Download the full version and explore a variety of test banks

or solution manuals at https://testbankbell.com

Test Bank for Economics of Strategy, 7th Edition,

David Dranove, David Besanko, Mark Shanley Mark
Schaefer

_____ Follow the link below to get your download now _____

http://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-economics-of-
strategy-7th-edition-david-dranove-david-besanko-mark-
shanley-mark-schaefer/

Access testbankbell.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 testbankbell.com
for more options!.

Test Bank for Economics of Strategy, 6th Edition, David

Besanko, David Dranove, Scott Schaefer, Mark Shanley, ISBN
: 9781118543238, ISBN : 9781118441473, ISBN :
9781118273630
http://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-economics-of-
strategy-6th-edition-david-besanko-david-dranove-scott-schaefer-mark-
shanley-isbn-9781118543238-isbn-9781118441473-isbn-9781118273630/

Economics of Strategy 7th Edition Dranove Test Bank

http://testbankbell.com/product/economics-of-strategy-7th-edition-
dranove-test-bank/

Test bank for Economics of Strategy 7th Edition by Dranove

http://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-economics-of-
strategy-7th-edition-by-dranove/

Test Bank Womens Gynecologic Health 3rd Edition Schuiling

by Kerri Durnell Schuiling , Frances E. Likis

http://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-womens-gynecologic-
health-3rd-edition-schuiling/
Test Bank for Human Physiology From Cells to Systems 4th
Canadian by Sherwood

http://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-human-physiology-from-
cells-to-systems-4th-canadian-by-sherwood/

Introduction to Maternity & Pediatric Nursing, 6e Study

Guide

http://testbankbell.com/product/introduction-to-maternity-pediatric-
nursing-6e-study-guide/

Test Bank for Global Marketing 7th Edition by Keegan

http://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-global-marketing-7th-
edition-by-keegan/

Test Bank for Introduction to Radiologic and Imaging

Sciences and Patient Care, 6th Edition, Arlene M. Adler
Richard R. Carlton
http://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-introduction-to-
radiologic-and-imaging-sciences-and-patient-care-6th-edition-arlene-m-
adler-richard-r-carlton/

Test Bank for Java Programming, 7th Edition

http://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-java-programming-7th-
edition/
Solution Manual for An Introduction to the History of
Psychology, 7th Edition, B. R. Hergenhahn Tracy Henley

http://testbankbell.com/product/solution-manual-for-an-introduction-
to-the-history-of-psychology-7th-edition-b-r-hergenhahn-tracy-henley/
Test Bank for Economics of Strategy, 7th
Edition, David Dranove, David Besanko, Mark
Shanley Mark Schaefer
full download link at: https://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-economics-of-
strategy-7th-edition-david-dranove-david-besanko-mark-shanley-mark-schaefer/

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following is a characteristic of economies of scale?

a) The average cost declines as output increases
b) The average cost increases as output increases
c) The average cost remains constant as output increases
d) The average costs are cheaper when a firm produces a wider variety of goods
e) The average cost curve takes the form of a U-shape

Ans: a
Learning Objective: Define economies of scale and scope and the role of indivisibilities
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Measurement
IMA: Quantitative Methods

Heading: Economies of Scale and Scope – Definition of Economies of Scale

Level: Easy

2. What is the minimum efficient scale (MES) of production?

a) The point on an average cost curve where the cost per unit begins to decline more rapidly
b) The minimum point on a U-shaped average cost curve
c) The minimum level of production at a plant for it to be considered profitable
d) The level of production for a small sized plant
e) The threshold at which capacity is constraining for a firm’s production

Ans: b

Learning Objective: Describe the relationship between economies of scale and indivisibilities
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Measurement
IMA: Quantitative Methods

Heading: Economies of Scale and Scope – Definition of Economies of Scale

Level: Medium
Test Bank for Economics of Strategy, 7th
Edition, David Dranove, David Besanko, Mark
Shanley Mark Schaefer
full download link at: https://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-economics-of-
strategy-7th-edition-david-dranove-david-besanko-mark-shanley-mark-schaefer/

3. Which of the following is generally a way that LBOs can help a firm realize its potential value?
a) The synergies created allow for cost savings
b) The transaction reduces the disparity between a firm’s actual and potential share price
c) The acquisition reduces the likelihood of competition in the industry
d) The transaction requires debt repayment with future free cash flow leaving management no discretion
over the investment of these funds
e) The buyout gives an opportunity to adjust the management structure and makeup

Ans: d
Learning Objective: Identify forces that keep managers focused on shareholder benefits
AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Strategic/Critical Thinking
IMA: Strategic Planning

Heading: The Market for Corporate Control and Recent Changes in Corporate Governance
Level: Easy

4. Which of the following best describes economies of scope?

a) The average cost declines as output increases
b) The average cost increases as output increases
c) The average cost remains constant as output increases
d) Savings are achieved when a firm produces a wider variety of goods
e) Savings are achieved when a firm produces a decreased variety of goods

Ans: d

Learning Objective: Define economies of scale and scope and the role of indivisibilities
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Leverage Technology to Develop and Enhance Functional Compentencies
IMA: Business Applications

Heading: Economies of Scale and Scope – Definition of Economies of Scope

Level: Easy

5. What measure, that depends on how much of a firm’s revenues are attributable to product market
activities that have shared technological characteristics, production characteristics, or distribution
channels, is used to determine how diversified a firm is at a given time?
a) Integration level
b) Rumelt score
c) Conglomerate level
d) Activity share
e) Relatedness

Ans: e

Learning Objective: Explain the value of complementarities and strategic fit

AASCB: Communication
AICPA: Communication
IMA: Strategic Planning

Heading: A Brief History

Level: Medium

6. Which of the following is not a product specific fixed cost?

a) The cost to manufacture a special die to make an aircraft fuselage
b) The cost of developing graphics software to facilitate video game development
c) The cost of a one-week training program preceding the implementation of a specific management
initiative
d) The time and expense required to set up a textbook before printing it
e) The cost of administrative expenses

Ans: e

Learning Objective: Identify sources of diseconomies of scale

AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Resource Management
IMA: Cost Management

Heading: Where do Scale Economies Come From? – Indivisibilities and the Spreading of Fixed Costs
Level: Medium

7. What kind of economies come from reductions in cost due to adoption of technology that has high
fixed costs, but lower variable costs?
a) Short-run economies of scale
b) Short-run economies of scope
c) Long-run economies of scale
d) Long-run economies of scope
e) Partially automated economies

Ans: c

Learning Objective: Identify six specific sources of economies of scale and scope
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Measurement
IMA: Quantitative Methods

Heading: Where do Scale Economies Come From? – Indivisibilities and the Spreading of Fixed Costs
Level: Hard

8. Examining which of the following is broadly considered one of the easiest ways to measure
diversifying activity?
a) Joint Ventures
b) Mergers and acquisitions
c) Internal Business Development
d) Strategic Alliances
e) Collaborative agreements
Ans: b

Learning Objective: Define Diversification

AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Industry/Sector Perspective
IMA: Investment Decisions

Heading: A Brief History

Level: Medium

9. What force does Manne indicate constrains the actions of managers so that they stay focused on the
goals of owners?
a) Market for corporate control
b) SEC
c) Corporate board
d) Corporate governance
e) CEO

Ans: a

Learning Objective: Identify forces that keep managers focused on shareholder benefits
AASCB: Ethics
AICPA: Leadership
IMA: Performance Measurement

Heading: Managerial Reasons for Diversification – The Market for Corporate Control and Recent
Changes in Corporate Governance
Level: Medium

10. What kind of economies come from reductions in average costs due to increases in capacity
utilization?
a) Short-run economies of scale
b) Short-run economies of scope
c) Long-run economies of scale
d) Long-run economies of scope
e) Fully automated economies

Ans: a

Learning Objective: Identify six specific sources of economies of scale and scope
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Resource Management
IMA: Business Economics

Heading: Where do Scale Economies Come From? – Indivisibilities and the Spreading of Fixed Costs
Level: Hard
11. What are economies of density as referred to in the airline industry?
a) Reducing the size of an aircraft used to increase load factor
b) Economies achieved by an airline flying from spoke to spoke in a hub-and-spoke network
c) Economies of scope along a given route
d) Economies of scale along a given route
e) Reductions in average cost as traffic volume decreases

Ans: d

Learning Objective: Identify six specific sources of economies of scale and scope
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Industry/Sector Perspective
IMA: Decision Analysis

Heading: Example 2.1 Hub-and-Spoke Networks and Economies of Scope in the Airline Industry
Level: Medium

12. Which of the following is not generally a potential benefit of diversification?

a) Control systems rewarding/penalizing division managers based on business unit objective
b) Economies of scale and scope
c) Economizing on transaction costs
d) Diversifying shareholder portfolios
e) Identifying undervalued firms

Ans: a

Learning Objective: Explain why firms diversify

AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Decision Modeling
IMA: Decision Analysis

Heading: Why Do Firms Diversify? – Efficiency Based Reasons for Diversification

Level: Easy

13. Which of the following benefits of diversification explains the idea that mergers are more likely when
there is an expectation of positive changes in market share?
a) Use of internal capital markets
b) Economies of scale and scope
c) Economizing on transaction costs
d) Diversifying shareholder portfolios
e) Identifying undervalued firms

Ans: b

Learning Objective: Explain why firms diversify

AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Decision Modeling
IMA: Decision Analysis

Heading: Why Do Firms Diversify? – Efficiency Based Reasons for Diversification

Level: Medium

14. How does carrying inventories contribute to economies of scale?

a) Increases the interest on the expenses to produce the inventory
b) Inventory depreciates in value while waiting to be used or sold
c) Increases the storage facilities necessary
d) Increases competition with rivals for customers
e) Minimizes the chance of stock-out

Ans: e

Learning Objective: Identify six specific sources of economies of scale and scope
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Strategic/Critical Thinking
IMA: Strategic Planning

Heading: Where do Scale Economies Come From? – Inventories

Level: Medium

15. Which of the following benefits of diversification explains the idea that combining unrelated
businesses can allow firms to finance projects through cross-subsidization when they previously were
unable to finance the same projects externally?
a) Use of internal capital markets
b) Economies of scale and scope
c) Economizing on transaction costs
d) Diversifying shareholder portfolios
e) Identifying undervalued firms

Ans: c

Learning Objective: Explain why firms diversify

AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Decision Modeling
IMA: Decision Analysis

Heading: Why Do Firms Diversify? – Efficiency Based Reasons for Diversification

Level: Medium

16. Which of the following is not a reason a supplier might seek to sell in bulk?
a) Each sale incurs a fixed cost in writing a contract
b) The purchaser is likely to switch over a small price due to the gains over the large number of units
ordered
c) Each sale involves setting up a different production run
d) The cost of delivery is a fixed on a per unit basis
e) The supplier fears uneven sales

Ans: c

Learning Objective: Explain the value of complementarities and strategic fit

AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Decision Modeling
IMA: Decision Analysis

Heading: Special Sources of Economies of Scale and Scope – Economies of Scale and Scope in
Purchasing
Level: Easy

17. How does umbrella branding aid economies of scale and scope?
a) Increases effectiveness of advertising due to a greater presence
b) Increases effectiveness of advertising due to national advertising
c) Increases effectiveness of advertising due to offering a broad product line under one name
d) Increased cost effectiveness through purchasing as a cooperative
e) Increased cost effectiveness through bulk purchasing

Ans: c

Learning Objective: Identify six specific sources of economies of scale and scope
AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Marketing/Client Focus
IMA: Strategic Marketing

Heading: Special Sources of Economies of Scale and Scope – Economies of Scale and Scope in
Advertising
Level: Medium

18. Which of the following benefits of diversification explains the idea that a firm with many business
lines can reduce swings in value because it receives only a small percentage of its revenue from any one
of those business lines?
a) Use of internal capital markets
b) Economies of scale and scope
c) Economizing on transaction costs
d) Diversifying shareholder portfolios
e) Identifying undervalued firms

Ans: d

Learning Objective: Explain why firms diversify

AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Strategic/Critical Thinking
IMA: Strategic Planning

Heading: Why Do Firms Diversify? – Efficiency Based Reasons for Diversification

Level: Easy

19. Which of the following practices does not contribute to the strategic fit of Southwest Airlines?
a) No in-flight catering
b) Use of multiple types of planes
c) No use of congested airports
d) Re-engineered boarding process
e) No first class section on plane

Ans: b

Learning Objective: Identify six specific sources of economies of scale and scope
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Strategic/Critical Thinking
IMA: Strategic Planning

Heading: Special Sources of Economies of Scale and Scope – Complementarities and Strategic Fit
Level: Easy

20. What type of research looks at the changes in market valuations in response to the announcement of
diversifying acquisitions to assess the success of diversification?
a) Event studies
b) Valuation studies
c) Diversification studies
d) Market studies
e) Acquisition studies

Ans: a

Learning Objective: Explain how managers can diversify without generating net benefits for shareholders
AASCB: Communication
AICPA: Communication
IMA: Strategic Planning

Heading: Performance of Diversified Firms – Valuation and Event Studies

Level: Hard

21. Which of the following is a source of diseconomies of scale at a large firm?

a) Labor costs
b) Spreading specialized resources too thin
c) Conflicts of interest
d) Incentive processes
e) All of the above

Ans: e

Learning Objective: Identify sources of diseconomies of scale

AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Resource Management
IMA: Strategic Planning

Heading: Sources of Diseconomies of Scale

Level: Easy

22. Which of the following benefits of diversification explains the idea that corporate diversification can
provide situations where an acquiring firm determines the stock price for firm they intend to acquire is too
low?
a) Use of internal capital markets
b) Economies of scale and scope
c) Economizing on transaction costs
d) Diversifying shareholder portfolios
e) Identifying undervalued firms

Ans: e

Learning Objective: Explain why firms diversify

AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Decision Modeling
IMA: Investment Decisions

Heading: Why Do Firms Diversify? – Efficiency Based Reasons for Diversification

Level: Easy

23. Why might a large firm actually be at an advantage over a smaller firm with respect to labor?
a) Large generally pay a compensating differential to attract workers
b) Worker turnover is generally lower
c) Large firms enjoy better scale economies when negotiating with health insurance companies for health
benefits
d) Large firms are generally less attractive to qualified, upward mobile workers
e) Large firms often have to draw workers from a greater distance to fill their ranks

Ans: b

Learning Objective: Identify six specific sources of economies of scale and scope
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Strategic/Critical Thinking
IMA: Strategic Planning
Heading: Sources of Diseconomies of Scale – Labor Costs and Size
Level: Medium

24. Which of the following is not a way managers generally benefit from acquisitions?
a) Increased compensation
b) Consolidation of other senior executives
c) Shielding against risk
d) Political power
e) Social prominence

Ans: b

Learning Objective: Identify forces that keep managers focused on shareholder benefits
AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Leadership
IMA: Performance Measurement

Heading: Managerial Reasons for Diversification – Benefits to Managers from Acquisitions

Level: Medium

25. What is the approximate observed median learning curve slope for typical firms?
a) .6
b) .7
c) .8
d) .9
e) 1.0

Ans: c

Learning Objective: Describe the value of experience by reference to the learning curve
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Measurement
IMA: Quantitative Methods

Heading: The Learning Curve – The Concept of the Learning Curve

Level: Hard

26. Why is firm specific learning better in general for an organization?

a) Encourages individuality among workers within the organization
b) Keeps unionized workers happy
c) Allows workers to acquire skills they can then “shop around”
d) Ensures worker knowledge is tied to current employment
e) Increases complexity and creativity in the organization

Ans: d
Learning Objective: Describe the value of experience by reference to the learning curve
AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Interaction
IMA: Decision Analysis

Heading: The Learning Curve – Learning and Organization

Level: Medium

27. What institution within a firm must fail on some level for managers to be motivated to acquire another
firm for the purposes of increasing their own compensation, shielding themselves against risk, or gaining
prominence by running a larger firm?
a) Legal department
b) Corporate board
c) Mergers and acquisitions program
d) Firm bonus schedule
e) Corporate governance

Ans: e

Learning Objective: Explain how managers can diversify without generating net benefits for shareholders
AASCB: Ethics
AICPA: Leadership
IMA: Internal Controls

Heading: Managerial Reasons for Diversification – Problems with Corporate Governance

Level: Hard

28. If a firm enjoys lower costs due to a complex labor-intensive process, which of the following
statements would then be true?
a) Cutbacks in volume will always raise unit costs
b) The firm is unconcerned with labor turnover
c) An example of this process could be the practice of anti-trust law
d) The firm’s average cost rises due to moving down the learning curve
e) The process is likely a repetitive manufacturing process such as two-piece aluminum can
manufacturing

Ans: c

Learning Objective: Identify six specific sources of economies of scale and scope
AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Strategic/Critical Thinking
IMA: Strategic Planning

Heading: The Learning Curve – The Learning Curve versus Economies of Scale
Level: Easy
29. By satisfying which of the following conditions can shareholders prevent management driven
acquisitions?
a) If shareholders could determine which acquisitions will lead to increased profits and which will not
b) If shareholders could direct management to undertake only those acquisitions that will increase
shareholder value
c) If shareholders could provide management with the appropriate steps to conduct when performing
acquisitions
d) a & b
e) None of the above

Ans: d

Learning Objective: Identify forces that keep managers focused on shareholder benefits
AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Leadership
IMA: Corporate Finance

Heading: Managerial Reasons for Diversification – Problems with Corporate Governance

Level: Hard

30. Economies of scale are best described as which of the following?

a) The average cost remains constant as output increases
b) The average cost increases as output increases
c) The average cost declines as output increases
d) The average costs are cheaper when a firm produces a wider variety of goods
e) The average cost curve takes the form of a U-shape

Ans: c

Learning Objective: Define economies of scale and scope and the role of indivisibilities
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Measurement
IMA: Quantitative Methods

Heading: Economies of Scale and Scope – Definition of Economies of Scale

Level: Easy

31. Consolidation of managers often occurs due to which of the following?

a) Increased compensation for senior managers
b) Lower costs in the vertical supply chain
c) Mergers and acquisitions
d) Increased political power of senior managers
e) Social prominence of middle magaers
Ans: c

Learning Objective: Identify forces that keep managers focused on shareholder benefits
AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Leadership
IMA: Performance Measurement

Heading: Managerial Reasons for Diversification – Benefits to Managers from Acquisitions

Level: Medium

32. Increased economies of scale and scope are helped by which of the following?
a) Umbrella branding
b) Market branding
c) Bundling
d) Negotiated branding
e) Strategic branding

Ans: a

Learning Objective: Identify six specific sources of economies of scale and scope
AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Marketing/Client Focus
IMA: Strategic Marketing

Heading: Special Sources of Economies of Scale and Scope – Economies of Scale and Scope in
Advertising
Level: Medium

33. Diversifying activity is most often measured by looking at which of the following?
a) Joint Ventures
b) Collaborative agreements
c) Internal Business Development
d) Strategic Alliances
e) Acquisition and merger activity

Ans: e

Learning Objective: Define Diversification

AASCB: Reflective Thinking
AICPA: Industry/Sector Perspective
IMA: Investment Decisions

Heading: A Brief History

Level: Medium
34. The minimum point on a U-shaped average cost curve is known as which of the following?
a) Efficient marginal cost (EMC)
b) Lowest price alternative (LPA)
c) Efficient production cost (EPC)
d) Minimum efficient scale of production (MES)
e) Minimum threshold cost (MTC)

Ans: d

Learning Objective: Describe the relationship between economies of scale and indivisibilities
AASCB: Analytical
AICPA: Measurement
IMA: Quantitative Methods

Heading: Economies of Scale and Scope – Definition of Economies of Scale

Level: Medium
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
ladyship in."

He went to the door, and the old woman turned to her daughter
and said grimly:

"There's a lady with him. Yo' mun help wi' the fires."

She closed the door leading to the bedroom where the baby lay
sleeping soundly, and then set doggedly about her duties. The two
women had left the room carrying armfuls of firing when Sir Denzil
came back leading Lady Susan by the hand, muffled like himself in a
big travelling-cloak. He drew a chair to the fire, and she sank into it.
He left her there and went out again, and as the door opened the
rattle of harness on chilling horses came through.

Lady Susan bent shivering over the fire and spread her hands
towards it, groping for its cheer like a blind woman. Her face was
white and drawn. Her eyes were sunk in dark wells of hopelessness,
her lips were pinched in tight repression. Any beauty that might
have been hers had left her; only her misery and weariness
remained. Her whole attitude expressed extremest suffering both of
mind and body.

A piping cry came from the next room, and she straightened up
suddenly and looked about her like a startled deer. Then she rose
quickly and picked up the candle and answered the call.

The child had cried out in his sleep, and as she stood over him,
with the candle uplifted, a strange softening came over her face. Her
left hand stole up to her side and pressed it as though to still a pain.
A spasmodic smile crumpled the little face as she watched. Then it
smoothed out and the child settled to sleep again. Lady Susan went
slowly back to her seat before the fire, and almost immediately Sir
Denzil came in again, dusting himself from the sand more vigorously
than ever.

"How do you feel now, my dear?" he asked.

 "Sick to death," she said quietly.

"You will feel better after a night's rest. The journey has been a
trying one. Old Mrs. Lee will make you comfortable here, and I will
return the moment I am sure of Denzil's safety. You agree with the
necessity for my going?"

"Quite."

"Every moment may be of importance. But the moment he is safe

I will hurry back to see to your welfare here. I shall lie at Warrington
to-night, and I will tell the doctor at Wynsloe to come over first thing
in the morning to see how you are going on. Ah, Mrs. Lee, you are
ready for us?"

"Ay. The oak parlour is ready, sir. I'll get you what I con to eat,
but you'll have to put up wi' short farin' to-night, sin' you didna let
me know you were coming. To-morrow----"

"What you can to-night as quickly as possible. Lady Susan is tired

out, and I return as soon as I have eaten. See that the post-boy gets
something too."

"Yo're non stopping?" asked the old woman in surprise.

"No, no, I told you so," he said, with the irritation of a tired man.
"Come, my dear!" and he offered his arm to Lady Susan, and led her
slowly away down the stone passage to a small room in the west
front, where the rush of the storm was barely heard.

An hour later Sir Denzil was whirling back before the gale on his
way to London, as fast as two tired horses and a none too amiable
post-boy could carry him. His usual serene self-complacency was
disturbed by many anxieties, and he carried not a little bitterness, on
his own account, at the untowardness of the circumstances which
had dragged him from the ordered courses of his life and sent him
posting down into the wilderness, without even the assistance of his
man, upon whom he depended for the minutest details of his bodily
comfort.

"A most damnable misfortune!" he allowed himself, now that he

was alone, and he added some further unprofitable moments to an
already tolerably heavy account in cursing every separate person
connected with the matter, including a dead man and the man who
killed him, and an unborn babe and the mother who lay shivering at
thought of its coming.

CHAPTER IV

THE COIL COMPLETE

In the great house of Carne there was a stillness in strange

contrast with the roaring of the gale outside. But the stillness was
big with life's vitalities--love and hate and fear; and, compared with
them, the powers without were nothing more than whistling winds
that played with shifting sands, and senseless waves that sported
with men's lives.

It was not till the new-comer was lying in her warm bed in the
room above the oak parlour, shivering spasmodically at times in spite
of blankets and warming-pans and a roaring fire, that she spoke to
the old woman who had assisted her in grim silence.

The silence and the grimness had not troubled her. They suited
her state of mind and body better than speech would have done.
Life had lost its savour for her. Of what might lie beyond she knew
little and feared much at times, and at times cared naught, craving
only rest from all the ills of life and the poignant pains that racked
her.

It was only when Mrs. Lee had carefully straightened out her
discarded robes, and looked round to see what else was to be done,
and came to the bedside to ask tersely if there was anything more
my lady wanted, that my lady spoke.

"You'll come back and sit with me?" she asked.

"Ay--I'll come."

"Whose baby is that downstairs?"

"It's my girl's," said the old woman, startled somewhat at my

lady's knowledge.

"Did she live through it?"

"Ay, she lived." And there was that in her tone which implied that
it might have been better if she had not. But my lady's perceptions
were blunted by her own sufferings.

"Is she here?"

"Ay, she's here."

"Would she come to me too?"

But the old woman shook her head.

"She's not over strong yet," she said grimly. "I'll come back and
sit wi' yo'."

"How old is it?"

"Seven days."
 "Seven days! Seven days!" She was wondering vaguely where she
would be in seven days.

"It looked very happy," she said presently. "Its father was surely a
good man."

"They're none too many," said the old woman, as she turned to
go. "I'll get my supper and come back t' yo'."

"Who is she?" asked her daughter, with the vehemence of an

aching question, as she entered the kitchen.

Mrs. Lee closed the passage door and looked at her steadily and
said, "She's Denzil Carron's wife." And the younger woman sprang to
her feet with blazing face and the clatter of a falling chair.

"Denzil's wife! I am Denzil Carron's wife."

"So's she. And I reckon she's the one they'll call his wife," said her
mother dourly.

"I'll go to her. I'll tell her----" And she sprang to the door.

"Nay, you wun't," said her mother, leaning back against it. "T'
blame's not hers, an' hoo's low enough already."

"And where is he? Where is Denzil?"

"He's in trouble of some kind, but what it is I dunnot know. Sir

Denzil's gone back to get him out of it, and he brought her here to
be out of it too."

"And he'll come here?"

"Mebbe. Sir Denzil didna say. He said he'd hold me responsible for
her. She's near her time, poor thing! An' I doubt if she comes
through it."
 "Near----!" And the girl blazed out again.

"Ay. I shouldna be surprised if it killed her. There's the look o' it in

her face."

"Kill her? Why should it kill her? It didn't kill me," said the girl
fiercely.

"Mebbe it would but for yon woman you told me of. Think of your
own time, girl, and bate your anger. Fault's not hers if Denzil served
you badly."

"He connot have two wives."

"Worse for him if he has. One's enough for most men. But--well-
a-day, it's no good talking! I'll take a bite, and back to her. She
begged me come. Yo' can sleep i' my bed. There's more milk on th'
hob there if th' child's hungry." And carrying her bread-and-cheese
she went off down the passage, and the young mother sat bending
over the fire with her elbows on her knees.

She had no thought of sleep. Her limbs were still weary from her
long tramp, but the food and rest had given her strength, and the
coming of this other woman, who called herself Denzil Carron's wife,
had fired her with a sense of revolt.

The blood was boiling through her veins at thought of it all--at

thought of Denzil, at thought of the boy in the next room, and this
other woman upstairs. Her heart felt like molten lead kicking in a
cauldron.

She got up and began to pace the floor with the savage grace
born of a life of unrestricted freedom. Once she stopped and flung
up her hands as though demanding--what?--a blessing--a curse--the
righting of a wrong? The quivering hands looked capable at the
moment of righting their own wrongs, or of wreaking vengeance on
the wrongdoer if they closed upon him.
 Then, as the movement of her body quieted in some measure the
turmoil of her brain, her pace grew slower, and she began to think
connectedly. And at last she dropped into the chair again, leaned her
elbows on her kneel and sat gazing into the fire. When it burned low
she piled on wood mechanically, and sat there thinking, thinking.
Outside, the storm raged furiously, and the flying sand hit the
window like hailstones. And inside, the woman sat gazing into the
fire and thinking.

She sat long into the night, thinking, thinking--unconscious of the

passage of time;--thinking, thinking. Twice her child woke crying to
be fed, and each time she fed him from the pannikin as mechanically
almost as she had fed the fire with wood. For her thoughts were
strange long thoughts, and she could not see the end of them.

They were all sent flying by the sudden entrance of her mother in
a state of extreme agitation, her face all crumpled, her hands
shaking.

"She's took," she said, with a break in her voice. "Yo' mun go for
th' doctor quick. I connot leave her. Nay!"--as the other sat bolt
upright and stared back at her--"yo' mun go. We connot have her
die on our hands. Think o' yore own time, lass, and go quick for sake
o' Heaven."

"I'll go." And she snatched up her cloak. "See to the child." And
she was out in the night, drifting before the gale like an autumn leaf.

The old woman went in to look at the child, filled the kettle and
put it on the fire, and hurried back to the chamber of sorrows.

The gale broke at sunrise, and the flats lay shimmering like sheets
of burnished gold, when Dr. Yool turned at last from the bedside and
looked out of the window upon the freshness of the morning.
 He was in a bitter humour. When Nance Lee thumped on his door
at midnight he was engaged in the congenial occupation of mixing a
final and unusually stiff glass of rum and water. It was in the nature
of a soporific--a nightcap. It was to be the very last glass for that
night, and he had compounded it with the tenderest care and the
most businesslike intention.

"If that won't give me a night's rest," he said to himself, "nothing

will."

But there was no rest for him that night. He had been on the go
since daybreak, and was fairly fagged out. He greeted Nance's
imperative knock with bad language. But when he heard her errand
he swallowed his nightcap without a wink, though it nearly made his
hair curl, ran round with her to the stable, harnessed his second cob
to the little black gig with the yellow wheels, threw Nance into it,
and in less than five minutes was wrestling with the north-easter
once more, and spitting out the sand as he had been doing off and
on all day long.

"There's one advantage in being an old bachelor, Miss Nancy," he

had growled, as he flung the harness on the disgusted little mare;
"your worries are your own. Take my advice and never you get
married----" And then he felt like biting his tongue off when he
remembered the rumours he had heard concerning the girl. She was
too busy with her own long thoughts to be troubled by his words,
however, and once they were on the road speech was impossible by
reason of the gale.

When they arrived at Carne she scrambled down and led the
mare into the great empty coach-house, where the post-horses had
previously found shelter that night. She flung the knee-rug over the
shaking beast, still snorting with disgust and eyeing her askance as
the cause of all the trouble. Then she followed the doctor into the
house. He was already upstairs, however, and, after a look at her
sleeping boy, she sat down in her chair before the fire again to await
the event, and fell again to her long, long thoughts.

And once more her thoughts were sent flying by the entrance of
her mother. She carried a tiny bundle carefully wrapped in flannel
and a shawl, and on her sour old face there was an expression of
relief and exultation--the exultation of one who has won in a close
fight with death.

"He were but just in time," she said, as she sat down before the
fire. "I'm all of a shake yet. But th' child's safe anyway." And she
began to unfold the bundle tenderly. "Git me t' basin and some
warm water. Now, my mannie, we'll soon have you comfortable. . . .
So . . . Poor little chap! . . . I doubt if she'll pull through. . . . T'
doctor's cursing high and low below his breath at state she's in . . .
travelling in that condition . . . 'nough to have killed a stronger one
than ever she was. . . . I knew as soon as ivver I set eyes on her . . .
A fine little lad!"--as she turned the new-comer carefully over on her
knee--"and nothing a-wanting 's far as I can see, though he's come
a month before he should."

She rambled on in the rebound from her fears, but the girl uttered
no word in reply. She stood watching abstractedly, and handing
whatever the old woman called for. Her thoughts were in that other
room, where the grim fight was still waging. Her heart was sick to
know how it was going. Her thoughts were very shadowy still, but
the sight of the boy on the old woman's knee showed her her
possible way, like a signpost on a dark night. She would see things
clearer when she knew how things had gone upstairs.

She must know. She could not wait. She turned towards the
passage.

"I will go and see," she said.

"Ay, go," said the old woman. "But go soft."

 The doctor was sitting at the bedside. He raised his hand when
she entered the room, but did not turn. She stood and watched, and
suddenly all her weariness came on her and she felt like falling. She
leaned against the wall and waited.

Once and again the doctor spoke to the woman on the bed. But
there was no answer. He sat with furrowed face watching her, and
the girl leaned against the wall and watched them both.

And at last the one on the bed answered--not the doctor, but a
greater healer still. One long sigh, just as the sun began to touch
the rippled flats with gold, and it was over. The stormy night was
over and peace had come with the morning.

The doctor gat up with something very like a scowl on his face
and went to the window. Even in the Presence he had to close his
mouth firmly lest the lava should break out.

He hated to be beaten in the fight--the endless fight to which his

whole life was given, year in, year out. But this had been no fair
fight. The battle was lost before he came on the field, and his
resentment was hot against whoever was to blame.

He opened the casement and leaned out to cool his head. The
sweet morning air was like a kiss. He drank in a big breath or two,
and, after another pained look at the white face on the pillow, he
turned and left the room. The girl had already gone, and as she
went down the passage there was a gleam in her eyes.

Her mother saw it as soon as she entered the kitchen. "Well?"

asked the old woman.

"She's gone."

"And yo're glad of it. Shame on yo', girl! And yo' but just safe
through it yoreself!"
 The girl made no reply, and a moment later the doctor came in.

"Now, Mrs. Lee, explain things to me. Whose infernal folly

brought that poor thing rattling over the country in that condition?
And get me a cup of coffee, will you? Child all right?"

"He's all right, doctor. He's sleeping quiet there"--pointing to a

heap of shawls on the hearth. "It were Sir Denzil himself brought her
last night."

"And why didn't he stop to see the result of his damned stupidity?
It's sheer murder, nothing less. Make it as strong as you can,"--
referring to the coffee--"my head's buzzing. I haven't had a minute's
rest for twenty-four hours. Where is Sir Denzil? He left word at my
house to come over here first thing this morning. I expected to find
him here."

"He went back wi the carriage that brought 'em. There's trouble
afoot about Mr. Denzil as I understond. He said it were life and
death, and he were off again inside an hour."

"Ah!" said the doctor, nodding his head knowingly. "That's it, is it?
And you don't know what the trouble was?"

"'Life and death,' he said. That's all I know."

"Well, if he bungles the other business as he has done this it'll not
need much telling which it'll be." And he blew on his coffee to cool
it.

"I must send him word at once," he said presently, "and I'll tell
him what I think about it. I've got his town address. You can see to
the child all right, I suppose? Another piece of that bread, if you
please. Any more coffee there? This kind of thing makes me feel
empty."

"I'll see to t' child aw reet."

 "Send me word if you need me, not otherwise. There's typhus
down Wyvveloe way, and I'm run off my legs. A dog's life, dame--
little thanks and less pay!" And he buttoned up his coat fiercely and
strode out to his gig. "I'll send John Braddle out," he called back
over his shoulder. "But I doubt if we can wait to hear from Sir Denzil.
However----" And he drove away, through the slanting morning
sunshine.

The white sand-hills smiled happily, the wide flats blazed like a
rippled mirror, the sky was brightest blue, and very far away the sea
slept quietly behind its banks of yellow sand.

CHAPTER V

IN THE COIL

The days passed and brought no word from Sir Denzil in reply to
Dr. Yool's post letter. And, having waited as long as they could, they
buried Lady Susan in the little green churchyard at Wyvveloe, where
half a dozen Carrons, who happened to have died at Carne, already
rested. Dr. Yool and Braddle had had to arrange everything between
them, and, as might have been expected under the circumstances,
the funeral was as simple as funeral well could be, and as regards
attendance--well, the doctor was the only mourner, and he still
boiled over when he thought of the useless way in which this poor
life had been sacrificed.

Braddle was there with his men, of course, but the doctor only
just managed it between two visits, and his manner showed that he
grudged the time given to the dead which was all too short for the
requirements of the living. Yet it went against the grain to think of
that poor lady going to her last resting-place unattended, and he
made a point of being there. But his gig stood waiting outside the
churchyard gate, and he was whirling down the lane while the first
spadefuls were drumming on the coffin.

He thought momentarily of the child as he drove along. But, since

no call for his services had come from Mrs. Lee, he supposed it was
going on all right, and he had enough sick people on his hands to
leave him little time for any who could get along without him.

The days ran into weeks, and still no word from Sir Denzil. It
looked as though the little stranger at Carne might remain a stranger
for the rest of his days. And yet it was past thinking that those
specially interested should make no inquiry concerning the welfare
of so important a member of the family.

"Summat's happened," was old Mrs. Lee's terse summing-up, with

a gloomy shake of the head whenever she and Nance discussed the
matter, which was many times a day.

Other matters too they discussed, and to more purpose, since the
forwarding of them was entirely in their own hands. And when they
spoke of these other matters, sitting over the fire in the long
evenings, each with a child on her knee, hushing it or feeding it,
their talk was broken, interjectional even at times, and so low that
the very walls could have made little of it.

It was fierce-eyed Nance who started that strain of talk, and at

first her mother received it open-mouthed. But by degrees, and as
time played for them, she came round to it, and ended by being the
more determined of the two. So they were of one mind on the
matter, and the matter was of moment, and all that happened
afterwards grew out of it.
 Both the children throve exceedingly. No care was lacking them,
and no distinction was made between them. What one had the other
had, and Nance, with recovered strength, played foster-mother to
them both.

Just two months after Lady Susan's death the two women were
sitting talking over the fire one night, the children being asleep side
by side in the cot in the adjacent bedroom, when the sound of hoofs
and wheels outside brought them to their feet together.

"It's him," said Mrs. Lee; and they looked for a moment into one
another's faces as though each sought sign of flinching in the other.
Then both their faces tightened, and they seemed to brace
themselves for the event.

An impatient knock on the kitchen door, the old woman hastened

to answer it, and Sir Denzil limped in. He was thinner and whiter
than the last time he came. He leaned heavily on a stick and looked
frail and worn.

"Well, Mrs. Lee," he said, as he came over to the fire and bent
over it and chafed his hands, "you'd given up all fears of ever seeing
me again, I suppose?"

"Ay, a'most we had," said the old woman, as she lifted the kettle
off the bob and set it in the blaze.

"Well, it wasn't far off it. I had a bad smash returning to London
that last time. That fool of a post-boy drove into a tree that had
fallen across the road, and killed himself and did his best to kill me.
Now light the biggest fire you can make in the oak room, and
another in my bedroom, and get me something to eat. Kennet"--as
his man came in dragging a travelling-trunk--"get out a bottle of
brandy, and, as soon as you've got the things in, brew me the
stiffest glass of grog you ever made. My bones are frozen."
 He dragged up a chair and sat down before the fire, thumping the
coals with his stick to quicken the blaze. The rest sped to his
bidding.

Kennet, when he had got in the trunks, brewed the grog in a big
jug, with the air of one who knew what he was about.

"Shall I give the boy some, sir?" he asked, when Sir Denzil had
swallowed a glass and was wiping his eyes from the effects of it.

"Yes, yes. Give him a glass, but tone it down, or he'll be breaking
his neck like the last one."

So Kennet watered a glass to what he considered reasonable

encouragement for a frozen post-boy, and presently the jingling of
harness died away in the distance, and Kennet came in and fastened
the door.

Sir Denzil had filled and emptied his glass twice more before Mrs.
Lee came to tell him the room was ready. Then he went slowly off
down the passage, steadying himself with his stick, for a superfluity
of hot grog on an empty stomach on a cold night is not unapt to
mount to the head of even a seasoned toper.

Kennet, when he came back to the room, after seeing his master
comfortably installed before the fire, brewed a fresh supply of grog,
placed on one side what he considered would satisfy his own
requirements, and carried the rest to the oak room.

It was when the girl Nance carried in the hastily prepared meal
that Sir Denzil, after peering heavily at her from under his bushy
brows, asked suddenly, "And the child? It's alive?"

"Alive and well, sir."

"Bring it to me in the morning."

 The girl looked at him once or twice as if she wanted to ask him a
question.

He caught her at it, and asked abruptly, "What the devil are you
staring at, and what the deuce keeps you hanging round here?"
Upon which she quitted the room.

There was much talk, intense and murmurous, between the two
women that night, when they had made up a bed for Kennet and
induced him at last to go to it. From Kennet and the grog, after Sir
Denzil had retired for the night, Nance learned all Kennet could tell
her about Mr. Denzil.

According to that veracious historian it was only through Mr.

Kennet's supreme discretion and steadfastness of purpose that the
young man got safely across to Brussels, and, when he tired of
Brussels, which he very soon did, to Paris.

"Ah!" said Mr. Kennet. "Now, that is a place. Gay?--I believe you!
Lively?--I believe you! Heels in the air kind of place?--I believe you!
And Mr. Denzil he took to it like a duck to the water. London ain't in
it with Paris, I tell you." And so on and so on, until, through close
attention to the grog, his words began to tumble over one another.
Then he bade them good night, with solemn and insistent emphasis,
as though it was doubtful if they would ever meet again, and
cautiously followed Nance and his candle to his room.

The flats were gleaming like silver under a frosty sun next
morning, and there was a crackling sharpness in the air, when Sir
Denzil, having breakfasted, stood at the window of the oak room
awaiting his grandson.

"Tell Mrs. Lee to bring in the child," he had said to Kennet, and
now a tap on the door told him that the child was there.

"Come in," he said sharply, and turned and stood amazed at sight
of the two women each with a child on her arm. "The deuce!" he
said, and fumbled for his snuff-box.

He found it at last, a very elegant little gold box, bearing a

miniature set with diamonds--a present from his friend George, in
the days before the slice of orange, and most probably never paid
for. He slowly extracted a pinch without removing his eyes from the
women and children. He snuffed, still staring at them, and then said
quietly, "What the deuce is the meaning of this?"

"Yo' asked to see t' child, sir," said Mrs. Lee.

"Well?"

"Here 'tis, sir."

"Which?"

"Both!"

"Ah!"--with a pregnant nod. Then, with a wave of the hand. "Take

them away." And the women withdrew.

Sir Denzil remained standing exactly as he was for many minutes.

Then he began to pace the room slowly with his stick, to and fro, to
and fro, with his eyes on the polished floor, and his thoughts hard at
work.

He saw the game, and recognized at a glance that no cards had

been dealt him. The two women held the whole pack, and he was
out of it.

He thought keenly and savagely, but saw no way out. The more
he thought, the tighter seemed the cleft of the stick in which the
women held him.

The law? The law was powerless in the matter. Not all the law in
the land could make a woman speak when all her interests bade her
keep silence, any more than it could make her keep silence if she
wanted to speak.

Besides, even if these women swore till they were blue in the face
as to the identity of either child, he would never believe one word of
their swearing. Their own interests would guide them, and no other
earthly consideration.

He could turn them out. To what purpose? One of those two

children was Denzil Carron of Carne. Which?

The other--ah yes! The other was equally of his blood. He did not
doubt that for one moment. He had known of Denzil's entanglement
with Nance Lee, and it had not troubled him for a moment. But who,
in the name of Heaven, could have foreseen so perplexing a result?

When he glanced out of the window, the crystalline morning, the

white sunshine, the clear blue sky, the hard yellow flats, the distant
blue sea with its crisp white fringe, all seemed to mock him with the
brightness of their beauty.

How to solve the puzzle? Already, in his own mind, he doubted if

it ever would be solved. And he cursed the brightness of the
morning, and the women--which was more to the point, but equally
futile,--and Denzil, and poor Lady Susan, who lay past curses in
Wyvveloe churchyard. And his face, while that fit was on him, was
not pleasant to look upon.

Presently, with a twitching of the corners of the mouth, like a dog

about to bare his fangs, he rang the bell very gently, and Kennet
came in.

"Kennet," he said, as quietly as if he were ordering his boots, "put

on your hat and go for Dr. Yool. Bring him with you without fail. If he
is out, go after him. If he says he'll see me further first, say I
apologise, and I want him here at once. Tell him I've burst a blood-
vessel."
 He had had words with the doctor the night before. He had
stopped his post-chaise at his house and gone in for a minute to
explain his long absence, and the doctor, who feared no man, had
rated him soundly for the thoughtlessness which had caused Lady
Susan's death.

He did not for a moment believe that the doctor or any one else
could help him in this blind alley. But discuss the matter with some
one he must, or burst, and he did not care to discuss it with Kennet.
Kennet knew very much better than to disagree with his master on
any subject whatever, and discussion with him never advanced
matters one iota. Discussion of the matter with Dr. Yool would
probably have the same result, but it could do no harm, and it
offered possibilities of a disputation for which he felt a distinct
craving.

Whether doctors could reasonably be expected to identify infants

at whose births they had officiated, after a lapse of two months, he
did not know. But he was quite prepared to uphold that view of the
case with all the venom that was in him, and he awaited the doctor's
arrival with impatience.

Dr. Yool drove up at last with Kennet beside him, and presently
stood in the room with Sir Denzil.

"Hello!" cried the doctor, with disappointment in his face.

"Where's that blood-vessel?"

"Listen to me, Yool. You were present at the birth of Lady Susan's
children----"

"Eh? What? Lady Susan's child? Yes!"

"Children!"

"What the deuce! Children? A boy, sir--one!"

 "You'd know him again, I suppose?"

"Well, in a general kind of way possibly. What's amiss with him?"

"According to these women here, there are two of him now."

"Good Lord, Sir Denzil! What do you mean? Two? How can there
be two?"

"Ah, now you have me. I thought that you, as a doctor--as the
doctor, in fact--could probably explain the matter." The doctor's red
face reddened still more.

"Send for the women here--and the children," he said angrily.

Sir Denzil rang the bell, gave his instructions to the impassive
Kennet, who had not yet fathomed the full intention of the matter,
and in a few minutes Mrs. Lee and Nance, each with a child on her
arm, stood before them.

"Now then, what's the meaning of all this?" asked Dr. Yool.
"Which of these babies is Lady Susan's child?"

"We don't know, sir," said Mrs. Lee, with a curtsey.

"Don't know! Don't know! What the deuce do you mean by that,
Mrs. Lee? Whose is the other child?"

"My daughter's, sir. It were born a day or two before the other,
and we got 'em mixed and don't know which is which."

"Nonsense! Bring them both to me."

He flung down some cushions in front of the fire, rapidly

undressed the children, and laid them wriggling and squirming in the
blaze among their wraps. He bent and examined them with minutest
care. He turned them over and over, noticed all their points with a
keenly critical eye, but could make nothing of it. They were as like as
two peas. Dark-haired, dark-eyed, plump, clear-skinned, healthy
youngsters both. The seven days between them, which in the very
beginning might have been apparent, was now, after the lapse of
two months, absolutely undiscoverable.

Sir Denzil came across and looked down on the jerking little arms
and legs and twisting faces, and snuffed again as though he thought
they might be infectious. For all the expression that showed in his
face, they might have been a litter of pups.

"Well, I am ----!" said Dr. Yool, at last, straightening up from the

inspection with his hands on his hips. "Now"--fixing the two women
with a blazing eye--"what's the meaning of it all? Who is the father
of this other child?"

"Denzil Carron," said Nance boldly, speaking for the first time. "He
married me before he married her, and here are my lines," and she
plucked them out of her bosom.

Dr. Yool's eyebrows went up half an inch. Sir Denzil took snuff
very deliberately.

The doctor held out his hand for the paper, and after a moment's
hesitation Nance handed it to him.

He read it carefully, and his good-humoured mouth twisted

doubtfully. The matter looked serious.

"Dress the children and take them away," he said at last. When
they were dressed, however, Nance stood waiting for her lines.

Dr. Yool understood. "I will be answerable for them," he said; and
she turned and went.

"A troublesome business, Sir Denzil," he said, when they were

alone. "A troublesome business, whichever way you look at it. This"-
-and he flicked Nance's cherished lines--"may, of course, be make-
believe, though it looks genuine enough on the face of it. That must
be carefully looked into. But as to the children--you are in these
women's hands absolutely and completely, and they know it."

"It looks deucedly like it."

"They know which is which well enough; but nothing on earth will
make them speak--except their own interests, and that," he said
thoughtfully, "won't be for another twenty years."

"It's too late to make away with them both, I suppose," said Sir
Denzil cynically.

"Tchutt! It's bad enough as it is, but there's no noose in it at

present. Besides, they are both undoubtedly your grandsons----"

"And which succeeds?" asked the baronet grimly.

"There's the rub. Deucedly awkward, if they both live--most

deucedly awkward! There's always the chance, of course, that one
may die."

"Not a chance," said Sir Denzil. "They'll both live to be a hundred.

They can toss for the title when the time comes. I'd sooner trust a
coin than those women's oaths."

The doctor nodded. He felt the same.

"What about this?" he asked, reading Nance's lines again. "Will

you look into it?" He pulled out a pencil and noted places and dates
in his pocket-book.

"What good? It alters nothing."

"As regards your son?"

Sir Denzil shrugged lightly.

 "He has shown himself a fool, but he is hardly such a fool as that.
If he comes to the title, and she claims on him, he must fight his
own battle. As to the whelps----" Another shrug shelved them for
future consideration.

Nevertheless, when Dr. Yool had driven away in the gig with the
yellow wheels, Sir Denzil paced his room by the hour in deep
thought, and none of it pleasant, if his face was anything to go by.

He travelled along every possible avenue, and found each a blind

alley.

He could send the girl about her business, and the old woman
too. But to what purpose? If they took one of the children with
them, which would it be? Most likely Lady Susan's. But he would
never be certain of it. That would be so obviously the thing to do
that they would probably do the opposite. If they left both children,
he would have to get some one else to attend to them, and no one
in the world had the interest in their welfare that these two had.

If both children died, then Denzil might marry again, and have an
heir about whom there was no possible doubt. That is, if this other
alleged marriage of his was, as he suspected, only a sham one. He
would have to look into that matter, after all.

If, by any mischance, the marriage, however intended, proved

legal, then that hope was barred, and it would be better to have the
children, or at all events one of them, live. Otherwise the succession
would vest in the Solway Carrons, whom he detested. Better even
Nance Lee's boy than a Solway Carron.

The conclusion of the matter was, that he could not better

matters at the moment by lifting a finger. Not lightly nor readily did
he bring his mind to this. He spent bitter days and nights brooding
over it all, and at the end he found himself where he was at the
beginning. Time might possibly develop, in one or other of the boys,
characteristics which might tell their own tale. But that chance, he
recognised, was a small one. Both boys took after their father, and
were as like Denzil, when he was a baby, as they possibly could be.

In the spring he would look into that marriage matter. Till then,
things must go on as they were.

Not a word did he say to the women. Not the slightest interest did
he show in the children. He rarely saw them, and then only by
chance. And in the women's care the children throve and prospered,
since it was entirely to their interest that they should do so.

BOOK II

CHAPTER VI

FREEMEN OF THE FLATS

Now we take ten years at a leap.

So small a span of time has made no difference in the great

house of Carne, or in its surroundings. Many times have the sand-
hills sifted and shifted hither and thither. Many times have the great
yellow banks out beyond lazily uncoiled themselves like shining
serpents, and coiled themselves afresh into new entanglements for
unwary mariners. In the narrow channels the bones of the unwary
roll to and fro, and some have sunk down among the quicksands.
Times without number have the mighty flats gleamed and gloomed.
And the great house has watched it all stonily, and it all looks just
the same.

But ten years work mighty changes in men and women, and still
greater ones in small boys.

A tall straight-limbed young man strode swiftly among the sand-

hummocks and came out on the flats, and stood gazing round him,
with a great light in his eyes, and a towel round his neck.

He had a lean, clean-shaven face, to which the hair brushed back

behind his ears lent a pleasant eagerness. But the face was leaner
and whiter than it should have been, and the eyes seemed
unnaturally deep in their hollows.

"Whew!" he whistled, as the wonder of the flats struck home. "A

change, changes, and half a change, and no mistake! And all very
much for the better--in most respects. The bishop said I'd find it
rather different from Whitechapel, and he was right! Very much so!
Dear old chap!"

It was ten o'clock of a sweet spring morning. The brown ribbed

flats gleamed and sparkled and laughed back at the sun with a
thousand rippling lips. The cloudless blue sky was ringing with the
songs of many larks.

The young man stood with his braces slipped off his shoulders,
and looked up at the larks. Then he characteristically, flung up a
hand towards them, and cried them a greeting in the famous words
of that rising young poet, Mr. Robert Browning, "God's in His heaven!
All's well with the world!--Well! Well! Ay--very, very well!" And then,
with a higher flight, in the words of the old sweet singer which had
formed part of the morning lesson--"Praise Him, all His host!" And
then, as his eye caught the gleam of the distant water, he resumed
his peeling in haste.

"Ten thousand souls--and bodies, which are very much worse--to

the square mile there, and here it looks like ten thousand square
miles to this single fortunate body. . . . That sea must be a good
mile away. . . . The run alone will be worth coming for. . . ."

He had girt himself with a towel by this time, and fastened it with
a scientific twist. . . . "Now for a dance on the Doctor's nose," and
he sped off on the long stretch to the water.

The kiss of the salt air cleansed him of the travail of the slums as
no inland bathing had ever done. The sun which shone down on
him, and the myriad broken suns which flashed up at him from every
furrow of the rippled sand, sent new life chasing through his veins.
He shouted aloud in his gladness, and splashed the waters of the
larger pools into rainbows, and was on and away before they
reached the ground.

And so, to the sandy scum of the tide, and through it to deep
water, and a manful breasting of the slow calm heave of the great
sea; with restful pauses when he lay floating on his back gazing up
into the infinite blue; and deep sighs of content for this mighty gift
of the freedom of the shore and the waves. And a deeper sigh at
thought of the weary toilers among whom he had lived so long, to
whom such things were unknown, and must remain so.

But there!--he had done his duty among them to the point almost
of final sacrifice. There was duty no less exigent here, though under
more God-given conditions. So--one more ploughing through deep
waters, arm over arm, side stroke with a great forward reach and
answering lunge. Then up and away, all rosy-red and beaded with
diamonds, to the clothing and duty of the work-a-day world.

"Grim old place," he chittered as he ran, and his eye fell on Carne
for the first time. "Grand place to live . . . if she lived there too. . . .
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!

testbankbell.com