"Is it possible?" she asked. "Really? D'you think?"
"I have thought about it all summer. With the machines we have now and with the ones we can already imagine and with the improvements that will certainly follow, even though we cannot guess what they may be—with all that, and with a world so rich and bounteous, whose surface we have barely scratched, whose wealth we cannot even begin to comprehend—how can it not happen! It must. It is inevitable. Only human ignorance and folly and greed can prevent it."
"And you mean to help this come about?"
"Not me," he said. "England. That too is the lesson of this summer." The monotone relented; his voice became more joyful. "Without really wanting to, England seems to have taken upon herself the mantle of the foremost among the civilized nations of the world. We have given that world a lead this summer. We must not stop now and slip back into the old ways—petty nations under petty crown princes fighting petty causes for petty gains. The world is looking to us for a lead. We must not be too fearful to respond. We have laid the foundations of a great empire. On them we can raise one that will shine ten times more glorious still. And that empire, in its turn, will be the foundation of the brotherhood of all the world. When others see the wealth and the happiness that begins to flow wherever Pax Britannica reigns, they will surely flock to join. And if they are prevented, by corrupt rulers or ignorance, we must conquer them and teach them. We dare not shirk our task. What England has is too precious now to let her fainthearts squander."
She looked at him and was overwhelmed with a protective love. The sheer size of his vision made him seem both isolated and vulnerable. There were a thousand questions to be asked, but they stuck somewhere short of her throat: practical, awkward questions that stressed his vulnerability.
The fear of it silenced her. But there was also a new, impossible hope. Here was the John she had known years ago. The night they first met. He had fired her spirit and bound her to him for life with just such a vision as this. If he could now recapture all that zest!
"I must make it happen," he said.
He looked anxiously at her, wary…for what? Her scorn? Disbelief?
The gesture hurt—doubly, for it was so unintentional. She smiled, trying to tell him she shared his unquestioning faith in that bright vision.
He smiled too. "I must play my part anyway."
She hugged him, convincing herself that disunity was now behind them. "Both of us must," she said. "Nothing has ever been able to withstand us when we've been united."
She trembled, so fiercely did she cling.
He, thinking she was cold, said, "Come back inside now."
Going down the steps she sniffed her fingers, hoping to find a trace of him. Nothing was there—only the lingering smell of the rose he had taken apart and she had scattered.
Historical Postscript
When the first book in this sequence (World from Rough Stones) appeared, a number of teachers wrote to me saying they would like to use it as parallel reading or enrichment reading in their history classes; but they wanted assurance on the accuracy of the historical references in the story. It occurred to me then that quite a large number of readers might be interested, and even gratified, to learn how much true history there is in these stories. To be sure, all the historical accuracy in the world has no literary value. If the book does not breathe with its own inner life, the historical facts would lie like dung upon the desert sand, fouling what they cannot make fertile. So these notes are a mere afterthought to what I hope was your enjoyment. By no means are they offered in a sense of justification.
All prices quoted are accurate, whether it's the price per mile of a railway line, the price of lodgings in Rhyll, the price of a seat on the French diligence, the price of a whore in Bristol, or of dollars and pounds against all the other currencies mentioned. All the railway lines mentioned in the text were sanctioned or built or opened when the text says they were—right down to the actual day if a day is given. (Of course, John Stevenson, as a railway contractor, is a composite of men like Thomas Brassey, Samuel Moreton Peto, and Tom Jackson, who actually built most of the lines mentioned.) All the engineering and technological details in the text are accurate (and you may thank my editors that they were not finally given at even greater length!). This refers not only to gossip of the day—such as how Nasmyth's steam hammer first came to be built by Schneider in France—but also to the more enduring achievements, such as the numerically controlled (to use current terms) punching machine and the hydraulic pistons that created and raised the Britannia Bridge.
The railway mania and the consequent commercial crisis are accurately followed, though only those parts that were especially germane to the Stevenson's business are dwelt upon. I had to resist quite strongly the temptation to point up the astonishing parallels between that crisis and the oil crisis of our own times. Both begin when one sector of the economy tries to grab a historically disproportionate share of the available cash…and in both cases the resulting depression in trade rebounds on the sector that did the grabbing. But these are points for the teacher rather than the novelist to pursue. Similarly, the details of banking, the stock market, and the general management of business are true to the period.
Everything I write about the Great Exhibition is also factual, from the politicking that preceded its inception to the pomp that attended its opening. Every exhibit I mention really was there. However, the skulduggery between Fox & Henderson (the actual builders of the Crystal Palace) and Stevenson's is invented—although Fox & Henderson's bid really was £79,800.
Now for some specifics that can't be classified under such general heads. I take them in the order in which they appear in the book. Mrs. Jordan's superstitions are all genuine Yorkshire (East Riding) beliefs of the mid-nineteenth century. The firms in which Beador is supposed to have invested all existed, and all went bankrupt in 1846. The Stevenson's income-tax return is typical of its time. Nora and Sam's tour of Normandy and Mont St. Michel is based on a similar trip made by John Ruskin and his wife in 1847. "Great Missen'em Day" really was like that. Panshanger House was pulled down by a gravel company in 1956—so Nora's threat was not as idle as she might have believed. "Maran Hill" (under another name) survives. The artisans' houses designed by Livings are almost identical to similar dwellings commissioned by Prince Albert and exhibited at the 1851 Exhibition. The Irish evictions witnessed by John actually took place on March 13, 1846, in the village of Ballinglass, County Galway, involving the three hundred tenants of a Mrs. Gerrard. All the other public events described as happening in Ireland are authentic. Nora's supposed caesarian section under general anesthesia: On September 30, 1846, William Morton, a dentist practising in Boston, Massachusetts, first used sulphuric ether as an "anaesthesiant" upon a patient. On December 21, Professor Lister (the one in the text) used it on a patient in London. On January 19, 1847, Sir James Young Simpson used it in his midwifery practise. (In November, he switched to chloroform.) So Nora's operation would have been the pioneer operation by a mere three weeks. John's evidence to the Select Committee is a précis of the evidence of a number of railway contractors. All the members named actually sat on the committee. George Hudson too is a historical character—"The Railway King" of the 1840s. His rise and fall, and the strong element of fraud involved, suited my purpose so well that I could incorporate the whole of it without violating history. His former mansion, Albert Gate, is still the French Embassy in London.
History is so rich it affords material for any writer's purpose; so it is no great art to have woven in so much. Yet I have to admit, it is a double delight to me to find something that exactly suits my purpose and that really happened. I hope that delight is shared.
—Malcolm Macdonald
Reading Group Guide
1. How does John's past experience as a railroad navvy help him as a manager and entrepreneur? What other experiences affect the way John does business and treats his workers?
2. The Stevensons' banker, Nathan
Chambers, praises Nora's financial intuition, but also secretly criticizes her as being illogical, lucky, and reckless. Do you believe Chambers's desire for caution and careful analysis is a consistent attitude, or do you think he is simply prejudiced because Nora is a woman?
3. Despite being an integral part of the family business, Nora is not allowed to make independent executive decisions. She constantly resents the rule that she must have her husband's approval to spend money. Do you think Nora's frustration was common among women in the nineteenth century? To what extent do you think this rule of men being in charge of money is still present today?
4. Nora wants to use the trust fund money for further business investments, but John insists that it remain untouched in case disaster strikes. Is John right to insist on keeping the trust fund in case of emergency, or do you agree with Nora and think John is too cautious?
5. John travels to see examples of newly developing technologies, such as sewer systems and steam hammers and often returns enthusiastic and inspired. Do you think John is generally enthusiastic about the technology itself and its social possibilities, or the economic opportunities it presents for his business?
6. On her trip to France, Nora notices several differences between French and English culture and begins to understand that her native English customs are "not automatically the best." Have you had a similar cultural experience? How did it affect your general worldview?
7. Nora wonders why she has seemingly endless ambition and can't be like other people she knows who are content with their modest positions in life. What do you think accounts for these different attitudes? Which do you more closely identify with?
8. John returns from Ireland much more sympathetic, having seen the effects of the Famine, but Nora maintains her strict approach to business and finances. Do you think John is more compassionate than Nora? Is he weaker than she? Do you think Nora's attitude would change if she had traveled to Ireland with John?
9. After his wife nearly dies, John suggests that he and Nora have spent too much time working and sacrificing time spent living in one another's company. Nora, on the other hand, argues that by working together, they have been closer than many couples. Do you believe that John and Nora are closer than many couples? Do you believe that their relationship is better? How would you feel about being in a relationship like John and Nora's?
10. After the death of her husband, Sarah Cornelius does many things—such as having an affair with Walter Thornton and working for the Female Rescue Society—in an effort to get over her grief and rejoin society as a strong, independent woman. Was hers the right way to go about that? In what ways would she have an easier time doing this in today's society than in the nineteenth century?
11. Do you agree with John and Walter's criticism of the Female Rescue Society? How does Charity's transformation with Arabella affect their opinions? How does it affect yours?
12. What do you think of John's final vision of humanity united through technological innovation? Is it realistic? In what ways are we closer to his vision today? Are there any risks or dangers he is not considering?
13. The Great Exhibition of 1851 showcased the work of every industrial nation and revealed Britain as the leader among them; it was not surpassed until the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, which showed that the torch had passed to a new nation. Such rises and falls are as old as civilization itself, so where do you think America now stands on its curve? And who will hold the torch next?
14. Macdonald presents his characters "warts and all"—as they would have thought and behaved in their historical time. Does this make it harder for you to empathize with them? Or, thinking back to the attitudes of your parents and grandparents does it help you flesh out a continuity of thought and feeling?
15. The potato famine of the 1840s was even worse in Scotland than in Ireland, but little of that has come down to us in folklore. Why might this be? Does it reflect significant differences between the Scottish and Irish character?
16. Irish immigration has had a huge influence in the development of "the American character." Yet in every decade from the 1620s to the 1980s, England was among the top three nations supplying new immigrants—a distinction no other country can match. Why did the English vanish into the melting pot while almost any American with a drop of Irish blood can name the village from which his or her forebears hail?
17. The story makes great use of the railway mania of the early 1840s, when people were desperate to subscribe to any railroad project at all—even one for an island with only sixty inhabitants! Do you think we've learned a lot since then, or do people still fall just as easily for such get-rich-quick proposals today?
18. Nora and John were as close as two peas in a pod when they were struggling to establish their business; but now that they have diversified and have enough capital to make or reject plans for further development, they inevitably fail to agree on every single point. How do you think and hope their story will develop in the two remaining volumes of this saga: to argue but never to fall apart, to fall apart irrevocably, or to fall apart only to be reconciled at last?
19. In the first book of this saga, Nora spends a day savagely killing rabbits in an ancient warren that is being broken up for more productive farming. In this book she enjoys days of foxhunting, always eager to be in at the kill. While this is completely in character, it is not very sympathetic. Would the story have been better without it?
20. The Stevenson children produce a parody of a gossipy newspaper of their day, which they send to an absent John and Nora. It recounts trivial domestic incidents in a high-flown style that would be beyond most teenagers today but which is absolutely of its time. Have today's youngsters lost something valuable? Has their language "dumbed down"?
21. In the next two volumes of the Stevenson Saga, Macdonald continues the story through the lives and eyes of their children—principally of their two eldest boys and two eldest girls. What characters and attitudes do you think they should have? Even more entrepreneurial? Or more Victorian and straitlaced? Slightly ashamed of their parents' lower-class origins? Little-Englanders or outgoing empire-builders? Speculate now and then see how close your guesses are when the books are published!
About the Author
Malcom Macdonald is the author of thirty novels, including the bestselling Stevenson Family Saga, Rose of Nancemellin, and Hell Hath No Fury. He was born in England in 1932 and currently lives in Ireland.
The Rich Are with You Always Page 63
