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CHAPTER 7:
>
Inventory 116
~
:a
~
Recording, expensing and reporting
cil inventory 117
0
t' Recording inventory 117
..
ll'
Expensing inventory 118
~
0 Reporting inventory and cost of goods sold_ 119
"
~ Inventory costing methods 119
e.. Specific identification 120
i:
.,i First-in, first-out (FIFO) 120
Last-in, first-out (LIFO) 121
Petty cash funds 90
Moving average 121
Reporting ca.s h and ca.s h equivalents 92
Comparing inventory costing
Analysing cash 93
methods 123
Horizontal and vertical analyses 93
Inventory errors 124
Free cash flow 94
Estimating ending inventory 125
Exercises 96 Lower-of-cost-and-net-realisable-
Problems 98 value 126
Ca.s es 99 Evaluating a company's management
of inventory 127
CHAPTER 6: Horizontal and vertical analyses 127
Receivables 100 Inventory turnover ratio 128
Recording and reporting accounts Appendix: Periodic inventory
receivable 101 system 129
Recording accounts receivable 101 Recording inventory 129
Reporting accounts receivable 102 Inventory costing methods 130
Uncollectible receivables 103 Specific identification 130
Direct write-off method 103 First-in, first-out (FIFO) 130
Allowance method 103 Last-in, first-out (LIFO) 131
Estimating bad debt expense 105 Weighted average 131
Percentage-of-sales approach 105 Exercises 131
Percentage-of-receivables Problems 134
approach 106 Case 135
Analysing accounts receivable 107
Horizontal and vertical analyses 107
CHAPTER 8:
Receivables turnover ratio 108 Non-current assets and intangible
Allowance ratio 109 assets 136
Notes receivable 109 Recording, expensing and reporting
Recording the note 110 non-current assets 137
Recording interest 110 Recording non-current assets 137
Collecting the note 111 Expensing non-current assets 138
Exercises 111 Reporting non-current assets 139
Problems 113 Calculating depreciation expense 139
Ca.s es 114 Straight-line method 140
Reducing-balance method 140
Withdrawal of a partner at less than the Cash dividends on preference shares 207
carrying amount _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 191 Cumulative preference shares 209
Liquidation 192 Share buybacks 209
Sale of assets 192 Recording share buybacks 210
Paying the liabilities 192 Evaluating a company's management
ofequity_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ZlZ
Partners receive remaining cash 192
Partnership financial statements 194 Horizontal and vertical analyses 212
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Learning objectives:
After studying the material in this chapter, you should be able to:
1 Examine the four assumptions made when communicating accounting information.
2 Describe the purpose and structure of an income statement and the terms and
principles used to create it.
3 Describe the purpose and structure of a balance sheet and the terms and principles
used to create it.
4 Describe the purpose and structure of a statement of changes in equity and how it
links the income statement and the balance sheet.
s Describe the purpose and structure of a cash flow statement and the terms and
principles used to create it.
6 Question the qualitative characteristics that make accounting information useful.
7 Study the conceptual framework of accounting.
i
j
I
11
c1 i
f
!!
Imagine for a moment that you are home for the With this overall purpose in accounting
The process of
*
summer and decide to mow lawns to make some mind, this chapter introduces
identifying, measuring
money. With $100 of your own money and $200 the basic terms, principles and ond communicoting
borrowed from your Mum, you purchase a $260 rules that comprise the 'spelling' economic informotion
lawnmower, a $20 petrol can and $15 of petrol. and 'grammar' of the accounting to permit informed
During January, you mow 28 lawns at $40 each, language. It does so by creating judgements ond
buy $75 of additional petrol and pay Mum $5 the January financial statements decisions.
of interest. At the end of January, you have $194 of the Lawn Service scenario
in cash, $10 of petrol (fuel) and $120 due from described above. At the end of the chapter, you
customers. should be familiar with the four main financial
Given this information, can you tell what statements of accounting. You should also have a
happened to your business in January? Did you working accounting vocabulary that can be built
make any money? What do you have to show for upon in the following chapters.
your efforts? How can you tell? Getting answers
to such questions requires accounting because
you are mowing lawns to make money, not for
the physical exercise or to provide a community
service. Would you have been financially better
off to work as a lifeguard at the local pool or take
a part-time job at Woolworths?
Accounting is the process of identifying,
measuring and communicating economic
information to permit informed judgements
and decisions. Put more simply, accounting is
the 'language of business'. When you want to
know about the financial results of a business,
you must understand and speak accounting. The
purpose of this book is to help you learn this
language. Accounting. the 'language of business'. would describe
this picture as a person using an asset (the lawnmower)
to generate revenue (the money she will be paid).
I
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Time period assumption •
,-. WOOLWORTHS
Business owners and other interested parties usually do ~ rft, ANALYSIS
not want to wait too long before they receive information ~ In Woolworths' income statement,
in Appendix B Woolworths Annual
about how a business is doing. They want periodic
Report 2014, you can find the
measurements of the business' success or failure. For following three descriptions:
any activity, be it a diet or sports training, it is useful 1 Woolworths Limited and its controlled entities
to measure your performance. In business, performance 2 $m
is measured primarily in financial terms. Accountants 3 2014, 52 weeks.
therefore assume that economic information can be Which assumption does each description best relate to?
meaningfully captured and communicated over short 1 economic entity
periods of time, even if those time periods are somewhat 2 monetary unit
artificial, such as one month or one quarter. This is known
as the time period assumption.
.. 3 time period.
* time period
assumption Going concern
Accountonls assume that assumption Revenues
economic information con
be meaningfully coptured The going concern assumption A revenue is an increase in resources resulting
ond communicated over takes as a given that a company will from the sale of goods or the provision of
short periods of time. continue to operate into the foreseeable services. Receiving $40 for mowing a lawn l1te111c11n qalues
* monetary unit
assumption
future. This assumption enables
accountants to use certain techniques
is an example of a revenue. You have $40
more than you did previously because you
revenue *
An increase in resources
Accountants assume that will be described later in the provided a service. Other revenue common resulting from the sole of
that the dollar is the chapter. Unless there is evidence to the to businesses is sales revenue. goods or the provision of
most effective means lo services.
contrary, most companies are assumed Revenues are recorded according to
communicate economic
oclivity. to be going concerns. Those that are the revenue recognition principle. The
revenue recognition principle
revenue *
recognition principle
* going concern
assumption
not going concerns are often in the
process of liquidation (that is, selling states that a revenue should be recorded The principle that
o revenue should
their resources and paying off their when a resource has been earned. A
Accountants assume thot be recorded when
obligations). Because the Lawn Service resource is earned when either the
o compony will continue o resource hos been
lo operole into the will continue through the summer, it is sale of the good or the provision of the earned and not just when
foreseeable future. a going concern at the end of January service is substantially complete and the cash is received.
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Is the buSiness a 'going concern'? of business. The financial report does
not fully disclose this fact.'
The Auditing Standard ASA 570 Going Concern,
suggests the wording for the Auditor's report
when a business has been unable to find sufficient
financing as:
Basis for Qualified Opinion
ABC Company Ltd.'s financing arrangements expire
within the next financial year. The company has been
unable to re-negotiate or obtain replacement financing.
This situation indicates the existence of a material
uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the
company's ability to continue as a going concern and
therefore, the company may be unable to realise its
assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course
collection is reasonably assured. The Australian Accounting fuel used during January can be calculated as follows from the
Standard: AASB 118 Revenue provides much more deta il on given information:
calculating the amount and timing of revenue recognition.
Given these definitions, total January revenues for the Amount on hand on 1 January $15
La wn Service are as fol lows. You have only one source of Plus amount purchased during January 75
revenue - mowing lawns. Assuming that your customers Less amount on hand on 31 January (10)
Amount used during January
will pay, your lawnmowing service creates a revenue each
t ime a lawn is mowed. So, if you mowed 28 lawns at
Therefore, fuel expense is $80.
$40 each, revenues total $1120 for the month. Of those
The second expense relates to your borrowing. You paid
revenues, you have received cash for all except $120. The
your Mum $5 at the end of January to compensate her for
$120 has been earned (you have carried out the service
loaning you $200. Paying for the use of someone else's money
and expect to be paid). although it has not been received
is called interest. Therefore, interest expense is $5.
in cash.
The th ird expense rela tes to your equipment - the
Expenses la wnmower and the petro l can. Because th is equipment
was used in Jan uary to generate revenues, the matching
An expense is a decrease in resources resulting from
principle requires that some portion of the equipment's
the sale of goods or provision of services. The petrol
cost be expensed in January. This is called depreciation
consumed while mowing la wns is an expense. Chapter 8 wil l discuss the various methods for
* expense
A decrease in resources
example of an expense. Other expenses
common to businesses are wages,
calculating depreciation expense, but for now we wi ll keep
things simple. Assuming that the equipment will be used
resulting from the sole taxes, advertising, rent and uti lities for four months and then thrown away, it is reasonable to
of goods or provision of (electricity and gas).
services. expense one- quarter of the equipment's cost each month.
Expenses are recorded according to
* matching
principle
the matching principle. The matching
Th is equals $65 for the la wnmower ($260 cost divided by
4 months) and $5 for the petrol can ($20 cost divided by 4
principle states that expenses should months). Therefore, depreciation expense for January is $70
The principle that be recorded in the period resources are
expenses should be ($65 + $5).
used to generate revenues. For example,
recorded in the period
in January, fuel (petrol) is used to mow
resources ore used to
generate revenues. lawns and should therefore be included in The income statement
* income statement
The financial statement
January's expenses.
Given these definitions, total January
Once a company's revenues and expenses are calculated, they
are reported on the income statement (we concentrate on
that reports a compony's expenses for the Lawn Service are as the income statement because comprehensive income items
revenues and expenses follows. Unlike the revenue side, the Lawn are complex and for Woolworths represent less than 7 per
over a specific period Service has three sources of expenses. The cent of profit, as shown in Appendix B). This is the financial
of time.
first is fairly clear - fuel. The amount of statement that shows a company's revenues and expenses
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Lawn Service LEARNING OBJECTIVE >>
Income statement
for the month ending 31 January
Revenues $1120
Expenses:
Fuel $80
Reporting financial
Interest 5
Depreciation
Total expenses
70
155
position: the
Profit $ 965
balance sheet
Another important issue for any business is its current
~ Income stotement for Lown Service
financial position. What does the business own? What does it
owe? Accounting provides answers to these questions with a
over a specific period of time. Its purpose is to demonstrate the financial statement ca lied the balance sheet (sometimes called
the statement of financial position). A balance sheet reports a
financial success or failure of the company over that specific
period of time. When revenues exceed expenses, a company business' assets, liabilities and equity.
generates a profit. When expenses exceed revenues, a company
incurs a loss. The basic structure of the statement is as follows: Assets
An asset is a resource of a business. More formally, an asset is
an economic resource that is objectively measurable, that results
Revenues - Expenses = Net Profit or Net Loss (more from a prior transaction and that will
formally, Total Comprehensive Income or just Income) provide future economic benefit. Cash is a
* asset
good example of an asset. It can be counted, An economic resource
Given the revenues and expenses determined previously, it is received through a transaction with that is objectively
the Lawn Service's January income statement would appear someone else and it can be used to buy measurable, results
from a prior transaction
as shown in Exhibit 1.1. It contains the business' name, the things in the future. Other common assets
and will provide future
statement name and the time period, which for this example include inventories, receivables, property, economic benefit.
is the month of January. It also shows that the Lawn Service plant and equipment. and intangible
generated $965 of profits during January. This part of the assets (assets that have no physical form, * intangible assets
Assets that hove no
statement is often called the 'profit and loss' section. such as trademarks and copyright).
physical form, such
Assets are recorded and reported as trademarks and
~ '
~ WOOLWORTHS according to the historical cost principle, copyright.
,:;:::::; rft, ANALYSIS which is often shortened to the cost
* cost principle
., Look at Woolworths' income principle. The cost principle states that
statement in Appendix B. The The principle that assets
assets should be recorded and reported at should be recorded and
statement contains four revenues
the cost paid to acquire them. reported at the cost paid
and five expenses (including 'cost of goods sold' and
Given these definitions, the Lawn to acquire them.
tax expense). Can you identify them? What was the
company's 'profit for the period' (after tax) for 2014? Service has several assets at the end of
This was over $190 million more than 2013 ($2458m - January: $194 of cash, $10 of remaining petrol and $120
$2265m)! of receivables from customers. It also has a lawnmower
At this stage do not become too ooncemed over and a petrol can, but the value of those assets is calculated
the particular 'profit' figure used. Woolworths' financial a little differently because they will be used over several
statements in the appendix are an extract from their
periods (months). The lawnmower originally cost $260,
Annual Report as required by Corporations Law and are
oomplex, especially for the first-time viewer. but the matching principle required the expensing of
• Revenues: from sales of goods and other income. $65 of that cost in January. As a result, the lawnmower's
• Expenses: cost of sales; employee benefits; remaining cost is $195 ($260 - $65). A similar calculation
lease and occupancy expenses; depreciation and is performed for the petrol can. Because $5 of the total $20
amortisation expenses; advertising, marketing, cost of the can was expensed during January, the remaining
etc.; administrative expenses; net financing cost is $15 ($20 - $5). Again, Chapter 8 will discuss in
expenses; other expenses.
much more detail the accounting for equipment.
Net profit after inoome tax for 2014: $168 million.
business thot results from of the home and the amount owed to Key formula 1.2: The relationship between
o post tronsodion and the bank. Equity in accounting is the assets, liabilities and equii)'.
will require the sacrifice same principle except that it refers to
of economic resources ot Assets = Liabilities+ Equity
the difference between the cost of the
some future dote.
business' assets and its liabilities.
* equity
The difference between
A company can generate equity in Given the assets, liabilities and equity determined
previously, the Lawn Service's balance sheet would appear
two ways. The first is through issued or
o compony's ossets and
contributed capital. Issued capital is as shown in Exhibit 1.2. It contains the company name,
liabilities, representing
defined as the resources that investors the statement name and the time reference, which for th is
the shore of ossets
thot is claimed by the contribute to a business in exchange example is 31 January.
compony's owners. for an ownership interest. The $100 Notice that total assets equal tota l liabilities plus total
* issued capital
(contributed equity)
that you, the owner, put into the Lawn
Service is contributed capital. Note
equity (or assets minus liabilities equals net assets, which
The resources that here that contributed capital is not a Lawn Service
investors contribute to o revenue. The increase of $100 did not Balance sheet
business in exchange for at 31 January
result from the lawnmowing service
ownership interest.
providing a service or selling a product. Cash $194
* dividends
Profits that ore distributed
It came by contributing an ownership Accounts receivable
Supplies (petrol)
120
10
interest. The most common method that
to owners (usually called Lawnmower 195
companies use to generate contributed
drawings ii the business Petrol can 15
is not o compony).
capital is the sale of shares to investors. Total assets
This is not the daily sale and purchase
* retained earnings
Profits that ore kept in the
of shares on the securities exchange
Note payable (to Mum)
Total liabilities
$200
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~ WOOLWORTHS
~ rft, ANALYSIS
Lawn Service
Statement of changes in retained earnings
W, Look at Woolworths' balance
for the month ending 31 January
sheet in Appendix B. Write out in
numbers the company's accounting Retained earnings, 1 January $ 0
equation (A= L + E) as at 29 June 2014. How many
different assets does the company disclose? + Net income (or Net profits) 965
- Draw ings (Dividends) $ 731
A = L + E: $24205 = $13680 + $10525
(rounded to the nearest million) Retained earnings, 31 January $ 234
equals equity). This will always be the case for any business.
An entity's assets are always claimed by someone. Either Key formula 1.3: Statement of changes in
they are owed to someone (in the Lawn Services' case, Mum) equity (the retained earnings part)
or claimed by an owner (you). No asset of any business is Retai ned Earn ings, Begi nning Balance
ever unclaimed. This relationship between assets, liabilities
+/- Net ProfiVLoss
and equity is represented by the following equation, known
-Dividends
as the accounting equation: Assets= liabilities+ Equity.
This accounting equation is what the balance sheet reports. = Retained Earnings, Endi ng Balance
During January you withdrew $731 ($965 - $731 = $234),
but if you were not a good record keeper we cou Id calculate The Lawn Service's statement of changes in equity (retained
the amount of retained earnings simply by inserting the earnings) would appear as shown in Exhibit 1.3. It contains the
retained earnings dollar amount to make the accounting name of the business, the statement name and the time period,
equation balance. which for this example is the month of January.
Your business started with no retained earnings but
generated profits of $965 in January. Since only $731 was
distributed in dividends (or drawings) the business retained
LEARNING OBJECTIVE >> some of that money. Therefore, retained earnings
increased from $0 to $234.
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the income statement must be prepared first, followed by the
statement of changes in equity and then the balance sheet.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE .) >>
A depiction of these lin ks is included in Exhibit 1.4.
,,.. WOOLWORTHS
~ rn,
"If
ANALYSIS
Look at Woolworths' statement of
Investing activities
Once a company has raised sufficient capital from creditors
changes in equity in Appendix B.
and investors, it usually acquires the revenue-generating assets
Which column of the statement
contains the changes in retained earnings? For 2014, that it needs for operations. The buying and selling of such
is the amount of profit after income tax expense for assets are considered investing activities. In the Lawn Service
the period the same as profit after tax on the income example, you paid $260 for th e lawnmower and $20 for the
statement? Is the balance in retained earnings the petrol can. Therefore, the cash flows from investing activities
same as the balance on the balance sheet? (Hint: look were - $280. In other words, the Lawn Service experienced a
at the numbers in bold, they are for 2014.)
cash outflow of $280 in January from investing activities.
The statement of changes in equity has
11 columns of numerical data. The eighth column
(with 'Retained Earnings' as the header) is Operating activities
Woolworths' statement of changes in retained
After the proper equipment is acquired, a business can begin
earnings. In 2014, the amount of profit after tax for
the period is $2451.7 million, which is the number operations. Operating a business includes the purchase of
shown on the income statement; and the total supplies, the payment of employees and the sale of products.
retained earnings at the end of the period is $5423.1 These transactions are considered operating activities. In the
million in retained earnings, which is the same Lawn Service example, cash flows from operations in the
. balance shown on the balance sheet. month of January included $1000 received from customers
for mowing their lawns, $90 ($15 plus $75) paid for petrol
to operate the lawnmower and $5 paid to your mum for the
right to use her $200. As a resu lt, the net cash inflow from
•
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operating activities for the month was $905 ($1000 minus would have needed to borrow more money just to buy most
$90 minus $5). Note: this is not the same as profits, because of the petrol.
revenue included the $120 you are owed and expenses
included depreciation, but not the cost of unused petrol. Lawn services
Cash flow statement
for the month ending 3 1 January
The cash flow statement
Operating activities
The details of cash inflows and outflows for a business are
Cash received from customers $1000
reported on a cash flow statement. The cash flow statement is
Cash paid for petrol (90)
a financial statement that shows a business' sources and uses
of cash over a specific period of time. Its purpose is to inform Cash paid for interest ____lli
users about how and why a business' cash changed during the Net cash provided by operating $905
period. The basic structure of the statement is as follows: activities
Investing activities
Ke~ formula 1.4: The cash Aow statement
Cash paid for lawnmower $(260)
Cash Flows Provided (Used) by Operating Activities Cash paid for petrol can (20)
+/- Cash Flows Provided (Used) by Investing Activities Net cash used by investing (280)
activities
+/- Cash Flows Provided (Used) by Financing Activities
Investing activities: used $2031 million information is indeed useful and are also discussed in the
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Comparability does not imply uniformity. Accounting rules
allow for some discretion in the manner in which accounting
affect decision making. Items below the
threshold are said to be immaterial - that
consistency *
The ability to use
is applied to economic phenomena. As a result, two businesses is, they are small enough that they will not accounting information to
with the same economic phenomena could have different affect decision making. The threshold varies compare or contrast the
accounting information because they use different acceptable across different companies and across financial activities of the
some entity over time.
accounting methods (such as different ways to calculate different settings. As a company gets larger,
the depreciation) or make different estimates (such as how its materiality threshold usually gets larger materiality *
long the lawnmower will last). Because such differences as well. Often, the materiality threshold is The threshold at which a
in accounting methods are a challenge to comparability, set at some percentage of assets or sales. financial item begins to
affect decision making.
accounting rules require that entities disclose the accounting To see how materiality is applied,
methods that they use so that information can be more consider the following example from the conservatism *
easily compared across entities (look at Woolworths' Note 1, Lawn Service. When you purchased the The way occountonls
Significant Accounting Policies, in Appendix BJ. Usually, such petrol can for $20, the matching principle deal with uncertainty
regarding economic
methods are disclosed in the notes to the financial statements, required that its cost be spread out over
situations so as to present
which are discussed in Chapter 2. its useful life of four months. Suppose the least optimistic
that instead of spreading out the cost, you alternative.
expensed it entirely in the month it was
purchased. Doing so would violate the matching principle and
would result in $20 of expense instead of $5, which would lower
profits from $965 to $950. Would such a violation affect your
decision making about the service? Probably not. In other words,
violation of the matching principle is immaterial because the
$15 error is not large enough to affect a decision like continuing
the business or shutting it down.
While materiality is largely quantitative in nature,
the materiality threshold is not always solely a function
of dollar amounts. For example, as a student one mark
is probably not material if your grade is 78 per cent or
79 per cent, but very material if it is 49 per cent or 50
Comparability is an activity with which many are familiar per cent. In addition, transactions that a business may
consider immaterial may be considered material by users
of the information. Materiality judgements are just
Consistency that - judgements - and should be made with caution.
Consistency refers to the ability to use accounting Furthermore, just because something is immaterial does
information to compare or contrast the financial activities of not mean that errors in accounting should be accepted and
the same entity over time. Consistency is obviously highest condoned. Accounting information must be reliable, so it
when an entity uses the same accounting methods year after should be as free from error as possible.
year. In such a case, year-to-year comparisons can be very
useful because they can reveal trends that help in generating Conservatism
expectations about future performance. However, entities
Conservatism refers to the manner in which accountants
sometimes change the manner in which they account for deal with uncertainty regarding economic situations. When
a particular economic event. Because such changes hinder accountants are faced with uncertainty about how to account
consistency, accounting rules require that changes be disclosed for or report a particular transaction or situation, conservatism
by the company so that interested parties can assess the effect
dictates that they use the accounting that is least likely to
of the changes. Such disclosures are usually found in the notes overstate the company's assets and revenues or to understate
to the financial statements. the company's liabilities and expenses. A common example
of conservatism in action is the lower-of-cost-and-market
Materiality rule for inventory. According to this rule, inventory must be
Materiality is a concept that is closely related to relevance in recorded and reported at the lower of its cost or its current
that it refers to the threshold at which an item begins to affect market value. This ensures that the value of inventory is
decision making. Items meeting or exceeding the threshold are not overstated. Other applications of conservatism will be
said to be material - that is, they are large enough to possibly discussed in subsequent chapters.
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LEARNING OBJECTIVE ? >>
accounting is practised. Many are
discussed in the 'Framework for the
*framework
conceptual
of
preparation and presentation of financial accounting
statements', in the Financial Reporting The collection of concepts
that guide the manner
The conceptual Handbook where all the Australian
Accounting Standards are recorded.
in which accounting is
practised.
framework The following tables summarise the
elements of this conceptual framework
This chapter introduced many of the terms, principles, and also serve to review this chapter. They will provide
assumptions and qualitative characteristics that are necessary a good reference for you as you proceed through the
to communicate the financial activities and position of a remaining chapters. As you tackle more complex accounting
business. While they were initially described as the grammar methods and procedures, keep in mind that they are simply
of the financial accounting language, they are more formally extensions of the basic grammar presented in the tables. So,
known as components of the conceptual framework of with a good understanding of the conceptual framework,
accounting. The conceptual framework of accounting you have the grammar necessary to begin your study of
is the collection of concepts that guide the manner in which accounting.
Issued (contributed) Equity resulting from contributions from owners (often Balance sheet
capital from issuing ordinary shares).
Retained earnings Equity resulting from profitable operations. Balance sheet and statement of changes in
equity
Matching Expenses are recorded in the time period when they are For many assets, the cost of the asset must be
incurred to generate revenues. spread over the periods when it is used.
Cost Assets are recorded and maintained at their historical Except in a few cases, market values are not
costs. used for reporting asset values.
Monetary unit The dollar, unadjusted for inflation, is the All transactions in foreign currencies are
best means of communicating accounting converted to dollars.
information in Australia and New Zealand.
nme period Accounting information can be communicated Most businesses prepare half-yearly and annual
effectively over short periods of time. financial statements.
Going concern The company for which we are accounting will If an entity is not selling its assets, then the cost
continue its operations indefinitely. principle is appropriate.
Definition Ramification
Understandability Accounting information should be Users must spend a reasonable amount of
comprehensible by those willing to spend a time studying accounting information for it
reasonable amount of time studying it to be understandable.
Relevance Accounting information should have the Information should have predictive or
capacity to affect decisions. feedback value and should be timely.
Reliability Accounting information should be dependable Information should be free from error,
to represent what it purports to represent. a faithful representation and neutral.
Comparability Accounting information should be comparable Entities must disclose the accounting
across different businesses. methods that they use so that comparisons
across companies can be made.
Consistency Accounting information should be comparable An entity should use the same accounting
across different time periods within a business. methods year after year and disclose when
they change methods.
Materiality The threshold over which an item could begin When an amount is small enough, normal
to affect decisions. accounting procedures are not always
followed.
Statement of Shows the changes in a Beginning Retained Earnings Ending retained earnings goes to the
changes in company's retained earnings + Profits (or - Losses) - balance sheet..
equity over a specific period of Dividends= Ending Retained
time. Earnings
Cash flow Shows a company's inflows Operating Cash Flows+{- The ending cash balance on the cash
statement and outflows of cash over a Investing Cash Flows +{- flow statement should agree with the
specific period of time. Fi nancing Cash Flows= Net balance in cash on the balance sheet.
Change in Cash
Required
Calculate the company's cash at year end.
"Don't you fancy that. None on God's earth is more puzzled about things
than me. I've had a puzzling life I may tell you."
"I haven't. Till now my life's been as clear as sunshine. But now—now
I'm up against a pretty awful thing, and it's cruel hard to make up my mind.
Was you ever really in love?"
"Never."
"I don't ask for rudeness, but reason. There's nobody you can ask in my
life, because they be all biased. I'm not thinking of myself—God judge me
if I am. I'm just wondering this: Can I be the right down proper good wife
Johnny deserves to have if I don't love him? And the question that's so hard
is, ought I to marry him not loving him? Not because of my feelings, but
because of his future. Think if you was him, and loved a woman as truly as
he loves me, and you had to say whether you'd marry her and chance the
fact she didn't love you, or, knowing she didn't, would give her up."
"That's not how it is, though. Johnny don't know you don't love him. He
don't know what you're feeling. I judge that by what he says, because he
often drops in and talks openly, finding all on his side."
"If I wanted to marry a woman and she'd said 'yes,' but afterwards found
herself mistook, I shouldn't love her no more."
"No, I swear I'm not. Not with anybody. I've growed up, you see, since I
said 'yes' to John. I was a child, for all my years, when I said it. Growing up
ain't a matter of time; it's a matter of chance. Some people never do grow
up. But I have, and though I don't know what it would be like to fall in love,
I know parlous well I'm not, and never was. And it comes back just to what
I said. Would it be better for Johnny to marry him not loving him, because
I've promised to do so, or would it be better for him if I told him I wasn't
going to? That's the question I've got to decide."
"You'll decide right," he said. "And you don't want other people's views.
You know."
"I know what I'd like to do; but just because my own feeling is strong
for telling him I won't marry him, I dread it. Of course he'll say I'm only
thinking of myself."
"He'd only say he'd larn me how to later. But he wouldn't believe it."
"If you was to hold off much longer, he'd chuck you perhaps."
She nodded.
"Yes, I think."
"Perhaps you're wrong, however."
"Very likely. My first thought was to tell him how it was with me and
leave it to him. But I know what he'd do. He'd only laugh at me and not take
it serious, or let me off."
"Be sporting," she said. "Don't think of me and don't think of him. Put
us out of your mind and just say what you'd do if you was me."
"It's never right under any circumstances for a woman to marry a man
she does not love," he said.
"Your eyes are opened. You promised because you thought you loved
him. Now you know right well you don't. A proper man ought to bend to
that, however much it hurts. And if you still think it's your duty to marry
him, I say duty's not enough to marry on."
"It's hurting me fearfully, and there's something awful wrong about it.
They want me away from here—Mrs. Bamsey and Jane—that's natural too.
Though why I'm confiding in you I don't know. Something have drove me
to do it. But I know you'll be faithful."
"I wish I could help you, miss. I can only say what I think."
"I suppose they do; though I dare say the old know best, along of
experience."
"The old forget a lot. They always begin by telling you they remember
what it was to be young themselves; but they don't. They can't. Their blood
runs slower; they're colder. They've changed through and through since they
were young. They can't remember some things."
"Will you come for a walk with me one day and show me that stone you
was telling about—the face?"
"Yes; you was going to say more about it the last Sunday you was here;
then you shut up rather sudden."
The idea of a walk with Dinah had certainly never entered Maynard's
head. He remained silent.
"It's a new notion to me. I'd like to pleasure you and it wouldn't be a
nuisance—far from it I'm sure; but as to whether it would be wrong—it
would and it wouldn't I fancy. It couldn't be wrong in itself; but seeing
you're tokened to another man, you're not free to take walks with Dick,
Tom, or Harry. No doubt you see that."
"John wouldn't like it?"
"Would you mind my walking with another man if you was engaged to
me?"
"Yes, I should, very much indeed; especially if I was in the same fix that
John Bamsey is."
"Poor John. There's such a thing as liking a man too well to love him,
Mr. Maynard."
"Is there?"
"I'll ask you again," she said. "Then, whether I marry John, or don't
marry John, there'll be no reason against."
"To see that face on the stone. You'll find Mr. Chaffe in his workshop.
Holidays are naught to him. Good-bye. Truth oughtn't to hurt honest people,
ought it?"
"Nothing hurts like truth can, whether you're honest, or whether you're
not."
He went forward turning over with mild interest the matter of the
conversation. He was little moved that she should have asked him to go for
a walk. From any other young woman such a suggestion had been
impressive; but not from her. He had noticed that she was never illusive and
quite unpractised in the art of lure, or wile. The stone he had mentioned was
a natural face carved by centuries of time, on the granite rocks of Hey Tor,
some miles away. He had mentioned it in answer to a remark from
Benjamin Bamsey, and then, for private but sufficient reasons he had
dropped the subject. His connection with the stone belonged to a time far
past, concerning which he was not disposed to be communicative. That she
should have remembered it surprised him. But perhaps the only thing that
had really interested her was the fact he dropped the subject so suddenly.
He fell to thinking on his own past for a time, then returned to Dinah.
That she could confide in him inclined him to friendship. He admired her
character and was sorry for the plight in which she found herself. He hoped
that she might drop Bamsey and find a man she could love. He was aware
that her position in her step-father's house held difficulties, for the situation
had often been discussed at Falcon Farm. Whether she decided for John, or
against him, it was probably certain she would leave Green Hayes; and that
would mean distress for Benjamin Bamsey. He was sorry for all concerned,
but not inclined to dwell over-much on the subject. His own thoughts were
always enough for him, and his experience had tended somewhat to freeze
the sources of charity and human enthusiasm at the fount. He was not
soured, but he was introspective to the extent that the affairs of his fellow
creatures did not particularly challenge him. Thus it was left for Thomas
Palk to see the truth of the situation at Falcon Farm; Lawrence had never
troubled to realise it for himself. It seemed improbable that he would be
woven into the texture of other lives again. Indeed, he had long since
determined with himself that he would never be.
"The dead can wait for no man," he said. "A poor old widow; but I'm
under her command for the moment; and she shall have good work."
Lawrence told the matter of the hurdles and Mr. Chaffe promised to do
what he could.
"Joe treats time with contempt," he declared. "He did ought to have told
me long ago; but I always reckon with the likes of him. I think for a lot of
people and save them from their own slow wits. Not that Stockman's got
slow wits. His wits serve him very well indeed, as no doubt you've found."
"They do. But mind you, when he says he worked as a young man, it's
true. He did work and took a long view, so now you find him as he is. But
he never loved work for itself, same as I do. Work never was meat and
drink to him; and when it had got him what he wanted, he was very well
content to play and let others work for him. And knowing well what work
means, nobody he employs will ever deceive him on the subject."
"Ah! To be fair with your neighbour is a great gift. Few are, and who
shall wonder? Now Joe's a man who takes a generous view of himself. But
'tis better to be hard on yourself and easy with other people—don't you
think?"
"Yes, and them who are hardest on themselves will often be easiest with
their neighbours. But that's a high position to reach, and few can."
"It's very easy in my opinion not to judge other people. But when life
demands you to judge, then the trouble begins."
"When our own interest comes in, we often make a mess of it and judge
wrong," admitted Mr. Chaffe. "And what I always say to anybody in a fix is
this: to get outside the question and think how it would be if it was all
happening to somebody else. If you've got the sense to do that, you'll often
be surprised to find the light will shine. And you'll often be surprised, also,
to find how much smaller the thing bulks, if you can wriggle out of it
yourself and take a bird's-eye view."
"Oh yes, it's true. I've proved it. A thing happens and you're chin deep in
it. Then you say to yourself, 'Suppose I was dead and looking down on this
job from my heavenly mansion, how would it seem then?' And if you've got
the intellects to do it, then you often get a gleam of sense that you never
will while you're up against the facts and part of 'em. It's like the judge
trying a case, without having any interest in it beyond the will that right
shall be done."
"They have not; yet even to try to do it stills passion and breeds patience
and helps religion."
"This coffin will go along early to-morrow morning, and I'll bring half
the hurdles this week in two or three loads; and tell Joe the price be up a
thought since last year. He knows that as well as I do."
NEW BRIDGE
On New Bridge, over Dart, stood Dinah with the sun warm upon her
face, while a first butterfly hovered on the golden broom at water's edge.
She had sent a message to Johnny by his sister that she would meet him
here, and now, while she waited, she speculated on the difference between
the beauty of the May day and the ugliness of what she was about to do. But
she had decided at last, and having done so, she could only wonder why it
had taken her so many weeks to reach a decision. To her direct instincts
delay had been a suffering and produced a condition of mental bad health;
but it was not for her own sake that she had delayed, and she knew now that
her hesitation had been no kindness to Johnny, though endured largely out
of affection for him. She was convinced, beyond possibility of doubt, that
her regard could not be called love and she had determined with herself, as
she was bound to do, that to marry under such circumstances would be no
marriage in any seemly interpretation of the contract. She had the
imagination to know, however, that what was beaten ground to her—a way
exploited a thousand times by day and sleepless night—was no such thing
for him. He had said that he would have nothing more to do with her until
she named the day, and he was coming now under expectation of hearing
her do so. Instead he must learn that the day could never be named.
She was full of sorrow, but no fear. Dinah had long discounted the effect
of the thing she was called to do. She did not expect anybody to be patient,
or even reasonable, save her step-father.
Johnny appeared punctually, with his gun on his shoulder. They had not
met for more than a month, but he ignored the past and greeted her with a
kiss. She suffered it and reflected that this was the last time he would ever
kiss her.
"At last," he said. "I've hated this job, Dinah; and you'll never know
how much I hated it; but what could I do?"
"I don't know, Johnny. You could have wondered a bit more why I held
off perhaps."
"And didn't I wonder? Didn't I puzzle myself daft about it? I don't know
now—such a downright piece as you—I don't know now why you hung
back. It wasn't natural."
"If it was natural, then there was a reason," he answered, "and I'd like to
hear it, Dinah—for curiosity."
"The reason is everything, John. I didn't know the reason myself for a
good bit—the reason why I held away from you; and when I did, I was so
put about that it seemed to alter my whole nature and make me shamed of
being alive."
"That's pretty strong. Better we don't go back then. I'll ask no questions
and forget. We'll begin again by getting married."
"No; the reason you've got to hear, worse luck. The reason why I
behaved so strange was this, John: I'd made a terrible mistake—terrible for
both of us. I thought the love that I had for you, and still have for you, and
always shall, was the love of a woman for the man she's going to wed.
Then, like a cloud, it came over me, denser and denser, that it was not.
Listen—you must listen. I examined into it—give me that credit—I
examined into it with all my senses tingling night and day. I never worked
so hard about anything after I'd got over my first fright. And then I saw I'd
slipped into this, being young and very ignorant about love—much more so
than many girls younger than me; because I never was interested in men in
the way they are. I found that out by talking to girls, and by the things they
said when they knew I was tokened to you. They looked at marriage quite
different from me, and they showed me that love is another thing altogether
seen that way than as I'd seen it. They made me terrible uncomfortable,
because I found they'd got a deep understanding that I had not got about it;
and they laughed at me, when I talked, and said I didn't know what love
meant. And—and—I didn't, Johnny. That's the naked truth."
He was looking at her with a flushed face.
"Be patient. I'm bitter sorry. We was boy and girl for so many years, and
I loved you well enough and always shall; but I don't know nothing about
the sort of love you've got for me. The first I heard about it was from Jane.
She knows. She understands far deeper about what love is than I do. I only
know I haven't got it, and what I thought was it didn't belong to that sort of
love at all. Haven't you seen? Haven't you fretted sometimes—many times
—because I couldn't catch fire same as you, when you touched me and put
your arms round me? Didn't it tell you nothing?"
"How the devil should it? Women are different from men."
"Not they—not if they love proper. But how could you know that—you,
who was never in love before? I don't blame you there; but if you'd only
compare notes with other men."
"Men don't compare notes as you call it about sacred things like love."
"Don't they? Then they're finer than us. Women do. Anyway I found
out, to my cruel cost, I was only half-fledged so far as you were
concerned."
"I see. But you needn't lie about it—not to me. You loved me well
enough, and the right way too. You can't shuffle out of it by pretending any
trash about being different from other girls. You loved me well enough, and
if you'd been on-coming like some creatures, I'd have hated you for it. That
was all right, and you knew what you were doing very well indeed. And
you're lying, I say, because it wasn't women have brought you to this. It was
men. A man rather. Be plain, please, for I won't have no humbug about this.
You've found some blasted man you hanker after and think you like better
than me. And it's not the good part in you that have sunk to any such base
beastliness; it's the bad, wicked part in you—the part I never would have
believed was in you. And I've a right to know who it is. And I will know."
"Hear me then, Johnny. May God strike me dead on this bridge, this
instant moment, if there's any man in the world I love—or even care for. I
tell you that I've never known love and most likely never shall. 'Tis long
odds it be left out of me altogether. And I can't marry you for that good
reason. I didn't come to it in a hurry. For one of my nature I waited and
waited an amazing time, and for your sake I hoped and hoped I'd see
different, and I tried hard to see different. I thought only for you, and I'm
thinking only for you now. It would have been far easier for me to go on
with it than break. Can't you see that? But afterwards—you're a quick man
and you're a man that gives all, but wants all back again in exchange for all;
and rightly so. But what when you'd found, as find you must, that I'd not
loved you as you thought? Hell—hell—that's what it would have been for
you."
"You can spin words to hide your thoughts. I can't. You're a godless,
lying traitor—and—no—no—I call that back. You don't know what you're
saying. Have some mercy on a man. You're my all, Dinah. There's nothing
else to life but you! Don't turn me down now—it's too late. You must see
it's gone too far. You can't do it; you can't do it. I'm content to let it be as it
is. If you don't love me now, I'll make you love me. I'll—all—I'll give all
and want nothing again! It's cruel—it's awful—no such thing could happen.
I believe you when you say there's not another man. I believe you with all
my heart. And then—then why not me? Why not keep your solemn oath
and promise? If anything be left out of you, let me put it in. But there's
nothing left out—nothing. You're perfect, and the wenches that made you
think you wasn't ban't worthy to black your boots. For Christ's sake don't go
back on me—you can't—it wouldn't be you if you did."
"Don't make it worse than it is, dear John. I'm proud you could care for
me so well; but don't you see, oh, don't you see that I can't act a lie? I can't
do it. Everything tells me not to do it. I'm in a maze, but I know that much. I
must be fair; I must be straight. I don't love you like that. I thought I did,
because I was a fool and didn't know better. It can't be. I'm fixed about it."
For a moment he was quiet. Then he picked up his gun, which he had
rested against the parapet of the bridge. His face was twisted with passion.
Then she heard him cock the gun. For a moment she believed that he meant
to shoot her. She felt absolutely indifferent and was conscious of her own
indifference, for life seemed a poor possession at that moment.
"You can kill me if you like," she said. "I don't want to go on living—
not now."
He cursed her.
"Lying bitch! Death's a damned sight too good for you. May your life be
hell let loose, and may you come to feel what you've made me feel to-day.
And you will, if there's any right and justice in life. And get out of Lower
Town—d'you hear me? Get out of it and go to the devil, and don't let me see
your face, or hear your voice in my parents' home no more."
A market cart came down the hill and trundled towards them, thus
breaking into the scene at its climax. John Bamsey turned his back and
strode down the river bank; Dinah hid her face from the man and woman in
the cart and looked at the river.
But the old couple, jogging to Poundsgate, had not missed the man's
gestures.
"Lovers quarrelling!" he said; "and such a fine marnin' too. The twoads
never know their luck."
With heavy heart sat Johnny by the river under great pines and heard the
rosy ring-doves over his head fluttering busily at their nest; while Dinah
leant upon the parapet of the bridge and dropped big tears into the crystal of
Dart beneath her.
CHAPTER XII
AFTERWARDS
The shock of Orphan Dinah's sudden action fell with severe impact in
some directions, but was discounted among those of wider discernment.
The mother of John had seen it coming; his father had not. In a dozen
homes the incident was debated to Dinah's disadvantage; a few stood up for
her—those who knew her best. In secret certain of John's acquaintance
smiled, and while expressing a sympathy with him, yet felt none, but rather
satisfaction that a man so completely armed at all points, so successful and
superior, should receive his first dose of reality in so potent a shape.
The matter ran up and down on the tongues of those interested. His
mother and sister supported Johnny in this great tribulation, the first with
dignity, the second with virulence, hardly abated when she found herself
more furious than John himself.
For after the first rages and intemperate paroxysms in which Jane
eagerly shared, she fancied Johnny was cooling in his rage; and, such are
the resources of human comedy, that anon her brother actually reproved
Jane for some particularly poignant sentiments on the subject of Dinah. He
had set her a very clear-cut example in the agonised days of his grief; but
presently, to the bewilderment of Jane, who was young and without
experience of disappointment, John began to calm down. He roughly shut
up the girl after some poisonous criticism of Dinah, and a sort of alliance
into which brother and sister had slipped, and into which Jane entered with
full force of love for John and hate for Dinah, threatened to terminate.
Jane lessened nothing of her fervid affection for John, however, and it
remained for another man to explain what seemed to her a mystery. He was
not a very far-seeing, or competent person, but he had reached to the right
understanding of Johnny's present emotion.
With Jerry Withycombe Jane fell in beside a track through the forest,
where he was erecting a woodstack, and since their relations were of the
friendliest and Jane, indeed, began to incline to Jerry, she had no secrets
from him and spoke of her affairs.
"It's your father," answered Jerry. "My sister was telling about it.
Melindy says that Mr. Bamsey's troubled a lot, and though he knows Dinah
has got to go, he's taking it upon himself to decide about where she shall go
and won't be drove."
"I see through that; mother don't," said Jane. "Father only cares for
Dinah really, and he thinks, in his craft, that very like, given time, things
may calm down and her be forgiven. That's his cowardly view, so as he
shall keep her. But nobody shan't calm down if I can help it. I won't live
with the wretch, and so I tell John. Men ban't like us: they don't feel so
deep. They're poor things in their tempers beside us. A woman can hate a
lot better than a man. Why, even Johnny—you'd never believe it; but you'd
almost think he's cooling a bit if it was possible."
"He is," answered Jerry. "And why not? What the hell's the good of
keeping at boiling point over what can't be helped? Especially if, on second
thoughts, you begin to reckon it can be helped."
"Why, you see John's a very determined sort of customer. He's never
took 'no' for an answer from anybody, and he's got an idea, right or wrong,
that a man's will is stronger than a woman's. I thought so, too, till I got to
know what a rare will you've got. But there it is in a word; not two days
agone I met Johnny, and he said where there was life there was hope."
Jane gasped.
"That's what be in his head then! That's what made him stop me pretty
sharp when I was telling the truth about her?"
Jerry nodded.
"Very likely it might have been. In fact, he ain't down and out yet—in
his own view, anyway. You see, as John said to Lawrence Maynard, and
Maynard told me, 'If Dinah ain't got no other man in sight, she's what you
may call a free woman still.' And I believe that John be coming round to the
opinion that Dinah may yet live to see she was wrong about him."
"D'you mean to tell me that a man like my brother could sink to think
again of a girl that had jilted him?" she flamed.
"Don't you turn on me," protested Jerry. "It ain't my fault men are like
that. You know John better than I do. But it wouldn't be contrary to nature if
he did want her still. A man in love will stand untold horrors from a
woman; and though it may make you, looking on, very shamed for him—
still, life's life. And I believe, if John thinks he can get Dinah back, he'll
come down off his perch yet and eat as much dirt as she likes to make him."
"I always feel just like you feel," he said, "but for God's love, Jenny,
don't you go poking into it. It's a terrible good example of a job where
everybody had best to mind their own business. You let John do what he's
minded to do. Men in love be parlous items, and if he's still that way,
though wounded, then 'tis like a wild tiger a man have fired at and only
hurt. He's awful dangerous now, I shouldn't wonder; and if he wants her still
and counts to get her, God help anybody who came between. He'd break
your neck if you tried to: that I will swear."
But Jerry was more perturbed at the vision he had conjured than Jane.
For his information she was able to give facts concerning the other side.
"If that's what John's after, he's only asking for more misery then," she
said. "I hope you're wrong, Jerry, for I should never feel the same to John if
I thought he could sink to it; but anyway he needn't fox himself that she'll
ever go back on it again. That much I'm positive certain. Cunning as she is,
I can be more cunning than her, and I know all her sorrow about it and
pretended straightness and honesty was put on. She weren't sorry, and she
never was straight, and I've sworn before to you and will again, that she's
got somebody else up her sleeve."
"I can't tell you. Lord knows I've tried hard enough to find out; but I
haven't—not yet. Only time will show. It's a man not worthy to breathe the
same air with John you may be sure. She was too common and low ever to
understand John, and his high way of thinking; and she'd be frightened to
marry such a man, because she knows she'd always have to sing small and
take a second place. She's a mass of vanity under her pretences."
"We all know you don't like her; and more don't I, because you don't,"
answered Jerry. "But if you are positive sure she'll never come round to
Johnny again, it might be truest kindness to tell him so. Only for the Lord's
sake do it clever. You may be wrong, and if there's a chance of that, you'd
do far better to leave it alone."
"I'm not wrong; but all the same I shall leave it alone," said Jane. "What
mother and me want is for her to get out of the house, so as we can breathe
again. It's up to father, and father's going to have a bad time if he stands
against mother."
"Dinah won't stop, whether your father wants for her to or not,"
prophesied Jerry.
But a few evenings after this meeting, the situation was defined for the
benefit of Jane and her mother and, with Dinah out of the way at
Ponsworthy, her foster-father endeavoured to ameliorate the existing strain.
He had confided his difficulties to Arthur Chaffe and been counselled to
speak plainly. Indeed, at his wish, the carpenter joined his circle and
supported him.
Mr. Bamsey tried to conceal the fact that Arthur had come to help him,
for his friend not seldom dropped in to supper; but on this occasion Faith
felt aware of an approaching challenge and was not surprised when, after
the evening meal, her husband led the conversation to Dinah Waycott.
"You needn't say 'our eyes,' father," replied Jane, quick to respond. "Me
and mother——"
But her mother stopped her. Mrs. Bamsey was all for law and order.
"Listen, and don't talk till you're axed to," she said.
"Give heed to me," began Ben. "There's been growing up a lot of fog
here, and Arthur, the friend that he be, was the first to mark it. He pointed it
out to me, all well inside Christian charity, and what I want to do is to clear
it off this instant moment, now while Orphan Dinah's out of the way. We
stand like this. When she threw over Johnny, because her eyes were opened
and she found she couldn't love him in a way to wed him, John ordered her
out of Lower Town. Well, who shall blame him? 'Tweren't vitty they should
clash, or he should find her here in his parents' home. She was instant for
going, and though you think I withheld her from doing so, that ain't fair to
me."
"No, I do not. I come to the subject of Dinah from a point you can't
grasp. For why? She was left to me by my dead first as a sacred and solemn
trust. Mind, I'm not letting my affection for Dinah darken my reason. I grant
I'm very fond of her, and I grant what she's done haven't shook my feelings,
because, unlike you, mother, I believe she's done right. My heart's bled for
my own—for your great trouble and for John's. Nothing sadder could have
come to shake John's faith, and for a time I was fearful for John. The devil
always knows the appointed hour when a soul's weakest, and, coward that
he is, 'tis in our worst moments, when life goes wrong and hope's slipping
away, that he times his attacks. We all know that; and you remember it,
Jane. For he forgets neither the young nor the old. But John has justified his
up-bringing; and the mother in him is bringing him back to his true self."
"Hear me, and if you can throw light after, Jane, we'll hear you,"
continued Mr. Bamsey. "I say what I think and believe. My trouble be still
alive for John; but my fear be dead. So that leaves Dinah. Her wish and will
is to be gone. She's seeking a proper and fitting place—neither too low nor
too high. She'd go into service to-morrow—anywhere; but I won't have
that."
"And why for not, father?" asked Mrs. Bamsey; "your first was in
service once."
"That's different," he answered. "You must see it, mother. The situation
is very tender, and you must remember my duty to the dead. Would Jane go
into service?"
"No, I would not," answered Jane; "not for anybody. I'd go on the street
first."
"She has not," replied Mr. Bamsey. "She'd do anything and take
anything to-morrow. She was at me to let her go for barmaid to the Blue
Lion at Totnes. And I said, 'No, Dinah; you shan't go nowhere as barmaid
while I live.' And I say it again, meaning no disrespect to the Blue Lion,
which is a very good licensed house."
"She's of age, and if she was in earnest, she could have gone, whether
you liked it or not," said Jane.
Mr. Bamsey grew a little flushed and regarded his daughter without
affection.
"You know, mother. I want for Dinah to go into a nice family, where the
people will receive her as one of themselves, and where she'll take her place
and do her proper work and go on with her life in a Christian manner, and
not feel she's sunk in the world, or an outcast, but just doing her right share
of work, and being treated as the child of a man in my position have a right
to expect to be treated."