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vi cOntents

chapter 7 chapter 10
Securities Law and Agency Liability and Termination 176
Corporate Governance 112 scope of agent’s authority 176
The securities act of 1933 112 spotlight on apparent authority of managers
managerial strategy The SEC’s New Pay-Ratio case 10.1 Lundberg v. Church Farm, Inc. (1986) 178
Disclosure Rule 114 Liability for Contracts 180
case 7.1 Omnicare, Inc. v. Laborers District Council Liability for Torts and Crimes 182
Construction Industry Pension Fund (2015) 118 global insight Islamic Law and Respondeat Superior 184
The securities exchange act of 1934 119 case 10.2 Asphalt & Concrete Services, Inc. v. Perry (2015) 185
classic case 7.2 SEC v. Texas Gult Sulphur Co. (1968) 120 case analysis 10.3 M.J. v. Wisan (2016) 187
case analysis 7.3 Rand-Heart of New York, Inc. Termination of an agency 189
v. Dolan (2016) 124
state securities Laws 127 chapter 11
Corporate Governance 127 Employment, Immigration,
Unit One application and ethics: and Labor Law 195
Business Start-Ups Online 134
employment at will 195
wages, Hours, and Layoffs 196
Unit two ethics today Is It Fair to Dock Employees’ Pay
Human ResouRCes 137 for Bathroom Breaks? 198
case 11.1 Bailey v. TitleMax of Georgia, Inc. (2015) 198
Family and Medical Leave 200
chapter 8 case 11.2 Ballard v. Chicago Park District (2014) 200
Tort Law 138 Health, safety, and income security 202
employee Privacy Rights 204
The Basis of Tort Law 138
immigration Law 206
intentional Torts against Persons 139
Labor unions 208
case analysis 8.1 Blake v. Giustibelli (2016) 141
case analysis 11.3 Contemporary Cars, Inc. v. National
digital Update Revenge Porn and Invasion of Privacy 145
Labor Relations Board (2016) 210
case 8.2 Revell v. Guido (2015) 146
managerial strategy Union Organizing Using a Company’s
intentional Torts against Property 149
E-Mail System 212
unintentional Torts—negligence 151
Defenses to negligence 155
spotlight on the seattle mariners chapter 12
case 8.3 Taylor v. Baseball Club of Seattle, LP (2006) 155 Employment Discrimination 218
Title Vii of the Civil Rights act 218
chapter 9 digital Update Hiring Discrimination Based
Agency Formation and Duties 160 on Social Media Posts 222
case analysis 12.1 Bauer v. Lynch (2016) 223
agency Relationships 160
case 12.2 Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc. (2015) 224
case 9.1 Coker v. Pershad (2013) 162
case 12.3 Roberts v. Mike’s Trucking, Ltd. (2014) 227
ethics today Is It Fair to Classify Uber and Lyft Drivers
Discrimination Based on age 229
as Independent Contractors? 163
Discrimination Based on Disability 230
Formation of the agency Relationship 164
Discrimination Based on Military status 233
Duties of agents and Principals 165
Defenses to employment Discrimination 234
spotlight on taser international
affirmative action 235
case 9.2 Taser International, Inc. v. Ward (2010) 167
Unit two application and ethics:
case analysis 9.3 NRT New England, LLC v. Jones (2016) 170
Health Insurance and Small Business 239
Rights and Remedies of agents and Principals 172

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 cOntents vii

Unit three chapter 16

CommeRCiaL TRansaCTions Transferability and
and CRediT 243 Holder in Due Course 305
negotiation 305
chapter 13 indorsements 306
case 16.1 In re Bass (2013) 306
The Formation of
case analysis 16.2 AS Peleus, LLC v. Success, Inc. (2016) 308
Sales and Lease Contracts 244 Holder in Due Course (HDC) 313
The uniform Commercial Code 244 spotlight on Holder in due course
The scope of articles 2 (sales) and 2a (Leases) 245 case 16.3 Georg v. Metro Fixtures Contractors, Inc. (2008) 315
digital Update Taxing Web Purchases 247 Holder through an HDC 318
The Formation of sales and Lease Contracts 249
case 13.1 C. Mahendra (N.Y.), LLC v. National Gold chapter 17
& Diamond Center, Inc. (2015) 252 Liability, Defenses, and Discharge 323
classic case 13.2 Jones v. Star Credit Corp. (1969) 259
Contracts for the international sale of Goods 260 signature Liability 323
case analysis 13.3 VLM Food Trading International, Inc. case analysis 17.1 Envision Printing, LLC v. Evans (2016) 327
v. Illinois Trading Co. (2016) 260 warranty Liability 330
Defenses and Limitations 333
case analysis 17.2 Mills v. Chauvin (2013) 335
chapter 14
Discharge 337
Performance and Breach
of Sales and Lease Contracts 267 chapter 18
Obligations of the seller or Lessor 267 Banking in the Digital Age 342
case 14.1 Garziano v. Louisiana Log Home Co. (2014) 268
Checks 342
Obligations of the Buyer or Lessee 272
The Bank-Customer Relationship 344
Remedies of the seller or Lessor 275
case 18.1 Royal Arcanum Hospital Association of Kings County,
Remedies of the Buyer or Lessee 277
Inc. v. Herrnkind (2014) 344
case analysis 14.2 Genesis Health Clubs, Inc. v. LED Solar
The Bank’s Duty to Honor Checks 345
& Light Co. (2016) 280
case analysis 18.2 Legg v. West Bank (2016) 346
spotlight on baseball cards
The Bank’s Duty to accept Deposits 351
case 14.3 Fitl v. Strek (2005) 282
case 18.3 Shahin v. Delaware Federal Credit Union (2015) 353
additional Provisions affecting Remedies 283
electronic Fund Transfers 356
Dealing with international Contracts 284
Online Banking and e-Money 357
digital Update Electronic Payment Systems Are Reducing
chapter 15 the Use of Checks 358
Negotiable Instruments 288
Types of negotiable instruments 288 chapter 19
case 15.1 Silicon Valley Bank v. Miracle Faith World Creditors’ Rights and Remedies 362
Outreach, Inc. (2013) 290
Laws assisting Creditors 362
Requirements for negotiability 292
case analysis 19.1 Picerne Construction Corp. v. Villas (2016) 363
digital Update Pay with Your Smartphone 294
Mortgages 366
case analysis 15.2 OneWest Bank, FSB v. Nunez (2016) 295
ethics today Creditors’ Rights When Debtors Move
Factors That Do not affect negotiability 299
to Another State 367
case 15.3 Charles R. Tips Family Trust v. PB Commercial,
spotlight on Foreclosures
LLC (2015) 300
case 19.2 McLean v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (2012) 369
suretyship and Guaranty 370
case 19.3 HSBC Realty Credit Corp. (USA) v. O’Neill (2014) 372
Protection for Debtors 374

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viii cOntents

chapter 20 chapter 23
Secured Transactions 378 Administrative Agencies 448
The Terminology of secured Transactions 378 The Practical significance of administrative Law 448
Creation of a security interest 378 agency Creation and Powers 449
case 20.1 Royal Jewelers, Inc. v. Light (2015) 379 case 23.1 Loving v. Internal Revenue Service (2014) 452
Perfection of a security interest 381 digital Update Imposing a 1930s Regulatory Law
digital Update Secured Transactions—Escrow Services on Broadband Operators 454
Online 381 The administrative Process 454
The scope of a security interest 387 case 23.2 Craker v. Drug Enforcement Administration (2013) 458
case 20.2 In re Tusa–Expo Holdings, Inc. (2016) 388 Judicial Deference to agency Decisions 459
Priorities 390 case analysis 23.3 Olivares v. Transportation Security
Rights and Duties of Debtors and Creditors 392 Administration (2016) 460
Default 394 Public accountability 462
case analysis 20.3 Smith v. Firstbank Corp. (2013) 396
chapter 24
chapter 21 Consumer Law 467
Bankruptcy Law 402 advertising, Marketing, and sales 467
The Bankruptcy Code 402 case 24.1 POM Wonderful, LLC v. Federal Trade
Liquidation Proceedings 403 Commission (2015) 468
case 21.1 In re Anderson (2016) 409 digital Update Regulating “Native” Ads on the Internet 471
ethics today Should There Be More Relief for Student case 24.2 Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control
Loan Defaults? 412 Components, Inc. (2014) 472
case 21.2 In re Cummings (2015) 413 Labeling and Packaging Laws 474
Reorganizations 414 Protection of Health and safety 475
Bankruptcy Relief under Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 416 Credit Protection 476
case analysis 21.3 In re Welsh (2013) 417 case analysis 24.3 Santangelo v. Comcast Corporation (2016) 478
Unit three application and ethics:
Federal Student Loans—Default and Discharge 424 chapter 25
Environmental Protection 484
Unit Four Common Law actions 484
goveRnmenT ReguLaTion 427 Federal, state, and Local Regulations 485
case analysis 25.1 Friends of Animals v. Clay (2016) 485
air Pollution 488
chapter 22 case 25.2 United States v. O’Malley (2014) 490
Professional Liability water Pollution 491
and Accountability 428 case 25.3 Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, Inc. (2009) 492
Toxic Chemicals and Hazardous waste 494
Potential Liability to Clients 428
ethics today What Are an Attorney’s Responsibilities
chapter 26
for Protecting Data Stored in the Cloud? 429
Potential Liability to Third Parties 432 Antitrust Law 500
case analysis 22.1 Perez v. Stern (2010) 434 The sherman antitrust act 500
The sarbanes-Oxley act 435 section 1 of the sherman act 501
Potential Liability of accountants under securities Laws 437 section 2 of the sherman act 504
spotlight on accountant’s duty to correct mistakes case analysis 26.1 McWane, Inc. v. Federal Trade
case 22.2 Overton v. Todman & Co., CPAs (2007) 439 Commission (2015) 506
Confidentiality and Privilege 442 spotlight on weyerhaeuser
case 22.3 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Schultz case 26.2 Weyerhaeuser Co. v. Ross-Simmons Hardwood
(2016) 443 Lumber Co. (2007) 508

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 cOntents ix

The Clayton act 509 chapter 29

enforcement and exemptions 512 Intellectual Property 566
case 26.3 TransWeb, LLC v. 3M Innovative Properties
Co. (2016) 512 Trademarks and Related Property 566
u.s. antitrust Laws in the Global Context 515 classic case 29.1 The Coca-Cola Co. v. The Koke Co.
digital Update Google Faces an Antitrust Complaint of America (1920) 566
from the European Union 516 case 29.2 LFP IP, LLC v. Hustler Cincinnati, Inc. (2016) 569
Unit Four application and ethics: Patents 573
Climate Change 520 digital Update The Problem of Patent Trolls 575
Copyrights 576
case analysis 29.3 Winstead v. Jackson (2013) 577
Unit Five Trade secrets 580
international Protection for intellectual Property 582
PRoPeRTy and
iTs PRoTeCTion 523
chapter 30
Insurance 586
chapter 27
insurance Terminology and Concepts 586
Personal Property and Bailments 524 case 30.1 Breeden v. Buchanan (2015) 588
Personal Property versus Real Property 524 The insurance Contract 589
case 27.1 Corbello v. DeVito (2015) 524 Types of insurance 593
acquiring Ownership of Personal Property 526 case analysis 30.2 Estate of Luster v. Allstate Insurance
digital Update The Exploding World of Digital Property 526 Co. (2010) 595
classic case 27.2 In re Estate of Piper (1984) 528
Mislaid, Lost, and abandoned Property 530 chapter 31
Bailments 532 Wills and Trusts 602
Ordinary Bailments 533
case analysis 27.3 Zissu v. IH2 Property Illinois, L.P. (2016) 536 wills 602
special Types of Bailments 538 case analysis 31.1 Peterson v. Harrell (2010) 606
intestacy Laws 610
Trusts 611
chapter 28
case 31.2 Dowdy v. Dowdy (2016) 613
Real Property and Other estate-Planning issues 617
Landlord-Tenant Law 543 Unit Five application and ethics:
The nature of Real Property 543 Business Planning for Divorce 622
Ownership and Other interests in Real Property 545
case 28.1 Main Omni Realty Corp. v. Matus (2015) 546 appendices
Transfer of Ownership 550 a How to analyze Legal Disputes a-1
spotlight on sales of Haunted Houses b answers to the Issue Spotters a-3
case 28.2 Stambovsky v. Ackley (1991) 551 C sample answers for
case analysis 28.3 Montgomery County v. Bhatt (2016) 554 Business Case Problems with Sample Answer a-9
Limitations on the Rights of Property Owners 556
ethics today Should Eminent Domain Be Used to Promote Glossary G-1
Private Development? 557
Zoning and Government Regulations 558
Table of Cases TC-1
Landlord-Tenant Relationships 560 Index I-1

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Concept Summaries

4.1 special Business Forms 67 17.1 signature Liability 331

5.1 Classification of Corporations 79 17.2 Transfer warranty Liability for
6.1 Roles of Directors and Officers 95 Transferors who Receive Consideration 332
6.2 Duties and Liabilities of Directors and Officers 101 18.1 Basic Rules for Honoring Checks 352
6.3 Role, Rights, and Liability of shareholders 108 19.1 Remedies available to Creditors 371
8.1 intentional Torts against Persons 148 20.1 Creating security interest 381
8.2 intentional Torts against Property 152 20.2 Perfecting a security interest 387
9.1 Formation of the agency Relationship 166 20.3 Remedies of the secured Party
10.1 authority of an agent to Bind the Principal on the Debtor’s Default 398
and a Third Party 180 21.1 Forms of Bankruptcy Relief Compared 420
10.2 agency Termination by Operation of Law 191 22.1 Common Law Liability of accountants
13.1 Offer, acceptance, and Consideration and Other Professionals 436
under the uCC 255 22.2 statutory Liability of accountants and Other
13.2 The Parol evidence Rule 258 Professionals 442
14.1 Obligations of the seller or Lessor 273 27.1 acquisition of Personal Property 530
15.1 Requirements for negotiability 301 27.2 Rights and Duties of the Bailee and the Bailor 540
16.1 Types of indorsements and Their effect 311 31.1 wills 609
16.2 Requirements for HDC status 319 31.2 Trusts 616

xi
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Exhibits

2–1 The FTC’s Franchise Rule Requirements 26 16–7 Taking for Value 314
3–1 Provisions Commonly included 17–1 Time for Proper Presentment 325
in a Partnership agreement 37 17–2 Defenses against Liability on negotiable instruments 333
3–2 a Comparison of General Partnerships and 18–1 a Cashier’s Check 343
Limited Partnerships 48 18–2 an american express Traveler’s Check 344
4–1 Management of an LLC 59 18–3 The Check-Collection Process 355
4–2 Provisions Commonly included 18–4 a sample substitute Check 356
in an LLC Operating agreement 61 19–1 Methods of avoiding Foreclosure 368
5–1 sample articles of incorporation 80 19–2 suretyship and Guaranty Parties 371
5–2 How Do stocks and Bonds Differ? 86 20–1 secured Transactions—Concept and Terminology 379
5–3 Common and Preferred stocks 88 20–2 a uniform Financing statement sample 382
6–1 Directors’ Management Responsibilities 93 20–3 selected Types of Collateral and Methods
6–2 Results of Cumulative Voting 105 of Perfection 386
7–1 exemptions for securities Offerings 20–4 Priority of Claims to a Debtor’s Collateral 393
under the 1933 securities act 116 21–1 Collection and Distribution of Property
7–2 Comparison of Coverage, application, and Liability in Most Voluntary Bankruptcies 411
under seC Rule 10b-5 and section 16(b) 123 22–1 Three Basic Rules of an accountant’s Liability to
7–3 some Key Provisions of the sarbanes-Oxley act Third Parties 434
Relating to Corporate accountability 130 22–2 Key Provisions of the sarbanes-Oxley act
9–1 Duties of the agent 167 Relating to Public accounting Firms 437
9–2 Duties of the Principal 169 23–1 executive Departments and important
10–1 a sample General Power of attorney 177 subagencies 450
10–2 Termination by act of the Parties 189 23–2 selected independent Regulatory agencies 451
11–1 Good Faith versus Bad Faith 23–3 The Formal administrative agency
in Collective Bargaining 213 adjudication Process 457
12–1 Coverage of employment Discrimination Laws 233 24–1 selected areas of Consumer Law Regulated
13–1 The Law Governing Contracts 246 by statutes 468
13–2 Major Differences between 25–1 Major Federal environmental statutes 487
Contract Law and sales Law 257 25–2 environmental impact statements 488
14–1 The Perfect Tender Rule and its exceptions 270 25–3 Pollution-Control equipment standards under
14–2 Obligations of the Buyer or Lessee 274 the Clean air act and the Clean water act 492
14–3 a Letter-of-Credit Transaction 284 26–1 Required elements of a sherman act Violation 501
15–1 Basic Types of negotiable instruments 289 26–2 exemptions to antitrust enforcement 514
15–2 a Typical Time Draft 290 27–1 Mislaid, Lost, and abandoned Property 532
15–3 a Typical Promissory note 292 27–2 Degree of Care Required of a Bailee 535
15–4 a sample Certificate of Deposit 293 28–1 interests in Real Property 550
16–1 a Blank indorsement 306 29–1 Forms of intellectual Property 581
16–2 a special indorsement 308 30–1 selected insurance Classifications 587
16–3 a Qualified indorsement 309 30–2 insurance Contract Provisions and Clauses 590
16–4 “For Deposit Only” and “For Collection Only” 30–3 Typical Fire insurance Policies 595
indorsements 310 31–1 excerpts from Michael Jackson’s will 603
16–5 Trust (agency) indorsements 311 31–2 Per Stirpes Distribution 611
16–6 Converting an Order instrument to a Bearer 31–3 Per Capita Distribution 612
instrument and Vice Versa 312 31–4 a Revocable Living Trust arrangement 612

xiii
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Preface

The study of business law and the legal environment of uniform CPa exam.” in addition to more focus on criti-
business has universal applicability. a student entering any cal thinking, authentic applications, and problem solv-
field of business must have at least a passing understand- ing, the content of the exam will change to an extent.
ing of business law in order to function in the real world. The Fourteenth edition of Business Law: Commercial
Business Law: Text and Cases: Commercial Law for Accoun- Law for Accountants incorporates information on the
tants, Fourteenth edition, provides the information that new topics on the CPa exam, specifically addressing the
students need in an interesting and contemporary way. following:
This exciting text is tailor-made for those entering
• Agency law (worker classification and duties of
the field of accounting and includes topics from Business
principals and agents)
Law that accountants need to know. The text focuses
• Employment law (Affordable Care Act)
on the basics of business law for accountants—including
• Business organizations (corporate governance
subjects on the revised 2017 CPa exam. it has a strong
issues, including sarbanes-Oxley compliance
emphasis on business organizations, securities law and
and criminal liability for organizations and
corporate governance, agency and employment, sales and
management)
lease contracts, creditors’ rights and bankruptcy, profes-
sional liability, government regulation, and property. in addition, the Fourteenth edition continues to
For the Fourteenth edition, i have spent a great deal cover topics that are essential to new CPas who are
of effort making this best-selling text more modern, excit- working with sophisticated business clients, regardless of
ing, and visually appealing than ever before. i have added whether the CPa exam covers these topics. i recognize
twenty-seven new features, sixty new cases, and eleven that today’s business leaders must often think “outside
new exhibits. The text also contains nearly one hundred the box” when making business decisions. For this rea-
and fifty new highlighted and numbered Cases in Point son, i strongly emphasize business and critical thinking
and Examples, and seventy-three new case problems. spe- elements throughout the text. i have carefully chosen
cial pedagogical elements within the text focus on legal, cases, features, and problems that are relevant to busi-
ethical, global, and corporate issues while addressing core ness operations. almost all of the features and cases con-
curriculum requirements. clude with some type of critical thinking question. For
those teaching future CPas, this is consistent with the
new CPa exam’s focus on higher-order skills, such as
critical thinking and problem solving.
Highlights of the
Fourteenth edition a variety of new and exciting Features
instructors have come to rely on the coverage, accuracy, The Fourteenth edition of Business Law: Commercial
and applicability of Business Law: Commercial Law for Law for Accountants is filled with many new features
Accountants. To make sure that this text engages your specifically designed to cover current legal topics of high
students, solidifies their understanding of legal concepts, interest. each feature is related to a topic discussed in the
and provides the best teaching tools available, i now offer text and ends with Critical Thinking or Business Ques-
the following. tions. suggested answers to all the Critical Thinking
and Business Questions are included in the Solutions
Manual for this text.
new Coverage of Topics
1. Ethics Today These features focus on the ethical
on the Revised 2017 CPa exam aspects of a topic discussed in the text to empha-
in 2016, the american institute of CPas (aiCPa) issued size that ethics is an integral part of a business law
its final report on “Maintaining the Relevance of the course. examples include:

xv
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xvi PReFace

• Should an Innocent General Partner Be Jointly an actual case and then describe the court’s decision
Liable for Fraud? (Chapter 3) and rationale. These two features are uniquely designed
• Is It Fair to Classify Uber and Lyft Drivers as and consecutively numbered throughout each chapter
independent Contractors? (Chapter 9) for easy reference. The Examples and Cases in Point are
• Is It Fair to Dock Employees’ Pay for Bathroom integrated throughout the text to help students better
Breaks? (Chapter 11) understand how courts apply legal principles in the real
• Should There Be More Relief for Student Loan world.
Defaults? (Chapter 21)
2. Global Insight These features illustrate how other
nations deal with specific legal concepts to give new unit-ending
students a sense of the global legal environment. Application and Ethics Features
subjects include: For the Fourteenth edition, i have created an entirely
• Does Cloud Computing Have a Nationality? new feature that concludes each of the five units in the
(Chapter 5) text. each of these Application and Ethics features pro-
• Anti-Bribery Charges Take Their Toll on U.S. vides additional analysis on a topic related to that unit
and Foreign Corporations (Chapter 6) and explores its ethics ramifications. each of the features
• Islamic Law and Respondeat Superior (Chapter 10) ends with two questions—a Critical Thinking and an
3. new Digital Update These features are designed Ethics Question. some topics covered by these features
to examine cutting-edge cyberlaw topics, such as the include the following:
following:
• Revenge Porn and Invasion of Privacy (Chapter 8) • Business Start-Ups Online (Unit 1)
• Should Employees Have a “Right of Disconnect- • Health Insurance and Small Business (Unit 2)
ing”? (Chapter 11) • Federal Student Loans—Default and Discharge
• Hiring Discrimination Based on Social Media (unit 3)
Posts (Chapter 12) • Business Planning for Divorce (Unit 5)
• Pay with Your Smartphone (Chapter 15) suggested answers to the questions in Application and
• Google Faces an Antitrust Complaint from the Ethics features are included in the Solutions Manual
european union (Chapter 26) for this text.
4. Managerial Strategy These features emphasize the
management aspects of business law and the legal
environment. Topics include: new Cases and Case Problems
• Can a Person Who Is Not a Member of a Pro- For the Fourteenth edition of Business Law: Commercial
tected Class sue for Discrimination? (Chapter 4) Law for Accountants, i have added sixty new cases and
• The SEC’s New CEO Pay-Ratio Disclosure seventy-three new case problems, most from 2016 and
Rule (Chapter 7) 2015. The new cases and case problems have been care-
• Union Organizing Using Your Company’s E-Mail fully selected to illustrate important points of law and
system (Chapter 11) to be of high interest to students and instructors. i have
made it a point to find recent cases that enhance learning
and are relatively easy to understand.
Highlighted and numbered Examples
1. Spotlight Cases and Classic Cases. Certain cases
and Case in Point illustrations and case problems that are exceptionally good
Many instructors use cases and examples to illustrate how teaching cases are labeled as Spotlight Cases and
the law applies to business. students understand legal Spotlight Case Problems. examples include Spotlight
concepts better in the context of their real-world applica- on Baseball Cards, Spotlight on Holiday Inns, and
tion. Therefore, for this edition of Business Law: Com- Spotlight on the Seattle Mariners. instructors will
mercial Law for Accountants, i have expanded the number find these Spotlight Cases useful to illustrate the
of highlighted numbered Examples and Cases in Point in legal concepts under discussion, and students will
every chapter. i have added 103 new Cases in Point and enjoy studying the cases because they involve inter-
43 new Examples. esting and memorable facts. Other cases have been
Examples illustrate how the law applies in a specific chosen as Classic Cases because they establish a legal
situation. Cases in Point present the facts and issues of precedent in a particular area of law.

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 P R e Fac e xvii

2. Critical Thinking section. each case concludes with The Special Case Analysis questions are designed
a Critical Thinking section, which normally includes to build students’ analytical skills. They test students’
two questions. The questions may address Legal ability to perform iRaC (issue, Rule, application, and
Environment, E-Commerce, Economic, Environmental, Conclusion) case analysis. students must identify the le-
Ethical, Global, Political, or Technological issues, or gal issue presented in the chapter’s Case Analysis, under-
they may ask What If the Facts Were Different? each stand the rule of law, determine how the rule applies to
Classic Case has a section titled Impact of This Case on the facts of the case, and describe the court’s conclusion.
Today’s Law and one Critical Thinking question. instructors can assign these questions as homework or
3. Longer excerpts for Case Analysis. i have also use them in class to elicit student participation and teach
included one longer case excerpt in every chapter— case analysis. suggested answers to the Special Case
labeled Case Analysis—followed by three Legal Analysis questions can be found in the Solutions
Reasoning Questions. The questions are designed to Manual for this text.
guide students’ analysis of the case and build their
legal reasoning skills. These Case Analysis cases may
be used for case-briefing assignments and are also Reviewing Features in every Chapter
tied to the Special Case Analysis questions found in in the Fourteenth edition of Business Law: Commercial
every unit of the text. Law for Accountants, i continue to offer a Reviewing fea-
ture at the end of every chapter to help solidify students’
suggested answers to all case-ending questions and
understanding of the chapter materials. each Reviewing
case problems are included in the Solutions Manual
feature presents a hypothetical scenario and then asks
for this text.
a series of questions that require students to identify
the issues and apply the legal concepts discussed in the
Business Case Problem with Sample chapter.
These features are designed to help students review
Answer in each Chapter the chapter topics in a simple and interesting way and
in response to those instructors who would like students see how the legal principles discussed in the chapter af-
to have sample answers available for some of the ques- fect the world in which they live. an instructor can use
tions and case problems, i include a Business Case Prob- these features as the basis for in-class discussion or en-
lem with Sample Answer in each chapter. The Business courage students to use them for self-study prior to com-
Case Problem with Sample Answer is based on an actual pleting homework assignments. suggested answers to
case, and students can find a sample answer at the end of the questions posed in the Reviewing features can be
the text. suggested answers to the Business Case Prob- found in the Solutions Manual for this text.
lems with Sample Answers are provided in appendix
C at the end of the text and in the Solutions Manual
for this text. Two Issue Spotters
at the conclusion of each chapter, i have included a spe-
cial section with two Issue Spotters related to the chap-
new exhibits and Concept summaries ter’s topics. These questions facilitate student learning
For this edition, we have spent considerable effort and review of the chapter materials. suggested answers
reworking and redesigning all of the exhibits and Con- to the Issue Spotters in every chapter are provided in
cept Summaries in the text to achieve better clarity and appendix b at the end of the text and in the Solutions
more visual appeal. in addition, we have added eleven Manual for this text.
new exhibits.
Legal Reasoning Group Activities
Special Case Analysis Questions For instructors who want their students to engage in
For one chapter in every unit of the text, i provide a group projects, each chapter of the Fourteenth edition
Special Case Analysis question that is based on the Case includes a special Legal Reasoning Group Activity. each
Analysis excerpt in that chapter. These special questions activity begins by describing a business scenario and then
appear in the Business Case Problems section at the ends poses several specific questions pertaining to the scenario.
of selected chapters. each question is to be answered by a different group of

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
xviii PReFace

students based on the information in the chapter. These problem and then adding in a critical think-
projects may be used in class to spur discussion or as ing section based on “what if the Facts were
homework assignments. suggested answers to the Legal Different?” These now include a third section,
Reasoning Group Activities are included in the Solu- a writing component, which requires students
tions Manual for this text. to demonstrate their ability to forecast the legal
implications of real-world business scenarios.
• Personalized student Plan with multimedia
study tools and videos.
supplements/digital • New Adaptive Test Prep helps students study
for exams.
Learning systems • Test Bank.
Business Law: Commercial Law for Accountants, Four- • Reporting and Assessment options.
teenth edition, provides a comprehensive supplements
package designed to make the tasks of teaching and learn- By using the MindTap system, students can complete
ing more enjoyable and efficient. The following supple- the assignments online and can receive instant feedback
ments and exciting new digital products are offered in on their answers. instructors can utilize MindTap to up-
conjunction with the text. load their course syllabi, create and customize homework
assignments, and keep track of their students’ progress. By
hiding, rearranging, or adding content, instructors con-
mindTap trol what students see and when they see it to match the
Learning Path to their course syllabus exactly. instructors
MindTap for Business Law: Commercial Law for Accoun-
can also communicate with their students about assign-
tants, Fourteenth edition, is a fully online, highly person-
ments and due dates, and create reports summarizing the
alized learning experience built upon Cengage Learning
data for an individual student or for the whole class.
content. MindTap combines student learning tools—
such as readings, multimedia, activities, and assessments
from CengagenOw—into a singular Learning Path that Cengage Learning Testing
intuitively guides students through their course.
instructors can personalize the experience by cus- Powered by Cognero
tomizing authoritative Cengage Learning content and Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero is a flexible,
learning tools. MindTap offers instructors the ability to online system that allows you to do the following:
add their own content in the Learning Path with apps
that integrate into the MindTap framework seamlessly • Author, edit, and manage Test Bank content from
with Learning Management systems (LMs). multiple Cengage Learning solutions.
MindTap includes: • Create multiple test versions in an instant.
• Deliver tests from your LMS, your classroom, or
• An Interactive Book with Whiteboard Videos wherever you want.
and interactive Cases.
• Automatically graded homework with the fol-
lowing consistent question types: Start Right Away! Cengage Learning Testing Powered
• Worksheets—interactive worksheets prepare by Cognero works on any operating system or browser.
students for class by ensuring reading and • No special installs or downloads are needed.
comprehension. • Create tests from school, home, the coffee shop—
• Video Activities—Real-world video
anywhere with internet access.
exercises make business law engaging and
relevant.
What Will You Find?
• Brief Hypotheticals—These applications pro-
vide students practice in spotting the issue and • Simplicity at every step. a desktop-inspired inter-
applying the law in the context of a short, fac- face features drop-down menus and familiar intu-
tual scenario. itive tools that take you through content creation
• Case Problem Analyses—These promote and management with ease.
deeper critical thinking and legal reasoning by • Full-featured test generator. Create ideal assess-
guiding students step-by-step through a case ments with your choice of fifteen question

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
 P R e Fac e xix

types—including true/false, multiple choice, and social media, and discusses stakeholders and
opinion scale/Likert, and essay). Multi-language corporate social responsibility. The chapter also
support, an equation editor, and unlimited meta- provides step-by-step guidance on making ethi-
data help ensure your tests are complete and cal business decisions and includes materials on
compliant. global business ethics. a new Digital Update fea-
• Cross-compatible capability. import and export ture examines whether employees should have the
content to and from other systems. right to disconnect from their electronic devices
after work hours.
• Chapters 2 through 7 (the remaining chapters of
instructor’s Companion web site the Law and Business Management unit)—This
The web site for the Fourteenth edition of Business unit has been thoroughly revised and updated
Law: Commercial Law for Accountants can be found by to improve flow and clarity and to provide more
going to www.cengagebrain.com and entering isBn practical information and recent examples. i have
9781305967281. The instructor’s Companion web site included fifteen new cases and twenty new Cases
contains the following supplements: in Point throughout the unit. after discussing eth-
• Instructor’s Manual. includes sections entitled ics in the first chapter, i start off discussing small
“additional Cases addressing This issue” at the business forms, then move to partnerships, limited
end of selected case synopses. liability companies, and finally corporations. all
• Solutions Manual. Provides answers to all ques- of the chapters in the unit include new features.
tions presented in the text, including the ques- For instance, in Chapter 5, there is a Global
tions in each case and feature, the Issue Spotters, Insight feature on whether cloud computing has a
the Business Scenarios and Business Case Problems, nationality and a Digital Update feature on soft-
and the unit-ending features. ware programs that can predict employee miscon-
• Test Bank. a comprehensive test bank that con- duct. i discuss crowdfunding and venture capital
tains multiple-choice, true/false, and short essay in that chapter as well. i have added new exhibits
questions. and key terms. in the chapter on securities law
• Case-Problem Cases. (Chapter 7), i have updated the materials on
• Case Printouts. Regulation a offerings because the cap went from
• PowerPoint Slides. 5 million to 50 million in 2015. i also discuss how
• Lecture Outlines. to deal with the seC’s new CeO pay-ratio disclo-
sure rule in a Managerial Strategy feature.
• Chapter 9 (Agency Formation and Duties) and
Chapter 10 (agency Liability and Termination)—
For users of the Thirteenth edition These two chapters have been updated to reflect
the realities of the gig economy in which many
First of all, i want to thank you for helping make Business people are working as independent contractors. a
Law the best-selling business law text in america today. new Ethics Today feature continues that emphasis
second, i want to make you aware of the numerous addi- with a discussion of whether uber and Lyft driv-
tions and changes that have been made in this edition— ers should be considered employees rather than
many in response to comments from reviewers. independent contractors. There is also a new
every chapter of the Fourteenth edition has been re- Global Insight feature in Chapter 10 concerning
vised as necessary to incorporate new developments in islamic law and respondeat superior. in addi-
the law or to streamline the presentations. Other ma- tion, five new Examples, five new Cases in Point,
jor changes and additions for this edition include the and five new case problems have been added in
following: these two chapters to help students comprehend
• Chapter 1 (Business Ethics)—This chapter con- the important issues and liability in agency
tains two new cases, two new Issue Spotters, three relationships.
new Cases in Point (including a case involving • Chapter 11 (Employment, Immigration, and
Tom Brady’s suspension from the nFL as a result Labor Law) and Chapter 12 (employment
of “deflategate”), and three new case problems. Discrimination)—These two chapters covering
The chapter includes a section on business ethics employment law have been thoroughly updated to

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
xx PReFace

include discussions of legal issues facing employ- Summaries, key terms, Examples, and Cases in
ers today. Chapter 11 has three new cases, three Point to better clarify concepts. Chapter 20
new Cases in Point, three new Examples (including (secured Transactions) was substantially reworked
one involving wage claims of the Oakland Raid- to clarify the general principles and exceptions.
ers cheerleaders), and three new case problems. i Chapter 21 (Bankruptcy Law) includes updated
have added two new features—an Ethics Today on dollar amounts of various provisions of the Bank-
whether employees should receive paid bathroom ruptcy Code, six new Cases in Point, and an Ethics
breaks and a Managerial Strategy on union orga- Today feature on whether there should be more
nizing using company e-mail systems. Chapter 12 relief for student loan debt.
has a new section discussing discrimination based • Chapter 22 (Professional Liability and
on military status and new coverage of same-sex accountability)—The discussion of global
discrimination and discrimination against trans- accounting rules has been updated and i have
gender persons. all three cases are new. There included new subheads to discuss actual and
are seven new Cases in Point, five new Examples, constructive fraud. i have created a new exhibit
a new exhibit, and three new case problems. a to clarify the three basic rules of an accountant’s
Digital Update feature discusses hiring discrimina- liability to third parties, as well as three new Cases
tion based on social media posts. i discuss relevant in Point and one new Example. There is also a
united states supreme Court decisions affecting new Ethics Today feature discussing a profession-
employment issues throughout both chapters. al’s responsibilities with respect to protecting data
• Chapter 13 (The Formation of Sales and Lease stored in the cloud.
Contracts) and Chapter 14 (Performance and • Chapter 24 (Consumer Law) and Chapter 26
Breach of sales and Lease Contracts)—The cover- (antitrust Law)—These two chapters include
age of the uniform Commercial Code has been all new cases, and both have been significantly
streamlined and simplified. i have added four updated with new coverage, Examples, and Cases
new cases and ten new Cases in Point to increase in Point. a Digital Update in Chapter 24 deals
student comprehension, as well as new business with “native” ads on the internet, and a Digital
scenarios and case problems. Update in Chapter 26 discusses the european
• Chapters 15 through 17 (the negotiable instru- union’s antitrust complaint against Google.
ments chapters)—The three negotiable instru- • Chapter 27 (Personal Property and Bailments)
ments chapters have been revamped and and Chapter 28 (Real Property and Landlord-
simplified. i have added numerous new Cases in Tenant Law)—i have rearranged the materials in
Point and Examples to clarify difficult topics for the property chapters somewhat and now cover
students. a Digital Update feature discusses pay- fixtures in the real property chapter. each chapter
ing with smartphones. includes two new cases as well as a Classic Case or
• Chapter 18 (Banking in the Digital Age)—I have Spotlight Case. There are six new Examples, seven
updated this entire chapter to reflect the realities new Cases in Point, two new exhibits, and seven
of banking in today’s digital world. all three cases new case problems in these two chapters. Both
are new and recent. There are three new Cases chapters also include new features (an Ethics Today
in Point, a new Issue Spotter, and three new case and a Digital Update).
problems. a new Digital Update feature explains • Chapter 29 (Intellectual Property)—The materials
how electronic payment systems are reducing the on intellectual property rights have been thor-
use of checks. oughly revised and updated to reflect the most
• Chapter 19 (Creditors’ Rights and Remedies), current laws and trends. The 2016 case involves
Chapter 20 (secured Transactions), and Chap- the Hustler Club and a trademark infringement
ter 21 (Bankruptcy Law)—These three chapters claim between brothers. a Digital Update feature
have been revised to be more up to date and examines the problem of patent trolls. There are
comprehensible. each chapter has two new cases eleven new Cases in Point, including cases involv-
and a new feature. we have also streamlined the ing Fedex’s color and logo, Google’s digitalization
materials to focus on those concepts that students of books, and how the sherlock Holmes copyright
need to know. i have added new exhibits, Concept fell into the public domain.

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
 P R e Fac e xxi

Acknowledgments for Previous Editions

since this project began many years ago, a sizable number of business law professors and others have helped us in revis-
ing the book, including the following:

Jeffrey E. Allen Elizabeth K. Brunn, Esq. William H. Daughtrey, Jr.

University of Miami University of Baltimore; University of Virginia Commonwealth University
Judith Anshin Maryland University College
Michael DeAngelis
Sacramento City College William J. Burke University of Rhode Island
Thomas M. Apke University of Massachusetts, Lowell
James Doering
California State University, Fullerton Kenneth Burns University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
Raymond August University of Miami
John V. Dowdy
Washington State University Daniel R. Cahoy University of Texas at Arlington
William Auslen Pennsylvania State University
Michele A. Dunkerley
San Francisco City College Rita Cain University of Texas at Austin
Mary B. Bader University of Missouri—Kansas City
Julia M. Dunlap, Esq.
Moorhead State University Jeanne A. Calderon University of California, San Diego
Frank Bagan New York University
Paul Dusseault
County College of Morris Joseph E. Cantrell Herkimer Community College (SUNY)
John J. Balek DeAnza College, California
Maria Elena Ellison
Morton College, Illinois Donald Cantwell Florida Atlantic University
Michael G. Barth University of Texas at Arlington
Nena Ellison
University of Phoenix Arthur J. Casey
Florida Atlantic University
David L. Baumer San Jose State University, College of
North Carolina State University Business, Organization and Management O. E. Elmore
Texas A&M University
Barbara E. Behr Thomas D. Cavenagh
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania North Central College—Naperville, Illinois Robert J. Enders
California State Polytechnic University,
Robert B. Bennett, Jr. Robert Chatov
Pomona
Butler University State University of New York, Buffalo
Corey Ciocchetti Michael Engber
Robert C. Bird
University of Denver Ball State University
University of Connecticut
Nanette C. Clinch David A. Escamilla
Heidi Boerstler
San Jose State University, California University of Texas at Austin
University of Colorado at Denver
Maria Kathleen Boss Robert J. Cox Denise M. Farag
California State University, Los Angeles Salt Lake Community College Linfield College

Lawrence J. Bradley Thomas Crane James S. Fargason

University of Notre Dame University of Miami Louisiana State University

Dean Bredeson Angela Crossin Frank S. Forbes

University of Texas at Austin Purdue University, Calumet University of Nebraska at Omaha
Kylar William Broadus, Esq. Kenneth S. Culott Joe W. Fowler
Lincoln University in Missouri University of Texas at Austin Oklahoma State University
Doug Brown Larry R. Curtis Stanley G. Freeman
Montana State University Iowa State University University of South Carolina
Kristi K. Brown Richard Dalebout Joan Gabel
University of Texas at Austin Brigham Young University Florida State University

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
xxii PReFace

Christ Gaetanos June A. Horrigan M. Alan Lawson

State University of New York, Fredonia California State University, Sacramento Mt. San Antonio College
Chester S. Galloway John P. Huggard Leslie E. Lenn
Auburn University North Carolina State University St. Edwards University
Bob Garrett Terry Hutchins Susan Liebeler
American River College, California Pembroke State University, North Carolina Loyola University
Gary L. Giese Robert Jesperson Robert B. Long
University of Colorado at Denver University of Houston Oakland Community College
Thomas Gossman Debra M. Johnson Stuart MacDonald
Western Michigan University Montana State University—Billings University of Central Oklahoma
John D. Grigsby Bryce J. Jones Thomas E. Maher
Pennsylvania College of Technology Northeast Missouri State University California State University, Fullerton
Dr. J. Keaton Grubbs Margaret Jones Sal Marchionna
Stephen F. Austin State University Southwest Missouri State College Triton College, Illinois
Patrick O. Gudridge Peter A. Karl III Gene A. Marsh
University of Miami School of Law SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica University of Alabama
Paul Guymon Jack E. Karns Michael Martin, J.D., M.B.A., LL.M.
William Rainey Harper College East Carolina University University of Northern Colorado,
Jacqueline Hagerott Anne E. Kastle Monfort College of Business
Franklin University Edmonds Community College Karen Kay Matson
James M. Haine Tamra Kempf University of Texas at Austin
University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point University of Miami Woodrow J. Maxwell
Gerard Halpern Judith Kenney Hudson Valley Community College,
University of Arkansas University of Miami New York
Christopher L. Hamilton Barbara Kincaid Bruce E. May
Golden West College, California Southern Methodist University University of South Dakota
JoAnn W. Hammer Carey Kirk Diane May
University of Texas at Austin University of Northern Iowa Winona State University, Minnesota
Charles Hartman Nancy P. Klintworth Gail McCracken
Wright State University, Ohio University of Central Florida University of Michigan, Dearborn
Richard A. Hausler Kurtis P. Klumb John W. McGee
University of Miami School of Law University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Southwest Texas State University
Harry E. Hicks Kathleen M. Knutson Cotton Meagher
Butler University, Indianapolis College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, University of Nevada at Las Vegas
Janine S. Hiller Minnesota Christopher Meakin
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Lisa Quinn Knych University of Texas at Austin
State University Syracuse University, Whitman School Roger E. Meiners
Rebecca L. Hillyer of Management University of Texas at Arlington
Chemeketa Community College Peter Kwiatkowski, Esq. Gerald S. Meisel
E. Clayton Hipp, Jr. Baldwin Wallace University Bergen Community College,
Clemson University Meg Costello Lambert New Jersey
Anthony H. Holliday, Jr. Oakland Community College— Jennifer Merton, J.D.
Howard University Auburn Hills Campus University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Telford Hollman Vonda M. Laughlin Richard Mills
University of Northern Iowa Carson-Newman College Cypress College

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 P R e Fac e xxiii

David Minars Thomas L. Palmer Dana Blair Smith

City University of New York, Brooklyn Northern Arizona University University of Texas at Austin
Leo Moersen Charles M. Patten Michael Smydra
The George Washington University University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh Oakland Community College—Royal Oak
Alan Moggio Patricia Pattison Arthur Southwick
Illinois Central College Texas State University, San Marcos University of Michigan
Violet E. Molnar Peyton J. Paxson Sylvia A. Spade
Riverside City College University of Texas at Austin University of Texas at Austin
James E. Moon Carlton Perkins John A. Sparks
Meyer, Johnson & Moon, Minneapolis Texas Southern University Grove City College, Pennsylvania
Melinda Ann Mora Darren A. Prum Robert D. Sprague
University of Texas at Austin The Florida State University University of Wyoming
Bob Morgan Ralph L. Quinones
Eastern Michigan University Elisabeth Sperow
University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh
California Polytechnic University, San
Barry S. Morinaka Carol D. Rasnic Luis Obispo
Baker College—Michigan Virginia Commonwealth University
Brenda Steuer
Melanie Morris Marvin H. Robertson North Harris College, Houston
Raritan Valley Community College Harding University
Craig Stilwell
Joan Ann Mrava
Bert K. Robinson Michigan State University
Los Angeles Southwest College
Kennesaw State University
Dwight D. Murphey Irwin Stotsky
Norberto Ruiz University of Miami School of Law
Wichita State University
Chabot College
Daniel E. Murray Larry Strate
Gary K. Sambol University of Nevada at Las Vegas
University of Miami School of Law
Rutgers State University
Paula C. Murray Charles R. B. Stowe
Rudy Sandoval
University of Texas Sam Houston State University
University of Texas, San Antonio
Gregory J. Naples Raymond Mason Taylor
Marquette University Sidney S. Sappington
North Carolina State University
York College of Pennsylvania
George A. Nation III Thomas F. Taylor
Lehigh University Martha Sartoris
Campbell University
North Hennepin Community College
Caleb L. Nichols Ray Teske
Western Connecticut State University Barbara P. Scheller
Temple University University of Texas at San Antonio
John M. Norwood H. Allan Tolbert
University of Arkansas S. Alan Schlact
Kennesaw State University, Georgia Central Texas College
Jamie O’Brien
Lorne H. Seidman Jesse C. Trentadue
University of Notre Dame
University of Nevada at Las Vegas University of North Dakota
Dr. Kelly E. O’Donnell, J.C.D
California Lutheran University, Ira Selkowitz Edwin Tucker
Thousand Oaks, California University of Colorado at Denver University of Connecticut

Michael J. O’Hara Roscoe B. Shain Gary Victor

University of Nebraska at Omaha Austin Peay University Eastern Michigan University
Rick F. Orsinger Bennett D. Shulman William H. Volz
College of DuPage, Illinois Lansing Community College, Michigan Wayne State University
Daniel J. O’Shea S. Jay Sklar David Vyncke
Hillsborough Community College Temple University Scott Community College, Iowa

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xxiv PReFace

William H. Walker, Marshall Wilkerson Norman Gregory Young

Indiana University–Purdue University, University of Texas at Austin California State Polytechnic University,
Fort Wayne Melanie Stallings Williams Pomona
Diana Walsh California State University— Ronald C. Young
County College of Morris Northridge Kalamazoo Valley Community College,
Robert J. Walter Arthur D. Wolfe Michigan
University of Texas at El Paso Michigan State University Bob Zaffram
Gary Watson Elizabeth A. Wolfe Erie Community College, Buffalo,
California State University, Los Angeles University of Texas at Austin New York

Katherine Hannan Wears, J.D. Daniel R. Wrentmore

Clarkson University School of Business Santa Barbara City College
John L. Weimer Eric D. Yordy
Nicholls State University, Louisiana Northern Arizona University

as in all past editions, i owe a debt of extreme grati- who co-authored the Instructor’s Manual and the Test
tude to the numerous individuals who worked directly Bank, for his excellent research efforts. i am grateful
with me or at Cengage Learning. in particular, i wish for the efforts of Vickie Reierson and Roxanna Lee for
to thank Vicky True-Baker, senior product manager; their proofreading and other assistance, which helped to
suzanne wilder, managing content developer; sarah ensure an error-free text. Finally, i thank suzanne Jasin
Huber, content developer; and ann Borman, senior of K & M Consulting for her many special efforts on
content project manager. i also thank Katie Jergens in this project.
marketing and Michelle Kunkler, art director. i am in- Through the years, i have enjoyed an ongoing corre-
debted as well to the staff at Lachina, the compositor, for spondence with many of you who have found points on
accurately generating pages for this text and making it which you wish to comment. i continue to welcome all
possible for me to meet an ambitious printing schedule. comments and promise to respond promptly. By incor-
i especially wish to thank Katherine Marie sils- porating your ideas, i can continue to write a business
bee for her management of the entire project, as well law text that is best for you and best for your students.
as for the application of her superb research and edito-
rial skills. i also wish to thank william eric Hollowell, R.L.M.

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Visit https://ebookmass.com today to explore
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Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 OUR AROMATIC UNCLE
BY

Henry Cuyler Bunner

The title of Mr. Bunner’s story is attractive and stimulating to the

imagination. The plot is slight, yet clever in its use of the surprise
element. Its leading character is a splendid illustration of a hero-
worshipper who is himself the real hero. The atmosphere is
especially good. It is warmed by family affection and fragrant with
romance. This romance, as Mr. Grabo points out in “The Art of the
Short Story,” is suggested rather than recorded. The running away of
the Judge’s son and of his little admirer, the butcher-boy, really lies
outside the story proper. “With these youthful adventures the story
has not directly to do, but the hints of the antecedent action envelop
the story with a romantic atmosphere. The reader speculates upon
the story suggested, and thereby is the written story enriched and
made a part of a larger whole.”
 OUR AROMATIC UNCLE[21]

It is always with a feeling of personal tenderness and regret that

I recall his story, although it began long before I was born, and must
have ended shortly after that important date, and although I myself
never laid eyes on the personage of whom my wife and I always
speak as “The Aromatic Uncle.”
The story begins so long ago, indeed, that I can tell it only as a
tradition of my wife’s family. It goes back to the days when Boston
was so frankly provincial a town that one of its leading citizens, a
man of eminent position and ancient family, remarked to a young
kinsman whom he was entertaining at his hospitable board, by way
of pleasing and profitable discourse: “Nephew, it may interest you to
know that it is Mr. Everett who has the other hindquarter of this
lamb.” This simple tale I will vouch for, for I got it from the lips of
the nephew, who has been my uncle for so many years that I know
him to be a trustworthy authority.
In those days which seem so far away—and yet the space
between them and us is spanned by a lifetime of threescore years
and ten—life was simpler in all its details; yet such towns as Boston,
already old, had well-established local customs which varied not at
all from year to year; many of which lingered in later phases of
urban growth. In Boston, or at least in that part of Boston where my
wife’s family dwelt, it was the invariable custom for the head of the
family to go to market in the early morning with his wife’s list of the
day’s needs. When the list was filled, the articles were placed in a
basket; and the baskets thus filled were systematically deposited by
the market-boys at the back-door of the house to which they were
consigned. Then the housekeeper came to the back-door at her
convenience, and took the basket in. Exposed as this position must
have been, such a thing as a theft of the day’s edibles was
unknown, and the first authentic account of any illegitimate handling
of the baskets brings me to the introduction of my wife’s uncle.
 It was on a summer morning, as far as I can find out, that a little
butcher-boy—a very little butcher-boy to be driving so big a cart—
stopped in the rear of two houses that stood close together in a
suburban street. One of these houses belonged to my wife’s father,
who was, from all I can gather, a very pompous, severe, and
generally objectionable old gentleman; a Judge, and a very
considerable dignitary, who apparently devoted all his leisure to
making life miserable for his family. The other was owned by a
comparatively poor and unimportant man, who did a shipping
business in a small way. He had bought it during a period of
temporary affluence, and it hung on his hands like a white elephant.
He could not sell it, and it was turning his hair gray to pay the taxes
on it. On this particular morning he had got up at four o’clock to go
down to the wharves to see if a certain ship in which he was
interested had arrived. It was due and overdue, and its arrival would
settle the question of his domestic comfort for the whole year; for if
it failed to appear, or came home with an empty bottom, his fate
would be hard indeed; but if it brought him money or marketable
goods from its long Oriental trip, he might take heart of grace and
look forward to better times.
When the butcher’s boy stopped at the house of my wife’s father,
he set down at the back-door a basket containing fish, a big joint of
roast beef, and a generous load of fruit and vegetables, including
some fine, fat oranges. At the other door he left a rather
unpromising-looking lump of steak and a half-peck of potatoes, not
of the first quality. When he had deposited these two burdens he ran
back and started his cart up the road.
But he looked back as he did so, and he saw a sight familiar to
him, and saw the commission of a deed entirely unfamiliar. A
handsome young boy of about his own age stepped out of the back-
door of my wife’s father’s house and looked carelessly around him.
He was one of the boys who compel the admiration of all other boys
—strong, sturdy, and a trifle arrogant.
He had long ago compelled the admiration of the little butcher-
boy. They had been playmates together at the public school, and
although the Judge’s son looked down from an infinite height upon
his poor little comrade, the butcher-boy worshipped him with the
deepest and most fervent adoration. He had for him the admiring
reverence which the boy who can’t lick anybody has for the boy who
can lick everybody. He was a superior being, a pattern, a model; an
ideal never to be achieved, but perhaps in a crude, humble way to
be imitated. And there is no hero-worship in the world like a boy’s
worship of a boy-hero.
The sight of this fortunate and adorable youth was familiar
enough to the butcher-boy, but the thing he did startled and
shocked that poor little workingman almost as much as if his idol
had committed a capital crime right before his very eyes. For the
Judge’s son suddenly let a look into his face that meant mischief,
glanced around him to see whether anybody was observing him or
not, and, failing to notice the butcher-boy, quickly and dexterously
changed the two baskets. Then he went back into the house and
shut the door on himself.
The butcher-boy reined up his horse and jumped from his cart.
His first impulse, of course, was to undo the shocking iniquity which
the object of his admiration had committed. But before he had
walked back a dozen yards, it struck him that he was taking a great
liberty in spoiling the other boy’s joke. It was wrong, of course, he
knew it; but was it for him to rebuke the wrong-doing of such an
exalted personage? If the Judge’s son came out again, he would see
that his joke had miscarried, and then he would be displeased. And
to the butcher-boy it did not seem right in the nature of things that
anything should displease the Judge’s son. Three times he went
hesitatingly backward and forward, trying to make up his mind, and
then he made it up. The king could do no wrong. Of course he
himself was doing wrong in not putting the baskets back where they
belonged; but then he reflected, he took that sin on his own humble
conscience, and in some measure took it off the conscience of the
Judge’s son—if, indeed, it troubled that lightsome conscience at all.
And, of course, too, he knew that, being an apprentice, he would be
whipped for it when the substitution was discovered. But he didn’t
mind being whipped for the boy he worshipped. So he drove out
along the road; and the wife of the poor shipping-merchant, coming
to the back-door, and finding the basket full of good things, and
noticing especially the beautiful China oranges, naturally concluded
that her husband’s ship had come in, and that he had provided his
family with a rare treat. And the Judge, when he came home to
dinner, and Mrs. Judge introduced him to the rump-steak and
potatoes—but I do not wish to make this story any more pathetic
than is necessary.

· · · · · · ·
A few months after this episode, perhaps indirectly in
consequence of it—I have never been able to find out exactly—the
Judge’s son, my wife’s uncle, ran away to sea, and for many years
his recklessness, his strength, and his good looks were only
traditions in the family, but traditions which he himself kept alive by
remembrances than which none could have been more effective.
At first he wrote but seldom, later on more regularly, but his
letters—I have seen many of them—were the most
uncommunicative documents that I ever saw in my life. His
wanderings took him to many strange places on the other side of the
globe, but he never wrote of what he saw or did. His family gleaned
from them that his health was good, that the weather was such-and-
such, and that he wished to have his love, duty, and respects
conveyed to his various relatives. In fact, the first positive bit of
personal intelligence that they received from him was five years after
his departure, when he wrote them from a Chinese port on letter-
paper whose heading showed that he was a member of a
commercial firm. The letter itself made no mention of the fact. As
the years passed on, however, the letters came more regularly and
they told less about the weather, and were slightly—very slightly—
more expressive of a kind regard for his relatives. But at the best
they were cramped by the formality of his day and generation, and
we of to-day would have called them cold and perfunctory.
 But the practical assurances that he gave of his undiminished—
nay, his steadily increasing—affection for the people at home, were
of a most satisfying character, for they were convincing proof not
only of his love but of his material prosperity. Almost from his first
time of writing he began to send gifts to all the members of the
family. At first these were mere trifles, little curios of travel such as
he was able to purchase out of a seaman’s scanty wages; but as the
years went on they grew richer and richer, till the munificence of the
runaway son became the pride of the whole family.
The old house that had been in the suburbs of Boston was fairly
in the heart of the city when I first made its acquaintance, and one
of the famous houses of the town. And it was no wonder it was
famous, for such a collection of Oriental furniture, bric-à-brac, and
objects of art never was seen outside of a museum. There were
ebony cabinets, book-cases, tables, and couches wonderfully carved
and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. There were beautiful things in
bronze and jade and ivory. There were all sorts of strange rugs and
curtains and portières. As to the china-ware and the vases, no house
was ever so stocked; and as for such trifles as shawls and fans and
silk handkerchiefs, why such things were sent not singly but by
dozens.
No one could forget his first entrance into that house. The great
drawing-room was darkened by heavy curtains, and at first you had
only a dim vision of the strange and graceful shapes of its curious
furnishing. But you could not but be instantly conscious of the
delicate perfume that pervaded the apartment, and, for the matter
of that, the whole house. It was a combination of all the delightful
Eastern smells—not sandal-wood only, nor teak, nor couscous, but
all these odors and a hundred others blent in one. Yet it was not
heavy nor overpowering, but delightfully faint and sweet, diffused
through those ample rooms. There was good reason, indeed, for the
children of the generation to which my wife belonged to speak of the
generous relative whom they had never seen as “Our Aromatic
Uncle.” There were other uncles, and I have no doubt they gave
presents freely, for it was a wealthy and free-handed family; but
there was no other uncle who sent such a delicate and delightful
reminder with every gift, to breathe a soft memory of him by day
and by night.

· · · · · · ·
I did my courting in the sweet atmosphere of that house, and,
although I had no earthly desire to live in Boston, I could not help
missing that strangely blended odor when my wife and I moved into
an old house in an old part of New York, whose former owners had
no connections in the Eastern trade. It was a charming and home-
like old house; but at first, although my wife had brought some
belongings from her father’s house, we missed the pleasant flavor of
our aromatic uncle, for he was now my uncle, as well as my wife’s. I
say at first, for we did not miss it long. Uncle David—that was his
name—not only continued to send his fragrant gifts to my wife at
Christmas and upon her birthday, but he actually adopted me, too,
and sent me Chinese cabinets and Chinese gods in various minerals
and metals, and many articles designed for a smoker’s use, which no
smoker would ever want to touch with a ten-foot pole. But I cared
very little about the utility of these presents, for it was not many
years before, among them all, they set up that exquisite perfume in
the house, which we had learned to associate with our aromatic
uncle.
“Foo-choo-li, China, January—, 18—.
“Dear Nephew and Niece: The Present is to inform you that I have this
day shipped to your address, per Steamer Ocean Queen, one marble and
ebony Table, six assorted gods, and a blue Dinner set; also that I purpose
leaving this Country for a visit to the Land of my Nativity on the 6th of
March next, and will, if same is satisfactory to you, take up my Abode
temporarily in your household. Should same not be satisfactory, please
cable at my charge. Messrs. Smithson & Smithson, my Customs Brokers,
will attend to all charges on the goods, and will deliver them at your
readiness. The health of this place is better than customary by reason of
the cool weather, which Health I am as usual enjoying. Trusting that you
both are at present in possession of the same Blessing, and will so
continue, I remain, dear nephew and niece,
“Your affectionate
 “Uncle.”

· · · · · · ·
This was, I believe, by four dozen words—those which he used to
inform us of his intention of visiting America—the longest letter that
Uncle David had ever written to any member of his family. It also
conveyed more information about himself than he had ever given
since the day he ran away to sea. Of course we cabled the old
gentleman that we should be delighted to see him.
And, late that spring, at some date at which he could not
possibly have been expected to arrive, he turned up at our house.
Of course we had talked a great deal about him, and wondered
what manner of a man we should find him. Between us, my wife and
I had got an idea of his personal appearance which I despair of
conveying in words. Vaguely, I should say that we had pictured him
as something mid-way between an abnormally tall Chinese mandarin
and a benevolent Quaker. What we found when we got home and
were told that our uncle from India was awaiting us, was a shrunken
and bent old gentleman, dressed very cleanly and neatly in black
broadcloth, with a limp, many-pleated shirt-front of old-fashioned
style, and a plain black cravat. If he had worn an old-time stock we
could have forgiven him the rest of the disappointment he cost us;
but we had to admit to ourselves that he had the most absolutely
commonplace appearance of all our acquaintance. In fact, we soon
discovered that, except for a taciturnity the like of which we had
never encountered, our aromatic uncle had positively not one
picturesque characteristic about him. Even his aroma was a
disappointment. He had it, but it was patchouly or some other cheap
perfume of the sort, wherewith he scented his handkerchief, which
was not even a bandanna, but a plain decent white one of the
unnecessarily large sort which clergymen and old gentlemen affect.
But, even if we could not get one single romantic association to
cluster about him, we very soon got to like the old gentleman. It is
true that at our first meeting, after saying “How d’ye do” to me and
receiving in impassive placidity the kiss which my wife gave him, he
relapsed into dead silence, and continued to smoke a clay pipe with
a long stem and a short bowl. This instrument he filled and re-filled
every few minutes, and it seemed to be his only employment. We
plied him with questions, of course, but to these he responded with
a wonderful brevity. In the course of an hour’s conversation we got
from him that he had had a pleasant voyage, that it was not a long
voyage, that it was not a short voyage, that it was about the usual
voyage, that he had not been seasick, that he was glad to be back,
and that he was not surprised to find the country very much
changed. This last piece of information was repeated in the form of
a simple “No,” given in reply to the direct question; and although it
was given politely, and evidently without the least unamiable intent,
it made us both feel very cheap. After all, it was absurd to ask a
man if he were surprised to find the country changed after fifty or
sixty years of absence. Unless he was an idiot, and unable to read at
that, he must have expected something of the sort.
But we grew to like him. He was thoroughly kind and inoffensive
in every way. He was entirely willing to be talked to, but he did not
care to talk. If it was absolutely necessary, he could talk, and when
he did talk he always made me think of the “French-English
Dictionary for the Pocket,” compiled by the ingenious Mr. John
Bellows; for nobody except that extraordinary Englishman could
condense a greater amount of information into a smaller number of
words. During the time of his stay with us I think I learned more
about China than any other man in the United States knew, and I do
not believe that the aggregate of his utterances in the course of that
six months could have amounted to one hour’s continuous talk.
Don’t ask me for the information. I had no sort of use for it, and I
forgot it as soon as I could. I like Chinese bric-à-brac, but my
interest in China ends there.
Yet it was not long before Uncle David slid into his own place in
the family circle. We soon found that he did not expect us to
entertain him. He wanted only to sit quiet and smoke his pipe, to
take his two daily walks by himself, and to read the daily paper one
afternoon and Macaulay’s “History of England” the next. He was
never tired of sitting and gazing amiably but silently at my wife; and,
to head the list of his good points, he would hold the baby by the
hour, and for some mysterious reason that baby, who required the
exhibition of seventeen toys in a minute to be reasonably quiet in
the arms of anybody else, would sit placidly in Uncle David’s lap,
teething away steadily on the old gentleman’s watch-chain, as quiet
and as solemn and as aged in appearance as any one of the
assorted gods of porcelain and jade and ivory which our aromatic
uncle had sent us.

· · · · · · ·
The old house in Boston was a thing of the past. My wife’s
parents had been dead for some years, and no one remained of her
immediate family except a certain Aunt Lucretia, who had lived with
them until shortly before our marriage, when the breaking up of the
family sent her West to find a home with a distant relative in
California. We asked Uncle Davy if he had stopped to see Aunt
Lucretia as he came through California. He said he had not. We
asked him if he wanted to have Aunt Lucretia invited on to pass a
visit during his stay with us. He answered that he did not. This did
not surprise us at all. You might think that a brother might long to
see a sister from whom he had been separated nearly all of a long
lifetime, but then you might never have met Aunt Lucretia. My wife
made the offer only from a sense of duty; and only after a contest
with me which lasted three days and nights. Nothing but loss of
sleep during an exceptionally busy time at my office induced me to
consent to her project of inviting Aunt Lucretia. When Uncle David
put his veto upon the proposition I felt that he might have taken
back all his rare and costly gifts, and I could still have loved him.
But Aunt Lucretia came, all the same. My wife is afflicted with a
New England conscience, originally of a most uncomfortable
character. It has been much modified and ameliorated, until it is now
considerably less like a case of moral hives; but some wretched
lingering remnant of the original article induced her to write to Aunt
Lucretia that Uncle David was staying with us, and of course Aunt
Lucretia came without invitation and without warning, dropping in on
us with ruthless unexpectedness.

· · · · · · ·
You may not think, from what I have said, that Aunt Lucretia’s
visit was a pleasant event. But it was, in some respects; for it was
not only the shortest visit she ever paid us, but it was the last with
which she ever honored us.
She arrived one morning shortly after breakfast, just as we were
preparing to go out for a drive. She would not have been Aunt
Lucretia if she had not upset somebody’s calculations at every turn
of her existence. We welcomed her with as much hypocrisy as we
could summon to our aid on short notice, and she was not more
than usually offensive, although she certainly did herself full justice
in telling us what she thought of us for not inviting her as soon as
we even heard of Uncle David’s intention to return to his native land.
She said she ought to have been the first to embrace her beloved
brother—to whom I don’t believe she had given one thought in more
years than I have yet seen.
Uncle David was dressing for his drive. His long residence in
tropical countries had rendered him sensitive to the cold, and
although it was a fine, clear September day, with the thermometer
at about sixty, he was industriously building himself up with a series
of overcoats. On a really snappy day I have known him to get into
six of these garments; and when he entered the room on this
occasion I think he had on five, at least.
My wife had heard his familiar foot on the stairs, and Aunt
Lucretia had risen up and braced herself for an outburst of emotional
affection. I could see that it was going to be such a greeting as is
given only once in two or three centuries, and then on the stage. I
felt sure it would end in a swoon, and I was looking around for a
sofa-pillow for the old lady to fall upon, for from what I knew of
Aunt Lucretia I did not believe she had ever swooned enough to be
able to go through the performance without danger to her aged
person.
 But I need not have troubled myself. Uncle David toddled into the
room, gazed at Aunt Lucretia without a sign of recognition in his
features, and toddled out into the hall, where he got his hat and
gloves, and went out to the front lawn, where he always paced up
and down for a few minutes before taking a drive, in order to
stimulate his circulation. This was a surprise, but Aunt Lucretia’s
behavior was a greater surprise. The moment she set eyes on Uncle
David the theatrical fervor went out of her entire system, literally in
one instant; and an absolutely natural, unaffected astonishment
displayed itself in her expressive and strongly marked features. For
almost a minute, until the sound of Uncle David’s footsteps had died
away, she stood absolutely rigid; while my wife and I gazed at her
spellbound.
Then Aunt Lucretia pointed one long bony finger at me, and
hissed out with a true feminine disregard of grammar:
“That ain’t him!”

· · · · · · ·
“David,” said Aunt Lucretia, impressively, “had only one arm. He
lost the other in Madagascar.”
I was too dumbfounded to take in the situation. I remember
thinking, in a vague sort of way, that Madagascar was a curious sort
of place to go for the purpose of losing an arm; but I did not
apprehend the full significance of this disclosure until I heard my
wife’s distressed protestations that Aunt Lucretia must be mistaken;
there must be some horrible mistake somewhere.
But Aunt Lucretia was not mistaken, and there was no mistake
anywhere. The arm had been lost, and lost in Madagascar, and she
could give the date of the occurrence, and the circumstances
attendant. Moreover, she produced her evidence on the spot. It was
an old daguerreotype, taken in Calcutta a year or two after the
Madagascar episode. She had it in her hand-bag, and she opened it
with fingers trembling with rage and excitement. It showed two men
standing side by side near one of those three-foot Ionic pillars that
were an indispensable adjunct of photography in its early stages.
One of the men was large, broad-shouldered, and handsome—
unmistakably a handsome edition of Aunt Lucretia. His empty left
sleeve was pinned across his breast. The other man was, making
allowance for the difference in years, no less unmistakably the Uncle
David who was at that moment walking to and fro under our
windows. For one instant my wife’s face lighted up.
“Why, Aunt Lucretia,” she cried, “there he is! That’s Uncle David,
dear Uncle David.”
“There he is not,” replied Aunt Lucretia. “That’s his business
partner—some common person that he picked up on the ship he first
sailed in—and, upon my word, I do believe it’s that wretched
creature outside. And I’ll Uncle David him.”
She marched out like a grenadier going to battle, and we
followed her meekly. There was, unfortunately, no room for doubt in
the case. It only needed a glance to see that the man with one arm
was a member of my wife’s family, and that the man by his side, our
Uncle David, bore no resemblance to him in stature or features.
Out on the lawn Aunt Lucretia sailed into the dear old gentleman
in the five overcoats with a volley of vituperation. He did not
interrupt her, but stood patiently to the end, listening, with his hands
behind his back; and when, with her last gasp of available breath,
Aunt Lucretia demanded:
“Who—who—who are you, you wretch?” he responded, calmly
and respectfully:
“I’m Tommy Biggs, Miss Lucretia.”
But just here my wife threw herself on his neck and hugged him,
and cried:
“You’re my own dear Uncle David, anyway!”
It was a fortunate, a gloriously fortunate, inspiration. Aunt
Lucretia drew herself up in speechless scorn, stretched forth her
bony finger, tried to say something and failed, and then she and her
hand-bag went out of my gates, never to come in again.

· · · · · · ·
 When she had gone, our aromatic uncle—for we shall always
continue to think of him in that light, or rather in that odor—looked
thoughtfully after her till she disappeared, and then made one of the
few remarks I ever knew him to volunteer.
“Ain’t changed a mite in forty-seven years.”
Up to this time I had been in a dazed condition of mind. As I
have said, my wife’s family was extinct save for herself and Aunt
Lucretia, and she remembered so little of her parents, and she
looked herself so little like Aunt Lucretia, that it was small wonder
that neither of us remarked Uncle David’s unlikeness to the family
type. We knew that he did not resemble the ideal we had formed of
him; and that had been the only consideration we had given to his
looks. Now, it took only a moment of reflection to recall the fact that
all the members of the family had been tall and shapely, and that
even between the ugly ones, like Aunt Lucretia, and the pretty ones,
like my wife, there was a certain resemblance. Perhaps it was only
the nose—the nose is the brand in most families, I believe—but
whatever it was, I had only to see my wife and Aunt Lucretia
together to realize that the man who had passed himself off as our
Uncle David had not one feature in common with either of them—
nor with the one-armed man in the daguerreotype. I was thinking of
this, and looking at my wife’s troubled face, when our aromatic uncle
touched me on the arm.
“I’ll explain,” he said, “to you. You tell her.”
We dismissed the carriage, went into the house, and sat down.
The old gentleman was perfectly cool and collected, but he lit his
clay pipe, and reflected for a good five minutes before he opened his
mouth. Then he began:
“Finest man in the world, sir. Finest boy in the world. Never
anything like him. But, peculiarities. Had ’em. Peculiarities. Wouldn’t
write home. Wouldn’t”—here he hesitated—“send things home. I
had to do it. Did it for him. Didn’t want his folks to know. Other
peculiarities. Never had any money. Other peculiarities. Drank. Other
peculiarities. Ladies. Finest man in the world, all the same. Nobody
like him. Kept him right with his folks for thirty-one years. Then died.
Fever. Canton. Never been myself since. Kept right on writing, all the
same. Also”—here he hesitated again—“sending things. Why? Don’t
know. Been a fool all my life. Never could do anything but make
money. No family, no friends. Only him. Ran away to sea to look
after him. Did look after him. Thought maybe your wife would be
some like him. Barring peculiarities, she is. Getting old. Came here
for company. Meant no harm. Didn’t calculate on Miss Lucretia.”
Here he paused and smoked reflectively for a minute or two.
“Hot in the collar—Miss Lucretia. Haughty. Like him, some. Just
like she was forty-seven years ago. Slapped my face one day when I
was delivering meat, because my jumper wasn’t clean. Ain’t changed
a mite.”
This was the first condensed statement of the case of our
aromatic uncle. It was only in reply to patient, and, I hope, loving,
gentle, and considerate, questioning that the whole story came out
—at once pitiful and noble—of the poor little butcher-boy who ran
away to sea to be body-guard, servant, and friend to the splendid,
showy, selfish youth whom he worshipped; whose heartlessness he
cloaked for many a long year, who lived upon his bounty, and who
died in his arms, nursed with a tenderness surpassing that of a
brother. And as far as I could find out, ingratitude and contempt had
been his only reward.

· · · · · · ·
I need not tell you that when I repeated all this to my wife she
ran to the old gentleman’s room and told him all the things that I
should not have known how to say—that we cared for him; that we
wanted him to stay with us; that he was far, far more our uncle than
the brilliant, unprincipled scapegrace who had died years before,
dead for almost a lifetime to the family who idolized him; and that
we wanted him to stay with us as long as kind heaven would let him.
But it was of no use. A change had come over our aromatic uncle
which we could both of us see, but could not understand. The
duplicity of which he had been guilty weighed on his spirit. The next
day he went out for his usual walk, and he never came back. We
used every means of search and inquiry, but we never heard from
him until we got this letter from Foo-choo-li:

· · · · · · ·
“Dear Nephew and Niece: The present is to inform you that I am
enjoying the Health that might be expected at my Age, and in my
condition of Body, which is to say bad. I ship you by to-day’s steamer,
Pacific Monarch, four dozen jars of ginger, and two dozen ditto preserved
oranges, to which I would have added some other Comfits, which I
purposed offering for your acceptance, if it wore not that my Physician
has forbidden me to leave my Bed. In case of Fatal Results from this
trying Condition, my Will, duly attested, and made in your favor, will be
placed in your hands by Messrs. Smithson & Smithson, my Customs
Brokers, who will also pay all charges on goods sent. The Health of this
place being unfavorably affected by the Weather, you are unlikely to hear
more from,
“Dear Nephew and Niece,
“Your affectionate
“Uncle.”

And we never did hear more—except for his will—from Our

Aromatic Uncle; but our whole house still smells of his love.
 QUALITY
BY

John Galsworthy

Here the emphasis is upon character. The plot is negligible—

hardly exists. The setting is carefully worked out because it is
essential to the characterization. By means of the shoemaker the
author reveals at least a part of his philosophy of life—that there is a
subtle relation between a man and his work. Each reacts on the
other. If a man recognizes the Soul of Things and strives to give it
proper expression, he becomes an Artist and influences for good all
who come into contact with him.

QUALITY[22]

I knew him from the days of my extreme youth, because he

made my father’s boots; inhabiting with his elder brother two little
shops let into one, in a small by-street—now no more, but then most
fashionably placed in the West End.
That tenement had a certain quiet distinction; there was no sign
upon its face that he made for any of the Royal Family—merely his
own German name of Gessler Brothers; and in the window a few
pairs of boots. I remember that it always troubled me to account for
those unvarying boots in the window, for he made only what was
ordered, reaching nothing down, and it seemed so inconceivable
that what he made could ever have failed to fit. Had he bought them
to put there? That, too, seemed inconceivable. He would never have
tolerated in his house leather on which he had not worked himself.
Besides, they were too beautiful—the pair of pumps, so inexpressibly
slim, the patent leathers with cloth tops, making water come into
one’s mouth, the tall brown riding boots with marvellous sooty glow,
as if, though new, they had been worn a hundred years. Those pairs
could only have been made by one who saw before him the Soul of
Boot—so truly were they prototypes incarnating the very spirit of all
foot-gear. These thoughts, of course, came to me later, though even
when I was promoted to him, at the age of perhaps fourteen, some
inkling haunted me of the dignity of himself and brother. For to make
boots—such boots as he made—seemed to me then, and still seems
to me, mysterious and wonderful.
I remember well my shy remark, one day, while stretching out to
him my youthful foot:
“Isn’t it awfully hard to do, Mr. Gessler?”
And his answer, given with a sudden smile from out of the
sardonic redness of his beard: “Id is an Ardt!”
Himself, he was a little as if made from leather, with his yellow
crinkly face, and crinkly reddish hair and beard, and neat folds
slanting down his checks to the corners of his mouth, and his
guttural and one-toned voice; for leather is a sardonic substance,
and stiff and slow of purpose. And that was the character of his face,
save that his eyes, which were gray-blue, had in them the simple
gravity of one secretly possessed by the Ideal. His elder brother was
so very like him—though watery, paler in every way, with a great
industry—that sometimes in early days I was not quite sure of him
until the interview was over. Then I knew that it was he, if the
words, “I will ask my brudder,” had not been spoken; and that, if
they had, it was his elder brother.
When one grew old and wild and ran up bills, one somehow
never ran them up with Gessler Brothers. It would not have seemed
becoming to go in there and stretch out one’s foot to that blue iron-
spectacled glance, owing him for more than—say—two pairs, just
the comfortable reassurance that one was still his client.
For it was not possible to go to him very often—his boots lasted
terribly, having something beyond the temporary—some, as it were,
essence of boot stitched into them.
One went in, not as into most shops, in the mood of: “Please
serve me, and let me go!” but restfully, as one enters a church; and,
sitting on the single wooden chair, waited—for there was never
anybody there. Soon, over the top edge of that sort of well—rather
dark, and smelling soothingly of leather—which formed the shop,
there would be seen his face, or that of his elder brother, peering
down. A guttural sound, and the tip-tap of bast slippers beating the
narrow wooden stairs, and he would stand before one without coat,
a little bent, in leather apron, with sleeves turned back, blinking—as
if awakened from some dream of boots, or like an owl surprised in
daylight and annoyed at this interruption.
And I would say: “How do you do, Mr. Gessler? Could you make
me a pair of Russia leather boots?”
Without a word he would leave me, retiring whence he came, or
into the other portion of the shop, and I would continue to rest in
the wooden chair, inhaling the incense of his trade. Soon he would
come back, holding in his thin, veined hand a piece of gold-brown
leather. With eyes fixed on it, he would remark: “What a beaudiful
biece!” When I, too, had admired it, he would speak again. “When
do you wand dem?” And I would answer: “Oh! As soon as you
conveniently can.” And he would say: “To-morrow fordnighd?” Or if
he were his elder brother: “I will ask my brudder!”
 Then I would murmur: “Thank you! Good-morning, Mr. Gessler.”
“Goot-morning!” he would reply, still looking at the leather in his
hand. And as I moved to the door, I would hear the tip-tap of his
bast slippers restoring him, up the stairs, to his dream of boots. But
if it were some new kind of foot-gear that he had not yet made me,
then indeed he would observe ceremony—divesting me of my boot
and holding it long in his hand, looking at it with eyes at once critical
and loving, as if recalling the glow with which he had created it, and
rebuking the way in which one had disorganized this masterpiece.
Then, placing my foot on a piece of paper, he would two or three
times tickle the outer edges with a pencil and pass his nervous
fingers over my toes, feeling himself into the heart of my
requirements.
I cannot forget that day on which I had occasion to say to him:
“Mr. Gessler, that last pair of town walking-boots creaked, you
know.”
He looked at me for a time without replying, as if expecting me
to withdraw or qualify the statement, then said:
“Id shouldn’d ’a’ve greaked.”
“It did, I’m afraid.”
“You goddem wed before dey found demselves?”
“I don’t think so.”
At that he lowered his eyes, as if hunting for memory of those
boots, and I felt sorry I had mentioned this grave thing.
“Zend dem back!” he said; “I will look at dem.”
A feeling of compassion for my creaking boots surged up in me,
so well could I imagine the sorrowful long curiosity of regard which
he would bend on them.
“Zome boods,” he said slowly, “are bad from birdt. If I can do
noding wid dem, I dake dem off your bill.”
Once (once only) I went absent-mindedly into his shop in a pair
of boots bought in an emergency at some large firm’s. He took my
order without showing me any leather, and I could feel his eyes
penetrating the inferior integument of my foot. At last he said:
 “Dose are nod my boods.”
The tone was not one of anger, nor of sorrow, not even of
contempt, but there was in it something quiet that froze the blood.
He put his hand down and pressed a finger on the place where the
left boot, endeavoring to be fashionable, was not quite comfortable.
“Id ’urds you dere,” he said. “Dose big virms ’a’ve no self-respect.
Drash!” And then, as if something had given way within him, he
spoke long and bitterly. It was the only time I ever heard him
discuss the conditions and hardships of his trade.
“Dey get id all,” he said, “dey get id by adverdisement, nod by
work. Dey dake it away from us, who lofe our boods. Id gomes to
this—bresently I haf no work. Every year id gets less—you will see.”
And looking at his lined face I saw things I had never noticed before,
bitter things and bitter struggle—and what a lot of gray hairs there
seemed suddenly in his red beard!
As best I could, I explained the circumstances of the purchase of
those ill-omened boots. But his face and voice made so deep
impression that during the next few minutes I ordered many pairs.
Nemesis fell! They lasted more terribly than ever. And I was not able
conscientiously to go to him for nearly two years.
When at last I went I was surprised to find that outside one of
the two little windows of his shop another name was painted, also
that of a bootmaker—making, of course, for the Royal Family. The
old familiar boots, no longer in dignified isolation, were huddled in
the single window. Inside, the now contracted well of the one little
shop was more scented and darker than ever. And it was longer than
usual, too, before a face peered down, and the tip-tap of the bast
slippers began. At last he stood before me, and, gazing through
those rusty iron spectacles, said:
“Mr.——, isn’d it?”
“Ah! Mr. Gessler,” I stammered, “but your boots are really too
good, you know! See, these are quite decent still!” And I stretched
out to him my foot. He looked at it.
“Yes,” he said, “beople do nod wand good boods, id seems.”
 To get away from his reproachful eyes and voice I hastily
remarked: “What have you done to your shop?”
He answered quietly: “Id was too exbensif. Do you wand some
boods?”
I ordered three pairs, though I had only wanted two, and quickly
left. I had, I do not know quite what feeling of being part, in his
mind, of a conspiracy against him; or not perhaps so much against
him as against his idea of boot. One does not, I suppose, care to
feel like that; for it was again many months before my next visit to
his shop, paid, I remember, with the feeling: “Oh! well, I can’t leave
the old boy—so here goes! Perhaps it’ll be his elder brother!”
For his elder brother, I knew, had not character enough to
reproach me, even dumbly.
And, to my relief, in the shop there did appear to be his elder
brother, handling a piece of leather.
“Well, Mr. Gessler,” I said, “how are you?”
He came close, and peered at me.
“I am breddy well,” he said slowly; “but my elder brudder is
dead.”
And I saw that it was indeed himself—but how aged and wan!
And never before had I heard him mention his brother. Much
shocked, I murmured: “Oh! I am sorry!”
“Yes,” he answered, “he was a good man, he made a good bood;
but he is dead.” And he touched the top of his head, where the hair
had suddenly gone as thin as it had been on that of his poor brother,
to indicate, I suppose, the cause of death. “He could nod ged over
losing de oder shop. Do you wand any boods?” And he held up the
leather in his hand: “Id’s a beaudiful biece.”
I ordered several pairs. It was very long before they came—but
they were better than ever. One simply could not wear them out.
And soon after that I went abroad.
It was over a year before I was again in London. And the first
shop I went to was my old friend’s. I had left a man of sixty, I came
back to one of seventy-five, pinched and worn and tremulous, who
genuinely, this time, did not at first know me.
“Oh! Mr. Gessler,” I said, sick at heart; “how splendid your boots
are! See, I’ve been wearing this pair nearly all the time I’ve been
abroad; and they’re not half worn out, are they?”
He looked long at my boots—a pair of Russia leather, and his face
seemed to regain steadiness. Putting his hand on my instep, he said:
“Do dey vid you here? I ’a’d drouble wid dat bair, I remember.”
I assured him that they had fitted beautifully.
“Do you wand any boods?” he said. “I can make dem quickly; id
is a slack dime.”
I answered: “Please, please! I want boots all round—every kind!”
“I will make a vresh model. Your food must be bigger.” And with
utter slowness, he traced round my foot, and felt my toes, only once
looking up to say:
“Did I dell you my brudder was dead?”
To watch him was painful, so feeble had he grown; I was glad to
get away.
I had given those boots up, when one evening they came.
Opening the parcel, I set the four pairs out in a row. Then one by
one I tried them on. There was no doubt about it. In shape and fit,
in finish and quality of leather, they were the best he had ever made
me. And in the mouth of one of the town walking-boots I found his
bill. The amount was the same as usual, but it gave me quite a
shock. He had never before sent it in till quarter day. I flew
downstairs, and wrote a check, and posted it at once with my own
hand.
A week later, passing the little street, I thought I would go in and
tell him how splendidly the new boots fitted. But when I came to
where his shop had been, his name was gone. Still there, in the
window, were the slim pumps, the patent leathers with cloth tops,
the sooty riding boots.
I went in, very much disturbed. In the two little shops—again
made into one—was a young man with an English face.
 “Mr. Gessler in?” I said.
He gave me a strange, ingratiating look.
“No, sir,” he said, “no. But we can attend to anything with
pleasure. We’ve taken the shop over. You’ve seen our name, no
doubt, next door. We make for some very good people.”
“Yes, yes,” I said; “but Mr. Gessler?”
“Oh!” he answered; “dead.”
Dead! But I only received these boots from him last Wednesday
week.”
“Ah!” he said; “a shockin’ go. Poor old man starved ‘imself.”
“Good God!”
“Slow starvation, the doctor called it! You see he went to work in
such a way! Would keep the shop on; wouldn’t have a soul touch his
boots except himself. When he got an order, it took him such a time.
People won’t wait. He lost everybody. And there he’d sit, goin’ on
and on—I will say that for him—not a man in London made a better
boot! But look at the competition! He never advertised! Would ’a’ve
the best leather, too, and do it all ‘imself. Well, there it is. What
could you expect with his ideas?”
“But starvation——!”
“That may be a bit flowery, as the sayin’ is—but I know myself he
was sittin’ over his boots day and night, to the very last. You see I
used to watch him. Never gave ‘imself time to eat; never had a
penny in the house. All went in rent and leather. How he lived so
long I don’t know. He regular let his fire go out. He was a character.
But he made good boots.”
“Yes,” I said, “he made good boots.”
And I turned and went out quickly, for I did not want that youth
to know that I could hardly see.
 THE TRIUMPH OF NIGHT
BY

Edith Wharton

This is a mystery plot in which the supernatural furnishes the

interest. In dealing with the supernatural Mrs. Wharton does not
allow it to become horrible or grotesque. She secures plausibility by
having for its leading characters practical business men—not a
woman, hysterical or otherwise, really appears—and by placing them
in a perfectly conventional setting. The apparition is not
accompanied by blood stains, shroud, or uncanny noises. Sometimes
the writer of the supernatural feels that he must explain his mystery
by material agencies. The effect is to disappoint the reader who has
yielded himself to the conditions imposed by the author, and is
willing, for the time at least, to believe in ghosts. Mrs. Wharton
makes no such mistake. She does not spoil the effect by
commonplace explanation.
In characterization Mrs. Wharton reveals the power not only to
analyze subtly temperaments and motives, but also to describe
vividly with a few words. This phrasal power is illustrated when she
says of Faxon that he “had a healthy face, but dying hands,” and of
Lavington that “his pinched smile was screwed to his blank face like
a gas-light to a white-washed wall.”
 THE TRIUMPH OF NIGHT[23]

It was clear that the sleigh from Weymore had not come; and the
shivering young traveller from Boston, who had so confidently
counted on jumping into it when he left the train at Northridge
Junction, found himself standing alone on the open platform,
exposed to the full assault of night-fall and winter.
The blast that swept him came off New Hampshire snow-fields
and ice-hung forests. It seemed to have traversed interminable
leagues of frozen silence, filling them with the same cold roar and
sharpening its edge against the same bitter black-and-white
landscape. Dark, searching, and sword-like, it alternately muffled
and harried its victim, like a bull-fighter now whirling his cloak and
now planting his darts. This analogy brought home to the young
man the fact that he himself had no cloak, and that the overcoat in
which he had faced the relatively temperate airs of Boston seemed
no thicker than a sheet of paper on the bleak heights of Northridge.
George Faxon said to himself that the place was uncommonly well-
named. It clung to an exposed ledge over the valley from which the
train had lifted him, and the wind combed it with teeth of steel that
he seemed actually to hear scraping against the wooden sides of the
station. Other building there was none: the village lay far down the
road, and thither—since the Weymore sleigh had not come—Faxon
saw himself under the immediate necessity of plodding through
several feet of snow.
He understood well enough what had happened at Weymore: his
hostess had forgotten that he was coming. Young as Faxon was, this
sad lucidity of soul had been acquired as the result of long
experience, and he knew that the visitors who can least afford to
hire a carriage are almost always those whom their hosts forget to
send for. Yet to say Mrs. Culme had forgotten him was perhaps too
crude a way of putting it. Similar incidents led him to think that she
had probably told her maid to tell the butler to telephone the
coachman to tell one of the grooms (if no one else needed him) to
drive over to Northridge to fetch the new secretary; but on a night
like this what groom who respected his rights would fail to forget the
order?
Faxon’s obvious course was to struggle through the drifts to the
village, and there rout out a sleigh to convey him to Weymore; but
what if, on his arrival at Mrs. Culme’s, no one remembered to ask
him what this devotion to duty had cost? That, again, was one of the
contingencies he had expensively learned to look out for, and the
perspicacity so acquired told him it would be cheaper to spend the
night at the Northridge inn, and advise Mrs. Culme of his presence
there by telephone. He had reached this decision, and was about to
entrust his luggage to a vague man with a lantern who seemed to
have some loose connection with the railway company, when his
hopes were raised by the sound of sleigh-bells.
Two vehicles were just dashing up to the station, and from the
foremost there sprang a young man swathed in furs.
“Weymore?—No, these are not the Weymore sleighs.”
The voice was that of the youth who had jumped to the platform
—a voice so agreeable that, in spite of the words, it fell reassuringly
on Faxon’s ears. At the same moment the wandering station-lantern,
casting a transient light on the speaker, showed his features to be in
the pleasantest harmony with his voice. He was very fair and very
young—hardly in the twenties, Faxon thought—but his face, though
full of a morning freshness, was a trifle too thin and fine-drawn, as
though a vivid spirit contended in him with a strain of physical
weakness. Faxon was perhaps the quicker to notice such delicacies
of balance because his own temperament hung on lightly vibrating
nerves, which yet, as he believed, would never quite swing him
beyond the arc of a normal sensibility.
“You expected a sleigh from Weymore?” the youth continued,
standing beside Faxon like a slender column of fur.
 Mrs. Culme’s secretary explained his difficulty, and the new-
comer brushed it aside with a contemptuous “Oh, Mrs. Culme!” that
carried both speakers a long way toward reciprocal understanding.
“But then you must be——” The youth broke off with a smile of
interrogation.
“The new secretary? Yes. But apparently there are no notes to be
answered this evening.” Faxon’s laugh deepened the sense of
solidarity which had so promptly established itself between the two.
The new-comer laughed also. “Mrs. Culme,” he explained, “was
lunching at my uncle’s to-day, and she said you were due this
evening. But seven hours is a long time for Mrs. Culme to remember
anything.”
“Well,” said Faxon philosophically, “I suppose that’s one of the
reasons why she needs a secretary. And I’ve always the inn at
Northridge,” he concluded.
The youth laughed again. He was at the age when predicaments
are food for gaiety.
“Oh, but you haven’t, though! It burned down last week.”
“The deuce it did!” said Faxon; but the humor of the situation
struck him also before its inconvenience. His life, for years past, had
been mainly a succession of resigned adaptations, and he had
learned, before dealing practically with his embarrassments, to
extract from most of them a small tribute of amusement.
“Oh, well, there’s sure to be somebody in the place who can put
me up.”
“No one you could put up with. Besides, Northridge is three miles
off, and our place—in the opposite direction—is a little nearer.”
Through the darkness, Faxon saw his friend sketch a gesture of self-
introduction. “My name’s Frank Rainer, and I’m staying with my
uncle at Overdale. I’ve driven over to meet two friends of his, who
are due in a few minutes from New York. If you don’t mind waiting
till they arrive I’m sure Overdale can do you better than Northridge.
We’re only down from town for a few days, but the house is always
ready for a lot of people.”
 “But your uncle——?” Faxon could only object, with the odd
sense, through his embarrassment, that it would be magically
dispelled by his invisible friend’s next words.
“Oh, my uncle—you’ll see! I answer for him! I dare say you’ve
heard of him—John Lavington?”
John Lavington! There was a certain irony in asking if one had
heard of John Lavington! Even from a post of observation as obscure
as that of Mrs. Culme’s secretary, the rumor of John Lavington’s
money, of his pictures, his politics, his charities and his hospitality,
was as difficult to escape as the roar of a cataract in a mountain
solitude. It might almost have been said that the one place in which
one would not have expected to come upon him was in just such a
solitude as now surrounded the speakers—at least in this deepest
hour of its desertedness. But it was just like Lavington’s brilliant
ubiquity to put one in the wrong even there.
“Oh, yes, I’ve heard of your uncle.”
“Then you will come, won’t you? We’ve only five minutes to
wait,” young Rainer urged, in the tone that dispels scruples by
ignoring them; and Faxon found himself accepting the invitation as
simply as it was offered.
A delay in the arrival of the New York train lengthened their five
minutes to fifteen; and as they paced the icy platform Faxon began
to see why it had seemed the most natural thing in the world to
accede to his new acquaintance’s suggestion. It was because Frank
Rainer was one of the privileged beings who simplify human
intercourse by the atmosphere of confidence and good humor they
diffuse. He produced this effect, Faxon noted, by the exercise of no
gift save his youth, of no art save his sincerity; but these qualities
were revealed in a smile of such appealing sweetness that Faxon
felt, as never before, what Nature can achieve when she deigns to
match the face with the mind.
He learned that the young man was the ward, and only nephew,
of John Lavington, with whom he had made his home since the
death of his mother, the great man’s sister. Mr. Lavington, Rainer
said, had been “a regular brick” to him—“But then he is to every
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