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Figure 3.7 Example of a semantic network —“vacation” view
Figure 3.8 Example of a semantic network—“driving” view
Figure 3.9 Wiig hierarchy of knowledge forms
Figure 3.10 The Boisot I-Space KM model
Figure 3.11 Overview of ICAS knowledge management model
Figure 3.12 The key components of the EFQM model
Figure 3.13 Overview of the inukshuk KM model
Figure 3.14 The McAdams and McCreedy model
Figure 3.15 Stankosky and Baldanza’s KM pillars model
Figure 3.16 The Wang and Noe knowledge sharing model
Figure 3.17 The Skandia IC Navigator intellectual capital model
Figure 4.1 An integrated KM cycle
Figure 4.2 The known-unknown matrix (Frappaolo, 2006)
Figure 4.3 The 4I model of organizational learning (Crossan et
al., 1999)
Figure 4.4 Key knowledge acquisition phases
Figure 4.5 Sample knowledge acquisition session template
Figure 4.6 Example of a concept map
Figure 4.7 Example of a decision tree
Figure 4.8 Example of a knowledge taxonomy
Figure 4.9 Example of multifaceted taxonomy for cyberbullying
Figure 5.2 Mapping the flow of knowledge
Figure 5.3 Knowledge flow analysis example (adapted from
Valdis Krebs)
Figure 5.4 Example of a yellow pages
Figure 5.5 Example of a yellow pages (continued)
Figure 5.6 Common characteristics of CoPs (adapted from
Wenger, 1998)
Figure 5.7 Knowledge sharing example: best practice/lesson
8

learned (adapted from APQC, American Productivity and
Quality Centre, http://www/apqc.org).
Figure 5.8 Making CoP interactions visible (adapted from the
Babble system, Erickson & Kellogg, 2000)
Figure 6.2 Illustration of the personalization concept
Figure 6.3 An alternative approach to personalization
Figure 6.4 Example of a semantic network
Figure 6.5 Example of a semantic network (continued)
Figure 6.6 Dynamic profiling system design
Figure 6.7 Components of an EPSS
Figure 6.8 Chunking in content management
Figure 6.9 Sample user and task model
Figure 6.10 KM organizational architecture
Figure 7.1 The cultural component in an integrated KM Cycle
Figure 8.2 Predictive models
Figure 8.3 Black box models
Figure 9.2 Organizational maturity model
Figure 9.3 Community of practice maturity model
Figure 9.4 Balance between fluidity and institutionalization
(adapted from Klein, 1999)
Figure 10.2 High-level balanced scorecard
Figure 10.3 High-level house of quality matrix
Figure 10.4 High-level RMAF
Figure 11.1 Argote model of organizational learning
Figure 11.2 Lessons learned process
Figure 13.1 The KM team in the integrated KM cycle
9

Figure 14.1 The value of a knowledge asset
10

1 Introduction to Knowledge
Management
The store of wisdom does not consist of hard coins which keep
their shape as they pass from hand to hand; it consists of ideas
and doctrines whose meanings change with the minds that
entertain them.
—John Plamenatz (1912–1975)
This chapter provides an introduction to the study of knowledge
management (KM). The history of knowledge management
concepts is outlined, noting that much of KM existed before the
actual term came into popular use. The lack of consensus over what
constitutes a good definition of KM is addressed and the concept
analysis technique is described as a means of clarifying the
conceptual confusion that still persists over what KM is or is not.
The multidisciplinary roots of KM are enumerated together with
their contributions to the discipline. The two major forms of
knowledge, tacit and explicit, are compared and contrasted. The
importance of KM today, for individuals, knowledge communities
and for organizations are described together with the emerging KM
roles and responsibilities, and practitioner and education standards,
needed to ensure successful KM implementations.
Learning Objectives
1. Use a framework and a clear language for knowledge
management concepts.
2. Define key knowledge management concepts such as intellectual
capital, organizational learning and memory, knowledge
taxonomy, and communities of practice using concept analysis.
11

3. Provide an overview of the history of knowledge management
and identify key milestones.
4. Describe the key roles and responsibilities required for
knowledge management applications.
5. Discuss the key benefits to individuals, groups, and
organizations—the value created by KM.
Introduction
The ability to manage knowledge is becoming increasingly more
crucial in the today’s knowledge economy. The creation and
diffusion of knowledge have become increasingly important factors
in competitiveness. In fact, more and more, knowledge is being
thought of as a valuable commodity that is embedded in products
(especially high-technology products) and embedded in the tacit
knowledge of highly mobile employees. While knowledge is
increasingly being viewed as a commodity or intellectual asset, there
are some paradoxical characteristics of knowledge that are radically
different than other valuable commodities. These knowledge
characteristics include the following:
Using knowledge does not consume it.
Transferring knowledge does not result in losing it.
Knowledge is abundant, but the ability to use it is scarce.
Much of an organization’s valuable knowledge walks out the
door at the end of the day.
The advent of the Internet, the World Wide Web, has made
unlimited sources of knowledge available to us all. Pundits are
heralding the dawn of the Knowledge Age supplanting the
Industrial Era. Over fifty years ago, nearly half of all workers in
industrialized countries were making or helping to make things. By
the year 2000, only 20 percent of workers were devoted to
industrial work—the rest were knowledge workers (Drucker, 1994;
Bart, 2000). Davenport (2005, p. 5) notes that “At a minimum, they
comprise a quarter of the U.S. workforce, and at a maximum about
half.” Labor-intensive manufacturing with a large pool of relatively
cheap, relatively homogenous labor and hierarchical management
12

has given way to knowledge-based organizations. There are fewer
people who need to do more work. Organizational hierarchies are
being put aside as knowledge work calls for more collaboration. The
only sustainable advance a firm has comes from what it collectively
knows, how efficiently it uses what it knows, and how quickly it
acquires and uses new knowledge (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). An
organization in the Knowledge Age is one that learns, remembers,
and acts based on the best available information, knowledge, and
know-how.
The most valuable benefits from KM arise from sharing
knowledge with current fellow employees as well as sharing
knowledge with future (often unknown) employees. The former
focuses on sharing knowledge and ensuring it moves around the
organization so everyone can benefit from best practices (adopt
newer, better ways of doing things) and lessons learned (avoid
repeating things that did not succeed so well). Sharing with present-
day colleagues is called knowledge “use” while preserving
knowledge to be shared with future knowledge workers is called
“reuse.”
In parallel, there are two major goals for KM: improving
organizational efficiency, through knowledge use and reuse, and
increasing the organizational capacity to innovate, through
knowledge use and reuse.
In order to ensure that KM creates value, there is a strong need for
a deliberate and systematic approach to cultivating and sharing a
company’s knowledge base—one populated with valid and valuable
lessons learned and best practices. In other words, in order to be
successful in today’s challenging organizational environment,
companies need to learn from their past errors and not reinvent the
wheel over and over again. Organizational knowledge is not
intended to replace individual knowledge but to complement it by
making it stronger, more coherent, and more broadly applied.
Knowledge management represents a deliberate and systematic
approach to ensure the full utilization of the organization’s
knowledge base, coupled with the potential of individual skills,
competencies, thoughts, innovations, and ideas to create a more
efficient and effective organization.
Increasingly, companies will differentiate themselves on the
basis of what they know. A relevant variation on Sidney
Winter's definition of a business firm as an organization that
13

knows how to do things would define a business firm that
thrives over the next decade as an organization that knows
how to do new things well and quickly. (Davenport & Prusak,
1998, p. 13)
Knowledge management was initially defined as the process of
applying a systematic approach to the capture, structuring,
management, and dissemination of knowledge throughout an
organization to work faster, reuse best practices, and reduce costly
rework from project to project (Nonaka et al, 2000; Pasternack et &
Viscio, 1998; Pfeffer & Sutton, 1999; Ruggles & Holtshouse, 1999).
KM is often characterized by a “pack rat” approach to content: “save
it, it may prove useful sometime in the future.” Many documents
tend to be warehoused, sophisticated search engines are then used
to try to retrieve some of this content, and fairly large-scale and
costly KM systems are built. Knowledge management solutions have
proven to be most successful in the capture, storage. and
subsequent dissemination of knowledge that has been rendered
explicit—particularly lessons learned and best practices.
The focus of Intellectual Capital Management (ICM), on the other
hand, is on those pieces of knowledge that are of business value to
the organization—referred to as intellectual capital or assets.
Stewart (1997) defines intellectual capital as “organized knowledge
that can be used to produce wealth.” While some of these assets are
more visible (e.g., patents, intellectual property), the majority
consists of know-how, know-why, experience, and expertise that
tends to reside within the head of one or a few employees (Klein,
1998; Stewart, 1997). ICM is characterized less by content—because
content is filtered and judged, and only the best are inventoried (the
top ten for example). ICM content tends to be more representative
of peoples’ real thinking (contextual information, opinions, stories)
due to its focus on actionable knowledge and know-how, with the
result that less costly endeavors and a focus on learning (at the
individual, community, and organizational level) results, rather
than on the building of systems.
A good definition of knowledge management would incorporate
both the capturing and storing of knowledge perspective, together
with the valuing of intellectual assets. For example:
Knowledge management is the deliberate and systematic
coordination of an organization’s people, technology, processes,
and organizational structure in order to add value through
14

reuse and innovation. This is achieved through the promotion
of creating, sharing, and applying knowledge as well as through
the feeding of valuable lessons learned and best practices into
corporate memory in order to foster continued organizational
learning.
When asked, most executives often state that their greatest asset is
the knowledge held by their employees. “When employees walk out
the door, they take valuable organizational knowledge with them”
(Lesser & Prusak, 2001, p. 1). Managers also invariably add that
they have no idea how to manage this knowledge! It is essential to
identify that knowledge which is of value and is also at risk of being
lost to the organization, through retirement, turnover, and
competition using the intellectual capital or asset approach. As
Lesser and Prusak (2001, p. 1) note: “The most knowledgeable
employees often leave first.” In addition, the selective or value-
based knowledge management approach should be a three-tiered
one—that is, it should also be applied to three organizational levels:
the individual, the group or community, and the organization itself.
The best way to retain valuable knowledge is to identify intellectual
assets and then ensure legacy materials are produced, and
subsequently stored in such a way as to make their future retrieval
and reuse as easy as possible (Stewart, 2000). These tangible by-
products need to flow from individual to individual, between
members of a community of practice and, of course, back to the
organization itself, in the form of lessons learned, best practices,
and corporate memory.
Many knowledge management efforts have been largely concerned
with capturing, codifying, and sharing the knowledge held by people
in organizations. Although there is still a lack of consensus over
what constitutes a good definition of KM (see next section), there is
widespread agreement as to the goals of an organization that
undertakes KM. Nickols (2000) summarizes this as the following:
“the basic aim of knowledge management is to leverage knowledge
to the organization’s advantage.” Some of management’s motives
are obvious: the loss of skilled people through turnover, pressures to
avoid reinventing the wheel, pressures for organization-wide
innovations in processes as well as products, managing risk, and the
accelerating rate with which new knowledge is being created. Some
typical knowledge management objectives would be to:
Facilitate a smooth transition from those retiring to their
15

successors who are recruited to fill their positions.
Minimize loss of corporate memory due to attrition and
retirement.
Identify critical resources and critical areas of knowledge so that
the corporation knows what it knows and does well—and why.
Build up a toolkit of methods that can be used with individuals,
with groups, and with the organization to stem the potential loss
of intellectual capital.
What Is Knowledge Management?
An informal survey conducted by the author identified over 100
published definitions of knowledge management and of these, at
least 72 could be considered to be very good! Girard and Girard
(2015) have compiled a very comprehensive list of more than 100
KM definitions1. What this indicates is that KM is a very
multidisciplinary field of study that covers a lot of ground. This
really should not be surprising as applying knowledge to work is
integral to most business activities. However, the field of KM does
suffer from the “Three Blind Men and an Elephant” syndrome2. In
fact, there are likely more than three distinct perspectives on KM
and each leads to a different extrapolation and a different definition.
Here are a few sample definitions from the business perspective:
Knowledge management is a business activity with two primary
aspects: treating the knowledge component of business
activities as an explicit concern of business reflected in strategy,
policy, and practice at all levels of the organization; and,
making a direct connection between an organization’s
intellectual assets—both explicit (recorded) and tacit (personal
know-how)—and positive business results. (Barclay & Murray,
1997)
Knowledge management is a collaborative and integrated
approach to the creation, capture, organization, access, and use
of an enterprise’s intellectual assets. (Grey, 1996)
Knowledge management is the process by which we manage
human centered assets … the function of knowledge
16

management is to guard and grow knowledge owned by
individuals, and where possible, transfer the asset into a form
where it can be more readily shared by other employees in the
company. (Brooking, 1999, p. 154)
The knowledge management focus is on obtaining and
synthesizing intellectual capital to maximize decision making
and innovation across diverse functions and disparate
locations, thus enabling the clients to become high-
performance businesses and governments. Far more than a
cluster of simple processes, the KM program is also about
developing and rewarding a culture of knowledge-sharing—
encouraging collaboration among their people to problem solve
and build capabilities, regardless of their location. (Accenture)3
Another two definitions, this time from the intellectual or
knowledge asset perspective:
Knowledge management consists of “leveraging intellectual
assets to enhance organizational performance.” (Stankosky,
2008)
“Knowledge management develops systems and processes to
acquire and share intellectual assets. It increases the generation
of useful, actionable, and meaningful information and seeks to
increase both individual and team learning. In addition, it can
maximize the value of an organization’s intellectual base across
diverse functions and disparate locations. Knowledge
management maintains that successful businesses are a
collection not of products but of distinctive knowledge bases.
This intellectual capital is the key that will give the company a
competitive advantage with its targeted customers. Knowledge
management seeks to accumulate intellectual capital that will
create unique core competencies and lead to superior results.”
(Bain & Company, 2011)
A definition from the cognitive science or knowledge science
perspective:
Knowledge—the insights, understandings, and practical know-
how that we all possess—is the fundamental resource that
allows us to function intelligently. Over time, considerable
knowledge is also transformed to other manifestations—such as
books, technology, practices, and traditions—within
organizations of all kinds and in society in general. These
17

transformations result in cumulated [sic] expertise and, when
used appropriately, increased effectiveness. Knowledge is one,
if not THE, principal factor that makes personal,
organizational, and societal intelligent behavior possible. (Wiig,
1993)
Two diametrically opposed schools of thought arise from the library
and information science perspective: the first sees very little
distinction between information management and knowledge
management:
KM is predominantly seen as information management by
another name (semantic drift). (Davenport & Cronin, 2000, p.
1)
Knowledge management is one of those concepts that librarians
take time to assimilate, only to reflect ultimately “on why other
communities try to colonize our domains.” (Hobohm, 2004, p.
7)
The second school of thought, however, does make a distinction
between the management of information resources and the
management of knowledge resources:
Knowledge management “is understanding the organization’s
information flows and implementing organizational learning
practices which make explicit key aspects of its knowledge base
… It is about enhancing the use of organizational knowledge
through sound practices of information management and
organizational learning. (Broadbent, 1997, pp. 8–9).
Knowledge relates to all the capital owned by people and staff
of a company: know-how and expertise, competencies, market
experiences, etc. Knowledge management helps companies
turn this human capital into intellectual capital by creating
value. Unlike content management, knowledge management is
not only about storing documents. It is about increasing people
skills and expertise thanks to sharing. Knowledge management
enables people collaboration and connects them to expertise.
The ability to quickly find a subject matter expert and get the
answer to a question or assistance in solving a problem is a
priority in knowledge management. Knowledge management
prevents companies from constantly reinventing the wheel,
hence the decreasing supply of talent, the retiring boomers, the
staff turnover etc. (Deloitte)4
18

And, some sample definitions from the process/technology
perspective:
Knowledge management is the concept under which
information is turned into actionable knowledge and made
available effortlessly in a usable form to the people who can
apply it. (Patel & Harty, 1998)
Leveraging collective wisdom to increase responsiveness and
innovation. (Frappaolo, 2006)
A systematic approach to manage the use of information in
order to provide a continuous flow of knowledge to the right
people at the right time enabling efficient and effective decision
making in their everyday business. (Payne & Britton, 2010)
The tools, techniques, and strategies to retain, analyze,
organize, improve, and share business expertise. (Groff &
Jones, 2003, p. 2)
A capability to create, enhance, and share intellectual capital
across the organization … a shorthand covering all the things
that must be put into place, for example, processes, systems,
culture, and roles to build and enhance this capability. (Lank,
1997)
The creation and subsequent management of an environment
that encourages knowledge to be created, shared, learnt,
enhanced, organized, and utilized for the benefit of the
organization and its customers. (Abell & Oxbrow, 2001)
A number of other definitions can be found at
http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~rstephen/courses/UFIE95-20-
3/week16/knowledge_management_def.html.
Wiig (1993) also emphasizes that given the importance of
knowledge in virtually all areas of daily and commercial life, two
knowledge-related aspects are vital for viability and success at any
level. These are knowledge assets that must be applied, nurtured,
preserved, and used to the largest extent possible by both
individuals and organizations; and knowledge-related processes to
create, build, compile, organize, transform, transfer, pool, apply,
and safeguard knowledge. These knowledge-related aspects must be
carefully and explicitly managed in all affected areas.
Historically, knowledge has always been managed, at least
implicitly. However, effective and active knowledge
19

management requires new perspectives and techniques and
touches on almost all facets of an organization. We need to
develop a new discipline and prepare a cadre of knowledge
professionals with a blend of expertise that we have not
previously seen. This is our challenge! (Wiig, in Grey, 1996)
Knowledge management is a surprising mix of strategies, tools, and
techniques—some of which are nothing new under the sun:
storytelling, peer-to-peer mentoring, and learning from mistakes,
for example, all have precedents in education, training, and artificial
intelligence practices. Knowledge management makes use of a
mixture of techniques from knowledge-based system design, such as
structured knowledge acquisition strategies from subject matter
experts (McGraw & Harrison-Briggs, 1989) and educational
technology (e.g., task and job analysis to design and develop task
support systems; Gery, 1991).
This makes it both easy and difficult to define what KM is—at one
extreme, KM encompasses everything to do with knowledge. At the
other extreme, KM is narrowly defined as an information
technology system that dispenses organizational know-how. KM is
in fact both of these and many more. One of the few areas of
consensus in the field is that KM is a highly multidisciplinary field.
Multidisciplinary Nature of KM
Knowledge management draws upon a vast number of diverse fields
such as:
Organizational science
Cognitive science
Computer science
Linguistics and computational linguistics
Information technologies
Information and library science
Technical writing and journalism
Anthropology and sociology
Education and training
Storytelling and communication studies
Collaborative technologies such as CSCW and groupware as well
20

as intranets, extranets, portals and other web technologies
The above is by no means an exhaustive list but serves to show the
extremely varied roots upon which KM grew out of and continues to
be based upon today. Figure 1.1 illustrates some of the diverse
disciplines that have contributed to KM.
Figure 1.1 Multidisciplinary nature of knowledge management
The multidisciplinary nature of KM represents a double-edged
sword: on the one hand, it is an advantage as almost anyone can
find a familiar foundation upon which to base their understanding
and even practice of KM. Someone with a background in
journalism, for example, can quickly adapt their skill set to the
capture of knowledge from experts and reformulate this knowledge
as organizational stories to be stored in corporate memory.
Someone coming from a more technical database background can
easily extrapolate his or her skill set to design and implement
knowledge repositories that will serve as the corporate memory for
that organization. However, the diversity of KM also results in some
challenges with respect to boundaries. Skeptics argue that KM is not
and cannot be said to be a separate discipline with a unique body of
knowledge to draw upon. This attitude is typically represented by
phrases such as “KM is just IM” or “KM is nonsensical—it is just
good business practices.” It becomes very important to be able to
list and describe what set of attributes are necessary and in
themselves sufficient to constitute knowledge management both as
a discipline and as a field of practice that can be distinguished from
others.
One of the major attributes lies in the fact that KM deals with
knowledge as well as information. Knowledge is a more subjective
21

way of knowing, typically based on experiential or individual values,
perceptions, and experience. Popular examples to distinguish data
from information from knowledge include:
Data Content that is directly observable or verifiable: a fact; for
example, movie listings giving the times and locations of all movies
being shown today—I download the listings.
Information Content that represents analyzed data; for example, I
can’t leave before 5 so I will go to the 7 p.m. show at the cinema near
my office.
Knowledge At that time of day, it will be impossible to find
parking. I remember the last time I took the car, I was so frustrated
and stressed because I thought I would miss the opening credits. I’ll
therefore take the commuter train. But first, I’ll check with Al. I
usually love all the movies he hates so I want to make sure it’s worth
seeing!
Another distinguishing characteristic of KM as opposed to other
information management fields is the fact that knowledge in all of
its forms is addressed: tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.
The Two Major Types of Knowledge: Tacit and Explicit
We know more than we can tell.
—Polanyi, 1966
Tacit knowledge is difficult to articulate and difficult to put into
words, text, or drawings. Explicit knowledge represents content that
has been captured in some tangible form such as words, audio
recordings, or images. Tacit knowledge tends to reside within the
heads of “knowers” whereas explicit knowledge is usually contained
within tangible or concrete media. However, it should be noted that
this is a rather simplistic dichotomy. In fact, the property of
“tacitness” is a property of the knower: that which is easily
articulated by one person may be very difficult to externalize by
another. The same content may be explicit for one person and tacit
for another.
There is also somewhat of a paradox at play here: highly skilled,
experienced, and expert individuals may find it harder to articulate
their know-how. Novices, on the other hand, are more apt to easily
verbalize what they are attempting to do because they are typically
following a manual or how-to process. Table 1.1 summarizes some
of the major properties of tacit and explicit knowledge.
22

Table 1.1 Comparison of properties of tacit versus explicit
knowledge
Properties of tacit
knowledge
Properties of explicit
knowledge
Ability to adapt, to deal with
new and exceptional situations
Ability to disseminate, to
reproduce, to access and re-apply
throughout the organization
Expertise, know-how, know-
why, and care-why
Ability to teach, to train
Ability to collaborate, to share
a vision, to transmit a culture
Ability to organize, to systematize;
to translate a vision into a mission
statement, into operational
guidelines
Coaching and mentoring to
transfer experiential
knowledge on a one-to-one,
face-to-face basis
Transfer knowledge via products,
services, and documented
processes
Typically, the more tacit knowledge is, the more valuable it tends
to be. The paradox lies in the fact that the more difficult it is to
articulate a concept such as story, the more valuable that knowledge
may be. This is often witnessed when people make reference to
knowledge versus know-how, or knowing something versus
knowing how to do something. Valuable tacit knowledge often
results in some observable action when individuals understand and
subsequently make use of knowledge. Another perspective is that
explicit knowledge tends to represent the final end product, whereas
tacit knowledge is the know-how or all of the processes that were
required in order to produce that final product.
We have a habit of writing articles published in scientific
journals to make the work as finished as possible, to cover up
all the tracks, to not worry about the blind alleys or how you
had the wrong idea at first, and so on. So there isn’t any place to
publish, in a dignified manner, what you actually did in order
to do the work. (Feynman, 1966)
A popular misconception is that KM focuses on rendering that
which is tacit into more explicit or tangible forms, then storing or
archiving these forms somewhere, usually some form of intranet or
knowledge portal. The “build it and they will come” expectation
23

typifies this approach: Organizations take an exhaustive inventory
of tangible knowledge (i.e., documents, digital records) and make
them accessible to all employees. Senior management is then
mystified as to why employees are not using this wonderful new
resource. In fact, knowledge management is broader and includes
leveraging the value of the organizational knowledge and know-how
that accumulates over time. This approach is a much more holistic
and user-centered approach that begins not with an audit of existing
documents but with a needs analysis to better understand how
improved knowledge sharing may benefit specific individuals,
groups, and the organization as a whole. Successful knowledge-
sharing examples are gathered and documented in the form of
lesson learned and best practices and these then form the kernel of
organizational stories.
There are a number of other attributes that together make up a set
of what KM should be all about. One good technique for identifying
what these attributes are is the concept analysis technique.
Concept Analysis Technique
Concept analysis is an established technique used in the social
sciences (such as philosophy and education) in order to derive a
formula that in turn can be used to generate definitions and
descriptive phrases for highly complex terms. We still lack a
consensus on knowledge management–related terms, and these
concepts do appear to be complex enough to merit the concept
analysis approach. A great deal of conceptual complexity derives
from the fact that a word such as knowledge is necessarily
subjective in nature, not to mention value laden in interpretation.
The concept analysis approach rests on obtaining consensus
around three major dimensions of a given concept (shown in figure
1.2).
24

Figure 1.2 Illustration of the concept analysis technique
1. A list of key attributes that must be present in the definition,
vision, or mission statement
2. A list of illustrative examples
3. A list of illustrative nonexamples
This approach is particularly useful in tackling multidisciplinary
domains such as intellectual capital, as clear criteria can be
developed to enable sorting into categories such as knowledge vs.
information, document management vs. knowledge management,
and tangible vs. intangible assets. In addition, valuable
contributions to the organization’s intellectual capital are derived
through the production of ontologies (semantic maps of key
concepts), identification of core competencies, and identification of
knowledge, know-how, and know-why at risk of being lost through
human capital attrition.
Concept analysis is a technique used to visually map out
conceptual information in the process of defining a word (Novak,
1990, 1991). This is a technique derived from the fields of
philosophy and science education (Bareholz & Tamir, 1992; Lawson,
1994) and it is typically used in clearly defining complex, value-
laden terms such as democracy or religion. It is a graphical
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refute it remains to be seen; and it is for this reason that I wish you
to visit the lawyer with me."
"Visit Mr. Busham?" said Ellis, considerably astonished at this unusual
proof of confidence. "But what can I do?"
"Two things. Firstly, you can be a witness to the charges, which, I
feel certain, Mr. Busham will bring against me."
"Then you trust me so far as to let me hear those charges?"
"I do, because in the face of all circumstantial evidence to the
contrary you believe that I am innocent. For that reason I regard
you as my friend, for that reason I ask you to stand by me in my
time of trouble."
Ellis looked at her doubtfully, not knowing what to make of this
speech, which, indeed, was puzzling enough. An honourable woman,
entangled in the net of villains: a scheming adventuress, bent upon
arriving at her own ends--Mrs. Moxton was one or the other; and the
love which Ellis had for her inclined him to believe she was
honourable. Still, there must have been some shadow of doubt on
his face, for Mrs. Moxton became bitter and angry and unmeasured
in speech.
"Am I mistaken in you?" she demanded sharply. "Have you repented
of what you said to me the other day? Is it with you as with other
men--words! words! words! If so, tell me, and I go--go never to
trouble you or see you again. You must trust me in all or not at all."
The doctor was astonished at this sudden outburst, and hastened to
assure Mrs. Moxton that she did him an injustice. "I firmly believe in
your innocence, and I feel certain that you can explain away the
charges against you."
"They have yet to be made, doctor," replied the widow, cooling
down, "And when they are I wish you to be present. That desire will

show you whether I can answer them or not. Another reason why I
desire you to visit Mr. Busham in my company is that I am anxious
for you to protect me from his violence."
"Confound the fellow!" cried Ellis, firing up. "Will he dare to lay
hands on you?"
"Not on me, but on the will. If I defy Mr. Busham, he is quite capable
of taking the will from me by force and destroying it."
"We shall see about that," said Ellis, after a moment's thought.
"However, I guess from what you say that Busham is a tricky, shifty
scoundrel. Certainly I will come with you, Mrs. Moxton. When are
you going?"
"To-morrow morning. We can take the underground railway to Esher
Lane."
"Very good. I will see you in the morning. In the meantime will you
leave this will for me to look over?"
Ellis made this demand with the intention of seeing how far Mrs.
Moxton would trust him, as it was scarcely fair that the confidence
should be all on one side. To his secret astonishment and openly-
expressed pleasure, she agreed at once to the request.
"As you trust me, I shall you," said Mrs. Moxton. "Keep the will by all
means till to-morrow morning; but take care of it, as it is an original
document."
"I will put it away now "; and Ellis locked the document up in a
despatch-box which stood near his desk. "And I thank you for this
proof of confidence, Mrs. Moxton; you will not find it misplaced."
"I am quite sure of that, doctor. I trust you thoroughly."

"In some ways, yes, in others, no. For instance, why will you not tell
me about Zirknitz?"
Mrs. Moxton turned pale. "I cannot tell you about him--yet."
Ellis was vexed. "Well, there is no need," said he, a trifle crossly. "I
know about this man."
"About Rudolph? About--"
"Yes, about your brother by marriage."
The widow, who in her excitement had half risen from her chair, fell
back into it again thunderstruck. "Where did you meet him?" she
stammered.
"At the Merryman Music-Hall."
"Do you know that place?" shrieked Mrs. Moxton, much agitated.
"I was there last night. There I met Zirknitz, and he told me of his
relationship to you. Also," and here Ellis grew grave, "he informed
me who murdered your husband."
Mrs. Moxton's capacity for amazement was exhausted by these
repeated shocks, and she sat limply in her chair. The last remark,
however, seemed to brace her up for the moment.
"And who does he say killed Edgar?" she asked, with an anxiety she
strove vainly to conceal.
"None other than Busham, the man who--"
Mrs. Moxton interrupted him with a burst of hysterical laughter. "Dr.
Ellis," said she, in a choking voice, "I know that is false. Mr. Busham
did not kill my husband."

CHAPTER XI
A HALF CONFESSION
Mrs. Moxton made the statement regarding Busham's innocence
with so much decision that Ellis looked at her in surprise. It was
strange that she should defend a man she disliked. "How is it that
you think him guiltless?" he asked anxiously.
"Because he is a coward, and too timid to kill a man."
"Your husband was stabbed in the back in the darkness. That looks
like a coward's deed."
"All the same, I feel sure he is innocent," persisted the widow. "I can
see no reason for his killing Edgar. He knew that old Moxton made
another will shortly before dying, and that he would not inherit. No!
look at it which way you will, Mr. Busham is not the murderer. I
detest the man, but I must be just to him. What else did Rudolph
tell you, or, rather, on what ground does he accuse Mr. Busham?"
"He refused to tell me the grounds without your permission."
"My permission! Why, I know nothing about the matter."
"From what Zirknitz hinted it would appear that you do," said Ellis, a
trifle drily.
"Then he shall tell his story in your presence," rejoined Mrs. Moxton,
quickly, "and you will see that I know nothing."

"I shall be glad to be convinced. Tell me, why did you keep silent
about this young man?"
"Because of the blood marks on the arm of Edgar."
"Oh, so you knew the secret of the cryptographic signs, in spite of
your denial?"
"I did! I do! As a matter of fact, I taught that cryptogram to my--"
here Mrs. Moxton closed her mouth with the nervous gesture of one
who thinks she is saying too much.
"To your sister," finished Ellis, quietly.
Mrs. Moxton fenced. "How do you know that I have a sister?"
"From the books in your house, some of which contain your name
and that of your sister Janet. Also from a cabman on the rank here,
who described to me a woman so like you that I am convinced she is
your sister--possibly, from the exact likeness, your twin sister."
The widow became the colour of chalk at these words. "Where did
the cabman see her?"
"He drove her to Pimlico on the night, and about the time, your
husband was murdered."
For a moment or so Mrs. Moxton looked doubtfully at Ellis, and
passed her tongue over her dry lips. The doctor could see that she
trembled. His unexpected knowledge evidently inflicted a shock on
her nerves. Yet, for all her emotion, she still strove to baffle his
curiosity. "You seem to know a good deal about my husband," she
said irritably.
"I do. Because I am anxious to clear your name and extricate you
from a difficult position. Mrs. Moxton"--Ellis rose and bent over her

with great earnestness--"why will you not be frank with me? You tell
me much, but you will not tell me all."
She moaned and moved away from him. "Heaven help me, I dare
not tell you all."
"Yet I am your best friend."
"I know it, but you would shrink from me did you know the truth."
Ellis took her hand gently. "Tell me who murdered your husband?"
he whispered urgently.
"I don't know! I swear I don't know!" cried the widow, with much
vehemence; "if I did I would tell."
"The blood marks hint at Zirknitz."
"Yes, yes, but I am sure he is innocent. Rudolph is foolish, vain,
shallow, but he never killed Edgar, I swear."
"Yet the name on the dead man's arm?"
"I don't know the reason of that; I can't say why Edgar wrote it. I
read it myself, although I denied all knowledge to you. It was for
Rudolph's sake that I lied. I was afraid lest he should get into
trouble. I asked him if he was in Dukesfield on that night, but he
denies that he was."
"And your sister Janet?"
A tremor passed through the frame of Mrs. Moxton. "She came to
see me on that night, and we quarrelled; she left before Edgar came
back, and, I suppose, went crying down the road to take a cab
home."
"Did she see the murder committed?" asked Ellis, tentatively.

"I don't know," said Mrs. Moxton, under her breath. "I am--oh," she
burst out, "I can't tell you more. I have had to do with villains and
rogues all my life, and I am paying the penalty of their sins, not of
my own. I have tried to be a good woman, so do not shrink from
me. I swear that I do not know who killed Edgar. Some day I may
tell you more, but at present I cannot--I cannot."
She hastily let down her veil and stood up to go. "You trust me still?
you believe in me yet?" she said entreatingly, and with tears.
"I do," replied Ellis, touched by her emotion. "You puzzle me more
than I can say, yet I am sure you are innocent of all evil. But if you
would only tell me--"
"Some day! some day!" she interrupted hastily; "but not now. Yet
what you should know, you shall know. Come to me between four
and five to-day, and you will meet Rudolph. He shall confess what he
means by hinting at my knowledge of Mr. Busham's guilt."
"I will come with pleasure, but do you think Zirknitz will come?"
"Yes. I will telegraph for him now. He loves me and trusts me, and I
have great power over his weak nature. In my hands he is like wax,
and if the truth is in him you shall hear it this afternoon. But I know
that Rudolph is innocent. I am certain that Mr. Busham did not strike
the blow. Heaven alone knows the secret of Edgar's death. Good-
bye, good-bye, Dr. Ellis, and do not think badly of me. Indeed,
indeed, when the moment comes I can put myself right in your eyes.
What other people say or think, I do not care, but you must be
shown that I am more sinned against than sinning. Good-bye!" She
stretched out her hand, and withdrew it abruptly ere he could touch
the tips of her fingers. "Not yet, not yet," she muttered, and swiftly
glided from the room before Ellis could recover from his surprise.
This woman was more inexplicable than ever. Apparently she knew a
great deal, as could be seen by the information which Ellis had
dragged out of her. Yet she refused to be candid, although at the

same time she admitted that she wished to preserve her friend's
good opinion. The hints dropped in her last hasty speech showed
Ellis that he was right in trusting to his instinct concerning her
nature. Whatever Mrs. Moxton might be,--mysterious, shady,
dangerous,--she had a straightforward, honest mind. It was warped
by the circumstances in which she found herself placed through no
fault of her own, and she was forced to fence and lie, and act a
tricky part for some strong reason which she refused to impart to
Ellis. Privately he thought that all her energies were bent upon
shielding her sister, as formerly she had striven to shield Zirknitz by
denying all knowledge of the cryptogram. Could Janet Gordon be the
guilty person? Ellis twice or thrice asked himself this question, but
could find no answer to it. Her hasty flight on the night of the
murder, her tears, her silence, her absence from the music-hall
hinted--if not at personal guilt--at least at guilty knowledge. If she
did not kill Moxton herself,--and on the face of it she could have had
no reason to do so,--she must have seen the crime committed.
Perhaps she had met with the assassin face to face, and had fled
horror-struck and weeping to the cab-stand. The way to learn the
truth would be to see her. No doubt she had confessed the cause of
her terror to Mrs. Moxton, and it was this secret which Mrs. Moxton,
loyally doing violence to her nature, wished to conceal. But if the
widow would not speak, Ellis made up his mind that Janet Gordon
should; therefore he resolved to find out the number of her lodging
in Geneva Square, and call upon her. Failing Mrs. Moxton, Zirknitz
might supply the information. In her own despite Mrs. Moxton must
be rescued from the dangers which appeared to surround her. She
had confessed with less than her usual caution that she was paying
for the sins of others, and Ellis was bent upon bringing the truth to
light and making the actual sinners suffer for their own wickedness.
The fact that he was more deeply in love than ever, greatly assisted
him in arriving at this conclusion. Yet a wise man, a worldly man,
would have called him a fool to still love and trust Mrs. Moxton in the
face of all he knew about her. But in this instance instinct was
stronger than argument, and Ellis was satisfied that the woman he

loved would yet emerge vindicated and spotless from the dark cloud
of troubles which obscured her true nature.
Precisely at half-past four he presented himself at Myrtle Villa. The
door was opened by Mrs. Moxton herself. Apparently she had been
watching for his arrival, and Ellis, guessing as much, felt his heart
swell with joy. Strange that his love at this moment should move him
to emotion.
"Rudolph is here," whispered the widow. "Let me question him. I
know how to make him speak out."
Ellis nodded, and when ushered into the sitting-room was sufficiently
composed to meet Zirknitz with a smile. The Austrian looked an
Adonis in the daytime, and was admirably dressed in a smart frock-
coat, fawn-coloured trousers, and patent leather boots of high
polish. He was a modern D'Orsay in looks and dress--just the
handsome kind of scamp to attract silly women. Ellis had no doubt
that one day or another Monsieur Rudolph would pick up an heiress,
and become respectable. The young man was shallow and selfish,
yet--if one could judge by his smiling face--harmless enough in other
ways.
"I am delighted to see you, doctor," said the Austrian, blandly. "You
must forgive me for leaving you so abruptly the other night. But you
were beginning to ask me indiscreet questions, so I--vanished."
"Rudolph always considers himself first," observed Mrs. Moxton, who
was making tea. "He is the most selfish creature in existence."
"The most selfish!" assented Zirknitz. "I think of no one by myself.
Why should I? Quelle bêtise."
"Every man should think of others!" said Ellis, hardly knowing what
to say in the face of this cool confession.

"Oh, mon cher monsieur, that doctrine is out of date. Thank you,
Laura. I will have some tea. Three sugar bits, my dear. I love
sweets, and sunshine, and pretty girls--as a butterfly should."
Mrs. Moxton looked at the pretty youth with something of contempt.
"You need not blazon forth your follies, Rudolph. I know what you
are; and Dr. Ellis will soon find you out. What is this story you have
been telling him about me?"
"Story? None! What is it, monsieur? Point de moquerie!"
"You accuse Busham of this murder!"
"Ah, yes, now I remember; and I refused to tell you my reasons until
permitted by my sister. Have I your consent, ma chère Laura?"
"Tell everything you know," cried Mrs. Moxton, with a frown. "Why
you should bring my name into the matter I don't know. There is no
need for you to explain, Rudolph; you will only romance. Why do
you suspect Busham?"
Zirknitz looked at Ellis. "Can I speak freely?" he asked doubtfully.
"Certainly. The doctor is my best friend."
"Ah! so charming to have a best friend. Hear, then, monsieur, and
you, my dear Laura. When I was at Dukesfield on the night Edgar
was killed--"
"Why," said Ellis, with something of anger in his tones, "you told me
you were not at Dukesfield on that night."
Zirknitz shrugged his handsome shoulders. "I told a lie! Oh, yes, I
always tell a lie when necessary. I did not know Laura wished me to
speak, so I told what was not true. What would you, monsieur? Your
questions were indiscreet. My answers were false. Voila!"

"Never mind excusing yourself, Rudolph. What about Mr. Busham?"
"Eh, my dear sister, I believe he killed our poor Moxton! Why not? I
saw the excellent Busham in Dukesfield on the night of the death."
CHAPTER XII
MR BUSHAM, SOLICITOR
Lounging in his chair, Zirknitz made this astonishing statement as
though it were the most natural thing in the world. Mrs. Moxton
looked at Ellis in surprise, and both looked at Rudolph.
"Is this true?" asked Ellis, doubtfully.
"Eh, mon cher, most assuredly. I tell lies only when necessary."
"Rudolph, you must explain how it was you came to be in Dukesfield
on that night."
"My dear sister, did I not say I would come for Janet?"
"Yes, and you never kept your promise."
"No," chimed in Ellis. "Polly Horley said the same thing."
Rudolph smiled in a most engaging manner.
"Ah, that excellent Horley! How much she knows of what she knows
not. My sister, have I your permission to smoke?"

Mrs. Moxton impatiently nodded an assent. "But I am waiting to
hear how you did not come for Janet and yet were in Dukesfield on
that night."
With great deliberation, Zirknitz selected a cigarette from his silver
case and lighted it before making any reply. Selfish in his every act,
he offered none to Ellis--an omission which troubled that gentleman
very little. He had no great love for this egotistical butterfly.
"My Laura," said Rudolph, blowing a whiff of smoke, "on that night I
was playing cards in the salon of the music-hall, and I won twenty
pounds from Edgar. He had not the money, but he gave me an 'I O
U.' Then, most furious at his loss, he drank and drank till he was as
a wild beast. I was going for Janet, and at the station I saw our
Edgar; but to avoid him I went in another carriage. At the station of
Dukesfield, I tried to run from him; but he saw me and followed;
quelle bêtise. There was trouble, and he wished to fight. So when he
went home I saw it was foolish to come for Janet, as Edgar would
be raging. I took back another train, and a cab to my rooms in
Bloomsbury. Voila, the story!"
"Not all the story!" said Ellis. "You have left out the most important
part--about Busham."
"Ah, that dear Busham. When Edgar was angry with me on the
platform of the Dukesfield station, I see out of my eye's corner that
clever advocate. He was watching our dear Edgar, but did not come
near him. I knew him. Oh, yes, I knew his face very well."
"I did not know you were acquainted with him, Rudolph!"
"Best of sisters, I do not tell you all I know, or do. Our Edgar one
day took me to see the excellent Busham in his office, where they
did fight. Oh, I tell you, monsieur, the good Busham sent us away
with a flea in our ears. Edgar spoke of his father, and said that
Busham was a rogue wanting the money; so we had trouble, and we

left very enraged. So I met Busham, the pig," finished Zirknitz,
smiling, "and I do not forget his face."
"He was watching Edgar on the night of his death?"
"Oui da! He thought I saw him not, but I did see him. Ma foi, I have
quick eyes, Laura, as you well know. He ran out of the station after
Edgar, and I am certain followed to kill him."
"About what time was this?"
"On eleven. I did hear the clock of the station strike when I was
enraged with Edgar."
"And Moxton was drunk?" inquired Ellis, anxiously.
"He was straight drunk, for he could walk; and cross-drunk,
assuredly, since he wished to fight with me. But I care not for
boxing," said Mr. Zirknitz, gracefully. "And I go home to bed before
twelve of the clock, like a good little boy. Aha, monsieur, you think I
kill Edgar, do you not? Eh bien! You demand of my landlady if I was
not in my bed before twelve of the clock. I did not kill our poor
Edgar. Why should I when he owes me twenty pounds? Cher Ellis,
you are in the wrong box."
"You had better wait until I accuse you before excusing yourself,"
said Ellis, drily. "But even with this story of Busham having been at
Dukesfield, I do not see how you can be certain of his guilt."
"Eh? To me it appears clear. This clever Busham wanted the money
of his uncle, and murdered Edgar to get it."
"But, Rudolph, at that time Mr. Busham knew that a second will had
been made."
"Most certainly, chère Laura. If no second will had been made, this
excellent Busham would not have killed Edgar."

"We can say nothing for certain until we see Busham," said Ellis,
after a pause, "but there is one thing probable, Mrs. Moxton. If
Busham accuses you in any way we can turn the tables on him."
"You call on Busham, Laura."
"To-morrow. I must see about the will."
"And the money," smiled Rudolph. "Eh, ma s[oe]ur, forget not the
most important thing."
"To you, perhaps, not to me," replied Mrs. Moxton, with contempt.
"My object is to get free of all this trouble."
"Of course. I will help you; eh, most certainly. But ask me not to
meet the police. I do not like the police. For if--"
"Monsieur Zirknitz," said Ellis, cutting short this speech, "how came
it that your name was indicated on the dead man's arm?"
The Austrian was in no wise discomposed by this remark. "Ah, Laura
spoke to me of that. I do not know; I cannot say. But I think, ah, ma
foi, I think."
"What do you think, Rudolph?"
"My sister, I quarrelled with your good husband at the Dukesfield
Station, and he went away enraged with me. When Busham struck
him in the back--"
"You can't be sure of that," interrupted Ellis, impatiently.
"Eh, but I am sure," insisted Zirknitz, politely; "and Edgar, not seeing
who stabbed him so cruelly, thought that I did so. Then he wrote on
his arm to tell Laura."
"But why in cryptographic signs?"

"That I cannot say. The sign of a lizard was always the good Edgar's
little jest on me. For my name is that of a town in my country where
there are many lizards. Edgar found it in a book and always jested.
Very little jests pleased the good Moxton. But now I must go," said
Zirknitz, rising. "I have told you all you wish. My sister, do you desire
me to speak more? No! My good doctor, have you a policeman
without for my arrest? No! Ah, then I will take my leave. Not adieu,
dear friends, but au revoir."
When Zirknitz sauntered out of the room, Mrs. Moxton looked after
him with a singular expression. "What do you think of him?" she
asked.
"He is clever. It is a great pity he does not put his talents to better
use."
"Oh," Mrs. Moxton shrugged her shoulders, "I don't ask you about
his character. I know about that well enough. But do you think he is
speaking the truth?"
"Yes. He has no reason to tell a lie. I daresay he did see Busham."
"And do you think Mr. Busham is guilty?"
"I can't say. We have not sufficient evidence to go upon."
Mrs. Moxton turned the conversation abruptly. "Did you read the
will?"
"Yes. I see that all the money is left to you. I will give you back the
document to-morrow. What time do you wish me to call?"
"About eleven o'clock. I have written to Mr. Busham making an
appointment for mid-day. I am glad you are coming with me," said
the widow, sighing; "it will be a difficult interview."

"That remains to be seen. At any rate, we are not so defenceless as
we were before. If Busham accuses you--although I don't see on
what grounds he can do so--we can denounce him on the evidence
of Zirknitz."
"He will deny that he was at Dukesfield."
"Zirknitz can swear to his presence."
"No doubt, but will Rudolph do so? He is so afraid of the police."
Ellis reflected for a moment. "You are not so candid with me as you
might be, Mrs. Moxton," said he, seriously, "therefore you render my
task the more difficult. But answer me truly now. Has Zirknitz ever
done anything for which he is wanted by the police?"
"Not to my knowledge," replied the widow, frankly, "but he is such a
coward, and his life is so open to danger, that the very name of the
law terrifies him beyond expression. It is for this reason that I am
certain of his innocence, and for the same reason I shielded him by
feigning ignorance of the cryptogram. But we can talk of these
things later. I am tired now."
In this abrupt way she dismissed Ellis, and he left the house sorely
puzzled, his constant state of mind in reference to Mrs. Moxton. If
he did marry her he would marry the sphinx. That was clear enough.
Mr. Richard Busham inhabited a dingy set of offices in Esher Lane,
adjacent to the Temple. His staff of clerks consisted of two under-
fed, overworked creatures, who scribbled in an outer room for dear
life at a miserable wage. The inner room, which had two dusty
windows looking on to Bosworth Gardens, was occupied by their
employer. This apartment was piled all round the walls with black tin
boxes with the names of various clients painted on them in white. A
brass-wired bookcase contained a few calf-bound volumes of legal
lore; there was a large table covered with green baize, two chairs,
and--nothing else. A more dreary or barren room can scarcely be

conceived, but Mr. Busham being a miser, it suited him well enough.
He called himself a lawyer, but he was really a usurer, and gained a
handsome income by squeezing extortionate interest out of the
needy. If the walls of Busham's private apartment could have spoken
they would have protested frequently against the sights they were
compelled to witness. The Holy Inquisition tortured people less than
did this rat of a lawyer. He ground down his victims to the lowest, he
lured them into his spider-web, and rejected them only when he had
sucked them dry. His law was a farce, his money-lending a tragedy.
The man himself resembled in looks Fraisier, the rascally lawyer so
admirably drawn by Balzac in "Le Cousin Pons." Like Fraisier, Busham
was small, sickly-looking and pimpled; his expression was equally as
sinister, and his heart as hard--that is if he had a heart, which his
clients were inclined to doubt. He scraped and screwed, and
swindled, and pinched to collect all the money he could; yet what
benefit he thought he would gain from this hoarding it is impossible
to say. He never spent it, he lived like a hermit, like a beggar, and
gratified his sordid pride with the knowledge that he was becoming a
wealthy man. And when he arrived at wealth? What then! Busham
never gave this consideration a thought, perhaps because he fancied
he would never become as wealthy as he wished to be. Altogether
the man was an unwholesome, evil creature, who should, for the
good of humanity, have been in gaol. But he was clever enough to
keep on the right side of the law he so misinterpreted.
At mid-day Mrs. Moxton and Ellis presented themselves before this
engaging being, and looked round the frowsy office with disgust.
Another chair had to be brought in from the outer room for the
accommodation of the doctor, and when his visitors were seated,
Busham welcomed them with a nervous titter, which showed that he
was not quite easy in his mind regarding the interview. Indirectly he
resented the presence of Ellis.
"Well, Mrs. Moxton," said he in a whistling whisper, his usual voice,
"is there a will?"

The widow produced the blue envelope and laid it on the table.
"There it is," she said, "it leaves all the property to me."
Busham went green and gasped, "All the property to you!" He
snatched up the will and hastily read it over. "I see it does," was his
answer; then after a pause he cast an evil look on Mrs. Moxton, and
opened a drawer of his desk. Evidently he was about to bring
forward his accusation.
"Since you have shown me the will, I have something equally
interesting to show you," said he, quietly. "What do you think of this,
Mrs. Moxton?" And on the table he laid a bone-handled carving-
knife, on the blade of which were dull, dark stains of blood.
CHAPTER XIII
MRS MOXTON'S SURRENDER
The widow turned pale when she saw the knife, and, unable to
speak, looked at Ellis. The doctor understood that pleading glance
and at once threw himself into the breach. "Where did you get this?"
he asked Busham, sharply.
The lawyer, scenting an enemy, looked mistrustfully at the speaker
out of his rat's eyes. "Your pardon, sir, who are you?" he demanded,
with a kind of snarl in his voice.
"I am Dr. Ellis, who examined the body of Moxton. I am also the
friend of Mrs. Moxton, and I came here to assist in this interview."

"And suppose I refuse to allow you to assist?"
"In that case, I shall know how to account for your possession of
that knife."
Busham gave a kind of screech, and threw himself halfway across
the table, shaking with anger. "You dare to insinuate that I killed my
cousin?" he asked, in a whisper.
"Why not; you were with your cousin on that night."
"It is a lie!"
"It is the truth!" cried Mrs. Moxton, finding her voice. "Rudolph saw
you following Edgar from the station."
"And who is Rudolph?"
"Monsieur Zirknitz, my brother."
"Another of your shady gang. I dare you to--"
"Speak more civilly," interrupted Ellis, starting up, "or I shall twist
that lean neck of yours."
At once the innate cowardice of Busham became apparent. Shaking
and white, he dropped back into his chair, terrified at the doctor's
angry look and menace. Yet, withal, he could not curb his venomous
tongue.
"Violence," he gasped. "You do well, Mrs. Moxton, to bring your bully
here."
"What! You will have it!" cried Ellis, angrily.
Busham flung himself out of his chair, and shot up one of the dirty
windows. "Another step and I call the police," he whispered.

"Do so, and I shall give you in charge."
"Me in charge, and for what?"
"For killing Moxton. You were with him shortly before his death."
With a scared look Busham drew down the window and returned to
his desk. "I am safe from your violence I hope?" he said, looking
apprehensively at Ellis.
"So long as you are civil to Mrs. Moxton I won't touch you," replied
the doctor, coolly, and in his turn sat down.
"He! he!" laughed Busham, nervously rubbing his hands, "it will be
as well to conduct this interview quietly."
"I think so," observed Mrs. Moxton, with an expressive glance at the
knife, "for your own sake."
"Say rather for yours, Mrs. Moxton."
"What do you mean?"
"He! he! that will take some time to explain. If you would rather be
alone with me--"
"Alone with you," repeated the widow, in tones of disgust. "I would
rather be alone with a serpent. Dr. Ellis shall stay--at my particular
request."
"Dr. Ellis has no intention of leaving," remarked that gentleman, and
folding his arms relapsed into a grim but observant silence.
Busham, with a vexed air, scratched his chin with one lean finger.
"As you please," said he, with apparent carelessness, "but he will not
think much of you when I tell all."

"You know nothing about that," retorted Mrs. Moxton, very pale, but
in a steady voice, "and I have come here to learn all. Of what do you
accuse me?"
"All in good time, dear lady," said Busham, harshly. "This knife was
found by me in your garden, on the morning I called to see you after
the murder."
"Are you sure you did not find it there on the previous night?" asked
the widow, sneering.
"I was not in the garden on that night."
"Neither was the assassin," interposed Ellis, quickly. "Moxton was
stabbed as he stepped in at the gate."
"Or as he turned to close it," retorted Busham, smartly.
Mrs. Moxton held her handkerchief to her mouth and shivered, but
with her eyes on Busham's mean face nodded to him to continue.
The man, seeing that she had a vague terror of his threats, did so
with a chuckle. "Since you know that I was at Dukesfield on that
night," he went on, "I admit it. Why should I not? I am innocent and
can prove as much. So Monsieur Zirknitz saw me? H'm! I know that
scamp; no one better. He called here one day with my cousin to
extort money on the plea that I had undue influence over my uncle,
but I soon turned the rascals out, I can tell you. I am a dangerous
man when roused." Mr. Busham chuckled, and repeated the phrase
with relish. "A dangerous man."
"Oh, I daresay," said Mrs. Moxton, with a contemptuous air, which
accorded ill with her pale face and uneasy manner. "Dangerous as a
fox, or a stoat, or a weasel may be. You belong to the vermin tribe,
you do."
"Go on with your story, man," directed Ellis, curtly.

"Civil, civil, oh, very civil," snapped Busham, "but I'll teach you both
manners before I'm done with you. At Dukesfield was I? Yes, I was.
He! he! do you know what I saw there, Mrs. Moxton? You don't. Well
then, I'll tell you, and take this for my fee."
"The will!" gasped Mrs. Moxton, as Busham clawed the document. "I
thought that was what you wanted."
"Leave that will alone," growled Ellis, scowling.
Mr. Busham immediately pushed the paper away. "It will come back
to me soon," said he, nodding. "Oh, I know, I know."
"What the deuce do you know? Speak out, can't you?"
"Softly, Dr. Ellis, softly, all in good time. Maybe you won't be so
pleased with my knowledge when you are possessed of it."
"I am the best judge of that; go on. You were at Dukesfield on the
night of August 16th?"
"Yes, I was," cried Busham, with sudden energy. "I received
intelligence of my uncle's death, and knowing that a new will had
been made, that Edgar was the heir, I wished to inform him of the
good news. From that scamp, Zirknitz, I learnt that Edgar went night
after night to the Merryman Music-Hall in Soho, so I sought out that
place in the hope of seeing him. I did see him," sneered Busham,
"and, as usual, he was drunk--not in a fit state to talk business.
When he left the hall to go home I followed his cab in another,
thinking that the fresh air would sober him. But at Charing Cross
underground station he had two more drinks, and, more intoxicated
than ever, stumbled into a carriage. I went into another, thinking it
best to see him home lest he might come to harm."
"You were very solicitous for the safety of one who had robbed you
of a fortune," said Ellis, with a cynical look.

"That's just it," cried Busham, slapping the table with the open palm
of his hand, "he was to get the money, and I wished to gain his
good will, and take what pickings I could. Half a loaf is better than
none, isn't it? If Edgar had lived I would have got the money--
somehow. Even you, Mrs. Moxton, would not have prevented that."
"Even I," repeated the widow, bitterly. "Heaven help me, I would
have been the last person to prevent your robbery. I never had any
influence over Edgar. Go on, Mr. Busham. Did you succeed in
ingratiating yourself with my husband by announcing the good news
of his father's death?"
"No, I didn't," snarled the lawyer. "I saw him quarrel with Zirknitz on
the platform of the Dukesfield station, and then I watched him
leave."
"Not only watched him, but followed him," said Ellis.
"Yes, I wanted to see how he would get home. I tried to speak to
him, but being drunk he swore at me, and struck out with his cane.
Seeing that there was no good to be got out of him in his then state,
and that it would be useless to tell him the news, I resolved to defer
the appointment until the morning, when I hoped to find him sober
and repentant. He went away. I did not follow, but remained for
some time talking to a policeman. Then I missed my train, and as I
had to get home, made up my mind to take a cab."
"An unusual expense for you," jeered Mrs. Moxton.
"Oh, I wouldn't have taken the cab if I could have walked," said
Busham, naïvely, "but I was not strong enough to do so. All the cabs
at the station had carried away the theatre people, and I went down
the road to the cab-rank in the middle of Dukesfield. There was one
cab there. But just as I turned the corner a woman came running
down the road and jumped into it. She was crying, and trembling
and wringing her hands. I saw her face in the light. It was you, Mrs.
Moxton."

"One moment," said the widow, as Ellis was about to contradict this
preposterous statement. "I never saw you until after the death of my
husband, and you never saw me. How, then, did you recognise me?"
"Oh, that was easy. Edgar gave me your picture."
"I should not have thought that Edgar was sufficiently friendly with
you to do that."
"He was when I lent him money," said Busham, quietly.
"Why did you lend him money?"
"Because several times he called on me and threatened to see his
father. I did not want him to do that lest he should be forgiven, so I
lent him money on condition that he did not go. Uncertain of what
his reception would be, he took my bribe and stayed away. On one
of those occasions he showed me your photograph, Mrs. Moxton."
"Edgar was forgiven after all," said the widow, ignoring this last
remark.
"Yes, but the forgiveness did not do him much good. He! he!"
"Mr. Busham!" burst out Ellis, who could no longer be restrained.
"You did not see Mrs. Moxton enter a cab on that night. The lady
was her sister."
"I know about the sister," said Busham. "The twin-sister. Zirknitz told
me."
"Are you friendly with Zirknitz?" asked Ellis, with unconcealed
surprise.
"Very!" retorted the lawyer, with an ugly grin. "I lend him money."
"Lend money to a scamp like that, whom you hate, who will never
repay you?"

Busham scratched his chin. "Oh, as to that," said he, "I know what I
am about, you may be sure. So it was your sister, Mrs. Moxton?
Bless me, how like she is to you; a twin, of course? I see. Why was
she crying and flying?"
"She may have cried because we quarrelled on that night," said the
widow, in an agitated tone; "but she was not flying. She merely
went home."
"To thirty-two Geneva Square, Pimlico? I know! I know!"
"How do you know?"
"Because I picked up another cab and followed her!"
"Why did you do that?"
"I thought she was you, and wished to know where you were going
at that hour of the night. Your sister going home? Ah, that explains
it."
"So far, so good, Mr. Busham," said Ellis, weary of this talk; "but
what about the knife?"
"I called next morning at Myrtle Villa, after hearing of the murder. I
searched the garden for traces of the criminal, and found that knife
hidden behind some laurel bushes."
"It was not hidden," cried Mrs. Moxton. "It was thrown there by
Edgar."
"Ah! you acknowledge that the knife is your property," said Busham.
"Why should I deny it? That knife is ours. It was tossed into the
garden by Edgar."
"And this is rust on it, no doubt," said the lawyer, touching the
stains. "Not blood, then, Mrs. Moxton?"

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