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 Fundamentals of Linear Control
A Concise Approach
Taking a different approach from standard thousand-page reference-style control
textbooks, Fundamentals of Linear Control provides a concise yet comprehensive
introduction to the analysis and design of feedback control systems in fewer than 300
pages.

The text focuses on classical methods for dynamic linear systems in the frequency
domain. The treatment is, however, modern and the reader is kept aware of
contemporary tools and techniques, such as state-space methods and robust and
nonlinear control.

Featuring fully worked design examples, richly illustrated chapters, and an extensive
set of homework problems and examples spanning across the text for gradual challenge
and perspective, this textbook is an excellent choice for senior-level courses in systems
and control or as a complementary reference in introductory graduate-level courses.
The text is designed to appeal to a broad audience of engineers and scientists
interested in learning the main ideas behind feedback control theory.

Maurício C. de Oliveira is Adjunct Professor of Dynamic Systems and Control in the

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California,
San Diego.
Fundamentals of Linear Control

A Concise Approach
MAURÍCIO C. DE OLIVEIRA
University of California, San Diego
 University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
4843/24, 2nd Floor, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, Delhi - 110002, India
79 Anson Road, #06-04/06, Singapore 079906

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of

education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107187528
DOI: 10.1017/9781316941409

© Maurício C. de Oliveira 2017

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of

relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2017

Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Oliveira, Mauricio C. de, author.
Title: Fundamentals of linear control : a concise approach / Maurbicio de Oliveira,
University of California, San Diego.
Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University
Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016052325 | ISBN 9781107187528
 Subjects: LCSH: Linear control systems.
Classification: LCC TJ220 .O45 2017 | DDC 629.8/32 – dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016052325

ISBN 978-1-107-18752-8 Hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does
not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or
appropriate.
To Beatriz and Victor
 Contents
Preface
Overview

1 Introduction
1.1 Models and Experiments
1.2 Cautionary Note
1.3 A Control Problem
1.4 Solution without Feedback
1.5 Solution with Feedback
1.6 Sensitivity
1.7 Disturbances
Problems

2 Dynamic Systems
2.1 Dynamic Models
2.2 Block-Diagrams for Differential Equations
2.3 Dynamic Response
2.4 Experimental Dynamic Response
2.5 Dynamic Feedback Control
2.6 Nonlinear Models
2.7 Disturbance Rejection
2.8 Integral Action
Problems

3 Transfer-Function Models
3.1 The Laplace Transform
3.2 Linearity, Causality, and Time-Invariance
3.3 Differential Equations and Transfer-Functions
3.4 Integration and Residues
3.5 Rational Functions
3.6 Stability
3.7 Transient and Steady-State Response
3.8 Frequency Response
3.9 Norms of Signals and Systems
Problems

4 Feedback Analysis
4.1 Tracking, Sensitivity, and Integral Control
4.2 Stability and Transient Response
4.3 Integrator Wind-up
 4.4 Feedback with Disturbances
4.5 Input-Disturbance Rejection
4.6 Measurement Noise
4.7 Pole–Zero Cancellations and Stability
Problems

5 State-Space Models and Linearization

5.1 Realization of Dynamic Systems
5.2 State-Space Models
5.3 Minimal State-Space Realizations
5.4 Nonlinear Systems and Linearization
5.5 Simple Pendulum
5.6 Pendulum in a Cart
5.7 Car Steering
5.8 Linear Control of Nonlinear Systems
Problems

6 Controller Design
6.1 Second-Order Systems
6.2 Derivative Action
6.3 Proportional–Integral–Derivative Control
6.4 Root-Locus
6.5 Control of the Simple Pendulum – Part I
Problems

7 Frequency Domain
7.1 Bode Plots
7.2 Non-Minimum-Phase Systems
7.3 Polar Plots
7.4 The Argument Principle
7.5 Stability in the Frequency Domain
7.6 Nyquist Stability Criterion
7.7 Stability Margins
7.8 Control of the Simple Pendulum – Part II
Problems

8 Performance and Robustness

8.1 Closed-Loop Stability and Performance
8.2 Robustness
8.3 Small Gain
8.4 Control of the Simple Pendulum – Part III
8.5 Circle Criterion
8.6 Feedforward Control and Filtering
 Problems

References
Index
 Preface
The book you have in your hands grew out of a set of lecture notes scribbled down for
MAE 143B, the senior-level undergraduate Linear Control class offered by the
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California,
San Diego.

The focus of the book is on classical methods for analysis and design of feedback
systems that take advantage of the powerful and insightful representation of dynamic
linear systems in the frequency domain. The required mathematics is introduced or
revisited as needed. In this way the text is made mostly self-contained, with accessory
work shifted occasionally to homework problems.

Key concepts such as tracking, disturbance rejection, stability, and robustness are
introduced early on and revisited throughout the text as the mathematical tools
become more sophisticated. Examples illustrate graphical design methods based on the
root-locus, Bode, and Nyquist diagrams. Whenever possible, without straying too much
from the classical narrative, the reader is made aware of contemporary tools and
techniques such as state-space methods, robust control, and nonlinear systems theory.

With so much to cover in the way of insightful engineering and relevant mathematics,
I tried to steer clear of the curse of the engineering systems and control textbook:
becoming a treatise with 1000 pages. The depth of the content exposed in fewer than
300 pages is the result of a compromise between my utopian goal of at most 100 pages
on the one hand and the usefulness of the work as a reference and, I hope,
inspirational textbook on the other. Let me know if you think I failed to deliver on this
promise.

I shall be forever indebted to the many students, teaching assistants, and colleagues
whose exposure to earlier versions of this work helped shape what I am finally not
afraid of calling the first edition. Special thanks are due to Professor Reinaldo Palhares,
who diligently read the original text and delighted me with an abundance of helpful
comments.

I would like to thank Sara Torenson from the UCSD Bookstore, who patiently worked
with me to make sure earlier versions were available as readers for UCSD students, and
Steven Elliot from Cambridge University Press for his support in getting this work to a
larger audience.

Maurício de Oliveira
San Diego, California
 Overview
This book is designed to be used in a quarter- or semester-long senior-level
undergraduate linear control systems class. Readers are assumed to have had some
exposure to differential equations and complex numbers (good references are [BD12]
and [BC14]), and to have some familiarity with the engineering notion of signals and
systems (a standard reference is [Lat04]). It is also assumed that the reader has access
to a high-level software program, such as MATLAB, to perform calculations in many of
the homework problems. In order to keep the focus on the content, examples in the
book do not discuss MATLAB syntax or features. Instead, we provide supplementary
MATLAB files which can produce all calculations and figures appearing in the book.
These files can be downloaded from http://www.cambridge.org/deOliveira.

Chapters 1 and 2 provide a quick overview of the basic concepts in control, such as
feedback, tracking, dynamics, disturbance rejection, integral action, etc. Math is kept at
a very basic level and the topics are introduced with the help of familiar examples, such
as a simplistic model of a car and a toilet bowl.

Chapter 3 formalizes the concept of a transfer-function for dynamic linear system

models. Its first part is a review of the Laplace transform and its application to linear
ordinary differential equations. The second part introduces systems concepts such as
stability, transient and steady-state response, and the frequency response method.
Some topics, e.g. complex integration, the calculus of residues, and norms of signals
and systems, are covered in more depth than is usually found in typical introductory
courses, and can be safely skipped at first read.

Equipped with the concept of a transfer-function, Chapter 4 formalizes fundamental

concepts in feedback analysis, such as tracking, sensitivity, asymptotic and internal
stability, disturbance rejection, measurement noise, etc. Homework problems in this
chapter expose readers to these concepts and anticipate the more sophisticated
analytic methods to be introduced in the following chapters.

Chapter 5 takes a slight detour from classic methods to introduce the reader to
state-space models. The focus is on practical questions, such as realization of dynamic
systems and controllers, linearization of nonlinear systems, and basic issues that arise
when using linear controllers with nonlinear systems. It is from this vantage point that
slightly more complex dynamic systems models are introduced, such as a simple
pendulum and a pendulum in a cart, as a well as a simplified model of a steering car.
The simple pendulum model is used in subsequent chapters as the main illustrative
example.

Chapter 6 takes the reader back to the classic path with an emphasis on control
design. Having flirted with second-order systems many times before in the book, the
chapter starts by taking a closer look at the time-response of second-order systems and
associated performance metrics, followed by a brief discussion on derivative action and
the popular proportional–integral–derivative control. It then introduces the root-locus
method and applies it to the design of a controller with integral action to the simple
pendulum model introduced in the previous chapter.

Chapter 7 brings a counterpoint to the mostly time-domain point of view of Chapter

6 by focusing on frequency-domain methods for control design. After introducing Bode
and polar plots, the central issue of closed-loop stability is addressed with the help of
the Nyquist stability criterion. The same controller design problem for the simple
pendulum is revisited, this time using frequency-domain tools.

An introductory discussion on performance and robustness is the subject of the final

chapter, Chapter 8. Topics include Bode’s sensitivity integral, robustness analysis using
small gain and the circle criterion, and feedforward control and filtering. Application of
some of these more advanced tools is illustrated by certifying the performance of the
controllers designed for the simple pendulum beyond the guarantees offered by local
linearization.

In a typical quarter schedule, with 20 or 30 lectures, the lightweight Chapters 1 and 2

can be covered rather quickly, serving both as a way to review background material and
as a means to motivate the reader for the more demanding content to come.
Instructors can choose to spend more or less time on Chapter 3 depending on the prior
level of comfort with transfer-functions and frequency response and the desired depth
of coverage.

Homework problems at the end of Chapters 1 through 3 introduce a variety of

examples from various engineering disciplines that will appear again in the following
chapters and can be used as effective tools to review background material.

Chapters 4 through 7 constitute the core material of the book. Chapters 5 and 7,
especially, offer many opportunities for instructors to select additional topics for
coverage in class or relegate to reading, such as discussions on nonlinear analysis and
control, a detailed presentation of the argument principle, and more unorthodox
topics such as non-minimum-phase systems and stability analysis of systems with
delays.

The more advanced material in Chapter 8 can be covered, time permitting, or may be
left just for the more interested reader without compromising a typical undergraduate
curriculum.

This book contains a total of almost 400 homework problems that appear at the end
of each chapter, with many problems spanning across chapters. Table I.1 on page xiv
provides an overview of select problems grouped by their motivating theme. Instructors
may choose to follow a few of these problems throughout the class. As mentioned
previously, many of the problems require students to use MATLAB or a similar
computer program. The supplementary MATLAB files provided with this book are a
great resource for readers who need to develop their programming skills to tackle these
problems.

Table I.1 Homework problems classified by theme per chapter

Problem Ch.
Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5
theme 1

DC motor 2.41–2.46 3.95–3.99 4.29–4.37 5.30–5.33

Elevator 2.18–2.26 3.62–3.70 4.23–4.28 5.19–5.22
Free-fall 2.4–2.7 3.53 5.8–5.13
Inclined
1.10
plane
Insulin
5.49–5.52
homeostasis
Mass–
spring– 2.27–2.33 3.71–3.79 5.23–5.27
damper
Modulator 3.50
One-eighth-
car model
One-
quarter-car
model
OpAmp
2.38–2.40 3.90–3.94 5.28–5.29
circuit
Orbiting
5.41–5.45
satellite
Pendulum
5.6
in a cart
Population
5.46–5.48
dynamics
RC circuit 2.34–2.35 3.80–3.84
Rigid body 5.39–5.40
RLC circuit 2.36–2.37 3.85–3.89
Rotating
2.10–2.17 3.54–3.61 4.20–4.22 5.15–5.18
machine
Sample-and-
3.51–3.52
hold
Simple
pendulum
Sky-diver 2.8–2.9 5.14
Smith
4.11–4.14
predictor
Steering car 5.7
Water
2.49–2.56 3.100–3.104 4.38–4.43 5.36–5.38
heater
Water tank 5.34–5.35
 1
Introduction
In controls we make use of the abstract concept of a system: we identify a
phenomenon or a process, the system, and two classes of signals, which we label as
inputs and outputs. A signal is something that can be measured or quantified. In this
book we use real numbers to quantify signals. The classification of a particular signal as
an input means that it can be identified as the cause of a particular system behavior,
whereas an output signal is seen as the product or consequence of the behavior. Of
course the classification of a phenomenon as a system and the labeling of input and
output signals is an abstract construction. A mathematical description of a system and
its signals is what constitutes a model. The entire abstract construction, and not only
the equations that we will later associate with particular signals and systems, is the
model.

We often represent the relationship between a system and its input and output
signals in the form of a block-diagram, such as the ones in Fig. 1.1 through Fig. 1.3. The
diagram in Fig. 1.1 indicates that a system, G, produces an output signal, y, in the
presence of the input signal, u. Block-diagrams will be used to represent the
interconnection of systems and even algorithms. For example, Fig. 1.2 depicts the
components and signals in a familiar controlled system, a water heater; the block-
diagram in Fig. 1.3 depicts an algorithm for converting temperature in degrees
Fahrenheit to degrees Celsius, in which the output of the circle in Fig. 1.3 is the
algebraic sum of the incoming signals with signs as indicated near the incoming arrows.

Figure 1.1 System represented as a block-diagram; u is the input signal; y is the output
signal; y and u are related through or simply .

Figure 1.2 Block-diagram of a controlled system: a gas water heater; the blocks
thermostat, burner, and tank, represent components or sub-systems; the arrows
represent the flow of input and output signals.

Figure 1.3 Block-diagram of an algorithm to convert temperatures in Fahrenheit to

Celsius: ; the output of the circle block is the
algebraic sum of the incoming signals with the indicated sign, i.e.
.
1.1 Models and Experiments

Systems, signals, and models are often associated with concrete or abstract
experiments. A model reflects a particular setup in which the outputs appear correlated
with a prescribed set of inputs. For example, we might attempt to model a car by
performing the following experiment: on an unobstructed and level road, we depress
the accelerator pedal and let the car travel in a straight line. We keep the pedal
1

excursion constant and let the car reach constant velocity. We record the amount the
pedal has been depressed and the car’s terminal velocity. The results of this
experiment, repeated multiple times with different amounts of pedal excursion, might
look like the data shown in Fig. 1.4. In this experiment the signals are

input: pedal excursion, in cm, inches, etc.;

output: terminal velocity of the car, in m/s, mph, etc.

The system is the car and the particular conditions of the experiment. The data
captures the fact that the car does not move at all for small pedal excursions and that
the terminal velocity saturates as the pedal reaches the end of its excursion range.
Figure 1.4 Experimental determination of the effect of pressing the gas pedal on the
car’s terminal velocity; the pedal excursion is the input signal, u, and the car’s terminal
velocity is the output signal, y.

From Fig. 1.4, one might try to fit a particular mathematical function to the
experimental data in hope of obtaining a mathematical model. In doing so, one
2

invariably loses something in the name of a simpler description. Such trade-offs are
commonplace in science, and it should be no different in the analysis and design of
control systems. Figure 1.5 shows the result of fitting a curve of the form

where u is the input, pedal excursion in inches, and y is the output, terminal velocity in
mph. The parameters and shown in Fig. 1.5 were obtained from a
standard least-squares fit. See also P1.11.
Figure 1.5 Fitting the curve to the data from Fig. 1.4.

The choice of the above particular function involving the arc-tangent might seem
somewhat arbitrary. When possible, one should select candidate functions from first
principles derived from physics or other scientific reasoning, but this does not seem to
be easy to do in the case of the experiment we described. Detailed physical modeling of
the vehicle would involve knowledge and further modeling of the components of the
vehicle, not to mention the many uncertainties brought in by the environment, such as
wind, road conditions, temperature, etc. Instead, we make an “educated choice” based
on certain physical aspects of the experiment that we believe the model should
capture. In this case, from our daily experience with vehicles, we expect that the
terminal velocity will eventually saturate, either as one reaches full throttle or as a
result of limitations on the maximum power that can be delivered by the vehicle’s
powertrain. We also expect that the function be monotone, that is, the more you press
the pedal, the larger the terminal velocity will be. Our previous exposure to the
properties of the arc-tangent function and engineering intuition about the expected
outcome of the experiment allowed us to successfully select this function as a suitable
candidate for a model.

Other families of functions might suit the data in Fig. 1.5. For example, we could have
used polynomials, perhaps constrained to pass through the origin and ensure
monotonicity. One of the most useful classes of mathematical models one can consider
is that of linear models, which are, of course, first-order polynomials. One might be
tempted to equate linear with simple. Whether or not this might be true in some cases,
simplicity is far from a sin. More often than not, the loss of some feature neglected by a
linear model is offset by the availability of a much broader set of analytic tools. It is
better to know when you are wrong than to believe you are right. As the title suggests,
this book is mostly concerned with linear models. Speaking of linear models, one might
propose describing the data in Fig. 1.4 by a linear mathematical model of the form

(1.1)

Figure 1.6 shows two such models (dashed lines). The curve with slope coefficient
was obtained by performing a least-squares fit to all data points (see P1.11).
The curve with coefficient is a first-order approximation of the nonlinear
model calculated in Fig. 1.5 (see P1.12). Clearly, each model has its limitations in
describing the experiment. Moreover, one model might be better suited to describe
certain aspects of the experiment than the other. Responsibility rests with the engineer
or the scientist to select the model, or perhaps set of models, that better fits the
problem in hand, a task that at times may resemble an art more than a science.

Figure 1.6 Linear mathematical models of the form for the data in Fig. 1.4
(dashed); the model with was obtained by a least-squares fit; the model with
was obtained after linearization of the nonlinear model (solid) obtained in
Fig. 1.5; see P1.12 and P1.11.
1.2 Cautionary Note

It goes without saying that the mathematical models described in Section 1.1 do not
purport to capture every detail of the experiment, not to mention reality. Good models
are the ones that capture essential aspects that we perceive or can experimentally
validate as real, for example how the terminal velocity of a car responds to the
acceleration pedal in the given experimental conditions. A model does not even need
to be correct to be useful: for centuries humans used a model in which the sun
3

revolves around the earth to predict and control their days! What is important is that
models provide a way to express relevant aspects of reality using mathematics. When
mathematical models are used in control design, it is therefore with the understanding
that the model is bound to capture only a subset of features of the actual
phenomenon they represent. At no time should one be fooled into believing in a
model. The curious reader will appreciate [Fey86] and the amusingly provocative
[Tal07].

With this caveat in mind, it is useful to think of an idealized true or nominal model,
just as is done in physics, against which a particular setup can be mathematically
evaluated. This nominal model might even be different than the model used by a
particular control algorithm, for instance, having more details or being more complex
or more accurate. Of course physical evaluation of a control system with respect to the
underlying natural phenomenon is possible only by means of experimentation which
should also include the physical realization of the controller in the form of computer
hardware and software, electric circuits, and other necessary mechanical devices. We
will discuss in Chapter 5 how certain physical devices can be used to implement the
dynamic controllers you will learn to design in this book.

The models discussed so far have been static, meaning that the relationship between
inputs and outputs is instantaneous and is independent of the past history of the
system or their signals. Yet the main objective of this book is to work with dynamic
models, in which the relationship between present inputs and outputs may depend on
the present and past history of the signals.
4

With the goal of introducing the main ideas behind feedback control in a simpler
setup, we will continue to work with static models for the remainder of this chapter. In
the case of static models, a mathematical function or a set of algebraic equations will be
used to represent such relationships, as done in the models discussed just above in
Section 1.1.

Dynamic models will be considered starting in Chapter 2. In this book, signals will be
continuous functions of time, and dynamic models will be formulated with the help of
ordinary differential equations. As one might expect, experimental procedures that can
estimate the parameters of dynamic systems need to be much more sophisticated than
the ones discussed so far. A simple experimental procedure will be briefly discussed in
Section 2.4, but the interested reader is encouraged to consult one of the many
excellent works on this subject, e.g. [Lju99].

1.3 A Control Problem

Consider the following problem:

Under the experimental conditions described in Section 1.1 and given a target
terminal velocity, , is it possible to design a system, the controller, that is able to
command the accelerator pedal of a car, the input, u, to produce a terminal velocity,
the output, y, equal to the target velocity?

An automatic system that can solve this problem is found in many modern cars, with
the name cruise controller. Of course, another system that is capable of solving the
same problem is a human driver. In this book we are mostly interested in solutions
5

that can be implemented as an automatic control, that is, which can be performed by
some combination of mechanical, electric, hydraulic, or pneumatic systems running
without human intervention, often being programmed in a digital computer or some
other logical circuit or calculator.

Problems such as this are referred to in the control literature as tracking problems:
the controller should make the system, a car, follow or track a given target output, the
desired terminal velocity. In the next sections we will discuss two possible approaches
to the cruise control problem.

1.4 Solution without Feedback

The role of the controller in tracking is to compute the input signal u which produces
the desired output signal y. One might therefore attempt to solve a tracking problem
using a system (controller) of the form

This controller can use only the reference signal, the target output , and is said to be
in open-loop, as the controller output signal, u, is not a function of the system output
6

signal, y.

With the intent of analyzing the proposed solution using mathematical models,
assume that the car can be represented by a nominal model, say G, that relates the
input u (pedal excursion) to the output y (terminal velocity) through the mathematical
function

The connection of the controller with this idealized model is depicted in the block-
diagram in Fig. 1.7. Here the function G can be obtained after fitting experimental data
as done in Figs. 1.5 and 1.6, or borrowed from physics or engineering science principles.
The block-diagram in Fig. 1.7 represents the following relationships:

that can be combined to obtain

If G is invertible and K is chosen to be the inverse of G, that is , then

Matching the controller, K, with the nominal model, G, is paramount: if then

.

When both the nominal model G and the controller K are linear,

from which only if the product of the constants K and G is equal to one:

Because the control law relies on knowledge of the nominal model G to achieve its
goal, any imperfection in the model or in the implementation of the controller will lead
to less than perfect tracking.

Figure 1.7 Open-loop control: the controller, K, is a function of the reference input, ,
but not a function of the system output, y.
1.5 Solution with Feedback

The controller in the open-loop solution considered in Section 1.4 is allowed to make
use only of the target output, . When a measurement, even if imprecise, of the
system output is available, one may benefit from allowing the controller to make use of
the measurement signal, y. In the case of the car cruise control, the terminal velocity, y,
can be measured by an on-board speedometer. Of course the target velocity, , is set
by the driver.

Controllers that make use of output signals to compute the control inputs are called
feedback controllers. In its most general form, a feedback controller has the functional
form

In practice, most feedback controllers work by first creating an error signal, ,

which is then used by the controller:

(1.2)

This scheme is depicted in the block-diagram in Fig. 1.8. One should question whether it
is possible to implement a physical system that replicates the block-diagram in Fig. 1.8.
In this diagram, the measurement, y, that takes part in the computation of the control,
u, in the controller block, K, is the same as that which comes out of the system, G. In
other words, the signals flow in this diagram is instantaneous. Even though we are not
yet properly equipped to address this question, we anticipate that it will be possible to
construct and analyze implementable or realizable versions of the feedback diagram in
Fig. 1.8 by taking into account dynamic phenomena, which we will start discussing in
the next chapter.

Figure 1.8 Closed-loop feedback control: the controller, K, is a function of the reference
input, , and the system output, y, by way of the error signal, .

At this point, we are content to say that if the computation implied by feedback is
performed fast enough, then the scheme should work. We analyze the proposed
feedback solution only in the case of static linear models, that is, when both the
controller, K, and the system to be controlled, G, are linear. Feedback controllers of the
form (1.2), which are linear and static, are known by the name proportional controllers,
or P controllers for short. In the closed-loop diagram of Fig. 1.8, we can think of the
signal , the target velocity, as an input, and of the signal y, the terminal velocity, as
an output. A mathematical description of the relationship between the input signal, ,
and output signal, y, assuming linear models, can be computed from the diagram:

After eliminating the signals e and u we obtain

When ,

A mathematical relationship governing a particular pair of inputs and outputs is called

a transfer-function. The function H calculated above is known as a closed-loop transfer-
function.

Ironically, a first conclusion from the closed-loop analysis is that it is not possible to
achieve exact tracking of the target velocity since H cannot be equal to one for any
finite value of the constants G and K, not even when , which was the open-
loop solution. However, it is not so hard to make H get close to one: just make K large!
More precisely, make the product large. How large it needs to be depends on the
particular system G. However, a welcome side-effect of the closed-loop solution is that
the controller gain, K, does not depend directly on the value of the system model, G. As
the calculations in Table 1.1 reveal, the closed-loop transfer-function, H, remains within
1% of 1 for values K greater than or equal to 3 for any value of G lying between the two
crude linear models estimated earlier in Fig. 1.6.

Table 1.1 Closed-loop transfer-function, H, for various values of K and G

G 0.02 0.05 0.5 1 3

47.8 0.4888 0.7050 0.9598 0.9795 0.9931

73.3 0.5945 0.7856 0.9734 0.9865 0.9955
99.4 0.6653 0.8325 0.9803 0.9900 0.9967

In other words, feedback control does not seem to rely on exact knowledge of the
system model in order to achieve good tracking performance. This is a major feature of
feedback control, and one of the reasons why we may get away with using incomplete
and not extremely accurate mathematical models for feedback design. One might find
this strange, especially to scientists and engineers trained to look for accuracy and
fidelity in their models of the world, a line of thought that might lead one to believe
that better accuracy requires the use of complex models. For example, the complexity
required for accurately modeling the interaction of an aircraft with its surrounding air
may be phenomenal. Yet, as the Wright brothers and other flight pioneers
demonstrated, it is possible to design and implement effective feedback control of
aircraft without relying explicitly on such complex models.

This remarkable feature remains for the most part true even if nonlinear models are
7

considered, although the computation of the transfer-function, H, becomes more

complicated. Figure 1.9 shows a plot of the ratio
8
for various choices of gain, K,
when a linear controller is in feedback with the static nonlinear model, G, fitted in Fig.
1.5. The trends are virtually the same as those obtained using linear models. Note also
that the values of the ratio of the terminal velocity by the target velocity are close to
the values of H calculated for the linear model with gain which was obtained
through “linearization” of the nonlinear model, especially at low velocities.

Figure 1.9 Effect of the gain K on the ability of the terminal velocity, y, to track a given
target velocity, , when the linear feedback control, , is in closed-loop
(Fig. 1.8) with the nonlinear model, from Fig. 1.5.

Insight on the reasons why feedback control can achieve tracking without relying on
precise models is obtained if we look at the control, the signal u, that is effectively
computed by the closed-loop solution. Following steps similar to the ones used in the
derivation of the closed-loop transfer-function, we calculate
Note that , which is exactly the same control as that computed in
open-loop (see Section 1.4). This time, however, it is the feedback loop that computes
the function based on the error signal, . Indeed, u is simply equal to
, which, when K is made large, converges to by virtue of feedback, no
matter what the value of G is. A natural question is what are the side-effects of raising
the control gain in order to improve the tracking performance? We will come back to
this question at many points in this book as we learn more about dynamic systems and
feedback.

1.6 Sensitivity

In previous sections, we made statements regarding how insensitive the closed-loop

feedback solution was with respect to changes in the system model when compared
with the open-loop solution. We can quantify this statement in the case of static linear
models.

As seen before, in both open- and closed-loop solutions to the tracking control
problem, the output y is related to the target output through

The notation indicates that the transfer-function, H, depends on the system

model, G. In the open-loop solution and in the closed-loop solution
.

Now consider that G assumes values in the neighborhood of a certain nominal model
and that . Assume that those changes in G affect H in a continuous and
differentiable way so that 9

which is the Taylor series expansion of H as a function of G about . Discarding terms

of order greater than or equal to two, we can write

After dividing by we obtain an expression for how changes in G affect the

transfer-function :
The function S is called the sensitivity function.

Using this formula we compute the sensitivity of the open-loop solution. In the case
of linear models,

This can be interpreted as follows: in open-loop, a relative change in the system model,
G, produces a relative change in the output, y, of the same order.

In closed-loop, after some calculations (see P1.13),

(1.3)

By making K large we not only improve the tracking performance but also reduce the
sensitivity S. Note that , hence , so that the values of S can be
easily calculated from Table 1.1 in the case of the car cruise control. For this reason, H
is known as the complementary sensitivity function.

In the closed-loop diagram of Fig. 1.8, the transfer-function from the reference input,
, to the tracking error, e, is

which is precisely the sensitivity transfer-function that we have calculated based on

model variations. The smaller the sensitivity, S, the better the controller tracks the
reference input, . Perfect tracking would be achieved if we could make . This is
a win–win coincidence: the closer controllers can track references, the less sensitive the
closed-loop will be to variations in the model.

1.7 Disturbances

Another way of accounting for variability in models is to introduce additional

disturbance signals. Consider, for example, the block-diagram in Fig. 1.10, in which the
disturbance signal, w, adds to the input signal, u, that is,
Another random document with
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include a great deal of incident and show, to be supported by
occasional instrumental music, and to have a comic personage or
buffoon amongst its characters. The tenth chapter of M. Magnin’s
fifth and final section shows us a strange variety in the subjects
selected for these plays—in which, it is to be noted, each puppet had
its own separate speaker behind the scenes. Weltheim, the manager
of a company of marionettes in the last twenty years of the 17th
century, and the beginning of the 18th, usually recruited interpreters
for his puppets amongst the students of Leipzig and Jena. He was the
first who performed a translation of Molière’s comedies in Germany.
In 1688, we find him giving at Hamburg, a piece founded on the fall
of Adam and Eve, followed by a buffoonery called Jack-pudding in
Punch’s Shop. Then we come to such pieces as The Lapidation of
Naboth; Asphalides, King of Arabia; The Fall of Jerusalem, and The
Death of Wallenstein—a strange medley of ancient, modern, sacred
and profane history. The following performance, at which M.
Schütze, the historian of the Hamburg theatre, declares that he was
present in his youth, must have been as curious as any we have
named. “A little musical drama on the fall of Adam and Eve
(performed at Hamburg rather more than a century ago), the
characters in which, including that of the serpent, were filled by
puppets. The reptile was seen coiled round the tree, darting out his
pernicious tongue. After the fall of our first parents, Hanswurst
addressed them in a strain of coarse pleasantry that greatly diverted
the audience. Two bears danced a ballet, and at the end, an angel
appeared, as in Genesis, drew a sword of gilt paper, and cut at a
single blow the knot of the piece.” Later than this a tailor named
Reibehand, who kept a puppet theatre, contrived to burlesque the
touching parable of the Prodigal Son. His playbill ran thus: “The
arch-prodigal, chastised by the four elements, with Harlequin, the
joyous companion of a great criminal.” The merit of this most
irreverent Haupt-Action consisted in the transformations it
contained. Thus the fruit the young prodigal was about to eat
changed itself into death’s heads, the water he was about to drink,
into flames; rocks split open and revealed a gallows with a man
hanging from it. The limbs of this corpse swinging in the wind, fell
off one by one, then assembled upon the ground and reconnected
themselves, and then the dead man arose and pursued the prodigal.
A very German and not very pleasing device. When Charles XII. of
Sweden fell dead in the trenches at Friedrichshall, slain, according to
popular superstition, by an enchanted bullet, his death was
immediately taken advantage of by the indefatigable marionettes. A
great historical piece was brought out at Hamburg, in which
Friedrichshall was twice bombarded. In it a soldier excited great
admiration as a prodigy of mechanism, by lighting his pipe and
puffing smoke from his mouth. This feat was soon imported into
France, and may be seen at the present day executed in great
perfection at Seraphin’s theatre in the Palais Royal.
The triviality, absurdity, and profanity that tarnished the German
stage during the first half of the eighteenth century, were followed by
a reaction in favour of better taste and common sense. Gottsched and
Lessing gave the signal of the revival of art and poetry. The theatre
resumed its importance; actors their proper place, from which they
had been ousted by the intolerance of the consistories; puppets
returned to the modest sphere which circumstances had permitted
and encouraged them temporarily to quit, and resumed their old
stock pieces, consisting of Biblical dramas and popular legends.
Faust was exceedingly popular, and novelties were occasionally
introduced. Lewis’s Bravo of Venice was taken for the subject of a
grand drama, performed by the Augsburg marionettes, which also
played, with great success, a drama founded on the well-known story
of Don Juan and his marble guest. And this brings us to the time
when a boy, Wolfgang Goethe by name—kept at home by his parents
during certain gloomy episodes of the Seven Years’ War, when
Frankfort was occupied by the French—delighted his leisure with a
marionette theatre, a Christmas gift from his grandfather, and so
fostered his inborn dramatic taste and genius. In his memoirs, and in
Wilhelm Meister, he tells us, in some charming passages, what
pleasure he took in the management of his mimic comedians.
“We are indebted,” says M. Magnin, “for what follows, to a
confidential communication made by the illustrious composer
Haydn, at Vienna, in 1805, to M. Charles Bertuch, one of his fervent
admirers.” And he relates that when Hadyn was mâitre de chapelle
to Prince Nicholas-Joseph Esterhazy, that enlightened and generous
patron of art, and especially of music, he composed four little operas
for a marionette theatre, which existed in the Esterhazys’
magnificent Castle of Eisenstadt in Hungary. They were written
between 1773 and 1780. “In the list of all his musical works, which
the illustrious old man signed and gave to M. Charles Bertuch,
during the residence of the latter at Vienna, occur the following lines,
which I exactly transcribe:—Operette composed for the marionettes:
Philémon and Baucis, 1773; Geniêvre, 1777; Didon, parody, 1778; La
Vengeance accomplie ou la Maison Brulie (no date). In the same list
the Diable Boiteux is set down, probably because it was played by
Prince Esterhazy’s marionettes, but it was composed at Vienna, in
the author’s early youth, for Bernardone, the manager of a popular
theatre at the Corinthian Gate, and twenty-four sequins were paid for
it. It was thought that these curious operas, all unpublished, had
been destroyed in a fire which consumed a part of the Castle of
Eisenstadt, including Haydn’s apartment; but that was not the case,
for they were seen in 1827 in the musical library of the Esterhazys,
with a score of other pieces whose titles one would like to know.”
Goethe has told us, in an interesting passage of his memoirs, that
the idea of his great work of Faust was suggested to him by the
puppet-show. M. Magnin, who takes an affectionate interest in the
triumphs of the marionettes with whom he has so long associated,
and whose career he has traced from their cradle, exults in the claim
they have thus acquired to the world’s gratitude—not always, it must
be owned, shown to those who best deserve it. He concludes his
history with a double recapitulation—first, of the celebrated persons
who have taken pleasure in this class of dramatic performances; and,
secondly, of the most distinguished of those who have wielded pen in
its service. And he calls upon his readers to applaud, and upon the
ladies especially to wave kerchief and throw bouquet at the graceful
Fantasia, the pretty fairy, the sprightly muse of the marionettes. We
doubt not but that the appeal will be responded to; although her
fairyship may fairly be considered to be already sufficiently rewarded
by meeting with a biographer in every way so competent.
THE QUIET HEART.
 PART V.—CHAPTER XXV.
But this Menie Laurie, rising up from her bed of unrest, when the
morning light breaks, cold and real, upon a changed world, has wept
out all her child’s tears, and is a woman once again. No one knows
yet a whisper of what has befallen her, not even poor Jenny, who
sobbed over her last night, and implored her not to weep.
Now, how to tell this—how to signify, in the fewest and calmest
words, the change that has come upon her. Sitting, with her cheek
leant on her hand, by the window where she heard it, before any
other eyes are awake, Menie ponders this in her heart. Always before
in little difficulties counsel and help have been within her reach; few
troublous things have been to do in Menie’s experience; and no one
ever dreamt that she should do them, when they chanced to come to
her mother’s door.
But now her mother’s honour is involved—she must not be
consulted—she must not know. With a proud flush Menie draws up
herself—herself who must work in this alone. Ah, sweet dependence,
dear humility of the old times! we must lay them by out of our heart,
to wait for a happier dawn. This day it is independence—self-support
—a strength that stands alone; and no one who has not felt such an
abrupt transition can know how hard it is to take these unused
weapons up.
“Will you let me speak to you, aunt?” Menie’s heart falters within
her, as she remembers poor Miss Annie’s unaccepted sympathy. Has
she indeed been driven to seek refuge here at last?
“My love! how can you ask such a question, darling, when I am
always ready to speak to you?” exclaimed Miss Annie, with
enthusiasm.
“But not here—out of doors, if you will permit me,” said Menie in a
half whisper. “I—I want to be out of my mother’s sight—she must not
know.”
“You delightful creature,” said Miss Annie, “are you going to give
me your confidence at last?”
 Poor Menie, sadly dismayed, was very ill able to support this strain
of sympathy. She hastened out, not quite observing how it tasked her
companion to follow her—out to the same green overgrown corner,
where once before she had spoken of this same subject to Randall
himself. With a slight shudder she paused there before the little
rustic seat, from which she had risen at his approach; but Menie
knew that she must harden herself against the power of associations;
enough of real ill was before her.
“I want to tell you, aunt, if you will please to listen to me, that the
engagement of which you were told when we came here is dissolved
—broken. I do not know if there is any stronger word,” said Menie, a
bewildered look growing on her face. “I mean to say, that it is all
over, as if it had never been.”
And Menie folded her hands upon her breast, and stood patiently
to listen, expecting a burst of lamentation and condolence; but Menie
was not prepared for the laugh which rung shrilly on her ears—the
words that followed it.
“My sweet simple child, I have no doubt you quite believe it—
forgive me for laughing, darling; but I know what lovers’ quarrels
are. There, now, don’t look so grave and angry; my love, you will
make it all up to-morrow.”
And Miss Annie Laurie patted Menie’s shrinking shoulder
encouragingly. It was a harder task this than Menie had anticipated;
but she went on without flinching.
“This is no lovers’ quarrel, aunt; do not think so. My mother is in
some degree involved in this. I cannot consult her, or ask her to help
me; it is the first time I have ever been in such a strait;” and Menie’s
lip quivered as she spoke. “You are my only friend. I am serious—as
serious as mind can be, which feels that here it decides its life. Aunt,
I apply to you.”
Miss Annie Laurie looked up very much confused and shaken; very
seldom had any one spoken to her with such a sober seriousness of
tone; she could not think it unreal, for neither extravagance nor
despair were in these grave sad words of Menie. The poor frivolous
heart felt this voice ring into its depths, past all superficial
affectations and sentiments. No exuberance of sympathy, no shower
of condoling words or endearments, could answer this appeal; and
poor Miss Annie faltered before this claim of real service—faltered
and shrank into a very weak old woman, her self-delusions standing
her in no stead in such a strait; and the only answer she could make
was to cry, in a trembling and strangely altered voice, “Oh, child, do
not speak so. What can I do for you?”
Most true, what can you do, indeed, poor soul! whose greatest
object for all these years has been to shut out and darken the daylight
truth, which mocked your vain pretences? You could give charity and
gentle words—be thankful; your heart is alive in you because of
these: but what can you do in such a difficulty as this? where is your
wisdom to counsel, your strength to uphold? This grave girl stands
before you, sadly bearing her burden, without an effort to conceal
from you that she feels it hard to bear; but you, whose age is not
grave, whose heart has rejected experience, whose mind has refused
to learn the kindly insight of advancing years—shrink into yourself,
poor aged butterfly; feel that it is presumption to call yourself her
counsellor, and say again—again, with a tremble in your weakened
voice, “What can I do for you?”
“Aunt, I apply to you,” said Menie Laurie; “I ask your help, when I
resolve to decide my future life according to my own will and
conviction of what is best. I have no one else to assist me. I apply to
you.”
Miss Annie melted into a fit of feeble crying; her hands shook, her
ringlets drooped down lank about her cheeks. “I will do anything—
anything you like; tell me what to do, Menie—Menie, my dear child.”
It was pitiful to see her distress. Menie, whom no one comforted,
felt her heart moved to comfort her.
“I will not grieve you much,” said Menie gently; “only I beg you to
give me your countenance when I see Randall—Mr Home. I want you
to be as my mother might have been in other circumstances; but I
will not trouble you much, aunt—I will not trouble you.”
Miss Annie could not stop her tears; she was very timid and afraid,
sobbing helplessly. “What will I do? what can I do? Oh, Menie, love,
you will make it up to-morrow;” for poor Miss Annie knew no way of
conquering grief except by flying out of its sight.
Menie led her back to the house tenderly. Menie had never known
before this necessity of becoming comforter, when she had so much
need to be comforted. It was best for her—it gave her all the greater
command over her own heart.
And to hear poor innocent July, in her own young unclouded joy—
to hear her unsuspicious mother at their breakfast-table—to have
Randall’s name cross her now and then, like a sudden blow—
Randall, Randall;—Menie knew nothing of all these depths, nor how
such sorrows come in battalions; so, one by one, her inexperienced
heart gained acquaintance with them now,—gained acquaintance
with that sorest of human truths, that it is possible to love and to
condemn—possible to part, and know that parting is the best—yet
withal to cling and cling, and hold, with the saddest gripe of
tenderness, the heart from which you part. Poor Menie! they said she
looked very dark and heavy; that last night’s exertions had wearied
her—it was very true.
Miss Annie sent a message that she was not well, and would
breakfast in her own room. In the forenoon, when she came down
stairs again, even Menie was startled at the change. Miss Annie’s
ringlets were smoothed out and braided on her poor thin cheek—
braided elaborately with a care and study worthy of something more
important; her step tottered a little; when any one spoke to her, a
little gush of tears came to her eyes; but, notwithstanding, there was
a solemnity and importance in the hush of Miss Annie’s manner,
which no one had ever seen in her before. Half-a-dozen times that
day she asked, in a startling whisper, “Menie, when is he to come?”
Poor Menie, sick at heart, could scarcely bear this slow prolonging of
her pain.
 CHAPTER XXVI.
“Aunt, he has come.”
No one knows; July is out on a ramble in this pleasant heath,
where she cannot lose herself; Mrs Laurie has gone out for some
private errands of her own. In her first day, Menie has managed well.
True, they all know that Menie has been wearied last night; that her
eye looks dull and heavy; that her cheek has lost its slight bloom of
colour; that she says something of a headache; but nobody knows
that headache has come to be with Menie Laurie as with many
another, only a softer word for heartache—no one suspects that the
quiet heart, which feared no evil when this spring began, is now a
battle-ground, and field of contest, and that sometimes, when she
sits quiet in outward seeming, she could leap up with a start and
scream, and feels as if madness would come to her underneath their
unsuspicious eyes.
“Aunt, he has come.”
Miss Annie Laurie is very nervous; she has to be supported on
Menie’s arm as they go down stairs. “You will make it all up, Menie;
yes, my darling;” but Miss Annie’s head nods spasmodically, and
there is a terrified troubled expression about her face, which looks so
meagre in its outline under that braided hair.
Slightly disturbed, something haughty, rather wondering what
Menie has got to say for herself, Randall sits waiting in the drawing-
room. It is no small surprise to him to see Miss Annie—especially to
see her so moved and nervous; and Randall restrains, with visible
displeasure, the words which rose to his lips on Menie’s entrance,
and coldly makes his bow to the lady of the house.
“My dear Mr Home, I am very much grieved; I hope you are ready
to make it all up,” murmurs Miss Annie; but she trembles so much
that it is not easy to hear what she says, except the last words, which
flush Randall’s cheek with a sudden disdainful anger. A lovers’
quarrel!—that he should be fancied capable of this.
 “My aunt has come with me,” said Menie steadily, “to give the
weight of her presence to what I say. Randall, I do not pretend that
my own feelings are changed, or that I have ceased to care for you. I
do not need to seem to quarrel, or to call you by a less familiar name.
We know the reason both of us; there is no use for discussing it—and
I have come to have it mutually understood that our engagement is
broken. We will go away very soon. I came to say good-by.”
Before she concluded, Menie had bent her head, and cast down her
wavering eyes upon Miss Annie’s hand, which she held firmly in her
own. Her voice was very low, her words quick and hurried; she stood
beside Miss Annie’s chair, holding fast, and twining in her own Miss
Annie’s nervous fingers; but she did not venture to look up to meet
Randall’s eyes.
“What does this mean? it is mere trifling, Menie,” said Randall
impatiently. “You hear a gossip’s story of something I said; true or
false, it did not affect you—it had no bearing on you; you know very
well that nothing has happened to make you less precious to me—
that nothing can happen which will ever change my heart. Menie,
this is the second time; is this the conduct I have a right to expect
from you? Deal with me frankly; I have a title to it. What do you
mean?”
“My darling, he will make it up,” said Miss Annie, with a little
overflow of tears.
But Menie was very steady—so strange, so strange—she grew into a
startling acquaintance with herself in these few hours. Who could
have thought there were so many passionate impulses in Menie
Laurie’s quiet heart?
“We will not discuss it, Randall,” she said again; “let us simply
conclude that it is best for both of us to withdraw. Perhaps you will
be better content if I speak more strongly,” she continued, with a
little trembling vehemence, born of her weakness, “if I say it is
impossible—impossible—you understand the word—to restore the
state of mind, the hope, the trust, and confidence that are past. No—
let us have no explanation—I cannot bear it, Randall. Do we not
understand each other already? Nothing but parting is possible for
us—for me. I think I am saying what I mean to say—good-by.”
“Look at me, Menie.”
 It is hard to do it—hard to lift up those eyes, so full of tears—hard
to see his lips quiver—hard to see the love in his face; but Menie’s
eyes fall when they have endured this momentary ordeal; and again
she holds out her hand and says, “Good-by.”
“Good-by—I answer you,” said Randall, wringing her hand, and
throwing it out of his grasp. “Good-by—you are disloyal, Menie,
disloyal to Nature and to me; some time you will remember this; now
I bid you farewell.”
Something crossed her like an angry breath—something rang in
her ears, confused and echoing like the first drops of a thunder-
shower; and Menie can see nothing in all the world but Miss Annie
weeping upon her hand, and, like a culprit, steals away—steals away,
not knowing where she goes—desolate, guilty, forsaken, feeling as if
she had done some grievous wrong, and was for ever shut out from
peace or comfort in this weary world.
Yes—there is no one to see you. Lie down upon the ground, Menie
Laurie—down, down, where you can be no lower, and cover your eyes
from the cheerful light. How they pour upon you, these dreadful
doubts and suspicions of yourself!—wisely—wisely—what should
make it wise, this thing you have done? You yourself have little
wisdom, and you took no counsel. If it was not wise, what then?—it is
done, and there is nothing for it now but to be content.
 CHAPTER XXVII.
“It must not be—I cannot permit it,” said Mrs Laurie. “Menie, is
this all that your mother deserves at your hands? to take such a step
as this without even telling me—without giving me an opportunity of
remonstrance? Menie! Menie!”
And with hasty steps Mrs Laurie paces backward and forward the
narrow room. Beside the window, very pale, Menie stands with a
half-averted face, saying nothing—very pale—and there is a sullen
suffering in Menie Laurie’s darkened face.
“I cannot have it—I will not permit it”—Mrs Laurie is much
excited. “My own honour is compromised; it will be said it is I who
have separated you. Menie! it is strange that you should show so
little regard either to Randall or to me. I must do something—I must
make an effort—I cannot have this.”
“Mother, hear me,” exclaimed Menie. “No one shall do anything; I
will not bear it either. In everything else you shall make of me what
you will—here I am not to be swayed; I must decide this for myself—
and I have decided it, mother.”
With astonished eyes Mrs Laurie looked upon her daughter’s face.
Flushed with passion, full of a fierce unrespecting will—was this
Menie Laurie? but her mother turned aside from her. “I am sorry,
Menie—I am very sorry—to see you show such a spirit; another time
I will speak of it again.”
Another time!—Menie Laurie laughed a low laugh when her
mother left the room. Something like a scowl had come to Menie’s
brow; a dark abiding cloud was on her face; and in her heart such
bitterness and universal disappointment as killed every gentle feeling
in her soul: disloyal to the one love, disrespectful and disobedient to
the other—bitterly Menie’s heart turned upon itself—she had pleased
no one; her life was nothing but a great blot before her. She was
conscious of a host of evil feelings—evil spirits waging war with one
another in her vexed and troubled mind. Sullenly she sat down once
more upon the ground, not to seek if there was any comfort in the
heavens above or the earth beneath, but to brood upon her grief, and
make it darker, till the clouds closed over her, and swallowed her up,
and not a star remained.
There is a certain obstinate gloomy satisfaction in despair. To
decide that everything is hopeless—that nothing can be done for you
—that you have reached to the pre-eminence of woe—no wonder
Menie’s face was dark and sullen—she had come to this point now.
Like a thunder-storm this intelligence came upon little July Home
—she could not comprehend it, and no one took the trouble to
explain to her. Lithgow, knowing but the fact, was surprised and
grieved, and prophesied their reunion; but no hope was in Menie’s
sullen gravity—none in the haughty resentment of Randall Home.
And Mrs Laurie once more with a troubled brow considers of her
future—will Menie be best in the Dumfriesshire cottage, where no
one will see their poverty, or pursuing some feminine occupation
among the other seamstresses, teachers, poor craftswomen of a less
solitary place? For now that all is done that can be done, there is no
hope of recovering anything of the lost income,—and Mrs Laurie will
not live on Miss Annie’s bounty. She is anxious with all her heart to
be away.
Miss Annie herself has not recovered her trial: autumn winds grow
cold at night—autumn rains come down sadly upon the little world
which has had its cheerfulness quenched out of it—and when Randall
takes away his little sister to carry her home, Miss Annie looks a
mournful old woman, sitting there wrapped up by the early lighted
fire. These two or three mornings she has even been seen at the
breakfast-table with a cap protecting the head which is so sadly apt
to take cold—and Miss Annie cries a little to herself, and tells bits of
her own love-story to Menie, absorbed and silent, who sits
unanswering beside her—and moans to herself sadly sometimes,
over this other vessel of youthful life, cast away.
But Miss Annie Laurie never wears ringlets more. Strangely upon
her conscience, like a reproach for her unnatural attenuated youth,
came Menie’s appeal to her for help and comfort. Feeling herself so
frivolous and feeble, so unable to sustain or strengthen, Miss Annie
made a holocaust of her curls, and was satisfied. So much vanity was
relinquished not without a struggle; but great comfort came from the
sacrifice to the heroic penitent.
 And Jenny, discontented and angry with them all, furiously now
takes the part of Randall Home, and wonders, in a fuff and outburst,
what Miss Menie can expect that she “lightlies” a bonny lad like yon.
A great change has taken place on Menie; no one can say it is for the
better—and sullenly and sadly this bright year darkens over the
house of Heathbank.
 CHAPTER XXVIII.
“You’re to bide away—you’re no to come near this place. Na, you
may just fecht; but you’ve nae pith compared to Jenny, for a’ sae auld
and thrawn as Jenny has been a’ her days. It’s no me just—it’s your
mamma and the doctor. Bairn! will you daur struggle wi’ me?”
But Menie would dare struggle with any one—neither command
nor resistance satisfies her.
“Let me in—I want to see my mother.”
“You can want your mother for a day—there’s mair than you
wanting her. That puir auld haverel there—guid forgi’e me—she’s a
dying woman—has sairer lack o’ her than you. Keep to your ain place,
Menie Laurie—muckle made o’—muckle thocht o’—but you’re only a
bairn for a’ that—you’re no a woman of judgment like your mamma
or me. I tell you to gang away—I will not let you in.”
And Jenny stood firm—a jealous incorruptible sentinel in the
passage which led to Miss Annie Laurie’s room. “Miss Menie, ye’ll no
take it ill what I say,” said Jenny; “there’s death in the house, or fast
coming. I ken what the doctor means. Gang you ben the house, like a
good bairn; look in your ain glass, and see if there should be a face
like that in a house where He comes.”
Menie looked silently into the countenance before her—the keen,
impatient, irascible face; but it was easy to see a hasty tear dashed
away from Jenny’s cheek.
And without another word, Menie Laurie turned away. Some
withered leaves are lying on the window-sill—the trees are yielding
up their treasures, dropping them down mournfully to the
disconsolate soil—but the meagre yew-tree rustles before her, darkly
green in its perennial gloom. Rather shed the leaves, the hopes—
rather yield to winter meekly for the sake of spring—rather be cut
down, and rooted up altogether, than grow to such a sullen
misanthrope as this.
And Menie Laurie looks into her own face; this gloomy brow—
these heavy eyes—are these the daylight features of Menie Laurie?—
the interpretation of her heart? Earnestly and long she reads—no
lesson of vanity, but a stern sermon from that truthful mirror. Hush!
—listen!—what was that?—a cry!
The doctor is leaving Miss Annie Laurie’s room—the cry is over—
there is only now a feeble sound of weeping; but a shadow strangely
still and sombre has fallen upon the house, and the descending step
rings like a knell upon the stairs. What is it?—what is coming?—and
what did it mean, that melancholy cry?
Alas! a voice out of a startled soul—a cry of wild and terrified
recognition—acknowledgment. Years ago, age came gently to this
dwelling—gently, with light upon his face, and honour on his grey
hairs. There was no entrance for him through the jealous door; but
now has come another who will not be gainsaid.
Gather the children, Reaper—gather the lilies—take the corn full in
the ear—go to the true souls where thought of you dwells among
thoughts of other wonders, glories, solemn things to come—leave this
chamber here with all its poor devices. No such presence has ever
stood within its poverty-stricken walls before. Go where great love,
great hope, great faith, great sorrow, sublimer angels, have made you
no phantom—leave this soul to its toys and delusions—it is a poor
triumph—come not here.
Hush, be still. They who have sent him have charged him with a
message; hear it how it rings slow and solemn into the ear of this
hushed house. “There is a way, and it shall be called the way of
holiness; the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein.”
Stay your weeping, poor fool—poor soul; prayers have gone up for
you from the succoured hearts of some of God’s poor. Unawares, in
your simplicity, you have lent to the Lord. Your gracious debtor gives
you back with the grand usury of heaven—gives you back opportunity
—hope—a day to be saved—lays aside those poor little vanities of
yours under the cover of this, His great magnanimous divine grace—
and holds open to your feeble steps the way, where wayfaring men,
though fools, shall not err any more for ever.
“I’ll let you pass, Miss Menie, if you’ll bide a moment,” said Jenny,
wiping her eyes; “he says it’s no the fever he thought it was, but just a
natural decay. Did you hear yon? she wasna looking for Him that’s at
the door, and He’ll no wait lang where ance He’s gi’en His summons
—pity me! I would like to see him coming the road mysel, afore I just
found him at my door-stane.”
The room is very still; through the quiet you can only hear the
panting of a frightened breath, and now and then a timid feeble sob.
She has to go away—knows and feels to the depth of her heart that
she must go upon this solemn road alone; but, with a sad panic of
terror and curiosity, she watches her own feelings, wondering if this
and this be death.
And now they sit and read to her while the daylight flushes in noon
—while it fades and wanes into the night—the night and dark of
which she has a childish terror—read to her this gracious blessed
Gospel, which does not address itself alone to the wise and noble, but
is for the simple and for fools. Safe ground, poor soul, safe ground—
for this is no scheme of eclecticism, no portal to the pagan heavens—
and you cannot know yourself so low, so mean, as to escape the
range of this great wide embracing arm.
“I have not done all that I ought to have done,” murmurs poor
Miss Annie. “Don’t leave me:” for she cannot rest except some one
holds her hand, and has a faint superstitious trust in it, as if it held
her sure.
A little pause—again the fingers close tightly upon the hand they
hold. “I never did any harm.” The words are so sad—so sad—falling
out slow and feeble upon the hushed air of this darkening room.
“But I never did any good—never, never.” The voice grows
stronger. “Does anybody think I did? I—I—I never was very wise. I
used to try to be kind sometimes;” and in a strain of inarticulate
muttering, the sound died away once more.
And then again the voice of the reader broke the silence. They
scarcely thought the sufferer listened; for ever and anon she broke
forth in such wavering self-justifications, self-condemnings, as these.
But now there is a long silence; strange emotions come and go upon
this old, old, withered face. The tears have been dried from her eyes
for hours; now they come again, bedewing all her poor thin cheeks;
but a strange excitement struggles with her weakness. Looking about
to her right hand and to her left, the dying woman struggles with an
eager defiance—struggles till, at a sudden climax, her broken voice
breaks forth again.
 “Who said it was me—me—it’s not me! I never could win anything
in this world—nothing in this world—not a heart to care for me. Do
you think I could win Heaven? I say it is not me; it’s for His sake.
“For His sake—for His sake.” If it is a prayer that ends thus—if it is
a sudden assurance of which she will not loose her hold for ever—no
one can know; for by-and-by her panic returns upon Miss Annie.
Close in her own cold fingers she grasps the hand of Menie Laurie,
and whispers, “Is it dark—is it so dark to you?” with again a thrill of
terror and trembling, and awful curiosity, wondering if this,
perchance, is the gloom of death.
“It is very dark—it is almost night.” The lamp is lighted on the
table; let some one go to her side, and hold this other poor
wandering hand. “Oh! not in the night—not in the night—I am afraid
to go out in the night,” sobs poor Miss Annie; and with a dreadful
suspicion in her eyes, as if of some one drawing near to murder her,
she watches the falling of this fated night.
A solemn vigil—with ever that tight and rigid pressure upon their
clasped hands. Mother and daughter, silent, pale, keep the watch
together; and below, the servants sit awe-stricken, afraid to go to
sleep. Jenny, who is not afraid, goes about the stairs, up and down,
from room to room, sometimes serving the watchers, sometimes only
straying near them, muttering, after her fashion, words which may
be prayers, and dashing off now and then an intrusive tear.
Still, with many a frightened pause—many a waking up, and little
pang of terror, this forlorn heart wanders back into the life which is
ending now—wanders back to think herself once more engaged in the
busier scenes of her youth, in the little occupations, the frivolities
and gaiety of her later years; but howsoever her mind wanders, she
never ceases to fix her eyes upon the span of sky glittering with a
single star, which shines pale on her through the window from
which, to please her, they have drawn the curtain. “I am afraid to go
out in the dark;” again and again she says it with a shudder, and a
tightened hold upon their hands—and steadfastly watches the night.
At last her eyes grow heavy—she has fallen asleep. Little reverence
has Miss Annie won at any time of all her life—but the eyes that look
on her are awed and reverent now. Slowly the hours pass by—slowly
the gradual dawn brightens upon her face—the star has faded out of
the heavens—on her brow, which is the brow of death, the daylight
glows in one reviving flush. The night is over for evermore.
And now her heavy eyes are opened full—her feeble form is raised;
and, with a cry of joy, she throws out her arms to meet the light. Lay
her down tenderly; her chains are broken in her sleep; now she no
more needs the pressure of your kindly hands. Lay her down, she is
afraid no longer; for not in the night, or through the darkness, but
with the morning and the sun, the traveller fares upon her way—
where fools do not err. By this time they have taken her in yonder at
the gate. Lay down all that remains of her to its rest.
 CHAPTER XXIX.
The curtains are drawn again in Miss Annie Laurie’s house of
Heathbank—drawn back from the opened windows to let the fresh
air and the sunshine in once more to all the rooms. With a long
breath and sigh of relief, the household throws off its compelled
gloom. With all observances of honour, they have laid her in her
grave, and a few natural tears have been wept—a few kindly words
spoken—a reverent memento raised to name the place where she
lies. Now she is passed away and forgotten, her seat empty—her
house knowing her no more.
In Miss Annie’s desk, a half-written paper—intimating vaguely
that, in case of “anything happening” to her at any future time, she
wished all that she had to be given to Menie Laurie—was found
immediately after the funeral. But some superstitious terror had
prevented her from finishing it, far more from making a will. Menie
was her next of kin; it pleased them to have this sanction of her
willingness to the inheritance of the natural heir.
Miss Annie had been rather given to speak of her savings; but no
vestige of these savings was to be found. She had practised this on
herself like many another delusion; and saving the furniture of
Heathbank, and a profusion of ornaments not valuable, there
remained little for Menie to inherit. Miss Annie’s maid was her well-
known favourite, and had been really attentive, and a good servant to
her indulgent mistress. Her name was mentioned in the half-written
paper, and Maria’s own report of many conversations, modestly
hinted at a legacy. Miss Annie’s furniture, pretty and suitable for her
house as it was, was not valuable in a sale; and Mrs Laurie, acting for
her daughter, bestowed almost the whole amount received for it
upon Maria, as carrying out the will of her mistress. Having done
this, they had done all, Mrs Laurie thought, and would now go home
to live as they could upon what remained to them. Burnside, with all
its plenishing, brought in no greater revenue than fifty pounds a-
year, and Mrs Laurie had two or three hundred pounds “in the
bank.” This was all. She began to calculate painfully what the home-