Measuring the performance of public services principles and practice 1st Edition Michael Pidd
- 1. Measuring the performance of public services principles and practice 1st Edition Michael Pidd download pdf https://ebookfinal.com/download/measuring-the-performance-of-public- services-principles-and-practice-1st-edition-michael-pidd/ Visit ebookfinal.com today to download the complete set of ebook or textbook!
- 2. Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be interested in. You can click the link to download. The political economy of competitiveness essays on employment public policy and corporate performance Michael Kitson https://ebookfinal.com/download/the-political-economy-of- competitiveness-essays-on-employment-public-policy-and-corporate- performance-michael-kitson/ Veterinary Immunology Principles and Practice 1st Edition Michael J. Day https://ebookfinal.com/download/veterinary-immunology-principles-and- practice-1st-edition-michael-j-day/ Management Communication Principles and Practice 3rd Edition Michael Hattersley https://ebookfinal.com/download/management-communication-principles- and-practice-3rd-edition-michael-hattersley/ Youth Services and Public Libraries 1st Edition Susan Higgins https://ebookfinal.com/download/youth-services-and-public- libraries-1st-edition-susan-higgins/
- 3. Institutions Performance and the Financing of Infrastructure Services in the Caribbean 1st Edition Abhas Kumar Jha https://ebookfinal.com/download/institutions-performance-and-the- financing-of-infrastructure-services-in-the-caribbean-1st-edition- abhas-kumar-jha/ Concrete Repair to EN 1504 Diagnosis Design Principles and Practice 1st Edition Michael Raupach https://ebookfinal.com/download/concrete-repair-to-en-1504-diagnosis- design-principles-and-practice-1st-edition-michael-raupach/ Ultimate Performance Measuring Human Resources at Work 1st Edition Nicholas C. Burkholder https://ebookfinal.com/download/ultimate-performance-measuring-human- resources-at-work-1st-edition-nicholas-c-burkholder/ Public Management and Complexity Theory Richer Decision Making in Public Services 1st Edition Mary Lee Rhodes https://ebookfinal.com/download/public-management-and-complexity- theory-richer-decision-making-in-public-services-1st-edition-mary-lee- rhodes/ Principles of Public Speaking 21st Edition Dakota Horn https://ebookfinal.com/download/principles-of-public-speaking-21st- edition-dakota-horn/
- 5. Measuring the performance of public services principles and practice 1st Edition Michael Pidd Digital Instant Download Author(s): Michael Pidd ISBN(s): 9781107004658, 1107004659 Edition: 1 File Details: PDF, 3.44 MB Year: 2012 Language: english
- 6. Measuring the Performance of Public Services Measuring the performance of public agencies and programmes is essential, as it helps ensure that citizens enjoy high quality services and enables governments to ensure that taxpayers receive value for money. As such, good performance measure- ment is a crucial component of improvement and planning, monitoring and control, comparison and benchmarking and also ensures democratic accountability. his book shows how the principles, uses and practice of performance measurement for public services difer from those in for-proit organisations, being based on the need to add public value rather than proit. It describes methods and approaches for meas- uring performance through time, for constructing and using scorecards, composite indicators, the use of league tables and rankings and argues that data-envelopment analysis is a useful tool when thinking about performance. his demonstrates the importance of allowing for the multidimensional nature of performance, as well as the need to base measurement on a sound technical footing. Michael Pidd is Professor of Management Science and Head of the Management Science Department at Lancaster University Management School. He is a research fellow of the UK’s Advanced Institute of Management Research and has served as the President of the Operational Research Society. His technical work in computer simulation has been recognised by awards and accolades in the UK and the USA. His current work focuses on improvement in healthcare delivery.
- 8. Measuring the Performance of Public Services Principles and Practice Michael Pidd Lancaster University Management School
- 9. cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press he Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107004658 © Michael Pidd 2012 his publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2012 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Pidd, Michael. Measuring the performance of public services : principles and practice / Michael Pidd. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-107-00465-8 (hardback) 1. Public administration–Management. 2. Public administration–Management–Evaluation. 3. Public administration–Evaluation. I. Title. JF1351.P53 2012 352.3′75–dc23 2011041130 ISBN 978-1-107-00465-8 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
- 10. For Hannah, still young but already performing well.
- 11. Contents List of igures page ix List of tables xi Preface xiii Part I Principles of performance measurement 1 1 Measuring public sector performance 3 2 Why measure, what to measure and what can go wrong 27 Part II Different uses for performance measurement 55 3 Measurement for improvement and planning 57 4 Measurement for monitoring and control: performance management 81 5 Measurement for comparison 109 6 Measurement for accountability 137 Part III Practical methods for performance measurement 165 7 Measuring performance through time 167 8 Scorecards and multidimensional indicators 194 9 Composite indicators 222
- 12. Contents viii 10 League tables and ranking 247 11 Data envelopment analysis 270 References 300 Index 312
- 13. Figures 1.1 he strategic triangle of public value theory page 12 1.2 A simple input:output transformation theory 16 1.3 Elements of a system 20 1.4 CATWOE in sot systems methodology 23 2.1 Poister’s four elements of performance system measurements 33 2.2 Hourly calls received, police control room 37 2.3 Compass or GPS? 45 3.1 A simpliied view of planning 59 3.2 he second-generation Kaplan and Norton balanced scorecard 63 3.3 ED inluence diagram 71 3.4 A spectrum of model use 75 4.1 he cybernetic control monitor 84 4.2 A modiied version of Wilson’s typologies of bureaucracies 87 4.3 Noordegraaf and Abma’s measurement cycle 94 4.4 Canonical and non-canonical practices 95 4.5 Grid-group theory 96 4.6 hermostatic control 101 5.1 Benchmarking approaches 114 5.2 Single- and double-loop learning 117 5.3 Camp’s ive phases of benchmarking 119 5.4 Analysis of variance of OBTJ variance 127 5.5 he concept of a production function 129 5.6 Police forces eicient frontier 132 5.7 Calculating relative eiciency of Grizedale 133 6.1 A role of information intermediaries 162 7.1 Time series with a change in level 171 7.2 Linear trend by regression 173 7.3 Excel regression output 174 7.4 Moving averages 176 7.5 Exponentially weighted moving averages 179
- 14. List of figures x 7.6 Holt’s method 181 7.7 A simple control chart 183 7.8 Areas under a normal distribution curve 186 7.9 An example of an XmR chart 187 7.10 Adding warning lines to an X chart 189 8.1 he second-generation Kaplan and Norton balanced scorecard 197 8.2 A generic strategic map (based on Kaplan and Norton, 2004, p. 31) 201 8.3 he EFQM Excellence Model® 2010 and weightings 203 8.4 Facets of the performance prism 205 8.5 A power:interest grid 206 8.6 A generic public sector framework (based on Kaplan and Norton, 2001, p. 136) 210 8.7 Moullin’s public sector scorecard 211 8.8 A balanced scorecard for the Welsh NHS in 2005: strategic objectives and critical success factors 213 8.9 he four quadrants of the University of Edinburgh scorecard, 2007/8 214 8.10 A simpliied model of memory and cognition 217 9.1 Linear weights 235 10.1 Season-long performance of top and bottom teams 250 10.2 Performance of three mid-table teams 251 10.3 QS World University Rankings, 2010 versus 2009 253 10.4 Conidence intervals for CVA scores 265 10.5 Conidence intervals for predicted CVA scores 266 11.1 he LDC LP problem 285 11.2 Constant versus variable returns to scale 290 11.3 Typical presentation of relative eiciencies 297
- 15. Tables 1.1 Performance measures, inputs, activities, outputs, service quality and outcomes page 25 2.1 A consolidated view of reasons for measuring performance 31 2.2 RAE 2008 research output quality categories 40 2.3 Some diferent types of measure 42 4.1 Hofstede (1981) types of control 91 5.1 OBTJ statistics for ive Local Criminal Justice Boards 125 5.2 OBTJ rates per 1,000 population 125 5.3 Percentage of OBTJ in each crime category 126 5.4 Input and output variables for comparing schools 130 5.5 Performance data for the six imaginary police forces 131 5.6 Performance ratios/oicer for the six imaginary police forces 132 5.7 Input and output variables in hanassoulis (1995) 134 6.1 An extract from a product comparison table 145 6.2 An example of a Fraser Institute report on school performance 148 6.3 Report card showing mortality rate ater hip replacement at a Canadian hospital 150 6.4 When to use tables and when to use graphs 153 7.1 Time series and simple moving averages 177 7.2 Simple exponential smoothing 179 7.3 Holt’s method with α = 0.2, β = 0.3 181 7.4 c values for EWMA charts with ARL = 370 191 9.1 RAE 2008, the Nossex quality proile for computing 226 9.2 RAE 2008, the Nossex overall proile for computing 226 9.3 Changes in relative rankings due to diferent weights 228 9.4 Computing weights 234 10.1 Characteristics used in contextual value added calculations 257
- 16. List of tables xii 11.1 Inputs and outputs used by Jacobs et al. (2009) 274 11.2 he four models used by Jacobs et al. (2009) 275 11.3 Basic data for the two beneits oices 277 11.4 Technical and scale eiciencies for the two beneits oices 278 11.5 Allocative eiciency for three larger oices 280
- 17. Preface How can people be conident that they receive high quality public services in return for their taxes? How can service providers compare their performance with others and encourage a culture of continuous improvement? How can governments be sure that public services are efective, eicient and equitably provided? hese are big questions and there is nothing that will guarantee high quality public services; people who claim otherwise are peddling snake oil. hese questions are important whether public services are centrally man- aged and inanced, or subject to local control. Whichever way public services are provided, some form of performance measurement is inevitable and, done properly, can be extremely valuable. Performance measurement per se is neither good nor bad. It can be done well or poorly. It can provide useful information and support innovation and development, or it can become part of heavy-handed central control that stiles development. In this book I argue that performance measurement is a vital part of any systematic attempt to continually improve public services. It is certainly not the only part, but without it, how can any stakeholders have a reasonable idea of how well these services are provided? It is a mistake to assume that measurement is only appropriate to particular forms of public management. Many have argued that it is a core element of what has become known as the New Public Management (NPM). However, many public bodies attempted to measure aspects of their performance long before the ideas of NPM appeared. How can agencies know how well they are doing unless they attempt to ind out and do so in a systematic way? Some people only associate performance measurement with performance management or with auditing. Performance measurement as part of perform- ance management is oten criticised as rigid central control, complete with tick boxes and targets, based on a lack of trust between service providers and their funders. Performance measurement as auditing is oten regarded as an extension to accounting, with its emphasis on the past. However, it is a real mistake to cast performance measurement in only these two roles. I think
- 18. Preface xiv that they are only two of the reasons why sensitive attempts to measure per- formance are important. here is much more to performance measurement than auditing the past or heavy-handed performance management. I regard the latter as particularly inappropriate in many circumstances and discuss why I think this. Readers may or may not agree with me on this, but I hope that this book will stimulate discussion and lead to improved and appropri- ate performance measurement for the full range of reasons presented in its chapters. I intend this book to be valuable to practicing public managers and civil servants and to students studying public administration, management and leadership. I have organised its chapters into three parts. Part I, principles of performance measurement: composed of Chapters 1 and 2, addresses the question ‘Why measure performance?’. It presents a gen- eral case for performance measurement, whatever the political climate, and suggests several reasons for this measurement. PartII,diferentusesforperformancemeasurement:composedofChapters 3–6, addresses the question ‘What to measure?’, given the diferent reasons for this measurement. Its chapters explore some of the problems to be faced when attempting performance measurement for the major reasons discussed in Part I. Part III, practical methods for performance measurement: composed of Chapters 7–11, addresses the question ‘How to measure?’. his is the most detailed section and contains some technical content. It further discusses problems to be faced, but also suggests solutions. I have been part of the Management Science Department at Lancaster University Management School for many years. hose who know the depart- ment and its history will not be surprised that I use Peter Checkland’s sot systems methodology to provide some structure to the discussion, especially in Part II. In these chapters I view the diferent reasons for performance measurement through its lenses. Readers familiar with ideas of management science and operational research will also not be surprised that I regard per- formance indicators as simple models of performance, with all the advan- tages and drawbacks inherent in such models. his management science focus, combining insights from operational research and systems theory, does not mean that I ignore the political dimensions; rather that I use ideas from systems theory and my own views of modelling to help understand these dimensions. No book of this size could possibly discuss everything that is important when measuring the performance of public services and so I have been very
- 19. Preface xv selective. his book had its genesis while I was a Research Fellow in the UK’s Advanced Institute of Management Research. his period gave me much to think about, but I did not have the time to write a book like this. I started work on it while on sabbatical leave at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, where my hosts were very generous with their time. I have dis- cussed performance measurement with many people and am grateful for insights provided, probably unknowingly, by Edd Berry, Gwyn Bevan, Frank Blackler, Jonathan Boston, George Boyne, Joyce Brown, Robert Dyson, Derek Gill, Jean Hartley, Maria Katsorchi-Hayes, Linda Hendry, Richard Norman, Andy Neely, Tony O’Connor, Peter C. Smith, Emmanuel hanassoulis, Barbara Townley, Alec Whitehouse, Dave Worthington and many others. As ever, the mistakes and omissions are all mine.
- 21. Part I Principles of performance measurement
- 23. 1 Measuring public sector performance Introduction Before considering how the performance of public services should be meas- ured, it is important to step back a little and think about some of the issues underpinning this measurement. We irst need to consider a very basic ques- tion: why do we measure anything? I started writing this chapter during a visit to New Zealand and, strange though it may seem, the garage walls of the house I rented for my stay hint at part of the answer. One wall has a series of pencil lines drawn at diferent heights, each accompanied by a date and a name. he names are those of the children who grew up in the house, whom I’ve never met. he lines record their heights as they grew from small children towards their teenage years. heir height is one element of the progress that the children made as they grew through childhood. he marks on the wall form a simple measurement system to show how the children developed. Consider another mundane example: the weight of babies is routinely monitored during their irst months of life. Mothers are oten given a card on which the weights are recorded, and many families retain these cards as mementoes long ater they are needed for their original purpose. he weigh- ing and recording enables doctors, nurses and other advisors to see whether the baby is gaining weight as she should. hough knowing the actual weight of a baby at a point in time is important, there is another reason for keeping this record. his is that it enables parents and medical staf to see the trend in weight since the child’s birth because, just as adults have diferent body shapes and weights, so do babies. If this trend gives cause for concern, the baby may need special care, or the parents may need advice and support in appropriate ways to feed the child. hat is, the weight record forms the basis for assessing progress and for deciding whether intervention is needed. On an equally mundane level, it is interesting to watch serious runners as they set of on a training run. Many, if not most, will note the time or press a timing button on their watches. his allows them to monitor their progress
- 24. Measuring public sector performance 4 during the run and also to record, at the end of it, their performance in terms of the time taken to complete the run. hey may be doing this to gain brag- ging rights over their friends, or as part of a training diary in which they record their progress and the degree to which their performance is improv- ing. Proper performance measurement enables them to do this. Most of us routinely measure performance in our daily lives and oten do so without thinking about it. We measure the time it takes to get to work, our weight, whether that piece of furniture will it where we’d like it to be and we use thermometers to record room temperatures or body temperatures. All of this we regard as completely uncontroversial, perhaps not realising the efort that went into developing standardised measures for these parts of our daily lives. his reliance on numbers for measurement is a taken-for-granted fea- ture of contemporary life that is, apparently, not part of life in some cultures. According to an MIT team, the language spoken by the Amazonian Pirahã tribe of hunter gatherers has no words for numbers, but only the concepts some, few and many (Frank et al., 2008). It seems that these basic ideas are adequate for the normal lives of these people who, despite having no suitable words, are able to match sets containing large numbers of objects as long as they are visible. hat is, despite having no suitable vocabulary, the Pirahã can recognise equality and can thus categorise groups of objects by size. Even without words, it seems that humans can roughly distinguish between quantities, which is the basis of measurement. However, we should also note that estimating quantities beyond small values is not something that comes naturally to us – see Alex’s Adventures in Numberland (Bellos, 2010) for an entertaining and illuminating discussion of this. It seems that, without some form of measurement system, we are likely to estimate quantities very badly. his book carries the title Measuring the Performance of Public Services and such measurement is obviously much more complicated and, oten, more controversial than the personal measurements discussed above. However, the need for measurement is pretty much the same; we want to see how much progress is being made and we wish to know whether intervention is needed. Performance measurement and performance indicators have been used in public services for many years. Jowett and Rothwell (1988, p. 6) includes a fascinating table listing signiicant events in the introduction and use of per- formance measurement in healthcare, reaching back to the year 1732. he book Reinventing government (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992) played a major role in encouraging public bodies to enthusiastically attempt to measure their performance, especially in the USA. Its main argument is summarised in its own bullet point summary, which includes:
- 25. Different views of public management 5 If you don’t measure results, you can’t tell success from failure. • If you can’t see success, you can’t reward it. • If you can’t reward success, you’re probably rewarding failure. • If you can’t see success, you can’t learn from it. • If you can’t recognise failure, you can’t correct it. • If you can demonstrate results, you can win public support. • hat is, measurement helps a public body to plan its services better, to pro- vide better services for users, to go on improving them and to increase its support from the public. BillYake,amanagementanalystwithFairfaxCounty,Virginia,intheUSA, stresses the importance of a clear customer, or user, focus when planning any performance measurement (Yake, 2005). his means that those planning and using performance measures in service planning and improvement need to be clear about who the customers and users are, what key quality char- acteristics they value and what standards they expect. hese characteristics and standards might include timeliness, accuracy, long term beneit, easy access and so on. Once they are established it is then important to consider if and how these can be measured, so that plans can be laid and progress monitored. Sometimes this measurement can only be done properly at high cost and it is important to consider whether the beneits outweigh the costs. However, a little creativity in data collection and analysis can oten get round these problems. In the rest of this irst chapter, we explore some basic ideas underpin- ning performance measurement in public services. We briely consider the importance of performance measurement within diferent views of public management. We then take a simple view of such measurement using the idea of input:output systems and extend this by introducing the ideas of sot systems methodology that are used in later chapters and provide a much broader view of such measurement. Finally, we consider desirable aspects of performance measurement and, indeed, of public service provision, usually summarised as the Es. Different views of public management and administration It is oten assumed that performance measurement is a feature of particular approaches to public management and administration, but this is altogether too simple a view. When considering how and why performance measure- ment might be important in the provision of public services, it is helpful to
- 26. Random documents with unrelated content Scribd suggests to you:
- 27. the stable-yard will be silenced that night. Have no qualms or fears; your Majesty will only have to traverse the two furlongs of ground between the inn and the rocky cape, whereat our craft will rest till we have embarked. "One other matter however I wish your Majesty to understand. Is it not the case that you dispatched a manuscript to Earth some three years ago?" (I nodded assent.) "That scroll was duly delivered on Earth, was found, read, discussed and printed, with the only possible result that could arise therefrom. The person who gave your narrative to the world was one Edward Cayley, a learned recluse, and he was naturally only accounted a credulous fool for his pains. The book was certainly published, and though the absurd venture scarcely deserved their serious attention, our envoys here have contrived to destroy nearly all copies of the volume. Perhaps also Cayley himself might have succumbed later to some of our peculiar methods of removal, had he not suddenly expired of the heart disease from which he had long suffered. The whole matter of your communication from Meleager has however been entrusted unconditionally to myself, and as I apprehend no danger whatsoever from anything you may publish, it is open to you to act freely in this connection. Here is Mr Cayley's book—keep it for any purpose you may require. I assure your Majesty I fear no ill result will accrue either from the late Mr Cayley's romance or from the manuscript which you yourself" (here I gave a start of genuine astonishment) "have been inditing almost daily in your chamber at Glanymôr. I cannot conceive either the contemporary pleasure or the ultimate object of your Majesty's constant occupation with the pen; it may be the old literary bacillus of Earth that is not yet eradicated from your semi-divine system; it may be some fanciful desire to benefit the planet of your birth by showing its leaders that human happiness is not necessarily involved in human progress, which is the fundamental error of these modern Herthians; it may be that a sheer sense of humorous amusement prompts you to this action. But whatsoever your goal, it is clear that you intend to charge your excellent friend Dr Wayne with the editing of your manuscript." (Again I gave an involuntary start.) "Be it so. I have not the wish or the intention to thwart your Majesty in this innocuous pastime; nor
- 28. shall I seek to disappoint Dr Wayne in his hungry expectation of the unveiling of the complicated enigma whose nature he dimly realises. Indeed, I am anxious to do a service to that interesting man, for whose hospitality to our errant King on Earth I am grateful, and whose rare spiritual qualities I admire and respect. Let him publish what you have written here in Glanymôr; what benefit can happen to you or what injury to us from proclaiming such a farrago of the impossible and the improbable? Very few will read the book, and none will give credence to its contents. Yours is not so much a mad world, as it has been arraigned by your leading poet, as an unbelieving world, which rejects with fury of derision all evidence of whatsoever is not obvious to its recognised scholars and astronomers." I acquiesced in silence. It was astounding to me to learn that so much was known of my most private concerns, and I saw little use in arguing or asking questions. It was evident too that Fajal regarded my return to Meleager as a settled matter past all debate, and this mental admission induced in me a welcome sense of peace and deliverance. Thus we stood on this misty solemn October afternoon beside the grey placid sea, surely the most extraordinary pair of mortals—if as mortals we could be faithfully so described—on the surface of the globe. No sound save the regular silvery tinkle of the tiny waves lapping on the beach and an occasional movement from the stolid cart-horse beside us broke the spell of oppressive stillness, so that when finally Fajal spoke, his voice seemed to proceed from some far-off unseen place, which had no connection with our present environment. "Has your Majesty no other aim than to escape the terrors of the grave in thus deciding once more to exchange your Mother Earth for Meleager? Do the loyalty and the prayers of your subjects weigh as nothing in the scales of your predilection? Has your abandoned palace no remembered charms? Our temple bells, our sunlit city, our shining harbour, our dawns and our sunsets, do these count for naught? O King, have none of the fibres of your once generous heart struck root in our soil? Have you already forgotten your splendour,
- 29. your kingdom, your people, your friends in these few weeks spent upon your blood-soaked insurgent Earth?" With a look of sorrowful reproach accompanying these words of rebuke, Fajal bade me examine a small tablet of crystal or of some transparent substance that he held in the hollow of his left hand. I gladly lowered my ashamed and burning face in its direction, but could perceive no more than a mass of variegated colours that seemed to be perpetually shifting and changing. I strained my eyes for long, vainly seeking to identify any of the minute objects thus depicted, till at last I ceased from the attempt in despair of success. With a sigh of resignation, Fajal now presented me with a pair of large horn-rimmed spectacles, which I adjusted to my eyes, with the immediate result that the scenes in the crystal seemed enlarged and clarified. I saw distinctly my palace at Tamarida with the warm sunbeams flickering on marble pillars and dancing in golden bars on the frescoed vaulting; I saw the gardens, cool and umbrageous, with their many fountains spurting their foamy jets upon the drenched fronds of fern and palm; I saw my aery balcony with its table of audience and faithful Hiridia standing disconsolate beside my favourite chair; under the external awnings of blue and yellow I saw the deep purple line of the harbour beyond the enclosing balustrade. A veritable wave of nostalgia seemed to engulph me, as I watched thus every familiar scene of my Meleagrian existence pass in procession before my gaze. As a lost soul might gaze on Paradise I beheld the pillared court of the great temple displayed before me, with its sunlit space filled with the usual throng of worshippers upon a holy day. There was the medley of colours, like some huge bed of gorgeous tulips, the white of the hierarchy, the crimson of the nobles, the green of the merchants, and the many varied tints of the garments of the populace; what past memories of my reign did not such a vision evoke in me! I fretted to be gone, so as to regain that rich and varied crowd beneath that glowing sky, to reassume my accustomed place of honour and adoration in their midst. And then, even as I yearned, chafing at the ties which still bound me to Earth, my companion was able to inflame yet further my longing to return. With his disengaged
- 30. right hand he searched the pocket of his coat and a moment later I beheld in his fingers a strange-looking instrument bearing some resemblance to the mystical sistrum of ancient Egypt. Bidding me continue to fix my eyes on the crystal before me, Fajal waved aloft this curved and stringed spherule, whereupon a soft murmuring seemed to fill the languid heavy autumnal air, and this muttering again developed into advancing waves of harmony that concentrated in an ultimate crashing note of triumph in my very face. The sounds now appeared to shrink and retreat, now to advance and expand in volume, but after some moments of vague, desultory, erratic come- and-go the music at length seemed to collect and pour as through some invisible funnel into the actual crystal lying in Fajal's palm. The ambient air was now completely free of its reverberations, and the music subsided into moderate compass, convenable with the scale and setting of the variegated scene that still lay exposed on the crystal tablet. Finally, the compressed sound blended with the multitude of figures in this miniature reproduction of the temple of Tamarida, so that I could distinguish the articulation of the many worshippers as well as the canticles of the choristers wafted from afar to my ears. So might the Olympian Zeus in heroic days have heard the daily orisons of his earth-born suppliants, and have sought for the sparse note of sincerity amidst that vast uproar of human prayer ascending from a thousand altars to his ivory throne set amidst the unattainable clouds of highest heaven. But here from Meleager the issuing petition rang out unanimous, solemn and unfeigned.... I had heard and seen sufficient; there was no more room nor any need for further colloquy with Fajal. I have but a dim impression of my hands being saluted, and of my striding rapidly with downcast head from the beach, leaving my fate behind me in the person of the humble Indian labourer with the horse and cart. In the waning light of the October evening I hastened back to the inn, and threw myself on my bed to digest my latest experience, the ultimate phase of my unique mission. In an hour's time I had shaken off the bewilderment of my encounter by the beach, and was able to converse naturally with Dr Wayne. It was now merely a matter of waiting seven days for the call, and there was nothing to prevent my passing this brief span
- 31. of time pleasantly and profitably. I hope I have done what lay in my power to conciliate Dr Wayne, with whom I enjoyed some interesting walks in the mild drizzling weather along the summits of the rocky coast. Once or twice the notion arose in me of taking the good man into my complete confidence, but eventually I decided against this course, and confined my efforts to preparing him for the task of publication of my second manuscript and of Mr Cayley's book which I shall leave behind me when I am called to quit this Earth. I have an overwhelming desire to see this purpose fulfilled, and as Fajal has given me express permission to do so, why should not I indulge this innocent whim of mine, however useless and trivial it may be deemed? I think it was Dean Swift who once declared that the man who contrived to make two blades of grass grow where but one had bloomed before bestowed more solid advantage on the human race than all the combined clique of the politicians. So, if I can attract one convert into seeing through my own experienced eyes that what is called progress is not the sole thing needful and desirable for this sorely tried old world of my birth, I shall have accomplished my most modest aim. I shall have sown a seed of arresting reflection amidst the rampant tares of self-sufficiency and materialism which now clog the Herthian soil. It is my last night, my last hour on Earth. Midnight has struck some time ago, and already the air is resonant with that strange haunting musical susurration that Fajal's spherule has made familiar to me. My few preparations are all completed, and I have but to descend quietly, loosen the bolt of a certain door, cross the haggard, and follow the path to the headland where the royal vessel awaits the King of Meleager who now bids farewell for ever and for ever to the World and all that therein is.
- 32. EPIGRAPH By Charles Wayne, M.D. The reader who has persisted so far in the present volume will doubtless recall the fact that the first portion is heralded by a short foreword from one Edward Cayley, who therein expresses his full belief in the narrative he publishes. In this preface also he makes allusion to the traveller Sir W—— Y——, the original finder and owner of the manuscript. For the sake of convenience and explanation therefore I shall state here that the Editor of Part I. is the late Mr Edward Cayley, F.S.A., an official employed in the British Museum, whose book was issued in the early months of 1913. How this obscure work came into my possession I shall explain in due course, but I should like to add here that the book in question evoked no public interest whatsoever, and that such scanty notices of it as appeared were invariably unfavourable or contemptuous. Such a fate seems natural enough to me, for I have long observed how in all publications concerning the occult, nine out of ten readers are to be found scoffers and unbelievers, whilst the tenth is over-credulous. But a few weeks after the appearance of the volume, its editor himself was far beyond the range of hostile jest or criticism, for one March evening he was found dead of heart disease in the railway carriage wherein he was returning to his home at Harrow. Of "the exquisitely prepared roll of vellum covered with close crabbed writing," as also of its containing cylinder of some exotic white metal, I have been assured by Mr Cayley's executor that of neither can a trace be found—"suddenly, as rare things will, they vanished," though I am inclined to think that these gentlemen in common with a good many others of Mr Cayley's friends have never credited their existence save in the brain of their late owner. Indeed, I am told not a few persons openly denounced the ill-fated volume as an indiscreet jeu d'esprit of which Cayley himself was both author and editor. As to Sir W—— Y—— I see no reason to withhold the full name of Sir
- 33. Wardour Yockney, head of an ancient Kentish house which received its baronetcy so long ago as the reign of Charles the Martyr. Sir Wardour was a fine shot, an ardent mountaineer and no mean scholar—alas! that I must use the aorist here in so speaking of him, for Sir Wardour, who started for Flanders with a motor car soon after the outbreak of the War, was described as "missing" so long ago as last October, nor have any further tidings reached his household concerning his fate. These two principal witnesses therefore being no longer available, there remains none to whom I can apply for information, none with whom it would prove worth my while to communicate. It lies therefore with myself alone to deal as I may think fit with the manuscript, which is practically a continuation or sequel of the extraordinary story already accepted and published as solid truth by Mr Cayley. This second manuscript was found by me under circumstances I shall presently relate in the bedroom of a sea-side inn in South Wales. With the narrative was also a letter addressed to me wherein the writer thanked me in warm and sincere language for the small amount of assistance and sympathy it had been my privilege to vouchsafe to him during our past twelve weeks of companionship on Earth, but the contents of the letter shed no further light on the subject-matter of the manuscript. In addition to these there was a copy of Mr Cayley's book, which is already become so scarce as to be almost unattainable. The contents of this little volume I have therefore placed at the beginning of the present publication, so that the reader can follow in due sequence all the amazing adventures of the writer from the date of his first departure from the Earth to the stars until the very moment when he voluntarily chose a second time to quit this planet in order to resume a state of sovereignty whose tragical interruption he has already described with his own pen. I have always reckoned myself with perfect contentment as a private person of no importance; de me igitur nefas omninò loqui. Nevertheless, I have been propelled willy-nilly into obtruding some
- 34. portion of my personal affairs before the public and in what I conceive to be the public's true interest. For I myself have been requisitioned, so to speak, for the solution of some gigantic problem which is of deep import to our race, and my realisation of this unsought attention on my part must serve as my excuse for the short biographical details that follow. I was born in the year 1853, one of a respectable family of dalesmen in Cumberland, and after a boyhood wherein the passionate love of solitary wandering over the wild north country fells seems the only trait I think worth recording, I was sent to study medicine at Edinburgh. Here I had a successful if not a distinguished career, and after taking the required degrees I departed to the East to practise my profession and to amass the conventional fortune. In the former object I trust I have performed my duty satisfactorily; and as to the second, I have at any rate acquired a sufficient pension for the needs of my evening of life. I have also found alleviation and no small degree of pleasure in my chosen science, especially in the study of certain tropical diseases, though my natural inclination for privacy has hitherto prevented my publishing some interesting notes and observations covering many years' research in this particular section of medicine. In my domestic life however I have been less fortunate, for having married an estimable woman with every prospect of a joint happy existence before us, we were both deeply wounded in the deaths at rapid intervals of our four children, a series of blows that I myself, thanks to my profession and other interests in life, was able to bear with tolerable courage. Not so my poor partner; from the date of her last boy's loss at Singapore she could support this prolonged visitation of malign fortune no longer, and after a short but terrible attack of violent dementia she relapsed into a permanent condition of apathetic melancholy, from which she either could not or would not be diverted. I hope and trust I did all that was possible by patience and calmness to soften her hard lot; but, needless to say, it was a cheerless home wherein I moved, until after many years my suffering wife was at last called to rejoin her lost children. From the date of her death I devoted myself with increased ardour to my duties, whilst I occupied my many spare hours in studying with
- 35. care and intelligence such literature as deals with the cult of the supernatural, which has always possessed a singular fascination for my mind, and has, I feel sure, helped me to sustain with equanimity hitherto so many slings and arrows of outrageous fortune on this Earth. The years rolled by, so that in due course I became eligible for my retiring pension, yet even then I was in no haste to turn my back on the East, where I had passed practically the whole of my life since adolescence, for during thirty-seven years of service I had only twice returned home on short leave. And now, when in professional decency and according to the custom of my caste I was expected to resign, I felt small inclination to revisit my native land, where the only contemporary relative I owned was a married sister living at Aberdeen. Of my various nephews and nieces I knew nothing, and I felt a not unnatural dread of being exploited or patronised by a coterie of self-satisfied young persons of the present generation. At times I thought of migrating to some sparsely peopled British colony, such as Western Australia or Tasmania, where the advent of an elderly widower might possibly be welcome, if only as tending to swell the meagre tale of the approaching census. I was still hesitating and pondering, when in July 1914 the tedious question was solved for me rather arbitrarily in the following manner. A friend of mine about to revisit England had already engaged and paid for his passage from Rangoon, and was eagerly looking forward to his intended holiday, when almost at the last moment the poor fellow met with a shocking accident, whereby he was so unfortunate as to break both his legs. Visiting the patient at his house in the capacity of friend and not as physician, I found Mr —— in a pitiable state of lamentation over the money spent on his passage home, which he regarded as practically lost; indeed, this particular matter seemed to oppress the invalid even more heavily than his other far more serious disaster. I reflected a while on the situation, and then deeming it a special opportunity for me to break from my thraldom of indecision and simultaneously to perform a real kindness to a brother in distress, I offered to relieve my sick friend of his ticket and to have his cabin transferred to myself. As a result of this suggestion I had at least the satisfaction of the injured man's warm gratitude, though I confess the homing instinct within me had grown so faint that I could
- 36. summon up little or no enthusiasm at this new prospect of a speedy return to the land of my birth. One external ray of consolation however I was able to draw from this new arrangement, which was that the Orissa of the Pheon Line, the boat selected by my friend, was timed to sail on the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the year. I have long held a secret veneration for the figure seven, and in this case the circumstance of the benign figures was combined with certain stellar conjunctions in the heavens on which I need not dwell here. Be that as it may, this tardy decision to sail on the Orissa at least put an end to my trials of irresolution, of which I could not help feeling heartily ashamed; and as the very brief intervening time was fully employed in packing my effects and in making other preparations for departure, I was spared the usual cycle of farewell visits of ceremony which I greatly dreaded. On the day appointed therefore I found myself settled on the Orissa, a comfortable boat, and we proceeded on our homeward voyage, which proved wholly uneventful until we reached the Suez Canal. Here for the first time we received ominous reports of a colossal upheaval amongst the Great Powers of Europe, whilst our natural alarm was increased tenfold on learning at Port Said of the impending declaration of war between England and the German Empire. I shall not linger over the seething excitement on board our ship as we hurried at full speed through the Mediterranean in hourly fear of being sighted by the Goeben or some other German cruiser. It was therefore with an immense sense of relief that we found ourselves under lee of the guns of Gibraltar before we emerged thence into the waters of the Atlantic. We were about a day's sail from the Straits, with the weather still very hot and enervating, although we were north of the tropics, when at my usual hour for retiring I sought my cabin. I am generally a light but restful sleeper, and have rarely experienced even in its most transient form the curse of insomnia; but on this particular night, which was the seventh of August, I found myself a prey to a perfect demon of unrest. It was not the effect of the heat, to which I am thoroughly accustomed; nor was it the strain and stress of the late intelligence of war, for my extensive reading in the domain of the supernatural has long divested my mind of all sublunary foreboding; no, it was, I
- 37. am convinced, the close approach of some event of the first magnitude in which I was marked out to play a considerable part. (But perhaps I am describing my predominant sensations by the light of subsequent happenings; still I can at least faithfully aver I was conscious of some imminent crisis that demanded my fullest energies.) For several hours I lay thus in my berth, my brain active and alert and prepared to detect the smallest sound or motion that was suspicious amid the ordinary routine of ship life during the night watches. But no such occasion arose, nor was there any conceivable excuse for my nervous tension and distressing wakefulness, which grew so unbearable that the first luminous flush of early dawn forced me to leave my bed. With a deep sigh of relief I vaulted to the floor, donned my overcoat and slippers, seized my pipe and tobacco pouch, and thus lightly equipped sought the open air. Day was breaking with more than the usual riot of variegated colour over a calm, glassy sea when I reached the boat deck, which I set to pace hurriedly in order to quieten the throbbings of my unrested brain. Scarcely had I thrice tramped the planks before I heard a sharp shrill call from the bridge, and casting my eyes in the direction of the sound, I observed the officer on watch staring intently at something high in the air on the port side of the vessel. Leaning over the taffrail I quickly espied an object in the sky at no great distance from the Orissa—an object which I can best compare in shape to a huge carp and of a silvery hue in the encroaching sunlight. Even as I gazed intently, I perceived the thing fall swiftly in a wavering course till it touched the sea, its actual collapse synchronising with the blast of the officer's whistle and the tinkle of two bells, for it was just five o'clock in the morning. All was now bustle, though without confusion; the steamer's reversed engines echoed with resounding thuds; the boat deck was peopled by bare-footed seamen who were disengaging one of the boats from its davits; there were calls for this person and that, including the ship's doctor, who I knew to be heavily sleeping off the potations of the previous night. All the hands required were quickly on the spot with the sole exception of the
- 38. dissipated surgeon, whom a steward had hurried below to awaken. But the captain was too impatient to brook the least delay, and suddenly turning to myself, begged me to enter the waiting boat instead of the laggard absentee, a proposal I willingly accepted. Our boat was now lowered to the water; our swift strokes brought us closer and closer to the scene of the late mishap; we duly reached the spot. Not a sign of any wreckage, not a ripple on the surface, only the figure of a solitary survivor swimming or floating in the tepid crystalline sea. We steered straight towards the supposed aeronaut and soon pulled him aboard without difficulty. He was certainly a remarkable man; slender but of immense height and clothed in a strange outlandish attire such as I had never seen before; yet he appeared to be of English or possibly of Scandinavian nationality from the extreme whiteness of his skin and the flaxen yellow of his hair, which was of a prodigious length. His eyes were tightly closed and the face was pallid, but I quickly reassured myself on testing the action of the heart and pulse that our derelict was practically uninjured by his recent fall. During our passage back to the Orissa, I placed the rescued man in as comfortable a pose as I could contrive, keeping his head with its dripping golden mane on my knees. I tried to pour brandy down his throat, but failed to open the clenched white teeth that resisted stoutly, and I saw no special reason to persist in my endeavour. Once during our transit my patient for an instant opened a pair of great sapphire-blue eyes and smiled faintly up to my face; and the strangeness of that fleeting glance increased the compassion and curiosity and interest which had already, naturally enough, been awakened in me. Conveyed to my cabin, the strange man had to be stripped of his soaked garments consisting of a tunic and under-vest of fine texture; a small bag depending by a chain from his neck he fiercely defended, but otherwise was tractable enough, and seemed grateful for our attentions though he never uttered a word. With no small difficulty I managed to dismiss inquisitive stewards and fellow- passengers and ministered myself to the needs of my unexpected guest, who finally fell into a deep refreshing sleep.
- 39. Towards evening he awoke, smiled on me graciously, and then extended his right hand towards me with a gesture that was at once half-wistful, half-imperious; but when I grasped it according to wont, he seemed manifestly surprised. This puzzled me, but since that time I have grown to learn and understand many matters, great and small, which I failed to comprehend in these early days of our acquaintance. At first, I confess, I harboured some doubts as to the sanity of my mysterious stranger, but I soon perceived that though he spoke English in somewhat halting fashion and his brain worked with some degree of deliberation, yet of the acuteness of his reasoning powers there could be no question. In certain appeals of mine he deferred eventually to my arguments and acknowledged their justice, submitting amongst other things to have his thick chevelure clipped to a more conventional length, in order to avoid vulgar comment. After some reflection too he ultimately agreed with me as to the desirability of his adopting some name in consonance with the regulations for landing at Liverpool. Nevertheless, he utterly refused to declare his identity, but merely kept repeating with a smiling face, "Call me King!" to which pseudonym of his choice I ventured to add the Christian name of Theodore, promptly recalling the case of the impoverished King of Corsica on whom "Fate bestowed a kingdom yet denied him bread," for (quite erroneously) I then deemed him fully as destitute as that historic royal pauper. I do not think I need dwell on our subsequent adventures in London and in Wales, for they have all been amply and faithfully set forth in the narrative of "Theodore King" himself. In his manuscript he mentions my name on many occasions in kindly but perhaps not always in highly flattering terms. Not that I rebel, for I am now well aware how often my petty scruples and my lack of perception must have irritated the Superior Being whom I was thus privileged to assist during his brief sojourn on our Earth. Nor shall I attempt here to analyse the causes that operated to attach me so closely to the service of one who drew first my interest, then my devotion, and lastly my whole fund of loyalty. Imagine me then at an early stage of our strange alliance as placing myself wholly at the disposal of this stranger, whose semi-divine attributes I was quick to perceive and acknowledge; and merely venturing at certain times to proffer such
- 40. humble aid in mundane details and trifles as would naturally fall beneath the notice of a King of Meleager, transported to Earth and torn with celestial anguish as to his future duties towards his relinquished realm. And in this blind mental servitude I refuse to see anything dishonourable; on the contrary, my feeling is that of a man who has for a few moments been permitted of grace so to clutch at the fringe of the robe of the Superhuman; as a child of Earth who has succeeded in tracking the rainbow to its hidden source and bathed his hands in its fabled shower of golden dew. Whither our strange alliance was tending or what would eventuate with regard to my companion, I purposely refrained from debating even with myself. I merely stood aside and awaited all developments with perfect calm. I never sought to pry into the nature of the visits of the outlandish wanderers who pursued our steps both in London and at our quiet Welsh retreat. Yet I was fully aware of the gradual unravelling of some wondrous skein of Fate, wherewith I had only an indirect and subsidiary interest. For "Theodore King" was usually silent, and it was only during his last days prior to his final disappearance that he ever exhibited the smallest desire to take me into his confidence, and even then his statements to me were vague, and rather hinted at services to be rendered by me in the future than at an elucidation of the past. At the same time I was not overtaken by surprise when the final event supervened, and I awoke one morning to find my Superior Being flown from this Earth whereon he felt so little inclination to linger. In the manuscript the reader will observe the writer describes his feelings and movements till the supreme moment of leaving his abode in order to sail back to Meleager. Up till that point therefore I shall not presume to interpose my own account, and there is little further to report after that climax to my unique adventure. It was my daily custom to enter "Theodore King's" bed-chamber at about eight o'clock, and on fulfilling my normal visit on the morning of 27th October I saw at once the bed had never been slept in, whilst a large package addressed to myself lay in a prominent place on the table. It contained the manuscript, the copy of Edward Cayley's book, a private letter to myself and the bag of gems. At the same time I
- 41. found in another place an envelope containing a short but perfectly drafted will signed by Theodore King and witnessed by two persons at Pen Maelgwyn farm, bequeathing everything he possessed to "his excellent friend and physician, Charles Wayne, late of Rangoon." Nor had I later on the least difficulty in obtaining probate. Apparently there was nothing of value to leave, for I did not think it necessary to mention the existence of the Meleagrian jewels to any outsider, whilst I was touched and flattered by the kind thought. I have my own intentions with regard to applying the considerable sum of money represented by those splendid gems; and if God in His mercy be pleased to bring back our unhappy land into the old paths of peace and prosperity I hope to carry out my plan. But this lies altogether outside the pale of my present task. Having mastered the contents of the letter and the concluding portion of the manuscript I duly aroused the household, affecting an anxiety I did not feel, for of course I thoroughly understood what had occurred. An excited crowd, we searched hither and thither for traces of the missing stranger, and it was not long before Deio, the old ostler, had made a discovery which did not in the least astonish me. This was the finding of some clothing held down with heavy stones at the edge of the promontory only a quarter of a mile from the inn. Here the demented man, long recognised as an eccentric by the neighbourhood, must obviously have committed the act of self- destruction by throwing himself over the cliff into the cold grey surge below. Although it was wet and stormy, boatmen attempted to find further evidences of the suicide at the base of the crags, but needless to add their search was fruitless. There followed the usual tale of police inquiries ending in nothing; of long columns in the local journals, and of short paragraphs in the bigger organs of the Press, concerning the mysterious affair at Glanymôr; but all this excitement died down with a rapidity that might only have been expected in that period of tense anxiety which marked the furious campaign on the Belgian frontier towards the close of October. Interest in the strange occurrence soon flickered out before such engrossing themes of comment and speculation, even in so remote a spot as Glanymôr. Certainly a farm-hand at Pen Maelgwyn affirmed he had heard the buzzing noise of an aeroplane that very night above the Glanymôr
- 42. cliffs, despite its being too dark for him to distinguish any object; and though everybody belittled or disbelieved this statement, its author stoutly maintained to the last that he was positive he had not been mistaken in his surmise. I know John Lewis, the cow-man, was right; and I also know it was the call of the craft wherein my late companion, the King of Meleager, went up into a world of light and left me alone and sorrowing here. THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH NEW NOVELS NARCISSUS By Viola Meynell THE IRON AGE By F. Brett Young MAKING MONEY By Owen Johnson THE KING'S MEN
- 43. By John Palmer L.S.D. By Bohun Lynch CASUALS OF THE SEA By William McFee THE TRUE DIMENSION By Warrington Dawson THE CREATED LEGEND By Feodor Sologub MARTIN SECKER MCMXVI
- 44. *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MELEAGER *** Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed. Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. START: FULL LICENSE
- 45. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
- 46. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at www.gutenberg.org/license. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. 1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
- 47. Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to specialized publications, self-development books, and children's literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system, we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading. Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and personal growth! ebookfinal.com