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• We have revised example/solution sections in various chapters:
• Chapter 5 now includes a new example/solution used to demonstrate contin-
gency tables and tree diagrams. Also the example/solution demonstrating
the combination formula has been revised.
• Chapter 6 includes a revised example/solution demonstrating the binomial
distribution.
• Chapter 15 includes a new example/solution demonstrating contingency ta-
ble analysis.
• We have revised the simple regression example in Chapter 13 and increased the
number of observations to better illustrate the principles of simple linear
regression.
• We have reordered the nonparametric chapters to follow the traditional statistics
chapters.
• We moved the sections on one- and two-sample tests of proportions, placing all
analysis of nominal data in one chapter: Nonparametric Methods: Nominal Level
Hypothesis Tests.
• We combined the answers to the Self-Review Exercises into a new appendix.
• We combined the Software Commands into a new appendix.
• We combined the Glossaries in the section reviews into a single Glossary that fol-
lows the appendices at the end of the text.
• We improved graphics throughout the text.

vii
H O W A R E C H A P T E R S O R G A N I Z E D T O E N G AG E
S T U D E N T S A N D P R O M O T E L E A R N I N G?

Chapter Learning Objectives

Each chapter begins with a set of learning objectives designed to provide focus for the chapter and motivate
student learning. These objectives, located in the margins next to the topic, indicate what the student should be
able to do after completing each sec-
tion in the chapter. MERRILL LYNCH recently completed LEARNING OBJECTIVES
a study of online investment portfo- When you have completed this chapter, you will be able to:
LO2-1
Chapter Opening Exercise lios for a sample of clients. For the
70 participants in the study, organize
Summarize qualitative variables with frequency and
relative frequency tables.
Lin20522_ch03_050-092.indd Page 51 12/10/13 11:37 AM user-f-w-198 LO2-2 Display a frequency table using a bar or pie chart.
/201/MH02018/Lin20522_disk1of1/0078020522/Lin20522_pagefiles
A representative exercise opens the these data into a frequency distribu-
LO2-3 Summarize quantitative variables with frequency and
chapter and shows how the chapter tion. (See Exercise 43 and LO2-3.)
relative frequency distributions.
content can be applied to a real-world LO2-4 Display a frequency distribution using a histogram or
situation. frequency polygon.

Introduction to the Topic INTRODUCTION

Each chapter starts with a review of Chapter 2 began our study of descriptive statistics. To summarize raw data into a
meaningful form, we organized qualitative data into a frequency table and portrayed
the important concepts of the previ- the results in a bar chart. In a similar fashion, we organized quantitative data into a
ous chapter and provides a link to the frequency distribution and portrayed the results in a histogram. We also looked at
material in the current chapter. This other graphical techniques such as pie charts to portray qualitative data and fre-
step-by-step approach increases quency polygons to portray quantitative data.
This chapter is concerned with two numerical ways of describing quantitative
comprehension by providing continu- variables, namely, measures of location and measures of dispersion. Measures of
ity across the concepts. location are often referred to as averages. The purpose of a measure of location is to
Lin20522_ch04_093-130.indd Page 105 12/10/13 11:43 AM user-f-w-198 /201/MH02018/Lin20522_disk1of1/0078020522/Lin20522_pagefiles
pinpoint the center of a distribution of data. An

Example/Solution E X A M P L E
The service departments at Tionesta Ford Lincoln Mercury and Sheffield Motors
After important concepts are intro- Inc., two of the four Applewood Auto Group dealerships, were both open 24 days
duced, a solved example is given. This last month. Listed below is the number of vehicles serviced last month at the two
example provides a how-to illustration dealerships. Construct dot plots and report summary statistics to compare the two
dealerships.
and shows a relevant business appli-
cation that helps students answer the
Tionesta Ford Lincoln Mercury
question, “What will I use this for?”
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
23 33 27 28 39 26
30 32 28 33 35 32
29 25 36 31 32 27
35 32 35 37 36 30

Self-Reviews
Self-Reviews are interspersed
The Quality Control department of Plainsville Peanut Company is responsible for checking the
throughout each chapter and weight of the 8-ounce jar of peanut butter. The weights of a sample of nine jars produced last
closely patterned after the hour are:

preceding examples. They SELF-REVIEW

help students monitor their 4–2 7.69 7.72 7.8 7.86 7.90 7.94 7.97 8.06 8.09

progress and provide imme- (a) What is the median weight?

diate reinforcement for that (b) Determine the weights corresponding to the first and third quartiles.
particular technique.

viii
 Lin20522_ch05_131-172.indd Page 144 12/10/13 12:50 PM user-f-w-198 /201/MH02018/Lin20522_disk1of1/0078020522/Lin20522_pa

Statistics in Action
Statistics in Action articles are scattered through- STATISTICS IN ACTION
out the text, usually about two per chapter. They If you wish to get some
provide unique and interesting applications and attention at the next gath-
historical insights in the field of statistics. Page 63 12/10/13 ering you attend, announce
Lin20522_ch03_050-092.indd 11:37 AM user-f-w-198 /201/MH02018/Lin20522_disk1of1/0078020522/Lin20522_pagefiles
that you believe that at
least two people present
were born on the same
date—that is, the same day
of the year but not neces-
sarily the same year. If there
are 30 people in the room,

Definitions
Definitions of new terms or terms unique to
JOINT PROBABILITY A probability that measures the likelihood two or more
the study of statistics are set apart from the events will happen concurrently.
text and highlighted for easy reference and
review. They also appear in the Glossary at
the end of the book.

Formulas
Formulas that are used for the first time are
boxed and numbered for reference. In addi- SPECIAL RULE OF MULTIPLICATION P(A and B) 5 P(A)P(B) [5–5]

tion, a formula card is bound into the back

of the text that lists all the key formulas.

Exercises E X E R C I S E S 33. P(A1 ) 5 .60, P(A2 ) 5 .40, P(B1 ƒ A1 ) 5 .05, and P(B1 ƒ A2 ) 5 .10. Use Bayes’ theorem to de-
termine P(A1 ƒ B1 ).
34. P(A1 ) 5 .20, P(A2 ) 5 .40, P(A3 ) 5 .40, P(B1 ƒ A1 ) 5 .25, P(B1 ƒ A2 ) 5 .05, and P(B1 ƒ A3 ) 5 .10.
Exercises are included after Use Bayes’ theorem to determine P(A3 ƒ B1 ).
35. The Ludlow Wildcats baseball team, a minor league team in the Cleveland Indians organi-
sections within the chapter zation, plays 70% of their games at night and 30% during the day. The team wins 50% of
and at the end of the chap- their night games and 90% of their day games. According to today’s newspaper, they won
yesterday. What is the probability the game was played at night?
ter. Section exercises cover 36. Dr. Stallter has been teaching basic statistics for many years. She knows that 80% of the
the material studied in the students will complete the assigned problems. She has also determined that among those
who do their assignments, 90% will pass the course. Among those students who do not do
section.

Computer Output
The text includes many software examples, using
Excel, MegaStat®, and Minitab.

ix
HOW DOES THIS TEXT RE INFORCE
S T U D E N T L E A R N I N G?

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BY C H A P T E R C H A P T E R S U M M A R Y
I. A random variable is a numerical value determined by the outcome of an experiment.
II. A probability distribution is a listing of all possible outcomes of an experiment and the prob-
ability associated with each outcome.
Chapter Summary A. A discrete probability distribution can assume only certain values. The main features are:
1. The sum of the probabilities is 1.00.
2. The probability of a particular outcome is between 0.00 and 1.00.
Each chapter contains a brief sum- 3. The outcomes are mutually exclusive.
B. A continuous distribution can assume an infinite number of values within a specific range.
mary of the chapter material, includ- III. The mean and variance of a probability distribution are computed as follows.
A. The mean is equal to:
ing the vocabulary and the critical m 5 © [xP(x) ] [6–1]
formulas. B. The variance is equal to:
s2 5 © [ (x 2 m) 2P(x) ] [6–2]

Pronunciation Key P R O N U N C I A T I O N
SYMBOL MEANING
K E Y
PRONUNCIATION

This tool lists the mathematical symbol, itsPage 241 10/18/13 8:39 AM f-494
Lin20522_ch07_206-246.indd
P(A)
P(,A)
Probability of A P of A
/201-1/MH02018/Lin20522_disk1of1/0078020522/Lin20522_pagefiles
Probability of not A P of not A
meaning, and how to pronounce it. We believe P(A and B) Probability of A and B P of A and B
this will help the student retain the meaning of P(A or B) Probability of A or B P of A or B
P(A ƒ B) Probability of A given B has happened P of A given B
the symbol and generally enhance course P
n r
Permutation of n items selected r at a time Pnr
communications. n
Cr Combination of n items selected r at a time Cnr

Chapter Exercises C H A P T E R E X E R C I S E S
41. The amount of cola in a 12-ounce can is uniformly distributed between 11.96 ounces and
12.05 ounces.
Generally, the end-of-chapter exer- a. What is the mean amount per can?
b. What is the standard deviation amount per can?
cises are the most challenging and c. What is the probability of selecting a can of cola and finding it has less than 12 ounces?
integrate the chapter concepts. The d. What is the probability of selecting a can of cola and finding it has more than 11.98
ounces?
answers and worked-out solutions for e. What is the probability of selecting a can of cola and finding it has more than 11.00
ounces?
all odd-numbered exercises are in Ap- 42. A tube of Listerine Tartar Control toothpaste contains 4.2 ounces. As people use the tooth-
paste, the amount remaining in any tube is random. Assume the amount of toothpaste re-
pendix D at the end of the text. Many maining in the tube follows a uniform distribution. From this information, we can determine
the following information about the amount remaining in a toothpaste tube without invading
exercises are noted with a data file anyone’s privacy.
a. How much toothpaste would you expect to be remaining in the tube?
icon in the margin. For these exercises, b. What is the standard deviation of the amount remaining in the tube?
there are data files in Excel format lo- c. What is the likelihood there is less than 3.0 ounces remaining in the tube?
d. What is the probability there is more than 1.5 ounces remaining in the tube?
cated on the text’s website, www 43. Many retail stores offer their own credit cards. At the time of the credit application, the
customer is given a 10% discount on the purchase. The time required for the credit appli-
.mhhe.com/lind16e. These files help cation process follows a uniform distribution with the times ranging from 4 minutes to
10 minutes.
students use statistical software to a. What is the mean time for the application process?
b. What is the standard deviation of the process time?
solve the exercises. c. What is the likelihood a particular application will take less than 6 minutes?

Data Set Exercises D A T A S E T E X E R C I S E S

(The data for these exercises are available at the text website: www.mhhe.com/lind16e.)

The last several exercises at the end of 74. Refer to the Real Estate data, which report information on homes sold in the Goodyear,
Arizona, area during the last year.
each chapter are based on three large a. The mean selling price (in $ thousands) of the homes was computed earlier to be
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$221.10, with a standard deviation of $47.11. Use the normal distribution to estimate
data sets. These data sets are printed the percentage of homes selling for more than $280.0. Compare this to the actual re-
sults. Does the normal distribution yield a good approximation of the actual results?
in Appendix A in the text and are also b. The mean distance from the center of the city is 14.629 miles, with a standard deviation
of 4.874 miles. Use the normal distribution to estimate the number of homes 18 or more
on the text’s website. These data sets miles but less than 22 miles from the center of the city. Compare this to the actual re-
present the students with real-world sults. Does the normal distribution yield a good approximation of the actual results?

and more complex applications.

CHAPTER 5 b. In the Insert Function box, select Statistical as the cate-
gory, then scroll down to PERMUT in the Select a func-
Software Commands 5–1. The Excel Commands to determine the number of permuta-
tions shown on page 164 are:
a. Click on the Formulas tab in the top menu, then, on the
tion list. Click OK.
c. In the PERM box after Number, enter 8 and in the
far left, select Insert Function fx. Number_chosen box enter 3. The correct answer of 336
appears twice in the box.
Software examples using Excel, Mega-
Stat®, and Minitab are included through-
out the text. The explanations of the
computer input commands are placed at
the end of the text in Appendix C.

x
Answers to Self-Review 16–7 a.
Rank
The worked-out solutions to the Self-Reviews are provided x y x y d d2
at the end of the text in Appendix E. 805 23 5.5 1 4.5 20.25
777 62 3.0 9 26.0 36.00
820 60 8.5 8 0.5 0.25
682 40 1.0 4 23.0 9.00
777 70 3.0 10 27.0 49.00
810 28 7.0 2 5.0 25.00
805 30 5.5 3 2.5 6.25
840 42 10.0 5 5.0 25.00
777 55 3.0 7 24.0 16.00
820 51 8.5 6 2.5 6.25
0 193.00

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BY S E C T I O N
Section Reviews A REVIEW OF CHAPTERS 1–4
After selected groups of chapters This section is a review of the major concepts and terms introduced in Chapters 1–4. Chapter 1 began by describing the
meaning and purpose of statistics. Next we described the different types of variables and the four levels of measurement.
(1–4, 5–7, 8 and 9, 10–12, 13 and Chapter 2 was concerned with describing a set of observations by organizing it into a frequency distribution and then portray-
14, 15 and 16, and 17 and 18), a ing the frequency distribution as a histogram or a frequency polygon. Chapter 3 began by describing measures of location,
such as the mean, weighted mean, median, geometric mean, and mode. This chapter also included measures of dispersion,
Section Review is included. Much or spread. Discussed in this section were the range, variance, and standard deviation. Chapter 4 included several graphing
techniques such as dot plots, box plots, and scatter diagrams. We also discussed the coefficient of skewness, which reports
like a review before an exam, these the lack of symmetry in a set of data.
Lin20522_ch04_093-130.indd Page 129 07/11/13 6:44 PM user-f-w-198 /201/MH02018/Lin20522_disk1of1/0078020522/Lin20522_pagefiles
include a brief overview of the
chapters and problems for review.

Cases C A S E S
A. Century National Bank balances for the four branches. Is there a difference
among the branches? Be sure to explain the difference
The review also includes continuing The following case will appear in subsequent review sec-
tions. Assume that you work in the Planning Department of between the mean and the median in your report.
3. Determine the range and the standard deviation of the
cases and several small cases that the Century National Bank and report to Ms. Lamberg. You
will need to do some data analysis and prepare a short writ- checking account balances. What do the first and third
let students make decisions using ten report. Remember, Mr. Selig is the president of the bank, quartiles show? Determine the coefficient of skewness
and indicate what it shows. Because Mr. Selig does not
so you will want to ensure that your report is complete and
tools and techniques from a variety accurate. A copy of the data appears in Appendix A.6. deal with statistics daily, include a brief description and
interpretation of the standard deviation and other
Century National Bank has offices in several cities in
of chapters. the Midwest and the southeastern part of the United States. measures.
Mr. Dan Selig, president and CEO, would like to know the
characteristics of his checking account customers. What is
the balance of a typical customer? B. Wildcat Plumbing Supply Inc.: Do We
How many other bank services do the checking ac- Have Gender Differences?
count customers use? Do the customers use the ATM ser- Wildcat Plumbing Supply has served the plumbing needs of
vice and, if so, how often? What about debit cards? Who Southwest Arizona for more than 40 years. The company
uses them, and how often are they used? was founded by Mr. Terrence St. Julian and is run today by

Practice Test
P R A C T I C E T E S T
The Practice Test is intended to
There is a practice test at the end of each review section. The tests are in two parts. The first part contains several objective
give students an idea of content questions, usually in a fill-in-the-blank format. The second part is problems. In most cases, it should take 30 to 45 minutes to
complete the test. The problems require a calculator. Check the answers in the Answer Section in the back of the book.
that might appear on a test and
Part 1—Objective
how the test might be structured. 1. The science of collecting, organizing, presenting, analyzing, and interpreting data to assist in
The Practice Test includes both making effective decisions is called .
2. Methods of organizing, summarizing, and presenting data in an informative way are
1.

objective questions and problems called .

3. The entire set of individuals or objects of interest or the measurements obtained from all
2.

covering the material studied in individuals or objects of interest are called the . 3.
4. List the two types of variables. 4.
the section.

xi
W H AT T E C H N O L O G Y C O N N E C T S S T U D E N T S
T O B U S I N E S S S TAT I S T I C S?

MCGRAW-HILL CONNECT®
BUSINESS STATISTICS
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• Provides instant practice material and study questions, easily accessible on the go.

xii
LearnSmart
Students want to make the best use of their study time. The LearnSmart adaptive self-study technology within
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xiii
For more information about Connect, go to www.mcgrawhillconnect.com, or contact your local McGraw-Hill
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xiv
W H AT S O F T WA R E I S AVA I L A B L E W I T H
THIS TEXT?

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tations. MegaStat performs statistical analyses within an Excel workbook. When a MegaStat menu item is se-
lected, a dialog box pops up for data selection and options. Since MegaStat is an easy-to-use extension of
Excel, students can focus on learning statistics without being distracted by the software. Ease-of-use features
include Auto Expand for quick data selection and Auto Label detect.
MegaStat does most calculations found in introductory statistics textbooks, such as descriptive statistics, fre-
quency distributions, and probability calculations as well as hypothesis testing, ANOVA chi-square, and regres-
sion (simple and multiple). MegaStat output is carefully formatted and appended to an output worksheet.
Video tutorials are included that provide a walkthrough using MegaStat for typical business statistics topics. A
context-sensitive help system is built into MegaStat and a User’s Guide is included in PDF format.

MINITAB®/SPSS®/JMP®
Minitab® Student Version 14, SPSS® Student Version 18.0, and JMP® Student Edition Version 8 are software
tools that are available to help students solve the business statistics exercises in the text. Each can be packaged
with any McGraw-Hill business statistics text.

xv
WHAT R E SO U RC E S AR E AVAI L AB LE FO R I N STR UC TO R S?

ONLINE LEARNING CENTER:

www.mhhe.com/lind16e
The Online Learning Center (OLC) provides the instructor with a complete Instructor’s Manual in Word format, the
complete Test Bank in both Word files and computerized EZ Test format, Instructor PowerPoint slides, text art
files, an introduction to ALEKS®, an introduction to McGraw-Hill Connect Business StatisticsTM, and more.

All test bank questions are available in an EZ Test electronic format. Included are a number of multiple-choice,
true/false, and short-answer questions and problems. The answers to all questions are given, along with a rating
of the level of difficulty, chapter goal the question tests, Bloom’s taxonomy question type, and the AACSB knowl-
edge category.

WebCT/Blackboard/eCollege
All of the material in the Online Learning Center is also
available in portable WebCT, Blackboard, or eCollege
content “cartridges” provided free to adopters of this
text.

xvi
W H AT R E S O U R C E S A R E AVA I L A B L E F O R S T U D E N T S?

ALEKS is an assessment and learning

program that provides individualized in-
struction in Business Statistics, Busi-
ness Math, and Accounting. Available
online, ALEKS interacts with students
much like a skilled human tutor, with the
ability to assess precisely a student’s
knowledge and provide instruction on
the exact topics the student is most
ready to learn. By providing topics to
meet individual students’ needs, allow-
ing students to move between explana-
tion and practice, correcting and
analyzing errors, and defining terms,
ALEKS helps students to master course
content quickly and easily.

ALEKS also includes a new instructor module with powerful, assignment-driven fea-
tures and extensive content flexibility. ALEKS simplifies course management and al-
lows instructors to spend less time with administrative tasks and more time directing
student learning. To learn more about ALEKS, visit www.aleks.com.

ONLINE LEARNING CENTER:

www.mhhe.com/lind16e
The Online Learning Center (OLC) provides students with the following content:
• Quizzes
• PowerPoints
• Data sets/files
• Appendixes
• Chapter 20

BUSINESS STATISTICS CENTER (BSC):

www.mhhe.com/bstat
The BSC contains links to statistical publications and resources,
software downloads, learning aids, statistical websites and
databases, and McGraw-Hill product websites and online
courses.

xvii
AC K N O W L E D G M E N T S

This edition of Statistical Techniques in Business and Economics is the product of many people: students, colleagues, reviewers,
and the staff at McGraw-Hill/Irwin. We thank them all. We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the survey and focus group par-
ticipants, and the reviewers:

Reviewers Mark Gius Ed Pappanastos

Quinnipiac University Troy University
Sung K. Ahn Clifford B. Hawley Michelle Ray Parsons
Washington State University– West Virginia University Aims Community College
Pullman Peter M. Hutchinson Robert Patterson
Vaughn S. Armstrong Saint Vincent College Penn State University
Utah Valley University Lloyd R. Jaisingh Joseph Petry
Scott Bailey Morehead State University University of Illinois at Urbana-
Troy University Ken Kelley Champaign
Douglas Barrett University of Notre Dame Germain N. Pichop
University of North Alabama Mark Kesh Oklahoma City Community College
Arnab Bisi University of Texas Tammy Prater
Purdue University Melody Kiang Alabama State University
Pamela A. Boger California State University–Long Michael Racer
Ohio University–Athens Beach University of Memphis
Emma Bojinova Morris Knapp Darrell Radson
Canisius College Miami Dade College Drexel University
Ann Brandwein David G. Leupp Steven Ramsier
Baruch College University of Colorado–Colorado Florida State University
Giorgio Canarella State Emily N. Roberts
California State University–Los Teresa Ling University of Colorado–Denver
Angeles Seattle University Christopher W. Rogers
Lee Cannell Cecilia Maldonado Miami Dade College
El Paso Community College Georgia Southwestern State Stephen Hays Russell
James Carden University Weber State University
University of Mississippi John D. McGinnis Martin Sabo
Mary Coe Pennsylvania State–Altoona Community College of Denver
St. Mary College of California Mary Ruth J. McRae Farhad Saboori
Anne Davey Appalachian State University Albright College
Northeastern State University Jackie Miller Amar Sahay
Neil Desnoyers The Ohio State University Salt Lake Community College and
Drexel University Carolyn Monroe University of Utah
Nirmal Devi Baylor University Abdus Samad
Embry Riddle Aeronautical Valerie Muehsam Utah Valley University
University Sam Houston State University Nina Sarkar
David Doorn Tariq Mughal Queensborough Community College
University of Minnesota–Duluth University of Utah Roberta Schini
Ronald Elkins Elizabeth J. T. Murff West Chester University of
Central Washington University Eastern Washington University Pennsylvania
Vickie Fry Quinton Nottingham Robert Smidt
Westmoreland County Community Virginia Polytechnic Institute and California Polytechnic State
College State University University
Xiaoning Gilliam René Ordonez Gary Smith
Texas Tech University Southern Oregon University Florida State University

xviii
Stanley D. Stephenson Philip Boudreaux Shaomin Huang
Texas State University–San Marcos University of Louisiana at Lafayette Lewis-Clark State College
Debra Stiver Nancy Brooks J. Morgan Jones
University of Nevada–Reno University of Vermont University of North Carolina at
Bedassa Tadesse Qidong Cao Chapel Hill
University of Minnesota–Duluth Winthrop University Michael Kazlow
Stephen Trouard Margaret M. Capen Pace University
Mississippi College East Carolina University John Lawrence
Elzbieta Trybus California State University–Fullerton
Robert Carver
California State University– Stonehill College Sheila M. Lawrence
Northridge Rutgers, The State University of
Jan E. Christopher
Daniel Tschopp New Jersey
Delaware State University
Daemen College Jae Lee
James Cochran State University of New York at
Sue Umashankar
Louisiana Tech University New Paltz
University of Arizona
Farideh Dehkordi-Vakil Rosa Lemel
Bulent Uyar
Western Illinois University Kean University
University of Northern Iowa
Jesus M. Valencia Brant Deppa Robert Lemke
Slippery Rock University Winona State University Lake Forest College
Joseph Van Matre Bernard Dickman Francis P. Mathur
University of Alabama at Hofstra University California State Polytechnic
Birmingham Casey DiRienzo University, Pomona
Raja Vatti Elon University Ralph D. May
St. John’s University Erick M. Elder Southwestern Oklahoma State
Holly Verhasselt University of Arkansas at Little University
University of Houston–Victoria Rock Richard N. McGrath
Angie Waits Nicholas R. Farnum Bowling Green State University
Gadsden State Community College California State University–Fullerton Larry T. McRae
Bin Wang K. Renee Fister Appalachian State University
St. Edwards University Murray State University Dragan Miljkovic
Kathleen Whitcomb Gary Franko Southwest Missouri State
University of South Carolina Siena College University
Blake Whitten John M. Miller
Maurice Gilbert
University of Iowa Sam Houston State University
Troy State University
Oliver Yu Cameron Montgomery
Deborah J. Gougeon
San Jose State University Delta State University
University of Scranton
Zhiwei Zhu Broderick Oluyede
Christine Guenther Georgia Southern University
University of Louisiana Pacific University
Andrew Paizis
Charles F. Harrington Queens College
University of Southern Indiana
Survey and Focus Group Andrew L. H. Parkes
Participants Craig Heinicke University of Northern Iowa
Baldwin-Wallace College
Paul Paschke
Nawar Al-Shara George Hilton Oregon State University
American University Pacific Union College Srikant Raghavan
Charles H. Apigian Cindy L. Hinz Lawrence Technological
Middle Tennessee State University St. Bonaventure University University
Nagraj Balakrishnan Johnny C. Ho Surekha K. B. Rao
Clemson University Columbus State University Indiana University Northwest

xix
Timothy J. Schibik William Stein Lee J. Van Scyoc
University of Southern Indiana Texas A&M University University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh
Carlton Scott Robert E. Stevens Stuart H. Warnock
University of California, Irvine University of Louisiana at Monroe Tarleton State University
Samuel L. Seaman Debra Stiver Mark H. Witkowski
Baylor University University of Nevada–Reno University of Texas at San
Scott J. Seipel Ron Stunda Antonio
Middle Tennessee State University Birmingham-Southern College William F. Younkin
Sankara N. Sethuraman Edward Sullivan University of Miami
Augusta State University Lebanon Valley College Shuo Zhang
Daniel G. Shimshak Dharma Thiruvaiyaru State University of New York,
University of Massachusetts, Augusta State University Fredonia
Boston Daniel Tschopp Zhiwei Zhu
Robert K. Smidt Daemen College University of Louisiana at
California Polytechnic State Bulent Uyar Lafayette
University University of Northern Iowa
Their suggestions and thorough reviews of the previous edition and the manuscript of this edi-
tion make this a better text.
Special thanks go to a number of people. Professor Malcolm Gold, Avila University, reviewed
the page proofs and the solutions manual, checking text and exercises for accuracy. Professor
Jose Lopez–Calleja, Miami Dade College–Kendall, prepared the test bank. Professor Vickie Fry,
Westmoreland County Community College, accuracy checked the Connect exercises.
We also wish to thank the staff at McGraw-Hill. This includes Thomas Hayward, Senior Brand
Manager; Kaylee Putbrese, Development Editor; Diane Nowaczyk, Content Project Manager; and
others we do not know personally, but who have made valuable contributions.

xx
E N H A N C E M E N T S T O S TAT I S T I C A L T E C H N I Q U E S
I N B U S I N E S S & E C O N O M I C S , 16 E

MAJOR CHANGES MADE TO INDIVIDUAL • Revised Self-Review 6–4 applying the binomial distribution.
CHAPTERS: • New exercise 10 using the number of “underwater” loans.
• New exercise using a raffle at a local golf club to demon-
CHAPTER 1 What Is Statistics? strate probability and expected returns.
• New photo and chapter opening exercise on the Nook Color
sold by Barnes & Noble. CHAPTER 7 Continuous Probability Distributions
• New introduction with new graphic showing the increasing • Updated Statistics in Action.
amount of information collected and processed with new • Revised Self-Review 7–2 based on daily personal water
technologies. consumption.
• New ordinal scale example based on rankings of states • Revised explanation of the Empirical Rule as it relates to the
based on business climate. normal distribution.
• The chapter includes several new examples.
• Chapter is more focused on the revised learning objectives CHAPTER 8 Sampling Methods and the Central
and improving the chapter’s flow. Limit Theorem
• Revised exercise 17 is based on economic data. • New example of simple random sampling and the applica-
tion of the table of random numbers.
CHAPTER 2 Describing Data: Frequency • The discussions of systematic random, stratified random,
Tables, Frequency Distributions, and Graphic and cluster sampling have been revised.
Presentation • Revised exercise 44 based on the price of a gallon of milk.
• Revised Self-Review 2–3 to include data.
• Updated the company list in revised exercise 38.
CHAPTER 9 Estimation and Confidence Intervals
• New or revised exercises 45, 47, and 48. • New Statistics in Action describing EPA fuel economy.
• New separate section on point estimates.
CHAPTER 3 Describing Data: Numerical • Integration and application of the central limit theorem.
Measures • A revised simulation demonstrating the interpretation of
• Reorganized chapter based on revised learning objectives. confidence level.
• Replaced the mean deviation with more emphasis on the • New presentation on using the t table to find z values.
variance and standard deviation. • A revised discussion of determining the confidence interval
• Updated statistics in action. for the population mean.
• Expanded section on calculating sample size.
CHAPTER 4 Describing Data: Displaying and • New exercise 12 (milk consumption).
Exploring Data
• Updated exercise 22 with 2012 New York Yankee player CHAPTER 10 One-Sample Tests of Hypothesis
salaries. • New example/solution involving airport parking.
• Revised software solution and explanation of p-values.
CHAPTER 5 A Survey of Probability Concepts
• New exercises 17 (daily water consumption) and 19 (number
• New explanation of odds compared to probabilities. of text messages by teenagers).
• New exercise 21. • Conducting a test of hypothesis about a population propor-
• New example/solution for demonstrating contingency tables tion is moved to Chapter 15.
and tree diagrams. • New example introducing the concept of hypothesis
• New contingency table exercise 31. testing.
• Revised example/solution demonstrating the combination • Sixth step added to the hypothesis testing procedure em-
formula. phasizing the interpretation of the hypothesis test results.

CHAPTER 6 Discrete Probability Distributions CHAPTER 11 Two-Sample Tests of Hypothesis

• Revised the section on the binomial distribution. • New introduction to the chapter.
• Revised example/solution demonstrating the binomial • Section of two-sample tests about proportions moved to
distribution. Chapter 15.

xxi
 • Changed subscripts in example/solution for easier CHAPTER 15 Nonparametric Methods: Nominal
understanding. Level Hypothesis Tests
• Updated exercise with 2012 New York Yankee player • Moved and renamed chapter.
salaries.
• Moved one-sample and two-sample tests of proportions
CHAPTER 12 Analysis of Variance from Chapters 10 and 11 to Chapter 15.
• New example introducing goodness-of-fit tests.
• New introduction to the chapter.
• Removed the graphical methods to evaluate normality.
• New exercise 24 using the speed of browsers to search the
Internet. • Revised section on contingency table analysis with a new
example/solution.
• Revised exercise 33 comparing learning in traditional versus
online courses. • Revised Data Set exercises.
• New section on Comparing Two Population Variances. CHAPTER 16 Nonparametric Methods: Analysis
• New example illustrating the comparison of variances. of Ordinal Data
• Revised section on two-way ANOVA with interaction with • Moved and renamed chapter.
new examples and revised example/solution.
• New example/solution and self-review demonstrating a
• Revised the names of the airlines in the one-way ANOVA hypothesis test about the median.
example.
• New example/solution demonstrating the rank-order
• Changed the subscripts in example/solution for easier correlation.
understanding.
• New exercise 30 (flight times between Los Angeles and CHAPTER 17 Index Numbers
San Francisco). • Moved chapter to follow nonparametric statistics.
• Updated dates, illustrations, and examples.
CHAPTER 13 Correlation and Linear Regression
• Revised example/solution demonstrating the use of the Pro-
• Rewrote the introduction section to the chapter. duction Price Index to deflate sales dollars.
• The data used as the basis for the North American Copier • Revised example/solution demonstrating the comparison of
Sales example/solution used throughout the chapter has the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq using
been changed and expanded to 15 observations to more indexing.
clearly demonstrate the chapter’s learning objectives.
• New self-review about using indexes to compare two differ-
• Revised section on transforming data using the economic ent measures over time.
relationship between price and sales.
• Revised Data Set Exercise.
• New exercises 35 (transforming data), 36 (Masters prizes
and scores), 43 (2012 NFL points scored versus points CHAPTER 18 Time Series and Forecasting
allowed), 44 (store size and sales), and 61 (airline distance • Moved chapter to follow nonparametric statistics and index
and fare). numbers.
• Updated dates, illustrations, and examples.
CHAPTER 14 Multiple Regression Analysis
• Revised section on the components of a time series.
• Rewrote the section on evaluating the multiple regression
• Revised graphics for better illustration.
equation.
• More emphasis on the regression ANOVA table. CHAPTER 19 Statistical Process Control and
• Enhanced the discussion of the p-value in decision making. Quality Management
• More emphasis on calculating the variance inflation factor to • Updated 2012 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
evaluate multicollinearity. winners.

xxii
BRIEF CONTENTS

1 What Is Statistics? 1
2 Describing Data: Frequency Tables, Frequency Distributions, and
Graphic Presentation 17
3 Describing Data: Numerical Measures 50
4 Describing Data: Displaying and Exploring Data 93 Review Section

5 A Survey of Probability Concepts 131

6 Discrete Probability Distributions 173
7 Continuous Probability Distributions 206 Review Section

8 Sampling Methods and the Central Limit Theorem 247

9 Estimation and Confidence Intervals 279 Review Section

10 One-Sample Tests of Hypothesis 315

11 Two-Sample Tests of Hypothesis 348
12 Analysis of Variance 379 Review Section

13 Correlation and Linear Regression 426

14 Multiple Regression Analysis 476 Review Section

15 Nonparametric Methods: Nominal Level Hypothesis Tests 533

16 Nonparametric Methods: Analysis of Ordinal Data 570 Review Section

17 Index Numbers 608

18 Time Series and Forecasting 639 Review Section

19 Statistical Process Control and Quality Management 682

20 An Introduction to Decision Theory On the website:
www.mhhe.com/lind16e
Appendixes:
Data Sets, Tables, Software Commands, Answers 716

Glossary 816
Photo Credits 822
Index 823

xxiii
CONTENTS

A Note from the Authors vi

EXERCISES 40
1 What Is Statistics? 1
Chapter Summary 41
Introduction 2
Chapter Exercises 42
Why Study Statistics? 2
Data Set Exercises 49
What Is Meant by Statistics? 3
Types of Statistics 4
Descriptive Statistics 4
Inferential Statistics 5 3 Describing Data:
Types of Variables 6 Numerical Measures 50
Levels of Measurement 7 Introduction 51
Nominal-Level Data 7 Measures of Location 51
Ordinal-Level Data 8 The Population Mean 52
Interval-Level Data 9 The Sample Mean 53
Ratio-Level Data 10 Properties of the Arithmetic Mean 54
EXERCISES 11 EXERCISES 55
Ethics and Statistics 12 The Median 56
Computer Software Applications 12 The Mode 58
Chapter Summary 13 EXERCISES 60
Chapter Exercises 14 The Relative Positions of the Mean,
Median, and Mode 61
Data Set Exercises 16
EXERCISES 62
Software Solution 63
2 Describing Data: The Weighted Mean 64
Frequency Tables, EXERCISES 65
Frequency Distributions, The Geometric Mean 65
and Graphic EXERCISES 67
Presentation 17 Why Study Dispersion? 68
Introduction 18 Range 69
Constructing Frequency Tables 19 Variance 70

Relative Class Frequencies 20 EXERCISES 72

Graphic Presentation of Qualitative Data 20 Population Variance 73

Population Standard Deviation 75
EXERCISES 24
EXERCISES 75
Constructing Frequency Distributions 25
Sample Variance and Standard
Relative Frequency Distribution 30 Deviation 76
EXERCISES 31 Software Solution 77
Graphic Presentation of a Frequency EXERCISES 78
Distribution 32 Interpretation and Uses of the Standard
Histogram 32 Deviation 78
Frequency Polygon 34 Chebyshev’s Theorem 78
EXERCISES 36 The Empirical Rule 79
Cumulative Frequency Distributions 37 EXERCISES 80

xxiv
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 “Justice is justice,” he said, “Miss Elsie, whether one is poor or rich. To
hunt the poor is what I would never do; but if they are right who told me,
there are others passing themselves off under the shield of the poor, that are
quite well able to pay their debts—more able than we are to do without the
money: and that is just what I want to ask Mr. Buchanan, who is sure to
know.”
It seemed to Elsie that the sands, and the rocks, and the cliffs beyond
were all turning round and round, and that the solid earth sank under her
feet. “Mr. Buchanan, who is sure to know,” she said to herself under her
breath. Oh yes, he was sure to know. He would look into the face of this
careless boy, who understood nothing about it, and he would say—what
would he say? It made Elsie sick and faint to think of her father—her father,
the minister, the example to all men—brought face to face with this
temptation, against which she had heard him struggling, which she had
heard him adopting, without knowing what it meant, six years ago. No, he
had not been struggling against it. He had been struggling with it, trying to
convince himself that it was just and right. This came upon her like a flash
of lightning, as she took a few devious steps forward. Then Frank’s outcry,
“You are ill, Miss Elsie!” brought her back to herself.
“No, I am not ill,” she said, standing still by the rocks, and taking hold of
a glistening pinnacle covered with seaweed, to support herself for a
moment, till everything settled down. “I am not ill: I am just thinking,” she
kept her head turned away, and looked out upon the level of the sea, very
blue and rippled over with wavelets in its softest summer guise, with a faint
rim of white showing in the distance against the red sand and faint green
banks of the Forfar coast. Of all things in this world to make the heart sick,
there is nothing like facing a moral crisis, which some one you love is about
to go through, without any feeling of certainty that he will meet it in the one
only right way. “Oh, if it was only me!” Elsie sighed, from the bottom of
her heart.
You will think it was the deepest presumption on her part, to think she
could meet the emergency better than her father would. And so it was, and
yet not so at all. It was only that there were no doubts in her mind, and there
were doubts, she knew, inconceivable doubts, shadows, self-deceptions, on
his. A great many thoughts went through her mind, as she stood thus
looking across the level of the calm sea—although it was scarcely for a
minute altogether, that she underwent this faintness and sickening, which
was both physical and mental. The cold touch of the wet rock, the slipping
tangles of dark green leathery dulse which made her grasp slip, brought her
to herself, and brought her colour rushing back. She turned round to Frank
with a smile, which made the young man’s heart beat.
“But I am awfully anxious not to have papa disturbed,” she said. “You
know he is not just like other folk; and when he is interrupted at his writing
it breaks the—the thread of his thoughts, and sometimes he cannot get back
the particular thing he was meditating upon (it seemed to Elsie that the right
words were coming to her lips, though she did not know how, like a sort of
inspiration which overawed, and yet uplifted her). And then perhaps it will
be his sermon that will suffer, and he always suffers himself when that is
so.”
“He has very little occasion to suffer in that way,” cried Frank, “for
every one says—and I think so myself, but I am no judge—that there is no
one that preaches like him, either in the town or through all Fife. I should
say more than that—for I never in London heard any sermons that I listened
to as I do to his.”
Elsie beamed upon her lover like the morning sun. It was strictly true to
the letter, but, whether there might be anything in the fact, that none of
these discredited preachers in London were father to Elsie, need not be
inquired. It gave the minister’s daughter a keen pang of pleasure to hear this
flattering judgment. It affected her more than her mother’s
recommendation, or any of her own serious thoughts. She felt for a moment
as if she could even love Frank Mowbray, and get to think him the first of
men.
“Come and let me see the new beast,” she said, with what was to Frank
the most enchanting smile.
 CHAPTER XVIII.

JOHNNY WEMYSS.

Johnny Wemyss was not perhaps at that moment a figure precisely

adapted to please a maiden’s eye, nor would any other lad in St. Rule’s have
cared to present himself before a young lady whom he regarded with
interest, under his present aspect. His trousers were doubled up as far as
was practicable, upon legs which were not models of shapeliness nor even
of strength, being thin and wiry “shanks,” capable of any amount of fatigue
or exertion, but showing none of these qualities. His arms, much like these
lower members, were also uncovered up to the elbow, his blue pea-jacket
had a deposit of sand in every wrinkle, and the broad blue bonnet on his
head had scraps of very vivid green sea-weed clinging to it, showing how
Johnny’s head, as well as his arms and legs, had been in contact with the
recesses of the rocks. It was pushed back from his forehead, and he was
holding out at the length of his hairy, sinewy arm, a thing which was
calculated to call forth sentiments rather of disgust than of admiration, in
persons not affected with that sympathetic interest in the researches of
Johnny, which St. Rule’s in general was now beginning to feel. It was a
variety of that family of the Medusa, called in St. Rule’s jelly fish, which
fringe all the sands along that coast after a storm. Elsie had got over the
repugnance to touch the clammy creatures, which is common to
uninstructed persons, and was eager to have the peculiarity in its transparent
structure pointed out to her, which marked it as a discovery. But Johnny was
neither so animated in its exposition, nor so enthusiastic over the beauty of
his prize, as he had been on many previous and less important occasions.
He had been a witness of Elsie’s progress, since Frank Mowbray had joined
her. He had seen her pause by the rocks to recover herself from something,
he could not tell what. Was it not very likely at least that it was a more full
disclosure of Frank’s sentiments—which, indeed, nobody in St. Rule’s had
any doubt about the nature of—which suddenly overcame a vigorous,
healthful girl like Elsie, and made her lean against the wet rocks which
were under water at full tide, and grasp the tangles of the dulse for support?
Nothing could be more probable, nay, certain. And when Elsie turned
towards her lover with that smile which the other half saw, and most clearly
divined, and led him back with her triumphant, what other hypothesis could
account for it? Johnny could follow with the most delicate nicety the
conclusions that were to be drawn from the transparent lines of colour in the
round clammy disc he held quivering in his hand; but he could not tell, how
could he; having no data to go upon, and being quite incapable, as science
will probably always continue to be of such a task, to decipher what was in
a single quivering heart, though it might be of much more consequence to
him. He watched them coming along together, Frank Mowbray suddenly
changed from the commonplace comrade, never quite trusted as one of
themselves by the young men of St. Rule’s, though admitted to a certain
cordiality and good fellowship—coming along transfigured, beaming all
over, his very clothes, always so much more dainty than anybody else’s,
giving out a radiation of glory—the admired yet contemned spats upon his
feet, unconsciously stepping as if to music: and altogether with a
conquering hero aspect, which made Johnny long to throttle him, though
Johnny was perhaps the most peaceable of all the youths of his time. An
unconscious “confound him” surged up to the lips of the naturalist, himself
so triumphant a minute ago in the glory of his discovery; and for one
dreadful moment, Johnny felt disposed to pitch his Medusæ back into the
indifferent water, which would have closed over it as calmly as though it
had been the most lowly and best known of its kind. For what was the good
of anything, even an original discovery, if such a thing was permitted to be
under the skies, as that a girl such as Elsie Buchanan should elect out of all
the world the like of Frank Mowbray, half-hearted Scot, dandy, and trifler,
for her master? It was enough to disgust a man with all the courses of the
earth, and even with the finest unclassed Medusæ newly voyaged out of the
heart of the sea.
“Oh, Johnny,” Elsie said, hurrying towards him in all that glow and
splendour of triumph (as he thought). “I hear you have made a discovery, a
real discovery! Let me see it! and will it be figured in all the books, and
your name put to it? Wemyssea—or something of that kind.”
“I had thought of a different name,” said Johnny, darkly, “but I’ve
changed my mind.”
“What was that?” said Elsie, lightly taking hold of his arm in the easy
intimacy of a friendship that had lasted all her life—in order that she might
see more clearly the object limply held in his palm. “Tell me the
difference,” she said, throwing down her parcel, and putting her other hand
underneath his to bring the prize more distinctly within her view. The young
man turned deeply red up to his sandy hair, which curled round the edge of
his blue bonnet. He shrank a little from that careless touch. And Frank,
looking on with a half jealousy, quickly stifled by the more agreeable
thought that it was Elsie’s now distinctly identified preference of himself
which made her so wholly unconscious of any feeling on the part of the
other, laughed aloud out of pure delight and joy of heart.
“What are you laughing at?” said Johnny, gruffly, divining only too well
why Frank laughed.
“Show me,” said Elsie, “I think I can see something. You always said I
was the quickest to see. Is it this, and this?” she said, bending over the hand
which she held.
“Let me hold it for you,” said Frank.
“I can hold up my hand myself,” said Johnny; “I am wanting no
assistance. As I found it myself, I hope I am able to show it myself without
anybody interfering.”
Elsie withdrew her hand, and looked up surprised in his face, with one of
those appeals which are so much less answerable than words. She stood a
little aside while he began to expound his discovery. They had all caught a
few of the most superficial scientific terms from Johnny. Elsie would never
have spoken of the new thing being “figured” in a book, but for those little
technicalities of knowledge which he shed about him. And he had said that
she was the one of all his interested society who understood best. She was
the only one who knew what observation meant, the naturalist said. I think
that this was a mistake myself, and that he was chiefly led away by her
sympathy and by certain other sentiments of which it is unnecessary to
speak.
In the meantime, he explained with a mingled gruffness and languor
which Elsie did not understand.
“Oh, it’s perhaps not so great a discovery after all,” Johnny said. “I
daresay some fellow has noted it before. That’s what you always find when
you take it into your head you have got something new.”
“But you know all about the Medusæ,” said Elsie, “and you would be
sure to know if it had been discovered before.”
 “I’m not sure that I know anything,” said Johnny, despondently. He cast
the jelly fish out of his hand upon the sand. “We’re just, as Newton said,
like bairns picking up shells on the shore. We know nothing. It is maybe no
new thing at all, but just a variety that everybody knows.”
“Oh, Johnny, that is not like you!” cried Elsie, while the two young men
standing by, to whom this mood on Wemyss’s part was quite unknown,
gaped at him, vaguely embarrassed, not knowing what to say. Rodie had a
great desire to get away from a problem he could not understand, and Frank
was feeling a little guilty, he could scarcely tell why. Elsie got down on her
knees upon the sand, which was firm though wet, and, gathering a handful
of the dulse with its great wet stalks and hollow berries, made a bed for the
Medusæ, which, with some repugnance, she lifted on to the little heap.
“You will have to give me a new pair of gloves,” she said, looking up
with a laugh, “for I have spoilt these ones that are nearly new; and what will
my mother say? But though you think it is very weak, I cannot touch a jelly
fish—I am meaning a Medusa, which is certainly a far bonnier name—with
my bare hands. There now, it will go easy into a basket, or I would almost
carry it myself, with the dulse all about it; but to throw it away is what I
will never consent to, for if you think it is a discovery, I know it must be a
discovery, and it will be called after you, and a credit to us all.”
“It is a discovery,” cried Johnny, with a sudden change of mien. “I was a
fool. I am not going to give it up, whatever happens. The less that comes to
me in this world, the more I’ll keep to the little I’m sure of.” When he had
uttered this enigmatical sentence, which was one of those mystic utterances,
more imposing than wisdom, that fill every audience with confused
admiration, he snapped his fingers wildly, and executed a pas of triumph.
“It will make the London men stand about!” he said, “and I would just like
to know what the Professor will say to it! As for the name——”
“Oh, yes, Johnny, the name?”
“It will be time enough to think of that,” he said, looking at her with
mingled admiration and trouble. “Anyway, it is you that have saved it for
me,” he said.
“Frank,” said Rodie, “are you meaning to play your foursome with Raaf
and Alick, or are you not?”
“I thought you had turned me out of it,” said Frank.
 “Oh, go away and play your game!” Elsie commanded in a tone of relief.
“It is just the thing that is best for you idle laddies, with never a hand’s turn
to do in this world. I am going home as soon as I have seen Johnny take up
his new beast like a person of sense, after taking the pet at it like a silly
bairn. You are all silly, the whole tribe of you, for so much as you think of
yourselves. If you’re late, Alick and Raaf will just play a twosome, and
leave you out.”
“That’s what they’ll do,” Rodie pronounced, authoritatively. “Come
along, Frank.”
And Frank followed, though torn in pieces by attractions both ways. It
was hard to leave Elsie in so gracious a mood, and also with Johnny
Wemyss, who had displayed a quite unexpected side to-day: but Johnny
Wemyss did not, could not count, whatever he might feel: surely if there
was anything a man could calculate upon, it was that. And Frank was
sincerely pleased to be taken into favour again by that young despot, Rodie,
who in his capacity as Elsie’s brother, rode roughshod over Ralph Beaton
and was more respected than he had any right to be by several more of the
golf-playing community. So that it seemed a real necessity in present
circumstances, with the hopes of future games in mind, to follow him
docilely now.
“Why were you so petted, Johnny?” said Elsie, when reluctantly her
wooer had followed her brother in a run to the links.
“I was not petted,” said Johnny, with that most ineffectual reply which
consists of simple contradiction. In those days petted, that is the condition
of a spoilt child, was applied to all perverse moods and causeless fits of ill-
temper. I do not think that in current Scots literature, of which there are so
many examples, I remember the same use of the word now.
“Oh, but you were,” cried Elsie, laughing, “in a pet with your new beast,
and what could go further than that? I would not have been so much
surprised if you had been in a pet with Rodie or me.”
“There was occasion,” said Johnny, relapsing a little into the clouds.
“Why were you such friends with that empty-headed ass? And coming
along the sands smiling at him as if—as if——”
“As if what?” said Elsie. She laughed again, the laugh of conscious
power. She was not perhaps so fine a character as, considering all things,
she might have been expected to be.
 “Elsie,” said the young man, “it’s not me that shall name it. If it really
turns out to be something, as I think it will, I am going to call it after you.”
“A grand compliment,” cried the girl, with another peel of laughter. “A
jeely fish! But,” she added, quickly, “I think it is awfully nice of you,
Johnny; for those are the sort of things, I know, that you like best in the
world.”
“Not quite,” said the naturalist. “There are things I care for far more than
beasts, and if you don’t know that, you are not so quick at the uptake as I
have always thought you; but what is the good when I am nobody, and
never will be anybody, if I were to howk and ferret for new beasts till I
die!”
“Bide a wee, bide a wee,” said Elsie, laughing, but confused; “you will
be a placed minister, and as good as any of them; and what could ye have
better than that?”
“I am the most unfortunate man in the world,” said Johnny, “for you
know that, which is the only way for a poor lad like me, it is not what I
want.”
“And you are not blate to say so to me that am a minister’s daughter, and
very proud of it,” cried Elsie, with a flush of offence.
“That’s just the worst of it,” said Johnny, sadly, shaking his head, “for
maybe you, and certainly other folk, will believe indeed I am not blate,
thinking too much of myself, not to be content with a kirk if I could get one.
But you should know it isn’t that. I think too little of myself. Never could I
be a man like your father, that is one of the excellent of the earth. It is the
like of him, and not the like of me, that should be a minister. And then
whatever I was, and wherever I was,” he added, with a humility that was
almost comic, “I would always have something inside teasing me to be after
the beasts all the same.”
“What are you going to do with it now?” said Elsie, looking down at the
unconscious object of all this discussion, which lay semi-transparent, and a
little dulled in the delicate mauve colour of its interesting markings, on the
bed she had made of the tangles of the dulse at her feet.
“The first thing is, I will draw a picture of it, the best I can,” said Johnny,
rousing to something of his usual enthusiasm, “and then I will dissect it and
get at its secrets, and I will send the drawing and the account of it to
London—and then——”
 “And then?” repeated Elsie.
“I will just wait,” he said. His eyes which had been lighted up with
eagerness and spirit sank, and he shrugged his shoulders and shook his
head. “Just as likely as not I will never hear word of it more. That’s been
my fate already. I must just steel myself not to hope.”
“Johnny, do you mean that you have sent up other things like this, and
got no good of them?”
“Aye,” he said, without looking up. He was not a cheerful figure, with
his head bent on his breast, and his eyes fixed on the strange prize—was it a
mere clammy inanimate thing, or was it progress, and fame, and fortune?—
which lay at his feet. Elsie did not know what to say.
“And you standing there with wet feet, and everything damp and cold
about you,” she cried, with a sudden outburst. “Go home this moment,
Johnny Wemyss; this time it will be different. I’m not a prophet and how
should I know? But this time it will be different. How are you to get it
home?”
He took his blue bonnet from his head, with a low laugh, and placed the
specimen in it.
“Nobody minds,” he said, smoothing down his sleeves. “I am as often
without my bonnet as with it. They say it’s only Johnny Wemyss: but I’m
not fit to walk by the side of a bonnie princess like you.”
“I am coming with you all the same,” Elsie said.
They were, indeed, a very unlikely pair. The girl in all her prettiness of
summer costume, the young man, damp, sandy, and bareheaded, carrying
his treasure. So far as the sands extended, however, there was no one to
mark the curious conjunction, and they went lightly over the firm wet sand
within high-water mark, talking little, but with a perfect familiarity and
kindness of companionship which was more exquisite than the heats and
chills through which Frank Mowbray had passed, when Elsie for her own
purposes had led him back. Elsie kept step with Johnny’s large tread, she
had an air of belonging to him which came from the intimate intercourse of
years; and though the social distinction between the minister’s daughter and
the fisherman’s son was very marked, externally, it was evidently quite
blotted out in fact by a closer fraternity. Elsie was not ashamed of him, nor
was Johnny proud of her, so far as their difference of position was
concerned. He was proud of her in another sense, but she quite as much of
him.
“I will call it ‘Princess Elsie,’ ” he said at last. “I will put it in Latin: or
else I will call it ‘Alicia:’ for Elsie and Alison and all are from Alice, which
is just the bonniest name in the world.”
“Nonsense,” she said, “there are many that are much bonnier. I don’t
think Alison is very bonny, it is old-fashioned; but it was my grandmother’s
name, and I like it for that.”
“It is just the bonniest name in all the world,” he repeated, softly; but
next moment they had climbed from the sands to the smooth ground near
the old castle, and from thenceforward Johnny Wemyss was the centre of a
moving group, made up of boys and girls, and an occasional golfer, and a
fisher or two, and, in short, everybody about; for Johnny Wemyss was
known to everybody, and his particular pursuits were the sport, and interest,
and pride of the town.
“He has found a new beast.”
“Oh, have you found a new beast? Oh Johnny, let us see it, let us see it!
Oh, but it’s nothing but a jeely-fish,” cried, in a number of voices, the little
crowd. Johnny walked calmly on, his bare head red in the sunshine, with
crisp short curls surrounding a forehead which was very white in the upper
part, where usually sheltered by his bonnet, and a fine red brown mahogany
tint below. Johnny was quite at his ease amid the encircling, shouting little
crowd, from out of which Elsie withdrew at the garden gate, with a wave of
her hand. He had no objection to their questions, their jests, their cries of
“Let us see it, Johnny!” It did not in the least trouble him that he was
Johnny to all the world, and his “new beast” the diversion of the town.
 CHAPTER XIX.

A CATASTROPHE.

Mrs. Mowbray was more restless than her maid, who had been with her
for many years, had ever seen her before. She was not at any time a model
of a tranquil woman, but ever since her arrival in St. Rule’s, her activity had
been incessant, and very disturbing to her household. She was neither quiet
during the day nor did she sleep at night. She was out and in of the house a
hundred times of a morning, and even when within doors was so
continually in motion, that the maids who belonged to the house, and had
been old Mr. Anderson’s servants, held a meeting, and decided that if things
went on like this, they would all “speak” when the appointed moment for
speaking came, and leave at the next term. Mrs. Mowbray’s own maid, who
was specially devoted to her, had a heavier thought on her mind; for the
mistress was so unlike herself, that it seemed to this good woman that she
must be “off her head,” or in a fair way of becoming so. There was no one
to take notice of this alarming condition of affairs, for what was to be
expected from Mr. Frank? He was a young man: he was taken up with his
own concerns. It was not to be supposed that his mother’s state would call
forth any anxiety on his part, until it went much further than it yet had gone.
And there were no intimate friends who could be appealed to. There was no
one to exercise any control, even if it had been certain that there was
occasion for exercising control. And that had not occurred as yet. But she
was so restless, that she could not keep still anywhere for half-an-hour. She
was constantly on the stairs, going up and down, or in the street, taking little
walks, making little calls, staying only a few minutes. She could not rest. In
the middle of the night, she might be seen up wandering about the house in
her dressing-gown, with a candle in her hand: though when any one was
startled, and awakened by the sound of her nocturnal wanderings, she was
always apologetic, explaining that she had forgotten something in the
drawing-room, or wanted a book.
But on the day when she had spoken to Frank, as already recorded, her
restlessness was more acute than ever. She asked him each time he came in,
whether he had “taken any steps;” though what step the poor boy could
have taken, he did not know, nor did she, except that one step of consulting
the minister, which was simple enough, but which, as has been seen, was
rendered difficult to Frank on the other side. The next day, that morning on
which Frank lost all his time on the East Sands, with Johnny Wemyss, and
his new beast, the poor lady could not contain herself at all. She sat down at
the window for a minute, and gazed out as if she were expecting some one;
then she jumped up, and went over all the rooms up-stairs, looking for
something, she said, which she could not find. She could not keep still. The
other servants began to compare opinions and to agree with the lady’s maid.
At last before twelve o’clock Mrs. Mowbray put on her “things,” for the
third or fourth time, and sallied forth, not dressed with her usual elaborate
nicety, but with a shawl too heavy for the warm day, and a bonnet which
was by no means her best bonnet. Perhaps there is no greater difference
between these times and ours, than the fact of the bonnet and shawl, as
opposed to the easier hat and jacket, which can be put on so quickly. Mrs.
Mowbray generally took a long time over the tying of her bonnet strings,
which indeed was a work of art. But in the hasty irregularity of that
morning she could not be troubled about the bonnet strings, but tied them
anyhow, not able to give her attention to the bows. It may easily be seen
what an agitation there must have been in her bosom, when she neglected
so important a point in her toilet. And her shawl was not placed carefully
round her shoulders, in what was supposed to be the elegant way, but
fastened about her neck like the shawl of any farmer’s wife. Nothing but
some very great disturbance of mind could account for an outward
appearance so incomplete.
“She’s going to see the minister,” said Hunter, her woman, to Janet, the
cook. Hunter had been unable to confine her trouble altogether to her own
breast. She did not indeed say what she feared, but she had confided her
anxiety about her mistress’s health in general to Janet, who was of a
discreet age, and knew something of life.
“Weel, aweel,” said Janet, soothingly, “she can never do better than
speak to the minister. He will soothe down her speerits, if onybody can; but
that’s not the shortest gait to the minister’s house.”
They stood together at the window, and watched her go up the street, the
morning sunshine throwing a shadow before her. At the other end of the
High Street, Johnny Wemyss had almost reached his own door, with ever a
new crowd following at his heels, demanding to see the new beast. And
Frank had started with his foursome in high spirits and hope, with the
remembrance of Elsie’s smile warm around him, like internal sunshine, and
the consciousness of an excellent drive over the burn, to add to his
exhilaration. Elsie had gone home, and was seated in the drawing-room, at
the old piano “practising,” as all the household was aware: it was the only
practicable time for that exercise, when it least disturbed the tranquillity of
papa, who, it was generally understood, did not begin to work till twelve
o’clock. And Mrs. Buchanan was busy up-stairs in a review of the family
linen, the napery being almost always in need of repair. Therefore the coast
was perfectly clear, and Mrs. Mowbray, reluctantly admitted by the maid,
who knew her visits were not over-welcome, ran up the stairs waving her
hand to Betty, who would fain have gone before her to fulfil the
requirements of decorum, and because she had received “a hearing” on the
subject from her mistress. “It is very ill-bred to let a visitor in, and not let
me or the minister know who’s coming. It is my desire you should always
go up-stairs before them, and open the door.” “But how could I,” Betty
explained afterwards, “when she just ran past me? I couldna put forth my
hand, and pull her down the stairs.”
Mrs. Mowbray had been walking very fast, and she ran up-stairs to the
minister’s study, which she knew so well, as rapidly and as softly as Elsie
could have done it. In consequence, when she opened the door, and asked,
breathless, “May I come in?” her words were scarcely audible in the
panting of her heart. She had to sit down, using a sort of pantomime to
excuse herself for nearly five minutes before she could speak.
“Oh, Mr. Buchanan! I have been so anxious to see you! I have run nearly
all the way.”
The minister pushed away the newspaper, which he had been caught
reading. It was the Courant day, when all the bottled-up news of the week
came to St. Rule’s. He sighed to be obliged to give it up in the middle of his
reading, and also because being found in no more serious occupation, he
could not pretend to be very busy, even if he had wished to do so.
“I hope it is nothing very urgent,” he said.
“Yes, it is urgent, very urgent! I thought Frank would have seen you
yesterday. I thought perhaps you would have paid more attention to him,
than you do to me.”
 “My dear Mrs. Mowbray! I hope you have not found me deficient in—in
interest or in attention,” the minister said.
He had still kept hold of the Courant by one corner. Now he threw it
away in a sort of despair. The same old story, he said to himself grievously,
with a sigh that came from the bottom of his heart.
“Do you know,” said the visitor, clasping her hands and resting them on
his table, “that Frank’s twenty-fifth birthday is on the fifth of next month?”
She looked at him as she had never done before. Her eyes might have
been anxious on previous occasions, but they were also full of other things:
they had light glances aside, a desire to please and charm, always the
consciousness of an effort to secure not only attention, but even admiration,
a consciousness of herself, of her fine manners, and elaborate dress, finer
than anything else in St. Rule’s. Now there was nothing of all this about her.
Her eyes seemed deepened in their sockets, as if a dozen years had passed
over her since she last looked thus at the minister. And she asked him that
question as if the date of her son’s birthday was the most tragic of facts, a
date which she anticipated with nothing less than despair.
“Is it really?” said the perplexed minister. “No, indeed, I did not know.”
“And you don’t seem to care either,” she cried, “you don’t care!”
Mr. Buchanan looked at her with a suspicious glance, as if presaging
some further assault upon his peace. But he said:
“I am very glad my young friend has come to such a pleasant age.
Everything has gone well with him hitherto, and he has come creditably
through what may be called the most perilous portion of his youth. He has
now a little experience, and power of discrimination, and I see no reason to
fear but that things will go as well with him in the future, as they seem
——”
“Oh,” cried Mrs. Mowbray, raising her clasped hands with a gesture of
despair, “is that all you have got to say, just what any old woman might say!
And what about me, Mr. Buchanan, what about me?”
“You!” he cried, rather harshly, for to be called an old woman is enough
to upset the patience of any man. “I don’t know what there is to think of
about you, except the satisfaction you must have in seeing Frank——”
She stamped her foot upon the floor; her eyes, which looked so hollow
and tragic, flamed up for a moment in wrath.
 “Oh, Frank, Frank! as if it were only Frank!” She paused a moment, and
then began again drawing a long breath. “I came to you in my despair. If
you can help me, I know not, or if any one can help me. It is that, or the
pierhead, or the Spindle rock, where a poor creature might slip in, and it
would be thought an accident, and she would never be heard of more.”
“Mrs. Mowbray! For God’s sake, what do you mean?”
“Ah, you ask me what I mean now? When I speak of the rocks and the
sea, then you begin to think. That is what must come, I know that is what
must come, unless,” she said, “unless”—holding out her hands still
convulsively clasped to him, “you can think of something. Oh, Mr.
Buchanan, if you can think of something, if you can make it up with that
money, if you can show me how I am to get it, how I can make it up! Oh,
will you save me, will you save me!” she cried, stumbling down upon her
knees on the other side of his table, holding up her hands, fixing her
strained eyes upon his face.
“Mrs. Mowbray!” he cried, springing up from his chair, “what is this?
rise up for Heaven’s sake, do not go on your knees to me. I will do anything
for you, anything I can do, surely you understand that—without this——”
“Oh, let me stay where I am! It is like asking it from God. You’re God’s,
minister, and I’m a poor creature, a poor nervous weak woman. I never
meant to do any harm. It was chiefly for my boy, that he might have
everything nice, everything that he wanted like a gentleman. Oh, Mr.
Buchanan! you may think I spent too much on my dress. So I did. I have
been senseless and wicked all round, but I never did more than other
women did. And I had no expenses besides. I never was extravagant, nor
played cards, nor anything. And that was for Frank, too, that he might not
be ashamed of his mother. Mr. Buchanan!”
“Rise up,” he said, desperately, “for goodness’ sake, don’t make us both
ridiculous. Sit down, and whatever it is, let us talk it over quietly. Oh, yes,
yes, I am very sorry for you. I am shocked and distressed beyond words. Sit
down rationally, for God’s sake, and tell me what it is. It is a matter, of
course,” he cried, sharply, with some impatience, “that whatever I can do, I
will do for you. There can be no need to implore me like this! of course I
will do everything I can—of course. Mrs. Mowbray, sit down, for the love
of heaven, and let me know what it is.”
 She had risen painfully to her feet while he was speaking. Going down
on your knees may be a picturesque thing, but getting up from them,
especially in petticoats, and in a large shawl, is not a graceful operation at
all, and this, notwithstanding her despair, poor Mrs. Mowbray was vaguely
conscious of. She stumbled to her feet, her skirts tripping her up, the
corners of her shawl getting in her way. The poor woman had begun to cry.
It was wonderful that she had been able to restrain herself so long; but she
was old enough to be aware that a woman’s tears are just as often
exasperating as pathetic to a man, and had heroically restrained the impulse.
But when she fell on her knees, she lost her self-control. That was begging
the question altogether. She had given up her position as a tragic and
dignified appellant. She was nothing but a poor suppliant now, at anybody’s
mercy, quite broken down, and overmastered by her trouble. It did not
matter to her any longer what anyone thought. The state of mind in which
she had dared to tell the minister that he spoke like an old woman, was gone
from her completely. He was like God, he could save her, if he would; she
could not tell how, there was no reason in her hope, but if he only would,
somehow he could, save her—that was all her thought.
“Now, tell me exactly how it is,” she heard him saying, confusedly,
through the violent beating of her heart.
But what unfortunate, in her position, ever could tell exactly how such a
thing was? She told him a long, broken, confused story, full of apology, and
explanation, insisting chiefly upon the absence of any ill meaning on her
part, or ill intention, and the fatality which had caught her, and compelled
her actions, so often against her will. She had been led into this and that, it
had been pressed upon her—even now she did not see how she could have
escaped. And it was all for Frank’s sake: every step she had taken was for
Frank’s sake, that he might want for nothing, that he might have everything
the others had, and feel that everything about him—his home, his mother,
his society—were such as a gentleman ought to have.
“This long minority,” Mrs. Mowbray said, through her tears, “oh, what a
mistake it is; instead of saving his money, it has been the destruction of his
money. I thought always it was so hard upon him, that I was forced to spend
more and more to make it up to him. I spent everything of my own first. Oh,
Mr. Buchanan! you must not think I spared anything of my own—that went
first. I sold out and sold out, till there was nothing left; and then what could
I do but get into debt? And here I am, and I have not a penny, and all these
dreadful men pressing and pressing! And everything will be exposed to
Frank, all exposed to him on the fifth of next month. Oh, Mr. Buchanan,
save me, save me. My boy will despise me. He will never trust me again.
He will say it is all my fault! So it is all my fault. Oh, I do not attempt to
deny it, Mr. Buchanan: but it was all for him. And then there was another
thing that deceived me. I always trusted in you. I felt sure that at the end,
when you found it was really so serious, you would step in, and compel all
these people to pay up, and all my little debts would not matter so much at
the last.”
Mr. Buchanan had forgotten the personal reference in all this to himself.
It did not occur to him that the money which rankled so at his own heart,
and which had already cost him so much, much more than its value, was the
thing upon which she depended, from which she had expected salvation.
What was it she expected? thousands, he supposed, instead of fifties, a large
sum sufficient to re-establish her fortunes. It was with a kind of impatient
disdain that he spoke.
“Are these really little debts you are telling me of? Could a hundred
pounds or two clear them off, would that be of real use?”
“Oh, a hundred pounds!” she cried, with a shriek. “Mr. Buchanan, a
hundred pence would, of course, be of use, for I have no money at all, and a
hundred is a nice little bit of money, and I could stop several mouths with it:
but to clear them off! Oh no, no, alas, alas! It is clear that you never lived in
London. A hundred pounds would be but a drop in the ocean. But when it is
thousands, Mr. Buchanan, which is more like facts—thousands, I am sure,
which you know of, which you could recover for Frank!”
“Mrs. Mowbray, I don’t know what can have deceived you to this point.
It is absolute folly: all that Mr. Anderson lent to people at St. Rule’s was
never above a few hundred pounds. I know of nothing more. There is
nothing more. There was one of three hundred—nothing more. Be
composed, be composed and listen to me. Mrs. Mowbray!”
But she neither listened nor heard him, her excitement had reached to a
point beyond which flesh and blood overmastered by wild anxiety and
disappointment could not go.
“It can’t be true,” she shrieked out. “It can’t be true, it mustn’t be true.”
And then, with a shriek that rang through the house, throwing out her arms,
she fell like a mass of ruins on the floor.
 Mrs. Buchanan was busy with her napery at some distance from the
study. She had heard the visitor come in, and had concluded within herself
that her poor husband would have an ill time of it with that woman. “But
there’s something more on her mind than that pickle siller,” the minister’s
wife had said to herself, shaking her head over the darns in her napery. She
had long been a student of the troubled faces that came to the minister for
advice or consolation, and, having only that evidence to go upon, had
formed many a conclusion that turned out true enough, sometimes more
true than those which, with a more extended knowledge, from the very lips
of the penitents, had been formed by the minister himself: for the face, as
Mrs. Buchanan held, could not make excuses, or explain things away, but
just showed what was. She was pondering over this case, half-sorry and,
perhaps, half-amused that her husband should have this tangled skein to
wind, which he never should have meddled with, so that it was partly his
own fault—when the sound of those shrieks made her start. They were far
too loud and too terrible to ignore. Mrs. Buchanan threw down the linen she
was darning, seized a bottle of water from the table, and flew to her
husband’s room. Already there were two maids on the stairs hurrying
towards the scene of the commotion, to one of whom she gave a quick
order, sending the other away.
“Thank God that you’ve come,” said Mr. Buchanan, who was feebly
endeavouring to drag the unfortunate woman to her feet again.
“Oh, go away, go away, Claude, you’re of no use here. Send in the
doctor if you see him, he will be more use than you.”
“I’ll do that,” cried the minister, relieved. He was too thankful to resign
the patient into hands more skilful than his own.
 CHAPTER XX.

CONFESSION.

“Then it is just debt and nothing worse,” Mrs. Buchanan said. There was
a slight air of disappointment in her face; not that she wished the woman to
be more guilty, but that this was scarcely an adequate cause for all the
dramatic excitement which had been caused in her own mind by Mrs.
Mowbray’s visits and the trouble in her face.
“Nothing worse! what is there that is worse?” cried the minister, turning
round upon her. He had been walking up and down the study, that study
which had been made a purgatory to him by the money of which she spoke
so lightly. It was this that was uppermost in his mind now, and not the poor
woman who had thrown herself on his mercy. To tell the truth, he had but
little toleration for her. She had thrown away her son’s substance in vanity,
and to please herself: but what pleasure had he, the minister, had out of that
three hundred pounds? Nothing! It would have been better for him a
thousand times to have toiled for it in the sweat of his brow, to have lived
on bread and water, and cleared it off honestly. But he had not been allowed
to do this; he had been forced into the position he now held, a defaulter as
she had said—an unjust steward according to the formula more familiar to
his mind.
“Oh, yes, Claude, there are worse things—at least to a woman. She
might have misbe—— We’ll not speak of that. Poor thing, she is bad
enough, and sore shaken. We will leave her quiet till the laddies come home
to their lunch; as likely as not Rodie will bring Frank home with him, as I
hear they are playing together: and then he must just be told she had a faint.
There are some women that are always fainting; it is just the sort of thing
that the like of her would do. If I were you, I would see Mr. Morrison and
try what could be done to keep it all quiet. I am not fond of exposing a silly
woman to her own son.”
“Better to her son than to strangers, surely—and to the whole world.”
“I am not so sure of that,” Mrs. Buchanan said, thoughtfully: but she did
not pursue the argument. She sat very still in the chair which so short a time
before had been occupied by poor Mrs. Mowbray in her passion and
despair: while her husband walked about the room with his hands thrust
into his pockets, and his shoulders up to his ears, full of restless and unquiet
thoughts.
“There’s one thing,” he said, pausing in front of her, but not looking at
her, “that money, Mary: we must get it somehow. I cannot reconcile it with
my conscience, I can’t endure the feeling of it: if it should ruin us, we must
pay it back.”
“Nothing will ruin us, Claude,” she said, steadily, “so long as it is all
honest and above board. Let it be paid back; I know well it has been on
your mind this many a day.”
“It has been a thorn in my flesh; it has been poison in my blood!”
“Lord bless us,” cried Mrs. Buchanan, with a little fretfulness, “what
for? and what is the use of exaggeration? It is not an impossibility that you
should rave about it like that. Besides,” she added, “I said the same at first
—though I was always in favour of paying, at whatever cost—yet I am not
sure that I would disappoint an old friend in his grave, for the sake of
satisfying a fantastic woman like yon.”
“I must get it clear, I must get it off my mind! Not for her sake, but for
my own.”
“Aweel, aweel,” said Mrs. Buchanan, soothingly; and she added, “we
must all set our shoulders to the wheel, and they must give us time.”
“But it is just time that cannot be given us,” cried her husband, almost
hysterically. “The fifth of next month! and this is the twenty-fourth.”
“You will have to speak to Morrison.”
“Morrison, Morrison!” cried the minister. “You seem to have no idea but
Morrison! and it is just to him that I cannot speak.”
His wife gazed at him with surprise, and some impatience.
“Claude! you are just as foolish as that woman. Will ranting and raving,
and ‘I will not do that,’ and ‘I will not do this,’ pay back the siller? It is not
so easy to do always what you wish. In this world we must just do what we
can.”
“In another world, at least, there will be neither begging nor borrowing,”
he cried.
 “There will maybe be some equivalent,” said Mrs. Buchanan, shaking
her head. “I would not lippen to anything. It would have been paid long ago
if you had but stuck to the point with Morrison, and we would be free.”
“Morrison, Morrison!” he cried again, “nothing but Morrison. I wish he
and all his books, and his bonds, and his money, were at the bottom of the
sea!”
“Claude, Claude! and you a minister!” cried Mrs. Buchanan, horrified.
But she saw that the discussion had gone far enough, and that her husband
could bear no more.
As for the unfortunate man himself, he continued, mechanically, to pace
about the room, after she left him, muttering “Morrison, Morrison!”
between his teeth. He could not himself have explained the rage he felt at
the name of Morrison. He could see in his mind’s eye the sleek figure of the
man of business coming towards him, rubbing his hands, stopping his
confession, “Not another word, sir, not another word; our late esteemed
friend gave me my instructions.” And then he could hear himself pretending
to insist, putting forward “the fifty:” “The fifty,” with the lie beneath, as if
that were all: and again the lawyer’s refusal to hear. Morrison had done him
a good office: he had stopped the lie upon his lips, so that, formally
speaking, he had never uttered it; he ought to have been grateful to
Morrison: yet he was not, but hated him (for the moment) to the bottom of
his heart.
Frank Mowbray came to luncheon (which was dinner) with Rodie, as
Mrs. Buchanan had foreseen, and when he had got through a large meal,
was taken up-stairs to see his mother, who was still lying exhausted in
Elsie’s bed, very hysterical, laughing and crying in a manner which was by
no means unusual in those days, though we may be thankful it has
practically disappeared from our experiences now—unfortunately not
without leaving a deeper and more injurious deposit of the hysterical. She
hid her face when he came in, with a passion of tears and outcries, and then
held out her arms to him, contradictory actions which Frank took with
wonderful composure, being not unaccustomed to them.
“Speak to Mr. Buchanan,” she said, “oh, speak to Mr. Buchanan!”
whispering these words into his ear as he bent over her, and flinging them at
him as he went away. Frank was very reluctant to lose his afternoon’s game,
and he was aware, too, of the threatening looks of Elsie, who said, “My
father’s morning has been spoiled; he has had no peace all the day. You
must see him another time.” “Speak to Mr. Buchanan, oh, speak to Mr.
Buchanan,” cried his mother. Frank did not know what to do. Perhaps Mrs.
Mowbray in her confused mind expected that the minister would soften the
story of her own misdemeanours to Frank. But Frank thought of nothing but
the previous disclosure she had made to him. And he would probably have
been subdued by Elsie’s threatening looks, as she stood without the door
defending the passage to the study, had not Mr. Buchanan himself appeared
coming slowly up-stairs. The two young people stood silent before him.
Even Elsie, though she held Frank back fiercely with her eyes, could say
nothing: and the minister waved his hand, as if inviting him to follow. The
youth went after him a little overawed, giving Elsie an apologetic look as he
passed. It was not his fault: without that tacit invitation he would certainly
not have gone. He felt the situation very alarming. He was a simple young
soul, going to struggle with one of the superior classes, in deadly combat,
and with nobody to stand by him. Certainly he had lost his afternoon’s
game—almost as certainly he had lost, altogether lost, Elsie’s favour. The
smiles of the morning had inspired him to various strokes, which even Raaf
Beaton could not despise. But that was over, and now he had to go on
unaided to his fate.
“Your mother has been ill, Frank.”
“I am very sorry, sir: and she has distressed and disturbed you, I fear.
She sometimes has those sort of attacks: they don’t mean much, I think,”
Frank said.
“They mean a great deal,” replied Mr. Buchanan. “They mean that her
mind is troubled about you and your future, Frank.”
“Without any reason, I think,” said Frank. “I am not very clear about
money; I have always left it in my mother’s hands. She thought it would be
time enough to look after my affairs when I attained my Scotch majority.
But I don’t think I need trouble myself, for there must be plenty to go on
upon. She says the Scotch estate is far less than was thought, and indeed she
wanted me to come to you about some debts. She thinks half St. Rule’s was
owing money to old Uncle Anderson. And he kept no books, or something
of that sort. I don’t understand it very well; but she said you understood
everything.”
 “There was no question of books,” said Mr. Buchanan. “Mr. Anderson
was kind, and helped many people, not letting his right hand know what his
left hand did. Some he helped to stock a shop: some of the small farmers to
buy the cattle they wanted: some of the fishers to get boats of their own.
The money was a loan nominally to save their pride, but in reality it was a
gift, and nobody knew how much he gave in this way. It was entered in no
book, except perhaps,” said the minister, with a look which struck awe into
Frank, and a faint upward movement of his hand “in One above.” After a
minute he resumed: “I am sure, from what I know of you, you would not
disturb these poor folk, who most of them are now enjoying the advantage
of the charity that helped them rather to labour than to profit at first.”
“No, sir, no,” cried Frank, eagerly. “I am not like that, I am not a beast;
and I am very glad to hear Uncle Anderson was such a good man. But,” he
added after a pause, with a little natural pertinacity, “there were others
different from that, or else my mother had wrong information—which
might well be,” he continued with a little reluctance. He was open to a
generous impulse, but yet he wished to reserve what might be owing to him
on a less sentimental ground.
“Yes, there are others different from that. There are a few people of a
different class in St. Rule’s, who are just as good as anybody, as people say;
you will understand I am speaking the language of the world, and not
referring to any moral condition, in which, as we have the best authority for
saying, none of us are good, but God alone. As good as anybody, as people
say—as good blood so far as that counts, as good education or better, as
good manners: but all this held in check, or indeed made into pain
sometimes, by the fact that they are poor. Do you follow what I mean?”
“Yes, sir, I follow,” said Frank: though without the effusiveness which he
had shown when the minister’s talk was of the actual poor.
“A little money to such people as these is sometimes almost a greater
charity than to the shopkeepers and the fishermen. They are far poorer with
their pride, and the appearance they have to keep up, than the lowest. Mind
I am not defending pride nor the keeping up of appearances. I am speaking
just the common language of the world. Well, there were several of these, I
believe, who had loans of money from Mr. Anderson.”
“I think,” said Frank, respectfully, yet firmly too, “that they ought to pay,
Mr. Buchanan. They have enjoyed the use of it for years, and people like
that can always find means of raising a little money. If it lies much longer in
their hands, it will be lost, I am told, by some Statute of—of Limitation I
think it is. Well then, nobody could force them in that case; but I think, Mr.
Buchanan, as between man and man, that they ought to pay.”
“I think,” said the minister, in a voice which trembled a little, “that you
are right, Frank: they ought to pay.”
“That is certainly my opinion,” said Frank. “It would not ruin them, they
could find the money: and though it might harass them for the moment, it
would be better for them in the end to pay off a debt which they would go
on thinking must be claimed some time. And especially if the estate is not
going to turn out so good as was thought, I do think, Mr. Buchanan, that
they should pay.”
“I think you are right, Frank.” The minister rose and began to walk up
and down the room as was his habit. There was an air of agitation about him
which the young man did not understand. “It is no case of an unjust
steward,” he said to himself; “if there’s an unjust steward, it is—and to take
the bill and write fourscore would never be the way with—Well, we have
both come to the same decision, Frank, and we are both interested parties; I
am, I believe, the largest of all Mr. Anderson’s debtors. I owe him——”
“Mr. Buchanan!” cried Frank, springing to his feet. “Mr. Buchanan, I
never thought of this. You! for goodness’ sake don’t say any more!”
“I owe him,” the minister repeated slowly, “three hundred pounds. If you
were writing that, you know,” he said, with a curious sort of smile, “you
would repeat it, once in figures and once in letters, £300—and three
hundred pounds. You are quite right; it will be much better to pay it off, at
whatever sacrifice, than to feel that it may be demanded from one at any
time, as you have demanded it from me!”
“Mr. Buchanan,” cried Frank, eagerly (for what would Elsie say? never,
never would she look at him again!), “you may be sure I had never a notion,
not an idea of this, not a thought! You were my uncle’s best friend; I can’t
think why he didn’t leave you a legacy, or something, far more than this. I
remember it was thought surprising there were no legacies, to you or to
others. Of course I don’t know who the others may be,” he added with a
changed inflection in his voice (for why should he throw any money, that
was justly his, to perhaps persons of no importance, unconnected with
Elsie?) “but you, sir, you! It is out of the question,” Frank cried.
 Mr. Buchanan smiled a little. I fear it did not please him to feel that
Frank’s compassion was roused, or that he might be excused the payment of
his debt by Frank. Indeed that view of the case changed his feelings
altogether. “We need not discuss the question,” he said rather coldly. “I
have told you of the only money owing to your uncle’s estate which I know
of. I might have stated it to your mother some time since, but did not on
account of something that passed between Morrison and myself, which was
neither here nor there.”
“What was it, Mr. Buchanan? I cannot believe that my uncle——”
“You know very little about your uncle,” said the minister, testily. “Now,
I think I shall keep you no longer to-day: but before your birthday I will see
Morrison, and put everything right.”
“It is right as it is,” cried Frank; “why should we have recourse to
Morrison? surely you and I are enough to settle it. Mr. Buchanan, you know
this never was what was meant. You! to bring you to book! I would rather
have bitten out my tongue—I would rather——”
“Come, this is all exaggerated, as my wife says,” said the minister with a
laugh. “It is too late to go back upon it. Bring a carriage for your mother,
Frank, she will be better at home. You can tell her this if you please: and
then let us hear no more of it, my boy. I will see Morrison, and settle with
him, and there is no need that any one should think of it more.”
“Only that it is impossible not to think of it,” cried Frank. “Mr.
Buchanan——”
“Not another word,” the minister said. He came back to his table and sat
down, and took his pen into his fingers. “Your foursome will be broken up
for want of you,” he said with a chilly smile. The poor young fellow tried to
say something more, but he was stopped remorselessly. “Really, you must
let me get to my work,” said the minister. “Everything I think has been said
between us that there is to say.”
And it was Elsie’s father whom he had thus offended! Frank’s heart sank
to his boots, as he went down-stairs. He did not go near his mother, but left
her to be watched over and taken home by her maid, who had now
appeared. He felt as if he could never forgive her for having forced him to
this encounter with the minister. Oh! if he had but known! He would rather
have bitten out his tongue, he repeated to himself. The drawing-room was
empty, neither Elsie nor her mother being visible, and there was no Rodie
kicking his heels down-stairs. A maid came out of the kitchen, while he
loitered in the hall to give him that worthy’s message. “Mr. Rodie said he
couldna wait, and you were just to follow after him: but you were not to be
surprised if they started without waiting for you, for it would never do to
keep all the gentlemen waiting for their game.” Poor Frank strolled forth
with a countenance dark as night; sweetheart and game, and self-respect
and everything—he had lost them all.
 CHAPTER XXI.

HOW TO SET IT RIGHT.

“What is the matter, mother?” Elsie said, drawing close to her mother’s
side. The minister had come to dinner, looking ill and pale. He had scarcely
spoken all through the meal. He had said to his wife that he was not to be
disturbed that evening, for there was a great deal to settle and to think of.
Mrs. Buchanan, too, bore an anxious countenance. She went up to the
drawing-room without a word, with her basket of things to mend in her
arms. She had always things to mend, and her patches were a pleasure to
behold. She lighted the two candles on the mantelpiece, but said with a sigh
that it was a great extravagance, and that she had no right to do it: only the
night was dark, and her eyes were beginning to fail. Now the night was no
darker than usual, and Mrs. Buchanan had made a brag only the other
evening, that with her new glasses she could see to do the finest work, as
well as when she was a girl.
“What is the matter, mother?” Elsie said. She came very close to her
mother, putting a timid arm round her waist. They were, as belonged to
their country, shy of caresses, and Elsie was half afraid of being thrown off
with an injunction not to be silly; but this evening Mrs. Buchanan seemed
to be pleased with the warm clasp of the young arm.
“Nothing that was not yesterday, and for years before that. You and me,
Elsie, will have to put our shoulders to the wheel.”
“What is it, mother?” The idea of putting her shoulder to the wheel was
comforting and invigorating, far better than the vague something wrong that
clouded the parents’ faces. Mrs. Buchanan permitted herself to give her
child a kiss, and then she drew her chair to the table and put on her
spectacles for her evening’s work.
“Women are such fools,” she said. “I am not sure that your father’s
saying that he was not to be disturbed to-night, you heard him?—which
means that I am not to go up to him as I always do—has cast me down
more than the real trouble. For why should he shut himself up from me? He
might know by this time that it is not brooding by himself that will pay off
that three hundred pounds.”
“Three hundred pounds!”
“It is an old story, it is nothing new,” said the minister’s wife. “It is a
grand rule, Elsie, not to let your right hand know what your left doeth in the
way of charity; but when it’s such a modern thing as a loan of money, oh,
I’m afraid the worldly way is maybe the best way. If Mr. Anderson had
written it down in his books, The Rev. Claude Buchanan, Dr.—as they do,
you know, in the tradesmen’s bills—to loan £300—well, then, it might have
been disagreeable, but we should have known the worst of it, and it would
have been paid off by this time. But the good old man kept no books; and
when he died, it was just left on our consciences to pay it or not. Oh, Elsie,
siller is a terrible burden on your conscience when you have not got it to
pay! God forgive us! what with excuses and explanations, and trying to
make out that it was just an accident and so forth, I am not sure that I have
always been quite truthful myself.”
“You never told lies, mother,” said Elsie.
“Maybe not, if you put it like that; but there’s many a lee that is not a lee,
in the way of excuses for not paying a bill. You’ll say, perhaps, ‘Dear me, I
am very sorry; I have just paid away the last I set aside for bills, till next
term comes round;’ when, in fact, you had nothing set aside, but just paid
what you had, and as little as you could, to keep things going! It’s not a lee,
so to speak, and yet it is a lee, Elsie! A poor woman, with a limited income,
has just many, many things like that on her mind. We’ve never wronged any
man of a penny.”
“No, mother, I’m sure of that.”
“But they have waited long for their siller, and maybe as much in want
of it as we were,” Mrs. Buchanan said, shaking her head. “Anyway, if it’s
clear put down in black and white, there is an end of it. You know you have
to pay, and you just make up your mind to it. But, when it is just left to your
conscience, and you to be the one to tell that you are owing—oh, Elsie!
Lead us not into temptation. I hope you never forget that prayer, morning
nor evening. If you marry a man that is not rich, you will have muckle need
of it day by day.”
Elsie seemed to see, as you will sometimes see by a gleam of summer
lightning, a momentary glimpse of a whole country-side—a panorama of