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vi CONTENTS
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CONTENTS vii
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viii CONTENTS
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deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
CONTENTS ix
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x CONTENTS
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CONTENTS xi
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xii CONTENTS
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CONTENTS xiii
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xiv CONTENTS
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 730 Essay Questions 739
Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 730 Discussion Questions 739
Toxic Substances Control Act 730
Natural Resources 730 Appendix A
National Environmental Policy Act 730 The Constitution of the United States A1
You Be the Judge: Winter v. Natural
Appendix B
Resources Defense Council, Inc. 731
Uniform Commercial Code (Selected Provisions) B1
Endangered Species Act 732
Gibbs v. Babbitt 733 Glossary G1
Chapter Conclusion 735 Table of Cases T1
Exam Review 735
Multiple-Choice Questions 738 Index I1
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PREFACE
Looking for more examples for class? Do you want the latest developments? Visit our blog at
Bizlawupdate.com. To be notified when we post updates, just “like” our Facebook page at
Beatty Business Law or follow us on Twitter @bizlawupdate.
Landmark Cases
As a general rule, we want our cases to be as current as possible, reporting on the world as it is
now. However, sometimes students can benefit from reading vintage cases that are still good law
and provide a deep understanding of how and why the law has developed as it has. Thus, for
example, we have added a discussion about the famous Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona.
Reading this case provides students with a much better understanding of why the Supreme
Court created Miranda rights, and this context helps students follow the recent Supreme Court
rulings on Miranda. Other landmark cases include Hawkins v. McGee (the case of the hairy hand),
Griggs v. Duke Power Co., and International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington.
xv
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deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xvi PREFACE
Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has
deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
PREFACE xvii
book that was different from all the others. Our goal was to capture the passion and
excitement—the sheer enjoyment—of the law. Business law is notoriously complex, and as
authors we are obsessed with accuracy. Yet this intriguing subject also abounds with human
conflict and hard-earned wisdom, forces that can make a law book sparkle.
Now, as this fifth edition goes to press, we look back over the intervening years and
are touched by the many unsolicited comments from students, such as these posted on
Amazon:
• “Glad I purchased this. It really helps put the law into perspective and allows me as a
leader to make intelligent decisions. Thanks.”
• “I enjoyed learning business law and was happy my college wanted this book.
THUMBS UP!”
We think of the students who have emailed us to say, “In terms of clarity, comprehen-
siveness, and vividness of style, I think it’s probably the best textbook I’ve ever used in any
subject,” and “I had no idea business law could be so interesting.” Or the faculty who have
told us, “Until I read your book, I never really understood UCC 2-207” and “With your
book, we have great class discussions.” Comments such as these never cease to thrill us and
to make us grateful that we persisted in writing a Legal Environment text like no other—a
book that is precise and authoritative, yet a pleasure to read.
Comprehensive. Staying comprehensive means staying current. This fifth edition
contains over 50 new cases. Almost all were reported within the last two or three years.
We never include a new court opinion merely because it is recent, but the law evolves
continually, and our willingness to toss out old cases and add important new ones ensures
that this book—and its readers—remain on the frontier of legal developments.
Look, for example, at the important field of corporate governance. All texts cover par
value, and so do we. Yet a future executive is far likelier to face conflicts over Sarbanes-
Oxley (SOX), executive compensation, and shareholder proposals. We present a clear path
through this thicket of new issues. In Chapter 20, for example, read the section about the
election and removal of directors. Typically, students (even those who are high-level
executives) have a basic misconception about the process of removing a director from office.
They think that it is easy. Once they understand the complexity of this process, their whole
view of corporate governance—and compensation—changes. We want tomorrow’s business
leaders to anticipate the challenges that await them and then use their knowledge to avert
problems.
Strong Narrative. The law is full of great stories, and we use them. Your students
and ours should come to class excited. Look at Chapter 3, “Dispute Resolution.” No
tedious list of next steps in litigation, this chapter teaches the subject by tracking a
double-indemnity lawsuit. An executive is dead. Did he drown accidentally, obligating
the insurance company to pay? Or did the businessman commit suicide, voiding the
policy? The student follows the action from the discovery of the body, through each step
of the lawsuit, to the final appeal.
Students read stories and remember them. Strong narratives provide a rich context for
the remarkable quantity of legal material presented. When students care about the material
they are reading, they persevere. We have been delighted to find that they also arrive in
class eager to question, discuss, and learn more about issues.
Precise. The great joy of using English accurately is the power it gives us to attack
and dissect difficult issues, rendering them comprehensible to any lay reader. This text
takes on the most complex legal topics of the day, yet it is appropriate for all college and
graduate-level students. Accessible prose goes hand in hand with legal precision. We take
great pride in walking our readers through the most serpentine mazes this tough subject
can offer.
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xviii PREFACE
As we explore this extraordinary discipline, we lure readers along with quirky anecdotes
and colorful diagrams. (Notice that the color display on page 525 clarifies the complex rules
of the duty of care in the business judgment rule.) However, before the trip is over, we insist
that students:
• Gauge policy and political considerations,
• Grapple with legal and social history,
• Spot the nexus between disparate doctrines, and
• Confront tough moral choices.
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deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
PREFACE xix
Along with other professors, we have used this text in courses for undergraduates,
MBAs, and Executive MBAs, with the students ranging in age from 18 to 55. The book
works, as some unsolicited comments indicate:
• An undergraduate wrote, “This is the best textbook I have had in college, on any
subject.”
• A business law professor stated that the “clarity of presentation is superlative. I have
never seen the complexity of contract law made this readable.”
• An MBA student commented, “I think the textbook is great. The book is relevant,
easy to understand, and interesting.”
• A state supreme court justice wrote that the book is “a valuable blend of rich
scholarship and easy readability. Students and professors should rejoice with this
publication.”
• A Fortune 500 vice president, enrolled in an Executive MBA program, commented,
“I really liked the chapters. They were crisp, organized and current. The information
was easy to understand and enjoyable.”
• An undergraduate wrote, “The textbook is awesome. A lot of the time I read more
than what is assigned—I just don’t want to stop.”
Humor Throughout the text, we use humor—judiciously—to lighten and enlighten. Not
surprisingly, students have applauded—but is wit appropriate? How dare we employ levity
in this venerable discipline? We offer humor because we take the law seriously. We revere
the law for its ancient traditions; its dazzling intricacy; its relentless, though imperfect,
attempt to give order and decency to our world. Because we are confident of our respect
for the law, we are not afraid to employ some levity. Leaden prose masquerading as legal
scholarship does no honor to the field.
Humor also helps retention. Research shows that the funnier or more bizarre the
example, the longer students will remember it. Students are more likely to remember a
contract problem described in a fanciful setting, and from that setting recall the underlying
principle. By contrast, one widget is hard to distinguish from another.
Features
We chose the features for our book with great care. Each one supports an essential
pedagogical goal. Here are some of those goals and the matching feature.
Exam Strategy
GOAL: To help students learn more effectively and to prepare for exams. In preparing this
fifth edition, we asked ourselves: What do students want? The short answer is—a good
grade in the course. How many times a semester does a student ask you, “What can I do to
study for the exam?” We are happy to help them study and earn a good grade because that
means they should also be learning.
About six times per chapter, we stop the action and give students a two-minute quiz. In
the body of the text, again in the end-of-chapter review, and also in the Instructor’s Manual,
we present a typical exam question. Here lies the innovation: We guide the student in
analyzing the issue. We teach the reader—over and over—how to approach a question: to
start with the overarching principle, examine the fine point raised in the question, apply the
analysis that courts use, and deduce the right answer. This skill is second nature to lawyers,
but not to students. Without practice, too many students panic, jumping at a convenient
answer and leaving aside the tools that they have spent the course acquiring. Let’s change
that. Students who have tried the Exam Strategy feature love it.
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xx PREFACE
Ethics
GOAL: Make ethics real. We ask ethical questions about cases, legal issues, and commercial
practices. Is it fair for one party to void a contract by arguing, months after the fact, that
there was no consideration? What is a manager’s ethical obligation when asked to provide a
reference for a former employee? What is wrong with bribery? What is the ethical obligation
of developed nations to dispose of toxic waste from computers? We believe that asking the
questions and encouraging discussion reminds students that ethics is an essential element of
justice and of a satisfying life.
Cases
GOAL: Let the judges speak. Each case begins with a summary of the facts and a statement
of the issue. Next comes a tightly edited version of the decision, in the court’s own
language, so that students “hear” the law developing in the diverse voices of our many
judges. We cite cases using a modified bluebook form. In the principal cases in each
chapter, we provide the state or federal citation, the regional citation, and the LEXIS or
Westlaw citation. We also give students a brief description of the court. Because many of our
cases are so recent, some will have only a regional reporter and a LEXIS or Westlaw citation.
Exam Review
GOAL: Help students to remember and practice! At the end of every chapter, we provide a
list of review points and several additional Exam Strategy exercises in a Question/Strategy/
Result format. We also challenge the students with 15 or more problems—Multiple-Choice,
Essay Questions, and Discussion Questions. The questions include the following:
• You Be the Judge Writing Problem. The students are given appellate arguments on both
sides of the question and must prepare a written opinion.
• Ethics. This question highlights the ethical issues of a dispute and calls upon the
student to formulate a specific, reasoned response.
• CPA Questions. Where relevant, practice tests include questions from previous CPA
exams administered by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Answers to all the Multiple-Choice questions are available to students online through
www.cengagebrain.com.
Author Transition
Jeffrey Beatty fought an unremitting 10-year battle against a particularly aggressive form of
leukemia which, despite his great courage and determination, he ultimately lost. Jeffrey, a
gentleman to the core, was an immensely kind, funny and thoughtful human being, some-
one who sang and danced, and who earned the respect and affection of colleagues and
students alike. In writing these books, he wanted students to see and understand the impact
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deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
PREFACE xxi
of law in their everyday lives, as well as its role in supporting human dignity, and what’s
more, he wanted students to laugh.
Because of the length of Jeffrey’s illness, we had ample time to develop a transition
plan. Through a combination of new and old methods (social media and personal connec-
tions), we were able to identify a wonderfully talented group of applicants—graduates of
top law schools who had earned myriad teaching and writing prizes. We read two rounds of
blind submissions and met with finalists. In the end, we are thrilled to report that Dean
Bredeson has joined the Beatty/Samuelson team. A member of the faculty of the
McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, Dean is a devoted teacher
who has received the school’s highest teaching award for the last five years. He is also
the author of the textbook, Applied Business Ethics (Cengage, 2011). Dean has a number of
qualities that are essential to a textbook writer—keen insight into explaining complex
material in an engaging manner, meticulous attention to detail, an ability to meet dead-
lines, and a wry sense of humor.
TEACHING MATERIALS
For more information about any of these ancillaries, contact your Cengage Learning/South-
Western Legal Studies Sales Representative for more details, or visit the Beatty & Samuelson
Legal Environment, 5th edition web page, accessed through www.cengagebrain.com.
Instructor’s Resource CD. The Instructor’s Resource CD (IRCD) contains the
ExamView testing software files, the test bank in Microsoft Word files, the Instructor’s
Manual in Word files, and Microsoft PowerPoint Lecture Review Slides.
Instructor’s Manual. Available both online at and on the IRCD, this manual
includes special features to enhance class discussion and student progress:
• Exam Strategy problems. If your students would like more Exam Strategy problems,
there is an additional section of these problems in the Instructor’s Manual.
• Dialogues. These are a series of questions and answers on pivotal cases and topics.The
questions provide enough material to teach a full session. In a pinch, you could walk
into class with nothing but the manual and use the Dialogues to conduct an exciting
class.
• Action Learning ideas. Interviews, quick research projects, drafting exercises, classroom
activities, commercial analyses, and other suggested assignments get students out of
their chairs and into the diverse settings of business law.
• Skits. Various chapters have lively skits that students can perform in class, with no
rehearsal, to put legal doctrine in a real-life context.
• Succinct introductions. Each chapter has a theme and a quote of the day.
• Current focus. This feature offers updates of text material.
• Additional cases and examples. For those topics that need more attention or coverage,
use the additional cases and examples provided in the Instructor’s Manual.
• Solutions. Answers to You Be the Judge cases from the text and to the Exam Review
questions found at the end of each chapter.
Test Bank. The test bank offers hundreds of essay, short-answer, and multiple-choice
problems and may be obtained online or on the IRCD.
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deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
xxii PREFACE
Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has
deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
PREFACE xxiii
Access to the Business Law Digital Video Library is available as an optional package with
each new student text at no additional charge. Students with used books can purchase
access to the video clips online. For more information about the Business Law Digital Video
Library, visit www.cengagebrain.com.
A Handbook of Basic Law Terms, Blacks Law Dictionary Series. This paper-
back dictionary, prepared by the editor of the popular Black’s Law Dictionary, can be packaged
for a small additional cost with any new South-Western Legal Studies in Business text.
Student Guide to the SOX. This brief overview for business students explains SOX,
what is required of whom, and how it might affect students in their business lives. Available
as an optional package with the text.
Interaction with the Authors. This is our standard: Every professor who adopts this
book must have a superior experience. We are available to help in any way we can. Adopters
of this text often call us or e-mail us to ask questions, obtain a syllabus, offer suggestions,
share pedagogical concerns, or inquire about ancillaries. One of the pleasures of working on
this project has been this link to so many colleagues around the country. We value those
connections, are eager to respond, and would be happy to hear from you.
Susan S. Samuelson
Phone: (617) 353-2033
Email: [email protected]
Dean A. Bredeson
Phone: (512) 471-5248
Email: [email protected]
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We appreciate the thoughtful insights of the reviewers for this fifth edition:
Martha Broderick Carol Nielsen
University of Maine Bemidji State University
Burke Christensen Margaret A. Parker
Eastern Kentucky University Owens Community College
Michael Costello Cheryl Staley
University of Missouri, St. Louis Lake Land College
Suzanne M. Gradisher Paulette L. Stenzel
University of Akron Michigan State University
Wendy Hind Kenneth Ray Taurman, Jr.
Doane College Indiana University Southeast
Ronald B. Kowalczyk Deborah Walsh
Elgin Community College Middlesex Community College
Colleen Arnott Less
Johnson & Wales University
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deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Lane was speaking in answer to some remarks just brought to a
conclusion by the valet with the neat, respectable appearance and
the low, deferential voice.
“And so you think of shifting. Well, it’s no use staying in a place
that doesn’t square with your ideas of comfort.”
“That’s just it, Mr. Cox.” The detective had assumed this name for
the purposes of the temporary friendship. “I knew after the first
fortnight it wouldn’t suit me at all. But I’ve stayed nine months for
reasons. It doesn’t do for a man with my record in good families to
go chopping and changing every five minutes, it gets him a bad
name.”
Lane signified his approval of this politic conduct, and noting that
the valet’s glass was empty, hastened to have it refilled, a
proceeding to which Mr. Simmons offered no objection. With his
shrewd knowledge of men, his habit of drawing conclusions from
small but infallible signs, the detective inclined to the belief that his
new friend was an acquisitive kind of fellow, a man who would take
all he could get and give as little as he could in return.
“Your health, Mr. Cox.” The man lifted his glass and looked
appreciatively at his host, while he gave utterance to further thoughts
of his master.
“I don’t say Sir George isn’t all right in the matter of family,
although of course we know they’ve come down through his old
father playing ducks and drakes with the property. But the truth is, a
poor place doesn’t suit a man at my time of life, forty-five last
birthday. Wages are nothing; it’s the pickings that enable a fellow to
put by and start a snug little place of his own to keep him in his old
age.”
A poor place, an absence of “pickings”! This confirmed the
banker’s report. As a matter of fact, Lane did not want the banker’s
report confirmed, he could rely on it as far as it went. He was on a
much deeper game, and with that object he had sought the society
of Mr. Simmons in the hope of finding him the sort of person who
would help him to play it.
“Now, that’s rather funny,” he said in assumed surprise. “I’ve heard
a good deal about Sir George, one way and another, and I was
always under the impression he was a wealthy man, had come into a
large fortune.”
Mr. Simmons gave a contemptuous sniff. “If he came into a large
fortune, and I think I’ve heard something of that tale myself, it was
before my time. I’ll bet he hasn’t got any of it left now. I tell you what
he does, Mr. Cox, he bluffs a lot, he makes out to most of his
acquaintances that he’s got tons of money, and, of course, several of
them take his word. I’ve heard him putting the pot on often myself
when he didn’t know I was listening.”
An eavesdropper, this quiet, respectable-looking man! If he had
the smaller infirmities, he would be pretty certain to have the bigger
ones. Such was the thought of the shrewd detective.
“But I’ve always heard he bets high, Mr. Simmons.”
The valet, warmed by his potations, gave another sniff of
contempt. “Not he; that’s where he bluffs again. I know it for a fact. I
overheard him one morning put a fiver on a horse over the
telephone; it won at six to one. That same evening, when I was
bringing in the whisky, he told a pal of his right before me he’d laid a
hundred. Of course, he didn’t know I’d heard him in the morning.
That’s how he got the reputation of wealth, by bluffing, gassing and
lying.”
It was clear that Simmons hated his employer with the deadly
rancour of a man deprived of his legitimate “pickings,” for he
proceeded to further disclosures, not at all redounding to Sir
George’s credit.
He emitted a sardonic chuckle. “I overheard a little conversation
between him and that precious nephew of his one day, and I soon
put the pieces together, though I wasn’t in at the beginning of it. It
seems Sir George had changed a cheque for thirty pounds at one of
his clubs, in the expectation of some money coming in the next day.
Well, the money hadn’t come in, and he was in a frightful stew. ‘If I
can’t pay-in the first thing to-morrow morning, I’m done, and I shall
be had up before the Committee. The bank won’t let me overdraw
five pounds; the manager refused me a week ago when I begged the
favour of him.’ That’s your wealthy man. Bah! I’m a poor chap
enough, but I believe I could buy him up if he was for sale.”
Lane shrugged his shoulders. “If you weren’t in the know you’d
hardly credit it, would you, Mr. Simmons?”
“By George, he was in a stew. I remember his words to his
nephew; he almost screamed them; ‘Archie, old boy, you must stand
by me, you must get me that money this afternoon, or it’s all up with
me.’ Queer sort of thing to say, wasn’t it, Mr. Cox.”
“Very queer,” agreed the detective. “Did you hear young Brookes’s
reply? I take it you were listening outside the door.”
“I was,” admitted Mr. Simmons, quite unabashed. It was evident he
was a very curious sort of person, and spent a considerable portion
of his time eavesdropping. “Young Archie was talking extremely low,
and I couldn’t catch very distinctly what he said. But there was a bit
of an argument between the two. I thought I caught the words, ‘it’s so
soon after the other,’ and then Sir George almost screamed out
again, ‘I can’t help that; I tell you it’s got to be done.’”
“An interesting couple,” remarked the supposed Mr. Cox. He was
quite sure now of the kind of man Mr. Simmons was. Should he
approach him at once or cultivate him a little further before he did
so? Being a cautious man and disinclined to do things in a hurry, he
chose the waiting policy. So he asked the valet when he would be
likely to meet him there again, at the same time proffering another
whisky.
“To tell the truth, Mr. Cox, I shall be here for the next three
evenings. A bit of luck has come my way. Sir George is going into
the country to-morrow morning, and won’t be back till Friday. He isn’t
taking me with him, and I don’t know where’s he’s going. No letters
or telegrams are to be forwarded.”
“A bit queer he doesn’t want his valet with him, isn’t it?”
“I think so,” replied Mr. Simmons with a knowing expression. “A
very dark horse is our respected and wealthy baronet! If he’s going
to a swagger country house he takes me fast enough. But it’s not the
first time by half a dozen that he’s sloped off like this by himself. He’s
after something that he doesn’t want anybody else to know about,
you bet. A very queer fish, Mr. Cox.”
So Sir George would be away for a few days; that would just suit
Lane’s plans. He must open the campaign with the not too
scrupulous valet as soon as possible, but not to-night.
“Look out for me to-morrow evening then, Mr. Simmons. I like this
little place, it’s very snug and quiet, and I have very much enjoyed
my chats with you. Good-night. Sure you won’t have another before
you go?” But the acquisitive valet had that delicacy in him that he
declined further hospitality; he had already done himself very well at
his companion’s expense, and was perhaps fearful of trespassing
too greatly on his good nature.
The next evening they were again in their quiet corner, and Lane
opened the ball a few minutes after they had exchanged greetings.
“Now, Mr. Simmons, I am going to be quite frank with you. I didn’t
come here by accident. I got to know—it doesn’t matter how—that
you were Sir George’s valet, that you frequented this place. If you
are so inclined, you are just the man to give me help in a little job I’m
after. I’m a detective by profession; here is my card with my name
and address. If you have any doubts about the truth of my assertion,
I will take you down to Shaftesbury Avenue now and convince you by
ocular proof.”
Mr. Simmons scrutinized the card carefully; he was a shrewd and
wary fellow, and not one to be easily taken in.
“To tell you the truth, Mr. Cox, or rather Mr. Lane, to give you your
true name, I had a sort of suspicion all along that you were a ’tec and
wanted something out of me. I’ve never seen you in this place
before, and you’ve given me a lot of drinks and wouldn’t take one
back. Now, sir, if I may speak without offence, a man who meets a
stranger doesn’t do all the paying without a motive. Well, sir, let’s
come to business. What can I do for you—of course, with safety to
myself, and if I do it, what do I get out of it?”
A business-like fellow, a bit of a rogue, in a noncriminal way no
doubt! But it was always easier to deal with a rogue than a fool in
matters of this kind. There would be no beating about the bush.
Lane briefly explained what he wanted. He wished to examine Sir
George’s pass-book; if that was not available, his paying-in slips. Did
the valet know where he kept them?
Yes, Mr. Simmons did know. Sir George was in the habit of getting
his book every month from the bank, and after examining it, returning
it in about three weeks to be made up for the following month. He
kept it with his cheque-book and the paying-in slips in one of the top
drawers of his writing-table. Sometimes the drawer was locked, more
frequently not, for in some matters where the vast majority of men
were cautious, the mysterious baronet was singularly careless. At
the present moment Mr. Simmons did not know whether it was
locked or not, but it would probably be locked before he went away.
“That doesn’t present much difficulty,” said Lane with a calmness
that took away his companion’s breath. “If it is not a very complicated
lock, and it’s not likely to be if the writing-table is an ordinary sort of
one; I can easily pick it.”
Mr. Simmons pursed his lips in perplexity. “But that’s burglary, isn’t
it, and spells quod if were caught?”
The detective smiled. “’Pon my soul, I’m not very sure. We have to
do this sort of thing sometimes, but we don’t run any very great risk,
because the people we do it to have so much to conceal that they
daren’t take action. I’m not proposing to take away anything, you
know.”
But Mr. Simmons evidently did not like the prospect. He was
perfectly unscrupulous in a small way, would not have objected to
certain petty pilferings sanctioned by custom and tradition amongst
certain members of his profession. One of his grievances against the
baronet was that he counted his cigars and his bottles of wine; there
was never a chance of getting a free smoke or drink.
But this looked a bigger thing than he expected. He thought very
deeply for a few seconds, while Lane cursed him in his heart for a
faint-hearted rogue, who let his inclination wait upon his fears.
“Look here,” he said at length. “We haven’t said anything yet about
terms. If I do it—and mind you, I’m not very gone on it—what’s the
price? It ought to be a good one.”
Lane named a liberal sum, and, truth to tell, it did make the valet’s
mouth water, but he was a greedy fellow, and he was determined to
try for a bit more. So for a few minutes they haggled till a
compromise was effected. But still Simmons was torn in two
between his greed and his fear of detection and would not say
positively that he would assist.
The detective was a man of resource, he saw that he must adopt
different tactics with this cowardly rogue and relieve him from his
apprehensions.
“Look here, my friend, I can see you are in a blue funk; you are
afraid of what I am certain won’t happen, that Sir George will return
unexpectedly, walk into his flat and find me at work. Of course, he
has got his key.”
Mr. Simmons wanted to get that money in his possession, and his
greed sharpened his wits.
“Yes, he has got his key; he always carries it with him. But I could
put the inside latch up, making some plausible excuse for doing so,
and while I was going to the door you could put things straight and
escape into my room, hide there and be smuggled out as soon as
we got a chance. What do you think of that?”
“Quite ingenious,” was the approving answer. No doubt the fellow
would have developed a very pretty talent in the domain of
“crookdom” if he had been properly trained by a qualified professor.
“Quite ingenious,” repeated Lane; “but I think I can manage it in a
way that will avert any danger from yourself if accidents should
happen. Now here is my plan. I will explain it as briefly as possible.
You won’t appear in the matter at all.”
Mr. Simmons heaved a sigh of relief. He looked at his new friend
with an air of admiration; he felt he was in the presence of a master
mind.
The detective lucidly explained his scheme. “You meet me at the
bottom of the street to-morrow evening at seven o’clock, and hand
me the key of the flat. You come on here, I join you in five minutes;
we have met here as usual for a chat. I’m in a hurry; I stay with you a
quarter of an hour, then hasten off on the plea of having to attend to
some urgent business. I go on to the flat, take care that nobody is
about, put the key in the door, enter Sir George’s room and do my
business. You will sit here for an hour with your pals, then you will
leave and meet me, say, in the buffet of Victoria Station, when I will
hand you back your key.”
“It sounds all right,” said Mr. Simmons, still speaking dubiously.
“But what happens if Sir George ‘cops’ you, and you can’t meet me
at Victoria?”
“I’m coming to that, although there’s not the smallest probability
that Sir George will ‘cop’ me. If he does, I think I shall have to say
something to him that will prevent him from giving me in charge. But
whatever happens, all that can be proved against you is indiscretion
—mind you, rather unpardonable in a man of your years, but still
only indiscretion. So you tumble to it now?”
“I think I’m getting an inkling; but you might explain it fully. You are
a clever chap, and you make things seem so clear.”
“You met a very plausible stranger in a certain pub. Give the name
to show good faith. Your friends can prove they have seen us talking
together. You got rather pals; he stood you a lot of drinks. On this
particular evening he gave you a little too much, perhaps put
something in it to make you stupid, and while you were losing your
wits, picked your pocket of the key and rushed round to the flat,
leaving you to recover yourself. So remember, after I leave you to-
morrow evening, to be a little foolish in your manner for half an hour
or so.”
“Excellent,” cried Mr. Simmons in genuine admiration. “By jingo,
you are a knock-out; you think of everything. To-morrow evening, just
at the bottom of the street; afterwards here. Now, what do you think
of something on account—say a ‘tenner.’”
“I don’t mind a ‘fiver,’” was Lane’s answer; he was not disposed to
trust the valet too much. If he got as much as ten pounds safely into
his hands he might back out at the last moment and leave the
detective in the lurch. “I won’t give it you before all these people; you
never know who’s looking. We’ll leave here in about half an hour,
and I’ll hand it over when we’re safe out of the street.”
About eleven o’clock the next morning he received a further
surprise in connection with this most puzzling case. A note was sent
round to him from Mr. Morrice:
“Dear Sir,—Another development! On opening my safe
this morning I found that the packet of papers abstracted
in the first robbery has been put back, also the bundle of
Swiss notes. I suppose the thief found they were of no use
to him and obligingly returned them. Come round as soon
as you can. I shall be in all day.
“Yours faithfully,
“Rupert Morrice.”
CHAPTER XIII
AUNT AND “NEPHEW”!
T HERE was not very much to discuss when Lane did get to
Deanery Street. Certain inexplicable things had happened for
which, at present, there seemed no accounting. Somebody seemed
to be doing what he liked with this wonderful safe, abstracting and
replacing property when he chose, without hindrance, in a house full
of people. One novel feature on this occasion was the total absence
of finger-prints. They had been carefully rubbed out.
Morrice seemed greatly perturbed, as was quite natural under the
circumstances; but Lane noticed that there was a considerable
difference in his demeanour on this occasion from the last, when he
had insisted, with some display of temper, upon the certainty of
Croxton’s guilt.
Lane had been a little nettled at the time—at the cocksure attitude
of this hard-headed man of business who, however great his
success in his own particular line, did not seem to possess a very
great logical faculty, and could not forbear putting a rather pertinent
question.
“Are you quite as sure as you were, Mr. Morrice, that your late
secretary is the thief?”
Morrice shrugged his shoulders. It was easy to see that he was in
a subdued mood; there was no fear of further explosions to-day. “I
admit there are complications in this infernal business that perplex
one extremely. But I don’t think that, so far, I can see any particular
reasons for altering my previous opinion. You can’t get over the
insurmountable fact that Croxton and myself were the only two
persons who knew the secret of the mechanism. He may not be the
actual purloiner, I admit; he may have passed on his knowledge to a
confederate with whom he shares the spoil.”
Lane let fall only a few words in answer to these observations, but
they were very significant ones.
“Don’t forget, Mr. Morrice, that you lost the original key or
memorandum, as you call it, of the workings.”
But the financier was an obstinate person, as many strong-minded
men are. When he had once formed a theory, he did not give it up in
a hurry.
“Only mislaid, I expect,” he answered, but it was easy to see his
tone was not quite so confident as usual. “I shouldn’t be surprised if
it turned up at any moment.”
But Lane hastened to put on a damper at once. “And if it did, I
don’t see that it would help you so very much. You couldn’t possibly
know in what other hands it might have been during the interval.”
The financier had no wish to engage in further argument with this
calm, self-possessed man, whose merciless logic made such short
work of anything in the nature of a positive opinion.
“It doesn’t seem to matter much what I think,” he cried with a slight
return of his old petulance. “And perhaps it would be wiser to admit
at once that I don’t possess your capacity for weighing facts and
drawing deductions from them. I should like to know one thing, Mr.
Lane—does what has just happened convey any new suggestions to
you, throw any fresh light upon the situation?”
He did not gauge the detective as accurately as one might have
expected from a man with his wide knowledge of human nature, or
he would never have put this question in the hope of getting a
satisfactory answer. Whatever theory or theories might be forming in
his mind, and there could be no doubt that it was working at full-
speed all the time, and readjusting itself to every fresh turn of events,
Lane would make no disclosures till he judged the time was ripe.
He shook his head with great gravity: “We work very slowly, Mr.
Morrice; we come to conclusions with equal slowness, in our
profession. I dare say to a keen business man like yourself who plan
your coups with lightning rapidity, make and clinch a deal of many
thousands in a few minutes, we must seem dull, plodding fellows.
But you must remember that most of our time we are working
underground where very little light penetrates. What has happened
to-day may suggest a new line of thought to me, but I have not yet
had time to digest its significance. It will want a great deal of patient
thinking over before it bears any fruit.”
With this the rather impatient financier had to be content. He was
beginning to have a certain respect for the firm, self-reliant attitude of
the detective, who did not appear to be in the least overawed by
Morrice’s wealth and position. And he had a shrewd idea that, in his
own particular and less remunerative line, Lane had a brain not
greatly inferior to his own. They worked in different directions with a
vast disproportion between the rewards attending their efforts.
Morrice had the instinct of moneymaking, Lane the instinct of
unravelling criminal mysteries. Perhaps in the bare fact of intellectual
equipment there was not much to choose between them.
As the detective passed through the hall on his way out, he found
Rosabelle waiting for him. She was of course cognizant of what had
happened, and on Lane’s arrival her first idea had been to be
present at the interview between him and her uncle. But on second
thoughts she had decided to speak to the detective alone.
She still loved her uncle very dearly; she must always do that for
all the kindness and affection he had lavished on her. But it was
impossible there should not be a little secret antagonism between
the two in the circumstances. He appeared to be firmly convinced of
Richard Croxton’s guilt, she as firmly convinced of his innocence.
She was a fair-minded girl, and she was prepared to make every
allowance for Morrice’s attitude, but as there did not seem any
common ground on which they could meet when the matter was
under discussion, she judged it best to speak of it to him as little as
possible.
She put to him practically the same question that her uncle had
done: “Well, Mr. Lane, what do you think of the new development?
Does it reveal anything to you?”
That wary and cautious person shook his head. He had taken a
great liking to Rosabelle. Her staunch devotion to her lover had
appealed to the finer chords of his nature; for although he never
allowed sentiment to sway him unduly, he was by no means destitute
of that human quality. But not even for Rosabelle’s sake would he
depart greatly from that cautious attitude which was habitual to him.
“It is a strange development, Miss Sheldon, but I have not yet had
time to think it over. I am going back to my office to do so, and the
thinking over will take some time.”
Her charming face fell. “You cannot see in it even the remotest
thing that tells in favour of Richard Croxton?”
The eyes were very sad, the voice was very pleading. Should he
give the unhappy girl one little crumb of comfort? For a little time he
hesitated, then compassion got the better of prudence and of his iron
reserve.
“I will just say this, Miss Sheldon, and no more. It is becoming a
less impossible task to clear him than I at first thought; but please
don’t be too jubilant—there are still very formidable difficulties in the
way.”
A radiant light came into the charming face, although her eyes
filled with tears and she clasped her hands nervously together. Her
voice trembled as she spoke.
“You have put new life into me with those words, Mr. Lane. I know
you quite well by now, and I am sure that, coming from you, they
mean much.”
Poor Lane began to think he had made a bit of a mistake in
departing from his usual caution, in being moved by the pleading
attitude of the girl into giving her this small crumb of comfort. That
was the worst of women—they were so impressionable and
optimistic, or pessimistic, as the case might be. Their moods were
never equable: they were either at the height of elation or in the
depth of despair.
“Please do not let me excite false hopes, Miss Sheldon,” he
hastened to say. “Remember, I have told you there are great
difficulties in the way. Until we are on much firmer ground I would
beg that you do not repeat my words to Mr. Croxton.”
But she did not give any answer to this request, and he knew that
for all practical purposes he might have held his peace. Of course,
she would post off to her lover as soon as she could get away, and
infect him with her own optimism. Well, he was loath to confide too
much in the most hard-headed and sceptical man; he had only
himself to blame for having been over-confidential with a member of
the emotional sex.
Later on in the day Rosabelle carried out his prediction; she made
up her mind to pay a visit to Petersham, to hearten her lover with a
recital of those words which she was convinced meant so much,
coming from a man of Lane’s cautious temperament.
Morrice had left the house shortly after the detective’s departure.
The two women would have lunched alone together but for the
unexpected arrival of young Archie Brookes, who was pressed to
stay for the meal.
Rosabelle was very sensitive to impressions, and, for so young a
girl, particularly observant. It struck her that during the progress of
the luncheon the young man seemed rather distrait and preoccupied.
Two or three times he answered at random, and once Mrs. Morrice
called out to him sharply, “I don’t think you are listening to what I am
saying, Archie.” At that rebuke he seemed to pull himself together,
but the girl was sure his thoughts were far away from her aunt’s light
chatter.
Presently aunt and nephew, to call him what Rosabelle, ignorant of
Lane’s discoveries, still believed him to be, went up to Mrs. Morrice’s
boudoir. There was nothing unusual in this; it was a frequent custom
when the young man called or lunched at the house.
Rosabelle thought she would start for Petersham at once, making
her journey there as usual in a taxi. She always had plenty of money
for her needs, as Morrice supplemented her own little modest
income of a hundred a year with a very generous allowance.
As she went upstairs to her own room to make ready for her
expedition, she passed her aunt’s boudoir, the door of which stood
slightly ajar. It was a rather unusual circumstance, for when the two
were closeted together Rosabelle had noticed that it was nearly
always closed. This time it had evidently been forgotten by both.
She was not a girl who in ordinary circumstances would have
condescended to listen at doors, but she could not help hearing
words that startled and puzzled her.
Archie was speaking in a voice of great excitement and emotion.
“But if I don’t have it I am ruined. It means that I cannot face the
disgrace—there is only one alternative——” His voice had by now
sunk almost to a whisper, and she could not catch what followed.
She stood rooted to the spot. The young man’s preoccupied
manner at the lunch-table was accounted for. He was in some deep
trouble from which he was begging Mrs. Morrice to rescue him.
She heard her aunt reply in tones that were half angry, half tearful.
“How many times have you threatened me with that, and I have
yielded. I have half ruined myself for you; it cannot go on much
longer.”
Suddenly she felt that she was listening to a conversation not
intended for her ears, and resolutely turned away and went to her
own room. For the present she would say nothing, not even to Dick,
of what she had heard by the purest accident. But she thought over it
all the way on the long drive to Petersham. Was there yet another
tragedy going on in the Morrice household, and was her placid-
looking, dignified aunt the centre of it?
And what was that alternative which Archie Brookes had described
in a whisper she could not catch? Had he threatened to destroy
himself if his request were not acceded to? And what did Mrs.
Morrice mean by saying she had half ruined herself for him?
CHAPTER XIV
AN ALARMING INTERRUPTION