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Chapter 8: Global Management

MGMT9
Chapter 8: Global Management

Pedagogy Map

This chapter begins with the learning outcome summaries and terms covered in the chapter, followed by a
set of lesson plans for instructors to use to deliver the content in Chapter 8.

 Lesson Plan for Lecture (for large sections)


 Lesson Plan for Group Work (for smaller classes)
 Assignments with Teaching Tips and Solutions
 What Would You Do? Case Assignment––Groupon
 Self-Assessment––World-mindedness
 Management Decision––Cultural Backlash in India
 Management Team Decision––A Different Way to Go Global
 Practice Being a Manager––Hometown Culture
 Develop Your Career Potential––Building Cultural Bridges inside American Business
 Management Workplace––Profile on Holden Outerwear
 Review Questions
 Group Activity
 Assignment
 Additional Resources

Highlighted Assignments Key Points

What Would You Do? Case Groupon has grown rapidly, but there are few barriers to
Assignment entry to its market, and it faces stiff competition as it expands
to global markets.

Self-Assessment Students evaluate their level of world-mindedness and are


given a quick plan for increasing their level of this trait.

Management Decision Students are asked to deliberate on how a company should


deal with cultural backlash as it expands to global markets.
Management Team Decision Can social entrepreneurship work in the fast-food industry?

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
2
Chapter 8: Global Management

Practice Being a Manager Students consider the cultural variety in their hometown.

Develop Your Career Potential The cultural issues presented in the chapter are reframed in
the context of the United States alone.
Video Assignment: Management Holden is a US-based company but has manufacturing
Workplace facilities in China. For any company that sources materials
and labor overseas, shipping is a vital concern.

Supplemental Resources
4LTR Press supplements and online assets include PowerPoint Lectures, Test Banks, Executive Profiles,
What Would You Do Cases, Management Workplace Videos, Key Exhibits, and Self-Assessment
Activities. Within the exposition (narrative), students will experience interactive problems that include
matching and fill-in-the-blank problems. Also, they will encounter the second half of the WWYD Case
and the Self-Assessment content.

Learning Outcomes

8.1 Discuss the impact of global business and the trade rules and agreements that govern it.

Today, there are roughly 103,000 multinational corporations, more than fourteen times as many as in
1970, and 9,692, or 9.4 percent, are based in the United States. Direct foreign investment occurs when a
company builds a new business or buys an existing business in a foreign country. Of course, companies
from many other countries also own businesses in the United States. Overall, foreign companies invest
more than $2.5 trillion a year to do business in the United States and US companies invest more than $4.6
trillion a year to do business in other countries. Historically, governments have actively used trade
barriers to make it much more expensive or difficult (or sometimes impossible) for consumers to buy or
consume imported goods.

The second major development that has reduced trade barriers has been the creation of regional trading
zones, or zones in which tariff and nontariff barriers are reduced or eliminated for countries within the
trading zone. The largest and most important trading zones are in Europe (the Maastricht Treaty), North
America (the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA), Central America (Dominican
Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA-DR), South America (Union of South
American Nations, or USAN), and Asia (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, and
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC). Although some US industries, such as textiles, have been
heavily protected from foreign competition by trade barriers, for the most part, American consumers (and
businesses) have had plentiful choices among American-made and foreign-made products.

8.2 Explain why companies choose to standardize or adapt their business procedures.

Global business requires a balance between global consistency and local adaptation. Global consistency
means that a multinational company with offices, manufacturing plants, and distribution facilities in

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
3
Chapter 8: Global Management

different countries uses the same rules, guidelines, policies, and procedures to run all of those offices,
plants, and facilities. Managers at company headquarters value global consistency because it simplifies
decisions. By contrast, a company following a policy of local adaptation modifies its standard operating
procedures to adapt to differences in foreign customers, governments, and regulatory agencies. Local
adaptation is typically preferred by local managers who are charged with making the international
business successful in their countries. If companies lean too much toward global consistency, they run the
risk of using management procedures poorly suited to particular countries’ markets, cultures, and
employees. If, however, companies focus too much on local adaptation, they run the risk of losing the
cost effectiveness and productivity that result from using standardized rules and procedures throughout
the world.

8.3 Explain the different ways that companies can organize to do business globally.

Besides determining whether to adapt organizational policies and procedures, a company must also
determine how to organize itself for successful entry into foreign markets. Historically, companies have
generally followed the phase model of globalization, in which a company makes the transition from a
domestic company to a global company in the following sequential phases: exporting, cooperative
contracts, strategic alliances, and wholly owned affiliates. Some companies do not follow the phase
model of globalization. Some skip phases on their way to becoming more global and less domestic.
Others don’t follow the phase model at all. These are known as global new ventures.

8.4 Explain how to find a favorable business climate.

The most important factor in an attractive business climate is access to a growing market. Two factors
help companies determine the growth potential of foreign markets: purchasing power and foreign
competitors. Rather than focusing on costs alone, companies should consider both qualitative and
quantitative factors. When conducting global business, companies should attempt to identify two types of
political risk: political uncertainty and policy uncertainty.

Several strategies can be used to minimize or adapt to the political risk inherent in global business. An
avoidance strategy is used when the political risks associated with a foreign country or region are viewed
as too great. Control is an active strategy to prevent or reduce political risks. Another method for dealing
with political risk is cooperation, which involves using joint ventures and collaborative contracts, such as
franchising and licensing.

8.5 Discuss the importance of identifying and adapting to cultural differences.

National culture is the set of shared values and beliefs that affects the perceptions, decisions, and behavior
of the people from a particular country. The first step in dealing with culture is to recognize meaningful
differences such as power distance, individualism, masculinity and femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and
short-term/long-term orientation. After becoming aware of cultural differences, the second step is
deciding how to adapt your company to those differences. One problem is that different cultures will

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4
Chapter 8: Global Management

probably perceive management policies and practices differently.

8.6 Explain how to successfully prepare workers for international assignments.

Expatriates who receive pre-departure language and cross-cultural training make faster adjustments to
foreign cultures and perform better on their international assignments. Three methods can be used to
prepare workers for international assignments: documentary training, cultural simulations, and field
experiences. Evidence clearly shows that how well an expatriate’s spouse and family adjust to the foreign
culture is the most important factor in determining the success or failure of an international assignment. A
number of companies, however, have found that adaptability screening and intercultural training for
families can lead to more successful overseas adjustment.

Terms
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Maastricht Treaty of Europe
Association of Southeast Asian Nations Multinational corporation
(ASEAN) National culture
Central America Free Trade Agreement Nontariff barriers
(CAFTA-DR) North American Free Trade Agreement
Cooperative contract (NAFTA)
Customs classification Policy uncertainty
Direct foreign investment Political uncertainty
Dominican Republic-Central America Free Protectionism
Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) Purchasing power
Expatriate Quota
Exporting Regional trading zones
Franchise Strategic alliance
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Subsidies
(GATT) Tariff
Global business Trade barriers
Global consistency Union of South American Nations
Global new ventures (UNASUR)
Government import standard Voluntary export restraints
Joint venture Wholly owned affiliates
Licensing World Trade Organization (WTO)
Local adaptation

Lesson Plan for Lecture (for large sections)


Pre-Class Prep for You: Pre-Class Prep for Your Students:

 Review the chapter and determine what  Bring the book.


points to cover.
 Bring PPT slides.

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
5
Chapter 8: Global Management

Warm Up Begin Chapter 8 by asking students the following series of questions:


 “Without looking, which of you knows (or is confident that you know) where
your backpack was made? Where?” [Students can shout out answers.]
 “Ok, who thinks they know where their backpack was made? Where?” [Students
can shout out answers.]
 “Who cares where their backpack was made?” [For students who raise their hand
to the last question, push them to answer why.]
 Segue into the lecture on global business.

Content Lecture slides: Make note of where instructors stop so that they can pick up at the next
Delivery class meeting. Slides have teaching notes on them to help instructors deliver the lecture

Topics PowerPoint Slides Activities

8.1 Global Business, 1: Global Management


Trade Rules, and 2: Learning Outcomes
Trade Agreements 3: Learning Outcomes
8.1a The Impact of 4: Impact of Global
Global Business Business
8.1b Trade Barriers 5: Trade Rules
8.1c Trade Agreements 6: Trade Agreements
8.1d Consumers, Trade 7: Regional Trading Zones
Barriers, and Trade
Agreements
8.2 Consistency or 8: Global Consistency and An issue around which to
Adaptation? Local Adaptation spark discussion is the
choice between adaptation
and consistency.
8.3 Forms for Global 9: Forms of Global
Business Business
8.3a Exporting 10: Forms of Global
8.3b Cooperative Business
Contracts 11: Forms of Global
8.3c Strategic Alliances Business
8.3d Wholly Owned
Affiliates (Build or Buy)
8.3e Global New
Ventures

8.4 Finding the Best 12: Finding the Best If instructors have an
Business Climate Business Climate electronic classroom,
8.4a Growing Markets 13: Finding the Best consider doing a free
8.4b Choosing an Business Climate geography game offered
Office/Manufacturing by Sheppard’s software at

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
6
Chapter 8: Global Management

Location Sheppardssoftware.com
8.4c Minimizing Have students shout out
Political Risk answers that you enter into
the map. Games have time
limits of a couple of
minutes. Instructors will
get a collective score for
their class.
8.5 Becoming Aware of 14: Becoming Aware of
Cultural Differences Cultural Differences

8.6 Preparing for an 15: Preparing for an


International International Assignment
Assignment
8.6a Language and
Cross-Cultural Training
8.6b Spouse, Family,
and Dual-Career Issues

Summary 16: Summary

Key Terms 17: Key Terms


18: Key Terms
19: Key Terms
Adjust the lecture to include the activities in the right column. Some activities should be
done before introducing the concept, some after.

Special Spark a debate among the students by asking them to respond to the following statement:
Items “If given a choice, Americans will buy American-made goods rather than foreign-made
goods.”

Conclusion Possible assignments:


and 1. Assign students to work a solution to the What Would You Do? Case Assignment
Preview on Groupon.
2. Assign students to review Chapter 8 and read the next chapter on the syllabus.

Remind students about any upcoming events.

Lesson Plan for Group Work (for smaller classes)


Pre-Class Prep for You: Pre-Class Prep for Your Students:

 Review the material to cover and modify Bring the book.

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
7
Chapter 8: Global Management

the lesson plan to meet the instructor’s


needs.
 Set up the classroom so that small
groups of 4 to 5 students can sit together.

Warm Up Begin Chapter 8 by asking students the following questions:


 “Without looking, which of you knows (or is confident that you know) where
your backpack was made? Where?” [Students can shout out answers.]
 “Ok, who thinks they know where their backpack was made? Where?” [Students
can shout out answers.]
 “Who cares where their backpack was made?” [For students who raise their hand
to the last question, push them to answer why.]

Content The first section of the chapter has a lot of content that instructors can use to spark
Delivery debate among students. For this reason, instructors may want to hold off lecturing on
“Global Business, Trade Rules, and Trade Agreements” until after instructors can do the
group activity “World Trade and You.”

Lecture on What Is Global Business? (Section 8.1).

Break for the following group activity:

“World Trade and You”

Divide the class into small groups of 3 to 5 students. Before beginning the activity,
ask students if anyone can describe the function of the World Trade Organization
(WTO). Ask if anyone can explain why the WTO is so controversial (cite the
inevitable protests and violence that accompany any meeting of the WTO). Assign
each group to either assemble arguments for free trade or against free trade. Come
together as a class and do a point–counterpoint debate. Begin by having one of the
students assigned to an “against” group give an argument that his or her group came
up with against free trade. Then have a “for” student give an argument. Continue until
no new arguments are proffered. Determine if one side had stronger, more convincing
arguments or if it was even. Ask if any students changed their point of view
subsequent to hearing all of the arguments.

If instructors didn’t lecture on Section 8.1 prior to the activity they can do so now.

Instructors can segue into the next section by asking students, “So if we postulate that
global business is good for consumers and companies alike, what’s the best way to go
global? Perhaps before we can answer that, we should consider the choices a company
has when going global.”

Lecture on How to Go Global? (Sections 8.2 and 8.3) and Finding the Best Business
Climate (Section 8.4).

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
8
Chapter 8: Global Management

Break for the following activity:

“Around the World”

If instructors have an electronic classroom, consider doing a geography game at


http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm#Games or another free online
geography game provider. Choose a continent and have students fill in the map
according to the game directions. (In general, players are asked to type the first three
letters of the highlighted country on the map and are given a set period of time to
complete the continent.) Create a distribution of scores using PowerPoint or Excel. If
instructors want students to practice, divide them into geography study groups,
encourage them to play online geography games, or work geography puzzles. At the
instructor’s next class meeting, do the game again and take a new distribution.

Introduce the sections on culture by asking if any of the students have ever lived,
worked, or studied abroad and where. If they have, ask them what they considered the
biggest difference between the host culture and the student’s culture of origin.

Lecture on Becoming Aware of Cultural Differences and Preparing for an International


Assignment (Sections 8.5 and 8.6).

If time allows, consider showing the BizFlix clip from Lost in Translation. Teaching
notes follow.

Conclusion Assignments:
and 1. To follow up on the discussion of where and how to go global, assign students to
Preview complete the Management Decision on dealing with cultural backlash issues in
India.
2. If instructors have finished covering Chapter 8, assign students to review Chapter 8
and read the next chapter on the syllabus.

Remind students about any upcoming events.

Assignments with Teaching Tips and Solutions

What Would You Do? Case Assignment

Groupon
Chicago, Illinois

From 400 subscribers and 30 daily deals in 30 cities in December 2008 to 35 million subscribers and 900
daily deals in 550 markets today, Groupon got to $1 billion in sales faster than any other company.

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
9
Chapter 8: Global Management

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who was an eBay board member and is now a Groupon investor and
board member, said, “Starbucks and eBay were standing still compared to what is happening with
Groupon. I candidly haven’t witnessed anything quite like this. They have cracked the code on a very
significant opportunity.” Eric Lefkofsky, who chairs Groupon’s board said, “The numbers got crazy a
long time ago, and they keep getting crazier.” So, what is propelling Groupon’s astronomical growth?
How does it work?

Groupon sends a daily email to its 35 million subscribers offering a discount to a restaurant, museum,
store, or service provider in their city. This “coupon” becomes a “groupon” because the company offering
the discount specifies how many people (i.e., a group) must buy before the deal “tips.” For example, a
local restaurant may require 100 people to buy. If only 90 do, then no one gets the discount. Daily deals
go viral as those who buy send the discount to others who might be interested. When the deal tips (and 95
percent do), the company and Groupon split the revenue.

Why would companies sign up, especially since half of the money goes to Groupon? Nearly all of
Groupon’s clients are local companies, which have few cost effective ways of advertising. Radio,
newspapers, and online advertising all require upfront payment (whether they work or not). By contrast,
local companies pay Groupon only after the daily deal attracts enough customers to be successful.
Another problem with traditional ads is that they are broadcast to a wide group of people, many of whom
have little interest in what’s being advertised. The viral nature of Groupon’s coupons, however, along
with tailoring deals based on subscribers’ ages, interests, and discretionary dollars, lets companies target
Groupon’s daily deals to customers who are more likely to buy. Groupon’s CEO, Andrew Mason, said,
“We think the Internet has the potential to change the way people discover and buy from local businesses.

Because there are few barriers to entry and the basic web platform is easy to copy, Groupon’s record
growth and 80 percent U.S. market share has attracted start-up competitors like Living Social, Tippr,
Bloomspot, Scoutmob, and BuyWithMe, along with offerings from Google, Facebook, and Walmart.
Globally, Groupon’s business has been copied in 50 countries. China alone has 1,000 Groupon-type
businesses, including one that has copied Groupon’s website down to the www.groupon.com URL.
Likewise, Taobao, which is part of Alibaba Group Holdings, one of China’s largest Internet companies,
has a group buying service call “Ju Hua Suan,” which translates to “Group Bargain.”

So although Groupon has grown to $1 billion in sales faster than any other company, competitors threaten
to take much of that business, especially in international markets, which Groupon is just starting to enter.
As Groupon goes global, should it adapt its business to different cultures? For example, it relies on a large
Chicago-based sales force to build and retain business with merchants, and 70 comedy writers to write ad
copy. Similarly, who should make key decisions—managers at headquarters or managers in each
country? In short, should Groupon run its business the same way all around the world? How should
Groupon expand internationally? Should it license its web services to businesses in each area, form a
strategic alliance with key foreign business partners (it rejected Google’s $6 billion offer in the United
States), or should it completely own and control each Groupon business throughout the world? Finally,
deciding where to go global is always important, but with so many foreign markets already heavy with
competitors, the question for Groupon isn’t where to expand, but how to expand successfully in so many
different places at the same time.

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
10
Chapter 8: Global Management

If you were in charge at Groupon, what would you do?

Sources:

L. Chao, “Taobao to Launch Local Deals on Group-Buying Website,” Wall Street Journal, 23 February 2011,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703775704576161340839989996.html [accessed 19 January 2015]; B. Stone &
D. MacMillan, “Groupon's $6 Billion Snub,” Bloomberg Businessweek, 13 December 2010, 6-7; B. Stone & D. MacMillan, “Are
Four Words Worth $25 Billion?” Bloomberg Businessweek, 21 March 2011, 70-75.

What Really Happened? Solution

In the opening case, you learned that Groupon, the “daily deal” coupon company had grown from 400
subscribers and 30 daily deals in 30 cities in December 2008 to 35 million subscribers and 900 daily deals
in 550 markets today, thus getting to $1 billion in sales faster than any other company. Local companies
flock to Groupon because it helps them attract new customers in a cost effective way. Because of low
barriers to entry and an easy-to-copy web platform and business model, however, domestic and
international competitors could take much of Groupon’s business, especially in international markets,
which Groupon was just starting to enter. Let’s find out what happened at Groupon and see what steps
CEO Andrew Mason took to replicate Groupon’s amazing success in the U.S. around the world.

As Groupon goes global, should it adapt its business to different cultures? Or, is it likely to find that the
daily deals that are successful in the U.S. will be popular throughout the world? Also, since humor is a
key part of its advertising approach, should Groupon continue to rely on its 70 Chicago-based comedy
writers to write copy for ads in China, Chile, and Germany?

National culture is the set of shared values and beliefs that affects the perceptions, decisions, and behavior
of the people from a particular country. The first step in dealing with culture is to recognize meaningful
cultural differences, such as power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and short-
term/long-term orientation.

After becoming aware of cultural differences, the second step is deciding how to adapt your company to
those differences. The biggest mistake that companies make at this point is not changing their products or
services or their management practices and procedures when they do business abroad. This is a common
mistake among global franchisors, 65 percent of which make absolutely no change in their business for
overseas franchisees when they first go global.

So, given that it just offers daily deals, can Groupon have a standard set of products or should they be
different in each market and culture? Not surprisingly, Groupon has found that people in different
countries and cultures don’t respond to the same offers. For example in India, the most popular daily
deals aren’t restaurants and beverages (which are popular in many global cities), but traveling, mobile
phones, and wellness products. Ananya Bubna, managing director of Groupon India, said, “A beverage
deal that we thought would have huge takers didn't sell.” Furthermore, “We have realized that something
like balloon rides, which got massive response in the U.K., may not get the same reaction here. Product
deals, mobile phones, and wellness products work best in India. India has a large number of travel lovers;
this is what we are looking at pursuing, aggressively.”

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
11
Chapter 8: Global Management

Finally, in a nod to the importance of culture, especially with humor, which can differ tremendously
across cultures, Groupon now realizes that its 70 Chicago-based ad writers, some of whom have comedy
backgrounds linked to Chicago’s famous Second City comedy troupe, may not be able to write persuasive
ad copy for other parts of the world. A case in point (though Groupon employed an advertising agency
here) was Groupon’s Super Bowl commercial, which featured actor Timothy Hutton proclaiming, “The
people of Tibet are in trouble … but they still whip up an amazing fish curry. And since 200 of us bought
at Groupon.com, we're each getting $30 of Tibetan food for just $15.” The commercial was criticized
roundly, not just as ineffective, but insensitive.

Similarly, who should make key decisions, managers at headquarters or managers in each country?
Likewise, should Groupon continue to use its large Chicago-based sales force to build and retain
business with merchants, and In short, should Groupon run its business the same way all around the
world?

One of the key issues in global business is determining whether the way you run your business in one
country is the right way to run that business in another. In other words, how can you strike the right
balance between global consistency and local adaptation? Global consistency means that when a company
like Groupon has offices and facilities in different countries, it will use the same rules, guidelines,
policies, and procedures to run them all. Managers at company headquarters value global consistency
because it simplifies decisions. In contrast, a company with a local adaptation policy modifies its standard
operating procedures to adapt to differences in foreign customers, governments, and regulatory agencies.
Local adaptation is typically more important to local managers who are charged with making the
international business successful in their countries.

If companies focus too much on local adaptation, they run the risk of losing the cost efficiencies and
productivity that result from using standardized rules and procedures throughout the world. However, if
companies lean too much toward global consistency, they run the risk of their business being poorly
suited to particular countries’ markets, cultures, and employees (i.e., a lack of local adaptation).

Groupon has discovered that, in part, it must adapt its business as it does business around the world.
While the web side of its business works most places, that is, using email and text, web sites, and
smartphone apps to notify subscribers of daily deals, it doesn’t work everywhere. For example, in Indian,
Groupon is adapting the way that it gets paid. Throughout much of the world, online credit cards facilitate
quick, easy, and trustworthy payment. But, in India, many customers are still reluctant to make online
purchases. Ananya Bubna, managing director of Groupon India says, “We are doing cash-on delivery in
India, which we don't do anywhere else. We have realized that reaching out to Indian customers online is
a big challenge. We have started personal concierge help, especially for Indian customers. A few
customers have given us feedback that while they liked our site, they could not make a purchase. Through
this service, one of our experts would handhold a buyer, helping them in registration and purchase on the
site. We also have our people calling customers informing them about various deals in their area of
interest.”

In other ways, however, Groupon is balancing consistency with local adaptation. While it has local
managers (see more below) to run its businesses in 42 different countries, it brings all of them to Chicago
to learn how to run their offices the way that it’s done in the U.S. Then, it makes sure that those managers

©2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
12
Chapter 8: Global Management

stay current with its client companies by using Salesforce.com’s relationship management software to
track calls and make sure that its sales force follows up to address potential issues after every daily deal is
completed.

Another part of balancing consistency with local adaptation, at least for now, is maintaining a large call
center in Chicago. Unlike Facebook and Google, which hire software engineers to automate their web
sites, Groupon relies on a call center-based sales force in Chicago to sell and maintain relationships with
client companies. Every time it opens in a new city, its sales force is charged with identifying and then
approaching businesses who could be interested in using Groupon to provide discounts to customers. The
question is whether it makes sense for Groupon to have similar call centers in the other regions or
countries in which it now does business.

Joe Harrow, who manages Groupon’s Chicago call center, says that Groupon will have call centers in
Chicago and in key international locations. But, unlike many multinational companies who have moved
their call centers to lower cost locations like India, he says, “Maybe having a 1,000-person call center in
downtown Chicago is not smart. We haven't done the math yet. When we do, we'll ask how we can make
this economical without costing us our culture.”

How should Groupon expand internationally? Should it license its web services to businesses in each
area, form a strategic alliance with key foreign business partners (it rejected Google’s $6 billion offer in
the U.S.), or should it completely own and control each Groupon business throughout the world?

Determining how to organize your company for successful entry into foreign markets is a key decision in
going global. When companies produce products in their home countries and sell those products to
customers in foreign countries, they are exporting. When an organization wants to expand its business
globally without making a large financial commitment, it signs a cooperative contract with a foreign
business owner who pays the company a fee for the right to conduct that business in his or her country.
There are two kinds of cooperative contracts: licensing and franchising. Another method of international
organizing is for two companies to form a strategic alliance to combine key resources, costs, risks,
technology, and people. The most common strategic alliance is a joint venture, which occurs when two
existing companies collaborate to form a third company. Finally, one-third of multinational companies
enter foreign markets through wholly owned affiliates. Unlike licensing arrangements, franchises, or joint
ventures, wholly owned affiliates are 100 percent owned by the parent company.

As explained in the chapter, each of these methods of "going global" has specific advantages and
disadvantages. Moreover, a common method of going global is to use the phase model of international
expansion in which a company starts by exporting, and then as it grows, switches to cooperative contracts
(i.e., licensing and franchising right), followed by strategic alliances, and then wholly owned affiliates. As
the chapter makes clear, not all companies follow the steps of the phase model in this order.

The challenge for Groupon is that just three years after its startup, it may be the fastest growing startup
company of all time, but it also faces the most quickly established set of global competitors ever
established. So unlike other companies which might take a more measured, slow growth approach to
global expansion, the speed with which competitors and consumers have adopted Groupon’s business
model suggests that Groupon could find itself locked out of key international markets if it doesn’t move

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13
Chapter 8: Global Management

quickly to establish itself as a multinational company. Groupon chief financial officer, Rob Solomon,
emphasized the need for speed, saying, “We think there will be lots of consolidation in a very short
amount of time, and we want to be the 8,000-pound gorilla in that space.”

Backed with several hundred million dollars in funding, Groupon used an approach in which it combined
strategic alliances and wholly-owned affiliates. In short, just as Google offered a $6 billion buy out to
Groupon, Groupon has offered to buy the market leaders that it has identified in 50 different countries.

Groupon board member Kevin Efrusy says, “To see people copy you is difficult to adjust to. But Groupon
immediately looked at it as an opportunity. You could pick the best that's out there and save a lot of
time.” “The strategy,” he says, is to find the best local teams. Then give them the tools they need to be
successful. One such acquisition was Berlin-based CityDeal. CityDeal, which was started by the Samwer
brothers, who, a decade before had founded eBay Europe, was just 6 months old when purchased by
Groupon. But, in that short time, it had 1 million subscribers, operated in 80 European cities, and had 600
employees. CityDeal co-founder Daniel Glasner commented on being bought by Groupon, saying, “We
have exactly the same understanding of how we need to serve our end customers and partners. Thousands
of businesses out there are looking to attract new customers and are thrilled to leverage the Internet to do
that.” Groupon’s CEO Andrew Mason said, “We wanted to find entrepreneurs [like CityDeal] to work
with that were excellent operators and also understood the local culture.”

Groupon repeated this acquisition strategy, buying similar companies in Chile, Russia, Japan, China, and
other locations. One year, after deciding to go global, Groupon is in 42 different countries.

Self-Assessment

World-mindedness

Are You Nation-Minded or World-Minded?


Attitudes about global business are as varied as managers are numerous. It seems that the business press
can always find someone who is for globalization and someone who is against it. But regardless of your
opinion on the subject, managers will increasingly confront issues related to the globalization of the
business environment. It is probable that, as a manager, you will need to develop global sensibilities (if
you don’t already have them). Understanding your own cultural perspective is the first step in doing so.
This assessment has three parts: Step 1, complete the questionnaire shown below; Step 2, determine your
score; Step 3, develop a plan to increase your global managerial potential.

Step 1: Use the 6-point rating scale to complete the 32-question inventory shown below.

Rating Scale
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Mildly disagree
4. Mildly agree
5. Agree
6. Strongly agree

1. Our country should have the right to prohibit certain racial and religious groups from entering it to live.

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14
Chapter 8: Global Management

1 2 3 4 5 6

2. Immigrants should not be permitted to come into our country if they compete with our own workers.
1 2 3 4 5 6

3. It would set a dangerous precedent if every person in the world had equal rights that were guaranteed
by an international charter.
1 2 3 4 5 6

4. All prices for exported food and manufactured goods should be set by an international trade committee.
1 2 3 4 5 6

5. Our country is probably no better than many others.


1 2 3 4 5 6

6. Race prejudice may be a good thing for us because it keeps many undesirable foreigners from coming
into this country.
1 2 3 4 5 6

7. It would be a mistake for us to encourage certain racial groups to become well educated because they
might use their knowledge against us.
1 2 3 4 5 6

8. We should be willing to fight for our country without questioning whether it is right or wrong.
1 2 3 4 5 6

9. Foreigners are particularly obnoxious because of their religious beliefs.


1 2 3 4 5 6

10. Immigration should be controlled by a global organization rather than by each country on its own.
1 2 3 4 5 6

11. We ought to have a world government to guarantee the welfare of all nations irrespective of the rights
of any one.
1 2 3 4 5 6

12. Our country should not cooperate in any global trade agreements that attempt to better world
economic conditions at our expense.
1 2 3 4 5 6

13. It would be better to be a citizen of the world than of any particular country.
1 2 3 4 5 6

14. Our responsibility to people of other races ought to be as great as our responsibility to people of our
own race.
1 2 3 4 5 6

15. A global committee on education should have full control over what is taught in all countries about
history and politics.
1 2 3 4 5 6

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15
Chapter 8: Global Management

16. Our country should refuse to cooperate in a total disarmament program even if some other nations
agree to it.
1 2 3 4 5 6

17. It would be dangerous for our country to make international agreements with nations whose religious
beliefs are antagonistic to ours.
1 2 3 4 5 6

18. Any healthy individual, regardless of race or religion, should be allowed to live wherever he or she
wants to in the world.
1 2 3 4 5 6

19. Our country should not participate in any global organization that requires that we give up any of our
national rights or freedom of action.
1 2 3 4 5 6

20. If necessary, we ought to be willing to lower our standard of living to cooperate with other countries
in getting an equal standard for every person in the world.
1 2 3 4 5 6

21. We should strive for loyalty to our country before we can afford to consider world brotherhood.
1 2 3 4 5 6

22. Some races ought to be considered naturally less intelligent than ours.
1 2 3 4 5 6

23. Our schools should teach the history of the whole world rather than of our own country.
1 2 3 4 5 6

24. A global police force ought to be the only group in the world allowed to have armaments.
1 2 3 4 5 6

25. It would be dangerous for us to guarantee by international agreement that every person in the world
should have complete religious freedom.
1 2 3 4 5 6

26. Our country should permit the immigration of foreign peoples, even if it lowers our standard of living.
1 2 3 4 5 6

27. All national governments ought to be abolished and replaced by one central world government.
1 2 3 4 5 6

28. It would not be wise for us to agree that working conditions in all countries should be subject to
international control.
1 2 3 4 5 6

29. Patriotism should be a primary aim of education so that our children will believe our country is the
best in the world.
1 2 3 4 5 6

30. It would be a good idea if all the races were to intermarry until there was only one race in the world.
1 2 3 4 5 6

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16
Chapter 8: Global Management

31. We should teach our children to uphold the welfare of all people everywhere, even though it may be
against the best interests of our own country.
1 2 3 4 5 6

32. War should never be justifiable, even if it is the only way to protect our national rights and honor.
1 2 3 4 5 6

Step 2: Determine your score by entering your response to each survey item below, as follows. In blanks
that say regular score, simply enter your response for that item. If your response was a 4, place a 4 in the
regular score blank. In blanks that say reverse score, subtract your response from 7 and enter the result.
So if your response was a 4, place a 3 (7 - 4 = 3) in the reverse score blank.
1. reverse score ————
2. reverse score ________
3. reverse score ————
4. regular score ————
5. regular score ————
6. reverse score ————
7. reverse score ————
8. reverse score ————
9. reverse score ————
10. regular score ————
11. regular score ————
12. reverse score ————
13. regular score ————
14. regular score ————
15. regular score ————
16. reverse score ————
17. reverse score ————
18. regular score ————
19. reverse score ————
20. regular score ————
21. reverse score ————
22. reverse score ————
23. regular score ————
24. regular score ————
25. reverse score ————
26. regular score ————
27. regular score ————
28. reverse score ————
29. reverse score ————
30. regular score ————
31. regular score ————
32. regular score ————

Scoring
Total your scores from items 1–16 _____
Total your scores from items 17–32 _____
Add together to compute TOTAL ______

You can find an interpretation of your score at: login. cengagebrain.com

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17
Chapter 8: Global Management

Sources: R. W. Boatler, “Study Abroad: Impact on Student Worldmindedness,” Journal of Teaching in


International Business 2, no. 2 (1990): 13–17; R. W. Boatler, “Worldminded Attitude Change in a Study
Abroad Program: Contact and Content Issues,” Journal of Teaching in International Business 3, no. 4
(1992): 59–68; H. Lancaster, “Learning to Manage in a Global Workplace (You’re on Your Own),” The
Wall Street Journal, 2 June 1998, B1; D. L. Sampson & H. P. Smith, “A Scale to Measure Worldminded
Attitudes,” Journal of Social Psychology 45 (1957): 99–106.

Interpreting the Score


Here is what your score means.

People who are flexible, adaptable, open to other cultures, and have good relationship skills are more
successful on international assignments. In a sense, we could say that these people have greater
"worldmindedness." Individuals who are strong in worldmindedness look at problems as problems of
humanity rather than American problems, or Japanese problems, or Spanish problems. In contrast, people
who are weak in worldmindedness are "nationminded." They define themselves and others by their
nationalities: German, Chinese, Egyptian, and Venezuelan. Nationmindedness is "us" and "them,"
whereas worldmindedness is simply "us."
Worldmindedness affects global business decision making. Personnel managers who are low in
worldmindedness try to avoid hiring foreign students. Professional buyers, who purchase supplies, raw
materials, and finished goods for their companies, were less likely to purchase foreign products when they
were weak on worldmindedness. Also, CEOs of exporting companies are more worldminded than CEOs
of nonexporting companies.
Worldmindedness is related to gender (females have higher scores), to family income (students from
high income families have lower scores), foreign language ability (fluency in additional languages means
higher scores), and college major (business majors have lower scores than other majors, and finance and
accounting majors have lower scores than marketing and management majors). Worldmindedness may
not be related to international travel (except for longer-term residency in a country) or age.
This survey is based on research presented in R. W. Boatler, “Study Abroad: Impact on Student
Worldmindedness,” Journal of Teaching in International Business 2, no. 2 (1990): 13–17; R.W. Boatler,
“Worldminded Attitude Change in a Study Abroad Program: Contact and Content Issues,” Journal of
Teaching in International Business 3, no. 4 (1992): 59–68; H. Lancaster, “Learning to Manage in a
Global Workplace (You’re on Your Own),” The Wall Street Journal, 2 June 1998, B1; D. L. Sampson &
H. P. Smith, “A Scale to Measure Worldminded Attitudes,” Journal of Social Psychology 45 (1957): 99–
106; R. W. Boatler, “Worldmindedness of International Division Managers,” Southwest Journal of
Business and Economics, 9 (1992): 23.
What follows is a series of grids depicting average worldmindedness (WM) scores for various
groupings of students:

Worldmindedness by Major Average WM Score


Arts and Sciences 104.65
Business 92.94
Fine Arts 100.58
Education 94.43
Social Work 121.25
Undecided 90.00

(From Boatler, 1992)

Except for undecided majors, Business majors have the lowest worldmindedness
scores.

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18
Chapter 8: Global Management

Worldmindedness by Major Average WM Score


No foreign languages 99.07
One, fair 97.56
One, good/excellent 97.95
Two or more, any level 111.55

(From Boatler, 1992)

Speaking more languages leads to increased worldmindedness.

Worldmindedness by Language and Major

Average WM Score
Business Majors
No foreign language 88.76
One, fair 92.15
One, good/excellent 94.18
Two or more, any level 101.00
All Other Majors
No foreign languages 105.45
One, fair 100.41
One, good/excellent 98.70
Two or more, any level 116.63

(From Boatler, 1992)

Business majors who speak no foreign languages have the lowest worldmindedness scores,
whereas other majors who speak two or more languages have the highest worldmindedness
scores. Whatever major, speaking another language increases worldmindedness.

WM by Major and Gender Average WM Score


Male
Finance 105.35
Accounting 93.78
Marketing 113.80
General 115.22
Female
Finance 116.33
Accounting 111.04
Marketing 109.72
General 116.39

(From Deng & Boatler, 1993)

Male finance and accounting majors have the lowest worldmindedness scores. Female finance and
general majors have the highest worldmindedness scores. Except marketing majors, females have higher
worldmindedness scores than males.

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19
Chapter 8: Global Management

Your worldmindedness score is not a fixed number. Several activities can help you improve your score,
but to do so, you’ll need to develop a plan, such as the one that follows.

Step 3: Develop a plan to increase your global managerial potential.


People don’t change from being nationminded to worldminded overnight. Below you’ll find the outlines
of a plan to increase your worldmindedness. You need to fill in the details to make it work. This plan is
based on foreign languages, living overseas, global news and television, and your openness to the
different cultural experiences available right where you live!
3A. Language. Research shows that students who speak multiple languages have higher scores
(indicating a greater sense of worldmindedness). How many languages do you speak fluently? If you’re
an average American student, you speak one language, American English. Develop a plan to become
fluent in another language. Specify the courses you would need to take to become conversationally fluent.
A minimum of two years is recommended. Even better is minoring in a language! What courses would
you have to take to complete a minor?
3B. Living overseas. Develop a plan to study overseas. List the facts for two different overseas study
programs available at your university or another university. Be sure to specify how long the program
lasts, whether you would receive language training, where you would live, the activities in which you
would participate, and any other important details.
3C. Global news and television. Another way to increase your worldmindedness is to increase the
diversity of your news sources. Most Americans get their news from local TV and radio or from the major
networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS. Luckily, you don’t have to leave the country to gain access to foreign
news sources. Furthermore, you don’t have to speak a foreign language. Many foreign newspapers and
television and radio shows are presented in English. List the foreign newspapers and television and radio
shows available to you where you live. Hint: Check your university library, CNN, PBS, and the Internet.
Be sure to indicate where you can find the newspapers, the day and time the shows are on, and whether
the newspapers or TV shows are in English or a foreign language.
3D. Local cultural experiences. Many American students wrongly assume that they have to travel
overseas to gain exposure to foreign cultures. Fortunately, many American cities and universities are rich
in such experiences. Ethnic neighborhoods, restaurants, festivals, foreign films, and art displays, along
with ethnic Americans who continue to live and celebrate their heritage, present ample opportunities to
sample and learn about foreign cultures right here in our own backyards. Specify a plan of foreign
restaurants, ethnic neighborhoods, and cultural events that you could attend this year.

Management Decision

Purpose

A company that is looking to do business overseas cannot ignore cultural differences if it is to be


successful. This exercise asks students to consider how they would deal with critical differences between
cultures as their company seeks to branch out into overseas markets.

Setting It Up

Instructors can introduce this case to students by creating a table that shows the various cultural
differences between the U.S. and a foreign country, ideally one that has been the site of much foreign
investment such as China, India, Brazil, or Russia. Instructors can then ask students how a company
should deal with these differences in order to find success.

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20
Chapter 8: Global Management

Cultural Backlash in India

As you look at the latest quarterly earnings report of your clothing and accessories company, you think to
yourself “You are a genius!” It was your idea to move manufacturing to India last year, and it was your
idea to partner with a local retail chain to get your products to Indian consumers. So even though your
U.S. sales fell 5 percent, much in part due to the recession, your company’s profits actually rose 35
percent, thanks to all the money you made in India. Almost every day, you walk through the city and you
see young, affluent Indians wearing your jeans, clutching your purses, donning your sunglasses, and you
are unbelievably glad that you decided to come into this dynamic, fast-growing market that really likes
Western fashion styles.

There are many people, however, who aren’t so fond of your styles, and of Western culture in general.
Various religious and political conservative groups have recently been protesting the growing influence of
Western culture in India, sometimes in quite violent ways. During a recent Valentine’s Day, a group of
men publicly beat young couples who were holding hands or having a romantic dinner. In another city, a
group of people attacked women who were at bars and dance clubs. And just the other day, you saw a
crowd of people throwing your jeans, purses, and sunglasses into a big bonfire as a statement against
Western fashion. Even businesses are getting into the anti-American sentiment; a local beverage company
announced that they would take on the popularity of Coke and Pepsi by selling a beverage based on cow
urine, which is considered a holy, medicinal drink by Hindus.

When you came up with the idea of expanding into India, you certainly didn’t think that you would find
yourself in the middle of a cultural clash. “I’m just here to sell jeans,” you think, “not to tell people how
to live.” But clearly, many people view companies like yours as a threat to their culture and heritage.

Source:

Mehul Srivastava, “Business Caught in Middle of India’s Culture War,” Bloomberg Businessweek, February 18, 2009, accessed
September 10, 2010, from http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2009/gb20090218_783926.htm.

Questions:

1. How would you, as the manager of this company, deal with the risk associated with doing business
in countries that feel threatened by American culture?

Students are likely to respond in one of two ways—either the company must learn how to do deal
with the risk, or the company should cut its losses and terminate its business. In general, students
choosing the former answer should show awareness that it is critical for a company to learn as much
as it can about the foreign culture, so that it can adapt its business practices as necessary. This may
mean that the company hires more Indian staff, who can help train the rest of the staff on how to be
more culturally sensitive. It may also mean giving Western staff extensive cultural and language
training prior to working in India. Students, of course, may come up with other ideas about how to
raise cultural awareness within the company.

Students who choose to cut losses and leave the country should cite the tremendous cost, in terms of

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Another random document with
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CHAPTER XII.
THE BARON WALKS

(From the Bickerdike MS.)


I was still in this resolved mood, when something happened one
night which confirmed my worst suspicions, showing me how
faithfully I had weighed and measured the character of the man
posing as a benevolent guest in the house, the hospitality of which
he was designing all the time, in some mysteriously villainous way, to
abuse. On that night I had gone to bed rather late, outstaying, in fact,
the entire family and household, whose early country ways my
degenerate London habits found sometimes rather irksome. It was
past midnight when I turned out the lights in the billiard room, and,
taking a candle, made my way upstairs. There was a double flight
rising from a pretty spacious hall, and both the Baron’s room and my
own gave upon the corridor which opened west from the first-floor
landing. As I passed his door I noticed that a thread of light showed
under it, proving him to be either still awake, or fallen asleep with his
candle unextinguished. Which? For some unaccountable reason a
thrill of excitement overtook me. No sound came from behind the
door; the whole house was dead quiet. I stooped to peer through the
keyhole—a naked light burning beside one’s bed is a dangerous
thing—but the key being in the lock prevented my seeing anything.
Soft-footed I went on—but not to sleep. I determined to sit up and
listen in my own room for any possible developments. I don’t know
why it was, but my heart misgave me that there was some rascality
afoot, and that I had only to wait patiently, and go warily, to unmask
it. And I was not mistaken.
Time passed—enough to assure the watcher at last of my being
long in bed and asleep—when I was aware of a stealthy sound in the
corridor. All my blood leaped and tingled to the shock of it. I stole,
and put my ear to my own keyhole; and at once the nature of the
sound was made clear to me. He had noiselessly opened his door
and come out into the passage, down which he was stealthily
creeping in a direction away from me. I don’t know how I recognized
all this, but there is a language in profound stillness. When silence is
at its deathliest, one can hear almost the way the earth is moving on
its axis. I waited until I felt that he had turned the corner to the stairs,
then, with infinite care, manipulated, a fraction at a time, the handle
of my own door, and, slipping off my pumps, emerged and followed,
hardly breathing, in pursuit.
At the opening to the stairs I paused discreetly, to give my quarry
“law,” and, with sovereign caution, peered round the corner—and
saw him. He was in his pyjamas, and carried an electric torch in his
hand, reminding me somehow, thus attired, of the actor Pellissier,
only a little squatter in his build. He descended soundlessly, throwing
the little beam of light before him, and, reaching the foot of the flight,
turned to his left at the moment that I withdrew my head. But I could
see from my eyrie the way he was going by the course of the
travelling light, and I believed that he was making for Sir Calvin’s
study. And the next moment there came to my ears the tiniest
confirmatory sound—the minute bat-like screak of a rusty door-
handle. I had noticed that very day how the one in question needed
oiling, and the evidence left me no longer in doubt. It was for the
study he was bound, and with what sinister purpose? That remained
to see; but I remembered the hidden safe in the room. I had
happened upon it once when left alone there.
A minute I paused, to allow him time to settle to his business; then
descended the stairs cat-footed. At the newel post, crowned with a
great carved wyvern, the Kennett device, I stood to reconnoitre,
pressing my face to the wood and looking round it with one eye. And
at once I perceived that I neither could nor need venture further. He
stood, sure enough, at the desk in the study, fairly revealed in the
diffused glow from his torch, whose little brilliant facula was turned
upon a litter of papers that lay before him. But the door of the room—
he had left it so in his fancied security—stood wide open, precluding
any thought of a closer espionage on my part. I could only stay
where I was, concentrating all my vision on the event.
Suddenly he seemed to find what he sought, and I saw a paper in
his hand. Something appeared to tell me at the same moment that
he was about to return, and I yielded and—judging discretion, for the
occasion, to be the better part of valour—went up the stairs on my
hands and feet as fast as I could paddle, in a soft hurry to regain my
room and extinguish the light before so much as the ghost of a
suspicion could occur to him. It would not have served my purpose
to face him then and there, and I had learnt as much as for the time
being I needed. To have detected our worthy friend in a secret
midnight raid on his host’s papers was proof damning enough of the
correctness of my judgment.
Listening intently, I heard him re-enter his room, as he had left it,
with supreme caution. I was feeling a good deal agitated, and the
moisture stood on my forehead. How was I to proceed; what course
to take? My decision was not reached until after much debating
within myself. It might be guided by the General’s chance assertion
that some important document had been lost or mislaid in his room,
in which case I must act at once; but if, on the other hand, he made
no such statement, it might very well be days or weeks before his
loss were brought home to him. In that event I would say nothing
about my discovery, trusting to lead the criminal on, through his
sense of immunity, to further depredations. By then I might have
acquired, what at present I lacked, some insight into the nature and
meaning of his designs, holding the key to which I could face him
with any discovery. No, I would not tell Sir Calvin as yet. In such a
case premature exposure might very easily prove more futile than
unsuspicion itself. The keystone being wanting, all one’s structure
might fall to pieces at the first test.
But what a stealthy villain it was! As I recovered, it was to plume
myself a little, I confess, on my circumventing such a rogue. I would
have given a good deal to know what was the character of the paper
he had stolen. Hardly a draft, for such would not have been left
about, not to speak of the crude futility of such a deed. No, there was
some more subtle intention behind it—blackmail perhaps—but it was
useless to speculate. He had not at least touched the safe, and that
was so much to be thankful for.
Now I came to my resolution. I would speak to Sir Calvin on the
subject when the moment was ripe, and not before: and then, having
so far justified my remaining on as his guest, I would go. In the
meanwhile I would make it my especial and individual province to
expose this rascal, and thereby refute Audrey’s detestable calumny
of me as a sort of unpleasant eavesdropper and hanger-on. Perhaps
she would learn to regret her insult when she saw in what fashion I
had retaliated on it.
CHAPTER XIII.
ACCUMULATING EVIDENCE

Wednesday of the third week following the Inquest was appointed


for the magisterial inquiry, and during the interval Sergeant Ridgway
was busily occupied, presumably in accumulating and piecing
together various evidence. Of what it consisted no one but himself
knew, nor did it appear whether or not its trend on the whole was
favourable or disastrous to the unhappy prisoner, at the expense
possibly of Cleghorn, or possibly to the complete exculpation of that
injured man. The detective kept his own counsel, after the manner of
his kind; and if any had thought to extract from the cover of that
sealed book a hint of its contents, no reassuring message at least
could have been gathered from its unlettered sombreness. But
nobody asked, fearful of being thought to profane the majestic
muteness of the oracle; and the labouring atmosphere lowered
unlightened as the days went on. Even M. le Baron, most individually
concerned in the fate of his henchman, made no attempt to plumb
the official profundity, and that in spite of his curiosity about most
things. He seemed, indeed, oddly passive about the whole business,
never referring to it but indirectly, and, so far as appeared, taking no
steps to interview the prisoner or supply him with the means of
defence. If any sneering allusion was made to this insensibility by Mr.
Bickerdike or another, Audrey, were she present, would be hot in her
friend’s vindication. It may have been that, in the course of their
queer association, he had confided to her sufficient reasons for his
behaviour; old Viv, on the other hand, saw in her attitude only proof
of the process of corruption he had suspected. But, whatever the
case, cheerfully detached the Baron remained, asking no questions
of the detective, and taking chess and life with as placid a gaiety as if
no Louis Victor Cabanis lay caged a few miles away, awaiting his
examination on a charge of wilful murder.
Whether it were in some apology for a darkness which he could
not afford to illuminate, or to avoid teasing inquiries, or for any other
reason, the Sergeant came gradually to give the house less and less
of his company. He seemed rather to avoid contact with its inmates,
and his manner, when he rarely appeared, was sombre and
preoccupied. No one, perhaps, felt this withdrawal more than the
house-keeper, Mrs. Bingley, with whom he had been accustomed to
take his meals, and who had found him, when once her awe of his
office was overcome, a most entertaining guest, full of intelligence,
rich in anecdote, and deeply interested in everything appertaining to
Wildshott, from its family portraits and accumulated collections to the
beauty of its grounds and of the country in which it lay situated.
“It must have been,” she said one day to her master, to whom she
was lamenting the Sergeant’s prolonged absences, “such a relief to
a man of his occupations to be able to forget himself, even for an
hour or two, in such noble surroundings. But perhaps he wants to
show us that he’s taking no advantage of the attentions paid him,
lest we might think he was trying to worm himself into our
confidence.”
“Or can it be that he has already found out from you all that he
wants to know?” observed Le Sage, who was present on the
occasion, with a humorous look.
“I’m sure, sir,” said Mrs. Bingley with asperity, “that he is incapable
of the meanness. If you had heard him express the sentiments that I
have you would never hint such a charge. No, there is some delicacy
of feeling, take my word for it, at the bottom of this change in him;
and I can’t help fearing that it means he has found out something
fresh, something even more distressful to the family, which makes
him chary of accepting its hospitality. I only hope——” she paused,
with a little sigh.
“You’re thinking of Cleghorn!” broke in her master. “Damme! I’ll
never believe in respectability again if that man’s done it.”
“God forbid!” said the housekeeper. “But I wish Sergeant Ridgway
would appear more, and more in his old way, when he does honour
me with his company.”
Her wish, however, was not to be fulfilled. The detective more and
more absented himself as the days went on, and became more and
more of an Asian mystery in the fleeting glimpses of his presence
vouchsafed the household. Dark, taciturn, abysmal, he flitted, a
casual shadow, through the labyrinthine mysteries of the crime, and
could never be said to be here before an echo of his footfall was
sounding in the hollows far away. A picturesque description of his
processes, perhaps, but consorting in a way with the housekeeper’s
fanciful rendering. Perhaps delicacy rather than expediency was the
motive of his tactics; perhaps, having virtually completed his case,
he was keeping out of the way until the time came to expound it;
perhaps a feature of its revision was that distressful something,
menacing, appalling, foreseen by the housekeeper. He had plenty
otherwise to do, no doubt, in the way of collecting evidence,
consulting Counsel, and so forth, which alone gave plenty of reason
for neglecting the social amenities. Whatever the explanation,
however, the issue was not to be long delayed.
The Baron came upon him unexpectedly one morning in the upper
grounds, where the fruit gardens were, and the espaliers, and all the
signs of a prosperous vegetable order. There was a fair view of the
estate to be gained from that elevation, and the Sergeant appeared
to be absorbed for the moment in the gracious prospect. He waited
unmoving for the other to join him, and nodded as he came up.
“It’s pleasant to snatch a minute, sir,” he said, “to give to a view
like this. People of my profession don’t get many such.”
“I suppose not,” answered Le Sage, “nor of a good many other
professions. Proprietary views, like incomes, are very unfairly
distributed, don’t you think?”
“Well, that’s so, no doubt; and among the wrong sort of people
often enough.”
Le Sage laughed.
“Are you one of the right sort of people, Sergeant?”
“I won’t go so far as to say that, sir, but I will go so far as to say
that, if I owned this property, I’d come to feast my eyes on it here
more often than what Sir Calvin does.”
The Baron, without moving his head, took in the face of the
speaker. He saw a glow, a subdued passion in it which interested
him. What spirit of romance, to be sure, might lurk unsuspected
under the hard official rind. Here was the last man in the world whom
one would have credited with a sense of beauty, and he was wrought
to emotion by a landscape!
“You talk,” said he, “of your profession not affording you many
such moments as this. Now, to my mind, it seems the profession for
a man romantically inclined.”
“Does it, indeed, sir?”
“Why, don’t you live in a perpetual atmosphere of romance? Think
of the mysteries which are your daily food.”
“That’s it—my daily food, and lodging too. The men who pull on
the ropes for a living don’t think much, or see much, of the fairy
scene they’re setting. That’s all for the prosperous folks in front.”
“You’d rather be one of them?”
“Which would you rather, sir—be a police-officer, or the owner of
an estate like this? If such things were properly distributed, as you
say, there’d be no need perhaps for police-officers at all. You read
the papers about a case like ours here, and you see only a romance:
we, whose necessity puts us behind the scenes, see only, in nine
cases out of ten, the dirty mishandling of Fate. Give a man his right
position in the world, and he’ll commit no crimes. That’s my belief,
and it’s founded on some experience.”
“I dare say you’re right. It’s comforting to know, in that case, that
my valet has always fitted into his place like a stopper into a bottle.”
The detective stood silent a moment; then turned on the speaker
with a queer enigmatic look.
“Well, I wouldn’t lose heart about him, if I was you,” he said drily.
“That’s good!” said Le Sage. “I can leave him with a tolerably safe
conscience then.”
“What, sir—you’re going away before the inquiry?”
“I must, I’m afraid. I have business in London which I can no
longer postpone.”
“But how about your evidence?”
“After what you have said, cannot you afford to do without it?”
The detective considered, frowning and rubbing his chin; then said
simply, “Very well,” and made a movement to go.
They went down the garden together, and parted at the door in the
wall. This was on the Saturday. On the following Monday the officer
appeared for the last time to arrange for his witnesses on the
Wednesday ensuing. He carried his handbag with him, and intimated
that it was not his purpose to return again before the event. They
were all—Mrs. Bingley perhaps excepted—glad to see the last of
him, and the last of what his presence there implied, and welcomed
the prospect of the one clean day which was to be theirs before their
re-meeting in Court.
The Sergeant’s manner at his parting was restrained, and his
countenance rigidly pale. Sir Calvin, receiving his formal thanks for
the courtesy shown him, remarked upon it, and asked him if he were
feeling overdone.
“No, sir,” he replied: “never better, thank you. I hope you yourself
may never feel worse than I do at this moment.”
Something in his way of saying it, some significance of tone, or
look, or emphasis, seemed to cast a sudden chill upon the air. The
General turned away with a slightly wondering, puzzled expression,
and shrugged his shoulders as if he were cold. There were one or
two present who remembered that gesture afterwards, identifying it
with some vague sensation in themselves.
That same night the Baron caused a considerable stir by
announcing his intention of leaving them on the morrow. They all had
something to say in the way of surprise and remonstrance except Mr.
Bickerdike, and he judiciously held his tongue. Even Hugo showed a
certain concern, as a man might who felt, without quite realizing what
it was he felt, the giving way of some moral support on which he had
been unconsciously leaning. He looked up and asked, as the
detective had asked, “What about your evidence?”
“It is said to be immaterial,” answered Le Sage. “I am speaking on
the authority of the Sergeant himself.”
Hugh said no more; but he eyed the Baron in a wistful, questioning
way. He was in a rather moving mood, patently looking forward to
Wednesday’s ordeal with considerable nervousness and
apprehension, and not altogether without reason. The Inquest had
been trying enough; yet that had been a mere local affair, conducted
amid familiar surroundings. To stand up in public Court and repeat,
perhaps be forced to amplify, the evidence he had already given was
a far different and more agitating prospect. What was in his mind,
who could know? There was something a little touching in the way
he clung to his family, and in the slight embarrassment they showed
over his unaccustomed attentions. Audrey, falling in for her share,
laughed, and responded with only a bad grace; but the glow in her
eyes testified to feelings not the less proud and exultant because
their repression had been so long a necessity with her.
Coming upon the Baron in the hall by-and-by, as he was on his
way upstairs to prepare for the morrow’s journey, she stopped and
spoke to him.
“Can you manage without a valet, Baron?”
“As I have managed a hundred times before, my dear.”
“Must you really go?”
“I must, indeed.”
“Leaving Louis to shift for himself?”
“I leave him in the hands of Providence.”
“Yes, but Providence is not a lawyer.”
“Heaven forbid! God, you know, like no lawyer, tempers the wind
to the shorn lamb—à brebis tondue Dieu mesure le vent. That is a
good French proverb, and I am going to France in the faith of it.”
“But you will come back again?”
“Yes, I will come back. It will be all right about Louis—you will see.”
She did not answer. She had been holding him by the lapels of his
coat, running her thumbs down the seams, and suddenly, feeling a
little convulsive pressure there, he looked up in her face and saw
that thick tears were running down her cheeks. Very softly but
resolutely then he captured the two wandering hands and held them
between his own.
“My dear,” he said, “my dear, I understand. But listen to this—have
confidence in your friend the Baron.”
And on the morrow morning he left, accompanied by Mr. Vivian
Bickerdike’s most private and most profound misgivings. That he
was going to London on some business connected with the stolen
document was that gentleman’s certain conviction. But what was he
to do? Expose at once, or wait and learn more? On the whole it were
better to wait, perhaps: the fellow was coming back—he had said so,
and to the same unconsciousness of there being one on his track
who at the right moment could put a spoke in his nefarious wheel.
He was still considering the question, when something happened
which, for the time being, put all considerations but one out of his
head. By the first post on the very morning of the inquiry he received,
much to his astonishment, a subpœna binding him to appear and
give evidence in Court. About what? If any uneasy suspicion in his
mind answered that question, to it was to be attributed, no doubt, his
rather white conscience-troubled aspect as he presently joined the
party waiting to be motored over to the Castle in the old city where
the case was to be tried.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE EXPLOSION

The Magistrates assembled to hear the case were four in number,


two of them being local magnates and personal friends of Sir Calvin,
who was accorded a seat on the Bench. They took their places at
eleven o’clock, the Court being then crowded to its utmost capacity.
The case stood first on the list, and no delay was experienced in
opening it. As before, Mr. Fyler appeared for the police, and Mr.
Redstall for Sir Calvin. The prisoner was undefended.
At the outset of the proceedings a surprise awaited the public. The
prisoner having been brought up from the cells beneath the Court,
and placed in the dock, Sergeant Ridgway asked permission to
speak. Addressing the Bench, he said that since the inquiry before
the Coroner, which had ended, as their Worships were aware, in a
verdict by the jury of wilful murder against the prisoner Louis Victor
Cabanis, facts had come to his knowledge which entirely disposed of
the theory of the prosecution, proving, as they did, an
unquestionable alibi in the prisoner’s favour. Under these
circumstances he proposed to offer no evidence against the
accused, who, with their Worships’ permission would be discharged.
Smart in aspect, concise in phrase, the detective stood up and
made his avowal, and again, though in an auguster atmosphere, with
a marked impression upon his hearers. Some of them had already
encountered him, no doubt, and were prepared to concede to his
every statement the force and value of an official fiat.
“Very well, Sergeant,” was the reply, while the public wondered if
they were going to be defrauded of their feast of sensation, or if
some spicier substitute were about to be placed before them. They
were not kept long in suspense.
Following the Sergeant’s declaration, brief evidence was given by
Andrew Marle, shepherd, and Nicholas Penny, thatcher. The former
deposed that on the afternoon in question he was setting hurdles on
the uplands above Leighway, at a point about three miles north-east
of Wildshott Park as the crow flies, when he saw prisoner. That was
as near three o’clock as might be. Prisoner had stood watching him
for a few minutes while exchanging a remark or two, and had then
gone on in a northerly direction.
Penny gave evidence that, on the same afternoon, at three-thirty,
he was working in the garden of his cottage at Milldown, two miles
beyond the point mentioned by the last witness, when prisoner came
by and asked him the time. He gave it him, and the prisoner thanked
him and continued his way, still bearing north by east until he was
out of sight. He was going leisurely, both witnesses affirmed, and
there appeared nothing peculiar about him except his foreign looks
and speech. Neither had the slightest hesitation in identifying the
prisoner with the man they had seen. There was no possibility of
mistaking him.
This evidence, said the detective, addressing the justices again at
the end of it, precluded any idea of the prisoner’s being the guilty
party, the case for the prosecution holding that the murder was
committed at some time between three and four o’clock in the
afternoon. At three o’clock the accused was proved to have been at
a spot good three miles away from the scene of the crime, and again
at 3.30 at a spot five miles away, representing a distance which,
even on an extravagant estimate, he could hardly have covered
within the period remaining to him if the theory of the prosecution
was to be substantiated. There was no case, in fact, and the
prosecution therefore withdrew the charge.
A magistrate put the question somewhat extrajudicially, why had
he not pleaded this alibi in the first instance. The accused, who
appeared overwhelmed by the change in his situation, was
understood to say, with much emotion and gesticulation, that he had
not been advised, nor had he supposed that the deposition of a
prisoner himself would count for anything, and, moreover, that he
had been so bewildered by the labyrinth of suspicion in which he had
got himself involved, that it had seemed hopeless to him to think of
ever extricating himself from it. He seemed a simple soul, and the
justices smiled, with some insular superiority, over his naïve
declaration. He was then given to understand that he was
discharged and might go, and with a joyous expression he stepped
from the dock and vanished like a jocund goblin down the official
trap.
Counsel for the prosecution then rose, and stated that, the charge
against Cabanis being withdrawn, it was proposed to put in his place
Samuel Cleghorn, against whom, although no definite charge had as
yet been preferred by the police, a prima facie case existed. His
examination, and the examination of the witnesses concerned, would
probably prove a lengthy affair, and he asked therefore that the case
might be taken next on the list. The justices concurring, Samuel
Cleghorn was brought up from the cells, and stood to undergo his
examination.
Confinement and anxiety, it was evident, had told upon the
prisoner, whose aspect since the Inquest had undergone a
noticeable change. He looked limp and deteriorated, like a worn
banknote, and his lips were tremulous. Respectability in a sidesman
caught pilfering from the plate could not have appeared more self-
conscious of its fall. He bowed deferentially to the Bench, with a
slight start on seeing his master seated there, and, making some
ineffectual effort to appear at ease, clasped his plump white hands
before him and fixed a glassy eye on the wall. The public, reassured,
settled down, like a music-hall audience to a new exciting “turn,” the
Bench assumed its most judicial expression, and Counsel, adjusting
its wig for the fray, proceeded to open the case.
It is not proposed to recapitulate in extenso the evidence already
given. In bulk and essentials the two hardly differed, the only marked
changes being in the order of the witnesses examined, and in the
absence from their list of the Baron Le Sage, who, however,
inasmuch as his sole use had been to testify to the character of his
servant, was no longer needed. There was the same reference to
the insuperable difficulty—experienced and still unsurmounted—in
tracing out the deceased’s connexions, the same statement by
Sergeant Ridgway as to the fruitlessness of the measures taken, and
the same request that, in default of further information, such
evidence of identification as was at present available should be
provisionally accepted. The Bench agreed, the detective sat down,
and Counsel rose once more, this time with a formidable eye to
business.
Mr. Fyler began by reconstructing, so far as was possible, the
history of the crime from the evidence already adduced, into the
particulars of which it is unnecessary to follow him. In summarising
the known facts, he made no especial point, it was observed, of
bringing them to bear on the presumptive guilt of the prisoner, but
used him rather as a convenient model or framework about which to
shape his story. Indeed, when he sat down again, it might have been
given as even odds whether the conviction or acquittal of the
accused man was the thing foreshadowed. And what then? After two
attempts, was the whole business to end in a fiasco? Incredible!
Some one must have killed the girl. The very atmosphere of the
Court, moreover, fateful, ominous—derided such a conclusion.
“Attend and wait!” it seemed to whisper.
Counsel was no sooner down than he was up again, and calling
now upon his witnesses to appear. They came one by one, as
summoned—Mrs. Bingley, Jane Ketchlove, Jessie Ellis, Kate Vokes,
Mabel Wheelband; and there the order was broken. The examination
of these five was in all essentials a replica of that conducted at the
Inquest, but, to the observant, with one significant note added. For
the first time Counsel showed, as it were, a corner of the card up his
sleeve by suggesting tentatively, insinuatively, à propos the question
of a guilty intrigue, that one or other of them might possibly have her
suspicions as to the identity of the second party implicated in it. The
hint was disowned as soon as rejected; but it had left a curious
impression here and there of more to come, of its having only been
proffered to open and prepare the way to evidence, the stronger,
perhaps, for some such moral corroboration. Not one of the women,
however, would own to the subtle impeachment, and the question for
the moment was dropped.
But it was dropped only tactically, in accordance with a pre-
arranged plan, as became increasingly apparent with the choice of
the next witness. This was Dr. Harding, who had made the post-
mortem examination, and whose evidence repeated exactly what he
had formerly stated. It added, moreover, a detail which, touching
upon a question of time, showed yet a little more plainly which way
the wind was setting; and it included an admission, or correction, no
less suggestive in its import. The question was asked witness: “At
the Inquest you stated, I believe, that death must have occurred at
3.30 o’clock, or thereabouts. Is that so?”
A. I said “approximately,” judging by the indications.
Q. Just so. I am aware that, in these cases, a certain latitude must
be granted. It might then, in fact, have occurred somewhat earlier or
somewhat later?
A. Yes. By preference, somewhat earlier.
Q. How much earlier?
Witness, refusing to submit to any brow-beating on the question,
finally, at the end of a highly technical disputation, conceded a half
hour as the extreme limit of his approximation; and with that the
matter ended. As he stepped from the box the name of a new
witness—a witness not formerly included in the inquiry—was called,
and public interest, already deeply stimulated, grew intensified.
Margaret Hopkins, widow, deposed on oath. She was landlady of
the Brewer’s Dray inn at Longbridge. The inn was situated to the
east of the town and a little outside it on the Winton Road. One
afternoon, about five weeks ago, a lady and gentleman had called at
her inn, wanting tea, and a private room to drink it in. They were
shown up to a chamber on the first floor, where the gentleman
ordered a fire to be lighted. Tea was brought them by witness
herself, and they had remained there shut in a long time together—a
couple of hours perhaps. They were very affectionate with one
another, and had gone away, when they did go, very lovingly arm in
arm. The gentleman was Mr. Hugo Kennett, whom she now saw in
Court, and whom she had recognised for the male stranger at once.
The name of the lady accompanying him she had had no means of
ascertaining, but her companion had addressed her as Annie.
Mr. Redstall, rising to cross-examine witness, put the following
questions:—
Q. Will you swear to Mr. Kennett having been the gentleman in
question?
A. Yes, on my oath, sir.
Q. You already knew Mr. Kennett by sight, eh?
A. No, I did not, sir. I had never seen him before, and have never
seen him since till to-day. I hadn’t been settled in Longbridge not a
two-month at the time he come.
Q. You say the two appeared to be on affectionate terms. On
companionable terms would perhaps be the truer expression, eh?
A. As you choose, sir, if that means behaving like lovers together.
(Laughter.)
Q. What do you mean by like lovers? They would hardly have
made a display of their sentiments before you.
A. Not intentional perhaps, sir; but I come upon them unexpected
when I brought in the tea; and there they was a’sitting on the sofy
together, as close and as fond as two turtle-doves. (Laughter.)
Mrs. Bingley, recalled, reluctantly admitted having given deceased
an afternoon off about the date in question. The girl had returned to
the house before six o’clock.
Reuben Henstridge called, repeated his evidence given on the day
of the Inquest, omitting only, or abridging, such parts of it as bore on
the movements of the Frenchman, and excluding altogether—by
tacit consent, it seemed—those references to the butler’s approach
which had brought such a confusion of cross-questioning about his
ears. The following bodeful catechism then ensued:—
Q. You say it was ten minutes past two when you saw Cabanis
break from the copse and go down towards the road?
A. Aye.
Q. And that, having hung about after seeing him, you eventually
returned to the Red Deer inn, reaching it at about 3.30?
A. That’s it.
Q. At what time did you start to return to the inn?
A. Three o’clock, or a bit after.
Q. What had you been doing in the interval?
A. (Sulkily.) That’s my business.
Q. I ask you again. You had better answer.
A. (After a scowling pause.) Setting snares, then. (Defiantly.)
Weren’t it the open downs?
Q. I’m not entering into that question. We’ll assume, if you like,
that the downs and your behaviour were equally open. You were
setting snares, that’s enough. Did anything suddenly occur to
interrupt you at your task?
A. Yes, it did.
Q. What was that?
A. The sound of a gun going off.
Q. From what direction?
A. From down among the trees near the road.
Q. Quite so. Now will you tell the Bench exactly what time it was
when you heard that sound?
A. The time when I started to go home.
Q. About three o’clock or a little after?
A. That’s it.
Q. You state that on your oath?
A. Yes, I do.
It was as if a conscious tremor, like the excitement of many hearts
leaping in unison, passed through the Court, dimly foretelling some
approaching crisis. The examination was resumed:—
Q. What makes you so certain of the time?
A. The stable clock had just gone three.
Q. And, following on the sound of the gun, you left your snare-
setting and made for home?
A. Aye.
Q. For what reason?
A. Because I thought they might be working round my way.
Q. Whom do you mean by “they”?
A. The party as was out shooting. I made sure at first it come from
them.
Q. What made you alter your opinion?
A. I see them, as I went up the hill, afar off nigh Asholt wood.
Q. Now, tell me: why didn’t you mention all this at the Inquest?
A. Because I weren’t asked.
Q. Or was it because you feared having to confess to what made
you bolt, and from what occupation, when the shot startled you? (No
answer.) Very well. Now attend to this. You have heard it
propounded, or assumed, that the murder took place some time
between 3.15 and 4 o’clock. Do you still adhere to your statement
that it was just after three when you heard the sound of the gun?
A. Aye.
Q. You are on your oath, remember.
A. All right, master.
Q. And you adhere to it?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. That is enough. You can stand down.
A sibilation, a momentary rustling and shuffling, as on the close of
an engrossing sermon when tension is relaxed and the hymn being
prepared for, followed the dismissal of the witness. A few glanced
furtively, hardly realizing yet why they were moved to do so, at a rigid
soldierly figure, seated upright and motionless beside the justices on
the Bench. But the sense of curious perplexity was hardly theirs
when the next witness was claiming their attention. This was Daniel
Groome, the gardener, whose evidence, generally a repetition of
what he had formerly stated, was marked by a single amendment,
the significance of which he himself hardly seemed to realize. It
appeared as follows:—
Q. You stated before the Coroner that this louder shot heard by
you occurred at a time which you roughly estimated to be anything
between three and half-past three o’clock. Is that so?
A. No, sir.
Q. What do you mean by “no”?
A. I’ve thought it over since, sir, and I’ve come to the conclusion
that my first impression was nearer the correct one.
Q. Your impression, that is to say, that the shot was fired
somewhat about three o’clock?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What is your reason for this change of opinion?
A. Because I remembered afterwards, sir, having heard the clock
in the master’s study strike the quarter past. I had gone round by
then to the back of the house.
Q. And you had heard the shot fired while at the front?
A. Yes, sir.
This witness was stiffly cross-examined by Mr. Redstall, who
sought to shake his evidence on the grounds that he was,
consciously or unconsciously, seeking to adapt it to what was
expected of him. But the poor fellow’s honesty was so transparent,
and his incomprehension of the gravity of his statement so
ingenuous, that the only result of his harrying was to increase the
impression of his disinterested probity. He said what he believed to
be the truth, and he adhered to it.
He went, and the usher, tapping with his wand on the floor, called
in a loud voice on Vivian Bickerdike to appear and give evidence.
A famous writer has asserted that there are two kinds of witness to
whom lawyers take particular exception, the reluctant witness and
the too-willing witness. To these may be added a third, the anxious
witness, who, being oppressed with a sense of responsibility of his
position, fears at once to say too much or too little, and ends by
saying both. Bickerdike entered the box an acutely anxious witness.
The trend of some recent evidence had left him in no doubt as to the
lines on which his own examination was destined to run, and he
foresaw at once the use to which a certain conversation of his with
the detective was going to be put. Now it was all very well to hold the
Sergeant guilty in this of a gross breach of confidence, but his
conscience would not thereby allow him to maintain himself
blameless in the matter. He should have known quite well, being no
fool, that a detective did not ask questions or invite communications
from a purely altruistic point of view, and that the apparent
transparency of such a man’s sentiments was the least indication of
their depth. By permitting pique a little to obscure that fact to him he
had done his friend—for whom he had a real, very warm regard—a
disservice, to which he had now, in that friend’s hearing, to confess.
So far, then, it only remained to him to endeavour to repair, through
his sworn evidence, the mischief to which he had made himself a
party.
But could any reparation stultify now a certain issue, to which—he
had seen it suddenly, aghast—that too-open candour of his had
been seduced into contributing? What horrible thing was it which
was being approached, threatened, in the shadow of his friend’s
secret? The thing was monstrous, damnable; yet he could not forget
how it had appeared momentarily adumbrated to himself on his first
hearing of the murder. But he had rejected the thought with
incredulous scorn then, as he would reject it now. Of whatever sinful
weakness Hugh might be capable, a crime so detestable, so cruel,
was utterly impossible to him. He swore it in his heart; but his faith
could not relieve him of the weight of responsibility which went with
him into the witness box. It was like a physical oppression, and he
seemed to bend under it. Counsel took the witness’s measure with a

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