Introduction to Information Systems Canadian 3rd Edition Rainer Solutions Manual

Download the full version and explore a variety of test banks
or solution manuals at https://testbankdeal.com
Introduction to Information Systems Canadian 3rd
Edition Rainer Solutions Manual
_____ Follow the link below to get your download now _____
https://testbankdeal.com/product/introduction-to-
information-systems-canadian-3rd-edition-rainer-solutions-
manual/
Access testbankdeal.com now to download high-quality
test banks or solution manuals

We have selected some products that you may be interested in
Click the link to download now or visit testbankdeal.com
for more options!.
Introduction to Information Systems Canadian 3rd Edition
Rainer Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/introduction-to-information-systems-
canadian-3rd-edition-rainer-test-bank/
Introduction to Information Systems Canadian 4th Edition
Rainer Solutions Manual
https://testbankdeal.com/product/introduction-to-information-systems-
canadian-4th-edition-rainer-solutions-manual/
Introduction to Information Systems 6th Edition Rainer
Solutions Manual
https://testbankdeal.com/product/introduction-to-information-
systems-6th-edition-rainer-solutions-manual/
Consumer Behaviour Buying Having and Being Canadian 5th
Edition Solomon Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/consumer-behaviour-buying-having-and-
being-canadian-5th-edition-solomon-test-bank/

Principles of Microeconomics 12th Edition Case Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/principles-of-microeconomics-12th-
edition-case-test-bank/
Horngrens Financial and Managerial Accounting 5th Edition
Miller-Nobles Solutions Manual
https://testbankdeal.com/product/horngrens-financial-and-managerial-
accounting-5th-edition-miller-nobles-solutions-manual/
Human Resource Management in Public Service Paradoxes
Processes and Problems 5th Edition Berman Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/human-resource-management-in-public-
service-paradoxes-processes-and-problems-5th-edition-berman-test-bank/
Cengage Advantage Books Essentials of Business Law 5th
Edition Beatty Solutions Manual
https://testbankdeal.com/product/cengage-advantage-books-essentials-
of-business-law-5th-edition-beatty-solutions-manual/
International Business Law and Its Environment 8th Edition
Schaffer Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/international-business-law-and-its-
environment-8th-edition-schaffer-test-bank/

Survey of Economics 9th Edition Tucker Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/survey-of-economics-9th-edition-
tucker-test-bank/

Rainer, Turban, Splettstoesser-Hogeterp, Sanchez-Rodriguez, Introduction to Information Systems, 3rd Canadian Edition -Instructor’s Manual
CHAPTER 8: Organization Information Systems
Chapter Outline
8.1 Transaction Processing Systems
8.2 Functional Area Information Systems
8.3 Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
Learning Objectives
1. Explain the purposes of transaction processing systems, and provide at least one example of
how businesses use these systems.
2. Define functional area information systems, and provide an example of the support they
provide for each functional area of the organization.
3. Explain the purpose of enterprise resource planning systems, and identify four advantages
and four drawbacks to implementing an ERP system.
4. Discuss the three major types of reports generated by the functional area information systems
and enterprise resource planning systems, and provide an example of each type.
Teaching Tips and Strategies
The focus of this chapter is organizational information systems. You might start this chapter by
discussing why ISs can become quite complicated from both a technical and a managerial
perspective. Significant performance and uptime requirements impose technical challenges,
while coordination and usability for a large, diverse group of users pose managerial challenges.
Now, with the advent of e-commerce, online e-tailers are in the costly business of sending one or
two items to millions of households. To illustrate how this changes the supply chain, you can
use the following example. Let’s pretend for a moment that we work for eToys, and we get a
thousand orders for Barbie in one day. Break the class up into groups, and ask them what will be
involved in delivering those Barbies. The students will usually answer that someone will have to
pick the dolls in the warehouse, create an address label for each customer, and then box and ship
the order.
With the advancement of technology, companies now have more tools than ever before to
successfully deploy information systems that can integrate their operations and reduce
processing time. How do companies better manage their processes?
• By integrating their systems so that all departments can communicate with one another
(including outside vendors).
• By being able to track relevant data in real-time from business processes dispersed across
the organization. This will help management to make crucial decisions regarding
resources.
Review Questions

Chapter 8: Page 2
Section 8.1 - Before You Go On…
1. Define TPS.
TPS stands for transaction processing system. Transaction processing involves the capture,
storage, and monitoring of data generated from all business transactions. These data are
input to the organization’s database. TPSs must handle high volumes of data, avoid errors,
and provide a highly secure and stable environment.
2. List the key objectives of a TPS.
Objectives of a TPS are:
• Handle large volumes of data
• Avoid errors
• Handle large variations in volume (peak times)
• Avoid downtime
• Never lose results
• Maintain privacy and security
1. What is a functional area information system? List its major characteristics.
A functional area information system is one in which the functionality supports one
particular area or department such as HR systems, accounting systems, marketing systems,
and production systems. These systems were designed to increase internal effectiveness and
efficiency. They typically developed independently of one another, resulting in “information
silos.”.
2. How do information systems benefit the finance and accounting functional area?
Accounting and finance involves managing how money flows into, within, and out of
organizations. This mission is very broad because money is involved in all functions of an
organization. Planning activities involve analyzing operational data to help forecast and
project business activities as well as the budgeting to support these activities. These data
identify the amount of money that is needed to finance the firm’s operations. They also
specify how that money can be raised from the financial markets and at what cost. These
calculations involve many transactions and data points. Information systems are essential to
achieve a level of automation in these activities.
3. Explain how POM personnel use information systems to perform their jobs more effectively
and efficiently.
The production and operations management (POM) function in an organization is responsible
for the processes that transform inputs into useful outputs and for the operation of the
business. Because of the breadth and variety of POM functions, the chapter discusses only

Chapter 8: Page 3
four: in-house logistics and materials management, planning production and operation,
computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), and product life cycle management (PLM). The
POM function is also responsible for managing the organization’s supply chain..
4. What are the most important HRIS applications?
The most important HRIS functions are personnel administration (including workforce
planning, employee recruitment, assignment tracking, personnel planning and development,
and performance management and reviews), time accounting, payroll, compensation, benefits
accounting, and regulatory requirements.
1. Define ERP and describe its functionalities.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) was created to control all major business processes with
a single software architecture in real time. ERP integrates all department and functional
information flows across a company onto a single computer system that can serve all of the
enterprise’s needs.
2. What are ERP II systems?
ERP II systems are interorganizational ERP systems that provide Web-enabled links between
a company’s key business systems (such as inventory and production) and its customers,
suppliers, distributors, and others. These links integrate internal-facing ERP applications
with the external-focused applications of supply chain management and customer
relationship management. Figure 10.3 illustrates the organization and functions of an ERP II
system
3. Differentiate between core ERP modules and extended ERP modules.
ERP II systems include a variety of modules, which are divided into core ERP modules
(financial management, operations management, and human resource management) and
extended ERP modules (customer relationship management, supply chain management,
business intelligence, and e-business). As the name suggests, the core models must be
included in all ERP systems. In contrast, the extended modules are optional. Table 10.2
describes each of these modules.
4. List some drawbacks of ERP software.
ERP systems can be extremely complex, expensive, and time-consuming to implement.
Also, companies may need to change existing business process to fit the predefined business
process of the software. In addition, companies must purchase the entire software package
even if they only want to use a few of the modules.
Section 8.4 Before You Go On…

Chapter 8: Page 4
1. Compare and contrast the three major types of reports.
• Routine reports are produced at scheduled intervals. They range from hourly quality
control reports to daily reports on absenteeism rates. Although routine reports are
extremely valuable to an organization, managers frequently need special information that
is not included in these reports.
• Out-of-the routine reports are called ad-hoc (on-demand) reports. They are created based
on what users need, when they need it.
• Exception reports include only information that falls outside certain threshold standards.
To implement management by exception, management first creates performance
standards. The company then sets up systems to monitor performance (via the incoming
data about business transactions such as expenditures), compare actual performance to
the standards, and identify exceptions to the standards.
2. Compare and contrast the three types of on-demand reports.
• Drill-down reports display a greater level of detail. For example, a manager might
examine sales by region and decide to “drill down to more detail” to look at sales by store
and then by salesperson.
• Key-indicator reports summarize the performance of critical activities. For example, a
chief financial officer might want to monitor cash flow and cash on hand.
• Comparative reports compare, for example, the performances of different business units
or of a single unit during different time periods.
IT’s About Business Questions
IT’s About Business 8.1
Pizza Pizza’s Customer App
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of customer entry of pizza orders?
Advantages: Fun experience to customers, lower transaction costs to franchise owners,
lower chance of error for order entry.
Disadvantages: Customers must have iPhones and they need to feel comfortable using
these devices.
2. What are some of the features that you would want on a pizza app? How would these
features result in costs or benefits for Pizza Pizza?
Higher integration of the pizza app with customer data is a desirable feature. The benefits
are expected to outweigh costs for Pizza Pizza.
IT’s About Business 8.2

Chapter 8: Page 5
SAP at Airgas
1. What actions can a company such as Airgas take to help ensure the successful
implementation of ERP software such as SAP?
• Airgas chose approximately 300 subject-matter “experts” from the various functional
areas to identify which new functionalities were required in the SAP system.
• The “experts” worked side-by-side with a 120-member, full-time project team composed
of Deloitte consultants and Airgas executives. Other companies can follow similar
approaches.
2. What benefits could a company such as Airgas expect to receive from its deployment of SAP?
The SAP deployment is expected to generate between $75 and $125 million in additional
operating income each year, thanks to increased sales, better price management, and leaner
operating costs. Airgas expects to find additional benefits as the project moves forward.
Companies which successfully deploy SAP can expect to receive similar financial benefits.
Discussion Questions
1. Consider the-chapter opening case. What are the advantages that Fieldf/x provides for the
owners of professional baseball teams? What are the advantages that Fieldf/x provides for
professional baseball players? Are there disadvantages for the players? Support your
answers.
Fieldf/x is a motion-capture, or optical tracking system, that is designed to rid sports of the
biases of the human eye and quantify the formerly unquantifiable art of being in the right
place at the right time. Sportvision claimed that Fieldf/x is accurate to within one foot.
The system collects player movement data and produces valuable information such as a
fielder’s reaction time, his path to the ball, the baserunner’s speed, and the arc of a fly ball.
The system generates more than 2.5 million records per game, or 2 terabytes of data. When
Fiedlf/x is installed at all major league baseball parks, it will create a digital catalog of
virtually every movement of every fielder at every Major League Baseball game.
Fieldf/x will generate new baseball metrics, such as degree-of-difficulty fielding ratings.
Fieldf/x will also make coaching more precise. For example, coaches will be able to better
position their fielders, depending on the hitter and the pitch being thrown (e.g., fast ball
versus slow curve ball). Finally, the system will enhance the process by which clubs evaluate
— and pay — their players.
Students will have their own opinions on advantages/disadvantages to players.
2. Why is it logical to organize IT applications by functional areas?

Chapter 8: Page 6
Data are collected and flow through an organization based on the functions of the various
departments. IT systems that mirror those functions in departments support a smooth
operation.
3. Describe the role of a TPS in a service organization.
Customer orders/requests are entered into the TPS and are then available for the department
which will handle the order. Data is passed to other systems such as CRM, DSS, knowledge
management and e-commerce as needed.
4. Describe the relationship between TPS and FAIS.
FAIS provides information primarily to lower- and middle-level managers in the various
functional areas. Managers use this information to help plan, organize, and control
operations. The information is provided in a variety of reports. Of course the reports need to
be based on data, and that is the role of the TPS to generate the data from the business
operations.
5. Discuss how IT facilitates the budgeting process.
The budget allows management to distribute resources in the way that best supports the
organization’s mission and goals. Budgeting software supports budget preparation and
control and facilitates communication, review and approval among participants in the budget
process. These packages can reduce the time involved in the budget process. Further, they
can automatically monitor exceptions for patterns and trends as well.
6. How can the Internet support investment decisions?
The internet is a massive repository of company and financial information. There are several
web sites that provide financial information and these can be used by an investor to make
investment decisions.
7. Describe the benefits of integrated accounting software packages.
Integrated accounting packages allow the automation of several business processes – expense
management, investment management, control and auditing, managing multiple currencies,
and virtual close. By integrating accounting with financial management, many vendors have
allowed this automation to be supported.
8. Discuss the role that IT plays in support of auditing.
One major reason that organizations go out of business is their inability to forecast and/or
secure a sufficient cash flow. Underestimating expenses, overspending, engaging in fraud,
and mismanaging financial statements can lead to disaster. Consequently, it is essential that
organizations effectively control their finances and financial statements. We discuss several
forms of financial control next. Auditing has two basic purposes: (1) to monitor how the

Chapter 8: Page 7
organization’s monies are being spent, and (2) to assess the organization’s financial health.
Internal auditing is performed by the organization’s accounting/finance personnel. These
employees also prepare for periodic external audits by outside CPA firms.
9. Investigate the role of the Web in human resources management.
Many HRIS applications are delivered via an HR portal. Key HR functions are: recruitment,
HR maintenance and development, and HR planning and management.
Recruitment involves finding potential employees, evaluating them, and deciding which ones
to hire. Companies are trying to find appropriate candidates on the Web, usually with the
help of specialized search engines. Companies also advertise hundreds of thousands of jobs
on the Web. Online recruiting can reach more candidates, which may bring in better
applicants. In addition, the costs of online recruitment are usually lower than traditional
recruiting methods such as advertising in newspapers or in trade journals. After employees
are recruited, they become part of the corporate human resources pool, which means they
must be evaluated, maintained, and developed. IT provides support for these activities. IT
also plays an important role in training and retraining. Some of the most innovative
developments are taking place in the areas of intelligent, computer-aided instruction and the
application of multimedia support for instructional activities. For example, much corporate
training is delivered over the company’s intranet or via the Web. IT can also provide support
for payroll and employees’ records, benefits administration as well. This is known as ERM –
Employee resource management.
10. What is the relationship between information silos and enterprise resource planning?
ERP allows for integration of business operations and can break silos by sharing data from
different parts of the business and integrating business processes.
Problem-Solving Activities
1. Finding a job on the Internet is challenging as there are almost too many places to look.
Visit the following sites: www.careerbuilder.com, www.craigslist.org, www.linkedin.com,
www.careermag.com, and www.monster.ca. What does each of these sites provide you as a
job seeker?
Students prepare a list of capabilities for each of the sites. Building profiles, searching for
jobs, responding to job ads, evaluate the job market, etc.
2. Enter www.sas.com and access revenue optimization there. Explain how the software helps
in optimizing prices.
SAS is a statistical data analysis package and allows for advance mining of data to help in
business planning.
3. Enter www.eleapsoftware.com and review the product that helps with online training
(training systems). What are the most attractive features of this product?

Chapter 8: Page 8
While different features may appeal to different students, tracking progress and completion
and multi format delivery of the content are very attractive capabilities.
4. Enter www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/erp-try-sl-demos.aspx. View three of the demos in
different functional areas of your choice. Prepare a report on each product’s capabilities.
Student answers will vary based on the demo they view.
Students will follow the directions for these activities and submit a thoughtful report on each
5. Examine the capabilities of the following financial software package: Financial Analyzer
(from Oracle). Look for similar packages and prepare a report comparing the
capabilities of the software packages.
Students will develop a report on their findings
6. Surf the Net to find free accounting software (try http://download.cnet.com,
www.rkom.com , www.tucows.com, www.passtheshareware.com , and www.freeware-
guide.com ).Download the software and try it. Compare the ease of use and usefulness of
each software package.
Encourage students to download software, but remind them of the security issues.
7. Examine the capabilities of the following financial software packages: Financial
Analyzer (from www.oracle.com ), and Financial Management (from www.sas.com ).
Prepare a report comparing the capabilities of the software packages..
8. Find Sage 50 Accounting 2013 (formerly Simply Accounting) from Sage Software (
http://na. sage .com/Accounting ).Why is this product recommended for small
businesses?
9. Enter www.halogensoftware.com and www.successfactors.com. Examine their software
products and compare them.
10. Enter www.asuresoftware.com/products/asureforce and find the support it provides to
human resources management activities. View the demos and prepare a report on the
capabilities of the products.

Chapter 8: Page 9
Team Assignments
Groups will follow directions on these activities and submit a thoughtful report on each
1. Divide the class into groups. Each group member will represent a major functional area:
accounting/fi nance, sales/marketing, production/operations management, or human
resources. Each group will fi nd and describe several examples of processes that require the
integration of functional information systems in a company of their choice. Each group also
will show the interfaces to the other functional areas..
Students will follow the directions for the group project. Note that students might have to
search the Internet to locate information systems used in their functional area in order to
better describe the interfaces to other related areas.
2. Each group is to investigate an HRM software vendor (Oracle, Peoplesoft (now owned by
Oracle), SAP, Lawson Software, and others). The group should prepare a list of all HRM
functionalities supported by the software. Then each of the groups makes a presentation to
convince the class that its vendor is the best.
To help students prepare for the presentation, set up a scenario involving a company looking
to adopt HRM software. Suggest that each project team is working for a consulting/software
company. Stage the presentation as if they were presenting their software to the company’s
executives as a part of the bidding process for the project.
3. Each group in the class will be assigned to a major ERP/SCM vendor such as SAP, Oracle,
Lawson Software, and others. Members of the groups will investigate topics such as: (a) Web
connections, (b) use of business intelligence tools, (c) relationship to CRM and to EC, and
(d) major capabilities by the specific vendor. Each group will prepare a presentation for the
class, trying to convince the class why the group’s software is best for a local company
known to the students (for example, a supermarket chain).
To help students prepare for the presentation, set up a scenario where the city has funding to
promote local business development. Each project team is working for a local company.
Stage the presentation as if they were presenting the selected technology (i.e., topic) to the
city’s Board of Commerce as a part of the city grant/funding application process.
Closing Case
Difficulties in Managing Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
Companies initially installed ERP systems to make sense of their complicated operations. In
doing so, they were able to operate better and faster than their competition, at least until the

Chapter 8: Page 10
competition caught up. In many of these companies, the ERP systems are still essential.
However, they no longer provide a competitive advantage. Further, they are not helping to bring
in new revenue, and managing them is absorbing an increasing share of the company’s IT
budget. However, companies are not getting rid of ERP systems, because they still need them to
manage their supply chain, financial, and employee data. Nevertheless, ERP systems are causing
problems for many organizations.
The First Problem: Lack of Flexibility
Kennametal (www.kennametal.com), a $2 billion manufacturer of construction tools, has
spent $10 million on SAP maintenance contracts during since 1998. Throughout this entire
period, however, the company has been unable take advantage of any upgrades in the SAP
software. The reason is that, over the years, Kennametal made more than 6,000 customizations to
its SAP system. Consequently, the company could not implement any new technology that SAP
built in to its software. The firm’s SAP implementation was simply too customized. The time
and effort needed to install and test the upgrades outweighed any benefits. In late 2009,
Kennametal inquired about the costs of hiring consultants to assist with an SAP re-
implementation. The company was shocked by the estimates, which ranged from $15 million to
$54 million. Kennametal’s CIO charged that not only SAP, but all the major ERP packages are
“old and inflexible, and the vendors cannot build flexibility into their packages.”
A Potential Solution
Even if Kennametal could afford to pay up to $54 million for consultants to help the
company upgrade to the latest version of its SAP software, the CIO does not want to spend this
amount of money. Instead, he plans to turn Kennametal’s old ERP strategy upside down by
installing as generic a version of SAP as possible. He and Kennametal’s CEO are willing to
change the company’s internal business processes to match the way SAP works, rather than
modifying the SAP software to match Kennametal’s business processes.
Kennametal will also perform the implementation itself. The company hired IBM to consult
about requirements definitions and to identify business processes that must be reworked to
conform to SAP’s procedures. In fact, Kennametal planned to implement at least 90 percent of
the SAP software unmodified.
Haworth (www.haworth.com), a $1.7 billion office furniture manufacturer, is another
company that decided to make no customer changes to the core SAP code. The company uses
tools from iRise (www.irise.com) to visually plant its SAP rollouts in its major offices on four
continents. The iRise tools will simulate how the finished SAP system will look to employees, to
get them accustomed to changes before the actual rollout. The company also uses a sales
compensation application from Vertex (www.vertex.com) because SAP does not support the
complicated, multi-tiered compensation model that Haworth uses to pay its salespeople.
The Result
Implementing the core code of an ERP system without any significant modifications
minimized both the costs of the system and the time devoted to the system for Kennametal and

Chapter 8: Page 11
Haworth. However, there is a tradeoff. Both companies had to spend time and money reworking
their business processes to meet the procedures established by their ERP systems.
The Second Problem: High Maintenance Fees
Dana Holding (www.dana.com) is an $8.1 billion auto parts supplier. Dana’s CIO discovered
that 90 percent of the fees the company paid to maintain its ERP system were pure profit for the
ERP vendor. When the auto market hit tough times, Dana wanted its ERP vendor to work with
the company to reduce maintenance fees, but the vendor objected. To persuade Dana that its
maintenance fees were justifiable, the vendor analyzed Dana’s use of its support. The analysis
concluded that Dana made 21,000 requests to the vendor over a nine-month period. Dana
countered that 98 percent of the requests did not involve human interaction, but were automated
look-ups on the vendor’s knowledge base.
Dana’s Solution
Dana stopped making maintenance payments to its ERP vendor. The risks to any company
that decides to stop paying maintenance fees include being hit with penalties assessed by the
vendor for breaking a contract and being left without technical support in an emergency. Dana’s
lawyers studied the contracts with the vendor and felt comfortable that the firm would not be
violating any terms by terminating the payments. Then, Dana’s IT team explored ways to obtain
support for their ERP system through other avenues. They found many alternatives, including
online user forums, books, and consultants.
The Results
One result of the move away from provider support is that Dana’s IT group has to be more
knowledgeable about the company’s ERP system so they can fix whatever goes wrong.
However, Dana’s CIO notes that there have been no technology disasters with its ERP system,
because the system is mature and reliable. In addition, eliminating maintenance saves money,
because Dana is no longer paying for a service of questionable value.
Questions
1. Describe what it means for an ERP system to be inflexible.
Every organization has special or proprietary processes that are unique to that organization.
ERP systems that are inflexible may not be able to accommodate
maintenance/updates/upgrades that are provided by an outside developer.
2. Describe the pros and cons of tailoring your organization’s business processes to align with
the procedures in an ERP system.
One advantage is that the system will require few if any modifications, thereby making long-
term maintenance easier. This is important when the systems need to be upgraded due to
changes in government (local, state, federal) ordinances or tax codes. If it is an industry-

Chapter 8: Page 12
specific application, then the system’s developer should have included processes that are best
practice for the industry.
Disadvantages include the costs of annual or periodic systems maintenance provided by the
developer. Another problem might involve having to modify the base system to
accommodate any new proprietary software or additional processes that are not
accommodated in the base system.
Glossary
ad-hoc (on-demand) reports Nonroutine reports that often contain special information
that is not included in routine reports.
batch processing TPS that processes data in batches at fixed periodic intervals.
comparative reports Reports that compare performances of different business units or time
periods.
computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) An information system that integrates
various automated factory systems.
drill-down reports Reports that show a greater level of detail than is included in routine
reports.
enterprise application integration (EAI) system A system that integrates existing systems by
providing layers of software that connect applications together.
enterprise resource planning (ERP) system Information system that takes a business
process view of the overall organization to integrate the planning,
management, and use of all of an organization’s resources, employing a
common software platform and database.
ERP II systems Interorganizational ERP systems that provide that provide Web-enabled
links between key business systems (such as inventory and production) of
a company and its customers, suppliers, distributors, and others.
exception reports Reports that include only information that exceeds certain threshold
standards.
functional area information systems (FAISs) A system that provides information to
managers (usually mid-level) in the functional areas, in order to support
managerial tasks of planning, organizing, and controlling operations.
key-indicator reports Reports that summarize the performance of critical activities.

Chapter 8: Page 13
online transaction processing (OLTP) TPS that processes data after transactions occur,
frequently in real time.
routine reports Reports produced at scheduled intervals.
trans-border data flow The flow of corporate data across nations’ borders.
transaction Any business event that generates data worth capturing and storing in a
database.
transaction processing systems (TPSs) Information system that supports routine, core
business transactions.

Other documents randomly have
different content

more even. Mrs. Stokes had sent Lucy, who was going to be married, and
Miss Woodroff had come from the Rectory, and Mrs. Sommerville, the
young widow who was living with her brother, the curate. There were seven
of us altogether to thirteen gentlemen, for, by way of making the table a
little more crowded, Charles Stamford had thought proper to come, though
it was not his day. And we all talked as if our lives were at stake. The
younger ones were much amused to be on duty thus, to be called upon to
take care of the old gentlemen, and the rest of us understood the obligation
we were under to talk, and worked resolutely at the conversation. For my
part, I did very well, I had quite a pleasant neighbour; and, indeed, I have
found that a great many of the City gentlemen are very pleasant to talk to.
He told me all about the new railway it was intended to make, and scarcely
laughed at all when I declared myself an enemy to new railroads, in our
neighbourhood, at least.
‘Why should you cut up our pleasant, smiling country?’ I said. ‘We have
all the railways we want, and more. I do not say anything against what is
necessary; but why make gashes across the country when it is not wanted
——’
‘Gashes—I don’t think they are gashes,’ said my neighbour. ‘When I
saw the white steam flying along the valley just now, I thought it very
picturesque. I allow I do not like it too near; but Dinglefield is as safe as if
it were in Paradise. No railway will climb your peaceable heights. If there
was question however of a railway into Paradise itself, there is the man who
would do it,’ he said, looking across the table. ‘I am a mere innocent
myself. I do what other people tell me: but there is the dangerous man. I
hope, for your sake, that he will give his word against this, for he would
survey the moon if he thought it likely to answer.’
I peeped between the little thickets of flowers with which Sophy had
covered the table, and looked at the man thus pointed out to me. He was
sitting by Ursula Stamford, but he was not talking to her—she, as I have
said, was occupied by her other neighbour at her right hand. He was an old
man, not far from seventy, according to appearance, with snow-white hair,
but a beard still almost black, a combination which is always striking. His
features were fine, his dark eyes deeply sunk under eyebrows still dark like
his beard. There was a gentleman on the other side of him whom he did not
seem to care to talk to, and he was sitting, scarcely speaking, his face in
repose.

‘Do you mean that handsome old man?’ I said.
‘Old,’ said my companion, slightly startled; he was about the same age
himself if I had thought of it. ‘Well, I suppose he is old,’ he added, with a
little laugh. ‘You should talk to him. I don’t know a more interesting man;
and, as I tell you, he is the man to whom, if there was a railway to be made
to the moon, everybody would turn. If he took the Channel tunnel in hand
he would carry it through.’
‘But that must be impossible,’ said I. ‘I hate the crossing; but I would not
trust myself in a tunnel under the sea, not for—— But you are laughing—it
is impossible——’
‘Impossible!—not in the very least—ask him. I think myself he’s too
speculative. But there is one thing certain. If Oakley took it up, it would go
through. He’d do it. He is a man who does not believe in difficulties. There
might be a great catastrophe next day, but one way or other he’d drive it
through.’
I am a very quiet person myself, therefore it stands to reason that I
should like a man who drives things through. Besides, he was a handsome
old man. I looked at him again behind the flowers, while my companion
went on talking, and I saw something which interested me. Miss Stamford
came to a pause in her conversation with the man at her right hand, and she
seized the opportunity to turn to the man on her left. At the first sound of
her voice his abstract countenance lighted up. He turned hastily round with
a look of recognition. How could he know Ursula Stamford, I said to
myself? His face lighted up with a gleam of intelligence and pleasure, and
something which, not knowing any other word, I can only call sweetness.
He turned quite round to her, and began to talk with an interest and warmth
which roused my immediate sympathy. I seemed to be looking on at an
interesting scene in the theatre, seen from so great a distance that it was
only the dumb-show which made it intelligible. And my neighbour carried
on his discourse all the time.
‘He has sprung from nothing,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if he ever had a
father. He began in the humblest way. The first time I heard of him was
about thirty years ago, when he was struggling into business. He was not
what you would call a young man then. (You ladies are hard upon age—you
don’t like it talked about when it concerns yourselves, but you stamp us
down as old men without a bit of fellow-feeling——)’

Here I interrupted my instructor. ‘I thought it was a weakness of ours
only to dislike to be called old. I thought men were superior to such a little
vanity—as to so many others.’
‘You are satirical now. You think we are not superior to any vanity, and I
shouldn’t wonder if you were right. I was saying old Oakley was not a
young man to start with. He was a sort of an engineer, self-taught, all self-
taught, and he was trying to get into business as a contractor. Mrs.
Mulgrave,’ said my companion solemnly, ‘have you any idea what that man
is worth now? I thought so, as you didn’t seem impressed. He is worth more
than a million, that is the fact—he is made of money; losses don’t seem to
touch him. I do not suppose,’ my friend added, with awe in his voice, ‘that
he knows how much he has.’
This information did not excite me as he expected, but I looked again
between the geraniums at Mr. Oakley. I am afraid his handsome head
interested me more than his fortune. ‘And there are so many people who
have nothing at all!’ I said; ‘but to look at him he might be a philosopher
without a penny.’
‘That is just like you ladies—you would think more of him if he were a
philosopher without a penny. What an extraordinary mistake!’ cried my
companion, ‘as if money were not a power, quite as interesting and a great
deal more tangible than philosophy.’
His countenance flushed and changed. He was an enthusiast for money. I
have met many such among General George’s City friends: not in the sordid
way we think of, but really as a great power.
When Mrs. St. Clair gave the sign to go away, I was quite sorry to break
off this conversation, which was so much more interesting than the ordinary
kind of talk. It was a beautiful June evening, and, instead of going into the
drawing-room, we all went out upon the lawn where Simms had laid down
the great lion-skin, of which they are all so proud, and some rugs which the
General brought from India; for it is unnecessary to say that we elder people
were a little afraid of the dew on the grass. But nobody could have taken
cold on such a night. The borders were all red and white with roses standing
out against the deep green of the shrubberies behind, and the colours
seemed to repeat themselves in the sky, which was all one flush of rose
above the blue, deepening into crimson as it descended, and burning like
fire between the trees on the horizon line. Dinglefield stands high, with the

broad Thames valley lying at its feet, of which you could get glimpses
through the cuttings on the western side, if your eyes were not dazzled with
all that blaze of gold. Miss Stamford was tired with her day in town, and
established herself at once in her favourite basket-chair on the lawn. She sat
there tranquil and happy while the rest walked about; her presence, her
smile, the rest that seemed to breathe about her, gave stability and meaning
to the whole place. She was only an old maid according to the vulgar, but
you could not look at her without feeling sure that where she was, there was
a home. I don’t know that it had ever occurred to me to think so much about
Ursula Stamford before. There was something in the air which affected me,
though I did not know how. We could see the lighted windows of the
dining-room, and hear the sound of the voices and laughter, though at a
distance; and we all laughed too in sympathy, though we did not know what
the jokes were. It was very pleasant and friendly, and rather droll. None of
us had any particular desire to be joined by the gentlemen. We had done our
duty by them, talked our very best to them, and flattered ourselves that it
had all gone off very well; but though we were glad they were enjoying
themselves, now that our part of the entertainment was over, we were not
very sorry to think that they must all go away shortly by the last train. And
no heart among us, I am safe to say, beat one pulsation the quicker when
they came out upon the lawn, some of them slightly flushed with the
laughter and the good cheer, to take their coffee, and their leave. It had
grown almost dark by that time, and the white waistcoats (for they were in
their morning dress, and most of them wore white waistcoats) made a great
show in the half light. The greater part of them thanked us all for the
delightful evening, not being quite clear which were, and which were not,
the ladies of the house, but determined to fulfil all the duties of politeness.
We walked with them to the gate to see them go, and shook hands with
them all, though we did not know their names. I recollect the whole scene
as clearly as a picture, though I knew at the time no reason why I should
remember it: the dining-room brightly lighted, the table with all its fruit and
flowers, and the vacant chairs pushed away, standing in all manner of
groups: the drawing-room much more dim, just showing a glimmer of
newly-lighted candles: the table on the lawn with Miss Stamford’s white
cap and half visible figure close to it: and all the rest of us standing about
telling each other how well it had gone off, and listening to the voices of the
gentlemen getting fainter and fainter as they streamed off behind the

shrubberies along the road to the station. If any one had told us what
changes would come from that visit! But how could any one have guessed
the changes that were to come?
It was not the next day, but the day after that I met General George in the
afternoon coming from the station. It was at least two hours before his usual
time, and he was walking. The sight of him gave me a little shock.
Something, I thought, must have happened. I ran over in my mind, as one
naturally does, as I went up to him, the things that were most possible.
There were nephews scattered about over all the world. Could it be that
there was bad news of George Thistlethwaite in Ceylon, or Bertie Stamford
at the Cape? or was it pleasanter intelligence from young Mrs. Thurston
(née Ursula Humphreys) or Lucy Thistlethwaite, or one of the Lincolnshire
girls? but that (I said to myself) would not be enough to bring the General
home so much sooner than usual. When he came nearer however my mind
became easier. He did not look unhappy, he looked puzzled, and now and
then a gleam like laughter came over his face. When he saw me he came
forward with an air of pleasure.
‘You are the very person I wanted to see—if you will let me, I will walk
home with you; but let us go the back way,’ said General George to my
intense surprise, ‘for I don’t want to see my sisters till I have taken your
advice.’
‘My advice! before you see your sisters, before you tell Ursula!’ I cried,
and then the General laughed and frowned, and looked angry and amused
all in one. ‘That is just where my difficulty lies,’ he said. A difficulty about
Ursula! it took away my breath.
‘You will not believe it,’ he said, ‘but it is quite true. Charles came to me
this morning with the absurdest question. He came to ask me who it was
that sat next Mr. Oakley at dinner at Bonport on Tuesday—eh? what, did
you notice anything?’ he asked abruptly, for I had not been able to restrain a
little exclamation. I have never boasted of my penetration, but from that
moment I seemed to know exactly what he was going to say.
‘I know who sat next Mr. Oakley at dinner,’ I said.
‘Ursula, wasn’t it? we laid our heads together, and from all we could
make out—he went to Charles first to find out who it was, and Charles, of
course, made up his mind that it must have been one of the young ladies
that had made such an impression. He proposed first Miss Woodroff and

then the young widow: but no, no. Oakley said it was not a young lady. It
was a lady whose hair was turning gray, who wore a cap, and used a double
eye-glass. At last the conviction forced itself upon me. By Jove! it was
Ursula—Ursula the man was thinking of! We both burst out laughing in his
face—— But afterwards,’ the General added gloomily with a flush of
displeasure, ‘afterwards—I feel furious, Mrs. Mulgrave, though I may not
show it; and that is why I have come first to you.
‘What did he want?’ I said, though I allow there was some hypocrisy in
my question.
‘What did he want?—you may well ask. He is a man of sixty-five, older
than I am. He wants—to marry my sister,’ said the General, with a half
suppressed outcry of rage—‘a man who has risen from the ranks—a
stranger—a—a confounded—— I beg you ten thousand pardons, Mrs.
Mulgrave; he wants to pay his addresses, if you please, to Ursula! God bless
us all—did you ever hear such a thing? I feel much more like cursing than
blessing, to tell the truth.’
‘But, General, he is very rich—richer than any one ever was before.’
‘Ah, you have got bitten too,’ he said, with a tone almost of disgust.
‘That is what Charles says; but what is his money to me? What is it to any
of us, Mrs. Mulgrave? You would not upset all the order of your life and
change your habits, and give up your own ways for a million of money,
would you? After all, when you have enough to be comfortable, what does
money matter? Even the most extravagant of women can’t put more than a
certain number of yards of stuff into her dress. When you have enough,
what does it matter whether the over-plus is counted by hundreds or by
thousands?’ said the General, with magnanimous but new-born indifference.
If he cared so little about it, why should he go to the City every day, I could
not help saying to myself; and, indeed, it came to my lips before I knew.
‘If we all thought that,’ I said, ‘it would save a great deal of trouble.
Perhaps you would not then have had these twelve gentlemen down to
dinner and made all the mischief, General.’
General George laughed. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t,’ he said, ‘but that is
different. It is not for the money, but the occupation, Mrs. Mulgrave; and of
course when one has money invested one wants to make something by it.
However my opinion is that it would be much better to say nothing about
this folly to Ursula. To be sure,’ he added with a look of half-defiant

assurance which he belied by a suspicious glance of inquiry at me,’ it might
amuse her; but it could have no other effect. I don’t see why I should take
any notice to Ursula.’
‘But Mr. Oakley—will he be satisfied?’
‘Old Oakley? Upon my word, I don’t see why I should consider him or
what will satisfy him,’ said the General, growing red; but he was uneasy. He
paused, then turned to me again. ‘If you were in my position, what should
you do?’
‘I should tell her, and let her judge; after all, it is she who must decide.’
‘Decide—judge! you speak,’ cried General George, ‘as if it were
possible—as if it might be within the bounds of—— Bah! do you suppose
that Ursula—Ursula! my sister—would, could hesitate one moment?’
‘No.’ I said ‘no,’ half because I really thought so, but half because he
was so much excited, and it was necessary to calm him. ‘I do not suppose
she would; but still, a woman should be told when a man—— It is the
greatest compliment he can pay her, and it is always flattering even when it
is impossible!’
‘Flattering—a compliment! What can you be thinking of?’ the General
cried in high disdain; ‘that an old fellow like that should propose to
appropriate and take possession of—a lady! I don’t say my sister, which of
course is the sting of it,’ he said with a laugh, calming down again, ‘but any
lady——’
‘Dear General, forgive me,’ I said; ‘you always talk, you gentlemen, of
marriage as the end of every woman’s ambition, and you are always ready
to jibe at those who have not attained that great end. Then how, when this
elevation is in her power, do you venture to think of keeping her in
ignorance of it?’
He turned round upon me almost with violence. ‘Elevation!’ he cried;
then perceiving, I suppose, by something in my eyes what I meant, laughed
more uneasily than ever. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘we may say silly things, I allow
we all say silly things; but when you come to that—to speak of elevation
for my sister from any offer, or that she should think it a compliment!—
God bless us all!—there are a great many foolish things that one says, but
you know better than to take it all for gospel. Of course when one speaks of
women one does not think of—— By Jove, I am only getting deeper. Don’t
hit a man when he is down, but be serious, and give me your advice.’

‘One does not think of one’s own sisters,’ said I, for I did not mean to
spare him, ‘only of other people’s sisters, or of those who have nobody to
stand up for them; but I will not be ungenerous, General I will give you my
advice. Tell Ursula, and let her judge for herself.’
‘Judge!—she can have but one opinion. But that is what Charlie says. I
suppose the two of you must be right,’ said the General grudgingly. He
walked on by my side in silence, cutting down the weeds by the roadside
ferociously with his stick; then repeated with a still more churlish assent, ‘I
suppose what you two people of the world say must be right.’
I smiled within myself to be called a woman of the world; but one must
not take the words of an angry man to heart. When he came to the turn of
the road which led to Brothers-and-Sisters he muttered something about
getting it over, and took off his hat and left me without another word. Poor
General George! Under all his pretences at anger he was in a great fright.
Either he believed his own careless talk, and thought that a husband was too
fine a thing for any woman to refuse, or else—— But I need not discuss the
vague feeling of insecurity which had begun to creep over him. For my part,
I did not feel alarmed. I had more confidence in Ursula’s faithfulness than
he had. At the same time, the crisis was exciting, and I thought the time
very long until the evening began to darken, and I felt myself at liberty—
dinner being over—to run over the corner of the Green which lay between
us, as I often did in the evening, and see what Ursula said.
CHAPTER III
The family party was on the lawn as usual; Miss Stamford seated in her
own chair with her knitting and her feet upon the lion-skin; while Mrs. St.
Clair beside her, with a basket full of bright scraps, had been dressing dolls
for a bazaar. Sophy was cutting off the withered roses with a large pair of
garden scissors; all their occupations were quite as usual. But there was an
aspect about the family which was not usual. In the distance the General’s
step was audible pacing about; and there was an odour of his cigar in the
air; all as peaceful, as homelike as it always was; but yet a something in the
atmosphere which had not been there yesterday. As I came up with my
shawl over my head, the General tossed his cigar away and came nearer,
and Sophia put down the basket with the dead roses, and Mrs. St. Clair got
up to get me a chair. The only one that had not changed in the least was

Ursula, who raised her head and her eyes and gave me a friendly nod as she
always did. She went on with her knitting without any intermission. It is
work which does not demand attention, nor so much light as doll-dressing.
They were all very glad to see me—more glad even than on ordinary
occasions: for it was clear that the situation was highly tendu, as the French
say, and that a new-comer was a relief.
‘What a beautiful evening!’ we all said together, and then stopped
abashed, as people do who have rushed into the same commonplace speech.
Then Ursula added, ‘Of course, that is the first thing we must say to each
other. I think there never was such a summer—so bright, so steady, one fine
day after another. Here is a fortnight, or nearly so, that we have not had one
drop of rain.’
‘Quite wonderful,’ said I. ‘The hay, I hear, is a sight to see. A day or two
more, and we shall all begin to pray for rain. We are never content whatever
we have.’
‘A little variety is always pleasant,’ Mrs. St. Clair said. Meanwhile,
while we talked about the weather, the General hung about over our little
group like a storm-cloud. He did not say anything, but he looked
tempestuous; he, who was always so calm. Presently he turned away, and
went off to say something to Simms, who appeared just then with a note or
a message.
‘I suppose,’ said Mrs. St. Clair, turning to me, ‘you know all about it.
George told us that he had met you, and told you——’
‘Yes, he told me;’ but I did not know what to say; they all wore a look of
agitation, except Ursula, who was as calm as usual—more calm than usual,
I should have said; but, no doubt, that was only in comparison with the
agitation of the rest.
‘And I suppose you think like the rest, that I will jump at a husband the
moment one is offered to me,’ said Miss Stamford with a smile.
‘We don’t think so, Ursula. We know it is not the first time. It is only
George that is so frightened, poor fellow.’
‘Why should he be so frightened?’ Miss Stamford cried. ‘No; it is not the
first time. I may take that little credit to myself. I might have my head
turned, perhaps, if it had been the first time. But, after all, it is not so much
to brag of. I suppose he wants somebody to take care of him when he gets
old and feeble; but he ought to have somebody younger than me.’

Sixty-five is not what you would call young; but it was odd how we all
were of opinion that Mr. Oakley’s time for being old and feeble was still a
good way off, a thing to come. I acknowledged that I shared this weakness.
We were all about the same age, and it did not occur to us that we were
already old.
‘He shows his sense,’ said I, taking the part of the absent to whom
nobody did any justice, ‘as well as his good taste. Poor man, though he is so
rich, I am very sorry for him. I wish Ursula had met him twenty years ago
when there would have been no harm——’
‘No harm! do you know that he is a nobody—a man self-made?’ said
Mrs. St. Clair; ‘not a match for Ursula Stamford if he had been ever so
young!’
‘But you did not think of that in Fia’s case,’ said Sophy; ‘he was rich and
you never said a word. You thought it quite reasonable. ‘What do his
grandfathers matter to us?’ you said. I am not sure myself whether it does or
not; but you said so, you know; and George proposed the bride and
bridegroom at the wedding, and everybody was pleased. Now this Mr.
Oakley is a very nice man, whatever you say, for I had a good deal of talk
with him myself; and if Ursula chose——’
‘You should not interfere,’ said Mrs. St. Clair; ‘you are always
sentimental. Of course, if there is so much as a thought of a marriage,
Sophy is always in favour of it; but to think of Ursula at her time of life!’
‘You all talk very much at your ease about Ursula,’ said Miss Stamford.
‘I suppose Ursula may have a word, a little share in it, for herself. The way
my family consult over me’—she said, turning to me with a slight blush and
laugh. ‘I think George might have held his tongue; that would have been the
more satisfactory way.’
‘It was my fault,’ I cried hurriedly: ‘he told me that he thought it would
be best not to tell you. You must forgive me, Ursula, if I gave him bad
advice; I thought you ought to know.’
Before I had half said this, I saw I had made a mistake; but one must
finish one’s sentence, however foolish it may be. Ursula suspended her
knitting for a moment and looked at me with calm amazement.
‘Not tell me!’ she said. ‘Why should he have kept it from me?’
The emphasis was very slight, but it meant a great deal. It never occurred
to her that a thing which concerned her so closely should have been kept

from herself; the question was why should we know; and I confess I felt
very much ashamed of having any say in it, when I met the calm,
astonished look of her eyes.
‘It is getting a little chilly,’ she said, rising up. ‘I think it is time to go
indoors.’
We all followed her quite humbly, and the General came stalking after
us, more like a thunder-cloud than ever. He had been talking to poor Simms
in a voice which was not pleasant, and he appeared at the drawings-room
window by which we all entered with the large lion-skin in his arms.
‘I can’t have this left out all night in those heavy dews,’ he said. I do not
think I ever saw those signs of suppressed irritation, which are too common
in families, among the Stamfords before.
Next morning General George came in for a moment before I had
breakfasted, to tell me for my satisfaction that all was right. His face was
quite clear again. ‘I was a little cross last night. I fear you may have
supposed that I for a moment doubted my sister. Not a moment, Mrs.
Mulgrave. I have got to give him his answer, poor old fellow. I can’t help
feeling a little sorry for him all the same. What bad luck for the poor old
beggar! Of all the women there to hit upon the one who was simply
hopeless! Some men always have that sort of fate.’
‘He showed his taste,’ said I; ‘but I heard he was the luckiest man in the
world, General; that he always succeeded in everything; that however wild
the project was, he was the man to carry it through.’
I said this partly in malice, I am bound to admit, and I was very
successful. The General’s face clouded over again: he set his teeth. ‘He
shall not succeed this time;’ and he said something more in his moustache,
some stronger words which I was not intended to hear. It was all over then,
this odd little episode. I stood and watched him from my door half relieved,
half wondering. Was it all over? I did not feel so satisfied or so certain as
General George.
A few days of perfect quiet ensued. When a week passed we all felt
really satisfied. It was over then? Mr. Oakley had accepted his refusal. To
be sure one did not see what else he could have done, though I confess that
I had not expected it for my part. However, on the Sunday morning the
moment I looked across to the Stamfords’ pew after getting settled in my
own, it seemed to me that I could see indications of a new event. Both Mrs.

St. Clair and Sophy were looking at me when I raised my head; they could
not restrain themselves. They gave me anxious, significant glances with
little hardly perceptible signs of the head and hand. When the service was
over, and we were going out, Sophy was at my side in a moment. We were
not actually out of church when I felt her arm slide into mine and a whisper
in my ear. ‘She has got a letter!’ Sophy said, all in a tremble of eagerness.
Mrs. St. Clair came up on the other side as soon as we were clear of the
stream of people. ‘It is getting really serious,’ she said; ‘he will not take a
refusal. It is quite absurd, and George is dreadfully angry. He is just as
absurd on the other side.’
‘And what does Ursula say?’
‘Oh, Ursula does not say anything. Of course we could not help knowing
about the letter. It was very long and very much in earnest——’
‘Oh, quite impassioned!’ cried Sophy. She had not encountered anything
so exciting for years. She was pale with interest and emotion, shaking her
head in intense seriousness. ‘He says that he appeals to her sense of justice
not to condemn him without a hearing. It is quite beautiful. I am sure he is a
nice man.’
‘And then, you know, there is the other side of the question,’ said Mrs.
St. Clair seriously. ‘I did not quite understand when we spoke of it last.
Charlie says he is immensely rich—not just ordinarily comfortable like so
many people, but a true millionnaire. That changes the aspect of the matter
a little, don’t you think? Not that I am a mercenary person, still less Ursula;
but when you come to think of it, wealth to that extent is something to be
considered. Just fancy the good she might do,’ cried the sensible sister, ‘and
the number of young people we have looking to us! I do think it is not
exactly right to ignore that side of the question.’
‘Charlie thinks it is quite wrong,’ said Sophy, shaking her head.
The General had not even stopped to say ‘Good morning’ outside the
church door as he usually did. It was his brother Charles who was with
Ursula. The General walked straight home, without looking to the right
hand or the left. I felt a great sympathy for him. It was he that would feel it
most if anything happened; and he was the only one of the family who had
that fantastic delicacy of sentiment which some of us feel for those we love,
so that the merest touch of anything that could be called ridicule, seemed
sacrilege and desecration to him.

I must not attempt to go in detail into all that followed. Miss Stamford
wrote a very beautiful letter (they all told me) to her antiquated lover,
telling him how sorry she was to be the cause of any annoyance to him, and
hoping that the vexation would be but temporary, as indeed she felt sure it
must be—but that his proposals were quite out of the question. This, of
course, was what every woman would have said in the circumstances. But
neither did Mr. Oakley take this for an answer. There was another letter by
return of post in which they said he implored her to believe that nothing
about the matter was temporary—that it was a question of life and death to
him; that now was his only chance of happiness. Happiness! for a man of
sixty-five! For my part I could not help laughing, but it was no laughing
matter for the household at Brothers-and-Sisters. A few days after this I met
Mr. Oakley himself on his way to the house. He recognized me at once, but
naturally he did not know who I was. He took me for one of the family, and
came up to me carrying his hat in his hand. He was a very handsome old
man. His hair was snow-white, a mass of it rising up in waves from his
forehead, with eyebrows still black and strongly marked, and the finest
brilliant dark eyes. I said to myself mentally: ‘If it had been I, I should have
given in at once.’ And his manners were beautiful—not the manners of
society—the deferential respect of a man who knows women chiefly
through books, and does not understand the free and easy modern way of
treating us. He kept his hat in his hand as he stood and spoke. ‘I do not
know,’ he said, ‘if I have the honour of speaking to a sister of Miss
Stamford’s, but I know I met you there.’
‘Not a sister, but a very affectionate friend,’ I said. His face lighted up
instantly; he almost loved me for saying so. ‘Then if that is the case we
ought to be friends too,’ he said. I was so much interested that I turned and
walked with him, regardless of prudence. What would the Stamfords say if
they saw me thus identifying myself with the cause of their assailant? but
the interest of this strange little romance carried me away.
‘I must see her,’ he said. ‘Don’t you think I have a right to see her? They
need not surely grudge me one opportunity of pleading my own cause. No,
indeed, I don’t blame them. If I had such a treasure—nay,’ he went on with
a smile, ‘when I have that treasure, I will guard it from every wind that
blows. I don’t wonder at their precautions. But Stamford does not treat me
with generosity; he does not trust to my honour: that is why I adopt his own
tactics. I must try to effect an entrance while he is away.’

‘I don’t think Ursula will have you, Mr. Oakley,’ I said.
‘Perhaps not; but that remains to be seen. She has never seen me—that
is, she has never seen the real John Oakley, only a director of her brother’s
company, two different persons, Mrs. Mulgrave, if you will allow me to say
so.’
‘But she saw you before she knew you were a director. She travelled
with you. You were the gentleman like Don Quixote——’
How foolish I was! Of course I ought not to have said it. I felt that before
the words were out of my mouth. Such encouragement as this was enough
to counterbalance any number of severities. ‘Ah! I am like Don Quixote,
am I?’ he said; and once more, and more brightly than ever, his handsome
old face blazed into the brightest expression. Poor Mr. Oakley! I threw
myself heart and soul into his faction after this; for indeed, as I afterwards
heard, he had not at all a pleasant ‘time,’ as the Americans say, that
afternoon. When he sent in his name at Brothers-and-Sisters he was told
that the ladies were out, and, though he waited, all that he managed to
obtain was a hurried interview with Mrs. St. Clair, who conveyed to him
Ursula’s entreaty that he would accept her answer as final, and not ask to
see her. Sophy told me after (she must have hidden herself somewhere, for
nobody but Frances was supposed to be present) that his behaviour was
beautiful. He bowed to the ground, she said, and declared that no one could
be so much interested as he was in observing Miss Stamford’s slightest
wish; that he would not for the world intrude upon her, but wait her
pleasure another time. Mrs. St. Clair’s heart softened too, and she did not
protest, as perhaps she ought to have done, against this ‘other time.’ He
passed by my cottage as he went away, and I do not deny that I was in my
little garden looking out, ‘I have had no luck,’ he said, shaking his head, but
still with a smile, ‘no luck to-day; but another time I shall succeed better.’
I ran to the gate, I felt so much interested. ‘Do you really think, Mr.
Oakley,’ I said, ‘that it is worth your while to persevere?’
‘Worth my while?’ he said; ‘certainly it is worth my while: for I am in no
hurry. I can bide my time.’
Bide his time at sixty-five! I stood and looked at him as long as he was
in sight. There is nothing like courage for securing the sympathy of the
bystanders.

After this the excitement ran very high both in the house of the
Stamfords and in the community in general. We all took sides: and while
General George made himself more and more disagreeable, and we all
watched and spied her every action, Ursula was subjected all the time to a
ceaseless assault from the other side. Letters poured upon her; beautiful
baskets of flowers arrived suddenly, secretly, so that no one knew how they
came. After a while, when the autumn commenced, there came hampers of
game and of fruit, all in the same anonymous, magnificent way. And then
the clever old man found out a still more effectual way of siege. The
Stamfords had always nephews who wanted appointments or who required
to be pushed. For instance, there was young Charley, of the Inner Temple,
sadly in want of a brief: when lo! all at once, briefs began to tumble down
from heaven upon the young man. In a week he had more business than he
knew what to do with. And Willie Thistlethwaite had a living offered to
him; and Cecil, whom they were so anxious to place with an engineer,
though the premium was so serious a matter, suddenly found a place open
to him with no premium at all. I believe in my heart that it was Mr. Charles
Stamford who helped the old lover to recommend himself in this effectual,
quiet way; for how should he have found out all the nephews without help?
But as one of these mysterious benefits after another happened to the distant
members of the family, the feeling rose stronger and stronger among all
their friends. We set down everything, from the flowers to the living,
unhesitatingly to Mr. Oakley; and at last public sentiment on the Green got
to such a pitch that whereas people had laughed at the whole matter at first
as little more than a joke, everybody now grew indignant, and protested that
Ursula Stamford ought to be cut and sent to Coventry if she did not marry
Don Quixote. I don’t know who had betrayed this description which she
had herself given of him. But everybody now called him Don Quixote, and
the whole community took his cause to heart. While this feeling rose
outside, a wave of the same sentiment, but still more powerful, got up
within. Mr. Charles spoke out and declared (as, indeed, he had done from
the first) that to neglect such an opportunity of strengthening the family
influence would be a mere flying in the face of Providence; and then
something still more extraordinary happened. Frances herself—who looked
upon all married ladies in the light of prospective widows, and regarded the
one state only as a preparation for the other—Frances herself suddenly
threw off her allegiance to the General and went over boldly to the other

side. Sophy had been Mr. Oakley’s champion all along. They began to turn
upon Ursula, to accuse her of behaving badly to her unwearied suitor—they
accused her of playing fast and loose, of amusing herself with his devotion.
They raised a family outcry against her, and brought down all the married
sisters and the distant brothers upon her, with a storm of disapproving
letters. ‘The man that has provided for my Cecil,’ one indignant lady wrote,
‘surely, surely, deserves better at my sister’s hands;’ and ‘I really think, my
dear Ursula, that any petty objections of your own should yield before the
evident advantage to the family,’ was what the eldest brother of all, the
father of the young barrister, said. On the other side, with gloom on his
face, and a sneer upon his lip (where it was so completely out of place), and
a bitter jibe now and then about the falsity and weakness of women,
General George stood all alone, and kept a jealous watch upon her. His love
for his favourite sister seemed to have turned to gall. He would have none
of her usual services; he no longer consulted her about anything—no longer
told her what he was going to do. It is to be supposed that by this cruel
method the General intended to prove to his sister how much kinder and
better a master he was than any other she could aspire to; but if this was the
case, he took a very curious way of showing his superiority. And Ursula
stood between these two parties, her home and her life becoming more and
more unbearable every day.
At last she took a sudden resolution. Sophy ran over to tell me of it late
one September evening. There were tears in Sophy’s eyes, and she was full
of awe. ‘Ursula has made up her mind, she said, almost below her breath.
‘It is all over, Mrs. Mulgrave. She has written him a terrible letter—it is
quite beautiful, but it is something terrible at the same time; and she is
going off abroad to-morrow. She says she cannot bear it any longer; she
says we are killing her. She says she must make an end of it, and that she
will go away. Poor Mr. Oakley!’ Sophy said, and cried. As for me, I also felt
deeply impressed and a little awe-stricken, but I had a lingering faith in Don
Quixote notwithstanding all.
CHAPTER IV
There had been very little time left for preparations, and hardly any one,
Sophy told me, was aware they were going away. Except myself, no one of
the neighbours knew. All the arrangements were hastily made. Ursula

wanted to be gone if possible before Mr. Oakley could take any further step.
I went over early next morning to see if I could be of any use. Ursula was in
her room, doing her packing. To see her in her old black silk with her
simple little cap covering her gray hair, and to think she was being driven
from her home by the importunities of a too-ardent lover, struck me as more
ridiculous than it had ever done before. She saw it herself, and laughed as
she stood for a moment before the long glass, in which she had caught a
glimpse of herself.
‘I am a pretty sort of figure for all this nonsense,’ she said, permitting
herself for the first time an honest laugh on the subject; but then her face
clouded once more. ‘The truth is,’ she said, ‘it would all be mere nonsense,
but for George. It is he that takes it so much to heart.’
‘Indeed,’ said I. ‘I think it is not at all nice of the General; and I don’t
think it would be nonsense in any case. There is some one else I
acknowledge, Ursula, that I think of more than the General.’
She did not say anything more. Her face paled, then grew red again, and
she went on with her packing. It is needless to say that I was of no manner
of use. I got rid of a little of my own excitement by going, that was all. I
went again in the evening to see the last of them. It was a lovely September
evening. There had been a wonderfully fine sunset, and the whole horizon
was still flaming, the trees standing out almost black in their deep
greenness, though touched with points of yellow, against the broad lines of
crimson and wide openings of wistful green blueness in the sky. The days
were already growing short. There is no time of the year at which one gets
so much good of the sunset. As I went across the corner of the Green the
gables and irregular chimneys of the old house stood up among the heavy
foliage against the lower band of colour where the green and blue died into
yellow the ‘daffodil sky’ of the poet. They too looked black against that
light, and there was a wistful look, I thought, about the whole place,
protesting dumbly against its abandonment. Why should people go away
from such a pleasant and peaceful place to wander over the world? There
was a solitary blackbird singing clear and loud, filling the whole air with his
song. I wonder if that song is really much less beautiful than the
nightingale’s. I was thinking how blank and cold the house would be when
they were all gone. The chimneys and gables already looked so cold,
smokeless, fireless, appealing against the glare of the summer, which
carried away the dwellers inside, and extinguished the cheerful fire of

home. As I went in I saw the fly from the ‘Barleymow’ creeping along
towards the house to carry the luggage to the station. The old white horse
came along quite reluctantly, as if he did not like the errand. I suppose all
that his slow pace meant was that he had gone through a long day’s work,
and was tired; but it is so natural to convey a little of one’s own feelings to
everything, even the chimneys of the old house. There was nobody down-
stairs when I went in. Simms told me in a dolorous tone that Miss Stamford
was putting on her bonnet.
‘And I don’t like it, ma’am—I don’t like it—going away like this, just
when the country’s at its nicest. If it was the General for his bit of sport, his
shooting, or that, I wouldn’t mind,’ said Simms; ‘but what call have the
ladies got away from home? They’ll go a-catching fevers or something, see
if they don’t. It’s tempting Providence.’
‘I hope not, Simms,’ said I; but Simms took no comfort from my hoping.
He shook his head and he uttered a groan as he set a chair for me in the
centre of the drawing-room. No more cosy corners, the man seemed to say
—no more low seats and pleasant talk—an uncompromising chair in the
middle of the room, and a business object. These were all of which the old
drawing-room would be capable when the ladies were away. I set down
Simms along with the house itself, protesting with all its chimneys, and the
old white horse lumbering reluctantly along to fetch the luggage, and the
blackbird remonstrating loudly among the trees. They were all opposed to
Ursula’s departure, and so was I.
The door opened, and Sophy came in more despondent than all of these
sundry personages and things put together. ‘They are rather late—the boxes
are just being put on to the fly. Will you come out here and bid her good-
bye?’ said Sophy, who was limp with crying. I never could tell whether it
was imagination or a real quickening of my senses, but at that moment, as I
rose to follow Sophy, I heard as clearly as I ever heard it in my life the
galloping of horses on the dry, dusty summer road. I heard it as distinctly as
I hear now the soft dropping of the rain, a sound as different as possible
from all the other sounds I had been hearing—horses galloping at their very
best, a whip cracking, the sound of a frantic energy of haste. Then I went
out into the hall, following Sophy. It must have been imagination, for with
all these lawns and shrubberies round, one could not, you may well believe,
hear passing carriages like that. Ursula was standing at the foot of the stairs
in her travelling dress. It was a large, long hall, more oblong than square,

into which all the rooms opened; the drawing-room was opposite the outer
door, and the General’s room (the library as it was called) was further back
nearer the stairs. He was inside, but the door was open. Ursula stood outside
talking to the cook, who was to be a kind of housekeeper while they were
away. ‘Don’t trouble Miss Sophy except when you are perplexed yourself.
On ordinary occasions you will do quite nicely, I am sure; you will do
everything that is wanted,’ she was saying in her kind, cheerful voice, for
Ursula did not show any appearance of regret, though all of us who were
staying behind were melancholy. The men were hoisting up the trunks with
which the hall was encumbered on the top of the fly, which was visible with
its old white horse standing tired and pensive at the open door. And Mrs. St.
Clair appeared behind her sister, slowly coming down-stairs with a cloak
over her arm and a bag in her hand. There was nothing left but to say good-
bye and wish them a good journey and a speedy return.
But all at once in a moment there was a change. The horses I had been
dreaming of, or had heard in a dream, drew up with a whirlwind of sound at
the gate. Then something darted across the unencumbered light beyond the
fly and came between the old white horse and the door. I think he—for to
use any neutral expressions about him from the first moment at which he
showed himself would be impossible—I think he lifted his hand to the men
who were putting up the trunks to arrest them; at all events they stopped
and scratched their heads and opened their mouths, and stood staring at
him, as did Sophy and I, altogether confounded, yet with sudden elation in
our hearts. He stepped past us all as lightly as any young paladin of twenty,
taking off his hat. His white hair seemed all in a moment to light up
everything, to quicken the place. Ursula was the last to see him. She was
still talking quite calmly to the cook, though even Mrs. St. Clair on the
stairs had seen the new incident, and had dropped her cloak in amazement.
He went straight up to her, without a pause, without drawing breath. I am
sure we all held ours in spellbound anxiety and attention. When Ursula saw
him standing by her side she started as if she had been shot—she made a
hasty step back and looked at him, catching her breath too with sudden
alarm. But he had the air of perfect self-command.
‘Miss Stamford,’ he said, ‘will you grant me half an hour’s interview
before you go?’
For the first time Ursula lost her self-possession; she fluttered and
trembled like a girl, and could not speak for a moment. Then she stammered

out, ‘I hope you will excuse me. We shall be—late for the train.’
‘Half an hour?’ he said; ‘I only ask half an hour—only hear me, Miss
Stamford, hear what I have got to say. I will not detain you more than half
an hour.’
Ursula looked round her helplessly. Whether she saw us standing gazing
at her I cannot tell, or if she was conscious that the General behind her had
come out to the door, and was standing there petrified, staring like the rest
of us. She looked round vaguely, as if asking aid from the world in general.
And whether her impetuous old lover took her hand and drew it within his
arm, or if she accepted his arm, I cannot say. But the next thing of which we
were aware was that they passed us, the two together, arm in arm, into the
drawing-room. He had noted the open door with his quick eye, and there he
led her trembling past us. Next moment it closed upon the momentous
interview, and the chief actors in this strange scene disappeared. We were
left all gazing at each other—Sophy and I at one side of the hall, Mrs. St.
Clair on the stairs, where she stood as if turned to stone, her cloak fallen
from her arm; and the General at the door of his room with a face like a
thunder-cloud, black and terrible. We stared at each other speechless, the
central object at which we had all been gazing withdrawn suddenly from us.
There were some servants also of the party, Simms standing over Miss
Stamford’s box, the address of which he affected to be scanning, and the
cabman scratching his head. We all looked at each other with ludicrous,
blank faces. It was the General who was the first to speak. He took no
notice of us. He stepped out from his door into the middle of the hall, and
pointed imperiously to the box. ‘Take all that folly away,’ he said harshly,
and with another long step strode out of the house and disappeared.
He did not come back till late that night, when all thoughts of the train
had long departed from everybody’s head. Before that time need I say it
was all settled? I had always been doubtful myself about Ursula. She had
been afraid of making a joke of herself by a late marriage. She had shrunk,
perhaps, too, at her time of life, from all the novelty and the change; but
even at fifty-seven a woman retains her imagination, and it had been
captivated in spite of herself by the bit of strange romance thus oddly
introduced into her life. Is any one ever old enough to be insensible to the
pleasure of being singled out and pursued with something that looked like
real passion? I do not suppose so; Ursula had been alarmed by the softening
of her own feelings; she had been remorseful and conscience-stricken about

her secret treachery to her brother. In short, I had felt all along that she must
have had very little confidence in herself when she was driven to the
expedient of running away.
They would not let me go, though I felt myself out of place at such a
moment, so that I had my share in the excitement as I had in the suspense.
And after all the struggle and the suspense it is inconceivable how easy and
natural the settlement of the matter seemed, and what a relief it was that it
should be decided.
As soon as the first commotion was over Mrs. Douglas came to me, took
my hands in hers, and led me out by the open window. ‘George!’ she said to
me with a little gasp. ‘What shall we do about George? How will he take it?
And if he comes in upon us all without any preparation, what will happen? I
don’t know what to do.’
‘He must know what has happened,’ said I; ‘he saw there was only one
thing that could happen. He must know what he has to expect.’
Mrs. St. Clair clasped her hands together. What with the excitement and
the pleasure and the pain the tears stood in her eyes. ‘Ursula was always his
favourite sister,’ she said; ‘how will he take it? and where is he?—
wandering about, making himself wretched this melancholy night.’
It was not in reality a melancholy night. It was dark, and the colour had
gone out of the sky, which looked of a deep wintry blue between the black
tree-tops which swayed in the wind. Mrs. St. Clair shivered a little, partly
from the contrast with the bright room inside, partly from anxiety. ‘Where
can he be?—where can he be wandering?’ she said. We had both the same
idea—that he must have gone into the woods and be wandering about there
in wild resentment and distress. ‘And we must not stay out here or Mr.
Oakley will think something is wrong, and Ursula will be unhappy,’ she
said with a sigh.
It was then I proposed that I should stay outside to break the news to the
General when he appeared—a proposal which, after a while, Mrs. Douglas
was compelled to accept, though she protested—for after all, my absence
would not be remarked, and it was easy to say that I had gone home, as I
meant to do. But I cannot say that the post was a pleasant one. I walked
about for some time in front of the house, and then I came and sat down in
the porch ‘for company.’ There was nothing, as I have said, specially
melancholy about the night, but the contrast of the scene within and this

without struck the imagination. When a door opened the voices within came
with a kind of triumph into the darkness where the disappointed and solitary
brother was wandering: and so absorbed was I in thoughts of General
George and his downfall that I almost missed the subject of them, who
came suddenly round the corner of the house when I was not looking for
him. It was he who perceived me, rather than I who was on the watch for
him. ‘You here, Mrs. Mulgrave!’ he said in amazement. I believe he
thought, as I started to my feet, that I had been asleep.
‘General!’ I cried then in my confusion. ‘Stop here a moment, do not go
in. I have something to say to you.’
He laughed—which was a sound so unexpected that it bewildered me.
‘My kind friend,’ he said, ‘have you stayed here to break the news to me?
But it is unnecessary—from the moment I saw Oakley arrive I knew how it
must be. Ursula has been going—she has been going. I have seen it for
three or four weeks past.’
‘And, General! thank Heaven you are not angry, you are taking it in a
Christian way.’
He laughed again—a sort of angry laugh. ‘Am I taking it in a Christian
way? I am glad you think so, Mrs. Mulgrave. When a thing cannot be cured
it must be endured, you know. I am out of court— I have no ground to stand
upon, and he is master of the field. I don’t mean to make her unhappy
whatever happens. Is he here still?’
‘Yes,’ I said trembling. He offered me his arm precisely as Mr. Oakley
had offered his to Ursula. ‘Then we’ll go and join them,’ he said.
This was how it all ended. There was not a speck on his boots or the
least trace of disorder. Instead of roaming the woods in despair, as we
thought, he had been quietly drinking Lady Denzil’s delightful tea and
playing chess with Sir Thomas. They had seen nothing unusual about him,
we heard afterwards, and never knew that he ought to have been starting for
the Continent when he walked in that evening, warmly welcomed to tea—
which shows what sentimental estimates we women form about the feelings
of men.
The marriage took place very soon after. Mr. Oakley bought Hillhead,
the finest place in the neighbourhood, very soon after; he was so rich that he
bought a house whenever he found one that pleased him, as I might buy an
old blue china pot. The one was a much greater extravagance to me than the

other was to him. And they lived very happy ever after, and nobody, so far
as I know, has ever had occasion to regret this love at first sight at sixty—
this elderly romance.

MRS. MERRIDEW’S FORTUNE
CHAPTER I
There are two houses in my neighbourhood which illustrate so curiously
two phases of life, that everybody on the Green, as well as myself, has been
led into the habit of classing them together. The first reason of this of course
is, that they stand together; the second, that they are as unlike in every way
as it is possible to conceive. They are about the same size, with the same
aspect, the same green circle of garden surrounding them; and yet as
dissimilar as if they had been brought out of two different worlds. They are
not on the Green, though they are undeniably a part of Dinglefield, but
stand on the Mercot Road, a broad country road with a verdant border of
turf and fine trees shadowing over the hedgerows. The Merridews live in
the one, and in the other are Mrs. Spencer and Lady Isabella. The house of
the two ladies, which has been already described, is as perfect in all its
arrangements as if it were a palace: a silent, soft, fragrant, dainty place,
surrounded by lawns like velvet; full of flowers in perfect bloom, the finest
kinds, succeeding each other as the seasons change. Even in autumn, when
the winds are blowing, you never see a fallen leaf about, or the least
symptom of untidiness. They have enough servants for everything that is
wanted, and the servants are as perfect as the flowers—noiseless maids and
soft-voiced men. Everything goes like machinery, with an infallible
regularity; but like machinery oiled and deadened, which emits no creak nor
groan. This is one of the things upon which Mrs. Spencer specially prides
herself.
And just across two green luxuriant hedges, over a lawn which is not
like velvet, you come to the Merridews’. It is possible if you passed it on a
summer day that, notwithstanding the amazing superiority of the other, you
would pause longer, and be more amused with a glance into the enclosure
of the latter house. The lawn is not the least like velvet; probably it has not
been mown for three weeks at least, and the daisies are irrepressible. But
there, tumbled down in the midst of it, are a bunch of little children in
pinafores—‘all the little ones,’ as Janet Merridew, the eldest daughter,

expresses herself, with a certain soft exasperation. I would rather not
undertake to number them or record their names, but there they are, a knot
of rosy, round-limbed, bright-eyed, living things, some dark and some fair,
with an amazing impartiality; but all chattering as best they can in nursery
language, with rings of baby laughter, and baby quarrels, and musings of
infinite solemnity. Once tumbled out here, where no harm can come to
them, nobody takes any notice of the little ones. Nurse, sitting by serenely
under a tree, works all the morning through, and there is so much going on
indoors to occupy the rest.
Mr. and Mrs. Merridew, I need not add, had a large family—so large that
their house overflowed, and when the big boys were at home from school,
was scarcely habitable. Janet, indeed, did not hesitate to express her
sentiments very plainly on the subject. She was just sixteen, and a good
child, but full of the restless longing for something, she did not know what,
and visionary discontent with her surroundings, which is not uncommon at
her age. She had a way of paying me visits, especially during the holidays,
and speaking more frankly on domestic subjects than was at all expedient.
She would come in, in summer, with a tap on the glass which always
startled me, through the open window, and sink down on a sofa and utter a
long sigh of relief. ‘Oh, Mrs. Mulgrave!’ she would say, ‘what a good thing
you never had any children!’ taking off, as she spoke, the large hat which it
was one of her grievances to be compelled to wear.
‘Is that because you have too many at home?’ I said.
‘Oh, yes, far too many; fancy, ten! Why should poor papa be burdened
with ten of us? and so little money to keep us all on. And then a house gets
so untidy with so many about. Mamma does all she can, and I do all I can;
but how is it possible to keep it in order? When I look across the hedges to
Mrs. Spencer and Lady Isabella’s and see everything so nice and so neat I
could die of envy. And you are always so shady, and so cool, and so
pleasant here.’
‘It is easy to be neat and nice when there is nobody to put things out of
order,’ said I; ‘but when you are as old as I am, Janet, you will get to think
that one may buy one’s neatness too dear.’
‘Oh, I delight in it!’ cried the girl. ‘I should like to have everything nice,
like you; all the books and papers just where one wants them, and paper-
knives on every table, and ink in the ink-bottles, and no dust anywhere. You

are not so dreadfully particular as Mrs. Spencer and Lady Isabella. I think I
should like to see some litter on the carpet or on the lawn now and then for
a change. But oh, if you could only see our house! And then our things are
so shabby: the drawing-room carpet is all faded with the sun, and mamma
will never have the blinds properly pulled down. And Selina, the
housemaid, has so much to do. When I scold her, mamma always stops me,
and bids me recollect we can’t be as nice as you other people, were we to
try ever so much. There is so much to do in our house. And then those
dreadful big boys!’
‘My dear,’ said I, ‘ring the bell, and we will have some tea; and you can
tell Jane to bring you some of that strawberry jam you are so fond of—and
forget the boys.’
‘As if one could!’ said Janet, ‘when they are all over the place—into
one’s very room, if one did not mind; their boots always either dusty or
muddy, and oh, the noise they make! Mamma won’t make them dress in the
evenings, as I am sure she should. How are they ever to learn to behave like
Christians, Mrs. Mulgrave, if they are not obliged to dress and come into
the drawing-room at night?’
‘I dare say they would run out again and spoil their evening clothes, my
dear,’ I said.
‘That is just what mamma says,’ cried Janet; ‘but isn’t it dreadful to have
always to consider everything like that? Poor mamma, too—often I am
quite angry, and then I think—perhaps she would like a house like Mrs.
Spencer and Lady Isabella’s as well as I should, if we had money enough. I
suppose in a nice big house with heaps of maids and heaps of money, and
everything kept tidy for you, one would not mind even the big boys.’
‘I think under those circumstances most people would be glad to have
them,’ said I.
‘I don’t understand how anybody can like boys,’ said Janet, with
reflective yet contemptuous emphasis. ‘A baby-boy is different. When they
are just the age of little Harry, I adore them; but those great long-legged
creatures, in their big boots! And yet, when they’re nicely dressed in their
evening things,’ she went on, suddenly changing her tone, ‘and with a
flower in their coats—Jack has actually got an evening coat, Mrs.
Mulgrave, he is so tall for his age—they look quite nice; they look such

gentlemen,’ Janet concluded, with a little sisterly enthusiasm. ‘Oh, how
dreadful it is to be so poor!’
‘I am sure you are very fond of them all the same,’ said I, ‘and would
break your heart if anything should happen to them.’
‘Oh, well, of course, now they are there one would not wish anything to
happen,’ said Janet. ‘What did you say I was to tell Jane, Mrs. Mulgrave,
about the tea? There now! Selina has never the time to be as nice as that—
and Richards, you know, our man—— Don’t you think, really, it would be
better to have a nice clean parlour-maid than a man that looks like a
cobbler? Mrs. Spencer and Lady Isabella are always going on about
servants,—that you should send them away directly when they do anything
wrong. But, you know, it makes a great difference having a separate servant
for everything. Mamma always says, “They are good to the children, Janet,”
or, “They are so useful and don’t mind what they do.” We put up with
Selina because, though she’s not a good housemaid, she is quite willing to
help in the nursery; and we put up with nurse because she gets through so
much sewing; and even the cook—— Oh, dear, dear! it is so disagreeable. I
wish I were—anybody but myself.’
Just at this moment my maid ushered in Mrs. Merridew, hastily attired in
a hat she wore in the garden, and a light shawl wrapped round her. There
was an anxious look in her face, which indeed was not very unusual there.
She was a little flushed, either by walking in the sunshine or by something
on her mind.
‘You here, Janet,’ she said, when she had shaken hands with me, ‘when
you promised me to practise an hour after luncheon? Go, my dear, and do it
now.’
‘It is so hot. I never can play in the middle of the day; and oh, mamma,
please it is so pleasant here,’ pleaded Janet, nestling herself close into the
corner of the sofa.
‘Let her stay till we have had some tea,’ I said. ‘I know she likes my
strawberry jam.’
Mrs. Merridew consented, but with a sigh; and then it was that I saw
clearly she must have something on her mind. She did not smile, as usual,
with the indulgent mother’s smile, half disapproving, yet unwilling to
thwart the child. On the contrary, there was a little constraint in her air as
she sat down, and Janet’s enjoyment of the jam vexed her, and brought a

little wrinkle to her brow. ‘One would think you had not eaten anything all
day,’ she said with a vexed tone, and evidently was impatient of her
daughter’s presence, and wished her away.
‘Nothing so nice as this,’ said Janet, with the frank satisfaction of her
age; and she went on eating her bread and jam quite composedly, until Mrs.
Merridew’s patience was exhausted.
‘I cannot have you stay any longer,’ she said at length. ‘Go and practise
now, while there is no one in the house.’
‘Oh, mamma!’ said Janet, beginning to expostulate; but was stopped
short by a look in her mother’s eye. Then she gathered herself up
reluctantly, and left the paradise of my little tea-table with the jam. She
went out pouting, trailing her great hat after her; and had to be stopped as
she stepped into the blazing sunshine, and commanded to put it on. ‘It is
only a step,’ said the provoking girl, pouting more and more. And poor Mrs.
Merridew looked so worried, and heated, and uncomfortable as she went
out and said a few energetic words to her naughty child. Poor soul! Ten
different wills to manage and keep in subjection to her own, besides all the
other cares she had upon her shoulders. And that big girl who should have
been a help to her, standing pouting and disobedient between the piano she
did not care for, and the jam she loved.— Sometimes such a little
altercation gives one a glimpse into an entire life.
‘She is such a child,’ Mrs. Merridew said, coming in with an apologetic,
anxious smile on her face. She had been fretted and vexed, and yet she
would not show it to lessen my opinion of her girl. Then she sank down
wearily into that corner of the sofa from which Janet had been so
unwillingly expelled. ‘The truth is, I wanted to speak to you,’ she said, ‘and
could not while she was here. Poor Janet! I am afraid I was cross, but I
could not help it. Something has occurred to-day which has put me out.’
‘I hope it is something I can help you in,’ I said.
‘That is why I have come: you are always so kind; but it is a strange
thing I am going to ask you this time,’ she said, with a wistful glance at me.
‘I want to go to town for a day on business of my own; and I want it to be
supposed that it is business of yours.’
The fact was, it did startle me for the moment—and then I reflected like
lightning, so quick was the process (I say this that nobody may think my
first feeling hard), what kind of woman she was, and how impossible that

she should want to do anything that one need be ashamed of. ‘That is very
simple,’ I said.
Then she rose hastily, and came up to me and gave me a sudden kiss,
though she was not a demonstrative woman. ‘You are always so
understanding,’ she said, with the tears in her eyes; and thus I was
committed to stand by her, whatever her difficulty might be.
‘But you sha’n’t do it in the dark,’ she went on; ‘I am going to tell you
all about it. I don’t want Mr. Merridew to know, and in our house it is quite
impossible to keep anything secret. He is on circuit now; but he would hear
of “the day mamma went to town” before he had been five minutes in the
house. And so I want you to go with me, you dear soul, and to let me say I
went with you.’
‘That is quite simple,’ I said again; but I did feel that I should like to
know what the object of the expedition was.
‘It is a long story,’ she said, ‘and I must go back and tell you ever so
much about myself before you will understand. I have had the most
dreadful temptation put before me to-day. Oh, such a temptation! resisting it
is like tearing one’s heart in two; and yet I know I ought to resist. Think of
our large family, and poor Charles’s many disappointments, and then, dear
Mrs. Mulgrave, read that.’
It was a letter written on a large square sheet of thin paper which she
thrust into my hand: one of those letters one knows a mile off, and
recognizes as lawyers’ letters, painful or pleasant, as the case may be; but
more painful than pleasant generally. I read it, and you may judge of my
astonishment to find that it ran thus:—

‘Dear Madam,—We have the pleasure to inform you that our late client,
Mr. John Babington, deceased on the 10th of May last, has appointed you
by his will his residuary legatee. After all his special bequests are paid,
including an annuity of a hundred a year to his mother, with remainder to
Miss Babington, his only surviving sister, there will remain a sum of about
£10,000, at present excellently invested on landed security, and bearing
interest at four and a half per cent. By Mr. Babington’s desire, precautions
have been taken to bind it strictly to your separate use, so that you may
dispose of it by will or otherwise, according to your pleasure, for which
purpose we have accepted the office of your trustees, and will be happy to
enter fully into the subject, and put you in possession of all details, as soon
as you can favour us with a private interview.
‘We are, madam,
‘Your obedient servants,
‘Fogey, Featherhead & Down.’
‘A temptation!’ I cried; ‘but, my dear, it is a fortune; and it is delightful:
it will make you quite comfortable. Why, it will be nearly five hundred a
year.’
I feel always safe in the way of calculating interest when it is anything
approaching five per cent.; five per cent. is so easily counted. This great
news took away my breath.
But Mrs. Merridew shook her head. ‘It looks so at the first glance,’ she
said; ‘but when you hear my story you will think differently.’ And then she
made a little uncomfortable pause. ‘I don’t know whether you ever guessed
it,’ she added, looking down, and doubling a new hem upon her
handkerchief, ‘but I was not Charles’s equal when we married: perhaps you
may have heard——?
Of course I had heard: but the expression of her countenance was such
that I put on a look of great amazement, and pretended to be much
astonished, which I could see was a comfort to her mind.
‘I am glad of that,’ she said, ‘for you know—I could not speak so plainly
to you if I did not feel that, though you are so quiet now, you must have
seen a great deal of the world—you know what a man is. He may be
capable of marrying you, if he loves you, whatever your condition is—but
afterwards he does not like people to know. I don’t mean I was his inferior

Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world,
offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth.
That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of
books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to
self-development guides and children's books.
More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge
connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an
elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can
quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally,
our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time
and fully enjoy the joy of reading.
Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and
personal growth every day!
testbankdeal.com

Introduction to Information Systems Canadian 3rd Edition Rainer Solutions Manual

More Related Content

Similar to Introduction to Information Systems Canadian 3rd Edition Rainer Solutions Manual (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Introduction to Information Systems Canadian 3rd Edition Rainer Solutions Manual