Lord Feverstone
Richard Devine, Lord Feverstone is a fictional character in two of the books of C. S. Lewis's The Space Trilogy.
Richard ("Dick") Devine knew the protagonist, Elwin Ransom, at school, where they did not get on. As a schoolboy, Devine had "learned just half a term earlier than anyone else that kind of humour which consists in a perpetual parody of...the idealistic clichés of one's elders. For a few weeks his references to the Dear Old Place and to Playing the Game,...to the White Man's Burden..., had swept everyone...off their feet."[1] His charm and shrewd backroom manipulation lead to his steady rise in wealth and position.
Ransom meets him again years later, in Out of the Silent Planet. At this time Devine is the business partner of Professor Weston, a physicist, who has invented a spacecraft and is engaged in voyages to Mars. Devine is mainly interested in the gold found there. They kidnap Ransom with a view to giving him to a Martian ruler who they believe (wrongly) to be asking for a human sacrifice. They travel to Mars but Ransom escapes.
Devine is described by the ruler of Mars as being spiritually dead, whereas his more idealistic companion Weston is only "bent", because Devine cares only for wealth, comfort, and prestige. Devine expresses his contempt for morality in his sneer at Weston's excuses for sacrificing Ransom: "Quite, quite. It is understood that you are doing it all from the highest motives. So long as they lead to the same actions as my motives, you are quite welcome to them."[2]
On the return trip, Devine earns some grudging respect from Ransom by his courage in steering the ship through a crisis. It is implied that Weston and Devine part ways upon their return to Earth.
In the third book of the trilogy, That Hideous Strength, Devine has gone up in the world. He has been given a peerage, with the title Lord Feverstone. He has influence in the British government, and is on the verge of being admitted to the Cabinet. He is also a fellow of Bracton College at the University of Edgestow, and a leading member of the nefarious scientific institute N.I.C.E, where he recruits Mark Studdock.
As civil disturbances break out at Edgestow, engineered by N.I.C.E., Feverstone is made Emergency Commissioner, since he represents simultaneously the nation (as a Cabinet Minister), the University, and N.I.C.E. Feverstone's appointment is part of N.I.C.E.'s plan to take over Britain, but, ever ready to abandon his allies, he keeps his options open in case the scheme misfires. When Ransom launches his assault on N.I.C.E., Feverstone keeps a clear head amid the chaos as he watches from a hiding place: "His nerves were excellent... He stood there during the whole massacre, his eyes bright, something like a smile on his face, smoking endless cigarettes... When it was all over he said to himself, 'Well, I’m damned!' It had certainly been a most extraordinary show."[3] He escapes, but is then buried under a landslide in the supernatural destruction of Edgestow.
Feverstone's character is that of a sociopath or psychopath, with great charm, complete selfishness, and a lack of guilt. "He had a perfectly clear conscience.... He had never slandered another man except to get his job, never cheated except because he wanted money, never really disliked people unless they bored him."[4]
Feverstone is fond of muffins, which he can devour in one bite.
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