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THE ROLE OF PERSUASION IN INTEGRATED
Chapter 7 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Chapter Objectives
1. Understand the nature and role of attitudes in marketing communications, different hierarchy
of effects models, and under what conditions that attitudes should predict behavior.
2. Appreciate the role of persuasion in marketing communications.
3. Explain the tools of influence from the marketing communicator’s perspective.
4. Discuss the five important factors of persuasion: message strength, peripheral cues, receiver
involvement, receiver initial position, and communication modality.
5. Understand the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and its implications for marketing
communications.
6. Understand practical marketing communications efforts that enhance consumers’ motivation,
opportunity, and ability to process messages.
7. Explain the theory of reasoned action (TORA) and basic attitude, preference, and behavior
change strategies.
Chapter Overview
Marketing communications in its various forms (advertising, social media, personal selling,
direct marketing, and so on) involves efforts to persuade consumers by influencing their attitudes
and ultimately their behavior. This chapter describes the role and nature of attitudes and different
hierarchies by which they are formed and changed. From the marketing communicators’
perspective, attitude formation and change represent the process of persuasion. The role of
measurement specificity and direct experience is discussed in trying to predict behavior from
attitude measures. Persuasion efforts on the part of the persuader are next described and
illustrated, including six influence tactics: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof,
liking, authority, and scarcity.
The nature of persuasion is discussed with particular emphasis on an integrated framework called
the elaboration likelihood model (ELM). Two alternative persuasion mechanisms are described:
a central route, which explains enduring persuasion under conditions when the receiver is
motivated, able, and has the opportunity (MAO) to process the message; and a peripheral route,
in which one MAO elements may be deficient, yet a peripheral cue may account for short-term
persuasion. In this context, three attitude-formation processes are described: emotion-based
persuasion, message-based persuasion, and classical conditioning. The first two are mechanisms
for attitude change under the central route, whereas classical conditioning is a peripheral-route
process.
A treatment is then given to practical efforts to enhance consumers’ motivation, opportunity, and
ability to process marketing messages. This section includes descriptions and illustrations of
marcom efforts to heighten consumers’ motivation to attend and process messages, measures to
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter 7
augment consumers’ opportunity to encode information and reduce process time, and techniques
used to increase consumers’ ability to access knowledge structures and create new structures.
A final topic covered is the theory of reasoned action (TORA) found in persuasion research and
basic attitude, preference, and behavior change strategies.
Chapter Outline
I. The Nature and Role of Attitudes
A. What Is an Attitude?
Attitudes are hypothetical constructs. A variety of perspectives attempt to describe
and measure attitudes. Attitude means a general and somewhat enduring positive or
negative feeling toward, or evaluative judgment of, some person, object, or issue.
Brands are our primary attitude object. Attitudes are learned. Attitudes are relatively
enduring. Attitudes influence behavior. Attitudes include an affective, cognitive, and
behavioral component.
1. Hierarchies of Effects
The high involvement hierarchy, also known as the standard learning hierarchy,
shows a clear progression under high involvement from initial cognition to affect
to conation. Other hierarchies include the low involvement hierarchy which
moves from minimal cognition to conation and then to affect, and the dissonance-
attribution and integrative models.
B. Using Attitudes to Predict Behavior

There are two important determinants in predicting behavior from attitudes. These are
measurement specificity and having direct versus indirect experience with the object
of attitude measurement.
1. Measurement Specificity
Involves four components critical to achieving accurate measures of attitudes. The
TACT of measurement specificity includes: (1) the target of the behavior, (2) the
specific action, (3) the context in which the behavior occurs, and (4) the time
when it occurs.
2. The Role of Direct Experience
Attitudes based on direct experiences are more reliably measured than those based
on indirect experience.
II. Persuasion in Marketing Communications

Persuasion is the essence of marketing communication.
A. The Ethics of Persuasion

Persuasion does not need to be unethical.
The Role of Persuasion in Integrated Marketing Communications
III. Tools of Influence: The Persuader’s Perspective

Robert Cialdini identified six tools of influence that are useful in persuasion. These tools
are reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and
scarcity.
A. Reciprocation
As part of the socialization process in all cultures, people acquire a norm of
reciprocity. We return a gesture with an in-kind gesture.
B. Commitment and consistency

After people make a commitment there is a strong tendency to be true to that choice.
C. Social proof
People may decide how to behave based on the choices of others.
D. Liking
People may be persuaded by those they like. Likability is based on physical
attractiveness and similarity.
E. Authority
People tend to be influenced by people in positions of authority. Authority may come
from one’s position or by one’s credible knowledge in an area.
F. Scarcity
Scarcity is based on the principle that people want things more when they are in high
demand but short supply. The theory of psychological reactance explains why
scarcity works. The theory suggests that people react against efforts to reduce their
freedom to choose.
IV. The Influence Process: The Persuadee’s Perspective

There are five factors fundamental to the persuasion process. These are message
arguments, peripheral cues, communication modality, receiver involvement, and initial
position.
A. Message Arguments
The strength or quality of the message arguments is often the major determinant of
whether and to what extent persuasion occurs. People are more persuaded by
believable messages.
B. Peripheral Cues
Peripheral cues include elements like background music, scenery, and graphics.
C. Communication Modality
Mode of communication is important, especially when considered alongside
likability.
Chapter 7
D. Receiver Involvement
Persuasion results from self-generated thoughts that people produce in response to
persuasive efforts. Cognitive responses may be support arguments or
counterarguments. Support arguments occur when the receiver agrees with the
message and counterarguments occur when the receiver disagrees. Agreement was
discussed in Chapter 6. Other responses include source bolstering and source
derogation.
E. Receiver’s Initial Position

Self-persuasion is based on cognitive and emotional responses. Two forms of
cognitive responses are support arguments and counterarguments. Support arguments
are when a receiver agrees with a message argument. Counterarguments are when the
receiver challenges a message claim.
V. An Integrated Model of Persuasion

The factors reviewed can be combined into a coordinated theory of persuasion. Figure 7.4
presents a model of routes by which persuasion occurs. This explanation is based on
Petty and Cacioppo’s elaboration likelihood model (ELM). Elaboration deals with the
mental activity in response to a message such as an advertisement. Motivation to
elaborate is high when a message relates to a person’s present consumption-related goals
and then consumers are more motivated to elaborate or process a message. Opportunity
involves the matter of whether it is physically possible for a person to process a message.
If the opportunity is restricted, elaboration may be low. Ability concerns whether the
person is familiar with the message claims and has the necessary skills to comprehend the
message. When ability is low, elaboration will be low and vice versa. These three factors
determine each person’s elaboration likelihood. Elaboration likelihood (EL) represents
the chance that a message receiver will elaborate on a message by thinking about it and
reacting to it. Depending upon the EL, receivers may follow two routes to persuasion:
central route or peripheral route.
A. The Central Route

When EL is high, receivers will focus on the message arguments more so than
peripheral cues. This is shown in Figure 7.4. The consumer may accept some
arguments but counterargue others. Consumers may use emotion-based persuasion or
message-based persuasion in the central route depending upon how involved they are
with the message.
B. The Peripheral Route

When MOA factors are at low levels, the peripheral route is followed. Peripheral cues
involve elements unrelated to the primary selling points in the message.
1. Classical Conditioning of Attitudes
Pavlov trained dogs to salivate on hearing a bell ring. In this situation, meat
powder was an unconditioned stimulus (US), and salivation was an unconditioned
response (UR). By repeatedly pairing the bell (a conditioned stimulus, or CS) with
the meat powder, the bell by itself eventually caused the dog to salivate. The dog,
in other words, had been trained to emit a conditioned response (CR) upon
hearing the bell ring. The dog had learned that the bell regularly preceded meat
powder, and thus the ringing bell caused the dog to predict that something
desirable—the meat powder—was forthcoming.
Something similar to this happens when consumers process peripheral cues. For
example, brand advertisements that include adorable babies, attractive people, and
majestic scenery can elicit positive emotional reactions. Think of these peripheral
cues as analogous to meat powder (the US), the emotional reactions as similar to
the dog’s salivation (the UR), and the advertised brand as similar to the bell in
Pavlov’s experiments (the CS). The emotion contained in the cue may become
associated with the brand, thereby influencing consumers to like the brand more
than they did prior to viewing the commercial. Through their repeated association,
the CS (advertised brand) comes to elicit a conditioned response (CR) similar to
the unconditioned response (UR) evoked by the US itself (the peripheral cue).
2. Temporary versus Enduring Attitude Change
According to ELM, people experience only temporary attitude changes when
persuaded by peripheral cues.
C. Dual Routes
It is possible for both routes to work simultaneously. This is shown in Figure 7.4.
VI. Enhancing Consumers’ Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability to Process

Advertisements
The appropriate influence strategy depends both on consumer characteristics and on
brand strengths.
A. Motivation to Attend to Messages

Figure 7.5 shows that one of the communicator’s objectives is to increase the
consumer’s motivation to attend to the message and to process brand information.
Two major forms of attention, as discussed in Chapter 6, are voluntary and
involuntary attention.
1. Appeals to Informational and Hedonic Needs
Figure 7.6 shows an appeal to informational needs. Under high EL, consumers
can be attracted to stimuli which serve information needs.
2. Use of Novel Stimuli
Novel messages are unusual, distinctive, unpredictable, and somewhat
unexpected. It works because it gets more attention when consumers see messages
that are not familiar. This is explained by the concept of human adaptation.
Psychologists call it habituation. Figure 7.7 provides an illustration.
3. Use of Intense or Prominent Cues
Intense cues work by leading to involuntary attention. Figure 7.8 and 7.9
illustrate.
4. Using Motion
Figure 7.10 illustrates using motivation to attract attention.
Chapter 7
B. Motivation to Process Messages

Enhanced processing motivation means that the ad receiver has increased interest in
reading or listening to the ad messages to determine what it has to say that might be
of relevance. Marketers do this by enhancing relevance and enhancing curiosity.
Methods for doing so include using fear appeals, dramatic presentations, rhetorical
questions, humor, and suspense or surprise. Figure 7.11 reveals an example.
C. Opportunity to Encode Information

Marketing messages have no chance of effectiveness unless consumer comprehend
the information and store it for later use. Therefore, marketers wish for consumers to
encode the information. The secret to ensuring information is encoded is repetition,
especially under low involvement situations.
D. Opportunity to Reduce Processing Time

Opportunity to process is enhanced if the communicator takes effort to reduce the
time it takes for consumers to consume the information. This is sometimes done with
images. Figure 7.12 illustrates.
E. Ability to Access Knowledge Structures

A brand-based knowledge structure represents the associative links in the consumer’s
long-term memory between the brand and thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about the
brand. Verbal framing is one way of providing context.
F. Ability to Create Knowledge Structures

Marketing communicators may need to create knowledge structures for information
they want consumers to have about the brand. This can be accomplished using
exemplar-based learning. An exemplar is a specimen or model of a particular concept
or idea. Figure 7.13 illustrates the use of analogy to create a knowledge structure.
1. Concretizzations
Used to facilitate consumer learning and retrieval. This was covered in Chapter 6.
Figure 7.14 provides an example.
VII. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA)

The message-based persuasion process described above has been fully developed in the
well-known theory of reasoned action (TORA). This theory proposes that all forms of
planned and reasoned behavior (versus unplanned, spontaneous, impulsive behavior)
have two primary determinants: attitudes and normative influences.
Attitude formation according to TORA can best be described in terms of the following
equation.
n
ABj =  bij • ei Equation 7.1
i=1
where:
ABj = attitude toward a particular brand (brand j)
bij = the belief, or expectation, that owning brand j will lead to outcome i
ei = the positive or negative evaluation of the ith outcome
A consumer’s attitude toward a brand (or, more technically, toward the act of owning and
consuming the brand) is determined by his or her “cognitive structure” (i.e., the beliefs
regarding the outcomes, or consequences, of owning the brand multiplied by the
evaluations of those outcomes). Outcomes (expressed in Equation 7.1 as i =1 through n,
where n is typically fewer than 7) involve those aspects of product ownership (e.g., a
running shoe) that the consumer either desires to obtain (e.g., getting in shape, improving
one’s race time) or to avoid (e.g., knee or foot injuries, abnormal shoe wear). Consumers
approach benefits and avoid detriments. Beliefs (the bij term in Equation 7.1) are the
consumer’s subjective probability assessments, or expectations, regarding the likelihood
that performing a certain act (e.g., buying brand j) will lead to a certain outcome. In
theory, the consumer who is in the market for a product has a separate belief associated
with each potential outcome for each shoe brand he or she is considering buying, and it is
for this reason that the belief term in Equation 7.1 is subscripted both with an i (referring
to a particular outcome) and j (referring to a specific brand).
Because all outcomes are not equally important or determinant of consumer choice, we
need to introduce a term that recognizes this influence differential. This term is the
evaluation component, ei, in Equation 7.1. Evaluations represent the value, or importance,
that consumers attach to consumption outcomes (e.g., getting into shape, improving race
times, avoiding foot injury). It is important to note that outcome evaluations apply to the
product category in general and are not brand specific. It is for this reason that we need
only a single subscript, i, to designate evaluations and not also a j as in the case of beliefs.
A. Attitude Change Strategies

With Equation 7.1 in mind, we can identify three strategies that marketing
communicators employ in attempting to change consumer attitudes: (1) changing
beliefs, (2) altering outcome evaluations, or (3) introducing a new outcome into the
evaluation process. The first attitude-change strategy attempts to bolster attitudes by
influencing brand-related beliefs, which thus explains the term “belief change” to
characterize this strategy. This strategy “operates” on the bij term from Equation 7.1.
A second attitude-change strategy is to influence existing evaluations (the ei term in
Equation 7.1). This evaluation-change strategy involves getting consumers to reassess
a particular outcome associated with brand ownership and to alter their evaluations of
the outcome’s value. A third strategy used by marketing communicators to change
attitudes is what we might call an add-an-outcome strategy. The objective is to get
consumers to judge brands in a product category in terms of a new product benefit on
which “our” brand fares especially well.
VIII. Changing Preferences and Behavioral Modification Strategies

A preference is a behavioral tendency that exhibits itself in how a person acts toward an
object. Preferences can be both cognitively and affectively based. Marketing
communicators’ efforts at changing preferences by appealing to cognitions may meet
with failure if the preferences have an affective basis. Furthermore, even when a
preference is primarily cognitive-based, affect may become independent of the cognitive
elements that were originally its basis. The only way to influence some strongly held
Chapter 7
preferences may be by using methods that have direct emotional impact (e.g., graphic
visual warnings shown to smokers with entrenched beliefs).
In addition to emotional conditions, marketers use a variety of other methods to change
consumer preferences (and behavior) that do not require changing cognitions. These
behavioral modification methods include various forms of classical and operant
conditioning, modeling, and ecological modification. Shaping is one application by
which marketers attempt to shape certain behaviors through a process of changing
preceding conditions and behaviors. Coupons, loss leaders, special deals, and free-trial
periods are all examples to help shape future consumer behavior.
Vicarious learning or modeling is an attempt to change preferences and behavior “by
having an individual observe the actions of others … and the consequences of those
behaviors.”
Chapter Features
Can We Be Persuaded to Overcome Bad Habits? The Cell-Free Club

Changing habits can be especially difficult when it involves overcoming bad habits such as
excessive phone use. People may be persuaded by celebrities, by anti-branding, by stages of
change, and other tactics.
Ad Persuasion for Global Public Causes

Persuasion is even more difficult across different languages and cultures. Ads of the World
(http://adsoftheworld.com) provides thousands of creative ads for different categories and
countries. In particular, public interest ads are included.
Faster Than a Microwave Oven: Better Than a Conventional Oven

The Advantium oven claimed to have the benefits of being faster and better than microwave or
conventional ovens. GE had to convince consumers that the claims were true. It did so by using
cooking demonstrations to credibly show the message argument.
Answers to Discussion Questions
1. Explain the cognitive, affective, and conative attitude components. Provide examples of each
using your attitude toward the idea of personally pursuing a career in selling and sales
management. Contrast the high involvement (standard learning) hierarchy with that of the
low involvement one.
Answer:
Student answers will vary depending upon their attitudes toward sales but each explanation
should include components of feeling, thinking, and doing and follow the low and high
involvement hierarchies in terms of the order of think, feel, do or do, feel, think.
2. Distinguish between message arguments and peripheral cues as fundamental determinants of

persuasion. Provide several examples of each from actual television commercials or other
advertisements.
Answer:
Student examples from commercials will vary. The message arguments should be primary
selling points and may include evidence to support the arguments. The peripheral cues will
be components not directly related to the selling points such as music and endorsers.
3. Receiver involvement is the fundamental determinant of whether people may be persuaded

through a central or a peripheral route. Explain.
Answer:
The more involved a person is the more likely they will have high elaboration likelihood.
High EL uses the central route.
4. There are three general strategies for changing attitudes. Explain each, using, for illustration,
consumers’ attitudes toward a fast-food chain of your choice (McDonald’s, Burger King,
KFC, etc.).
Answer:
To change someone’s attitude one can use the central route, the peripheral route, or a dual
route. For instance, a fast-food chain which seeks to change a negative attitude against it may
provide documentation on how healthy the food is (central route) or it may use a popular
spokesperson (peripheral route) or it may do both.
5. Assume that your target audience is composed of people who can afford to purchase a
“hybrid” automobile such as the Chevy Volt, Honda’s Insight, or Toyota’s Prius. (Note:
Hybrid automobiles are high-mileage cars that combine efficient gasoline engines with
electric motors powered by batteries.) Assume that your target audience is composed of
people who have negative attitudes toward hybrid vehicles. Using material from the chapter,
how would you attempt to change their attitudes if you were the advertising agency
responsible for this campaign? Be specific. Do the same for all-electric vehicles, such as the
Nissan Leaf.
Answer:
Responses will vary but the explanations should follow the ELM and may also reference the
six tools of influence.
6. Have you personally experienced unethical persuasive efforts from marketing

communicators? Under what circumstances would you most expect to find unethical
Chapter 7
marketing communications, and when would unethical communications most likely be

effective in marketing? Draw upon the integrated model of persuasion (e.g., ELM, see Figure
7.4) in forming your answer.
Answer:
Student answers will vary but will reference the tools of influence and the ELM. Students
may note the need to use counterarguments when dealing with unethical marketing.
7. In the discussion of the influence tactic of reciprocation, you were introduced to the concept
of contingency, or “it-depends,” thinking. What “it-depends” factors best explain when the
scarcity tactic would and would not be effective?
Answer:
Whether and when a tactic is effective depends upon the circumstances and the
characteristics of the people involved. Scarcity would likely be most effective when the item
in scarce supply is desirable to the consumer.
8. Assume that you are on the fundraising committee for a non-profit institution. Explain how
in this situation you could use each of the six influence tactics discussed in the text. Be
specific.
Answer:
Student responses should refer to the six tactics of reciprocity, commitment and consistency,
social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity. Prospective donors might receive a gift and be
inspired to reciprocate with a donation. They might be asked to make a pledge
(commitment). They might be invited to participate by someone they like. They may feel that
time is running out to save the cause (scarcity). They might be told of the importance of the
charity by someone in a position of authority. All of these tactics could encourage donations.
9. Describe the similarity between the concept of elaboration and active synthesis, which was
explained in the prior chapter.
Answer:
Elaboration means to think about content. Synthesis involves making sense of the content.
Both concepts are very similar.
10. Locate two advertisements that illustrate exemplar-based learning and provide detailed
explanations as to how specifically your chosen advertisements facilitate exemplar-based
learning.
Answer:
Student responses will vary.
11. Pretend you are in charge of advertising for an online retailer. You know that consumers
have positive evaluations for the convenience of online shopping but many are distrustful of
unknown retailers and of giving out credit card numbers online. Using material from this
chapter, explain how you would attempt to change consumers’ attitudes about the risks of
online shopping. Visit several actual online retailers and describe instances where the
retailers have addressed consumers’ risk perceptions.
Answer:
To change attitudes on something of this level of risk, central route processing should be
used. Student answers should identify credible content which could illustrate safety.
Examples will vary.
12. Visit the Internet sites of approximately five brands that appeal to you. Based on the
framework in Figure 7.5, identify at least one example of each of the following efforts to
enhance consumers’ MOA factors: Locate an effort to increase consumers’ motivation to
process brand information. Identify an Internet advertisement that attempts to enhance
consumers’ opportunity to encode information. Find an advertisement that uses an exemplar
to assist consumers in either accessing or creating a new knowledge structure.
Answer:
Student answers will vary.
13. The opening Marcom Insight posed this question: Can we be persuaded to overcome bad
habits? What is your viewpoint on this matter? Please back up your position with appropriate
content from the chapter.
Answer:
The Marcom Insight suggests that habits are difficult to change. Students will present their
opinions.
14. Identify two magazine advertisements of your choice, presumably involving brands/products
that hold some interest for you. With each advertisement, indicate what you consider to be its
message arguments and peripheral cues. Then explain why you regard these as message
arguments/peripheral cues.
Answer:
15. Construct an illustration to demonstrate your understanding of Equation 7.1. Identify three
brands in a product category that is personally relevant. Then specify four “outcomes” (i.e.,
benefits and detriments) pertinent to that category. Next, assign a numerical value from 1 to 5
to each outcome, where 1 equals “virtually no importance” and 5 equals “extreme
importance.” Then assign a value from 1 to 5 to represent your beliefs regarding how well
each of the three brands satisfies each of the four outcomes. In assigning your beliefs, treat 1
as indicating that the brand performs very poorly on this outcome, 5 as indicating the brand
performs extremely well, and 2-through-4 reflecting increasingly positive performance.
Answer:
Chapter 7
16. Assume that all outcomes (i = 1… n outcomes) are equally important to customers in a
particular product category. If this were so, how would adjust the attitude model in Equation
7.1 to capture the attitude-formation process?
Answer:
The numerical value assigned would be the same for each option considered.
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"Yes, sir," replied Sergeant-Major Flannery in a smart and respectful
manner.
"Oh! I see. Thank you."
"Thank you, sir," said Sergeant-Major Flannery.
III
In describing John as eating his breakfast quite 'earty, Sergeant-
Major Flannery, though not as a rule an artist in words, had for once
undoubtedly achieved the mot juste. Hearty was the exact adjective
to describe that ill-used young man's methods of approach to the
eggs and bacon and coffee which his gaoler had handed in between
the bars of the window. Neither his now rooted dislike of Mr. Flannery
nor any sense of the indignity of accepting food like some rare
specimen in a zoo could compete in John with an appetite which had
been growing silently within him through the night watches. His
headache had gone, leaving in its place a hunger which wolves
might have envied. Placing himself outside an egg almost before the
Sergeant-Major had time to say "Oo-er!" he finished the other egg,
the bacon, the toast, the butter, the milk, and the coffee, and, having
lifted the plate to see if any crumbs had got concealed beneath it and
finding none, was compelled reluctantly to regard the meal as
concluded.
He now felt considerably better. Food and drink had stayed in him
that animal ravenousness which makes food and drink the only
possible object of a man's thoughts; and he was able to turn his
mind to other matters. Having found and swallowed a lump of sugar
which had got itself overlooked under a fold of the napkin, he
returned to the bed and lay down. A man who wishes to think can
generally do so better in a horizontal position. So John lay on the
bed and stared at the ceiling, pondering.
He certainly had sufficient material for thought to keep him occupied
almost indefinitely. The more he meditated upon his present situation
the less was he able to understand it. That the villain Twist, wishing
to get away with the spoils of Rudge Hall, should have imprisoned
him in this room in order to gain time for flight would have been
intelligible. John would never have been able to bring himself to
approve of such an action, but he had to admit its merits as a piece
of strategy.
But Twist had not flown. According to Sergeant-Major Flannery, he
was still on the premises, and so, apparently, was his accomplice,
the black-hearted Molloy. But why? What did they think they were
doing? How long did they suppose they would be able to keep a
respectable citizen cooped up like this, even though his only medium
of communication with the outer world were a more than usually fat-
headed sergeant-major? The thing baffled John completely.
He next turned his mind to thoughts of Pat, and experienced a
feverish concern. Here was something to get worried about. What,
he asked himself, must Pat be thinking? He had promised to call for
her in the Widgeon Seven at one o'clock yesterday. She would
assume that he had forgotten. She would suppose....
He would have gone on torturing himself with these reflections for a
considerable time, but at this moment he suddenly heard a sharp,
clicking sound. It resembled the noise a key makes when turning in a
lock, and was probably the only sound on earth which at that
particular point in his meditations would have had the power to arrest
his attention.
He lifted his head and looked around. Yes, the door was opening.
And it was opening, what was more, in just the nasty, slow, furtive,
sneaking way in which a door would open if somebody like the leper
Twist had got hold of the handle.
In this matter of the hell-hound Twist's mental processes John was
now thoroughly fogged. The man appeared to be something very
closely resembling an imbecile. When flight was the one thing that
could do him a bit of good, he did not fly, and now, having with drugs
and imprisonment and the small talk of sergeant-majors reduced a
muscular young man to a condition of homicidal enthusiasm, he was
apparently paying that young man a social call.
However, the mental condition of this monkey-faced, waxed-
moustached bounder and criminal was beside the point. What was
important was to turn his weak-mindedness to profit. The moment
was obviously one for cunning and craftiness, and John accordingly
dropped his head on the pillow, cunningly closed his eyes, and
craftily began to breathe like one deep in sleep.
The ruse proved effective. After a moment of complete silence, a
board creaked. Then another board creaked. And then he heard the
door close gently. Finally, from the neighbourhood of the door, there
came to him a sound of whispering. And across the years there
floated into John's mind a dim memory. This whispering ... it
reminded him of something.
Then he got it. Ages ago ... when he was a child ... Christmas Eve ...
His father and mother lurking in the doorway to make sure that he
was asleep before creeping to the bed and putting the presents in
his stocking.
The recollection encouraged John. There is nothing like having done
a thing before and knowing the technique. He never had been
asleep on those bygone Christmas Eves, but the gift-bearers had
never suspected it, and he resolved that, if any of the old skill and
artistry still lingered with him, the Messrs. Twist and Molloy should
not suspect it now. He deepened the note of his breathing,
introducing into it a motif almost asthmatic.
"It's all right," said the voice of Mr. Twist.
"Okay?" said the voice of Mr. Molloy.
"Okay," said the voice of Mr. Twist.
Whereupon, walking confidently and without any further effort at
stealth, the two approached the bed.
"I guess he drank the whole potful," said Mr. Twist.
Once more John found himself puzzling over the way this man's
mind worked. By pot he presumably meant the coffee pot standing
on the tray and why the contents of this should appear to him in the
light of a soporific was more than John could understand.
"Say, listen," said Mr. Twist. "You go and hang around outside the
door, Soapy."
"Why?" inquired Mr. Molloy, and it seemed to John that he spoke
coldly.
"So's to see nobody comes along, of course."
"Yeah?" said Mr. Molloy, and his voice was now unmistakably dry.
"And you'll come out in a minute and tell me you're all broke up
about it but he hadn't got the ticket on him after all."
"You don't think...?"
"Yes, I do think."
"If you can't trust me that far...."
"Chimpie," said Mr. Molloy, "I wouldn't trust you as far as a snail
could make in three jumps. I wouldn't believe you not even if I knew
you were speaking the truth."
"Oh, well if that's how you feel..." said Mr. Twist, injured. Mr. Molloy,
still speaking in that unfriendly voice, replied that that was precisely
how he did feel. And there was silence for a space.
"Oh, very well," said Mr. Twist at length.
John's perplexity increased. He could make nothing of that "ticket."
The only ticket he had in his possession was the one Bolt, the
chauffeur, had given him to give to his uncle for some bag or other
which he had left in the cloak room at Shrub Hill Station. Why should
these men...!
He became aware of fingers groping toward the inner pocket of his
coat. And as they touched him he decided that the moment had
come to act. Bracing the muscles of his back he sprang from the
bed, and with an acrobatic leap hurled himself toward the door and
stood leaning against it.
IV
In the pause which followed this brisk move it soon became evident
to John, rubbing his shoulders against the oak panels and glowering
upon the two treasure seekers, that if the scene was to be
brightened by anything in the nature of a dialogue the ball of
conversation would have to be set rolling by himself. Not for some
little time, it was clear, would his companions be in a condition for
speech. Chimp Twist was looking like a monkey that has bitten into a
bad nut, and Soapy Molloy, like an American Senator who has
received an anonymous telegram saying "All is discovered. Fly at
once." This sudden activity on the part of one whom they had
regarded as under the influence of some of the best knock-out drops
that ever came out of Chicago had had upon them an effect similar
to that which would be experienced by a group of surgeons in an
operating theatre if the gentleman on the slab were to rise abruptly
and begin to dance the Charleston.
So it was John who was the first to speak.
"Now, then!" said John. "How about it?"
The question was a purely rhetorical one, and received no reply. Mr.
Molloy uttered an odd, strangled sound like a far-away cat with a
fishbone in its throat, and Chimp's waxed moustache seemed to
droop at the ends. It occurred to both of them that they had never
realized before what a remarkably muscular, well-developed young
man John was. It was also borne in upon them that there are
exceptions to the rule which states that big men are always good-
humoured. John, they could not help noticing, looked like a murderer
who had been doing physical jerks for years.
"I've a good mind to break both your necks," said John.
At these unpleasant words, Mr. Molloy came to life sufficiently to be
able to draw back a step, thus leaving his partner nearer than
himself to the danger zone. It was a move strictly in accordance with
business ethics. For if, Mr. Molloy was arguing, Chimp claimed
seventy per cent. of the profits of their little venture, it was only fair
that he should assume an equivalent proportion of its liabilities. At
the moment, the thing looked like turning out all liabilities, and these
Mr. Molloy was only too glad to split on a seventy-thirty basis. So he
moved behind Chimp, and round the bulwark of his body, which he
could have wished had been more substantial, peered anxiously at
John.
John, having sketched out his ideal policy, was now forced to
descend to the practical. Agreeable as it would have been to take
these two men and bump their heads together, he realized that such
a course would be a deviation from the main issue. The important
thing was to ascertain what they had done with the loot, and to this
inquiry he now directed his remarks.
"Where's that stuff?" he asked.
"Stuff?" said Chimp.
"You know what I mean. Those things you stole from the Hall."
Chimp, who had just discovered that he was standing between Mr.
Molloy and John, swiftly skipped back a pace. This caused Mr.
Molloy to skip back, too. John regarded this liveliness with a
smouldering disfavour.
"Stand still!" he said.
Chimp stood still. Mr. Molloy, who had succeeded in getting behind
him again, stood stiller.
"Well?" said John. "Where are the things?"
Even after the most complete rout on a stricken battle field a beaten
general probably hesitates for an instant before surrendering his
sword. And so now, obvious though it was that there was no other
course before them but confession, Chimp and Soapy remained
silent for a space. Then Chimp, who was the first to catch John's
eye, spoke hastily.
"They're in Worcester."
"Whereabouts in Worcester?"
"At the depôt."
"What depôt?"
"There's only one, isn't there?"
"Do you mean the station?"
"Sure. The station."
"They're in the Left Luggage place at the station in Worcester," said
Mr. Molloy. He spoke almost cheerfully, for it had suddenly come to
him that matters were not so bad as he had supposed them to be,
and that there was still an avenue unclosed which might lead to a
peaceful settlement. "And you've got the ticket in your pocket."
John stared.
"That ticket is for a bag my uncle sent the chauffeur to leave at
Shrub Hill."
"Sure. And the stuff's inside it."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll tell you what I mean," said Mr. Molloy.
"Atta-boy!" said Chimp faintly. He, too, had now become aware of
the silver lining. He sank upon the bed, and so profound was his
relief that the ends of his moustache seemed to spring to life again
and cease their drooping.
"Yes, sir," said Mr. Molloy, "I'll tell you what I mean. It's about time
you got hep to the fact that that old uncle of yours is one of the
smoothest birds this side of God's surging Atlantic Ocean. He was
sitting in with us all along, that's what he was doing. He said those
heirlooms had never done him any good and it was about time they
brought him some money. It was all fixed that Chimpie here should
swipe them and then I was to give the old man a cheque and he was
to clean up on the insurance, besides. That was when he thought I
was a millionaire that ran a museum over in America and was in the
market for antiques. But he got on to me, and then he started in to
double-cross us. He took the stuff out of where we'd put it and
slipped it over to the depôt at Worcester, meaning to collect it when
he got good and ready. But the chauffeur gave the ticket to you, and
you came over here, and Chimpie doped you and locked you up."
"And you can't do a thing," said Chimp.
"No, sir," agreed Mr. Molloy, "not a thing, not unless you want to
bring that uncle of yours into it and have him cracking rocks in the
same prison where they put us."
"I'd like to see that old bird cracking rocks, at that," said Chimp
pensively.
"So would I like to see him cracking rocks," assented Mr. Molloy
cordially. "I can't think of anything I'd like better than to see him
cracking rocks. But not at the expense of me cracking rocks, too."
"Or me," said Chimp.
"Or you," said Mr. Molloy, after a slight pause. "So there's the
position, Mr. Carroll. You can go ahead and have us pinched, if you
like, but just bear in mind that if you do there's going to be one of
those scandals in high life you read about. Yes, sir, real front-page
stuff."
"You bet there is," said Chimp.
"Yes, sir, you bet there is," said Mr. Molloy.
"You're dern tooting there is," said Chimp.
"Yes, sir, you're dern tooting there is," said Mr. Molloy.
And on this note of perfect harmony the partners rested their case
and paused, looking at John expectantly.
John's reaction to the disclosure was not agreeable. It is never
pleasant for a spirited young man to find himself baffled, nor is it
cheering for a member of an ancient family to discover that the head
of that family has been working in association with criminals and
behaving in a manner calculated to lead to rock-cracking.
Not for an instant did it occur to him to doubt the story. Although the
Messrs. Twist and Molloy were men whose statements the prudent
would be inclined to accept as a rule with reserve, on this occasion it
was evident that they were speaking nothing but the truth.
"Say, listen," cried Chimp, alarmed. He had been watching John's
face and did not like the look of it. "No rough stuff!"
John had been contemplating none. Chimp and his companion had
ceased to matter, and the fury which was making his face rather an
unpleasant spectacle for two peace-loving men shut up in a small
room with him was directed exclusively against his uncle Lester.
Rudge Hall and its treasures were sacred to John; and the thought
that Mr. Carmody, whose trust they were, had framed this scheme
for the house's despoilment was almost more than he could bear.
"It isn't us you ought to be sore at," urged Mr. Molloy. "It's that old
uncle of yours."
"Sure it is," said Chimp.
"Sure it is," echoed Mr. Molloy. Not for a long time had he and his old
friend found themselves so completely in agreement. "He's the guy
you want to soak it to."
"I'll say he is," said Chimp.
"I'll say he is," said Mr. Molloy. "Say listen, let me tell you something.
Something that'll make you feel good. I happen to know that old man
Carmody is throwing the wool over those insurance people's eyes by
offering a reward for the recovery of that stuff. A thousand pounds.
He told me so himself. If you want to get him good and sore, all
you've got to do is claim it. He won't dare hold out on you."
"Certainly he won't," said Chimp.
"Certainly he won't," said Mr. Molloy. "And will that make him good
and sore!"
"Will it!" said Chimp.
"Will it!" said Mr. Molloy.
"Wake me up in the night and ask me," said Chimp.
"Me, too," said Mr. Molloy.
Their generous enthusiasm seemed to have had its effect. The
ferocity faded from John's demeanour. Something resembling a
smile flitted across his face, as if some pleasing thought was
entertaining him. Mr. Molloy relaxed his tension and breathed again.
Chimp, in his relief, found himself raising a hand to his moustache.
"I see," said John slowly.
He passed his fingers thoughtfully over his unshaven chin.
"Is there a car in your garage?" he asked.
"Sure there's a car in my garage," said Chimp. "Your car."
"What!"
"Certainly."
"But that girl went off in it."
"She sent it back."
So overwhelming was the joy of these tidings that John found
himself regarding Chimp almost with liking. His car was safe after all.
His Arab Steed! His Widgeon Seven!
Any further conversation after this stupendous announcement would,
he felt, be an anti-climax. Without a word he darted to the door and
passed through, leaving the two partners staring after him blankly.
"Well, what do you know about that?" said Chimp.
Mr. Molloy's comment on the situation remained unspoken, for even
as his lips parted for the utterance of what would no doubt have
been a telling and significant speech, there came from the corridor
outside a single, thunderous "Oo-er!" followed immediately by a
sharp, smacking sound, and then a noise that resembled the delivery
of a ton of coals.
Mr. Molloy stared at Chimp. Chimp stared at Mr. Molloy.
"Gosh!" said Chimp, awed.
"Gosh!" said Mr. Molloy.
"That was Flannery!" said Chimp, unnecessarily.
"'Was,'" said Mr. Molloy, "is right."
It was not immediately that either found himself disposed to leave
the room and institute inquiries—or more probably, judging from that
titanic crash, a post-mortem. When eventually they brought
themselves to the deed and crept palely to the head of the stairs
they were enabled to see, resting on the floor below, something
which from its groans appeared at any rate for the moment to be
alive. Then this object unscrambled itself and, rising, revealed the
features of Sergeant-Major Flannery.
Mr. Flannery seemed upset about something.
"Was it you, sir?" he inquired in tones of deep reproach. "Was it you,
Mr. Twist, that unlocked that Case's door?"
"I wanted to have a talk with him," said Chimp, descending the stairs
and gazing remorsefully at his assistant.
"I have the honour to inform you," said Mr. Flannery formally, "that
the Case has legged it."
"Are you hurt?"
"In reply to your question, sir," said Mr. Flannery in the same formal
voice, "I am hurt."
It would have been plain to the most casual observer that the man
was speaking no more than the truth. How in the short time at his
disposal John had managed to do it was a mystery which baffled
both Chimp and his partner. An egg-shaped bump stood out on the
Sergeant-Major's forehead like a rocky promontory, and already he
was exhibiting one of the world's most impressive black eyes. The
thought that there, but for the grace of God, went Alexander Twist
filled the proprietor of Healthward Ho with so deep a feeling of
thankfulness that he had to clutch at the banister to support himself.
A similar emotion was plainly animating Mr. Molloy. To have been
shut up in a room with a man capable of execution like that—a man,
moreover, nurturing a solid and justifiable grudge against him, and to
have escaped uninjured was something that seemed to him to call
for celebration. He edged off in the direction of the study. He wanted
a drink, and he wanted it quick.
Mr. Flannery, pressing a hand to his wounded eye, continued with
the other to hold Chimp rooted to the spot. It was an eye that had
much of the quality of the Ancient Mariner's, and Chimp did not
attempt to move.
"If you had listened to my advice, sir," said Mr. Flannery coldly, "this
would never have happened. Did I or did I not say to you, Mr. Twist,
did I or did I not repeatedly say that it was imperative and essential
that that Case be kept securely under lock and key? And then you
go asking for it, sir, begging for it, pleading for it, by opening the door
and giving him the opportunity to roam the 'ouse at his sweet will and
leg it when so disposed. I 'ad just reached the 'ead of the stairs when
I see him. I said Oo-er! I said, and advanced smartly at the double to
do my duty, that being what I am paid for, an' what I draw my salary
for doing, and the next thing I know I'd copped it square in the eye
and him and me was rolling down the stairs together. I bumped my
'ead against the woodwork at the bottom or it may have been that
chest there, and for a moment all went black and I knew no more."
Mr. Flannery paused. "All went black and I knew no more," he
repeated, liking the phrase. "And when I came to, as the expression
is, the Case had gone. Where he is now, Mr. Twist, 'oo can say?
Murdering the patients as like as not or...."
He broke off. Outside on the drive, diminishing in the distance,
sounded the engine of a car.
"That's him," said Mr. Flannery. "He's gorn!" He brooded for a
moment.
"Gorn!" he resumed. "Gorn to range the countryside and maybe 'ave
'alf a dozen assassinations on his conscience before the day's out.
And you'll be responsible, Mr. Twist. On that Last Awful Day, Mr.
Twist, when you and I and all of us come up before the Judgment
Seat, do you know what'll 'appen? I'll tell you what'll 'appen. The Lord
God Almighty will say, angry-like, ''Oo's responsible for all these
corpses I see laying around 'ere?' and 'E'll look at you sort of sharp,
and you'll have to rise up and say, 'It was me! I'm responsible for
them corpses.' If I'd of done as Sergeant-Major Flannery repeatedly
told me and kep' that Case under lock and key, as the saying is,
there wouldn't have been none of these poor murdered blokes.'
That's what you'll 'ave to rise and say, Mr. Twist. I will now leave you,
sir, as I wish to go into the kitchen and get that young Rosa to put
something on this nasty bruise and eye of mine. If you 'ave any
further instructions for me, Mr. Twist, I'll be glad to attend to them. If
not, I'll go up to my room and have a bit of a lay-down. Good
morning, sir."
The Sergeant-Major had said his say. He withdrew in good order
along previously prepared lines of retreat. And Chimp, suddenly
seized with the same idea which had taken Soapy to the study,
moved slowly off down the passage.
In the study he found Mr. Molloy, somewhat refreshed, seated at the
telephone.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Playing the flute," replied Mr. Molloy shortly.
"Who are you 'phoning to?"
"Dolly, if you want to know. I've got to tell her about all this business
going bloo-ey, haven't I? I've got to break it to her that after all her
trouble and pains she isn't going to get a cent out of the thing,
haven't I?"
Chimp regarded his partner with disfavour. He wished he had never
seen Mr. Molloy. He wished he might never see him again. He
wished he were not seeing him now.
"Why don't you go up to London and tell her?" he demanded sourly.
"There's a train in twenty minutes."
"I'd rather do it on the 'phone," said Mr. Molloy.
CHAPTER XIV
I
The sun, whose rays had roused Sergeant-Major Flannery from his
slumbers at Healthward Ho that morning, had not found it necessary
to perform the same office for Lester Carmody at Rudge Hall. In
spite of the fact that he had not succeeded in getting to sleep till well
on in the small hours, Mr. Carmody woke early. There is no alarm
clock so effective as a disturbed mind.
And Mr. Carmody's mind was notably disturbed. On the previous
night he had received shock after shock, each more staggering than
the last. First, Bolt, the chauffeur, had revealed the fact that he had
given the fateful ticket to John. Then Sturgis, after letting fall in the
course of his babblings the information that Mr. Molloy knew that
John had the ticket, had said that that young man, when last seen,
had been going off in the company of Dolly Molloy. And finally, John
had not only failed to appear at dinner but was not to be discovered
anywhere on the premises at as late an hour as midnight.
In these circumstances, it is scarcely to be wondered at that Mr.
Carmody's repose was not tranquil. To one who, like himself, had
had the advantage of hearing the views of the Molloy family on the
virtues of knock-out drops there could be no doubt as to what had
happened. John, suspecting nothing, must have allowed himself to
be lured into the trap, and by this time the heirlooms of Rudge Hall
were probably in London.
Having breakfasted, contrary to the habit of years, quickly and
sketchily, Mr. Carmody, who had haunted the stable yard till
midnight, went there again in the faint hope of finding that his
nephew had returned. But except for Emily, who barked at him,
John's room was empty. Mr. Carmody wandered out into the
grounds, and for some half hour paced the gravel paths in growing
desolation of soul. Then, his tortured nerves becoming more and
more afflicted by the behaviour of one of the under-gardeners who,
full of the feudal spirit, insisted on touching his hat like a clockwork
toy every time his employer passed, he sought refuge in his study.
It was there, about one hour later, that John found him.
Mr. Carmody's first emotion on beholding his long-lost nephew was
one of ecstatic relief.
"John!" he cried, bounding from his chair.
Then, chilling his enthusiasm, came the thought that there might be
no occasion for joy in this return. Probably, he reflected, John, after
being drugged and robbed of the ticket, had simply come home in
the ordinary course of events. After all, there would have been no
reason for those scoundrels to detain him. Once they had got the
ticket, John would have ceased to count.
"Where have you been?" he asked in a flatter voice.
A rather peculiar smile came and went on John's face.
"I spent the night at Healthward Ho," he said. "Were you worried
about me?"
"Extremely worried."
"I'm sorry. Doctor Twist is a hospitable chap. He wouldn't let me go."
Mr. Carmody, on the point of speaking, checked himself. His
position, he suddenly saw, was a delicate one. Unless he were
prepared to lay claim to the possession of special knowledge, which
he certainly was not, anything in the nature of agitation on his part
must inevitably seem peculiar. To those without special knowledge
Mr. Twist, Mr. Molloy, and Dolly were ordinary, respectable persons
and there was no reason for him to exhibit concern at the news that
John had spent the night at Healthward Ho.
"Indeed?" he said carefully.
"Yes," said John. "Most hospitable he was. I can't say I liked him,
though."
"No?"
"No. Perhaps what prejudiced me against him was the fact of his
having burgled the Hall the night before last."
More and more Mr. Carmody was feeling, as Ronnie Fish had no
doubt felt at the concert, that he had been forced into playing a part
to which he was not equal. It was obviously in the rôle that at this
point he should register astonishment, and he did his best to do so.
But the gasp he gave sounded so unconvincing to him that he
hastened to supplement his words.
"What! What are you saying? Doctor Twist?"
"Doctor Twist."
"But.... But...!"
"It's come as quite a surprise to you, hasn't it?" said John. And for
the first time since this interview had begun Mr. Carmody became
alive to the fact that in his nephew's manner there was a subtle
something which he did not like, something decidedly odd. This
might, of course, simply be due to the circumstance that the young
man's chin was bristling with an unsightly growth and his eyes red
about the rims. Perhaps it was merely his outward appearance that
gave the suggestion of the sinister. But Mr. Carmody did not think so.
He noted now that John's eyes, besides being red, were strangely
keen. Their expression seemed, to his sensitive conscience,
accusing. The young man was looking at him—yes, undoubtedly the
young man was looking at him most unpleasantly.
"By the way," said John, "Bolt gave me this ticket yesterday to give to
you. I forgot about it till it was too late."
The relatively unimportant question of whether or not there was a
peculiar look in his nephew's eyes immediately ceased to vex Mr.
Carmody. All he felt at this instant was an almost suffocating elation.
He stretched out an unsteady hand.
"Oh, yes," he heard himself saying. "That ticket. Quite so, of course.
Bolt left a bag for me at Shrub Hill Station."
"He did."
"Give me the ticket."
"Later," said John, and put it back in his pocket.
Mr. Carmody's elation died away. There was no question now about
the peculiar look in his companion's eye. It was a grim look. A hard,
accusing look. Not at all the sort of look a man with a tender
conscience likes to have boring into him.
"What—what do you mean?"
John continued to regard him with that unpleasantly fixed stare.
"I hear you have offered a reward of a thousand pounds for the
recovery of those things that were stolen, Uncle Lester."
"Er—yes. Yes."
"I'll claim it."
"What!"
"Uncle Lester," said John, and his voice made a perfect match for his
eye, "before I left Healthward Ho I had a little talk with Mr. Twist and
his friend Mr. Molloy. They told me a lot of interesting things. Do you
get my meaning, or shall I make it plainer?"
Mr. Carmody, who had bristled for a moment with the fury of a
parsimonious man who sees danger threatening his cheque book,
sank slowly back into his chair like a balloon coming to rest.
"Good!" said John. "Write out a cheque and make it payable to
Colonel Wyvern."
"Colonel Wyvern?"
"I am passing the reward on to him. I have a particular reason for
wanting to end all that silly trouble between you two, and I think this
should do it. I know he is simply waiting for you to make some sort of
advance. So you're going to make an advance—of a thousand
pounds."
Mr. Carmody gulped.
"Wouldn't five hundred be enough?"
"A thousand."
"It's such a lot of money."
"A nice round sum," said John.
Mr. Carmody did not share his nephew's views as to what
constituted niceness and roundness in a sum of money, but he did
not say so. He sighed deeply and drew his cheque book from its
drawer. He supposed in a vague sort of way that he ought to be
feeling grateful to the young man for not heaping him with
reproaches and recrimination, but the agony of what he was about to
do prevented any such emotion. All he could feel was that dull,
aching sensation which comes to most of us when we sit down to
write cheques for the benefit of others.
It was as if some malignant fate had brooded over him, he felt, ever
since this business had started. From the very first, life had been one
long series of disbursements. All the expense of entertaining the
Molloy family, not to mention the unspeakable Ronnie Fish.... The
car going to and fro between Healthward Ho and Rudge at six
shillings per trip.... The five hundred pounds he had had to pay to get
Hugo out of the house.... And now this appalling, devastating sum for
which he had just begun to write his cheque. Money going out all the
time! Money ... money ... money ... And all for nothing!
He blotted the cheque and held it out.
"Don't give it to me," said John. "You're coming with me now to
Colonel Wyvern's house, to hand it to him in person with a neat little
speech."
"I shan't know what to say."
"I'll tell you."
"Very well."
"And after that," said John, "you and he are going to be like two love-
birds." He thumped the desk. "Do you understand? Love-birds."
"Very well."
There was something in the unhappy man's tone as he spoke,
something so crushed and forlorn that John could not but melt a
little. He paused at the door. It crossed his mind that he might
possibly be able to cheer him up.
"Uncle Lester," he said, "how did you get on with Sergeant-Major
Flannery at Healthward Ho?"
Mr. Carmody winced. Unpleasant memories seemed to be troubling
him.
"Just before I left," said John, "I blacked his eye and we fell
downstairs together."
"Downstairs?"
"Right down the entire flight. He thumped his head against an oak
chest."
On Mr. Carmody's drawn face there hovered for an instant a faint
flickering smile.
"I thought you'd be pleased," said John.
II
Colonel Wyvern hitched the celebrated eyebrows into a solid mass
across the top of his nose, and from beneath them stared hideously
at Jane, his parlour maid. Jane had just come into the morning room,
where he was having a rather heated conversation with his daughter,
Patricia, and had made the astounding statement that Mr. Lester
Carmody was waiting in his front hall.
"Who?" said Colonel Wyvern, rumbling like a thunder cloud.
"Sir, please, sir, Mr. Carmody."
"Mr. Carmody?"
"And Mr. Carroll, sir."
Pat, who had been standing by the French windows, caught in her
breath with a little click of her firm white teeth.
"Show them in, Jane," she said.
"Yes, miss."
"I will not see that old thug," said Colonel Wyvern.
"Show them in, Jane," repeated Pat, firmly. "You must, Father," she
said as the door closed. "He may have come to apologize about that
dynamite thing."
"Much more likely he's come about that business of yours. Well, I've
told you already and I say it again that nothing will induce me..."
"All right, Father. We can talk about that later. I'll be out in the garden
if you want me."
She went out through the French windows, and almost
simultaneously the door opened and John and his uncle came in.
John paused in the doorway, gazing eagerly toward the garden.
"Was that Pat?" he asked.
"I beg your pardon," said Colonel Wyvern.
"Was that Pat I thought I caught a glimpse of, going into the
garden?"
"My daughter has just gone into the garden," said Colonel Wyvern
with cold formality.
"Oh?" said John. He seemed about to follow her but a sudden bark
from the owner of the house brought him to a halt.
"Well?" said Colonel Wyvern, and the monosyllable was a verbal
pistol shot. It brought John back instantly from dreamland, and,
almost more than the spectacle of his host's eyebrows, told him that
life was stern and life was earnest.
"Oh, yes," he said.
"What do you mean, Oh yes?"
John advanced to the table, meeting the Colonel's gaze with a
steady eye. There is this to be said for being dosed with knock-out
drops and shut up in locked rooms and having to take your meals
through bars from the hands of a sergeant-major whom only a

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Advertising Promotion and Other

Aspects of Integrated Marketing

Advertising Promotion and Other Aspects of Integrated

Advertising Promotion and other aspects of Integrated

Advertising Promotion and other aspects of Integrated

Integrated Advertising Promotion and Marketing

Advertising And Promotion An Integrated Marketing

Integrated Advertising Promotion and Marketing

Integrated Advertising Promotion and Marketing

Integrated Advertising Promotion and Marketing

B. Using Attitudes to Predict Behavior

II. Persuasion in Marketing Communications

A. The Ethics of Persuasion

III. Tools of Influence: The Persuader’s Perspective

B. Commitment and consistency

IV. The Influence Process: The Persuadee’s Perspective

E. Receiver’s Initial Position

V. An Integrated Model of Persuasion

A. The Central Route

B. The Peripheral Route

VI. Enhancing Consumers’ Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability to Process

A. Motivation to Attend to Messages

B. Motivation to Process Messages

C. Opportunity to Encode Information

D. Opportunity to Reduce Processing Time

E. Ability to Access Knowledge Structures

F. Ability to Create Knowledge Structures

VII. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA)

ei = the positive or negative evaluation of the ith outcome

A. Attitude Change Strategies

VIII. Changing Preferences and Behavioral Modification Strategies

Can We Be Persuaded to Overcome Bad Habits? The Cell-Free Club

Ad Persuasion for Global Public Causes

Faster Than a Microwave Oven: Better Than a Conventional Oven

Answers to Discussion Questions

2. Distinguish between message arguments and peripheral cues as fundamental determinants of

3. Receiver involvement is the fundamental determinant of whether people may be persuaded

6. Have you personally experienced unethical persuasive efforts from marketing

marketing communications, and when would unethical communications most likely be

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