Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

Immediate download Test Bank for Managerial Economics: Foundations of Business Analysis and Strategy, 13th Edition Christopher Thomas S. Charles Maurice all chapters

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 50

Full download testbank at testbankmall.

com

Test Bank for Managerial Economics:


Foundations of Business Analysis and
Strategy, 13th Edition Christopher
Thomas S. Charles Maurice
DOWLOAD HERE

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-
managerial-economics-foundations-of-business-
analysis-and-strategy-13th-edition-christopher-
thomas-s-charles-maurice/

DOWLOAD NOW

Download more testbank from https://testbankmall.com


More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Solution Manual for Managerial Economics: Foundations


of Business Analysis and Strategy, 13th Edition,
Christopher Thomas, S. Charles Maurice

https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-managerial-
economics-foundations-of-business-analysis-and-strategy-13th-
edition-christopher-thomas-s-charles-maurice/

Test Bank for Managerial Economics, 12th Edition,


Christopher Thomas, S. Charles Maurice

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-managerial-
economics-12th-edition-christopher-thomas-s-charles-maurice/

Solution Manual for Managerial Economics, 12th Edition,


Christopher Thomas S. Charles Maurice

https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-managerial-
economics-12th-edition-christopher-thomas-s-charles-maurice/

Test Bank for Managerial Economics Foundations of


Business Analysis and Strategy, 11th Edition : Thomas

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-managerial-
economics-foundations-of-business-analysis-and-strategy-11th-
edition-thomas/
Managerial Economics Foundations of Business Analysis
and Strategy 12th Edition Thomas Solutions Manual

https://testbankmall.com/product/managerial-economics-
foundations-of-business-analysis-and-strategy-12th-edition-
thomas-solutions-manual/

Solution Manual for Managerial Economics Foundations of


Business Analysis and Strategy 11th Edition by Thomas

https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-managerial-
economics-foundations-of-business-analysis-and-strategy-11th-
edition-by-thomas/

Managerial Economics and Business Strategy 8th Edition


Baye Test Bank

https://testbankmall.com/product/managerial-economics-and-
business-strategy-8th-edition-baye-test-bank/

Test Bank for Managerial Economics and Business


Strategy 8th Edition by Baye

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-managerial-
economics-and-business-strategy-8th-edition-by-baye/

Test Bank for Managerial Economics and Business


Strategy, 7th Edition: Michael Baye

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-managerial-
economics-and-business-strategy-7th-edition-michael-baye/
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-4 When economic profit is positive,


a. total revenue exceeds total economic cost.
b. the firm’s owners have successfully solved the principle-agent problem.
c. the firm’s owners experience a decrease in their wealth.
d. foreign companies experience loss of market share
Answer: a
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-5 Consider a firm that employs some resources that are owned by the firm. When accounting profit
is zero, economic profit
a. must also equal zero.
b. is sure to be positive.
c. must be negative and shareholder wealth is reduced.
d. cannot be computed accurately, but the firm is breaking even nonetheless.
Answer: c
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-6 Which of the following statements is false?


a. Explicit costs of using market-supplied resources entail an opportunity cost equal to the
dollar cost of obtaining the resources in the market.
b. When economic profit is zero, the firm’s owners could not have done better putting their
resources in some other industry of comparable risk.
c. If economic profit is positive, accounting profit must also be positive.
d. If economic profit is negative, accounting profit must also be negative.
e. None of the above statements is false.
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-7 The value of a firm is


a. smaller the higher is the risk premium used to compute the firm’s value.
b. larger the higher is the risk premium used to compute the firm’s value.
c. the price for which the firm can be sold minus the present value of the expected future
profits.
d. both b and c
Answer: a
Difficulty: 02 Medium

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 2
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-8 Suppose Marv, the owner-manager of Marv’s Hot Dogs, earned $82,000 in revenue last year.
Marv’s explicit costs of operation totaled $36,000. Marv has a Bachelor of Science degree in
mechanical engineering and could be earning $40,000 annually as mechanical engineer.
a. Marv's implicit cost of using owner-supplied resources is $36,000.
b. Marv's economic profit is $36,000.
c. Marv’s implicit cost of using owner-supplied resources is $30,000.
d. Marv's economic profit is $6,000.

Answer: d
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-9 A risk premium is


a. a measure calculated to reflect the riskiness of future profits.
b. subtracted from the discount rate when calculating the present value of a future stream of
profits.
c. lower the riskier the future stream of profits.
d. an additional compensation paid to the workers of a business enterprise.
Answer: a
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-10 Owners of a firm want the managers to make business decisions which will
a. maximize the value of the firm.
b. maximize expected profit in each period of operation.
c. maximize the market share of the firm.
d. both a and b are correct when revenue and cost conditions in one time period are
independent of revenues and costs in future time periods.
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-11 The principal-agent problem arises when


a. the principal and the agent have different objectives.
b. the principal cannot enforce the contract with the agent or finds it too costly to monitor
the agent.

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 3
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
c. the principal cannot decide whether the firm should seek to maximize the expected future
profits of the firm or maximize the price for which the firm can be sold.
d. both a and b
Answer: d
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: Separation of Ownership and Control of the Firm
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-03

1-12 Moral hazard


a. occurs when managers pursue profit maximization without regard to the interests of
society in general.
b. exists when either party to a contract has an incentive to cancel the contract.
c. occurs only rarely in modern corporations.
d. is the cause of principal-agent problems.
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: Separation of Ownership and Control of the Firm
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Understand
Learning Objective: 01-03

1-13 A price-taking firm can exert no control over price because


a. the firm's demand curve is downward sloping.
b. of a lack of substitutes for the product.
c. the firm's individual production is insignificant relative to total production in the industry.
d. no other firms make a product that is nearly identical to its product.
Answer: c
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-14 Which of the following statements is true?


a. Shareholders as a group have little or no ability to force managers to pursue
maximization of the firm’s value.
b. The effectiveness of a board of directors in monitoring managers is enhanced by
appointing members from the firm who are well-informed about the management
problems facing the firm.
c. Reducing the amount of debt financing can reduce divergence between the shareholders’
interests and the manager’s interests.
d. Equity ownership by managers is thought to be one of the most effective corporate
control mechanisms.
e. All of the above are true.
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: Separation of Ownership and Control of the Firm
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 4
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Learning Objective: 01-03

1-15 When a firm is a price-taking firm,


a. the price of the product it sells is determined by the intersection of the market demand
and supply curves for the product.
b. raising the price of the product above the market-determined price will cause sales to fall
nearly to zero.
c. many other firms produce a product that is identical to the output produced by the rest of
the firms in the industry.
d. all of the above
Answer: d
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-16 A price-setting firm


a. can lower the price of its product and sell more units.
b. can raise the price of its product and sell the same number of units.
c. possesses little market power.
d. sells a product that is not differentiated from the product sold by its rivals or sells in a
limited geographic market area with only one or a few sellers.
Answer: a
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Understand
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-17 A market
a. raises the transaction costs of doing business.
b. is any arrangement that brings buyers and sellers together to exchange goods or services.
c. is an institution used rarely by capitalist nations.
d. is characterized by rigid prices
Answer: b
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-18 Which of the following is NOT one of features characterizing market structures?
a. the number and size of firms
b. the likelihood of new firm’s entering a market
c. the level of capital investment in research and development
d. the degree of product differentiation
Answer: c
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Reflective Thinking

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 5
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-19 In a perfectly competitive market,


a. all firms produce and sell a standardized or undifferentiated product.
b. the output sold by a particular firm may be quite different from the output sold by the
other firms in the market.
c. firms are price-setters.
d. it is difficult for new firms to enter the market due to barriers to entry.
Answer: a
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-20 Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of monopoly market structures?


a. A single firm produces the entire market output.
b. The easier consumers can find imperfect substitutes for the firm’s product the lower will
be the firm’s market power.
c. There are no barriers to entry.
d. No close substitutes for the product are available.
Answer: c
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Understand
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-21 In markets characterized by monopolistic competition,


a. a small number of relatively small firms sell a differentiated product.
b. a small number of relatively large firms sell a standardized product.
c. entry into the market is relatively easy so that profit in the long run is zero.
d. entry into the market is restricted so that profit may be positive in the long run.

Answer: c
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-22 In markets characterized by oligopoly,


a. a large number of relatively large firms sell a differentiated product.
b. a small number of relatively small firms sell a standardized product.
c. mutual interdependence of firms means that actions of any one firm in the market will
have no effect on the sales of all other firms in the market.
d. entry into the market is restricted so that profit may be positive in the long run.

Answer: d
Difficulty: 01 Easy

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 6
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-23 When economic profit is zero,


a. there is just enough revenue left after paying all explicit costs to cover the cost of using
the firm’s owner-supplied resources.
b. accounting profit is positive.
c. accounting profit is exactly equal to the implicit cost of using the firm’s owner-supplied
resources.
d. all of the above
e. none of the above

Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Understand
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-24 Economic profit is a better measure of a firm’s performance than accounting profit because
a. accounting profit is unreliable because generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP)
overstates the firm’s true costs of using resources.
b. economic profit fully accounts for all sources of revenue.
c. as a general rule, only explicit costs can be subtracted from revenue for the purposes of
computing taxable profit.
d. the opportunity cost of using ALL resources is subtracted from total revenue.
e. both c and d
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Understand
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-25 A manager who does not see his or her goal as the maximization of profit
a. may nevertheless maximize the value of the firm.
b. may create a principle-agent problem.
c. will follow objectives that conflict with those of the owners of the firm.
d. both b and c
Answer: d
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: Separation of Ownership and Control of the Firm
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Understand
Learning Objective: 01-03

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 7
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
1-26 Over the past 25 years, which of the following developments encouraged globalization of
markets?
a. Eleven European countries began using the “euro” as a common currency.
b. The ability to buy and sell goods on the Internet was increased.
c. Numerous bilateral and multilateral trade agreements were reached.
d. both a and c
e. all of the above
Answer: e
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Understand
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-27 Which of the following is an example of an implicit cost for a firm?


a. the value of time worked by the owner.
b. any wages and salaries paid to employed.
c. forgone rent on property owned by firm.
d. both a and c
e. all of the above
Answer: d
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Understand
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-28 St. Charles Hospital, located in an upper-income neighborhood of a large city, recently received a
restored mansion as a gift from an appreciative patient. The board of directors decided to remodel
the mansion and use it as recuperative quarters for patients willing to pay for luxurious
accommodations. The cost to the hospital of using the mansion includes
a. nothing because it was a gift.
b. how much the hospital pays for upkeep--taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, etc.
c. how much the hospital would receive if it rented or sold the mansion.
d. the legal expenses to transfer ownership to St. Charles Hospital.
e. both b and c
Answer: e
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Understand
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-29 Until recently you worked as an accountant earning $60,000 annually. Then you inherited a piece
of commercial real estate bringing in $40,000 rent annually. You decided to leave your job and
open a tattoo parlor in the office space you inherited.
At the end of the first year, your books showed total revenues of $180,000 and total
explicit costs of $90,000 for labor, ink, utilities, taxes, and miscellaneous supplies. Your total cost
of doing business during the first year is ______________ and you earned economic profit of
______________.
a. $190,000; –$10,000

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 8
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
b. $90,000; $90,000
c. $130,000; $50,000
d. $150,000; $30,000

Answer: a
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Understand
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-30 At the beginning of 2020, market analysts expect Atlantis Company, holder of a valuable patent, to earn
the following stream of economic profits over the next five years. At the end of five years, Atlantis will
lose its patent protection, and analysts expect economic profit to be zero after five years.

Expected Economic
Year Profit
2020 $ 225,000
2021 $ 325,000
2022 $ 425,000
2023 $ 200,000
2024 $ 100,000

If investors apply an annual risk-adjusted discount rate of 15%, the value of Atlantis Company in 2020 is
$______________________, which is also the maximum price investors would be willing to pay for
Atlantis Company.
a. $726,916
b. $884,912
c. $1,275,000
d. $2,215,000
e. $3,824,318
Answer: b
Difficulty: 03 Hard
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Analyze
Learning Objective: 01-02

Answer the next five questions using the following annual income statement for Quest Realty, Inc.:

Revenues
Revenue from sales of goods and services ........................... $80,000,000
Operating costs and expenses:
Cost of products and services sold ....................................... $30,000,000
Selling expenses ................................................................... $3,000,000
Administrative expense ........................................................ $4,000,000
Total operating costs and expenses ................................ $37,000,000
Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 9
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Income from operations .............................................................. $43,000,000
Interest expense (corporate bonds & loans) ................................ $300,000
Non-recurring expense (Legal expenses/fines in
settling a federal antitrust suit) ............................................. $200,000
Income taxes ............................................................................... $700,000
Net income .................................................................................. $41,800,000

During this year of operation, Quest Realty owned and occupied an office building in downtown
Indianapolis. For this year, the building could have been leased to other businesses for $2,000,000
in lease income. Quest Realty also owned undeveloped land valued at $15,000,000. Owners of
Quest Realty can earn a 14% rate of return annually on funds invested elsewhere.

1-31 Total explicit costs of using market-supplied resources for Quest Realty for this year are
a. $23,000,000
b. $37,000,000
c. $38,200,000
d. $41,100,000
e. none of the above
Answer: c
Difficulty: 03 Hard
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Analyze
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-32 Total implicit costs of using owner-supplied resources for Quest Realty for this year are
a. $4,100,000
b. $19,000,000
c. $38,200,000
d. $41,000,000
e. none of the above
Answer: a
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-33 Quest’s total economic cost is


a. $17,000,000
b. $38,200,000
c. $41,000,000
d. $42,300,000
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 10
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
1-34 Quest’s accounting profit is
a. $4,100,000
b. $9,360,000
c. $38,200,000
d. $42,300,000
e. none of the above
Answer: e
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-35 Quest’s economic profit is


a. $19,000,000
b. $21,800,000
c. $38,200,000
d. $41,000,000
e. none of the above
Answer: e
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-36 Firms with market power may try to limit entry of rival firms in the long run by setting the price
of their product below the level that maximizes profit. This kind of pricing behavior
a. is OK in theory but would not be commonly practiced in the real world because no manager will
ever price either above or below the profit-maximizing level.
b. is a business practice or tactic because pricing decisions are routine decisions made by managers
every day.
c. should always be implemented in order maximize the firm’s market share in both the short run
and long run periods.
d. is a strategic pricing decision because the manager is making the pricing decision with the goal of
altering the behavior of rival firms to protect its profit in the long run.
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-04

1-37 Microeconomics
a. is generally too complex and abstract to be of much use in making real-world business decisions.
b. studies the behavior of individual economic units or segments of the economy.
c. contributes to the understanding of ordinary business practices or tactics.
d. all of the above.
e. both b and c.
Answer: e
Difficulty: 01 Easy

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 11
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-01

1-38 Which of the following is a common mistake that managers make?


a. Using marginal analysis to make output decisions.
b. Maximizing the value of the firm instead of maximizing the firm’s profits.
c. Reducing price to increase the firm’s share of total market sales.
d. Treating implicit opportunity costs as part of the total costs of using resources.
e. all of the above.
Answer: c
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-39 Which of the following is a common mistake that managers make?


a. Using marginal analysis to make output decisions.
b. Maximizing the value of the firm instead of maximizing the firm’s profits.
c. Treating implicit opportunity costs as part of the total costs of using resources.
d. Increasing the rate of production in order to reduce unit costs of production.
e. all of the above.
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-40 Which of the following economic forces promotes profitability in the long run?
a. Existence of strong barriers to entry.
b. A large number of complementary products
c. A large number of close substitute products.
d. Both a and b
e. All of the above
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-01

1-41 Which of the following is NOT one of the economic forces that promotes long-run profitability of
business firms?
a. Low market power of input suppliers.
b. Low market power of consumers.
c. Strong barriers to entry of rival firms.
d. Fierce rivalry among the firms competing in the industry.
e. Abundance of complementary products

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 12
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-01

1-42 The economic cost to the owners of a firm for using productive resources
a. is measured fully by the explicit or out-of-pocket expenses incurred when the firm uses resources
it purchases in the market.
b. does not include implicit costs associated with resources the firm already owns.
c. is the total opportunity cost of all resources used by the firm.
d. is measured by the sum of the explicit costs of market supplied resources plus the implicit costs
of owner-supplied resources.
e. both c and d
Answer: e
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-43 Which of the following conditions must hold in order to have a principal-agent problem?
a. Managers and owners have different objectives for the firm.
b. It is very costly to oversee every managerial decision to make sure all decisions increase the value
of the firm.
c. Complete contracts effectively restrain managers from making value-reducing decisions.
d. The objectives of managers and owners are aligned but hidden actions by managers cannot be
observed no matter how much is spent on monitoring managers.
e. both a and b
Answer: e
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: Separation of Ownership and Control of the Firm
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-03

1-44 Moral hazard is a principal-agent problem that arises when


a. Managers’ and owners’ objectives are nonaligned.
b. Complete contracts effectively restrain managers from making value-reducing decisions.
c. Managers can take hidden actions.
d. both a and c
e. all of the above
Answer: d
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: Separation of Ownership and Control of the Firm
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-03

1-45 Corporate control mechanisms

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 13
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
a. can make it easier to detect hidden actions by managers.
b. will exacerbate moral hazard problems when complete contracts are effectively solving the
principal-agent problem.
c. may not be important when corporate takeovers effectively impose external forces to ensure
managerial decisions are value-maximizing.
d. make it impossible for managers to take hidden actions that are harmful to the interests of the
firm’s owners.
e. both a and b
Answer: c
Difficulty: 02 Medium
Topic: Separation of Ownership and Control of the Firm
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Learning Objective: 01-03

Answer the next five questions using the following annual income statement for Bonus Realty, Inc.:

Revenues
Revenue from sales of goods and services ........................... $100,000,000
Operating costs and expenses:
Cost of products and services sold ....................................... $30,000,000
Selling expenses ................................................................... $3,000,000
Administrative expense ........................................................ $4,000,000
Total operating costs and expenses ................................ $37,000,000
Income from operations .............................................................. $63,000,000
Interest expense (corporate bonds & loans) ................................ $500,000
Non-recurring expense (Legal expenses/fines in
settling a federal antitrust suit .............................................. $100,000
Income taxes ............................................................................... $740,000
Net income .................................................................................. $61,660,000

During this year of operation, Bonus Realty owned and occupied an office building in downtown
Cleveland. For this year, the building could have been leased to other businesses for $3,000,000
in lease income. Bonus Realty also owned undeveloped land valued at $10,000,000. Owners of
Bonus Realty can earn a 4% rate of return annually on funds invested elsewhere.

1-46 Total explicit costs of using market-supplied resources for Bonus Realty for this year are
a. $23,000,000
b. $37,000,000
c. $36,200,000
d. $38,340,000
e. $41,000,000
Answer: d
Difficulty: 03 Hard
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Analyze
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-47 Total implicit costs of using owner-supplied resources for Bonus Realty for this year are
a. $3,400,000
Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 14
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
b. $13,000,000
c. $14,000,000
d. $37,000,000
e. none of the above
Answer: a
Difficulty: 03 Hard
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Analyze
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-48 Total economic cost is

a. $17,000,000
b. $38,200,000
c. $41,740,000
d. $42,300,000
Answer: c
Difficulty: 03 Hard
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Analyze
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-49 Bonus Realty’s accounting profit is


a. $4,100,000
b. $9,360,000
c. $38,200,000
d. $41,740,000
e. none of the above
Answer: e
Difficulty: 03 Hard
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Analyze
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-50 Economic profit for Bonus Realty is


a. $19,000,000
b. $21,800,000
c. $38,200,000
d. $41,000,000
e. none of the above
Answer: e
Difficulty: 03 Hard
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Analyze
Learning Objective: 01-02

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 15
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
During a year of operation, Knight’s Electric, LLC collects $5,000,000 in revenue and spends
$3,500,000 on labor expense, raw materials, rent, and utilities. Knight’s owner has provided
$1,000,000 of her own money to her business instead of investing the money and earning a 12
percent annual rate of return.

1-51 Knight’s explicit costs for the year are $______________, its implicit costs are
$______________, and thus Knight’s total economic cost is $______________.
a. $3,500,000; $1,000,000; $4,500,000
b. $3,500,000; $120,000; $3,620,000
c. $4,500,000; $1,000,000; $5,500,000
d. $5,000,000; $1,000,000; $6,000,000
Answer: b
Difficulty: 03 Hard
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Analyze
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-52 Knight’s Electric earns accounting profit of $______________ and its economic profit is
$______________.
a. $1,500,000; $1,000,000
b. $3,500,000; $120,000
c. $4,500,000; $1,000,000
d. $1,500,000; $1,380,000
e. none of the above
Answer: d
Difficulty: 03 Hard
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Analyze
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-53 Economic theory is a valuable tool for business decision making because it
a. acts like a road map to abstract away from nonessential matters to allow managers to
concentrate on the relevant items for making a decision.
b. creates a realistic, complex model of the business decision.
c. allows managers to apply the economic way of thinking to make valid explanations and
predictions about real world business problems.
d. both a and c
e. a, b and c
Answer: d
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-01

1-54 Which of the following statements is false?


a. Explicit costs of using market-supplied resources entail an opportunity cost equal to the
dollar cost of obtaining the resources in the market.
b. When economic profit is zero, the firm’s owners could NOT have done better putting
their resources in some other industry of comparable risk.
Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 16
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
c. If economic profit is positive, accounting profit must also be positive.
d. If economic profit is negative, accounting profit must also be negative.
e. None of the above statements is false.
Answer: d
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: The Economic Way of Thinking about Business Practices and Strategy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-02

1-55 What is the most important characteristic of oligopoly?


a. firms have market power
b. product differentiation
c. barriers to entry
d. interdependence of profits
Answer: d
Difficulty: 01 Easy
Topic: Market Structure and Managerial Decision Making
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Blooms: Remember
Learning Objective: 01-04

Copyright ©2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the 17
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
from thy dear eyes."
A. A. PROCTER.

THE winding glen in its tangled beauty, far surpassed


ordinary English types of scenery. It might almost have
served for a Swiss ravine, but for the lack of enclosing
mountains; and, indeed, the range of great hills, not many
miles away, where the river had its birth, might not inaptly
have been called "mountains," at least as an act of
courtesy.

Banks, rising on either side of the gorge to a height of two


hundred feet and more, were carpeted thickly with moss,
decked with ferns, and clothed with trees which descended
to the very brink of the swirling stream, there to overhang
its surface. The path led through a prolonged bower of
foliage, occasional gleams of sunshine creeping through.
Gnarled roots projected themselves fantastically; and large
flat stones, now high and dry, showed the wash of the water
in flood-time.

Cyril grew timid at the nearness of the path to the steep


lower bank. He slid his hand into Jean's, and she did not
rebuff the appeal, for Jem had taught her a lesson. She put
him on the side away from the stream, and held his fingers
protectingly.

Jem did not mark this. Usually he saw everything; but his
whole attention was given to Evelyn. Her delight with the
exquisite tints, the lights and shades of the gorge, was
pretty as a study; and it meant more than a study to Jem.
She did not use up a vocabulary of adjectives, but the
closed lips parted, the violet eyes deepened, the blush-rose
tint of her cheeks grew bright. She went slowly—it could not
be too slowly for Jem!—devouring with earnest gaze every
detail of light and shadow. Jem was enchained with the
grace of her movements, the more remarkable from utter
absence of self-consciousness. He had never come across
any one like her before, though the girls he had known were
in number legion.

Still Evelyn said nothing till they reached a wilder part, less
shut in. Trees grew scanty, and the rocks were steep and
bare, while the stream rushed swiftly through a straitened
bed, foaming past with a sweet high note. Then she did say
"Oh!" and her eyes went in a swift appeal for sympathy to
Jem. Not in the least because he was Jem, but only because
in her joy she wanted a response from somebody.

Jem could hardly be expected to understand exactly how


things were. He realised only that a new world was opening
out before him—a new world in the shape of Evelyn
Devereux. If he had not been already taken captive, this
one glance would have done the business. Such a pair of
great violet eyes, liquid, radiant, fringed all round with even
lashes, turned full upon him, as if he, and he alone, could
enter into her delight—what chance had he? And yet he was
nothing to Evelyn. She would have bestowed the same look
upon almost anybody who had happened to stand in his
place at the moment. It was simply the natural expression
of her pleasure.

Jem was a devotee of Nature commonly; but the sole item


of Nature which he had eyes for on this particular day was a
human item. The fair scenery of the gorge was lost upon
him. He forgot even the presence of the children, and saw
only Evelyn.

She had the dumb response she wanted, and went on,
thinking no more about him. Jem was content not to talk.
His one wish was to be allowed to walk beside Evelyn
indefinitely, watching the play of feeling in her face. But this
could not last; and somewhere in his mind, he was counting
on five minutes of her free attention, when they should
have crossed the rustic bridge, into the path which led away
from the gorge, straight to the Ripley Brow grounds. The
gorge itself would take a sharp bend just after the bridge,
becoming then the second arm or branch of the letter V,
and growing for a while even more rugged and wild in
character, before it flattened and sobered down.

When, however, the bridge had been crossed, and Jem's


hopes were high, a clerical figure could be seen striding
down the glen towards them.

"Mr. Trevelyan!" exclaimed Evelyn.

She had taken, as already intimated, a strong girlish fancy


to the Rector; and, as also intimated, the fancy was being
fed by opposition. Left alone, it might have sunk into
insignificance. Stamped upon, it was sure to flourish.

"How do you do?" said Mr. Trevelyan. He had always a curt


and rigid manner, but a certain softness crept into his eyes
as he bent them on Evelyn; for no man could be grim to
Evelyn Devereux.

Jem received a handshake, and a brief, "Heard you were


coming."

"Have you been for a walk?" asked Evelyn wistfully.

"On business. Not pleasure. A man ill in cottage."

"And you are going home down the gorge?"


"No; I have another visit to pay beyond your sapling
plantation."

"O then you were coming our way; so I need not trouble Mr.
Trevelyan any longer. He has been so kindly taking care of
us through the glen. Thanks; I am so much obliged to you
for coming all this distance," she said, giving her hand to
Jem with bewitching graciousness. "It has been lovely."

Jem submitted to her decision with lifted cap, and did not
betray the depth of his disappointment. Evelyn would
scarcely have seen it, if he had, for she was busied with her
new companion.

"Jean, it is nearly time for you to go home," said Mr.


Trevelyan, as he turned away.

The tiny baronet, with a parting glance at Jean, trotted in


the rear of the retiring two. He was desperately in awe of
Mr. Trevelyan, and seldom by choice approached within fifty
yards of him; so Evelyn was likely to have what she
thoroughly enjoyed, a tête-à-tête talk with the Rector. His
characteristic air of dry attention did not repel her, as it
would have repelled many girls; and there was nothing
small or nagging about his severity. She felt the man to be
thoroughly genuine in all he said or did. If the path of duty
should lead him through fire and water, he would follow it
unhesitatingly. Whatever his faults might be—and faults, of
course, he had, being human—self-indulgence was not one
of them. Evelyn's keen insight read him truly.

Jem would have given all he possessed, which was not


much, to follow Evelyn along the path, and into the "Brow"
grounds; no matter at what distance. But gentlemanly
feeling rendered this impossible. He stood like a statue,
gazing fixedly till the three had vanished, unconscious of
Jean's watchful attention.

"Well—" he said at length, and he made an effort to pull


himself together, to awake to common life once more. "Well,
Jean?"

"Do you think Evelyn very pretty?" asked Jean, with a


child's directness. "Is that why you stare at so?"

Jem felt ruffled. His worst enemy could not lawfully accuse
him of anything so objectionable as "staring."

"Rather a rude remark, Jean!"

"I don't mean to be rude. But you did," asserted Jean.

"I beg your pardon! Looking is not staring. A gentleman


never stares."

"Do you think her very pretty?" repeated Jean, dropping


what she counted an unimportant question.

"Yes. Don't you?"

"Not so much as some people."

Jem was amused. He planted himself with his back against


a tree, and scanned curiously the straight supple child.

"Who is prettier than Miss Devereux, among your


acquaintances?"

Jean was puzzled. "Miss Devereux isn't pretty. She's too old.
Aunt Marie says she is fifty."

"Oh, I see. But I mean Miss Evelyn Devereux. I say, Jean,


don't you go about talking Of Miss Devereux as fifty years
old. She wouldn't like it."

"Aunt Marie said so."

"You needn't quote Aunt Marie. Come—who is prettier in


your estimation than Miss Evelyn Devereux?"

The answer was delayed. Jean seemed to be weighing the


matter. She said at length composedly:

"You!"

Jem did laugh. He had a pleasant musical laugh, round and


full like his voice. It rang out now, not loudly but irresistibly.
Jem held on to a bough, and bent with his merriment; while
his eyes danced, and fairly ran over with tears of fun.

"Jean, you are past everything. It's the best compliment I


ever had in my life," cried Jem, nearly convulsed.

"It's true," sturdily answered Jean.

Jem mastered himself, though every muscle in his face was


twitching yet.

"Are you sure you don't mean Oswald?"

"Oh no. Oswald says boys are never pretty; only brave. But
I think men are pretty sometimes."

"What do you find pretty in me? Eh?"

Jean found response easy. "Your eyes are pretty," she said.
"They look so funny. And your mouth is pretty, only you're
getting a horrid moustache. And I like the way you do your
hair. It's got a nice wave just on the forehead. And you
laugh so often. Nobody's pretty that doesn't smile."
"But Miss Evelyn Devereux smiles."

"Oh, not like you."

"What a pity Jean doesn't smile more!"

"I shouldn't be pretty, anyhow."

Jem could not contradict this. He patted her arm.

"Never mind. You are a nice little girl, and I like you. What
is to be your next step?"

"Now? I'm going home to lessons."

"Not holidays yet!"

"I don't have holidays. I wish I could. Aunt Marie says they
are such waste of time."

"I'll see if I can't beg you off a day or two. Come along! Yes,
this minute!"

Jean's face of wondering delight was worth inspection. A


passing question slid through Jem's mind—was she so plain,
after all? But he did not trouble himself to answer the
question. He was longing to get away from everybody, that
he might dream over his new vision of beauty. Perhaps not
many in his place would have voluntarily put aside the
longing, to beg a treat for a child; and he half regretted his
own offer the next instant, though he never thought of
drawing back. Jem was essentially kind-hearted.

Together they went to the Rectory; and Jem pleaded so


successfully that four whole days were granted. This was
Friday. Lessons should not begin again till the Thursday
following. Jean heard in a maze of silent rapture. Five days
of uninterrupted freedom, counting Sunday! Freedom to
devote herself to Oswald!

Jem did a good deal of walking and fishing those days; and
a good deal more of dreaming. Whatever else he might
have in hand, Evelyn was never out of his mind.

He saw her each day, one way or another. Sometimes it was


only a glimpse, of which Evelyn knew nothing. Once they
met in the road, and had a little chat. Once General Villiers
took him to the Brow for afternoon tea, and Jem was in her
presence for an hour. It all meant to Evelyn—nothing. To
Jem it meant—everything.

CHAPTER VI.

AN APPEAL AND ITS RESULTS.

"And just because I was thrice as old,


And our paths in the world diverged so wide,
Each was nought to each, must I be told?
We were fellow-mortals, nought beside?"
R. BROWNING.
"I CERTAINLY am surprised! I could not have expected such
a want of correct feeling!" Miss Devereux spoke in
tremulous accents, moving her hands nervously with a
washing gesture, one over the other.

Sybella's hands were seldom at rest. Either she was


twiddling her chain, or she was drumming the table, or she
was going through some other digit-exercises of her own
devising. People who have unpretty hands, and do not wish
to call attention to them, should refrain from needless
gestures. Sybella had not pretty hands, but she was far
from following this rule.

Miss Devereux's face was in a flutter, as well as her


extremities, and her eyes roved anxiously about. Evelyn's
composure made her increasingly nervous.

"I certainly am surprised," she reiterated. "Such an


extraordinary thing to do. My dear aunt would have been
quite shocked: she would indeed. I am sure, when I was
your age, I should as soon have thought of flying as of such
an impropriety!"

"Impropriety! To let that boy walk up the glen with us!"

"James Trevelyan is not a boy. You cannot pretend to think


him so. He has been through college."

"Twenty-two, is he not? I know he said he could not be


ordained for another year."

"Five years older than yourself."

"Ten years younger in mind and character."


"Really Evelyn—"

"And I shall be eighteen in a week."

"Really, Evelyn, if you persist in this sort of thing, I shall


have—I shall be compelled to appeal to General Villiers."

Evelyn laughed, but it was easy to see that the threat told.

"Ask General Villiers whether I may walk in the company of


a big boy and two children, for fifteen or twenty minutes!"

"Your flippant tone only makes me feel—"

"General Villiers told me yesterday all about young Mr.


Trevelyan," said Evelyn. She was not rudely interrupting her
aunt. Sybella's sentences were apt to die away unfinished,
as ideas or language failed. "He must be a nice lad."

"Mr. Trevelyan may—That has nothing to do with your


conduct! Your conscience must convince you how wrongly
you are behaving! I shall certainly have to appeal to
General Villiers," quavered Sybella.

"General Villiers!" announced Pearce.

With more than usual gravity, the General entered. No


doubt he had heard the words last spoken, for Miss
Devereux's voice always grew shrill under excitement. She
greeted him with a disturbed air, while Evelyn stood in the
centre of the room, carrying her head like a young princess.

"I hope nothing has happened," General Villiers said, with


his air of polished politeness. He kept Evelyn's hand,
scrutinising the unwonted spot of crimson on either cheek.
The exceeding kindness of his look was almost too much for
her self-control; and tears flushed her eyes.
"Aunt Sybella is vexed," she said. "Your friend, Mr. James
Trevelyan, was so good as to walk up the glen with us, the
day he arrived. I had been longing to go there, and nobody
was ever free to take me. I am told I must not do it alone.
He and Jean and Cyril and I were together. Was it so very
objectionable?"

General Villiers could not drop the small hand, which


seemed to creep into his for protection. He stood looking
down upon Evelyn, with mingled sympathy and admiration.
Evelyn's lip quivered, and two large tears fell despite all her
efforts. She dashed them away with the free hand, as if
ashamed.

"Evelyn is of course making the best possible story for


herself," complained Miss Devereux. "My dear aunt always
trained me to be so very particular—"

"But perhaps—" the General said, taking advantage of a


hiatus.

"And Evelyn pays no regard to my wishes. None whatever! I


am sorry to have to complain of her, but I feel it to be my
duty. My feelings matter little, but there is Evelyn's future—
and what may be said of her. I feel that I ought to appeal. It
is not the one thing only. I am sure if I could have known
what these two months would be—Evelyn running
deliberately in the face of my wishes—disregarding my
opinions—setting up her own judgment—forming friendships
which she knows I must disapprove—disobeying my express
commands! And then the temper and annoyance, when I
venture to remonstrate. If I had guessed—"

"But about Jem?" said the General.

"When I was Evelyn's age, I am sure I should never have


dreamt of such a thing as a walk with a stranger—a young
man!!—absolutely without even an introduction! But then I
was so carefully brought up! I could never have stooped to
such an act. I would have walked twenty miles round
sooner! Such a want of self-respect."

There was a dangerous flash in Evelyn's eyes. "It is you who


give the false impression now," she said. "Mr. Trevelyan
helped Cyril when he was frightened; and that was an
introduction. I knew all about him; and the two children
were there. We went up the glen together, all four of us;
and as soon as Mr. Trevelyan appeared—our Mr. Trevelyan, I
mean—I said good-bye to him. Was that so dreadful?"—her
eyes going to General Villiers. "I did want to see the glen
again."

"Why did you never ask me to take you, my child?" the


General asked naturally. "However—I think Miss Devereux
must have misunderstood matters. Now that it is all cleared
up, shall we—?"

"I beg your pardon; it is you who do not understand," tartly


interrupted Sybella. "But perhaps I had better say no more.
Evelyn is bent upon taking her own way. Dear aunt would
have been sadly grieved. If Evelyn did not feel herself to be
in the wrong, why did she never tell me what she had done?
Why did she so studiously conceal it—and no doubt induce
her little brother to do the same? Such underhandedness—
But I feel it is useless for me to pursue the subject. I have
said all that is needful, and I have done. Perhaps, if you are
alone with Evelyn, you may induce her to speak the truth.
My remonstrances are thrown away."

Miss Devereux's voice was so high-pitched and shaky as to


suggest an imminent breakdown. She left the room, and
Evelyn's eyes were again full.
"O it is hard—hard to have to live with her," the girl
murmured. "I have never had to bear coldness before: Aunt
Sybella cannot endure me. Everything I do and say is
wrong. Perhaps I ought to have told her of that walk, but I
knew she would worry, and it did not seem worthwhile.
Sometimes I almost think I must run away—everything is
so wretched. She is winning even Cyril from me."

"My poor child!"

"You feel for me, I know," she said, raising her eye frankly,
as to a father. "That is my one comfort. If it were not for
your kindness—knowing that you understand—I think I
should go wild. I cannot tell you what the pressure is, all
day long. One is never left in peace, never allowed to have
one's own opinion. Everything must be discussed, and aunt
Sybella must always prove herself to be in the right. The
weariness of that incessant tittle-tattle—what this person
says, and what that person thinks. The only being never in
the wrong is aunt Sybella! You are not even allowed to
differ in silence. You must listen, you must answer, and you
must be convinced."

"I don't wonder that you find things trying."

"Oh, if you knew—how trying. I may speak out this once,


may I not? You are my father's friend, and she has
appealed to you. I have never ventured before. I did not
even ask you to take me up the glen, because she is so
jealous of any kind word spoken to me. Don't you see how
hard it is?—How alone I am? If only I might go back to
school! They did love me there."

A sob broke into the words. General Villiers was deeply


moved. Evelyn's face did not lose its attractiveness, even
under agitation. Her very weeping was controlled, and her
features were not distorted by the muscular expression of
distress; but the violet eyes grew pathetic, and large drops
fell slowly.

"Two months? They seem like two years to me! How shall I
ever bear whole years of it, with no hope of escape? She
will never learn to love me."

"She must—in time."

"She will not. I have no power over aunt Sybella. We repel


one another at every point. Isn't there a sort of mutual
repulsion between certain people?" Evelyn tried to laugh. "I
think I shall grow a bad temper here. I never knew that I
had one before; but she makes me naughty. Do things lie
dormant in us sometimes, till we get into a new
atmosphere? Aunt Sybella will be my temper-growing
atmosphere, I am afraid. If people love me, and I love
them, I can be vexed at nothing. Real love doesn't get
vexed, you know. But she—oh, she makes it so hard to be
good; so hard to do right."

General Villiers might have whispered patience to the tried


young spirit. He might have told her that the very
"atmosphere" which threatened to develop a temper ought
rather to be the means of developing a spirit of endurance.
He might have suggested that one can never learn to bear
bravely and Christianly, without having something to bear.
He might have reminded her that life and its surroundings
are modelled for each individual by ONE who knows that
individual's need. But his overwhelming sense of sympathy
prevented a dispassionate view of matters.

While feeling for Evelyn, he ought also to have felt for


Sybella. The very weakness of character and narrowness of
intellect, which made her so trying a companion for Evelyn,
added to her perplexities in dealing with Evelyn. She was
much to be pitied for those perplexities, and for the
enervating education which had fostered her natural
feebleness.

General Villiers could not see Sybella's side. He had eyes


only for Evelyn's trouble.

The past two months of constant intercourse with this


young girl, fresh from school, had worked a revolution in his
being. After long years of widowhood, wherein no thought
of marrying again had come to the fore, he found himself
passionately in love with a pretty creature, not yet
eighteen, a complete child in comparison with himself!

The thing was wild, of course; inconceivable. The idea of


marriage could not be cherished for a moment. General
Villiers had not cherished it thus far. He had scarcely even
admitted to himself that he loved, other than in a fatherly
way. Or if at times he allowed the fact, he was resolved to
keep his secret, to be only her true and father-like friend, to
watch over her life, to guard her so far as he might from
sorrow, to find his joy in seeing her happy.

So matters might have gone on indefinitely, but for this


scene. General Villiers was a man of peculiarly simple
nature, single-eyed and straightforward, but by no means
incapable of taking a false step. The very directness of his
aims, and the childlike eagerness of his impulses, combined
with a certain innate incapacity to look upon both sides of a
question, made him the more liable to such a step. Evelyn's
distress, her free speech, her instinctive turning to him,
broke through his purposes of self-restraint. The love, which
had smouldered hitherto, leaped up in a fierce flame, and
bore down all barriers. He thought how he might bring her
speedy relief; and he did not think how the manner of that
bringing might possibly mean a fresh thraldom. At the
moment it seemed to him that for her sake he might speak.

"Evelyn, my little girl," he said, and his manly voice


faltered, "if I were but younger! If I were but more fitted! I
would give my life for you! I would give all I have to smooth
your way! And even as things are—if I could be sure that I
ought—"

She seemed perplexed, and said, "I don't understand."

"You are too young—only seventeen! Far too young for an


old fellow like me. Yes, I am old compared with you, my
child! The discrepancy is far too great. It would be wrong!
You are such a child. You cannot know your own mind yet.
Still I could give love as strong—stronger, I think, than any
mere boy. I do give—but how can I ask your acceptance? It
would be a cruelty to your future."

She gazed wistfully into his agitated face.

"I don't quite understand," she repeated. "At least I am not


sure. But you are the best and kindest friend I have ever
had. Nobody can be to me what you are. And I am not a
child. I am just eighteen. I have not been a child for years.
They said at school that I grew into a woman long before
the right time. I don't care for young people or boys. There
is always a want in them. Why should you talk as if there
were such a very great difference between you and me? I
think age has more to do with mind than body."

The words dropped slowly from her soft rosy lips, each with
an intonation of serious thought. General Villiers was swept
away by them. He took her hands into his own, kissing
again and again the slender fingers.
"My little girl! Can it be true? Will you be mine? Could you
make up your mind to marry me, my Evelyn—to let my
home be yours?"

"Marry you! Live at Dutton Park!" And her eyes opened


wider. Despite her would-be middle-aged manner, she
looked inordinately young at that moment, her ivory skin
and delicate bloom contrasting with his grizzled locks and
developing crow's feet. The innocent surprise was so like a
child's pleasure. "Live at Dutton Park!" she said. She did not
add—"Get away from aunt Sybella!"—but unquestionably
that idea was prominent.

"Would you? Could you? Do you feel that it would be


possible?" faltered the General. He could hardly speak, he
was so stirred and shaken by the rush of his great love;
while she was entirely calm, only surprised and pleased.
"My Evelyn! My darling can such joy be?"

"Yes, I will indeed," she answered.

CHAPTER VII.

PREPOSTEROUS!

"What can a young lassie, what shall a young lassie,


What can a young lassie do wi' an auld man?"
R.
BURNS.

"I NEVER heard anything so preposterous in all my life!"


declared Madame Collier, in a muffled tone of righteous
indignation.

The muffled sound was due to a physical cause, not to a


mental condition. Madame Collier was putting a false hem
to an old serge skirt of Jean's for lengthening purposes; and
the process required a plentiful use of pins. Two or three
white points protruded from each corner of her mouth. She
wore her huge untrimmed garden hat, having been
previously fruit-gathering; and the rusty alpaca was looped
up, Dutchwoman-wise, nearly half-way to her knees,
displaying ankles formed rather for strength than grace.

Marie Collier had her little vanities, like most people; as, for
instance, in the matter of her name. She plumed herself on
being "Madame Collier;" not plain prosaic "Mrs." In the
matter of dress, she did not study the becoming. Vanity
here took the opposite course, not necessarily less vain.
She prided herself on a stoical indifference to appearances.

"Preposterous!" she repeated, taking a pin from her mouth,


sticking it into the serge, and reaching energetically across
the dining-room table for scissors. Mr. Trevelyan stood on
the other side, upright and stern. "I declare the world is
going crazy. General Villiers, over sixty years old—and a
baby of sixteen! Preposterous!"

"Matters are bad enough without exaggeration. General


Villiers is fifty-five, and Evelyn is just eighteen."
"Eighteen and fifty-five! He might be her grandfather! It is
wicked! Downright wicked!" declared Madame Collier,
paying off her heat of spirit into the folding and pinning. "I
never heard such an idea in my life. Who told you?"

"General Villiers. I met him half-an-hour since. He seemed


too much delighted to keep the thing to himself; but it is
not to be known just yet."

"And Miss Devereux?"

"I gather that she is taken by surprise—"

"I should just think so!"

"But that she will offer no serious objection."

"Sybella Devereux would offer no serious objection if the


world were to be turned into a cream-cheese. She hasn't
the wits. Oh, she will fall in with the plan—glad to get the
girl off her hands. The General can do as he likes—though
how he manages to reconcile his conscience passes my
understanding."

"He must decide for himself."

"He's sure to do that—and for Evelyn too. What man


doesn't? He'll follow his own inclinations, of course, and
sacrifice that young creature, before she understands what
it all means. Why, she's an infant! What has she seen of
life? Care for him! It's out of the question! Preposterous!
Yes, I dare say she cares after a fashion—the way a girl
cares for her grandfather. Likes to be the Lady of Dutton
Park, no doubt! That's the bait. And she and Miss Devereux
don't pull together. Anybody with half an eye can see! A
lucky chance of escape, no doubt—but as for that child
being in love with General Villiers—! I know better. The girl's
an actress, if she lets him think so. But it's the General that
I blame. She doesn't know what she is doing, and he does.
Don't talk to me again of his goodness! I've no patience
with such goodness! It's downright wickedness!" cried the
Rector's sister, dropping a small shower of pins by way of
climax, for anger opens the lips.

Her tone changed suddenly. "Jean! What are you doing


there? You have no business to creep in and listen to what
people are saying."

"I'm just come home," Jean said in self-defence. She had


approached so near that Mme. Collier really had no excuse
for not seeing her sooner, beyond abstraction of ideas. Jean
had reached the end of the table, not creeping, but walking
with her usual erect bearing and light footfall. There she
had stopped, electrified by the words which reached her
ears. She thought some dreadful calamity must be
impending.

"Come home! Yes. But why don't you show yourself


properly? I hate creeping and listening ways."

Jean grew stiff under the sense of injustice. Mr. Trevelyan's


eyes travelled over her.

"Did you mean to listen, Jean?"

"No, father—" very low.

"I have a great mind to put her to bed for it," declared
Marie Collier.

"Jean did not mean to listen!" Mr. Trevelyan was a strictly


just man. He had never found Jean in untruth, and until he
should do so he would trust her implicitly. "The door was
not shut; and we might have seen her come in. How much
did you hear?"

This was to Jean. A lump in the child's throat almost


prevented speech. She swallowed with difficulty, and said,
"General Villiers is going to do something bad."

"General Villiers is going to marry Evelyn Devereux. That is


not 'something bad' in the sense you mean. Your aunt is
sorry to hear it, because he is too old for such a young girl,
and the thing is unsuitable. But remember, it is not your
business. Unless by accident, you would not have heard it
at present; and the matter must not go further. I trust to
your honour."

"She will go and talk to Cyril the first thing. I know what
children are."

Mr. Trevelyan looked searchingly into the troubled eyes of


his little daughter. They met his, clear and resolute, though
pained.

"Can I depend on you, Jean?"

"Yes, father."

"It is not to be mentioned again, unless somebody speaks


first to you. And then the less said the better. You will not
repeat what you heard us say."

"No!"

A slight dry smile crept into the grim lines round Mr.
Trevelyan's mouth.

"Marie, you need not be afraid. That child is trustworthy."


Jean's face changed. Any word of praise was rare in her
little life. She hardly knew what to make of it. Mr. Trevelyan,
watching still, did not quite know what to make of her. He
knew well the Trevelyan half of Jean: but the sensitive
loving Ingram half was commonly veiled from his sight: he
scarcely recognised its existence. The sudden radiance of
response in her eyes, and then the quiver of her lips,
surprised him. He did not know what he had said to bring
about such results.

Before he could speak, Jean was gone. She felt a rush of


tears coming, and fled wildly away to a retired corner of the
garden, there to sob her little heart out, not knowing what
made her cry.

"Why, Jean!"

Jem's voice startled her to her feet; and tears were checked
by a mighty effort. To be found in such a condition was in
Jean's opinion a dire disgrace. She stood bolt upright,
herself again, though with wet cheeks.

"Please don't tell," she begged.

"Not I! Don't you know me better? What is it all about, little


woman?"

No answer came, and he did not press the question,


shrewdly suspecting that sharp words from Madame Collier
or rough ones from Oswald lay below her distress.

He was not far wrong: though indeed Jean would have


found it hard to analyse the different ingredients which
went to the making up of that distress. The actual last straw
had been the softening touch of her father's unwonted
praise; but further back was the aunt's displeasure; and
further back still another grief. This was the last afternoon
of her short holiday, and Oswald had chosen to spend it
away from her.

She was a lonely little being, commonly. Her fervent love


had a scant return: her thoughts and feelings were not
understood. Few guessed what a sensitive organisation
underlay the somewhat curt exterior. With her brother, the
child's heart was always craving for a show of affection
which never came. No doubt Oswald loved Jean after a
fashion: but he loved himself much more; while Jean's love
for him was a rapt devotion.

A woman too often lavishes gold, only to receive copper in


exchange. Jean was learning early the sense of loss entailed
by such barter. At times the vague loneliness would take
shape in a thirst for her mother. When Oswald had treated
her to a boyish rebuff, she would lie awake at night,
clasping her pillow with both arms, and wondering how it
would feel to have a mother's arms thus folded tightly
round her. The Ingram part of Jean did so cry out for love
and gentleness: while the Trevelyan part was ashamed, and
tried to stand independently aloof.

With Jem she had a sense of placid satisfaction, unknown in


other quarters. She did not pour upon him the frantic
devotion which she poured upon Oswald: but there was
happiness in his companionship. She could trust his
unvarying kindness; and she felt herself to be understood
by him. This consciousness often drew Jean on to open her
mind to Jem, as to no other human being.

"Where is Oswald this afternoon?" Jem asked. "Cricket! Ah,


that's unfortunate. And you couldn't get there to look on.
What a pity you are a girl, as girls can't join! I say, Jean,
suppose you come for a walk with me up the gorge. I'm all
alone; and I want somebody."
Which was true—for Jean's sake. He had not wanted
somebody for his own sake, unless it were a somebody
unattainable.

Jem loved to haunt the gorge these days, for Evelyn's sake.
He would always associate one particular turn in the glen
with her face.

They were in the wildest part of the gorge, more than an


hour later, beyond the "point of the V," and in the second
arm of it. Return could be either along that branch and
across divers meadows, or else it could be back the way
they had come. Jem decided on the latter, and when they
reached the rustic bridge at the Point, he took Jean's hand
for a race down the path, resolved to shake the gravity out
of her.

He had found the child a pleasant companion, fearless in


climbing, untirable in walking, full of quaint simplicity and
intelligence. He had exerted himself to interest and amuse
her, till all traces of the little trouble were gone; and she
had poured out her ideas with a rare frankness. But she had
been sober throughout—a slim solemn upright child.

Down they came now, full swing; Jem's light run well
matched by a speed of foot in Jean which few children of
eight or nine could emulate. Jem of course hung back for
her sake, yet not so much as might be expected. Jean hung
on his strong hand, like a bird, rushing beside him with a
glow of pleasure, for once perfectly natural and childlike.

Jem was delighted. He had not seen her so before. Looking


down into the eager face, and at the steady shine of the
greenish-brown eyes, he asked himself again, "Will she be
so plain?" Jem began to think she would not. "But I wish
the poor little mite had a brighter existence."

Faster and faster they descended the rough path, as he saw


her enjoyment. Soon they passed at a run the open space
which had vividly awakened Evelyn's admiration. Reaching
an acute bend beyond, they dashed round, glowing and
laughing, to find themselves unexpectedly face to face with
another couple, slowly ascending the glen.

Jem took in the situation at a glance. A light shock darted


through his whole nervous system.

For Evelyn Devereux was there—Evelyn, by the side of


General Villiers. Her hand was through his arm; her face
was upturned with a sweet confidingness to his; and the
General's head was bent from its superior height towards
the fair girl, with a fatherly—no, not a fatherly—interest.
Something altogether different from a fatherly interest. Jem
saw this. He saw the General's momentary embarrassment,
and the soft flush on Evelyn's cheek.

Jem dropped Jean's hand, and stood like one struck dumb.
Evelyn's first view of him, had been a surprise to her. She
had seen him before in a shy and admiring mood; but Jem's
real nature was better shown in his vigorous rush down the
gorge. The sure free step, the well-proportioned lithe figure,
the dancing grey eyes, and the kind care of the little child—
all these came before Evelyn as a flash, unexpectedly.

General Villiers could not have pelted down the steep glen
at such a pace for any consideration. He suffered from
slight rheumatism of the knees; not enough to spoil his
military walk, but enough to prevent violent exercise;
besides, joints stiffen after fifty.
In one moment, Jem's career was checked. A sudden
gravity crept into the warm face, and the grey eyes,
emptied of their sunshine, looked earnestly, questioningly,
at Evelyn.

"Nonsense!" Jem was saying to himself, putting aside a sick


fear. "Nonsense! Absurd! It can't be!"

But General Villiers, embarrassed no longer, looked


smilingly at the small hand on his arm, then at Jem.

"I meant to tell you this evening," he said in a deep tone of


happiness. "You have found us out sooner. My darling—she
is mine now!" He glanced at Jean, who had moved
delicately away, with a child's sense of being de trop. "My
own!" the General repeated. "Who could have dreamt that
such happiness would be for me?"

The healthy glow was gone from Jem's face. He looked


grave, dignified—taller and older too than Evelyn had
imagined him. One hand, hanging by his side, clenched
itself till the nails almost pierced the skin, but except in his
sudden paleness, no sign of pain was allowed to appear. Not
all Jem's force of will could control the rush of blood to the
heart, as he spoke a few words of formal congratulation.

The General, wrapped up in his own delight, did not see:


but Evelyn, far more widely awake, noted at once the
change. She could not fail to conjecture its cause: and,
knife-like, the question shot through her mind—

"Have I made a mistake? Have I been too quick?"

Too late for that now! Evelyn smothered down the thought,
with a voiceless "No! No!" and clung more closely to the
General's arm. His attention was drawn by the pressure.
"Yes; we will go on—we have not too much time. I shall be
back by-and-by," to Jem. "Good-bye, for an hour or two.
Yes, I know you congratulate me. Everybody must!"

A few more meaningless words, and they parted. Evelyn


had not much to say during the remainder of the walk, but
the General had plenty, so her silence mattered less. He
had reached an age when most men like a good listener.
Evelyn could safely follow her own train of thought, while
clinging to his arm. She had to follow it, had to stamp down
the questioning which threatened to disturb her peace.

Not that Evelyn was in love with Jem. Nothing of the kind. It
was only that his look had been a revelation to her. It was
only that she had awakened to the realisation of another
manner of life, upon which she had shut the door.

Too late now, she told herself firmly. She had promised, and
she would keep her promise.

Then she found the General saying something—what was it?


About—how soon?

Evelyn flushed, and her eyes filled. "Oh, soon—the sooner


the better!" she said. "Why should we wait? I belong to you
now."

BOOK II.

AFTER SEVEN YEARS.


"There wild woods grow, and rivers flow,
And mony a hill between;
But day and night my fancy's flight
Is ever wi' my Jean."
R. BURNS.

CHAPTER I.

MRS. KENNEDY'S NOTIONS.

"How we talk in the little town below!"


"PIPPA PASSES": R.
BROWNING.

"A REGULAR niminy-piminy-molly-coddle! That's what he'll


be, my dear."

"But don't you think—by-and-by—when he gets out into the


world—?"

"No, I don't. Miss Devereux will have done the business by


then. I wouldn't say so much to most people, Mabel: but it's
just the old story over again—the hen with one chick, you
know. And an old maid hen is the worst of all, don't you
see?"

"Only he's such a nice boy!" regretfully.

"He's lovely!" said Mrs. Kennedy. "A real out-and-out


gentleman, and the prettiest manners! Too pretty by half for
a boy of seventeen! Why, he ought to be a hobbledehoy,
and there isn't a scrap of hobbledehoyism about him. It isn't
natural. It's like a tadpole growing into a frog, without
dropping its tail, you know. And it's ruination to any boy to
be treated as if he was a spoonful of salt, ready to melt.
That's what she does, don't you see?"

"But at school—"

"Oh, well, yes, there's school. Of course there's school. It's


a good school too, from all one hears. Capital masters, and
all that; and a hundred and twenty boys isn't bad. I'd
sooner have him at a regular public school: but this is next
best. Only, the moment Cyril comes home, all the good's
undone. Mustn't get his feet wet, don't you know? Dear me,
if my boys were coddled like that, there'd be a rebellion, I
do believe. They wouldn't stand it, not even from their
mother. But Cyril's been brought up to like a fuss."

"He had one bad attack on his chest."

"Three years ago! I wouldn't wrap a boy up in flannel and


cotton-wool all the rest of his days, just for that. I'll tell you
what, Mabel—you get your father to interfere. A doctor
always can step in. Everybody expects good advice from a
doctor."

"Not unasked advice," Mabel said, smiling. She was a nice


ladylike girl of about nineteen, the eldest of Dr. Ingram's
three daughters.

"Oh, as for advice—Miss Devereux is like other people. She


doesn't ask for advice, except when she wants to be told
that she's in the right. That's the way, don't you know?
Why, she wouldn't have sent him to school at all to this very
day, I do believe, if General Villiers and his wife hadn't
made a rumpus."

"Still—five years and a half of schooling ought to have done


something for him," Mabel remarked.

This was Mrs. Kennedy's "At Home" afternoon; and she was
seated in the small drawing-room of St. John's Vicarage,
expecting callers. Friday had been from time immemorial—
in other words, so long as she had lived at Dutton—her "At
Home" day.

Not that she dignified it by any such important title: "I am


generally in, you know, on Friday afternoons," was her
fashion of asking friends to call at that time. She had a
free-and-easy manner of speaking. The County people did
not care for Mrs. Kennedy; not that they objected to a touch
of originality, but they were not satisfied as to her
connections.

"To talk of one's 'At Home day' sounds so fussy, don't you
know," she often said. "Not fit for such little people as we,
my dear! If it was the Canon, now!" For the mother-church
of Dutton was held by Canon Meyers.

Mrs. Kennedy was not good-looking, despite a pair of genial


and expressive blue eyes. Moreover, she posed badly,
rounding her shoulders and squaring her elbows. Though
she dressed well in point of material, her clothes were put
on more or less awry; and an end of loose hair was often
out of place, needing to be perpetually tucked up. She had

You might also like