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INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL
CHAPTER 8
Management and Leadership
➢ Learning Objective 1
Describe the changes occurring today in the management function.
➢ Learning Objective 2
Describe the four functions of management.
II FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT
➢ Learning Objective 3
Relate the planning process and decision making to the accomplishment of
company goals.
➢ Learning Objective 4
8-1 Nickels, UNDERSTANDING CANADIAN BUSINESS, 9th Canadian Edition ©McGraw-Hill Education, 2016
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➢ Learning Objective 5
Explain the differences between leaders and managers, and describe the various
leadership styles.
A. Leadership Styles
B. Managing Knowledge
➢ Learning Objective 6
Summarize the five steps of the control function of management.
Key Terms
autocratic leadership leading staffing
brainstorming management strategic planning
conceptual skills middle management supervisory management
contingency planning mission statement SWOT analysis
controlling objectives tactical planning
crisis planning operational planning technical skills
decision making organization chart top management
external customers organizing transactional leadership
free-rein (laissez-faire) participative (democratic) transformational
leadership leadership leadership
goals planning transparency
human relations skills PMI values
internal customers problem solving vision
knowledge management resources
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Resource Checklist
FIGURES FROM TEXT
Seeking Sustainability
- Leadership in Sustainability
Adapting To Change
- Using Social Media During the Worst of Times
LECTURE LINKS
Lecture Link 8-1
Three Types of Great Leaders
Lecture Link 8-2
Learning Management Skills
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Lecture Outline
Outline Supplements
The PROFILE at the beginning of the chapter focuses on Sheryl
Sandberg, COO of Facebook, who represents one of the few
women who lead Fortune 500 companies. With an MBA from
Harvard, she moved into the Treasury Department under Bill
Clinton. With the end of his administration, she moved onto Silicon
Valley, joining Google in 2001 and later Facebook in 2008. She
helped launch the company's IPO, and is most famous for her
book "Lean In", which emphasizes that women can make the
workplace more accessible.
➢ Learning Objective 1
Describe the changes occurring today in the
management function.
➢ Learning Objective 2
Describe the four functions of management.
8-5 Nickels, UNDERSTANDING CANADIAN BUSINESS, 9th Canadian Edition ©McGraw-Hill Education,
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➢ Learning Objective 3
Relate the planning process and decision making to
the accomplishment of company goals.
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The SWOT analysis is the planning tool used to analyze an Fig. 8.3
organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat. Critical Thinking 8-1
2. HOW CAN WE GET THERE FROM HERE?
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objectives.
PMI is listing all the pluses for a solution in one column, all the
minuses in another, and the interesting in a third column.
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➢ Learning Objective 4
Describe the organizing function of management.
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The right kind of incentive is needed to get the right people to staff
an organization.
➢ Learning Objective 5
Explain the differences between leaders and
managers, and describe the various leadership styles.
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B. Leadership Styles
The continuum moves from making decisions alone and laying Fig.8.8
down the law, without input from subordinates, to the opposite
style of giving employees wide decision-making powers. Lecture Link 8-1
C. Managing Knowledge
➢ Learning Objective 6
Summarize the five steps of the control function of
management.
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This control function is ongoing throughout the whole year. Fig. 8.9
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TEXTBOOK CASE
ANALYZING MANAGEMENT DECISIONS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
LEADING IN A LEADERLESS COMPANY
1. What would you look for on a résumé that would indicate that a candidate for work
was a self-motivated team player? Are you that type? How do you know?
This calls for creative answers. One answer is that we would look for someone who
was on a swimming team or some other team that called for lots of self-motivation.
Someone who runs marathons would also be clearly self-motivated. Team players
would come from groups at work or at church or some other organization. You
know you’re the type if you have been a member of a team and get along well with
others. Teamwork is not the same as leadership. One has to be cooperative,
friendly, and a good listener. Anything that shows these traits is good for the
résumé.
2. Given your experience with managers in the past, what problems do you see some
managers having with letting employees decide for themselves the best way to do
things and giving them the power to obtain needed equipment?
Some managers, mostly older ones, are very used to have control over others.
They may have had experience in the military or in other businesses where such
behavior was not only acceptable, but also rewarded and demanded of them. At
times, it is hard for such managers to give up their power and authority to group
decisions or employee decisions. Often training doesn't help and such managers
may have to be fired. But some can be retrained to be members of teams. It takes
time.
3. What would happen if all the businesses in your area had their employees mix with
customers to hear their comments and complaints? Would that be a good or bad
thing? Why?
It is a good thing to have employees mingle with customers to hear both their
positive and negative comments. Employees then know what the company must do
to please customers in the future. Relationship building is a good thing with
customers. It is also a good thing to have employees mingle with each other to
learn more about each other’s skills and wants and needs. Together, as a team,
employees can accomplish more than as individuals.
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4. What are the various ways you can think of for companies to pay bonuses to team
members? One way is to divide the money equally. What are other ways? Which
would you prefer as a team member?
One way to spread the money among team members, is to have them all vote for
who should get the most and so on. Another way is to give members more money
for spending more time on a project than the others. If possible, the contributions of
the various members could be evaluated (for example, they could all write a
summary of what they've done). In any case, such distribution is not easy. Good
workers would want the pay to be distributed by contribution; others may prefer it to
be distributed equally.
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VIDEO CASE
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP - ZAPPOS' TEAM APPROACH
The vision statement provides information on why the company exists and what it
seeks to accomplish. Vision statements are an integral part of the management function
called planning.
2. How does the employee satisfaction and empowerment at Zappos help support the
primary goals of the company?
The company seeks to develop a vision and goals and share these with employees
in ways that provide opportunities for employees to grow and learn. In effect, employees
see how they “fit in” by helping the company achieve its goals. This, in turn, develops
employees that are passionate and determined to excel in their role with the company.
Empowering employees to be part of the company’s vision and goals is an approach that
is typical of the leadership philosophy of the company.
3. Why do you think the team leaders at Zappos are required to spend 20 percent of
their time with their teams outside of the work environment?
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In their book In Their Time: The Greatest Business Leaders of the 20th Century,
Harvard Business School professors Anthony J. Mayo and Nitin Nohria identified 1,000
great chief executives and company founders of the 20 th century.
Nohria and Mayo also identified three leadership types—the entrepreneurial leader,
the leader as manager, and the charismatic leader. They found that all three types
exhibited what they called “contextual intelligence,” the acute sensitivity to the social,
political, technological, and demographic contexts that defined their eras.
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Source: Bill Breen, “The Three Ways of Great Leaders,” Fast Company, September 2005.
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Now that you know some of the broad categories of skills needed by various levels of
management, we can look at the more specific skills an aspiring manager needs to learn.
In general, it’s a good idea to take as many courses as are available in oral
communication, writing, computers, and human relations. In all managerial jobs, these are
the skills in greatest demand. Naturally, it’s also important to develop technical skills in
some selected area. There are at least six skills students need to develop their managerial
potential: verbal skills, writing skills, computer skills, human relations skills, time
management skills, and other technical skills.
Verbal Skills
The bulk of the duties as a manager involve communicating with others. Managers have to
give talks, conduct meetings, make presentations, and generally communicate their ideas
to others. To prepare for such tasks, students should take oral communication courses and
become active in various student groups. It helps to become an officer and assume
responsibility for conducting meetings and giving speeches. It also helps to join a choir or
other group to become comfortable performing in front of others.
At least half of communication is skilled listening. A good manager mixes with other
managers, workers, clients, stockholders, and others outside the firm. He or she listens to
recommendations and complaints and acts on them. Active listening requires the asking of
questions and feeding back what you've heard to let others know you’re truly interested in
what they say.
Writing Skills
Managers must also be able to write clearly and precisely. Much of what they want others
to do must be communicated through memos, reports, policies, and letters. Much of what
was said in the past by phone or letter is now communicated by e-mail or fax.
Organizations everywhere are complaining about many graduates’ inability to write clearly.
If students develop good writing skills, they will be ahead of the competition. That means
taking courses in grammar, composition, and keyboarding. To learn to write, people must
practice writing! It helps to write anything: a diary, letters, notes, and so on. With practice,
people will develop the ability to write easilyCjust as they speak.
Computer Skills
The office of the future will be full of computers and related technology. As noted above,
memos, charts, letters, e-mail and fax messages, and most other communication efforts
will involve the computer. The truly efficient manager of the future will be able to effectively
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use and take advantage of the continuing developments in technology. That includes being
able to needed facts and figures quickly.
Technical Skills
To rise through the ranks of accounting, marketing, finance, production, or any other
functional area, it is important to be proficient in that area. Therefore, students should
choose some area of specialization. To rise to top management, it’s a good idea to
supplement undergraduate studies with an M.B.A. (master of business administration) or
some similar degree in government, economics, or hospital administration. More and more
students are going on to take advanced degrees, so you too may need such a degree to
keep up with your colleagues.
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Name_________________________
Date_________________________
1. Strengths:
• What advantages do you have?
• What do you do well?
• What relevant resources do you have access to?
• What do other people see as your strengths?
2. Weaknesses:
• What could you improve?
• What do you do badly?
• What should you avoid?
3. Opportunities:
• Where are the good opportunities facing you?
• What are the interesting trends you are aware of?
• What changes in technology and markets are occurring on both a broad and
narrow scale?
• What changes are occurring in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle
changes, etc?
4. Threats:
• What obstacles do you face?
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Name_________________________
Date_________________________
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At the height of the tourist season, a bomb exploded at the Gran Canaria airport,
main airport for the Canary Islands, closing the airport. Air traffic was notified and told to
divert air traffic to Los Rodeos airport on Tenerife, including two Boeing 747s—KLM 4805,
out of JFK in New York, and Pan Am 1736, out of Amsterdam. Los Rodeos was not
prepared for this increased traffic. It was Sunday, and only two air traffic controllers were
on duty. The influx of large international aircraft overwhelmed the small airport. The
altitude at Los Rodeos was over 2100 feet, and the air strips were frequently obscured by
clouds and fog. The airport was old and has no ground radar. A new international airport
was already under construction on the southern coast of the island to replace the small,
outmoded airport.
In the hours after the bombing, the single airstrip at Los Rodeos was overwhelmed
with the increased traffic. All traffic had to be directed down the taxiway to the end of the
airstrip to take off. The traffic flow was especially complicated as the same airstrip also had
to be used for landings.
KLM 4805, a huge 747, taxied to the fueling station to take on 14,500 gallons of jet
fuel. The flight crew wanted to take on additional fuel so it would not have to refuel later in
the journey. Unfortunately, the jet’s wingspread prevented other planes from moving
around the stopped plane to begin their take-offs. Pan Am 1736 waited two hours on the
tarmac behind KLM waiting for a take off slot.
The KLM crew was headed by Captain Jacob van Zanten, a veteran pilot, who
routinely trained other KLM pilots. Although he had more than 11,000 hours of flying, his
training duties had kept van Zanten out of the cockpit on many occasions. Most of his time
was spent in a training simulator. He had flown an average of only 21 hours a month and
none in the previous 2 weeks.
In the hours that Pan Am and KLM spent on the taxiway, weather conditionings had
deteriorated. Fog had rolled in, and visibility had fallen to less than 1,000 feet. With no
ground radar, pilots were limited to communication by radio with tower control and with
each other.
Van Zanten was eager to take off from Tenerife and resume the airline’s scheduled
flights. Complicating his preparations was the knowledge that his crew was rapidly
approaching a time out. If he was not able to take off quickly, the crew would “time out,” or
reach a point at which they would be forced to go off duty. If the time out occurred, KLM
would be forced to pay for the crew and passengers to stay at Los Rodeos until a
replacement crew could be sent in.
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The taxiway was too small for the 747 jets to use to reach the end of the runway.
Instead, both were told to taxi down the active runway, turn and wait for takeoff approval.
KLM reached the end first and was told to “hold.” Pilot van Zanten pivoted the plane and
started winding the engines up for takeoff. A crewmember in the cockpit noticed the error
and asked pilot van Zanten if he heard the hold message. Van Zanten angrily silenced the
crewmember and temporarily stopped the takeoff sequence.
Los Rodeos ATC was unfamiliar with handling large 747s and gave Pan Am
instructions to turn on a small turn off, C3, which would have required the huge plane to
make almost a 180° turn. Pan Am was using a small sectional map of the airport and
listening to instructions from the tower. Just as Pan Am approached the turnoff, pilot Victor
Grubbs was distracted by a radio message from KLM stating the plane was “now at
takeoff.” Frantically, both the tower and Pan Am tried to contact KLM to let them know that
Pan Am was still on the runway. Tragically, the two messages were silenced by a radio
squelch, and KLM did not hear the transmission. Van Zanten released his brakes and
accelerated to 180 miles per hour, barreling down the runway toward the Pan Am jumbo
jet frantically trying to exit the airstrip. In the KLM cockpit, no crewmember was heard
questioning van Zanten’s decision.
The KLM crew saw the Pan Am jet on the runway and tried to rush the take off. Pan
Am fired its engines and tried to taxi. But both were unsuccessful. KLM clipped the top of
the Pan Am jet with its landing gear and slammed into the runway thousands of feet down.
Of the 396 passengers on the Pan Am jet, only 61 survived. All 234 passengers and crew
on the KLM perished. The role of the 14,700 pounds of jet fuel the KLM took on has been
debated since.
The crash remains the world’s worst air disaster. Both pilots have been faulted for
mistakes made. The KLM crew took off without ATC clearance. The Pan Am pilots failed to
follow ATC instructions to exit at turn C3, instead turning at C4 farther down the runway.
Both flight crews used nonstandard terminology, such as van Zanten’s statement that he
was “at take off.” Weather and visibility were also factors. But the bottom line is that 583
people died at a small airport in the Canary Islands, on the ground.1
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3. Many consumer advocates are pushing for rules that punish airlines for flights
delayed more than three hours on the ground. Do you think these rules are a good
idea? Why or why not?
1. Identify three points at which the tragedy could have been prevented.
This case illustrates the consequences of flawed decision making. The tragedy
could have been prevented if the chain of events was interrupted at any point. If the KLM
pilot had decided to load less fuel. If the Pan Am pilot had made the correct turn. If a
member of the KLM crew had questioned van Zanten’s decision to take off. If all parties
had used correct terminology. If, if.
3. Many consumer advocates are pushing for rules that punish airlines for flights
delayed more than three hours on the ground. Do you think these rules are a good
idea? Why or why not?
Being stranded on the ground waiting for take off is frustrating and infuriating.
However, it is not fatal. In this case, the KLM crew was rushing to take off partially to
prevent “timing out,” in which case the passengers and crew would be required to stay
overnight at the small airport. Implementing rules that punish airlines for delays may have
unintended, and catastrophic, consequences.
1Sources: Steven Cushing, Fatal Words: Communication Clashes and Aircraft Crashes,
University of Chicago Press, 1997; Macarthur Job, Air Disaster, Aerospace Publications,
1995; Valerie Lester, Fasten Your Seat Belts: History and Heroism in the Pan Am Cabin,
Paladwr Press, 1995; Chris Kilroy, Special Report: Tenerife, AirDisaster.com; “The
Deadliest Plan Crash,” PBS, October 17, 2006; and Joint Report, “ K.L.M.-P.A.A.,
12.7.1977 (Official Report)” Project-Tenerife.com.
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engaged in certain criminal enterprises with some leading spirits of
the underworld. Also he made no mention of the anonymous letter.
For the present he kept all this in reserve.
Needless to say that Richard was much astounded at these
revelations, especially at the fact of the imposture of young Archie
Brookes, with Mrs. Morrice’s connivance, and the loss of the
important memorandum relating to the safe.
“You have not told anything of this to Miss Sheldon,” was his first
comment. “Or, if you have done so, it would be under the seal of
secrecy, as otherwise she would have taken me into her confidence.”
“No, I have not said a word to Miss Sheldon,” was Lane’s answer.
“To tell you the truth, Mr. Croxton, in our profession we are not too
prone to make confidantes of women. We respect their good and
noble qualities, but we distrust their impulsiveness, their incapacity to
keep a secret where secrecy is of vital importance.”
Croxton was bound to agree with this general estimate. Women
were by temperament unfitted to be the coadjutors of men in
transactions of this special nature.
“Now, I have told you that Mr. Morrice asked me to allow him to be
joined in this investigation, and I consented because it did not seem
to prejudice your interests in any way, the aim of both being to
discover the guilty party. Now, it seems to me that the time has
arrived, or will very shortly be approaching, when it will be my painful
duty to inform him of his wife’s singular conduct in passing off this
young man, brought up by the woman Alma Buckley, as her nephew.
Before doing so, there is one contingency which we ought to
anticipate, although I consider it a very unlikely one. Is Mr. Morrice
himself a party to the deception? Is he already aware of it, and has
acquiesced in it from some motive satisfactory to himself? From your
close association with him, you must be well acquainted with his
character, his habits of thought, his views of what are right and
wrong. Do you think it likely that he would from any motives be a
consenting party to such a fraud?”
And Richard’s answer was emphatic. Rupert Morrice was one of
the whitest men he had ever known, abhorrent of deceit and
chicanery in any form, high-minded and honourable to a fault, just a
little intolerant perhaps of weakness in others. Even in his business
life, his notions of rectitude were considered by those who knew him
best almost quixotic, and in private life his code of morality was just
as stringent. Even if he loved his wife with a passionate devotion, he
would never have tacitly suffered such a thing as this. And
everybody knew that while he treated Mrs. Morrice with the utmost
respect and consideration, ardent love played no part in their
relations. They made no pretence at being other than a very ordinary
couple who jogged along placidly enough.
After a little further conversation the interview terminated, leaving
the two men mutually pleased with each other. Lane thought that
Richard seemed a very straightforward, transparent sort of young
fellow with whom it was very difficult to associate a criminal
enterprise of such depth and cunning. And Dick recognized in the
detective a sound, solid man, with great gifts for his difficult task,
neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but holding the just mean between
the two extremes.
Lane was impressed by the shrewdness of the young man’s
remark when they parted. “If you can find who has got that
memorandum, you will discover the actual thief. I don’t believe in Mr.
Morrice’s theory of it having passed into the hands of the dustman.”
“Neither do I, Mr. Croxton. Well, good-bye for the present. I think
for the moment we will say nothing about these happenings to Miss
Sheldon. It is not because I wish to keep her in the dark, for I am
sure she is a good and noble girl. But for the moment, except to
those actually concerned, secrecy is imperative. A chance word, a
chance look, even a gesture might convey a warning where I do not
wish it to be conveyed. You understand.”
Yes, Richard thoroughly understood. He hated to keep anything
from his beloved Rosabelle, who had stood by him so staunchly in
these dark hours. But the detective was right, women cannot control
their feelings like men, especially where their deepest emotions are
concerned.
Lane had perhaps been more frank in his statement of the facts
than illuminating in his deductions from them, if indeed he had
suffered himself to draw from them any deductions of a very positive
nature. But the young man felt much more cheerful after that visit.
He felt quite sure that if the detective had started with suspicions of
him, he had dropped them by now, or his manner could not have
been so cordial. He was certain that was not assumed.
This keen and patient investigator had certainly made a series of
remarkable discoveries, it was almost impossible that nothing would
result from them. It was easy to see that he was not a man who
would tell you what was passing in his mind till the decisive moment
for revelation had come. No doubt, in his own quiet way, he was
drawing his net tighter and tighter. Would he draw it so closely at the
end that the real criminal could not escape from its meshes? And
would he, Richard Croxton, be rehabilitated in the sight of all men?
Would the day come when Rupert Morrice would ask his pardon for
his unjust suspicions, his harsh treatment, for having branded the
son of his old sweetheart as a thief?
On his return from Petersham to his office, Lane found Sellars
waiting for him by appointment. To this keen-witted young man he
detailed the three fresh incidents that had occurred in so short a
space—the conversation between Mrs. Morrice and her supposed
nephew, overheard by Rosabelle; the fact that Sir George was under
the close observation of Scotland Yard, the further startling fact that
Archie Brookes had been brought up in the home of Alma Buckley.
He wound up with the information that he had dispatched an
anonymous letter to Rupert Morrice, the contents of which he trusted
would induce the financier to start a searching investigation on his
own account.
“By Jove, that was a fine idea, Lane, and got you out of an
awkward situation,” said Sellars in a tone of admiration. “If he finds
what, no doubt, we expect him to find, there will be trouble in
Deanery Street. For, although I can’t pretend to know very much
about him, he strikes me as just the kind of man who could be as
hard as nails in certain circumstances.”
“Yes, I should say it was so,” Lane agreed. “Young Croxton, with
whom I had a long talk to-day, tells me that he is the soul of honour
and rectitude, that he has no toleration of wrong-doing in others,
being so exempt from weaknesses himself. He gives me that
impression too—the sort of man who would sacrifice his own son if
he thought justice demanded it.”
Sellars had no petty jealousy of the other man’s superior powers in
the line in which Lane was a master, and he, comparatively
speaking, only a promising pupil. But he did occasionally fancy that
he could see a point which the master, perhaps through
carelessness, had overlooked. He thought he saw one now.
“That’s not quite true, is it? He firmly believed in young Croxton’s
guilt, believes in it still from what you have told me. But he didn’t
prosecute him. Not quite such a hard nut as we think him, perhaps.”
But Lane was not to be worsted in argument by his nimble-minded
young pupil. “I didn’t say he was out for revenge, only for justice. He
satisfied justice by turning him out of the house and ruining his
career. And he did that in spite of the fact that he passionately loved
the mother.”
“Yes, I see your point. Perhaps he may shield his wife in the same
way, or rather a different way, keep up the appearance of a happy
couple in public, and treat her as a stranger in private. Well, the next
important move on the board is the meeting with Miss Buckley—that
information you have just got ought to give me a point in the game,
anyway.”
CHAPTER XVIII
MRS. MORRICE’S DRESS
M ISS ALMA BUCKLEY did not seem at all anxious for that
interview so desired by young Sellars. He had written her a
very polite letter, forwarded by her obliging agent, stating that he
wished to see her for a few minutes on a private matter which it was
difficult to enter into by correspondence, and inviting her to name a
day and hour suitable to herself. He had found out that she was
appearing nightly at certain suburban music-halls, and judged from
this fact that she would appoint a morning or an afternoon.
He waited three days for an answer, but as none came, he
dispatched a second missive expressing his fear that his first had
miscarried, and begging the favour of a reply by return.
By return it came, a very brief and curt note but well-expressed,
written in the third person. “Miss Buckley has to acknowledge the
receipt of two letters from Mr. Sellars, asking for an interview on a
private matter. She has no knowledge of the writer, and before
granting his request, would like to know the nature of the business
on which he is desirous of seeing her.”
Obviously not an ill-educated person to whom the use of the third
person would have presented numerous pitfalls. Sellars did not relish
the tone of her letter at all, and did not quite know how to proceed.
He could probably gain admittance by pretending he was engaged in
some professional enterprise in which he would be glad of her co-
operation. But he would have to abandon that attitude when he got
there, and most certainly arouse her resentment by admitting that it
was a trick to enable him to steal a march upon her. He would then,
in all probability, be unceremoniously bundled out.
Miss Buckley dated her letter from No. 5 Elvenden Mansions, Kew
Bridge, evidently a block of flats. He thought the best way would be
to take direct action by calling there without preliminary
announcement, trusting to luck to find the lady at home and willing to
admit him. He arrived there about twelve o’clock on the morning of
the day after that on which he had received her somewhat brusque
letter.
He thought this would be a judicious hour. Professional ladies he
had always understood were not early risers, they preferred the day
to be well-aired before they got up. In the afternoon they probably
rested to prepare themselves for the arduous duties of the evening.
He found the place quite easily—a very extensive block of flats of
respectable appearance, the rentals of which he thought would be
neither cheap nor expensive, just suitable to persons of moderate
means.
Miss Buckley opened the door herself, it was very likely she did
not keep a resident servant. She was a comely, good-looking woman
of an unrefined type, looking much younger than her years, which
Sellars, piecing together the information he had gathered at
Brinkstone, put in the region of fifty. She had a very brilliant
complexion, obviously the result of very careful art. She was a trifle
inclined to stoutness, but not by any means unbecomingly so, and
she had a very pleasant expression. Perhaps she was only brusque
when she took a pen in her hand.
As she surveyed him, taking in every detail of his immaculate get
up and elegant appearance, a twinkle appeared in her rather bold,
blue eyes, and she smiled broadly.
“I don’t think you need tell me who you are,” she said in a jolly,
rather loud voice. “I’ll lay five to one to anybody who likes to take me
on that you’re Mr. Sellars.”
This was quite a breezy reception, better than the young man had
hoped for. Miss Buckley was evidently not a mincing person nor
inclined to finnicking speech.
Sellars made his best bow, removing his hat with a grace
peculiarly his own. “I compliment you on your penetration, Miss
Buckley, you have guessed at once. I ran up here on the chance of
finding you in, as I am leaving London very shortly, and I didn’t want
to waste time in needless correspondence. Now that I am here, I
hope you won’t be so cruel as to turn me away.”
The music-hall artist looked at him not unkindly, he was a very
personable young fellow, and possessed charming manners.
She opened the door a little wider. “Well, I suppose I ought to send
you to the right about, but then you’d only pester me with more of
your polite letters. So come in, and let me know what it is you want
of me.”
She led the way into a very daintily-furnished little sitting-room, the
greater portion of which was taken up with a semi-grand piano on
which she, no doubt, practised the vivacious songs that found favour
with her public. A cheerful fire burned in the grate. A fair sized round
table stood in the centre, and on this was a good sized cake and a
decanter of port wine.
“I couldn’t make much of a show at breakfast this morning,” she
explained candidly to her visitor. “Some of us were keeping it up a bit
last night late. So I’m just picking a little bit now, as I don’t have my
meal till five. The profession’s very awkward for meals. Now before
you start, Mr. Sellars, try a glass of this port. I’ve had one and I’m
going to have another—doctor’s orders, you know.” She laughed her
loud, genial laugh, and again the twinkle came into the big, blue
eyes.
Sellars hastened to get on friendly terms with her by cheerfully
accepting her hospitality, and found the port very excellent. It was
evident that Miss Buckley, although a very small light of the
profession, was by no means forced to practise rigid economy. All
the furniture was elegant and costly. A handsome bronze clock and
candelabra adorned the mantelshelf, which was hung with elegant
rose-pink drapery. In a word, her surroundings were much more
refined than herself.
Yes, there was no doubt she was very comfortably off. And there
was every reason she should be, he reflected. The retired builder,
her father, must have had a decent income which, no doubt, he had
left entirely to her, she was hardly ever out of an engagement, so his
club acquaintance had told him, and she would get a decent salary
from her profession, even if she was only a star of small magnitude.
When they had drunk to each other’s health, for the lady insisted
upon this ceremony being observed, Miss Buckley came to
business, speaking in a brisk tone that rather suggested the writer of
the brusque letter.
“And now, Mr. Sellars, please tell me the reason that has brought
you into this remote part of the world. Judging by what I’ve seen of
you so far, I should say you were more likely to be found in Bond
Street and Piccadilly than the wilds of Kew.”
While they had been drinking their port and chatting discursively,
the keen eyes of Sellars had been taking in the details of the dainty
little apartment. Most particularly had he directed his attention to the
half-dozen photographs on the rose-pink covered mantelpiece. Two
of them he recognized at once as those of Sir George Clayton-
Brookes and young Archie Brookes. A third was that of a young girl
of about eighteen or nineteen years of age, in which he thought he
could trace some resemblance to the present handsome and
dignified Mrs. Morrice. Ah, if only his old friend Dobbs were here he
could have told him at once. One thing was very evident, there was
no portrait of the Mrs. Morrice of the present day amongst the
collection.
After putting her question, Mrs. Buckley looked at the young man
very keenly while awaiting his reply. He did not answer at once, but
rose from his chair, walked to the mantelpiece, took a leisurely
survey of the photographs and then turned to the music-hall artist.
“I see you have the likenesses of two men I know a little of, Miss
Buckley, Sir George Clayton-Brookes and his nephew. I should say
your memories must often carry you back to the old days in the little
village of Brinkstone.”
In spite of the self-possession engendered by so many years of
facing big audiences, the woman could not help giving a start of
surprise which did not escape the keen eyes of Sellars.
“What in the world do you know about Brinkstone?” she asked in a
hard voice. Her jollity had gone for the moment, she was the sharp,
alert woman of the world, ready to keep a close watch on her words,
more disposed to ask questions than answer them.
Sellars left the mantelpiece and sat himself on the chair opposite
her, putting on a very ingenuous expression of countenance.
“I know rather a lot,” he said pleasantly. “Shortly before Christmas
I took a fancy to run down there, and I put in a few very agreeable
days. I was engaged on some literary work, and I found it very quiet
and peaceful. There I made the acquaintance of a very delightful old-
world sort of fellow who had seldom stirred beyond the confines of
his native village—the head waiter, as he is now, one Dobbs. I am
sure you can’t have forgotten dear old Dobbs, Miss Buckley?”
The lady breathed a little hard. He guessed that she had half a
mind to tell a lie, disclaim all knowledge of the little village of
Brinkstone and its inhabitants, but she was afraid to because she
was not sure how much he knew.
“Perhaps I have, perhaps I haven’t. And how does it concern you,
Mr. Sellars, whether I know him or not?”
But Sellars did not answer her question, he put one himself.
“The portrait of that very pretty girl—am I not right in saying it is
one of your girl friend—Lettice Larchester?”
Again he saw that she was strongly tempted to tell a lie, to give
him another name as the original of that charming picture, and that
she refrained for the same reason.
“You seem to know all my friends, apparently. Can you tell me the
other three?” she inquired in a voice of heavy sarcasm.
“I am afraid I cannot, they do not interest me in the least,” he said
easily. “Well, to resume about good old Dobbs. In the evenings when
he was clearing the dinner things, we used to have long chats
together, a drop of whisky set his tongue going nineteen to the
dozen, and he told me lots of things about Brinkstone people.”
“Must have been very interesting, I’m sure,” said the lady, with
something like a snort. She helped herself to another glass of port,
but did not offer one to Sellars.
“It was extremely interesting,” agreed Sellars in his calm, placid
way. “I don’t know when I ever listened to a more delightful recital of
village annals. I heard all about the rather lurid doings of that
remarkable family, the Brookeses, the father and the three brothers
of whom Sir George is now the sole survivor. And equally absorbing,
the history of Miss Larchester and her derelict father, and last the
story of your arrival at Brinkstone and your subsequent friendship
with the young lady in question. Old Dobbs had a great tenderness
for her, he used to grow quite lyrical in his descriptions.”
“You went down there, of course, to spy out all this,” remarked
Miss Buckley in contemptuous tones. “I take it you are really a
detective, although I must say you haven’t got the cut of one. Well,
Mr. Sellars, what is it you want with me? Please come to the point.”
“I am not exactly a detective, not professionally I mean, only just a
rather curious person. I am very anxious to know something of the
career of your pretty friend Miss Larchester, after she left the little
village.”
And then Miss Buckley spoke. It was evident she had been
thinking pretty quickly while the young man was talking, and had
made up her mind what sort of a story she was going to tell.
“I have known Sir George on and off since the Brinkstone days, he
mixes a good deal with artists; I knew his nephew through him when
he brought him over from Australia and adopted him. I met Lettice
Larchester a few times in London—they seemed to be getting poorer
and poorer. Then suddenly they drifted away and I never heard any
more of her.”
Sellars was silent for a long time. “Then it comes to this,” he said
presently, “you won’t tell me anything of your old friend.”
“I have nothing to tell,” said the woman obstinately.
“You do not know whether she is dead or alive?” persisted Sellars.
“And if alive, whether she is married or single.”
Again the same obstinate answer. “I know nothing, and now, Mr.
Sellars, I think it is time to end this interview.”
The young man was chagrined at the negative result of his visit.
The only thing he was certain of was that Mrs. Morrice had certain
secrets in her past life which this woman was resolved to guard
jealously. Also she had told a deliberate lie about Archie Brookes in
saying that her acquaintance with him had dated from his arrival
from Australia.
“I will trouble you no more on that subject, Miss Buckley. Are you
disposed to be more frank with me on the subject of Archie
Brookes?”
She shrugged her shoulders impatiently. “My good man, will you
have the kindness to go. I know hardly anything of him except that
he is Sir George’s nephew and came over here a few years ago from
Australia.”
Sellars looked her straight in the face. “And that, pardon me for my
rudeness, is not a fact. When Sir George adopted him, he took him
from your home, and at that time he was occupying a commercial
post in the City.”
And this time the shaft went home. The woman dropped her eyes,
and a tell-tale flush spread above the rouge on her painted cheek.
But she recovered herself quickly, walked to the door and flung it
open. “For the second and last time, Mr. Sellars, I request you to
bring this interview to a close.”
He moved after her, speaking as he went. “I am sorry our
acquaintance ends so abruptly. One last word—if a certain person
would give you a handsome sum to disclose what you do know
about these two people, would you be induced to speak?”
And for the last time came the defiant answer: “I should be taking
your money under false pretences. I have no information to sell.”
CHAPTER XX
RUPERT MORRICE SENDS FOR LANE