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Textbook Fundamentals of Linear Algebra and Optimization Gallier J Ebook All Chapter PDF
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Algebra Topology Differential Calculus and Optimization
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Fundamentals of Linear Algebra
and Optimization
c Jean Gallier
Figure 1: Cover page from Bourbaki, Fascicule VI, Livre II, Algèbre, 1962
3
Figure 2: Page 156 from Bourbaki, Fascicule VI, Livre II, Algèbre, 1962
4
Contents
5 Determinants 193
5.1 Permutations, Signature of a Permutation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
5
6 CONTENTS
17 Topology 475
17.1 Metric Spaces and Normed Vector Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
17.2 Topological Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
17.3 Continuous Functions, Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
17.4 Continuous Linear and Multilinear Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
17.5 The Contraction Mapping Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
17.6 Futher Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
17.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Bibliography 916
Chapter 1
x1 + 2x2 x3 = 1
2x1 + x2 + x3 = 2
x1 2x2 2x3 = 3.
One way to approach this problem is introduce the “vectors” u, v, w, and b, given by
0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
1 2 1 1
u = @2A v=@ 1 A w=@ 1 A b = @2A
1 2 2 3
x1 u + x2 v + x3 w = b.
In the above equation, we used implicitly the fact that a vector z can be multiplied by a
scalar λ 2 R, where 0 1 0 1
z1 λz1
λz = λ z2 = λz2 A ,
@ A @
z3 λz3
and two vectors y and and z can be added, where
0 1 0 1 0 1
y1 z1 y1 + z1
y + z = @y2 A + @z2 A = @y2 + z2 A .
y3 z3 y3 + z3
11
12 CHAPTER 1. VECTOR SPACES, BASES, LINEAR MAPS
The set of all vectors with three components is denoted by R3 1 . The reason for using
the notation R3 1 rather than the more conventional notation R3 is that the elements of
R3 1 are column vectors; they consist of three rows and a single column, which explains the
superscript 3 1. On the other hand, R3 = R R R consists of all triples of the form
(x1 , x2 , x3 ), with x1 , x2 , x3 2 R, and these are row vectors. However, there is an obvious
bijection between R3 1 and R3 and they are usually identifed. For the sake of clarity, in this
introduction, we will denote the set of column vectors with n components by Rn 1 .
An expression such as
x1 u + x2 v + x3 w
where u, v, w are vectors and the xi s are scalars (in R) is called a linear combination. Using
this notion, the problem of solving our linear system
x1 u + x2 v + x3 w = b.
x1 u + x2 v + x3 w = 03 ,
z = x1 u + x2 v + x3 w.
This is because if
z = x1 u + x2 v + x3 w = y1 u + y2 v + y3 w,
then by using our (linear!) operations on vectors, we get
y 1 = x1 , y2 = x2 , y3 = x3 ,
1.1. MOTIVATIONS: LINEAR COMBINATIONS, LINEAR INDEPENDENCE, RANK13
which shows that z has a unique expression as a linear combination, as claimed. Then, our
equation
x1 u + x2 v + x3 w = b
has a unique solution, and indeed, we can check that
x1 = 1.4
x2 = 0.4
x3 = 0.4
is the solution.
But then, how do we determine that some vectors are linearly independent?
One answer is to compute the determinant det(u, v, w), and to check that it is nonzero.
In our case,
1 2 1
det(u, v, w) = 2 1 1 = 15,
1 2 2
which confirms that u, v, w are linearly independent.
Other methods consist of computing an LU-decomposition or a QR-decomposition, or an
SVD of the matrix consisting of the three columns u, v, w,
0 1
1 2 1
A = u v w = @2 1 1 A.
1 2 2
or more concisely as
Ax = b.
14 CHAPTER 1. VECTOR SPACES, BASES, LINEAR MAPS
Now, what if the vectors u, v, w are linearly dependent? For example, if we consider the
vectors
0 1 0 1 0 1
1 2 1
u= 2 @ A v= @ 1 A w= @ 1 A,
1 1 2
we see that
u v = w,
a nontrivial linear dependence. It can be verified that u and v are still linearly independent.
Now, for our problem
x1 u + x2 v + x3 w = b
to have a solution, it must be the case that b can be expressed as linear combination of u and
v. However, it turns out that u, v, b are linearly independent (because det(u, v, b) = 6),
so b cannot be expressed as a linear combination of u and v and thus, our system has no
solution.
If we change the vector b to 0 1
3
b = 3A ,
@
0
then
b = u + v,
and so the system
x1 u + x2 v + x3 w = b
has the solution
x1 = 1, x2 = 1, x3 = 0.
Actually, since w = u v, the above system is equivalent to
(x1 + x3 )u + (x2 x3 )v = b,
and because u and v are linearly independent, the unique solution in x1 + x3 and x2 x3 is
x1 + x3 = 1
x2 x3 = 1,
x1 = 1 x 3
x2 = 1 + x3 .
A(λx) = λ(Ax)
for all x 2 R3 1
and all λ 2 R and that
A(u + v) = Au + Av,
for all u, v 2 R3 1 . We can view the matrix A as a way of expressing a linear map from R3 1
to R3 1 and solving the system Ax = b amounts to determining whether b belongs to the
image of this linear map.
Yet another fruitful way of interpreting the resolution of the system Ax = b is to view
this problem as an intersection problem. Indeed, each of the equations
x1 + 2x2 x3 = 1
2x1 + x2 + x3 = 2
x1 2x2 2x3 = 3
x1 + 2x2 x3 = 1
defines the plane H1 passing through the three points (1, 0, 0), (0, 1/2, 0), (0, 0, 1), on the
coordinate axes, the second equation
2x1 + x2 + x3 = 2
defines the plane H2 passing through the three points (1, 0, 0), (0, 2, 0), (0, 0, 2), on the coor-
dinate axes, and the third equation
x1 2x2 2x3 = 3
defines the plane H3 passing through the three points (3, 0, 0), (0, 3/2, 0), (0, 0, 3/2), on
the coordinate axes. The intersection Hi \ Hj of any two distinct planes Hi and Hj is
a line, and the intersection H1 \ H2 \ H3 of the three planes consists of the single point
(1.4, 0.4, 0.4). Under this interpretation, observe that we are focusing on the rows of the
matrix A, rather than on its columns, as in the previous interpretations.
Another great example of a real-world problem where linear algebra proves to be very
effective is the problem of data compression, that is, of representing a very large data set
using a much smaller amount of storage.
16 CHAPTER 1. VECTOR SPACES, BASES, LINEAR MAPS
Typically the data set is represented as an m n matrix A where each row corresponds
to an n-dimensional data point and typically, m n. In most applications, the data are not
independent so the rank of A is a lot smaller than minfm, ng, and the the goal of low-rank
decomposition is to factor A as the product of two matrices B and C, where B is a m k
matrix and C is a k n matrix, with k minfm, ng (here, means “much smaller than”):
0 1 0 1
B C B C
B C B C0 1
B C B C
B C B C
B
B A C=B
C B B C@
C C A
B
B m n C B m k C
C B C k n
@ A @ A
Now, it is generally too costly to find an exact factorization as above, so we look for a
low-rank matrix A0 which is a “good” approximation of A. In order to make this statement
precise, we need to define a mechanism to determine how close two matrices are. This can
be done using matrix norms, a notion discussed in Chapter 6. The norm of a matrix A is a
nonnegative real number kAk which behaves a lot like the absolute value jxj of a real number
x. Then, our goal is to find some low-rank matrix A0 that minimizes the norm
2
kA A0 k ,
over all matrices A0 of rank at most k, for some given k minfm, ng.
Some advantages of a low-rank approximation are:
1. Fewer elements are required to represent A; namely, k(m + n) instead of mn. Thus
less storage and fewer operations are needed to reconstruct A.
2. Often, the process for obtaining the decomposition exposes the underlying structure of
the data. Thus, it may turn out that “most” of the significant data are concentrated
along some directions called principal directions.
However, keep in mind that vector spaces are not just algebraic
objects; they are also geometric objects.
Definition 1.1. A group is a set G equipped with a binary operation : G G ! G that
associates an element a b 2 G to every pair of elements a, b 2 G, and having the following
properties: is associative, has an identity element e 2 G, and every element in G is invertible
(w.r.t. ). More explicitly, this means that the following equations hold for all a, b, c 2 G:
(G1) a (b c) = (a b) c. (associativity);
(G2) a e = e a = a. (identity);
1 1 1
(G3) For every a 2 G, there is some a 2 G such that a a =a a = e. (inverse).
A group G is abelian (or commutative) if
a b = b a for all a, b 2 G.
5. Given any nonempty set S, the set of bijections f : S ! S, also called permutations
of S, is a group under function composition (i.e., the multiplication of f and g is the
composition g f ), with identity element the identity function idS . This group is not
abelian as soon as S has more than two elements.
6. The set of n n matrices with real (or complex) coefficients is a group under addition
of matrices, with identity element the null matrix. It is denoted by Mn (R) (or Mn (C)).
7. The set R[X] of all polynomials in one variable with real coefficients is a group under
addition of polynomials.
8. The set of n n invertible matrices with real (or complex) coefficients is a group under
matrix multiplication, with identity element the identity matrix In . This group is
called the general linear group and is usually denoted by GL(n, R) (or GL(n, C)).
9. The set of n n invertible matrices with real (or complex) coefficients and determinant
+1 is a group under matrix multiplication, with identity element the identity matrix
In . This group is called the special linear group and is usually denoted by SL(n, R)
(or SL(n, C)).
10. The set of n n invertible matrices with real coefficients such that RR> = In and of
determinant +1 is a group called the special orthogonal group and is usually denoted
by SO(n) (where R> is the transpose of the matrix R, i.e., the rows of R> are the
columns of R). It corresponds to the rotations in Rn .
11. Given an open interval ]a, b[, the set C(]a, b[) of continuous functions f : ]a, b[! R is a
group under the operation f + g defined such that
and
a e00 = a for all a 2 M, (G2r)
then e0 = e00 .
1.2. VECTOR SPACES 19
e0 e00 = e00 ,
e0 e00 = e0 ,
and thus
e0 = e0 e00 = e00 ,
as claimed.
Fact 1 implies that the identity element of a monoid is unique, and since every group is
a monoid, the identity element of a group is unique. Furthermore, every element in a group
has a unique inverse. This is a consequence of a slightly more general fact:
Fact 2. In a monoid M with identity element e, if some element a 2 M has some left inverse
a0 2 M and some right inverse a00 2 M , which means that
a0 a = e (G3l)
and
a a00 = e, (G3r)
then a0 = a00 .
Proof. Using (G3l) and the fact that e is an identity element, we have
Similarly, Using (G3r) and the fact that e is an identity element, we have
a0 (a a00 ) = a0 e = a0 .
as claimed.
Remark: Axioms (G2) and (G3) can be weakened a bit by requiring only (G2r) (the exis-
tence of a right identity) and (G3r) (the existence of a right inverse for every element) (or
(G2l) and (G3l)). It is a good exercise to prove that the group axioms (G2) and (G3) follow
from (G2r) and (G3r).
Before defining vector spaces, we need to discuss a strategic choice which, depending
how it is settled, may reduce or increase headackes in dealing with notions such as linear
20 CHAPTER 1. VECTOR SPACES, BASES, LINEAR MAPS
combinations and linear dependence (or independence). The issue has to do with using sets
of vectors versus sequences of vectors.
Our experience tells us that it is preferable to use sequences of vectors; even better,
indexed families of vectors. (We are not alone in having opted for sequences over sets, and
we are in good company; for example, Artin [6], Axler [8], and Lang [60] use sequences.
Nevertheless, some prominent authors such as Lax [64] use sets. We leave it to the reader
to conduct a survey on this issue.)
Given a set A, recall that a sequence is an ordered n-tuple (a1 , . . . , an ) 2 An of elements
from A, for some natural number n. The elements of a sequence need not be distinct and
the order is important. For example, (a1 , a2 , a1 ) and (a2 , a1 , a1 ) are two distinct sequences
in A3 . Their underlying set is fa1 , a2 g.
What we just defined are finite sequences, which can also be viewed as functions from
f1, 2, . . . , ng to the set A; the ith element of the sequence (a1 , . . . , an ) is the image of i under
the function. This viewpoint is fruitful, because it allows us to define (countably) infinite
sequences as functions s : N ! A. But then, why limit ourselves to ordered sets such as
f1, . . . , ng or N as index sets?
The main role of the index set is to tag each element uniquely, and the order of the
tags is not crucial, although convenient. Thus, it is natural to define an I-indexed family of
elements of A, for short a family, as a function a : I ! A where I is any set viewed as an
index set. Since the function a is determined by its graph
the family a can be viewed as the set of pairs a = f(i, a(i)) j i 2 Ig. For notational
simplicity, we write ai instead of a(i), and denote the family a = f(i, a(i)) j i 2 Ig by (ai )i2I .
For example, if I = fr, g, b, yg and A = N, the set of pairs
is an indexed family. The element 2 appears twice in the family with the two distinct tags
r and b.
When the indexed set I is totally ordered, a family (ai )i2I often called an I-sequence.
Interestingly, sets can be viewed as special cases of families. Indeed, a set A can be viewed
as the A-indexed family f(a, a) j a 2 Ig corresponding to the identity function.
Remark: An indexed family should not be confused with a multiset. Given any set A, a
multiset is a similar to a set, except that elements of A may occur more than once. For
example, if A = fa, b, c, dg, then fa, a, a, b, c, c, d, dg is a multiset. Each element appears
with a certain multiplicity, but the order of the elements does not matter. For example, a
has multiplicity 3. Formally, a multiset is a function s : A ! N, or equivalently a set of pairs
f(a, i) j a 2 Ag. Thus, a multiset is an A-indexed family of elements from N, but not a
1.2. VECTOR SPACES 21
N-indexed family, since distinct elements may have the same multiplicity (such as c an d in
the example above). An indexed family is a generalization of a sequence, but a multiset is a
generalization of a set.
WePalso need to take care of an annoying technicality, which is to define sums of the
form i2I ai , where I is any finite index set and (ai )i2I is a family of elements in some set
A equiped with a binary operation + : A A ! A which is associative (axiom (G1)) and
commutative. This will come up when we define linear combinations.
The issue is that the binary operation + only tells us how to compute a1 + a2 for two
elements of A, but it does not tell us what is the sum of three of more elements. For example,
how should a1 + a2 + a3 be defined?
What we have to do is to define a1 +a2 +a3 by using a sequence of steps each involving two
elements, and there are two possible ways to do this: a1 + (a2 + a3 ) and (a1 + a2 ) + a3 . If our
operation + is not associative, these are different values. If it associative, then a1 +(a2 +a3 ) =
(a1 + a2 ) + a3 , but then there are still six possible permutations of the indices 1, 2, 3, and if
+ is not commutative, these values are generally different. If our operation is commutative,
then all six permutations have the same value. P Thus, if + is associative and commutative,
it seems intuitively clear that a sum of the form i2I ai does not depend on the order of the
operations used to compute it.
This is indeed the case, but a rigorous proof requires induction, and such a proof is
surprisingly
P involved. Readers may accept without proof the fact that sums of the form
i2I ai are indeed well defined, and jump directly to Definition 1.2. For those who want to
see the gory details, here we go.
P
First, we define sums i2I ai , where I is a finite sequence of distinct natural numbers,
say I = (i1 , . . . , im ). If I = (i1 , . . . , im ) with m 2, we denote the sequence (i2 , . . . , im ) by
I fi1 g. We proceed by induction on the size m of I. Let
X
ai = ai 1 , if m = 1,
i2I
X X
ai = ai 1 + ai , if m > 1.
i2I i2I fi1 g
If the operation + is not associative, the grouping of the terms matters. For instance, in
general
a1 + (a2 + (a3 + a4 )) 6= (a1 + a2 ) + (a3 + a4 ).
22 CHAPTER 1. VECTOR SPACES, BASES, LINEAR MAPS
P
However, if the operation + is associative, the sum i2I ai should not depend on the grouping
of the elements in I, as long as their order is preserved. For example, if I = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5),
J1 = (1, 2), and J2 = (3, 4, 5), we expect that
X X X
ai = aj + aj .
i2I j2J1 j2J2
Proposition 1.1. Given any nonempty set A equipped with an associative binary operation
+ : A A ! A, for any nonempty finite sequence I of distinct natural numbers and for
any partition of I into p nonempty sequences Ik1 , . . . , Ikp , for some nonempty sequence K =
(k1 , . . . , kp ) of distinct natural numbers such that ki < kj implies that α < β for all α 2 Iki
and all β 2 Ikj , for every sequence (ai )i2I of elements in A, we have
X X X
aα = aα .
α2I k2K α2Ik
and
X X X X
aα = aβ + aα .
k2K α2Ik j2J α2Ij
If we add the righthand side to aβ , using associativity and the definition of an indexed sum,
we get
X X X X X X
aβ + aα + aα = aβ + aα + aα
α2Ik0 j2J α2Ij α2Ik0 j2J α2Ij
1 1
X X X
= aα + aα
α2Ik1 j2J α2Ij
X X
= aα ,
k2K α2Ik
as claimed.
Pn P
If I = (1, . . . , n), we also write i=1 a i instead of i2I ai . Since + is associative, Propo-
sition 1.1 shows that the sum ni=1 ai is independent of the grouping of its elements, which
P
justifies the use the notation a1 + + an (without any parentheses).
If we also assume that
P our associative binary operation on A is commutative, then we
can show that the sum i2I ai does not depend on the ordering of the index set I.
Proposition 1.2. Given any nonempty set A equipped with an associative and commutative
binary operation + : A A ! A, for any two nonempty finite sequences I and J of distinct
natural numbers such that J is a permutation of I (in other words, the unlerlying sets of I
and J are identical), for every sequence (ai )i2I of elements in A, we have
X X
aα = aα .
α2I α2J
deleting i1 , I 0 be the sequence obtained from I by deleting i1 , and let P = (1, 2, . . . , i1 1) and
Q = (i1 + 1, . . . , p 1, p). Observe that the sequence I 0 is the concatenation of the sequences
P and Q. By the induction hypothesis applied to J 0 and I 0 , and then by Proposition 1.1
applied to I 0 and its partition (P, Q), we have
iX1 1 X p
X X
aα = aα = ai + ai .
α2J 0 α2I 0 i=1 i=i1 +1
then using associativity and commutativity several times (more rigorously, using induction
on i1 1), we get
iX
1 1 Xp iX 1 1 Xp
ai 1 + ai + ai = ai + ai 1 + ai
i=1 i=i1 +1 i=1 i=i1 +1
p
X
= ai ,
i=1
as claimed.
The cases where i1 = 1 or i1 = p are treated similarly, but in a simpler manner since
either P = () or Q = () (where () denotes the empty sequence).
P
Having done all this, we can now make sense of sums of the form i2I ai , for any finite
indexed set I and any family a = (ai )i2I of elements in A, where A is a set equipped with a
binary operation + which is associative and commutative.
Indeed, since I is finite, it is in bijection with the set f1, . . . , ng for some n 2 N, and any
total ordering on I corresponds to a permutation I of f1, . . . , ng (where P we identify a
permutation with its image). For any total ordering on I, we define i2I, ai as
X X
ai = aj .
i2I, j2I
1.2. VECTOR SPACES 25
0
Then, for any other total ordering on I, we have
X X
ai = aj ,
i2I, 0 j2I0
and since I and I 0 are different permutations of f1, . . . , ng, by Proposition 1.2, we have
X X
aj = aj .
j2I j2I0
P
Therefore,
P the sum i2I, ai does
P not depend on the total ordering on I. We define the sum
i2I ai as the common value i2I, ai for all total orderings of I.
Vector spaces are defined as follows.
Definition 1.2. A real vector space is a set E (of vectors) together with two operations
+ : E E ! E (called vector addition)1 and : R E ! E (called scalar multiplication)
satisfying the following conditions for all α, β 2 R and all u, v 2 E;
(V1) α (u + v) = (α u) + (α v);
(V2) (α + β) u = (α u) + (β u);
(V3) (α β) u = α (β u);
(V4) 1 u = u.
Given α 2 R and v 2 E, the element α v is also denoted by αv. The field R is often
called the field of scalars.
In definition 1.2, the field R may be replaced by the field of complex numbers C, in which
case we have a complex vector space. It is even possible to replace R by the field of rational
numbers Q or by any other field K (for example Z/pZ, where p is a prime number), in which
case we have a K-vector space (in (V3), denotes multiplication in the field K). In most
cases, the field K will be the field R of reals.
From (V0), a vector space always contains the null vector 0, and thus is nonempty.
From (V1), we get α 0 = 0, and α ( v) = (α v). From (V2), we get 0 v = 0, and
( α) v = (α v).
1
The symbol + is overloaded, since it denotes both addition in the field R and addition of vectors in E.
It is usually clear from the context which + is intended.
2
The symbol 0 is also overloaded, since it represents both the zero in R (a scalar) and the identity element
of E (the zero vector). Confusion rarely arises, but one may prefer using 0 for the zero vector.
26 CHAPTER 1. VECTOR SPACES, BASES, LINEAR MAPS
Another important consequence of the axioms is the following fact: For any u 2 E and
any λ 2 R, if λ 6= 0 and λ u = 0, then u = 0.
Indeed, since λ 6= 0, it has a multiplicative inverse λ 1 , so from λ u = 0, we get
1 1
λ (λ u) = λ 0.
1
However, we just observed that λ 0 = 0, and from (V3) and (V4), we have
1
λ (λ u) = (λ 1 λ) u = 1 u = u,
Remark: One may wonder whether axiom (V4) is really needed. Could it be derived from
the other axioms? The answer is no. For example, one can take E = Rn and define
: R Rn ! Rn by
λ (x1 , . . . , xn ) = (0, . . . , 0)
for all (x1 , . . . , xn ) 2 Rn and all λ 2 R. Axioms (V0)–(V3) are all satisfied, but (V4) fails.
Less trivial examples can be given using the notion of a basis, which has not been defined
yet.
The field R itself can be viewed as a vector space over itself, addition of vectors being
addition in the field, and multiplication by a scalar being multiplication in the field.
Example 1.2.
1. The fields R and C are vector spaces over R.
2. The groups Rn and Cn are vector spaces over R, and Cn is a vector space over C.
3. The ring R[X]n of polynomials of degree at most n with real coefficients is a vector
space over R, and the ring C[X]n of polynomials of degree at most n with complex
coefficients is a vector space over C.
4. The ring R[X] of all polynomials with real coefficients is a vector space over R, and
the ring C[X] of all polynomials with complex coefficients is a vector space over C.
7. The ring C(]a, b[) of continuous functions f : ]a, b[! R is a vector space over R.
Let E be a vector space. We would like to define the important notions of linear combi-
nation and linear independence. These notions can be defined for sets of vectors in E, but
it will turn out to be more convenient (in fact, necessary) to define them for families (vi )i2I ,
where I is any arbitrary index set.
1.3. LINEAR INDEPENDENCE, SUBSPACES 27
Equivalently, a family (ui )i2I is linearly dependent iff there is some family (λi )i2I of scalars
in R such that X
λi ui = 0 and λj 6= 0 for some j 2 I.
i2I
Observe that defining linear combinations for families of vectors rather than for sets of
vectors has the advantage that the vectors being combined need not be distinct. For example,
for I = f1, 2, 3g and the families (u, v, u) and (λ1 , λ2 , λ1 ), the linear combination
X
λi ui = λ1 u + λ2 v + λ1 u
i2I
makes sense. Using sets of vectors in the definition of a linear combination does not allow
such linear combinations; this is too restrictive.
Unravelling Definition 1.3, a family (ui )i2I is linearly dependent iff either I consists of a
single element, say i, and ui = 0, or jIj 2 and some uj in the family can be expressed as
a linear combination of the other vectors in the family. Indeed, in the second case, there is
some family (λi )i2I of scalars in R such that
X
λi ui = 0 and λj 6= 0 for some j 2 I,
i2I
Observe that one of the reasons for defining linear dependence for families of vectors
rather than for sets of vectors is that our definition allows multiple occurrences of a vector.
This is important because a matrix may contain identical columns, and we would like to say
that these columns are linearly dependent. The definition of linear dependence for sets does
not allow us to do that.
The above also shows that a family (ui )i2I is linearly independent iff either I = ;, or I
consists of a single element i and ui 6= 0, or jIj 2 and no vector uj in the family can be
expressed as a linear combination of the other vectors in the family.
When I is nonempty, if the family (ui )i2I is linearly independent, note that ui 6= 0 for
all i 2 I. Otherwise, if ui = 0 for some i 2 I, then we get a nontrivial linear dependence
P
i2I λi ui = 0 by picking any nonzero λi and letting λk = 0 for all k 2 I with k 6= i, since
λi 0 = 0. If jIj 2, we must also have ui 6= uj for all i, j 2 I with i 6= j, since otherwise we
get a nontrivial linear dependence by picking λi = λ and λj = λ for any nonzero λ, and
letting λk = 0 for all k 2 I with k 6= i, j.
1.3. LINEAR INDEPENDENCE, SUBSPACES 29
Thus, the definition of linear independence implies that a nontrivial linearly independent
family is actually a set. This explains why certain authors choose to define linear indepen-
dence for sets of vectors. The problem with this approach is that linear dependence, which
is the logical negation of linear independence, is then only defined for sets of vectors. How-
ever, as we pointed out earlier, it is really desirable to define linear dependence for families
allowing multiple occurrences of the same vector.
Example 1.3.
2. In R3 , the vectors (1, 0, 0), (0, 1, 0), and (0, 0, 1) are linearly independent.
3. In R4 , the vectors (1, 1, 1, 1), (0, 1, 1, 1), (0, 0, 1, 1), and (0, 0, 0, 1) are linearly indepen-
dent.
4. In R2 , the vectors u = (1, 1), v = (0, 1) and w = (2, 3) are linearly dependent, since
w = 2u + v.
When I is finite, we often assume that it is the set I = f1, 2, . . . , ng. In this case, we
denote the family (ui )i2I as (u1 , . . . , un ).
The notion of a subspace of a vector space is defined as follows.
Definition 1.4. Given a vector space E, a subset F of E is a linear subspace (or subspace)
of E iff F is nonempty and λu + µv 2 F for all u, v 2 F , and all λ, µ 2 R.
It is easy to see that a subspace F of E is indeed a vector space, since the restriction
of + : E E ! E to F F is indeed a function + : F F ! F , and the restriction of
: R E ! E to R F is indeed a function : R F ! F .
It is also easy to see that any intersection of subspaces is a subspace.
Since F is nonempty, if we pick any vector u 2 F and if we let λ = µ = 0, then
λu + µu = 0u + 0u = 0, so every subspace contains the vector 0. For any nonempty finite
index set I, one can show by induction on the cardinalityPof I that if (ui )i2I is any family of
vectors ui 2 F and (λi )i2I is any family of scalars, then i2I λi ui 2 F .
The subspace f0g will be denoted by (0), or even 0 (with a mild abuse of notation).
Example 1.4.
x+y =0
is a subspace.
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"I'm sorry John couldn't come with us," Pritchard commented between
puffs of his pipe as he swung the car rapidly from the bluestone drive onto
the macadam road. "He sticks too close to the grind. A chap needs some
sport over the week-end. I'd pass out cold if I didn't get in my eighteen holes
Sundays."
Prichard was evidently well known and well liked at the Greenwich
Country Club. He had no difficulty in making up a foursome from among
the crowd clustered about the first tee. Rodrigo was introduced to a Mr.
Bryon and a Mr. Sisson, men of about Pritchard's own age and standing. The
latter and his guest teamed against the two other men at a dollar a hole.
Rodrigo was quite aware that the eyes of the other three players were
critically upon him as he mounted the tee. He made a special effort to drive
his first ball as well as possible. He had learned golf at Oxford and was a
good player. But he had not hit a ball for months and was uncertain how the
lay-off and the strange clubs he was using would affect his game. However,
he got off a very respectable drive straight down the fairway and was
rewarded by the approbation of his mates.
After the first few holes, in which Rodrigo more than held his own, the
other developed a more friendly and natural attitude toward the titled
foreigner. Rodrigo, due to his English training, his predilection for
Americans like Terhune at Oxford, and his previous visit to the States,
together with his unaffectedness and adaptability, had few of the marked
unfamiliar characteristics of the Latin. Soon he was accepted on a free and
easy footing with the others. He laughed and chaffed with them and had a
very good time indeed.
Warren Pritchard took golf too seriously to derive much diversion out of
it. The money involved did not mean anything to him, but he was the sort of
intensely ambitious young American who always strove his utmost to do
even the most trivial things well. He whooped with childish joy at
extraordinary good shots by either himself or Rodrigo. At the end of the
match, which the Dorning representatives won by a substantial margin, he
congratulated the Italian heartily and uttered an enthusiastic tribute to his
game. Pritchard seemed more at home with average, go-getting Americans
like Bryon and Sisson than he had with the Dornings, Rodrigo thought. On
the way back from the links, they post-mortemed the match gayly. Warren
Pritchard, who had been inclined to look a little askance at first at his
brother-in-law's rather exotic acquaintance, was now ready to concede
Rodrigo was very much all right.
Having taken a shower and changed his clothes, Rodrigo came down and
pulled up a chair beside Henry Dorning on the front piazza. Alice had at the
last moment joined John in his ride over to the Fernalds, it seemed, and
Warren was down at the stables talking with the caretaker of the estate.
Henry Dorning remarked pleasantly that John and Alice had not returned
as yet but would doubtless be back any moment. "I am somewhat worried
about John," the elderly man continued. "He is not so very strong, you know,
and he applies himself altogether too steadily to business. He tells me that
you are rapidly taking hold and are of great assistance to him already." He
looked intently at Rodrigo, as if debating with himself whether or not to
make a confidant of him. Then he asked quietly, "You like my son very
much, do you not?"
"You are a man of the world. You can see for yourself that John's
development has been—well, rather one-sided. It is largely my own fault, I
admit. He has been reared upon Dorning and Son from the cradle. But there
are other things in life. He has no predilection whatever, for instance, for
feminine society. Oh, he adores his sister and he mingles with women and
girls we know. But he takes no especial interest in any of them except Alice.
That is wrong. Women can do a lot toward developing a man. They can do a
lot of harm to a man, too, but that has to be risked. A man has not reached
real maturity until he has been violently in love at least once. He does not
acquire the ability to look upon life as a whole until he has been through
that. Of that I am quite convinced."
Had John told his father of Rodrigo's former career of philandering? The
Italian wondered. Then he decided that John was no tale-bearer. Henry
Dorning must have deduced from his guest's general air of sophistication and
his aristocratic extraction that he was worldly wise.
The elder Dorning went on, "I have sometimes wondered what will
happen to John when he has his first love affair. Because sooner or later it
will happen, and it will be all the more violent because of its long
postponement. And the girl is quite likely to be of the wrong sort. I can
imagine an unscrupulous, clever woman setting out deliberately to ensnare
my son for his money and succeeding very handily. He is utterly
inexperienced with that type of woman. He believes they are all angels.
That's how much he knows about them. He is so much the soul of honor
himself that, though he has developed a certain shrewdness in business
matters, in the affairs of the heart he is an amateur.
"Yes, I told you he crossed with us," John replied. "I understand he has
bought a building on Forty-Seventh Street, a converted brown-stone front
and intends opening up an antique shop very soon."
John frowned. "I wish he hadn't bothered you about that. He is such a
nervous, irritating little man. He could just as well have come to me, and you
wouldn't have been annoyed."
"I didn't mind. And you needn't either, John. I got in touch with Bates
and he is taking care of the whole matter. We can both dismiss it from our
minds." Emerson Bates was the Dornings' very efficient and very expensive
lawyer. Mr. Dorning smiled reminiscently. "Rosner was always such a fretty,
worried type, as you say. I tried diplomatically to dissuade him from
attempting a big undertaking such as he is in for. He hasn't the temperament
or the business ability to swing it. If anything goes wrong, he is liable to
suffer a nervous breakdown or worse. This failure in London nearly did for
him for a while, I understand. And he tells me he married over there, and
they have two small children. Such men should be kept out of large business
undertakings. They aren't built for it."
"And yet you advanced him fifteen thousand dollars," John smiled
affectionately at his father. He knew this white-haired man's weakness for
helping others. He had inherited it himself.
"Well, Rosner was with me quite a while at the shop. He is getting along
in years now, and he is fearfully anxious to make a success. We old chaps
have to stick together, you know."
CHAPTER VII
When Rodrigo reached his office the next morning, his exasperatingly
efficient spinster secretary had long since opened his mail and had the
letters, neatly denuded of their envelopes, upon his desk. That is, all but one.
She had evidently decided that this one was of too private a nature for her to
tamper with. The envelope was pale pink and exuded a faint feminine scent.
It was addressed in the scrawly, infantile hand of Sophie Binner and was
postmarked Montreal. Rodrigo fished it out of the pile of business
communications, among which it stood out like a chorus girl at a Quaker
meeting, and, breaking the seal, read it:
Dearest Rod,
Your loving
SOPHIE.
Rodrigo smiled wryly as he folded up the letter and slipped it into his
pocket. He had received scores of such communications from Sophie. He
had been used to replying to them in kind. He had seldom been temperate in
his letters to her. He rather prided himself upon the amount of nonsense he
was able to inject into plain black ink. That had been the trouble in the case
of his billets doux to Rosa Minardi.
But he was not thinking of Rosa at the present moment. It had occurred
to him that some use might be made of the invitation in the pink letter in
connection with the promise he had made to Henry Dorning to broaden
John's horizon. By Jove, he would take up Sophie's suggestion for a party on
the night of the New York opening of the Christy Revue. He would invite
John and another of Sophie's kind to accompany them. Pretty, thrill-seeking
Sophie—she was certainly a great little horizon-broadener. And he would
leave it to her to pick from the Christy company another coryphee of similar
lightsomeness.
He resolved to set the ball rolling at once and, the rest of his mail unread,
rose and started into the neighboring office. Opening the door of John's
sanctum, he stopped for a moment to view the tableau inside.
Two blond heads were bent absorbedly over a letter on John's desk, a
man's and a woman's. They were talking in low voices, and Mary Drake's
pencil was rapidly underscoring certain lines in the letter. She was advancing
an argument in her soft, rapid voice, evidently as to how the letter should be
answered. John was frowning and shaking his head.
Rodrigo, standing watching them, wondered why they were not in love
with each other. Here was the sort of woman John needed for a wife. Though
he could not catch her exact words, he gathered that she was trying to
influence him to answer this letter in much more decided fashion than he had
intended. That was Mary Drake all over. Thoroughly business-like,
aggressive, looking after John's interests, bucking him up at every turn. That
was the trouble as far as love was concerned. John regarded her as a very
efficient cog in the office machinery rather than as a woman. And yet she
was very much of a woman. Underneath the veneer of almost brusqueness,
there was a tender stratum, as Rodrigo thought he had discovered in her
unguarded moments. Love could be awakened in Mary Drake by the right
man, and it would be a very wonderful sort of love.
"Don't let me drive you away, Mary," Rodrigo said in a genial voice.
"You're not. I was just going anyway." She turned to Dorning. "Then I'll
write Mr. Cunningham we cannot take care of him until he pays for the other
consignment?"
She enjoyed her little triumph. "Don't worry, John. I know Mr.
Cunningham, and he's no person to be treated with silk gloves on." And she
hurried into her office and closed the door behind her. In an instant they
heard the hurried clack of her typewriter.
"John, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed that little visit with your
folks," Rodrigo began sincerely.
John beamed. "That's fine. And I can tell you they liked you too."
Rodrigo continued, "Maybe I'm to have the chance soon to repay you in
some small measure. Do you remember Sophie Binner, the English actress
we met on the ship coming over? The pretty blonde we walked around the
deck with?" After a slight pause, John concluded he did.
Rodrigo produced the little pink missive from his pocket and flourished
it. "Well, Sophie has invited you and me to a party the night her show opens
here in town. A week from to-night. It will be a nice, lively time. You'll like
it. Shall I answer her it's a date?"
Perhaps John agreed with him. Perhaps it was merely the eagerness in
Rodrigo's voice that swung him. At least he finally concluded, "You're right.
We have been sticking pretty close. I'll be glad to come along, though the
girls will probably find me a bit slow."
"Nonsense," cried Rodrigo, and slapped his friend lustily on the back.
"That's fine," he added. "I'll write Sophie directly."
Falling into an old habit, he started the letter "Dearest Sophie" almost
subconsciously and he used rather intimate language, without paying much
heed to what he was doing. He would rather like to see Sophie again and
bask in her effulgence for a few hours. But as she would be merely the
means of carrying out his and Henry Dorning's purpose, he excused himself.
There would be none of the old thrill in flattering her in ink, he feared, as he
sat down to write her. Yet he surprised himself with the warmth he worked
up in the letter to her.
"COME ON OUTSIDE AND I'LL SHOW YOU HOW MUCH OF A
SHEIK YOU ARE," SNARLED HIS ANTAGONIST.
He received an immediate reply from her. She was tickled as pink as her
note-paper, he gathered. He wrote her two more notes, even more
affectionate than the first—one had to pretend to be mad over Sophie or she
would lose interest at once—and was rewarded with many long, scrawled
pages telling of joy over their coming meeting, the selection of one Betty
Brewster as "a great sport and a neat little trick" as the fourth member of the
party, complaints about Christy and the neutral reception the show had
received in Canada.
Rodrigo's face fell. But his first feeling of irritation and disappointment
passed quickly. John was so frankly mortified. He had so completely
forgotten all about Sophie. It was almost funny. Rodrigo said, "Can't you put
off your trip? Sophie will be very much disappointed."
Rodrigo shrugged. "Well, I dare say I can patch it up with Sophie. We'll
make it some other time. I'll give her a ring later and call it off for to-night."
"Oh, don't worry, old boy. I'll fix it up. You just go right ahead down to
Philadelphia, and bring home that contract. Business before pleasure, you
know."
But, around six o'clock, Rodrigo wondered if that were such an excellent
motto after all. He had been too busy all day to call Sophie. Dorning and Son
closed at five o'clock, and he was all alone there now in the deserted quasi-
mausoleum. Mary Drake, who was usually a late worker, had left in the
middle of the afternoon, because her mother was not feeling well. Now that
the party with Sophie was definitely off and he had nothing but a long
lonesome evening to look forward to, Rodrigo had a feeling of
disappointment. He had been working hard and faithfully for three months,
and he had been looking forward to this evening of pleasure. He deserved it,
by Jove.
On an impulse, he located Bill Terhune's telephone number and picked
up the instrument. Waiting while the bell buzzed, he told himself that
Terhune had probably long since left his office. He half guiltily hoped the
former Oxonian had. But Terhune's familiar voice smote his ear with a bull-
like "Hullo!"
"Fine! Great!" fairly shouted Terhune. "I'll call my wife up and tell her
I've dropped dead or something."
"Sure. All architects have to get married. It gives them the necessary
standing of respectability that gets the business. I even live in Jersey. Think
of that, eh? Don't worry about my wife. I can fix it up. She's used to having
me stay in town over-night, and has gotten tired of asking questions. I'll
bring the liquor, too. What's that? Oh, sure—we need liquor. This Binner
baby's a regular blotter, if I remember her rightly. I've got a stock right here
in the office. Good stuff too. I'll meet you in the lobby of the Envoy. I'll take
a room there for the night. What's that? Oh, no—couldn't think of staying at
your place. You know me, Rod—what would your cultured neighbors say,
eh? Don't forget now—lobby of the Envoy at six-thirty. I'll dash right around
there now and book a room."
Bill Terhune had already registered at the plush-lined Hotel Envoy and
was waiting at the desk, key in one hand and a suitcase in the other, when
Rodrigo walked in. Terhune was bigger, especially around the waistline, and
more red-faced than ever, Rodrigo saw at a glance. The waiting man
greeting the Italian with a lusty roar, bred on the broad Dakota prairies, that
could be heard all around the decorous, palm-decorated lobby.
"Well, well," Bill rumbled, "who would have thought the Count would
have come to this, eh? But say, boy, I'm sure glad to see you. Come up and
have a drink. Hey, bellboy! Grab that bag, will you, and be very careful with
it too. It contains valuable glassware."
Up in the twelfth floor room which Bill had hired for the night at a
fabulous stipend, the American at once dispatched the bellboy for ice,
glasses, and White Rock. Then he disrobed, sputtered in the shower-bath for
a few minutes, rubbed himself a healthy pink and dressed in his dinner
clothes, which he had brought along in his bag.
"Always keep them at the office," he chuckled. "I can't tell when I might
have an emergency call." He poured bootleg Scotch into the glasses and
rocked the ice around with a spoon.
"How do you get away with it, Bill?" Rodrigo asked, smiling. "I thought
American wives were regular tyrants."
"That's how much you foreigners know," scoffed Bill. "All women love
my type. You can always keep their love by keeping them wondering. That's
my system—I keep my wife wondering whether I'm coming home or not."
He handed Rodrigo a full glass with a flourish. "To good old Oxford," he
toasted with mock reverence. Rodrigo echoed the toast.
The Italian refused another drink a few minutes later, though his action
did not discourage Terhune from tossing off another. In fact, the genial Bill
had three more before he agreed that they had better eat dinner if they
wished to make the Christy Revue by the time the curtain rose. Rodrigo did
not fancy Bill's taking on an alcoholic cargo that early in the evening. Bill
was a nice fellow, but he was the sort of chronic drinker who, though long
habit should have made him almost impervious to the effects of liquor,
nevertheless always developed a mad desire to fight the whole world after
about the fifth imbibing.
They descended in the elevator, Bill chattering all the while about his
pleasure at seeing his old friend again and about the extreme hazards of the
architect business in New York. A small concern like his didn't have a
chance, according to Bill. The business was all in the hands of large
organizations who specialized in specific branches of construction, like
hotels, residences, restaurants and churches, and made money by starving
their help.
After dinner the two men made jerky, halting taxicab progress through
the maelstrom of theatre-bound traffic and reached their seats at the Times
Square Theatre over half an hour late. The house was filled with the usual
first-night audience of friends of the company, critics, movie stars, society
people, chronic first-nighters, men and women about town, and
stenographers admitted on complimentary tickets given them by their bosses.
It was a well-dressed, lively crowd, and one that was anxious to be very kind
to the show. In spite of this, Rodrigo was quite sure by the middle of the first
act that the revue wouldn't do. It was doomed to the storehouse, he feared.
The girls were of the colorless English type, comparing not at all with the
hilariously healthy specimens one found in the American musical comedies.
Christy had skimped on the costumes and scenery, both of which items were
decidedly second rate. The humor had too Londonish a flavor, and the ideas
behind the sketches were banal in the extreme.
However, when Sophie Binner came on quite late in the act, Rodrigo sat
up and admitted that the sight of her again gave him decided exhilaration.
She was alluring in her costume of pale blue and gold, a costume which
exposed the famous Binner legs to full advantage and without the
encumbrance of stockings. The audience liked her also. She was the prettiest
woman the footlights had revealed thus far, and she had a pleasing, though
not robust voice. Coupled with this was an intimate, sprightly personality
that caught on at once. She responded to two encores and finally disappeared
amid enthusiastic applause.
CHAPTER VIII
For an enormous bribe, the head waiter at the Quartier Latin removed the
"Reserved" sign from a cozy table very near the dance floor and assisted the
two ladies in draping their cloaks about their chairs. The "club" was crowded
with the usual midnight-to-dawn merry-makers—brokers, theatrical
celebrities, society juveniles of both sexes, sweet sugar daddies and other
grades of daddies, bored girls, chattering girls, and plain flappers.
With the orchestra in action, one had to almost shout across the table to
be heard above the din. Bill Terhune shouted at once to the waitress for
glasses and the non-spiritous ingredients of highballs. They arrived, were
flavored with libations from Bill's hip, and were consumed with approval.
Then they danced, Rodrigo with Sophie and Bill with Betty Brewster. The
latter was older than Sophie and much less vivacious and attractive. There
were suggestions of hollows in her neck, her hair was that dead blond that
comes from an excessive use of artificial coloring, and her eyes had a lack-
lustre gleam. She was a typical show-girl who is nearing the declining period
of her career. Next year one would find her on the variety stage, the
following in a small-time burlesque production, then God knows where. To
Rodrigo, there was, at first glance, something a little pathetic about her. He
had expected that Sophie would invite a girl somewhat less radiant than
herself. It is the habit with beauties to eliminate as much competition as
possible of their own sex in their engagements with men.
But Rodrigo had little time to think about Betty. The highball, the
disarmingly close presence of Sophie, and the general hilarious laxity of his
surroundings were lulling his feelings. Sophie snuggled more closely to him.
He breathed the faint, sweet perfume of her hair. The throbbing jungle music
beat. The close atmosphere scented with cigarettes and cosmetics, the faces
of dancing couples near him smothered thoughts of Dorning and Son. For
the time being, he was the old Rodrigo.
"Boy, you can dance," breathed Sophie, slowly disengaging herself from
his embrace as the music stopped.
He looked at her. "You're a witch, Sophie, a soft, white witch," he
whispered.
After the next dance, Terhune again produced his enormous flask, whose
contents seemed capable of flowing endlessly, like Tennyson's brook.
Rodrigo suggested mildly that they had all had enough. But the motion was
overruled, three to one. Bill's watery and roving eye caught the equally
itinerant optics of a sleek, dark girl two feet from him, at the next table. She
smiled veiledly, and he elaborately offered her a drink. Rodrigo was not
pleased with this by-play. He had been watching the girl's escort, a florid
chubby stock-broker type who had also been drinking copiously and who
now eyed Bill Terhune with a decidedly disapproving frown. With a defiant
toss of her shiny bobbed head at her middle-aged table-mate, the dark girl
accepted the glass and bent her ear to hear Bill's blurred invitation to dance
that accompanied it. The tom-toms and saxophones commenced their lilting
cadence, and Bill's new conquest and Bill arose simultaneously to dance. So
did the fat man. He seized Bill's wrist, which was around the girl.
Rodrigo was to his feet in a flash. He knew Bill Terhune. He caught the
Dakotan's wrist as, eluding the jealous sugar daddy's grip, it was whipped
back and started on its swift devastating journey to the corpulent one's jaw.
"No rough stuff, Bill," Rodrigo cautioned rapidly in a low voice. Bill turned
angrily upon his friend, but the Italian held his wrist like a vise. The eyes of
all three girls were popping with excitement. They were in the mood to
enjoy the sight of embattled males.
"Come on outside and I'll show you how much of a sheik you are,"
snarled Bill's red-faced antagonist.
Bill was keen to comply, and Rodrigo, welcoming the chance at least to
transfer the impending brawl to a less conspicuous battleground, loosed him.
The two champions set off for the lobby, picking their way unsteadily
through the staring dancers, Rodrigo by Bill's side, endeavoring to talk him
into a less belligerent mood, hopeless as the task was. Once in the wide open
spaces of the lobby, Bill suddenly eluded Rodrigo's arm upon his shoulder,
leaped toward his adversary, and smote him cleanly upon the jaw. The fat
man crashed against a fantastic wall painting of Gilda Grey and remained
huddled quietly where he had landed. All the fight had been knocked out of
him by this one sledge-hammer blow. Bill, his honor vindicated, was
contented also. All that remained was for Rodrigo to soothe the feelings of
the worried manager, who arrived on the run, and two husky bouncers, now
standing by to toss the embroiled patrons out upon the sidewalk.
Rodrigo did his task of diplomacy very nicely. The manager cooperated,
being anxious to avoid trouble. Cold water was administered to the fallen
gladiator. The girl who had caused all the trouble was summoned. Contrite at
the sight of her escort's damaged countenance, she readily agreed to take him
home, and the two were bundled into a taxicab.
Then the manager turned to Rodrigo and insisted firmly that the other
brawler should leave also. He could not afford further disturbances, which
might involve the police, however loathe the bluecoats might be to interfere
with the licensed Quartier Latin. Bill began to see red all over again at this
edict. But there were two husky bouncers at his elbow, and Rodrigo
supported the manager. Betty Brewster was paged, and Bill, muttering and
defiant to the last, followed in another taxi in the wake of his enemy.
Having banished Bill Terhune to the cool night air, Rodrigo turned to
hasten back to Sophie, who, he was afraid, would be furious at him for
leaving her sitting alone for such a long time.
"I want you to meet my niece, Elise Van Zile," said Mrs. Palmer.
He bent and kissed the glamorous lady's hand and was aware of her
languid eyes upon him. A moment later, he was introduced to Mr. Porter
Palmer, the twittering bald-headed little man who had been disposing of his
ladies' wraps.
"Elise has just come on from San Francisco for a few weeks, and we are
showing her the sights," explained Mrs. Palmer, and then to her husband. "It
seems terribly crowded and noisy in there, Edward. Do you think it's quite
respectable?" Mr. Palmer waved his hands in the air, deprecating his wife's
fastidiousness. She turned to Rodrigo, "Won't you join us at our table, Count
Torriani?"
"Thanks, really, but the lady I am with and I are just leaving," he made
haste to reply, immediately afterward wondering why he had invented this
falsehood. He glanced at the coolly beautiful Miss Van Zile, on whom his
refusal had apparently made no impression. Was he foolish in sensing, at his
very first glimpse of this girl from the West, something that warned him?
"But you will come to the tea I am giving for Elise next Saturday
afternoon at the Plaza, will you not, Count Torriani?" Mrs Palmer insisted.
He hesitated, then accepted. He again kissed the hand of Elise Van Zile,
and he raised his eyes to find her looking enigmatically at him. Somehow he
was reminded of the Mona Lisa, in whose dark eyes are painted all the
wisdom and intrigues of the world.
"Where have you been, Rodrigo?" she fretted as he sat down. "At least
you might have come back as soon as you made Betty leave me. I have felt a
perfect fool—sitting here alone, with everybody in the place staring at me."
In the shadowy depths of the taxi tonneau a few moments later, she made
herself comfortable against his shoulder. It was long after midnight. Save for
machines bound on errands similar to theirs, the streets were deserted. The
car sped westward toward the river. Sophie broke a long silence by
murmuring, "You write the most wonderful letters, Rodrigo. I've saved them
all. Though I don't suppose you mean a word you say in them."
"Do you love me, Rodrigo—more than you ever did in London?" she
asked suddenly.
"You are lovelier than you ever were in London, Sophie," he quibbled.
"You are the loveliest girl I have ever known." But the image of Elise Van
Zile obtruded itself and rather spoiled this bit of flattery.