great development
today, the most basic structural or the atomic arrangement of amorphous materials
has not been effectively solved.
In both experimental observation and theoretical reasoning, the systematical
arrangement and the regular morphology are the basis of scientific research, which

(a) Side view Top view (b)

S
c
Pd

Figure 1.2 (a) The unit cell of PdS from different views. (b) Amorphous structure of eight
cells of PdS with a quench cooling in dynamic simulation.
 1.2 Structural Differences between Amorphous Materials and Crystals 3

can greatly simplify people’s cognitive process. The establishment of crystallography

relies heavily on a theoretical system based on mathematics. However, among all
the substances that make up the world, the ones with the perfect and regular
arrangement are the only very special cases. The chaotic and disordered state is
the real cornerstone of the whole condensed matter. From the water on which
life depends, to the life itself, to the vast universe, to clusters of atoms tens of
thousands of times smaller than bacteria, they are not arranged in regular form.
Meanwhile, even though scientists have a complete and systematic understanding
on crystal materials, researches are necessary to be carried out with the amorphous
counterparts, such as glass, plastics and rubber, to further explore their irreplaceable
role in many key areas.
Therefore, increasing attention has been received to the study of amorphous
materials. In 1995, Science published a special issue: Through the Glass Lightly. It
invited dozens of top scientists to put forward the ideas for the future of science in
the twenty-first century. Philip Warren Anderson of Princeton University, who won
the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics for his fundamental theoretical research on the
electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems, believed that the deepest
and most interesting unsolved problem in solid states theory is probably the theory
of the nature of glass and glass transition. This can be the next breakthrough in the
coming decade [2].
Ten years later in 2005, at the commemoration of the 125th anniversary of
Science, another special issue named What Don’t We Know invited many of the most
influential scientists in various fields to raise 125 scientific problems that need to
be solved urgently in this new century. Amorphous material was still listed among
them: What is the nature of the glassy state? [3] Molecules in a glass are arranged
much like those in liquids but are more tightly packed. Where and why does liquid
end and glass begin?
At the 9th International Conference on bulk amorphous alloys, held in Xiamen
University in 2012, Takeshi Egami from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Ten-
nessee State University, one of the most famous scientists in the field of amorphous
materials and physics, concluded the conference by saying, the amorphous field
is an area without textbooks, and aspiring young people should actively engage in
research areas where textbooks are not yet available.

1.2 Structural Differences between Amorphous

Materials and Crystals
According to the arrangement of atoms, modern science classifies solid materials
into three categories: crystals, quasicrystal and amorphous materials (Figure 1.3).

1.2.1 Crystals and Quasicrystals

For crystal materials, the atomic arrangement has both translational symmetry and
rotational symmetry. In real space, its structural elements (atoms or molecules)
are arranged periodically in three-dimensional space according to certain rules.
Therefore, periodicity is considered as the most essential characteristic of a crystal
4 1 Introduction

Crystal Quasi-crystal Amorphous

(a) (c) (e)

1 μm 1 mm 1 mm

(b) (020) (d) (f)

(200)

(000)

[001]

Figure 1.3 The morphologies of three different kinds of solid materials, as well as their
corresponding electron diffraction patterns. (a, b) Crystal, (c, d) quasicrystal, and (e, f)
amorphous materials. Source: Panels (a, b) Reproduced with permission from Zhang et al.
[4]. Copyright 2009, Royal Society of Chemistry. Panel. (c) Reproduced with permission from
Fisher et al. [5]. Copyright 2000, Elsevier Inc. Panel. (d) Reproduced with permission from
Zhang et al. [6]. Copyright 1985, Taylor and Francis Group. Panel. (f) Reproduced with
permission from Yue et al. [7]. Copyright 2015, Science China Press.

structure. Its morphology is mostly manifested as a highly symmetrical polyhedron

(Figure 1.3a). In reciprocal space, the periodically arranged structural units of a
single crystal material would produce diffraction spots with translation and rotation
repeatability. The diffused diffraction spots form diamond patterns centered on
the transmission spot (Figure 1.3b). The diamond angle and edge length are the
direct transformation of crystal lattice parameters. For polycrystalline materials, the
diffraction patterns are sharp diffraction rings centered on the transmission spot.
For quasicrystal materials (Figure 1.3c), the atomic arrangement has rotational
symmetry but does not have translational symmetry. Its biggest feature is the symme-
try that is incompatible with the traditional crystal space lattice (e.g. fifth symmetric
axis). In reciprocal space, it also exhibits similar diffraction patterns as the crystals
with regular and diffused diffraction spots (Figure 1.3d). The difference is that there
is only rotation regularity and no translation regularity.
Because crystals and quasicrystals have great consistency in structure, modern
solid-state physics is also accustomed to classifying quasicrystals together into crys-
tals, i.e. materials with sharp diffraction spots (i.e. periodic arrangement of atoms in
real space) as crystals, which have the following characteristics:

(1) The atomic arrangement of crystal units has long-range symmetry and
regularity.
 1.2 Structural Differences between Amorphous Materials and Crystals 5

(2) Crystals show self-limitation, which means natural-grown crystals without

external interference will eventually grow into regular morphologies with high
symmetry. It is the geometric basis for the determination of crystals.
(3) Crystals obey the law of constancy of interfacial angles, which is the first law of
geometric crystallography, and is also the basis for judging crystals in morphol-
ogy. It states that the angles between two corresponding faces on the crystals of
any solid chemical or mineral species are constant and are characteristic of the
species. The law holds for any crystals, regardless of size, locality of occurrence,
or whether they are natural or man-made.
(4) Single crystals are anisotropic.
(5) Crystal material has a fixed melting point, and its temperature remains
unchanged during the phase transition process.
(6) Crystals can produce X-ray diffraction with specific regularity: It is the basis for
modern crystallography to judge whether a substance is a crystal or not.

1.2.2 Amorphous Materials

For amorphous materials, the arrangement of atoms does not have long-range
symmetry, neither rotational symmetry nor translational symmetry. In real space,
it is generally believed that amorphous materials have SRO only in a few angstroms
but do not have LRO. It cannot spontaneously embody regular morphology (except
spherical), so amorphous materials are generally known as formless (Figure 1.3e).
In reciprocal space, the diffraction pattern does not have any diffraction spots or
sharp rings but a circular diffraction halo (Figure 1.3f).
Compared with crystalline materials, the features of amorphous materials can be
summarized as follows:
(1) Atoms in amorphous materials only have fixed atomic arrangement rules in the
nearest and the next neighbor (<1 nm). The order of the longer range is still
unclear.
(2) Because of the long-range disorder of the atomic arrangement, the regular
morphology of amorphous materials cannot be obtained by natural growth
under non-limited conditions. Therefore, amorphous materials always embody
as formless or spherical, driven by surface energy.
(3) Amorphous material is physically and chemically isotropic: the homogeneity of
the atomic environment determines that they are not as anisotropic as crystals;
(4) Compared with crystal, the amorphous material is metastable. The amorphous
structure will relax to crystalline state at a high-temperature/high-pressure pro-
cessing.
(5) There is no fixed melting point for amorphous material. It only showed a glass
transition temperature. There is no unchanged temperature platform during the
phase transition process.
(6) Amorphous material does not produce regular X-ray diffraction. The typical
X-ray diffraction pattern of amorphous material is a hump at a specific location,
rather than a series of peaks in crystal. Its typical electronic diffraction pattern
is diffraction halos.
6 1 Introduction

It can be found that the essential difference between amorphous structure and
crystals lies in the LRO, and the similarity lies in the high SRO.
SRO means that amorphous atoms only have a high degree of local correlation,
which is the result of the strong chemical bonds between the nearest neighbor
(including the next neighbor) atoms to maintain as a fixed component solid. This
makes the short-range structure of amorphous materials similar to that of crystals,
so the SRO is considered as the structural feature of amorphous materials. A
large number of simulations and experiments show that the short-order scale of
amorphous crystals should be less than 1 nm.
Common diffraction methods, such as X-ray diffraction and selective electron
diffraction, are based on LRO. Therefore, it is difficult to directly obtain short-range
informations and images of amorphous material. To investigate the average struc-
ture information such as the radial distribution function (RDF), the analysis of
atomic ordering of amorphous structures is generally based on the fitting results of
diffraction (electron, neutron, etc.) or spectroscopy (X-ray fine structure absorption
spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, etc.).
In 2011, Chen Mingwei and Akihisa Inoue [8] of Northeastern University used the
most advanced spherical aberration correcting transmission electron microscopy
(AC-TEM) technology to reduce the diameter of the coherent electron beam to
3 Å for nanobeam electron diffraction (NBED) analysis to replace traditional
selective area electron diffraction (SAED). It was found in the experiment that
under the 3.6 Å electron beam, the diffraction pattern of amorphous material
showed obvious patterning (Figure 1.4). For the first time, the order of the
atomic neighbor and the next-nearest neighbor structure of the amorphous alloy
was observed.
For crystal materials, the most essential feature is the orderly arrangement of
structural elements. It enables crystal research to be based on mathematics and
established standard models. The structural or compositional changes could be
fully studied rely on the established model. It can also introduce various defects
on the basis of the model and establish a material–structure–property relationship
to adjust the performance by tuning materials. This kind of systematic research
can not only ensure the continuous follow-up of the theoretical research to the
explanation of experimental phenomena but also make medium- and long-term
predictions of experimental results. The experimental data will be fed back to the
theoretical system at the same time, making it complete and more accurate, forming
a perfect closed loop between theory and experiment.
Most of the modern structure detection was built based on crystal models. Thus,
for amorphous materials without the LRO, the existing analysis methods can only
give average atomic information in the statistical category, which is difficult to get
the accurate structural information. Therefore, we have not been able to accurately
establish the structural model of amorphous materials to sort out the complex
long-range interactions beyond the atomic scale. The existed amorphous research
studies have established the relationship between materials, kinetic units, and
properties in metallic glass systems. Apart from it, many other research studies
are still individual results that are only in the experimental observation stage to
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 “Then have at me, Robert—proceed!”
“Im-mediate, sir!”
And Sir John’s toilet commenced forthwith; during which nice
business they conversed as follows:

Sir John: Any news, Bob?

Robert: Nothing to mention, sir ... though I did ’appen to hear
that five soldiers and two o’ the coastguard are reported
wounded, sir.
Sir John: Nothing serious, I hope?
Robert: We hope not, sir.
Sir John: An ugly business, Bob.
Robert: On-commonly, sir!
Sir John: Have you seen or heard anything of Mr. Potter?
Robert: No, sir. It seems he’s vanished away again, being
badly wanted by the preventive authorities. For I did
’appen to hear as ’twas him as is judged responsible for
most o’ the casualties, sir.
Sir John: To be sure, he was wearing his old frieze coat! Ha’
you been far abroad this morning, Bob?
Robert: I did ’appen to step across the fields, sir.
Sir John: Very right, Bob. Health! Sunshine! Dew!
Robert: It was a little doo-ey, sir.
Sir John: And you carried the basket, Bob, of course?
Robert: Basket, sir...?
Sir John: Her basket, Bob ... and pray keep the shaving-
brush out o’ my mouth!
Robert: Your pardon, sir!
Sir John: Her basket, Bob!
Robert: I judged it over heavy for a young fe——
Sir John: Damsel, Bob.
Robert: Yes, sir.
Sir John: To be sure ’twas too heavy—and I fancy you ha’
lathered me enough.
Robert: I think so too, sir.
Sir John: She hath a remarkably neat foot, Bob!
Robert: I have ob-served same, sir.
Sir John: And her voice grows upon one.... A voice
suggestive of a nature sweet and——
Robert: One moment, sir—your upper lip!
(A moment’s silence while the Corporal plies deft razor.)
Sir John: I chanced to see her in converse with a young ...
creature, Robert—a tall young woman in a laced cap?
Robert: I re-marked same young person myself, sir.
Sir John: Is she a friend of Mistress Ann’s?
Robert: Not knowing, can’t say, sir.
Sir John: Do you chance to know anything about this—er—
young person?
Robert: Nothing, sir, except as she seems to run very much
to legs——
Sir John: Legs—begad!
Robert: Pre-cisely, sir ... leggy, your honour.
Sir John: Ha, leggy! Didn’t you think her a young goddess?
Robert: She didn’t strike me as such, sir.
Sir John: But you must ha’ remarked her beauty?
Robert: Nothing to mention, sir.
 Sir John: But damme—her shape! Her form! Her air! Her
carriage! Her grace!
Robert: Too much of ’em all, sir.
Sir John: ’S death, man—you must be blind!
Robert: Very good, sir.
Sir John: No, Bob, not blind—thou’rt merely in love and that
is infinitely worse.
Robert: It is, sir!
Sir John: Why, then, go a-wooing, man, go a-wooing and put
thyself out o’ thy misery one way or t’other.
Robert: Can’t be done, sir. Misery must be endoored.
Sir John: Because thou’rt forty-five, Bob?
Robert: And she’s scarce twenty turned, sir.

“Ha!” exclaimed Sir John portentously. “Hum!” And, his toilet at last
accomplished, he ran lightly down the stair to find awaiting him a
most inviting breakfast, of which he made short work, despite Mr.
Bunkle’s shocked remonstrances and reproachful looks.
“This here b’iledam, sir,” quoth Mr. Bunkle, caressing the edible in
question with the fork of an expert—“this here b’iledam desarves to
be ate respectful an’ dooly slow, wi’ thought to every chew an’ a
pause betwixt each swaller!”
“Forgive me, Mr. Bunkle,” smiled Sir John as he rose from the
table, “but, like the chameleon, I could feed on air—for a time at
least! Robert, my holly-stick! I think I will call on our Ancient Mr.
Dumbrell. Have ye any message, Bob?”
“None, sir.”
“Why, then, I must invent some. You might step over to Dering
later in the day, Robert. Adieu, Mr. Bunkle.”
“Dinner at ’arf-past twelve, sir!” sighed Mr. Bunkle, laying down the
carving-fork, “roast Sir Loin—’ot!”
 CHAPTER XXVII
TELLETH HOW MR. DERWENT BEGAN HIS
WOOING

Away strode Sir John across sunny fields, light of foot, treading a
springy turf, breathing a fragrant air, swinging his holly-stick and
vaulting stiles for the pure joy of it all. Birds piped and chirped from
hedge and thicket, larks carolled in the blue, rills bubbled and
laughed, and scabious flowers danced and swayed in the gentle
wind in tune with the universal gladness.
And so in good time came Sir John to High Dering. For there,
perched upon his accustomed stile in well-brushed hat and snowy
smock-frock, sat the Ancient Person in animated converse with one
who leaned gracefully against the gnarled post of the old stile,
listening to the Aged One’s talk, but watching Sir John from the
shadow of her hat, with eyes quick to heed all the careless, easy
grace of him as he came light-treading across the sun-dappled ling.
“Rose!” said he, and bared his head; now, beholding her startled,
upward glance, how should he know of the eyes that had taken such
note of his altered appearance, his plain attire? “Rose,” said he,
“thou rose of love!” And stood bare-headed, glad-eyed, to await her
greeting.
“La, Mr. Derwent,” said she, “you wear strange, small hat, sir, yet
methinks it do become you better than your night-cap!”
“And yet ’tis a very excellent night-cap!” he retorted.
“Eh—eh?” piped the Aged One. “Be ye man an’ woife, then?”
“Not yet, Mr. Dumbrell, but——”
“Then wot’s she know about your noight-cap, young man, eh—eh?
Tell oi that!”
 “I—I saw it this morning,” explained my lady, rather hastily—“this
morning as he leaned out of his chamber window——”
“Then, young man, ’ow dare ’ee stick y’r noight-cap out o’ winder
in a purty maid’s face? Shamed at ’ee, oi be!”
“But I drew it in again, Mr. Dumbrell!”
“No matter, young man, oi be shamed at ’ee! Wi’ y’r noight-cap an’
arl!”
“It shall not happen again, Mr. Dumbrell.”
“Oi be a ol’, ancient man, aye—a aged soul, oi be, an’ oi knaws
wot oi knaws an’ oi knaws as us doan’t want ’ee, young man, wi’
your noight-cap, an’ arl!” Here the Aged One glared at the intruder
with truculent eye, but Sir John was looking at my lady, of course.
“So I have found thee at last, my Rose!” said he softly.
“Ha’ you looked for me, sir?”
“These very many weary days, child.”
“Your honour expected me, then?”
“Hourly.”
“And now that you behold me?”
“Now, Rose, the sun shines, the birds sing, the scabious flowers
are a-dance in their myriad hosts, and here standeth John Derwent
to woo thee——”
“Well, go ’way!” snarled the Aged One fiercely. “Go ’way; us doan’t
want ’ee no’ow, young man! Us be a-’arking to each other an’ doan’t
want nobody—du us, my pretty? Lord, ’e du ha’ put me out! Wot was
oi a-tellin’ ye, my dainty dear?”
“Of the day you and Sir Hector saved old Penelope the witch from
being drowned ... but the sun is very hot, pray put your hat on again,
Mr. Dumbrell! Nay, suffer me!” So saying, my lady took the well-
brushed hat and set it upon the old, white head so gently and with
such pretty grace that the Aged One leered at Sir John in chuckling
triumph.
 “Us doan’t want ’ee, young man, du us, my flower?”
“Indeed,” she laughed, “but you find wondrous pretty names for
me——”
“Because ’tis purty you be ... no, ’andsome’s the word—a foine
’andsome wench.”
“But over-large for a flower, I fear,” she sighed.
“Sizeable!” nodded the Aged One. “But oi loikes ’em big—allus
did. So doan’t ’ee worrit naun ’count o’ y’r size. An’ as fur ol’
Penelope, ’er desarved arl ’er got, bein’ a witch.... An’ when it come
to savin’ of ’er, I dunno as Sir ’Ector done so tur’ble much! Oi be an
ol’ ancient man, but oi bean’t nowise doddlish, an’ can save a witch
as well as some young ’uns an’ better’n most—ah, that oi can!”
“I’m sure of it! And is she still alive?”
“That she be. Witches bean’t easy to kill an’ doan’t aften doi—not
in Sussex, they doan’t. Oi been buryin’ folk arl my days an’ oi only
buried one witch, an’ ’er only doied because she ’appened to drown,
not being able to swim wi’ a stone round ’er neck, d’ye see——”
“A—a stone?” exclaimed my lady in tones of horror.
“Aye, a stone fur sure, my pretty. Toied ’un round ’er neck, they
did, an’ ’ove ’er into the river, they did, an’ so ’er doied. But this were
years an’ ages ago, when oi were younger. And ol’ Penelope be a
tur’ble powerful witch—give me a spell agin the axey as done me arl
manner o’ good.”
“Did she cure you by magic?”
“Lord bless y’r pretty eyes—no! There bean’t nobody nor nothink
can cure oi, what wi’ that theer ol’ musket-ball o’ mine. But oi were
moighty bad, an’ ’long come a man one day in a p’inted ’at an’ a
gownd wi’ silver stars on to it an’ sold me a charm wrote on a three-
carnered piece o’ paper wi’ these words as oi were to say three
toimes over, marnin’, noon an’ noight:

Axey, axey oi defoi thee,

Three days shiver, three days shake,
 Mak’ me well fur Marcy’s sake.

Well, oi sez ’em over an’ over ’till oi were black i’ the faace, but it
didn’t seem tu du me no good at arl, ’till one day ’long comes ol’
Penelope, tears up my charm an’ gi’es me some stuff in a liddle
bottle as oi must rub arl over myself ... which oi done. An’ Lord—
arter a bit oi got that skittish—used t’ kick up my ’ind legs loike any
colt ... an’ me a married man an’ arl. Oi dunno as if oi——”
“Grandfeäther!”
“Dannle it! That be my rum-an’-milk!” exclaimed the Aged One,
scowling.
“Grandfeäther, be ye comin’?”
“Arl roight, lass, arl roight!” piped the old man pettishly, getting
from his perch with surprising nimbleness. “Oi’ll ’ave to go, my pretty
bird, oi’ll ’ave to leave ’ee or ’twill be milk an’ no rum! Ann be that
’ard-’earted an’ ... Arl roight, Nan, ’ere oi be!” This as his
granddaughter appeared, who, beholding Sir John, blushed and
curtsied. Quoth she:
“’Tis tur’ble kind o’ you to bide an’ keep ’im comp’ny, Rose—mam,
for ’e du be that mischievious——”
“Never tak’ no ’eed o’ my Nan, ’er’s a babe!” retorted the Aged
One. “An’ oi du ’ope as you’ll come an’ talk tu oi again, my Beauty
Broight, fur oi doan’t tak’ naun account o’ little ’uns, an’ you be a
foine up-standin’, down-sittin’ wench, sure-ly! An’ the young ’un ’ere
thinks the same, doan’t ’ee, young man?”
“I do!” answered Sir John fervently. “Indeed, I have never seen a
more up-standing, down-sitting wench in all my life!”
“Well, then, whoy doan’t ’ee up an’ tell ’er so, wi’out me a-doin’ it
fur ’ee. You be sweet on ’er, oi s’pose?”
“Monstrous so!”
“Well, then, whoy caan’t ’ee tell ’er summat about it? Ye caan’t
expect oi tu du it fur ’ee arl the toime. ’Ere you’ve stood a-lookin’ an’
a-starin’ an’ so silent as a turmut! That bean’t no waay tu win a
wench—no! Lord, oi were different in my young days; oi knawed the
waay tu go a-wooin’! An’ oi ain’t forgot yet, though I be such a ol’,
aged soul!”
“Then perhaps you will help me, now and then?” Sir John
suggested.
“Whoy, sence you ax me so sensible an’ modest-loike, oi dunno as
oi wun’t. For, if you bean’t much to look at, you be batter’n some, an’
she moight du worse.”
“It is possible!” sighed Sir John.
“So oi dunno as oi wun’t put in a word for ’ee noo an’ then wi’ the
lass. But moind ye if oi win ’er for ’ee an’ she doan’t turn out arl as
you expect, an’ woives never do no’ow, doan’t ’ee go fur to blame
oi!”
“Grandfer, your rum-an’——”
“Hesh a minute, Nan, hesh an’ lemme finish, will ’ee? Marriage,
young man, be arl roight whiles ye be single, but when you be
married ’tis generally-mostly-arlways arl wrong—oi’ve troid it twoice,
an’ oi knaw! So jest so soon as she begins to feel weddin’ish, oi
leaves the matter to you. An’ now, Nan, gimme y’r arm!”
“Boide a minute, Grandfeäther——”
“Whaffor, Nan? Ain’t ye kep’ me a-waiting long enough?”
“I’ve a message for the gen’elman——”
“Gen’elman, lass? ’Oo? Wheer? D’ye mean—’im?” And the Aged
One pointed at Sir John with wavering stick. “’E bean’t no gen’elman
—look at ’is ’at! Gen’elman’s ’ats ’as goold lace onto ’em loike Sir
’Ector’s of a Sunday an’ Lord Sayle’s of a week-day. Look at ’is coat
—so plain! An’ ’e aren’t got no sword neether! Gen’elman—’im? ’E
be jest a respectable young man——”
“You hear that, Rose?” cried Sir John, ecstatic. “You hear? There
speaketh hoary Wisdom!”
“’Oo’s ’oary—me?” demanded the Aged Soul, scowling.
 “Yourself, Mr. Dumbrell, and are therefore to be revered. Your
hand, Sir Reverence, your hand, I beg!”
“Whoy, oi dunno as oi loike the sound o’ that ’ere word——”
“Mr. Dumbrell, you in your nescience saw ’neath the hollow shams
and know me for what I truly am, a respectable young man. O most
excellent Aged Soul, I thank thee for that word! Mr. Dumbrell, your
hand, pray.”
So, after some little hesitation, the sharp-tongued, little old man
reached tremulous hand to Sir John’s warm clasp, and, looking up
into Sir John’s smiling eyes, the Aged Soul smiled also; quoth he:
“Young man, oi dunno as you bean’t better-lookin’ than what oi
thought—leastways your eyes is worth any lass a-lookin’ at, oi
rackon, an’—whoy, what be this ’ere?” And the old man stared down
at his open palm. “By the pize—a guinea! Dannel it, young man,
what be this fur? What do ’ee mean by it?”
“Do not be angry, Mr. Dumbrell; pray accept it as a small mark of
esteem and gratitude from one respectable man to another.”
“Whoy, since you puts it that ways, young man, we woan’t arg’
about it, an’ oi dunno as oi bean’t almoighty glad of’t.... A guinea,
Nan, a goolden guinea! ’Ere be baccy for oi an’ that ’ere cherry
ribband for you, an’ sugar for oi, an’ a noo ’at for oi.... Young man, oi
thank ’ee, an’ so du Nan.... Thank ’un, Nan; mak’ y’r reverence an’
show y’r manners, lass!”
“Not forgetting your message, Ann,” prompted Sir John.
“Yes, sir,” she answered, curtsying repeatedly, “though ’twere only
Gammer Haryott as bid me say if I see you, sir, as she would like a
word wi’ you, sir.”
“What about my rum-an’-milk?” demanded the Aged Soul pettishly.
“’Ere be oi a-vadin’ an’ famishin’ an’ perishin’ awaay, an’ you a-
maggin’ an’ me a-waitin’ an’ nobody to ’tend to oi no’ow, nowhen nor
nothin’! Come an’ gimme my rum-an’-milk or no ribbands, moind
that! G’marnin’, young man, an’ doan’t ’ee go a-throwin’ your money
away so woild-loike an’ rackless! Marnin’, my purty dear! You’ll foind
oi settin’ a-top o’ stoile every marnin’ when it be sunny.” So saying,
the Aged Soul bared his white head gallantly, nodded, and suffered
his dutiful granddaughter to lead him away.
My lady was silent awhile, watching them as they went, the girl so
young and strong and motherly, the old man so bowed and feeble;
and Sir John, regarding his companion keen-eyed, saw in her look
an unwonted tenderness and, when at last she spoke, heard her
voice strangely tender also.
“O Sussex!” she murmured. And then: “They are worth caring for,
these unspoiled folk o’ the Down Country.”
“They are, Herminia!” he answered. At this she turned and looked
at him, frowning a little.
“Have you done so, Sir John?” she questioned. “Have you cared
for their comfort and welfare?”
“Alas, no!” he answered. “I, like you, my lady, have preferred the
town hitherto, and, heaven help me, was therewith fairly content!
Which is matter for some wonder, for here were the Downs and here
the Dumbrell——”
“That Aged Soul!” she added, smiling suddenly. “As gallant as any
town beau, more dignified, and infinitely more sincere.”
“Rose child, I perceive thou hast also found eyes to see withal!”
“Is this so amazing, your honour?”
“Not so much as to behold a fine lady who honours Rusticity and
finds joy in simple, homely things.”
“Indeed, sir, I do love the country, especially Sussex, for, as your
honour may ha’ forgot, I was born here.”
“Then, if you will, I can show you other wonders. First, there is
Dame Penelope Haryott, whom fools call a witch and rogues have
sought to murder, ere now.”
“Murder!” exclaimed my lady, wrinkling her brow. “Oh! And yet
surely witches be horrid creatures! Ha’n’t you read of ’em?...
Leagued with all manner of evil spirits for the working of evil.... Ha’n’t
you read what learned philosophers ha’ writ concerning’ em, sir?”
“Aye, I have.”
“Well, if this woman be truly a witch——”
“But was there truly ever a witch, child?”
“Your honour may have heard of the Witch of Endor?”
“Hum!” quoth Sir John. “Can it be that you believe in witchcraft,
black magic and the like fooleries?”
“Don’t you, sir?”
“No more than I do in ghosts, child.”
“The girl Ann tells me that ghosts often walk in these parts.”
“Aye, so they do,” laughed Sir John, “and to some purpose.”
“Then, despite the Bible and philosophers, your superior wisdom
doth not believe in witches?”
“No, indeed.”
“Nor ghosts?”
“No, child.”
“Because you chance never to ha’ seen one, sir!”
“Because I have, rather. Indeed, Rose, a most effective ghost——”
“You have positively seen a ghost? When? Where?” she
demanded. But, turning a bend in the road they came upon a
horseman, a cadaverous person in threadbare clerical garb, who
bestrode a very plump steed.
“A fair prospect to the eye!” he exclaimed, nodding gloomily
towards Dering village, where it nestled under the sheltering Down.
“Aye, a fair prospect, and yet, in very truth, a ‘whited sepulchre’ ...
not a thatch that doesn’t leak, scarce a cottage that is truly habitable
——”
“Shameful!” exclaimed my lady.
 “And wicked!” added the parson in his gentle voice, his haggard
face very woeful. “For how shall folk take heed to their soul’s welfare
until their bodies be comfortable? Alas, you behold yonder the evils
of a bad landlord. Sir John Dering hath much to answer for. Better he
were dead and the land in better keeping.”
“Dead, sir!” exclaimed my lady, aghast.
“And wherefore not?” continued the parson in his gentle accents,
while his eyes smouldered. “A merciless, grinding bailiff and a
profligate landlord make for a suffering tenantry.”
“You are the Reverend Mr. Hartop, I think, sir?” questioned Sir
John, bowing.
“The same, sir,” answered the parson, returning the salute. “And I,
who know and love these rustic folk, say again that for the general
good, an evil landlord is better dead.... And consider Sir John
Dering’s reputation, his scandalous life!”
“True!” sighed Sir John; “his reputation doth show him a very
monster of iniquity.”
“God forgive him!” sighed the parson. “Duellist and man of blood,
desperate gambler and of wild, unholy life.... A few poor hundreds of
the guineas he throws away at the gaming-table or wastes on
nameless evil would mean all the difference ’twixt misery and
happiness, sickness and health to the folk of High Dering. Heaven
forgive the Wicked Dering the evil he hath wrought.”
“Amen!” added Sir John. “How potent and far-reaching is a man’s
reputation, Rose!”
“How different the son from his honoured sire!” sighed Mr. Hartop.
“Alas, yes, sir!” answered Sir John. “And yet, sir, I have it on
excellent authority that this most iniquitous gentleman hath lately
become a ‘respectable young man.’”
“Sir,” exclaimed the parson, opening his mild eyes a little wider
than usual, “sir, you amaze me! Heaven send it be indeed so, for his
own sake and the future welfare of his neglected people.” Saying
which, Mr. Hartop lifted shabby hat and rode gloomily away.
 “‘For the general good,’” repeated Sir John wistfully, “‘for the
general good an evil landlord were better dead.’ Here is an arresting
thought, child ... and how bitterly true!”
“But you are alive!” said she, staring towards the quiet village
beneath wrinkled brows. “Live, then, to better purpose.”
“Ah, Rose,” he sighed, “thy pretty moralities fall so trippingly from
thy rosy, innocent lip; thou art in thy simple wisdom such an angel of
inspiration that I would we had met ... five weary years ago!”
“Five years ago?” she repeated, turning upon him. “Have you
forgot——?” Here, beholding his grim-smiling mouth, the mockery of
his eyes, she caught her breath and was silent.
“Five long years ago, child, I killed a man—by accident. Ah, sweet
Rose, gentle maid, if only thou hadst come to me then ... to soothe
my bitter grief! Dear, lovely Rose, that little ‘if’ held, then as now, a
world of possibilities even for such an abandoned wretch as ‘the
Wicked Dering.’ But we are still alive, and to live is to hope.... And
Dame Haryott desires speech with me. And thou would’st behold a
witch, so come thy ways with thy loving, gentle John.”
“Gentle?” cried she angrily. “Aye, with the eyes of a mocking
fiend!”
“But the heart of a respectable young man, Rose!”
“Your crime brought its own consequences, sir.”
“It did!” he sighed. “And not the least of ’em, thyself! When wilt
marry me?”
“Never!”
“Then the matter being settled—for the present let us to the witch,
hand in hand like good friends.”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“Leave me, sir!”
“Give me thy hand.”
 “Oh—I hate you!” she cried passionately.
“Good!” he nodded placidly. “’Tis better than indifference. Thy
hand, Rose.”
For answer she turned away, silently contemptuous, and began to
retrace her steps; but he caught her wrist and checked her suddenly,
whereupon she struck viciously at him, knocking off his hat, then her
other hand was ’prisoned also in so tense a grip that, knowing it vain
to struggle, she disdained further effort and faced him, coldly defiant.
“Coward, you hurt me!”
“Madam, you behave like a peevish hoyden! Such tricks may pass
with your hysterical fine ladies but, while in Sussex, I suggest you
ape the dignified calm o’ Rusticity.”
“Will you loose me?”
“Are you done with your fishwifely tantrums?”
My lady held herself pridefully, glared furiously, then suddenly bit
her lip, bowed her head, and something bright and sparkling fell
upon his hand; at this he loosed her suddenly and she as suddenly
turned her back upon him.
Sir John picked up his hat, knocked the dust from it, put it on, and
stood regarding her pensively.
“Rose,” said he at last, “dear child, suffer me to take thy hand.”
Then he reached and clasped her unresisting fingers; and thus, hand
in hand, they went on down the lane together.
 CHAPTER XXVIII
TELLETH HOW MY LADY ADOPTED A FAIRY
GODMOTHER

High Dering, drowsing in the sun, opened a door here and there to
stare in idle wonderment as Sir John handed his companion in at
Dame Haryott’s garden wicket, for visitors were rare, more especially
such visitors as these who bowed and curtsied to each other with
such courtly, albeit frigid, ceremony; so High Dering opened its doors
a little wider and became a trifle more awake as Sir John knocked.
And, after some while, chains rattled, bolts creaked, the heavy
door opened, and old Penelope stood peering at them from the dim
interior.
“Good-day, Mrs. Penelope,” said Sir John, removing his hat and
saluting her in his easy, unaffected manner. “You desired to see me,
I think?”
“Aye, I did,” she answered ungraciously, “but not along of a tattlin’
wench.”
My lady stared and flushed angrily.
“I will go!” said she, and drawing herself to her noble height, turned
away, supremely disdainful as an outraged goddess; but old
Penelope, who knew little of goddesses and cared less, was no whit
abashed.
“Hoity-toity!” quoth she; “bide a bit, wench!” and my Lady Herminia
found her stately progress checked by the crook of old Penelope’s
stick that had hooked itself suddenly about her arm.
My lady turned and, amazed beyond speech, viewed the
audacious old creature from head to foot until, meeting the fierce old
eyes, her gaze paused there and thus, for a long moment, they
stared at each other, the old woman and the young, while Sir John
wisely held his peace.
“Ha!” exclaimed Dame Haryott at last, looking more malevolent
and witch-like than usual, “an’ who be you, young mistress, wi’ y’r
white ’ands, an’ dressed out like a country-lass, as do carry y’rself so
proud-like? Hush and I’ll tell ’ee. You be one as long loved Love, an’
sought it vainly till, one day, ye found it—in your own heart ... the
love for a man——”
“I—I love no man!” cried my lady, with a strange vehemence.
“Bah!” quoth Penelope harshly, “’tis peepin’ at me from y’r eyes,
flushin’ in y’r cheek. First, ’twas love o’ y’rself, which was a bad love,
but now ... aha, now it be love for a man! A love as shall grow an’
grow till it be a pain ... some love be a pain, I know ... and ’tis the
only love worth ’aving!”
“I love no man!” repeated my lady.
“Shall I speak his name, mistress?”
“No—no!” answered my lady, a little breathlessly.
“Oho!” chuckled old Penelope in most witch-like manner. “Oho! ...
‘no, no!’ quo’ she!... An’ ’er so proud an’ arl! But I know, aye, ol’ Pen
knows! For I loved once when the world was younger an’ kinder.... I
were tall then, and nigh prideful as you, afore age an’ sorrow bent
me an’ love humbled me. Love? Aye, but ’twas worth the pain, for
’twas a love hath sweetened the bitter o’ the long, weary years, an’
cheered my loneliness ... a love as I shall tak’ wi’ me to a better
place an’ find Happiness at last, maybe—Happiness ... after s’much
bitter solitude!”
Suddenly the old eyes were upturned to the radiant heaven, their
fierceness was softened by the glitter of slow-gathering, painful
tears; and then, upon that bowed and aged shoulder came a hand, a
gentle hand yet strong, for all its white delicacy; and my lady spoke
in voice Sir John had never heard from her before:
“Art so very lonely?”
 “Lonely?” The word was a groan, and the drooping shoulders sank
lower. “I’ve been a lone soul all my days—wi’ none to care for me
since HE died, an’ none to tak’ my part except Jarge and Sir Hector
... the liddle children mock me ... the women be worse! An’ I du be
gettin’ that old and weary!... Sometimes I can scarce brave it any
more!”...
“Wilt take me for thy friend, old Penelope?”
The old woman lifted white head proudly as any person of quality
might have done and stared at my lady keenly, then reached up and
patted the hand upon her shoulder.
“’Tis come too late!” sighed she. “You be too young an’ I be too old
for friendship ... but I thank ye kindly.”
“Then you’ll suffer me to come and talk with you sometimes,
Penelope?”
“Why, ye see, the roof leaks, an’ the chimbley smokes——”
“The more shame to Sir John Dering!” exclaimed my lady fiercely.
“Aye,’twere different in the ol’ squire’s time—the other Sir John as
marched away wi’ his sojers an’ never came back ... the world was
better then ... ’specially High Dering. But to-day they name me witch,
an’ a witch’s cottage bean’t no place for young maids—’specially
your sort! But since you be here, come in an’ sit ye down—both on
ye! An’ if ye’ll wait ’till my kittle b’iles I’ll brew ye a dish o’ tea——”
“Tea?” exclaimed my lady.
“Aye, I generally tak’s a drop towards noon; it do warm my old
bones!” So saying, she led them into the cottage and very carefully
locked, bolted and chained the door.
“I do this,” she explained, “because happen they may come an’
mak’ trouble for me—sudden-like!”
“Who, pray?” demanded my lady indignantly.
“Any fule as finds ’is cow gone dry, or ’is crop blighted, or ’is horse
off its feed, or his child in a fit.... Lord bless ’ee, child, doan’t stare so!
Ye see folks thinks I’ve ‘the evil eye’ an’ can blast ’em with a look ...
aye, but I wish I could, that I du!”
“And so,” continued Sir John, “they have stoned her, set dogs on
her, and threatened her with death by water and the fire, ere now
——”
“Aye, but the dogs be worst!” cried old Penelope, giving the fire a
savage poke. “I can’t abide dogs!”
“By heaven!” exclaimed my lady in sudden ferocity, “would I were
a man!”
“By heaven!” retorted Sir John, “I rejoice that you are not!”
“Tush!” she cried angrily, “’tis time there came a man to High
Dering!”
“I have thought so too!” he answered gravely.
“Nay, I mean a strong man—a man of action!”
So saying, my lady rose, contemptuous, seeming to fill the small
place with the majesty of her presence.
“Dear Penelope,” said she gently, “suffer me to do that for you—I’ll
lay the cloth and——”
“No, no!”
“But I say yes!”
“O do ye an’ arl!” exclaimed the old woman fiercely. “This be my
own cottage till they turn me out an’ then——”
“Turn you out?”
“Aye, in two or three wiks!”
“You hear, sir; you hear?”
“I do!” answered Sir John.
“And when you are homeless, Penelope, what shall you do?”
“Walk an’ tramp ’till I caan’t go no further, an’ then find a quiet
corner to die in——”
 “Nay, that you shall not!” cried my lady passionately. “I will take ye
—you shall come to me, I will adopt you——”
“Eh—eh!” gasped old Penelope, and very nearly dropped her
cherished Chinese teapot.
“You shall come to me, Penelope,” repeated my lady, taking the
teapot from her tremulous fingers. “I shall adopt you—nay, my dear
soul, never doubt me, I mean it every word!”
“But ... but,” stammered old Penelope, “they call me a witch! They
... they——”
“Devil take ’em!” exclaimed my lady. “I will care for thee, Penelope!
Shalt find peace and comfort at last, thou brave soul!” And here,
seeing the old creature’s pitiful amaze, my lady stooped suddenly
and pressed warm lips on her wrinkled brow.
“Lord God!” exclaimed old Penelope, and sinking into the elbow-
chair, hid her face in her toil-worn hands. And presently she spoke in
voice harsh and broken, “There be nobody ... has kissed me ... since
my dyin’ mother, long an’ long ago!”
“My dear soul!” said my lady, and Sir John saw her eyes suddenly
brim with tears. “My dear soul, there is a woman shall kiss away thy
sorrows if she may.... For to-day, Penelope, thou hast found a friend
and I a—a fairy godmother! Let me kiss thee again, godmother!”
Slowly old Penelope raised her head to look into the face bowed
above her.
“Happen I be dreamin’,” she sighed, “an’ shall wake by an’ by—
but, O child, it be good to dream—sometimes.”
 CHAPTER XXIX
GIVETH SOME DESCRIPTIONS OF A TEA-
DRINKING

“’Tis most excellent tea!” quoth my lady. “I vow I have never drank
better!”
“Arl the way from Chaney, mam.”
“And these beautiful dishes!”
“Chaney, too!” nodded old Penelope proudly. “An’ look at my
teapot! I means to tak’ it along wi’ me when they do turn me out,
though ’twill be a bit ’ard to carry, I rackon. But ye see, mam, I——”
“Nay, godmother, call me Rose.”
“No, mam, it doan’t come easy to my tongue.”
“I may call you Penelope, mayn’t I?”
“For sure!”
“And fairy godmother?”
“Aye, though I be more witch than fairy, I rackon.”
“Then, godmother Penelope, pray call me Rose.”
“Rose, then!” she snapped.
“I think,” said Sir John in his pleasant voice, “you have some
message for me, Mrs. Penelope?”
“Gimme time, young man, gimme time! I bean’t kissed an’ called a
fairy every day, so gimme——” She paused suddenly and seemed to
listen intently, “I rackon you’d best be goin’—both on ye!”
“But why, pray?” demanded my lady.