Read Anytime Anywhere Easy TestBank Download at testbankmall.

com

Solution Manual for Exploring Microsoft Office

Excel 2019 Comprehensive, 1st edition, Mary Anne
Poatsy (Copy)

https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-
exploring-microsoft-office-excel-2019-comprehensive-1st-
edition-mary-anne-poatsy-copy/

OR CLICK HERE

DOWLOAD EBOOK

Visit and Get More TestBank Download Instantly at https://testbankmall.com

 Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) ready for you
Download now and discover formats that fit your needs...

Start reading on any device today!

Test Bank for Exploring Microsoft Office Excel 2019

Comprehensive, 1st edition, Mary Anne Poatsy

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-exploring-microsoft-
office-excel-2019-comprehensive-1st-edition-mary-anne-poatsy/

testbankmall.com

Solution Manual for Exploring Microsoft Office Excel 2016

Comprehensive 1st Edition

https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-exploring-
microsoft-office-excel-2016-comprehensive-1st-edition/

testbankmall.com

Test Bank for Exploring Microsoft Office Excel 2016

Comprehensive 1st Edition

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-exploring-microsoft-
office-excel-2016-comprehensive-1st-edition/

testbankmall.com

Solution Manual for New Perspectives Microsoft Office 365

& Excel 2019 Comprehensive 1st Edition Carey

https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-new-perspectives-
microsoft-office-365-excel-2019-comprehensive-1st-edition-carey/

testbankmall.com
Test Bank for New Perspectives Microsoft Office 365 &
Excel 2019 Comprehensive 1st Edition Carey

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-new-perspectives-
microsoft-office-365-excel-2019-comprehensive-1st-edition-carey/

testbankmall.com

Test Bank For Exploring Microsoft Office Excel 2010

Comprehensive, 1 edition: Robert Grauer

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-exploring-microsoft-
office-excel-2010-comprehensive-1-edition-robert-grauer/

testbankmall.com

Solution Manual for Shelly Cashman Series Microsoft Office

365 & Excel 2016: Comprehensive 1st Edition

https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-shelly-cashman-
series-microsoft-office-365-excel-2016-comprehensive-1st-edition/

testbankmall.com

Solution manual for Illustrated Microsoft® Office 365 &

Excel 2016: Comprehensive 1st Edition by Reding

https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-illustrated-
microsoft-office-365-excel-2016-comprehensive-1st-edition-by-reding/

testbankmall.com

Solution Manual for Shelly Cashman Series Collection,

Microsoft Office 365 & Office 2019 1st Edition Sandra
Cable
https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-shelly-cashman-
series-collection-microsoft-office-365-office-2019-1st-edition-sandra-
cable/
testbankmall.com
 Prepared Exam-Chap Solution cf01_exam_chap_solution.xlsx
Prepared Exam-Chap Annotated Sol. cf01_exam_chap_annsolution.pdf
Prepared Exam-Chap Scorecard cf01_exam_chap_scorecard.xlsx
Online Instructor
File Guide cf01_fileguide.xlsx Resource Center
Online Instructor
Objective Map cf01_objectivesmap.xlsx Resource Center
Grader Project
Grader Instruction cf01_grader_instruction.docx
Grader Data cf01_grader_data.xlsx
Online Instructor
Grader Solution cf01_grader_solution.xlsx Resource Center
Grader Annotated Solution cf01_grader_annsolution.pdf
Grader Scorecard cf01_grader_scorecard.xlsx

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

When students have finished reading this chapter, they will be able to:
 Start an Office Application  Review a Document
 Work with Files  Work with Pictures
 Use Common Interface Components  Change the Document View
 Get Help  Change the Page Layout
 Install Add-Ins  Create a Header and Footer
 Use Templates and Apply Themes  Configure Document Properties
 Modify Text  Preview and Print a File
 Relocate Text

CHAPTER OVERVIEW
The students will be asked to apply skills that are common across the Microsoft Office suite to create
and format documents and edit content in Office 2019 applications.

The major sections in this chapter are:

1. Getting Started with Office Applications. In this section, the students will learn how to start an
Office application, work with files, use common interface components, get Help, and install
Microsoft or third-party add-ins.

2. Format Document Content. In this section, students will learn how to use templates, apply
themes, modify text, relocate text, check spelling and grammar, and work with pictures and
graphics.

3. Modify Document Layout and Properties. Students will learn how to use Backstage view,
change the document view, change the Page Layout, insert a Header and Footer, and preview
and print a file.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

CLASS RUN-DOWN
1. Have students turn in homework assignments.
2. Talk about the chapter using the discussion questions listed below.
3. Use a PowerPoint presentation to help students understand the chapter content.
4. Demonstrate common features in Office 2019 applications.
5. Run through the Scripted Lecture for the chapter. Give special attention to areas in which
students might be challenged.
6. Have students complete the Capstone Exercise.
7. Use MyITLab for in-class work or to go over homework.
8. Give students the homework handout for the next class period.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson students should be able to:

 Use Your Microsoft Account
 Use OneDrive
 Create a New File
 Save a File
 Open a Saved File
 Use the ribbon
 Use a Dialog Box and Gallery
 Customize the ribbon
 Use the Quick Access Toolbar
 Customize the Quick Access Toolbar
 Use a Shortcut Menu
 Use Keyboard Shortcuts
 Use the Tell me Box
 Use the Help tab
 Use Enhanced Screen Tips
 Use an Add-in from the Store
 Open a Template
 Apply a Theme
 Select Text
 Format Text
 Use the Mini Toolbar
 Cut, Copy and Paste Text
 Use the Office Clipboard
 Check Spelling and Grammar
 Insert Pictures
 Modify Pictures
 Change the Document View using the ribbon
 Change the Document View using the Status Bar
 Change Margins
 Change Page Orientation
 Use the Page Setup Dialog Box
 Insert a Footer
 Insert a Header
Copyright © 2020 Pearson
  View and Edit Document Properties
 Preview a File
 Change Print Settings
 Print a File

KEY TERMS
Add-in–A custom program or additional command that extends the functionality of a Microsoft
Office program.

Backstage view–A component of Office 2019 that provides a concise collection of commands
related to an open file.

Cloud storage–A technology used to store files and to work with programs that are stored in a
central location on the Internet.
Command–A button or area within a group that you click to perform tasks.

Contextual tab–A tab that contains a groups of commands related to the selected object.

Copy–A command used to duplicate a selection from the original location and place a copy in the
Office Clipboard.

Cut–A command used to remove a selection from the original location and place it in the Office
Clipboard.

Dialog box–A box that provides access to more precise, but less frequently used, commands.

Dialog Box Launcher–A button that when clicked opens a corresponding dialog box.

Enhanced ScreenTip–A small message box that displays when you place the pointer over a
command button. The purpose of the command, short descriptive text, or a keyboard shortcut if
applicable will display in the box.

Footer–Information that displays at the bottom of a document page.

Format Painter–A feature that enables you to quickly and easily copy all formatting from one area
to another in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

Gallery–An area in Word which provides additional text styles. In Excel, the gallery provides a
choice of chart styles, and in Power Point, the gallery provides transitions.

Group–A subset of a tab that organizes similar tasks together.

Header–An area with one or more lines of information at the top of each page.

Keyboard Shortcut–A combination of two or more keys pressed together to initiate a software
command.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

Landscape orientation–A document layout when a page is wider than it is tall.

Live Preview–An Office feature that provides a preview of the results of a selection when you point
to an option in a list or gallery. Using Live Preview, you can experiment with settings before making
a final choice.

Margin–The area of blank space that displays to the left, right, top, and bottom of a document or
worksheet.

Microsoft Access–A relational database management system in which you can record and link data,
query databases, and create forms and reports.
Microsoft Excel–An application that makes it easy to organize records, financial transactions, and
business information in the form of worksheets.

Microsoft Office–A productivity software suite including a set of software applications, each one
specializing in a particular type of output.
Microsoft PowerPoint–An application that enables you to create dynamic presentations to inform
groups and persuade audiences.

Microsoft Word–An application that can produce all sorts of documents, including memos,
newsletters, forms, tables, and brochures.

Mini toolbar–A toolbar that provides access to the most common formatting selections, such as
adding bold or italic, or changing font type or color. Unlike the Quick Access Toolbar, the Mini
toolbar is not customizable.
Office Clipboard–An area of memory reserved to temporarily hold selections that have been cut or
copied and allows you to paste the selections.

OneDrive–Microsoft’s cloud storage system. Saving file to OneDrive enables them to sync across all
Windows devices and to be accessible from any Internet-connected device.

Paste–A command used to place a cut or copied selection into another location.

Picture–A graphic file that is retrieved from storage media or the Internet and placed in an Office
project.

Portrait orientation–A document layout when a page is taller than it is wide.

Quick Access Toolbar–A toolbar located at the top-left corner of any Office application window,
that provides fast access to commonly executed tasks such as saving a file and undoing recent
actions.

ribbon–The command center of Office applications. It is the long bar located just beneath the title
bar, containing tabs, groups, and commands.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

 Shortcut menu–A menu that provides choices related to the selection or area at which you right-
click.

Smart Lookup–A feature that provides information about tasks or commands in Office, and can also
be used to search for general information on a topic such as President George Washington.

Status bar–A bar located at the bottom of the program window that contains information relative to
the open file. It also includes tools for changing the view of the file and for changing the zoom size of
onscreen file contents.

Tab–Located on the ribbon, each tab is designed to appear much like a tab on a file folder, with the
active tab highlighted.

Tag–A data element or metadata that is added as a document property. Tags help in indexing and
searching.

Tell me box–Located to the right of the last tab, this box enables you to search for help and
information about a command or task you want to perform and also presents you with a shortcut
directly to that command.

Template–A predesigned file that incorporates formatting elements, such as a theme and layouts,
and may include content that can be modified.

Theme–A collection of design choices that includes colors, fonts, and special effects used to give a
consistent look to a document, workbook, presentation, or database form or report.

Title bar–The long bar at the top of each window that displays the name of the folder, file, or
program displayed in the open window and the application in which you are working.

Toggle commands–A button that acts somewhat like light switches that you can turn on and off. You
select the command to turn it on, then select it again to turn it off.

View–The various ways a file can appear on the screen.

Zoom slider–A feature that displays at the far right side of the status bar. It is used to increase or
decrease the magnification of the file.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
 What are the benefits of having common features in the Office 2019 applications?
 What is the purpose of the Quick Access Toolbar and when might you want to customize it?
 What are three reasons you would use the Tell me box?
 What is the benefit of using a template and when would you want to start from a blank
document?
 What considerations should you be aware of when incorporating pictures into a document?
Copyright © 2020 Pearson
  Why is it useful to add tags to a document?

WHEN USING SCRIPTED LECTURE IN CLASS, DEMONSTRATE HOW TO:

 Open and Save a File
 Open a Saved File and Use the Ribbon
 Use a Dialog Box and Gallery
 Use and Customize the Quick Access Toolbar
 Use a Shortcut Menu
 Use the Tell Me Box
 Open a Template
 Apply a Theme
 Select and Format Text
 Cut, Copy, and Paste Text
 Check Spelling and Grammar
 Insert a Picture
 Modify a Picture
 Change the Document View
 Change the Page Layout
 Insert a Header and a Footer
 Enter Document Properties
 Preview a File and Change Print Settings

CONNECTIONS: PRACTICAL PROJECTS AND APPLICATIONS

 Collaborate on projects with other classmates or colleagues by saving your file to OneDrive and
sharing with others. Changes by multiple authors can be viewed in real-time. This eliminates
passing files around via email and everyone always has access to the latest changes.
 Use the Tell me box when you can’t remember where a command or feature is located on the
ribbon to be automatically directed to that command. You can also use Tell me box to execute
simple tasks automatically.
 Before you start a project from scratch, search through the available templates for each
application. Beginning with a template could save you a lot of time or give you ideas on how to
arrange or format content for a more professional look.
 If you are creating a project that eventually will combine content from multiple applications
(such as a report in Word that uses charts from Excel, or a PowerPoint presentation that
includes an Excel chart and a Word table) then format the individual files with the same theme
for a more professional look.
 Use Format Painter whenever you need to copy formatting. It can be used with text, images,
and objects. Format Painter is a lot simpler than trying to recreate multiple formats.
 Customize the Quick Access Toolbar with the Editor or Spell command. Doing so will make it
easy to quickly check your file for spelling errors before you save.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

  Consider formatting any image you place in a Word document or PowerPoint presentation with
a simple frame, border, or modest shadowing to make the image stand out and give your
document a more professional look.
 To facilitate document searches, get in the habit of including at least one document tag for each
file.
 Always preview a document before printing to ensure the document fits nicely on each page,
that the margins and orientation settings are appropriate, and that there are no unnecessary
blank pages at the end of the document.

TEACHING NOTES

Getting Started with Office Applications

In this section, the student will learn how to start an Office application, work with files, use common
interface components, get help, and install add-ins.

A. Starting an Office Application

 Microsoft Office is a productivity software suite that includes a set of software
applications, each one specializing in a particular type of output. Word (word-processing
software), Excel (spreadsheet software), PowerPoint (presentation graphics software),
and Access (relational database software) are the most used applications in the suite.
 Log in using a Microsoft account to sign in to any Windows computer and access the
saved settings associated with your Microsoft account. This also provides additional
benefits such as being connected to all of Microsoft’s resources on the Internet, such as
cloud storage with OneDrive.
 Click the Start button and then click the app tile for the Office application in which you
want to work. If the application tile is not on the Start menu, you can open the program
from All apps.
 Alternatively, you can click in the search box on the task bar, type the name of the
program, and press Enter. The program will open automatically.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate the commonality of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access.
 Teaching Tip: Explain the process of choosing which Office application to use and how it
really depends on what type of output you want to produce. Sometimes you may need
to use two or more Office applications to produce the intended output.
 Teaching Tip: It saves time to have an app tile for each of the Office 2019 applications
you frequently use on the desktop or even pinned to the task bar.
 Teaching Tip: You can switch between Microsoft accounts in an application using the
profile name at the top-right of the open application. Click the profile name, select
Switch account, and then select an account from the list.
 Teaching Tip: Explain the difference between Office 365 and Office 2019. Students
might have Office 365 installed on their home devices and might be using Office 2019 at
school or work. Explain that Office 365 is updated regularly while Office 2019 is not,

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

 therefore there may be differences in user interface or features between the two
products (and what is showing in the text).
 Teaching Tip: Discuss the value of using OneDrive. OneDrive facilitates collaboration and
file sharing in addition to providing access to files on any device that has an Internet
connection.

B. Working with Files

 You can begin working with an Office application by opening an existing file that has
already been saved to a storage medium or you can begin work on a new file by
selecting a blank document or a ready to use template.
 Saving a file enables you to open it later for additional updates or references. Files are
saved to a storage medium such as a hard drive, CD, flash drive, or to the cloud on
OneDrive.
 Teaching Tip: Stress the importance of determining where you will be storing your files
once they are created and saved.
 Teaching Tip: Show students how to open an existing file using the Open dialog box and
explain the various components of that box.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how the Recent documents list simplifies the task of
reopening the most recently opened files in an application. If you do not see your file
listed, you can click the link to Open Other Documents (or Workbooks, Presentations,
etc.).
o To keep a particular file in the list, click the icon to pin the file to the list.
o The “pushpin” of the file will change directions so that it appears to be inserted.
o If later you want to remove the file from the list, click the inserted pushpin,
changing its direction and allowing the file to be bumped off the list.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate to students the difference between using the command
“Save” and the command “Save As”.

C. Using Common Interface Components

 Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Access all share a similar ribbon structure. Although the
specific tabs, groups, and commands vary among the Office programs, the way in which
you use the ribbon and the descriptive nature of tab titles are the same regardless of
which program you are using.
 Another way you can accomplish tasks in Office is to use the Shortcut menu. Shortcut
menus display when you right-click and are context sensitive, providing choices related
to the object, selection, or area of the document at which you did a right-click.
 Keyboard shortcuts can also be used to streamline executing commands without having
your fingers leave the keyboard. Keyboard shortcuts are executed by pressing
combinations of keyboard keys. Universal keyboard shortcuts in Office include Ctrl+C
(Copy), Ctrl+X (Cut), Ctrl+V (Paste), and Ctrl+Z (Undo); there are others.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

  You can personalize the ribbon by adding, renaming, and removing ribbon tabs, as well
as creating customized tabs. The custom tabs are unique to the Office program in which
they are created.
 The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT), located at the top-left corner of any Office application
window, provides one-click access to commonly executed tasks. You can customize the
QAT by adding additional commands such as Editor (Spell check) or Quick Print.
 Discuss that the most commonly used features in each application are available on the
ribbon by task, but that additional commands can be found in Dialog boxes. Dialog
boxes are displayed by clicking the Dialog box launcher that is found at the bottom right
corner of a ribbon group. Not every ribbon group has a Dialog Box Launcher.
 Discuss that clicking More reveals additional gallery options.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate the ability to maximize your workspace by temporarily
hiding the ribbon and then unhide it.
 Teaching Tip: Discuss how the ribbon tabs group related tasks together and that tasks
are further organized by named groups. Also mention that contextual tabs display for
certain tasks such as working with pictures, objects, or tables.
 Teaching Tip: Reveal commands that are visible when a Dialog Box Launcher is
activated, such as a gallery of Excel chart styles and PowerPoint transitions.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how to customize the ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar.
The Quick Access Toolbar can be customized directly through the QAT or by right-
clicking a command on the ribbon and selecting “Add to Quick Access Toolbar”. Click File
and Options to customize the ribbon or the Quick Access Toolbar.

D. Getting Help
 As you work with any Office application, you can access help online as well as within the current
software installations.
 The Tell me box, located to the right of the last tab on the ribbon enables you to search for help
and information about a command or task you want to perform. It will also present you with a
shortcut directly to that command and in some instances will complete the action for you.
 Smart Lookup, on the References tab, provides information about tasks or commands in Office,
and can also be used to search for general information on a topic.
 The Help tab offers direct access to Customer support, training videos and other helpful
tutorials.
 Enhanced Screen Tips display when you point to a command, and include a brief description of
the command along with a keyboard shortcut, if available.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate the Help button that appears with a dialog box; it is
displayed as a question mark in the top right corner of the dialog box.
 Teaching Tip: Show students the ease of locating a command on the ribbon using the
Tell me box. A list of commands related to the skill will display.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate the Smart Lookup which is available on the shortcut menu
when you right-click text, on the References tab, or through the Tell me box.
Copyright © 2020 Pearson
  Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how to display an Enhanced ScreenTip which describes the
command button that the mouse pointer is hovering over.

E. Installing Add-ins
 A Microsoft or third-party add-in is a custom program or additional command that
extends the functionality of an Office program. As an example, in Excel, add-ins provide
additional functionality that can help with statistics and data mining.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate the steps used to search for and install an add-in from the
Microsoft Store. Note that some add-ins require fees to use.

Format Document Content

In this section, the student will explore themes and templates, explore tools to make formatting
changes, check grammar and spelling, and format pictures.

A. Using Templates and Applying Themes

 A template is a predesigned file that incorporates formatting elements such as a theme
and layout, and may include content that can be modified.
 A theme is a collection of design choices that include colors, fonts, and special effects
used to give a consistent look to a document, workbook, or presentation.
 When using multiple Office applications in one project, formatting each output with the
same theme provides consistency across all applications.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how to view the Templates list when creating a new
document and how to locate other templates that are available online.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how applying a theme enables you to visually coordinate
various page elements.

B. Modifying Text
 In all Office applications, the Home tab provides tools for editing selected text. You can
also use the Mini toolbar to make changes conveniently to selected text.
 Before making any changes to existing text or numbers, you must first select the
characters. Once you have selected the desired text, besides applying formatting, you
can delete or simply type over text to replace it.
 There are shortcuts to selecting text, such as clicking and dragging, using double-click,
and using the Ctrl and Shift keys with other keys on the keyboard.
 You can find the most common formatting commands in the Font group on the Home
tab.
 The Font determines the way characters display onscreen or print in documents,
including qualities such as size, spacing, and shape.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate editing text using various shortcuts to select the text.
 Teaching Tip: Show students how to apply a different font to a section of a project by
selecting the font from within the Font group on the Home tab or selecting it from the
Mini toolbar.
Copyright © 2020 Pearson
  Teaching Tip: Expand the Font dialog box and discuss additional font features that are
not on the ribbon.

C. Relocating Text
 The Office Clipboard is an area of memory reserved to temporarily hold selections that
have been cut or copied and allows you to paste the selections. It is important to finalize
the paste procedure during the current session before the computer is shut down or
loses power, for the contents of the Clipboard are then erased.
 Teaching Tip: Show students how to relocate text using the cut, copy, and paste
commands.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate using the Office Clipboard by cutting or copying several
sections of text and then pasting all or some of the cut/copied text to a new location.

D. Checking Spelling and Grammar

 Spelling and grammar are automatically checked as you enter text in Word and
PowerPoint. You run the spelling checker in Excel to check spelling. Spell check in Access
is available only in Forms and Reports.
 When the Check Document (Word), Spelling (Excel and PowerPoint) command is
activated, the Editor pane opens. Use the Editor pane to work through suggested
replacements for identified errors.
 Misspellings are identified with a red wavy underline. Grammatical problems are
underlined in green, and word usage errors (such as using bear instead of bare) have a
blue underline.
 Some correctly spelled words are identified as being incorrect because the word does
not exist in the application’s dictionary. You can add the word to the dictionary to avoid
future error notations or choose to Ignore all or each instance of the word.
 AutoCorrect automatically applies corrections to common typing errors and
misspellings. You modify AutoCorrect settings to add or delete words and replacement
text.
 Teaching Tip: Show students how to make corrections or bypass all occurrences of a
flagged error in the current document.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how to add a word, phrase, or often-used names to the
application dictionary, so an error is not flagged in the future.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how to access and modify AutoCorrect.

E. Working with Pictures

 Pictures and other graphic elements can be included in a project to add energy, interest,
and additional description.
 You can insert pictures from your own library of digital photos you have saved on your
hard drive, OneDrive, or another storage medium.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

  You can initiate a Bing Image Search for online pictures directly inside the Office
program being used.
 When a picture is selected, the Picture Tools Format tab includes options for modifying
a picture. You can apply a picture style or effect, and add a picture border from
selections in the picture Styles group.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how to insert a picture from a file stored on your computer.
 Teaching Tip: Show students how to use the sizing handles of a picture to resize it and
how to use the cropping tool, which adjusts the amount of a picture that displays.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how to create a document using a template and then
replace the picture placeholder with one of your own.

Modify Document Layout and Properties

In this section, the students will learn about views and how to change a document view to suit their
needs. Additionally, they will learn how to modify the page layout, including page orientation and
margins, as well as how to add headers and footers. Finally, the students will explore Print Preview
and the various printing options available.

A. Changing Document Views

 A document view is the way a file appears onscreen. The view buttons on the status bar
of each application enable you to change the view of the open file.
 Additional views are available on the View tab.

Teaching Tip: Demonstrate using the Zoom slider, which is a horizontal bar on the bottom right side of
the status bar, to increase and decrease the size of the document onscreen. Beware that the changing
size of text onscreen does not change the font size when the file is printed or saved.

B. Changing the Page Layout

 The Layout tab in Word and Page Layout tab in Excel provides access to a full range of
options, such as margin settings and page orientation. PowerPoint and Access do not
have Layout tabs.
 The Page Setup group contains the most commonly used page options in the particular
Office application. Other less common settings are available in the Page Setup dialog
box.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how changing page orientation can be executed using an
option in the Print area of Backstage view, from the Page Layout tab, or the Page Setup
dialog box.

C. Creating a Header and a Footer

 A header and footer in a document better identify the document and give it a
professional appearance.
 A header consists of one or more lines at the top of each page. A footer displays at the
bottom of each page, often to include a page number or one or more lines of text.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

  PowerPoint offers only footers for slides and headers and footers for handouts.
 One advantage of using headers and footers is that you specify the content only once,
after which it displays automatically on all pages.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate how text in a header or footer can be formatted like any
other text in any font or font size.
 Teaching Tip: Discuss and demonstrate how to set headers and footers so they do not
appear on the first page.

D. Configuring Document Properties

 Backstage view, in addition to open, save, and print a file, is used to view settings
related to protection, permissions, versions, and properties of a file. The Info tab houses
document properties.
 Document properties include author name, file size, permissions, and date modified
information.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate where documents properties are found on the Info tab in
Backstage view.

E. Previewing and Printing a File

 The Print Preview feature of Office enables you to take a look at how your document or
worksheet will appear before you print it.
 In the Print Preview page, you will see all items, including any headers, footers, graphics,
and special formatting.
 There are various print options to select when you want to print an Office file, including
the number of copies and the specific pages to print.
 Teaching Tip: Demonstrate the options available in the Backstage Print view and how
they vary depending on the application in which you are working.

OBJECTIVE TESTS IN MYITLAB

To find an objective test to help your students practice for tests, have them sign in to MyITLab:
www.myitlab.com

ADDITIONAL WEB RESOURCES

1. What’s new in Office 365: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-s-new-in-Office-
365-95c8d81d-08ba-42c1-914f-bca4603e1426#Platform=Windows_Desktop
2. Office 2019 Quick Start Guides: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/office-quick-starts-
25f909da-3e76-443d-94f4-6cdf7dedc51e?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US
3. Office 365 basics – video training: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/office-365-
basics-video-training-396b8d9e-e118-42d0-8a0d-87d1f2f055fb?wt.mc_id=otc_home
4. Office tips and tricks: https://support.office.com/office-training-center/featured-
tips?wt.mc_id=OTC_HOME

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

 5. Office cheat sheets: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/office-cheat-sheets-61abfe7b-
1c43-483c-b82b-3806d80e027e
6. Create a local user account in Windows 10: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-
10/create-a-local-user-account-in-windows-10
7. Keyboard shortcuts in Windows: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-
10/keyboard-shortcuts
8. Office 365 subscription: https://products.office.com/EN-
US/buy?Wt.mc_id=OAN_mscom_prog_officepostholidayattach_buyoffice365
9. Getting started with OneDrive: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/getting-
started-onedrive-tutorial
10. How to customize the ribbon: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Customize-the-
ribbon-3C610B47-6F0F-4179-83D3-68A254A80EA6

PROJECTS AND EXERCISES

Data File Student Solution File

Hands-On Exercise 1 cf01h1Letter.docx cf01h1Letter_LastFirst.docx

Hands-On Exercise 2 cf01h2Flyer.docx cf01h2Flyer_LastFirst.docx

cf01h2Art.jpg

Hands-On Exercise 3 Blank Document cf01h3Letter_LastFirst.docx

cf01p1Design.pptx cf01p1Design_LastFirst.pptx
Practice Exercise 1 cf01p1Website.jpg

cf01p2Business.docx cf01p2Business_LastFirst.docx
Practice Exercise 2 cf01p2Cupcake.jpg

cf01m1RefLetter.docx cf01m1RefLetter_LastFirst.docx
Mid-Level Exercise 1 cf01m1College.jpg

cf01m2Tracker.xlsx cf01m2Tracker_LastFirst.xlsx
Mid-Level Exercise 2 cf01m2BloodPressure.jpg

Running Case cf01r1NCCTSRates.xlsx cf01r1NCCTSRates_LastFirst.xlsx

Disaster Recovery cf01d1Resume.docx cf01d1Resume_LastFirst.docx

cf01c1SocialMedia.pptx cf01c1SocialMedia_LastFirst.pptx
Capstone cf01c1Sharing.jpg

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

CHAPTER REVIEW/ANSWERS TO END OF CHAPTER MATERIAL

Key Terms Matching Answer Key

1. A productivity software suite including a set of software applications, each one
specializing in a particular type of output.

J. Microsoft Office

2. The long bar located just beneath the title bar containing tabs, groups, and commands.

O. Ribbon

3. Custom program or additional command that extends the functionality of a Microsoft

Office program.

A. Add-in

4. A collection of design choices that includes colors, fonts, and special effects used to give
a consistent look to a document, workbook, or presentation.
T. Theme

5. A data element or metadata that is added as a document property.

Q. Tag

6. A component of Office that provides a concise collection of commands related to an

open file and includes save and print options.
B. Backstage view

7. A tool that displays near selected text that contains formatting commands.
K. Mini Toolbar

8. Relational database software used to store data and convert it into information.

I. Microsoft Access

9. A feature in a document that consists of one or more lines at the bottom of each page.

D. Footer

10. A predesigned file that incorporates formatting elements, such as a theme and layouts,
and may include content that can be modified.

S. Template

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

11. A feature that enables you to search for help and information about a command or task
you want to perform and will also present you with a shortcut directly to that command.
R. Tell me box

12. A tool that copies all formatting from one area to another.
E. Format Painter

13. Stores up to 24 cut or copied selections for use later on in your computing session.
L. Office Clipboard

14. A task-oriented section of a ribbon tab that contains related commands.

F. Group

15. An online app used to store, access, and share files and folders.

M. OneDrive

16. Provides handy access to commonly executed tasks such as saving a file and undoing
recent actions.
N. Quick Access Toolbar

17. The long bar at the bottom of the screen that houses the Zoom slider and various View
buttons.
P. Status bar

18. The area of blank space that displays to the left, right, top, and bottom of a document or
worksheet.
H. Margin

19. A technology used to store files and to work with programs that are stored in a central
location on the Internet.
C. Cloud storage

20. A feature in a document that consists of one or more lines at the top of each page.
G. Header

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. In Word or PowerPoint, a quick way to select an entire paragraph is to:

b. Triple-click inside the paragraph.

2. When you want to copy the format of a selection but not the content, you should:

d. Click Format Painter in the Clipboard group.

3. Which of the following is not a benefit of using OneDrive?

c. Hold video conferences with others.

4. What does a red wavy underline in a document or presentation mean?

a. A word is misspelled or not recognized by the Office dictionary.

5. Which of the following is true about headers and footers?

c. Headers appear at the top of every page in a document.

6. You can get help when working with an Office application in which one of the following areas?

a. The Tell me box

7. To access commands that are not on the ribbon, you need to open which of the following?

b. Dialog Box

8. To create a document without knowing much about the software, you should use which of the
following?

c. Template

9. Which is the preferred method for resizing a picture so that it keeps its proportions?

b. Use a corner sizing handle

10. Which is not a description of a tag in a Word document?

d. Document title

Quick Concept Check Answer Key

1. Explain what the benefits are of logging in with your Microsoft account.
When you log in with your Microsoft account, you will be able to access the saved settings that
are associated with your Microsoft account. Additionally, signing in with your Microsoft account
allows access to OneDrive, allowing you to save, retrieve, and edit files from the Internet.
Copyright © 2020 Pearson
2. Describe when you would use Save and when you would use Save As when saving a
document.
Save As is used when saving a new document or when changing the name of an existing file or
where an existing file is stored. Save is used when saving changes to an existing file, without
making changes to file name or storage location.

3. Explain how the ribbon is organized.

The ribbon is the command center of any Microsoft Office application. The ribbon is organized
by tabs, which sort skills into groups by task.

4. Describe the Office application features that are available to assist you in getting help with a
task.
When a task is typed into the Tell Me box, a menu of possible commands will appear from which
you can select either further assistance on the task, or the task will be completed automatically.
The Smart Lookup feature provides information on general and Office related tasks through a
Bing search. Enhanced ScreenTips are available by simply hovering the mouse pointer over a
command on the ribbon, prompting a text box of information about the command to appear.
Lastly, the Help tab on any Office application provides links to training documents and videos.

5. Discuss the differences between themes and templates.

You can enhance your file by using a template or applying a theme. A template is a predesigned
file that incorporates formatting elements, such as a theme and layout, and may include content
that can be modified. A theme is a collection of design choices that includes colors, fonts, and
special effects used to give a consistent look to a document, workbook, or presentation.
Microsoft provides high quality templates and themes, designed by professional designers to
make it faster and easier to create high-quality documents. Even if you use a theme to apply
colors, fonts and special effects, they can later be changed individually or to a completely
different theme.

6. Discuss several ways text can be modified.

Text can be modified by using the font commands accessed on the ribbon, using a short-cut
menu, or through the Mini Toolbar. Font styles, sizes, colors, and effects such as bold, italics,
and underline are available. Other formatting options not found on the ribbon (or through
shortcut menus or the Mini Toolbar) can be accessed by using the Font Dialog Box Launcher to
display the Font Dialog Box.

7. Explain how the Office Clipboard is used when relocating text.

When you cut or copy selections, they are placed in the Office Clipboard. Instead of cutting or
copying and pasting items individually, you can cut or copy all the items to the Office Clipboard,
then paste each or all Office Clipboard items to the new location.

8. Explain how to review a document for spelling and grammar.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson
 Word and PowerPoint automatically check your spelling and grammar as you type. If a word is
unrecognized, it is flagged as misspelled or grammatically incorrect. Misspellings are identified
with a red wavy underline, and grammatical or word usage errors (such as using bear instead of
bare) have a blue double underline. To review for spelling and grammar errors throughout a
document, use the Spelling & Grammar command. When it is selected, the Editor pane will open
on the right. For each error, you are offered one or more suggestions as a correction. You can
select a suggestion and click Change, or if it is an error that is made more than one time
throughout the document, you can select Change All.

9. Explain why it is important to use the corner sizing handles of a picture when resizing.
To adjust the size while maintaining the proportions, use the corner sizing handles. If one of the
center edge sizing handles is used, the picture will stretch or shrink out of proportion.

10. Discuss why would you need to change the view of a document.
As you prepare a file, you may find that you want to change the way you view it. A section of
your document may be easier to view when you can see it magnified, for example. Alternatively,
some applications have different views to make working on your project easier.

11. Discuss the various ways you can change a page layout.
Most commonly the layout of a page or worksheet can be modified by changing margins and
page orientation. In Excel, you can also center the worksheet vertically or horizontally on a page.
In Word, contents can also be aligned in columns. Other less common page setup options can be
found in the Page Setup dialog box.

12. What functions and features are included in Backstage View?

The Backstage view is a component of Office 2019 that provides a concise collection of
commands related to an open file. You access the Backstage view by clicking the File tab. Using
the Backstage view, you can find out information such as protection, permissions, versions, and
properties. A file’s properties include the author, file size, permissions, and date modified. You
can create a new document or open, save, print, share, export, or close.

13. Explain what document properties are and why they are helpful.
Document properties are data elements about a file that include the author, file size,
permissions, and when the file was modified. Additionally, tags can be added to help with future
searches and indexing.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

List of Solution Files/Folders:

Copyright © 2020 Pearson

Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
ached and yearned to press a little baby to my breast. My own dear
little ones have passed, but, Nettie, I'll hold yours, won't I, dear?"
"Oh, Mrs. Langdon, when you talk like that, I feel just as if
something was bursting all up inside me. I don't know what to do."
"Do nothing, dear; but look out at God's beautiful world. Lift your
eyes to the skies, to the sun, to the hills' hills!"
"There's no sun no more," said Nettie. "The days are all dark and
cold now, and the hills are all froze, too. They're like me, Mrs.
Langdon. I'm all froze up inside."
"Oh, but you'll change now. Look, Nettie, it won't be long before
they'll be back—my husband and your Cyril. I had a letter. Where is
it, now? I put it in my book—no, under my pillow. See, what they
write." The paper fluttered in her hand, and she looked up to smile
at Nettie. "It was thoughtful of Bill, wasn't it, to have the letter
typed? You know he hates to write letters. Poor fellow hasn't much
of an education—You know, Nettie, he came to the school when I
was teaching, to learn. It was pathetic, really it was. But now, he's
had some stenographer write to tell me that they'll be home in a
couple of weeks. They should have been home two months ago, but
they've had a terrible time of it in the States. You see there's a kind
of sickness over there—a plague that's running around. It's all over
Europe and now the States. People, he writes, are afraid to go to
public places, and everything is closed up. It's a great
disappointment for him, poor fellow. He expected so much from the
Prince, and he's hung on from week to week, and been through all
sorts of aggravating times. You know they even quarantined his herd
on a false suspicion of disease, when they were in perfect health.
But, never mind, we have to have disappointments in life. All I'm
thankful for now is that he's coming back—he and Cyril."
Nettie said in a low voice:
"Mrs. Langdon, I don't want to see neither of them again. I can't."
"That's the way you feel now. It's natural in your condition. I had
notions, too. Wanted the strangest things to eat, and had such fits
of crying about nothing at all. You'll be all over these moods by the
time Cyril rides in. My! I'm going to scold that boy. Yes, yes, you
may be angry if you want, but I'm going to give him a real piece of
my mind, and then—well, it's never too late to mend a wrong,
Nettie."
"Mrs. Langdon," said Nettie violently, "I tell you Cyril Stanley never
done me no wrong."
"Well, that's how you look at it, Nettie, and maybe you are right. I'm
the last person to judge you."
Nettie bent down suddenly and grasping Mrs. Langdon's thin hand
tightly, she kissed it. Then as quickly dropping it, she got up, threw
her apron over her face and ran from the room.
 CHAPTER XV
In the winter the Bar Q outfit in the foothill ranch had dwindled
down to eight men. These were all riders, men who "rode the
fences" and kept them in repair; men who rode the range, and made
the rounds of the fields, counted and kept account of the cattle
remaining on the ranch, and reported sick or crippled cattle to the
veterinary surgeon maintained at the ranch.
The breeding stock had been despatched to the prairie ranch in the
fall, where they were especially housed and cared for. The beef
stock, three-year-old steers, were also disposed at the grain ranch,
where they were fed on chop and green feed and hay, to fatten
them for the spring market.
The purebred heifers and cows had their own home at Barstairs,
where also was the camp of the purebred bulls.
At the foothill ranch only the younger stuff was left, the yearling and
rising two-year-old heifers and steers, and these sturdy young stuff
"rustled" over the winter range, finding sufficient sustenance to carry
them through the winter. The cook car was closed, and the men
"batched" in the bunkhouses but came to the main ranch house for
bread, butter and general supplies.
Nettie, long ignorant of her condition, had from day to day passed
out the supplies to the men, unconscious of and indifferent to their
scrutiny. She failed to realize that what had become apparent to her
mistress, had also been revealed to the cunning eyes of the Bar Q
"hands."
Bunkhouses in a ranching country are breeding places for the worst
kind of gossip and scandal, to which disgusting commerce men even
more than women are addicted. It was, therefore, not long before
Nettie's name became first whispered and then carelessly bandied
among them. At her name eyes rolled, winks and coarse laughter
were the rule where but a little while ago she had been the object of
admiring respect and aspiration.
Cyril Stanley's name was also on each man's tongue, and they all
took it for granted that he was responsible for Nettie's condition. A
change in their manner toward the girl followed the loose talk about
her; there were certain meaning looks, a new familiarity of speech,
and presently worse than that. "Pink-eyed" Tom, a man whose dirty
boasts concerning women were a source of endless fun among the
men, came to the house one day for a side of bacon. He followed
Nettie into the big storeroom, where the Bar Q meat supply hung. As
she passed the bacon to him, Pink-Eye managed to seize her hand,
and with a broad grin, he squeezed it, and attempted to draw her to
him. It was only a momentary grasp, but with the chuckle that went
with it the girl understood and turned first deathly white and scarlet
with anger.
"Guess you ain't used to man-handling—oh, no!" said Tom, and as
she fiercely withdrew from his grasp, he laughed in her face, with an
ugly meaning leer that set her heart frantically beating.
She flew from the storeroom to the kitchen, and stood with her back
pressed against the door, holding it closed. A sickening fear of the
whole race of men consumed her. She longed to escape to some
place beyond their sight or ken where she might at least hide herself
and be allowed the boon of suffering unmolested and unseen. She
had a passionate longing to escape from the Bar Q—to leave forever
the hateful place where she had been so cruelly betrayed, where she
had suffered almost beyond endurance. But the thought of leaving
Mrs. Langdon hurt her more than the thought of staying, and her
mind wandered in the hopeless search of a solution to her appalling
problem. She thought of her friend "Angel" Loring, with her cropped
hair and men's clothing, and for the first time comprehended what
might drive a woman to do as the Englishwoman had done.
"A bad report runs a thousand miles a minute," says an oriental
proverb. Certainly that is true of a ranching country. From
bunkhouse to farm and ranch house raced the tale of a girl's fall; it
was a morsel of exciting news to those dull souls shut in by the rigid
hand of the winter.
On the first Chinook day, women harnessed teams to democrats and
single drivers to buggies, and took the road to Bar Q. Never had that
ranch been favored with so many visitors. Neither Nettie nor her
mistress suspected that their guests had come to see for themselves
whether there was truth in the story concerning the girl which had
percolated over the telephone and been carried by riders intent upon
retailing the latest sensation of the foothills. Caste exists not in a
ranching country like Alberta, save among a few rare and exclusive
souls, and a hired girl on a ranch has her own social standing in the
community, especially if she is that rarity, a pretty girl. So Nettie's
plight was of as supreme an interest to the ranch and farm wives as
if instead of a poor servant girl she had been any prosperous
farmer's daughter. Hired girls are potential wives for the best of the
ranchmen, and many a farmer's wife has begun her career on a cook
car.
Nettie, cutting cake and brewing tea in the kitchen, paused, tray in
hand, white-faced, behind the door, as the voices of the women
close at hand floated through.
"Looked me right in the face, innocent as a lamb, and she——"
"She's six months gone if a day."
"Seem's if she might've gone straight, being the oldest in the family.
You'd thought she'd want to set an example to her little brothers and
sisters."
"Pshaw! she should worry."
"Ain't girls awful today!"
"When you told me on the 'phone, I couldn't b'lieve it, and I come
along on purpose to make sure for myself."
"Well, now you see, though I'm not used to havin' my word
doubted."
"Why, Mrs. Munson, I hadn't the idea of questioning your word; but
I thought as you hadn't seen for yourself, and got it third-hand."
"I got it straight—straight from Batt Leeson, and he ought to know
after workin' more'n ten years at the Bar Q."
"Personally, I make a point of standing up for the girl."
The voice this time was a shade gentler, but it was also flurried and
apologetic.
"You know as well as I do, Mrs. Young, if a girl acts decent, men let
her alone. You can tell me!"
Her face stony, her head held high, Nettie pushed the door open
with her foot, and came in with the tray. She silently served them,
but her glance flickered toward her mistress, who was leaning
forward listening to the whispered words of Mrs. Peterson, cringing
toward the rich cattleman's wife. For the first time since she had
known her, Mrs. Langdon's voice sounded sharp and cold.
"I'll thank you not to repeat a nasty tale like that. Nettie Day has just
as much right to have a child as you have."
"Why, I'm a married woman," blurted the outraged farm wife.
"How do you know Nettie isn't married?"
Chairs were hunched forward. The circle leaned with pricked-up ears
toward the speaker.
"Is she, now?"
"Well, that accounts for it!"
"You couldn't make me believe Nettie was that kind. We all thought
—well, you know how girls carry on today. I'm sure you'll excuse us.
We're all li'ble to make mistakes."
The Inquisition turned to Nettie.
"My word, Nettie Day, why didn't you let us know? What on earth did
you want to keep it secret for? The whole country'd turned out to
Chivaree for you. We haven't had a marriage in a year, and Cyril
Stanley is mighty popular with the boys."
Nettie's gaze went slowly around that circle of faces. She wanted to
make sure that all might hear her words.
"I ain't married to Cyril Stanley, and he done me no wrong. You got
no right to talk his name loose like that."
An exclamatory silence reigned in the room. Mrs. Langdon, her
cheeks very flushed, was sitting up, her bright eyes, like a bird's,
scanning the faces of her visitors.
"Nettie," her thin, piercing voice was raised, "you forgot my tea, and
—and—maybe you ladies'll excuse me today. I'm not well, you
know."
For the first time since she had become a convert to her strange
philosophy she was admitting illness; but she was doing it in
another's behalf.
As the last of the women disappeared through the door, and before
the murmur of their voices outside had died out, Mrs. Langdon made
a motion of her hands toward Nettie, and the girl ran over, dropped
on her knees by the couch and hid her face in her mistress's lap.
"Nettie, don't you mind what they say. Women are terribly cruel to
each other. I don't know why they should be, I'm sure, for I believe
that we all have in us the same capacities for sinning, only most of
us escape temptation. It's almost a gamble, isn't it, Nettie; and I'm
so sorry, poor child, that you should have been the one to lose." Her
voice dropped to a whisper. "I'll confess something to you now,
Nettie. I—yes, I—almost——"
"If you're goin' to say something against yourself," said Nettie
hoarsely, "I don't want to hear it. You ain't capable ever of doing
anything wrong."

On the road, the carriages were grouped together. Their occupants

leaned out and called back and forth to each other.
"What do you know of that?"
"I'm certainly surprised at Mrs. Langdon. I didn't think she'd hold to
anything like that."
"I did, and I'm not a bit surprised. I could've told you a thing or two.
Birds of a feather flock together, and she——"
Voices were lowered, as another woman's reputation was pulled to
shreds.
"Well, Mrs. Munson, you don't say so."
"I certainly do."
"I remember when the Bull first married her. Sa-ay, there was all
kinds of talk. Ask anyone who was here in them times."
Murmurs and exclamations, and a woman's voice rumbling out a tale
that should never have been told.
"Would you've believed it! And she so sweet and sly of tongue."
"Still waters run deep. You can't trust them quiet kind. I had it direct
from Jem Bowers. You know Jem. He was right along when it
happened. They were shut in that schoolhouse for two whole days,
and the door locked and bolted. The Bull himself asked Jem to go for
the missionary, and everyone knows Jem was one of the witnesses
at the Langdon wedding. Said she looked just like a little scared bird,
and her eyes were all screwed up with crying, so I guess doin'
wrong did bring her no happiness."
"Well, I'd never have believed it if you hadn't told me. I'm going to
hustle right off now. I want to stop and see Mrs. Durkin on my way.
She couldn't get off to come, as they've had the mumps up to their
house, and I promised to let her know, and I'll bet her tongue's
hangin' out waitin'."
"Well, don't say I said it."
"I won't. I'll say I got it from—from—I'll not name the party. Get ap,
Gate! My, that mare's smart."
"I like geldings for driving. They aren't so quick, but they're
dependable and strong. Good-by. Will you be at the box social?"
"Sure, what's it for?"
"Oh, them sick folks in the east. Did you hear that that plague
sickness they got in the States has sneaked across to Canada, and
everybody's scared nearly to death. They've got it awful out in
Toronto and Montreal."
"Didn't know it was as bad as that."
"It's something awful out east I heard. My husband brought home a
paper from Calgary, and they had the whole front page in headlines
about it. Them Yankees brought it in with them when they run away
to escape from it in their own country. Wish they'd stay home and
look after their own sicknesses, 'stead of coming across the line and
carrying it along with them. Others have been flying out west here,
and they say if we don't look out, first thing we know Calgary'll have
it, and then—well, it'll be our turn. I heard they were shipping all the
sick ones out of the city to the country."
The women looked at each other waveringly, licking their lips and
turning white with dread. They drew their rugs closer about them
and said they had to be off, as it was getting dark and they didn't
want to catch cold, and no one ever knew when a change might
blow up in the weather and that cloud off to the north looked mighty
threatening. In the sudden panic of the approaching plague, Nettie
was for the time being forgotten. The clatter and rattle of their
wheels was heard along the road, as with whip and tongue they
urged their horses homeward.
 CHAPTER XVI
All night long the wind blew wildly. It raved like a live, mad thing,
tearing across the country with tornado-like force.
The house shock and rocked upon its foundations, the rattling
windows and clattering doors ready to be burst open every moment.
To the girl, lying wide-eyed throughout the night, it seemed almost
as if the voice of the wild wind had the triumphant, mocking tone of
the man she loathed. It seemed to typify his immense strength, his
power and madness. It was gloating, triumphing over her, buffeting
and trampling her down.
Nettie was not given to self-analysis, but for all her simplicity she
was capable of intense feeling. Behind her slow thought there
slumbered an unlimited capacity for suffering. Now even the
elements were preying upon her morbid imagination. She could not
sleep for the raging of the terrific wind, the incessant shaking of
windows and doors, and all the sounds of a loosely built old ranch
house, rattling and trembling in the furious tempest. As she lay in
bed, her face crushed into her pillow, her hands over her ears, as
though to deaden the roar of the wind, she could not rid her mind of
the thought of the man she hated. She was doomed that night to
relive the hideous hours spent with him, until, the vision becoming
intolerable to her fevered mind, she sprang up in bed, and rocking
herself to and fro like one half demented, sat in judgment upon her
own acts.
Why had she not killed herself? Why was she living on? Why was
she crouched here now upon her bed, when the Ghost River was at
hand? True, it was frozen over, but there were great water holes,
where the cattle came to drink, and into one of these she might
throw herself as into a deep well. Oblivion would come then. Her
sick mind would no longer conjure up the loathsome vision of Bull
Langdon, and her ears would be deaf to the taunting, beating
challenge of the wind, calling to her with its roaring voice to come
forth and fight hand to hand with the fates that had crushed her.
"I got to go out!" she moaned. "I got to go out! I can't live no
longer."
She put her foot over the side of the bed, and with her head uplifted
she listened to what her disordered mind fancied was a voice out of
the river, calling to her above the raging of the wind. And as she sat
in the dark room, above the raving of the wind, she heard indeed a
call—a living voice. Instantly she drew up tensely, holding her breath
the more clearly to catch the faint cry.
"Nettie! Nettie!"
It was her mistress. She was out of bed, fumbling for the matches.
The Bar Q was equipped with electricity, but the wires were not
connected with the hired girl's room. It was a pitch-dark night.
Frightened as she was of the darkness and the storm, the cry of her
well-loved mistress awoke all the defensive bravery of her nature,
and she called aloud in reply, feeling along the walls, groping her
way to the door.
"I'm coming, Mrs. Langdon! I'm coming! I'm coming!"
In the hall she found the electric button, and hurried across to Mrs.
Langdon's room. She found the cattleman's wife propped high up on
her pillow, breathing with the difficulty of an asthmatic. The window
was wide open, and the shades flapped angrily and tore at the
rollers. The face on the bed smiled up wanly at Nettie in the
reflected light from the hall.
"Oh, Mrs. Langdon, did you call me? Do you want something?"
"Yes, dear. I thought maybe you wouldn't mind closing my window
for me. I tried to get up myself, but I had a sort of presentiment that
—that you were awake and that perhaps you would—would like to
come to me."
"Oh, I was awake, wide, wide awake. I couldn't sleep to save myself.
Isn't the wind terrible!"
"It's dying down, I think."
"Oh, it's fiercer than ever," cried the girl wildly. "It's just terrible. I
can't bear to hear it. I been awake all night. Just seems as if that
wind was shoutin' and screamin' and makin' mock of me, Mrs.
Langdon. It's banging upon my—heart. I hate the wind. I think it's
alive—a horrible, wild thing. It fights and laughs at me. It's driving
me mad."
"Ah, Nettie, you are not yourself these days. It is not the wind, but
what is in your heart that speaks. We can even control the wind if
we wish. Christ did, and the Christ spirit is in us all, if we only knew
how to use it."
Nettie had closed the windows. On her knees by Mrs. Langdon's
bed, she was pulling the covers up and tucking them closely about
her, and chafing the thin, cold hands.
"You're cold. Your hands are just like ice. I'm going downstairs to
heat some water and fill the hot-water bag for you."
"No, no, Nettie. You go right back to bed. I'll go down myself by and
by, if I feel the need of the bag."
But though Nettie promised to go back to bed, she hurried down to
the lower floor. She had no longer fear of the wind or the darkness.
Her mind was intent upon securing the hot-water bag, and she built
up a fire in the dead range, and set the kettle upon it.
She was bending over the wood-box, picking but a likely log, when
something stirred behind her. Still stooping, she remained still and
tense. Slowly the Bull's great arms reached down from behind and
enfolded her.
The noise of the wind had deadened his approach to the house. He
had come through the living room to the opened kitchen door, by
the stove of which was the bending girl.
She twisted about in his arms, only to bring her face directly against
his own. She was held in a vise, in the arms of the huge cattleman.
His hoarse whispers were muttered against her mouth, her cheek,
her neck.
He chuckled and gloated as she fought for her freedom, dumbly, for
her thoughts flew up to the woman upstairs. Above all things, Mrs.
Langdon must be spared a knowledge of that which was happening
to Nettie.
"Ain't no use to struggle! Ain't no use to cry," he chortled. "I got you
tight, and there ain't no one to hear. I been thinkin' of you day and
night, gell, for months now, and I been countin' off the minutes for
this."
She cried in a strangled voice:
"She's upstairs! She'll hear you! Oh, she's coming down. Oh, don't
you hear her? Oh, for the love of God! let me go."
The man heard nothing but his clamoring desires.
"Gimme your lips!" said the Bull huskily.
The clipclop of those loose slippers clattering on the stairs broke
upon the hush that had fallen in the kitchen. Through all her agony
Nettie heard the sound of those little feet, and she knew—she felt—
just when they had stopped at the lower step as Mrs. Langdon clung
to the bannister. Slowly the wife of the cowman sank to the lowest
step. She did not lose consciousness, but an icy stiffness crept over
her face; her jaw dropped, and a glaze came like a veil before her
staring eyes.
With a superhuman effort Nettie had obtained her release. She
sprang to Mrs. Langdon, and groveled at her feet.
"Oh, Mrs. Langdon, it 'twant my fault. I didn't mean to do no harm.
Oh, Mrs. Langdon, I wisht I'd heeded the wind! It must've been
warning me. I wisht I'd gone to the Ghost River, when it called to me
to come."
Mrs. Langdon's head had slowly dropped forward, just as if the neck
had broken. Nettie, beneath her, sought the glance of her eyes, and
saw the effort of the moving lips.
"God's—will," said the woman slowly. "A dem-on-stration—of—God. I
—had—to leave, Nettie. God's will you—take—my—place."
Across the half-paralyzed face something flickered strangely like a
faint smile. Then the girl saw her mistress fall, inert and still against
the staircase.
A loud cry broke from the frantic Nettie.
"We've killed her! We've killed Mrs. Langdon!"
"Killed her—nothing," said the man hoarsely, his face twitching and
his hands shaking. "I told you she was 'bout ready to croak, and you
heard what she said. You was to take her place. That means——"
Nettie had arisen, and her eyes wide with loathing she stared at him
in a sort of mad fury. Somehow she seemed to grow strong and tall,
and there was a light of murder in her eyes.
"I'd sooner drown myself in the Ghost River," she said.
Like one gone blind she felt her way to her room, and this time the
man did not follow her.
The wind raved on; the windows shook; the door easements creaked
as if an angry hand were upon them; the white curtains flapped in
and out. There was the heavy tramp of men's feet upon the stair;
the rough murmur of men's voices in the hall. She knew they were
carrying the dead woman to her room.
Hours of silence followed. The Bull had gone with his men to the
bunkhouse, and she was alone in the house with the dead woman.
For the first time, a sense of peace, a passionate gladness swept
over the tortured girl. Mrs. Langdon would know the truth at last!
She would have no blame in her heart for Nettie—— Nettie, who had
a psychic sense of the warm nearness and understanding of the
woman who had passed away.
As she dressed in the darkness of the room, Nettie talked to her, she
believed was with her, catching her breath in trembling little sobs
and laughs of reassurance.
"You understand now, don't you, and you don't hold it against me? I
didn't mean no wrong.... I done the best I could. You don't ask me
to stay now that you know, do you, dear?"
The plaid woolen shawl, a Christmas gift from Mrs. Langdon,
covered her completely. The gray light of dawn was filtering through
the house; the wind had died down. In its place the snow was falling
upon the land, spotless and silent. Nettie's face was whiter than the
snow as she left her room. Mrs. Langdon's door was closed, and,
hesitating only a moment, Nettie stole to it on tiptoe. With her face
pressed against it, she called to the woman inside.
"Good-by, Mrs. Langdon. Nobody will ever be so kind to me in this
world as you have been."
She listened, almost as if she heard that faint, sweet voice in reply.
Then, strangely comforted, she wrapped her cape closer about her,
and in her rubbered feet Nettie Day stole down the stairs and went
out into the storm.
 CHAPTER XVII
The veteran geldings that had pulled Dr. McDermott for years over
the roads of Alberta had long since been replaced by a gallant little
Ford, that purred and grunted its way along the roads and trails in
all kinds of weather, and performed miraculous feats over the
roughest of trails, across fields, plowed land, chugging sturdily
through to the medical man's goal.
Many of the farmers belonged to that type that seemed to believe
implicitly in the proverb, "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be
wise." They laughed or poohpoohed the doctor's warning
admonitions in regard to the plague, already as far west as
Winnipeg. They "joshed" and "guyed" him, and asked: "Lookin' for
trade, doc? You can't make me sick with your pills, so you better
keep them to home. Haw, haw!" And they threw the disinfectant and
pills (to be taken should certain symptoms develop) away out of
sight and mind, and made jokes when he was gone about, "Doc
gettin' cold feet like the city guys. If he don't look out he'll be gittin'
just like them paper collar dudes in town and want soothin' syrup for
white liver." They hugged to themselves the imbecile delusion that
since they lived a cleaner and healthier life than mere city dwellers,
they would prove immune to diseases that were a peculiarity of the
city.
It may not be out of place to mention here that county and city
hospitals numbered among their patients far more people from the
country than the cities, and that the insane asylums were almost
wholly recruited from the lone farm and ranch houses, where the
monotonous pressure of the long life of loneliness took its due toll of
those condemned, as it were, to solitary confinement.
Howbeit, the "doc" kept his stubborn vigil. He did not propose to be
caught "napping," and he traveled the roads of Alberta, going from
ranch to ranch, with his warnings and instructions and despised pills.
While returning from some such expedition into the foothills he
stopped, in the dawn of the day, to fasten the curtains about his car,
as the wind of the wild night before had turned with the morning
into a snowstorm. A straight, level road was before him, and the
doctor figured on making Cochrane in half an hour. Up to this time,
in spite of the weather and the perilous trail to Banff, he had had no
trouble with the engine. Now, however, as he cranked, the Ford, a
peculiarly temperamental and uncertain car, refused to produce the
spark. He lifted the hood, made an inspection, cranked again and
again; held his side, and groaned and grunted with the exertion,
raged and cussed a bit, regretted the old veterans; then, throwing
his dogskin coat over the engine, he searched for the trouble
underneath. He was lying on his back, a sheepskin under him,
tinkering away with the "dommed cantankerous works," when,
putting out his head to look for his wrench, he saw something
approaching on the road that caused him to sit bolt upright in blank
astonishment.
Her cape flapping about her, her head weighed down with the falling
snow, her eyes wide and blank, snow-blind, Nettie Day swept before
the wind on the Banff trail. The doctor, on his feet now, blocked her
further passage, for she seemed not to see him but to be walking in
a somnambulist's trance.
"What are you doin' on the road at this hour, lass?"
She did not answer, but stared out blankly before her, shaking her
snow-crowned head.
A quick professional glance at the girl and the doctor realized her
condition and the need for immediate action. She made no demur;
indeed, was touchingly meek, as he assisted her into the car. He
tucked the fur robe about her, buttoned the curtains tightly, and, his
face puckered with concern, he poured out a stiff "peg" of whisky.
She drank mechanically, gulping slightly as the spirits burnt her
throat. Her eyes were drooping drowsily, and when the doctor put
his sheepskin under her head, she sighed with intense weariness,
and then lay still at the bottom of the car.
The doctor "doggoned" that engine, shoved the crank in, and,
miraculously, there was the healthy chug-chug of the engine, and
the little car went roaring on its way.
"You're a dommed good lad!" gloated Dr. McDermott and pulled on
his dogskin gloves, wiped the frost from the glass, threw a glance
back to make sure the girl was all right, and put on top speed.
 CHAPTER XVIII
The Lady Angella Luring arose at five in the morning, put on
overalls, sheepskin coat, woolen gauntlets, and heavy overshoes.
She tramped through the steadily falling snow to her barn, which
housed a cow, a sow, a mare heavy in foal, a saddle horse and the
poultry.
The March winds that had raged all the previous night had turned
with the morning to a snowstorm, and the flakes were now falling so
heavily that the barn was only just visible from the house as the
woman rancher plodded through the blinding flakes.
First she threw into the pig-pen the pails of swill and mush she had
brought from the house, then watered the stock, no easy matter, for
the pumped water froze quickly in the trough, and she was forced to
refill it several times. That done, she climbed into the hayloft, and
with her pitchfork thrust down through the openings the morning
feed for the cow, carefully measured chop from the bin for the mare,
allowing half a pail of oats and a bunch of hay for the saddle horse;
she threw to the chickens, hens that had followed hungrily in her
wake, a pan full of ground barley and wheat seasoned with cayenne
pepper, epsom salts and bits of bones and eggshells.
Finally she went to her milking. The cow was fresh, and she had a
full pail. Half of this, however, she fed to the restless little calf,
nosing near its mother, and trying to shake off the muzzle that
Angella had snapped on the night before in order to wean it. The
task of feeding the calf required patience and time, for the restive
little "dogie" nearly knocked over the pail, and had to be taught how
to drink by feeling the woman's fingers thrust, wet with the milk,
into its mouth. She was more than an hour about her chores. With
the half-filled pail in one hand, she tramped back to the house
through the snow, falling now more heavily than before.
Before leaving the house Angella had lit her fire, and now the place
was warm and snug, and the singing kettle lent it an air of cheer.
There was a certain attractiveness about the poor shack on the
prairie, in spite of its rough, bare log walls and two wee windows.
Though she chose to wear men's clothing, and had cut her hair like
a man's, yet one had only to look about that room to perceive that
the eternal feminine had persisted notwithstanding her angry and
pitiful attempt to quench it.
She had made most of the furniture herself, crude pieces fashioned
from willow fence posts and grocery boxes, yet they betrayed a
craftsman's talent, for the chairs, though designed for use, were
rustic and pretty, and she had touched them in spots with bright red
paint. The table, over which a vivid red oilcloth was nailed, made a
bright patch of color in the room. Red, in most places, for decorative
purposes, can be used only sparingly, but in a bleak log shack a
splash of this ruddy color gives both warmth and cheer. The floor
had been scrubbed until it was almost white, and a big red-brown
cowhide made a carpet near the couch, which was covered with a
calfskin. Indian ornaments and beadwork, bits of crockery and
pewter were on the shelves that lined one side of the shack, and
where also she kept her immaculately shining kettles, cooking
utensils and dishes. A curtain of burlap sacks, edged with scarlet
cloth, hung before the bedroom doorway. The pillows on the
spotless bed were covered with cases made of flour bags. A large
grocers' box, into which shelves had been nailed, was also covered
with similar cloth and served as a sort of dressing table. Two chairs,
made from smaller boxes, were padded with burlap, and a triangular
shelf with a curtain before it made a closet in the corner of the
room.
A huge gray cat followed the woman recluse about the room,
sleepily rubbing itself against her, and purring with contentment
when she picked it up in her arms.
Angella made her breakfast of oatmeal and tea, serving from the
stove directly onto her plate. Her cat nestled in her lap while she
breakfasted, and she smoothed it absently as she ate.
Time had smoothed out the lines on her face instead of adding to
them, and the strained look of suffering in her eyes had given way
to a healthy gaze. Her skin had almost the fresh color of a girl's. Her
hair had grown abundantly, though it still was short and almost gray,
but its natural curliness lent her face a soft and youthful air. There
was no sign of the dread disease which had once threatened her life.
She looked normal and wholesome as she sat at her table, her cat in
her lap, deep in a brown study. It would be hard to say what filled
Angella's thoughts when she was thus shut in alone in her shack
upon the prairie. She had ceased long since to conjure up bitter
visions of the man who was responsible for her father's death and
her own exile. Her thoughts, at least, were no longer unbearably
painful as in those early days when first she had come to Alberta,
and many a day and night, shut in alone with her dismal secret, she
had wrestled in bitter anguish with the crowding thoughts that came
like ghosts to haunt her.
However, even in winter she had little enough time for thinking. Her
life was crowded with work. When she had finished her meal, she
washed her dishes, made her bed, kneaded the dough for her
weekly baking, set a pot of beans, soaked overnight, into the oven,
and prepared to go out again, this time to the pasture, where her
few head of stock "rustled" for their feed all winter. A snowstorm at
this time of year is always dangerous for the breeding stock
dropping their calves with the approach of the spring. There were
water holes, too, in the frozen slough that had to be broken in every
day so that the cattle might have the water they needed. Angella, ax
in hand, opened the door of her shack. A gale of wind and snow
almost blinded her, so that at first she did not see the Ford that was
plowing its way noisily and pluckily down the road allowance that led
to her house. At the honk of the doctor's horn, which he worked
steadily to attract her, she peered out through the storm, and she
turned to the gate, where the car had now stopped.
She never encouraged the visits of Dr. McDermott, who had saved
her life when first she had come to Alberta; but neither was she ever
uncivil when he did come. Time had accustomed her to his regular
calls, and, in truth, though she would not have admitted it for
anything in the world, she had come to look forward to these visits,
and to depend upon them for her news of the world, which she so
bitterly told herself she had cast off forever.
Now, as his ruddy face was thrust through the curtains, Angella,
frowning slightly, tramped to the car.
"Are you strong enough to lend me a hand lifting something?" asked
the doctor.
"Certainly I'm strong enough. What do you mean?"
Dr. McDermott, out of the car now, unbuttoned the back curtains,
and revealed to the amazed Angella the still heavily sleeping Nettie.
"There's a sick lass here," he said solemnly, "and a lass in sore
trouble, I'm thinking."
A strange expression had come into the face of Angella Loring. Not
so long since, it seemed to her, she had seen as in a dream this girl
now lying on the floor of the doctor's car leaning over her, and had
regarded her with the tender, compassionate gaze of her own
mother. In the days of semi-consciousness that had followed her first
seizure, the Englishwoman could endure the sight and touch of no
one but the girl with the Madonna face. Without realizing what was
amiss, all she knew was that Nettie was now as helpless as she had
been when the girl had cared for her, and without a word or a
question she helped the doctor lift Nettie out of the car and to carry
her into the house.
Angella Loring believed that there was nothing about her of which
this Scotch doctor approved. He came, she thought, merely to
exercise his abnormal habit of interference in other folks' affairs and
to find fault with her chosen manner of life. She had at first, in her
desire to be alone, not hesitated to tell him she preferred her own
company to any other. He had barked back that her taste was
unnatural, and it would take more than "a bitter-tongued lass" to
drive him from his duty. Questioned sarcastically as to what he
conceived his duty to be, he had replied solemnly, "To keep an eye
on you, lass, and to see that you come to no harm."
Furious as this gratuitous resolve to care for her had made the
woman who believed she could fend for herself in the world, his
answer had nevertheless brought the bitter tears to her angry eyes,
so that she could not find words for a retort. The doctor's intention
to protect the woman by no means made him lenient in his
judgment of her; he denounced her cut hair as outrageous; her
men's clothes as disgraceful, and her work in the field as against
nature. She secretly enjoyed his explosion of rage when she took
service at Bar Q.
No lass, declared the doctor, in her sober senses would disfigure
herself by cutting off her head the hair that her Maker had planted
there. No true woman would wear a mon's clothes. Mere contact
with a wild brute like Bull Langdon would muddy any pure woman in
the land. Her obsession—which is what he termed her aversion to
his own sex—and her unnatural life alone was a pathological matter,
for which she needed to be treated as for the unfortunate illness she
had contracted in London. Some day, he warned her, she would
thank him for the one cure as well as for the other.
She let him talk on, usually disdaining to answer, and she pursued
her way undeterred by his wholesale condemnation of her and her
course of life.
Yet Angella Loring, holding a little baby in her arms for the first time
in her life, and looking down with dewy eyes upon the small blonde
head resting so helplessly against her breast, could she have seen
the face of the country doctor as he looked at the cropped bent
head, would have known that all his thoughts of her were not wholly
hard.
Glaring up at him to hide the impending tears, she almost surprised
that look of grave tenderness on the rough face of the man who had
known her as a child.
"She doesn't want it," said Angella Loring. "Her own child! Well,
then, I'll keep it! It shan't want. I'll care for it."
"It's a wee laddie—born before its time, and nane too strong." He
had a habit when unduly moved of lapsing into Gaelic, and what he
muttered was unintelligible to the woman, wholly taken up with the
baby in her arms. Could she have understood him she would have
heard the doctor say that a woman who could mother another
woman's "bairn" would be a good mother to her own.
Outside the snow was still heavily falling. Great mounds were piling
up on all sides. That world of snow might have appalled the
stranger, but to the farmer it meant certain moisture in the soil. A
spring snowstorm was even more desirable for the land than rain, as
it melted gradually into the earth. Already the sun was gleaming
through the falling snowflakes, and the intense cold had abated.
"Weel, weel, I'll be off for a while, lass. There's much still to attend
to."
"You can't go out in that storm," said Angella roughly. "Wait, I'll get
you something to eat. Not even your Ford could plow through snow
like that."
"Maybe not, and I'll not be taking the Ford."
"Well, I've no vehicle to lend you."
"I'll go afoot," said the doctor, wrapping his woolen scarf about his
neck, preparatory to going out.
"You're a fool to go out," said Angella crossly. "Wait till you have a
cup of coffee anyway."
"I'll be going just across the land, to the lad's cabin. I heard last
night that he was back."
"Who's cabin? What land?"
"Young Cyril Stanley's—the scallawag. I'll have thot to say to him,
I'm thinking, will bring him across in a hurry."
"He needn't come here!" Angella had started up savagely. "I don't
want any man here, least of all a dog like that who'd do such a thing
to a girl. He can keep away from my house. He's not fit to—to even
look at her now. No man is."
"Weel, weel, 'tis true, but we're all liable to mistakes, ma'am, and
young blood is hot and careless, and who are we—you and I—to
judge another? We must look to our own consciences first, ma'am."
"Yes, stand up for him—defend him. You men all hang together. I
know you all, and I hate you. I——"
She broke off, for the doctor was looking at her with such a strange
look of mingled earnestness and tenderness, that the stormy words
died on her lips, and she dropped her wet face upon the soft little
one in her arms.
Dr. McDermott closed the door softly.
 CHAPTER XIX
The tour of the Bar Q purebred bulls had been a disastrous and
costly one. From city to city, at a staggering expense, went the prize
herd, from which extraordinary things had been expected. Wherever
they touched it was their misfortune to be turned back or shunted
farther afield. That winter the country was suffering from the fearful
scourge, which having stricken down its victims by the thousands in
Europe had passed over the sea to America.
Then there was a time when the Bar Q herd was condemned by a
harassed and irritated authority who, upon the diagnosis of an
incompetent veterinary surgeon, pronounced the cattle to be
suffering from foot and mouth disease, and an order was issued for
the slaughter of the entire herd, and the burning of all sheds, cars or
other houses in which they had been penned. Bull Langdon found
himself held indefinitely in the States, as he fought by injunction
proceedings the destruction of his herd, which would have meant an
incalculable loss—even ruin—to him.
The adjournments and delays, the long, drawn-out legal processes,
kept the herd in the States from December till February, and when at
last they were freed the penned-in brutes were in a deteriorated
condition. Their long confinement, the unaccustomed traveling, and
the lack of proper care, made the once smooth bulls difficult to
handle and dangerous, so that by the time the herd was ready to
start back for Canada more than one of the "hands" who had come
to the States with them deserted the outfit rather than risk looking
after the uncertain animals on tour.
Bull Langdon, raging and fretting over the enforced delays in the
States, harassed by his losses and his failure to obtain a showing of
the famous herd, was in a black mood when at last the outfit
reached Barstairs.
Here fresh trouble awaited him. Of all the bulls, the Prince had
proved the most dangerous and erratic of temper; his ceaseless
bellowing and attempts to break loose had done much to make the
outfit unpopular throughout their travels. Always uncertain and
dangerous, back at Barstairs he became well-nigh uncontrollable,
and there was no "hand" of the entire outfit, save Cyril, who dared
approach the raging beast, as behind heavily barred fences he
ranged up and down restlessly, calling his resounding cries to the
cattle that he could smell even if he could not see them in adjoining
pastures, and something of the wild spirit of the animal appealed to
his owner, whose own pent-up rage seemed to find vent in a savage
roaring voice. A kindred spirit bound them together. Often, when the
exasperations of the tour threatened to overwhelm him, he would go
to where the Prince ranged up and down within the narrow space of
his shed bellowing and moaning his demands for freedom. At such
times Bull Langdon, from the other side of the bars, would call to the
bull, not soothingly, but in a tone of encouragement, as though
cheering and "rooting" for the rebellious brute.
"Go to it!" he would snarl through the bars. "Let 'em know you're
here! Keep 'em awake. Make their nerves jump. Go to it, bull!"
Up to the time of their return to Barstairs, Cyril Stanley had looked
after the animal, and so long as he was at hand the Prince remained
fairly well under control. But Cyril, who had been silent and morose
all through the tour in the States, suddenly decided, once back in
Canada, to quit the outfit. The cattleman received his quiet request
to be relieved of his job with consternation and fury.
What did he want to leave for? Hadn't he had his pay raised four
times already? Hadn't he got $500 he'd been promised? He had
practically full charge of the herd already, and the foreman's job and
wages would belong to him before spring.
But neither bluster nor curses moved him, and the offer of increases
in wages, heavy bonuses and enormous salary were steadily
refused. Money meant nothing now to Cyril. He was heartily sick of
the whole business. He felt the restlessness that comes to a man as
soon as he feels himself free again and on his native soil, and longs
to be moving along the trail. To roam from place to place seemed all
that was left to him since his dream of a home had been shattered,
and long absence had not cured him of the sickness of love. He had
had enough of cattle. He was done with ranching, and when the Bull
demanded just what it was that he proposed to do, he answered
after a thoughtful pause: "Think I'll hike for Bow Claire. Plenty of
work there, I guess. The river'll be high when the snows begin to
melt, and they'll be wantin' 'hands' and loggers at the camp."
Meanwhile, Bull Langdon found his hands full. Those were the days
of labor unrest when there were a dozen employers in the
employment offices for every employee; when wages were soaring;
when men looked the "bosses" squarely in the face, and made their
own terms. The cattleman had returned at a time when labor was so
scarce and independent in Alberta, that many of the farmers were
forced to do their own work, or grub together with other farmers on
shares. It is certain that there was not a ranchman in the country
willing to work with Bull Langdon. Even those he had formerly been
able to tyrannize over gave him a wide berth; never had the Bar Q
been so short-handed, and the departure of Cyril, who was
invaluable among the purebred, was a real disaster to the Bull camp.
For some time Langdon had been beset with an almost insensate
craving for Nettie Day. All the time he had been in the States she
had never been wholly absent from his mind, though the anxieties of
the tour had kept his desire for the girl in check; but once back in
Canada, his mind reverted to her incessantly.
As he stood watching Cyril Stanley disappear at a slow lope over the
hills, it occurred to him that he might be making for Bar Q and
Nettie, and the thought gave him pause. The idea that Nettie and
Cyril should come together again was more than he could stand. The
blood rushed madly to his head, and everything went red before his
eyes.
Batt Leeson, a hand who had served directly under Cyril, was the
second-best upon the place; he could be trusted to look after the
cattle, and was known to be a conscientious workman, although he
had never yet been entrusted with any position of authority. When
Cyril's job was offered him, therefore, he was rather afraid and
hesitant. However, there was no foreman at this time at the Bull
camp, which had been stripped for the trip to the States, and there
was no other man in the outfit fit to be one.
The Bull considered the possibility of Cyril's changing his mind and
returning to Bar Q. He knew what logging in the lumber camps
meant, and that though the work would not daunt the young man,
the food and the dirt would. The daily association with them "damn
dirty forriners," as Bull named the Russian loggers, would soon be
too much for a white man, he decided, and counted upon Cyril's
return.
When he left the camp he was by no means easy in his mind about
his cattle. He took the trail for Bar Q in his big car, racing ahead in
the teeth of a veritable cyclone, but the good car held its straight
course gallantly. It was late at night when Bull Langdon reached the
ranch in the foothills, and the noise of his arrival could not be heard
above the gale. When he saw that light in the kitchen, he came
warily upon the place. Sniffing the air like a bloodhound tracking
down his prey, he cautiously approached the kitchen where Nettie's
light still burned. Concealed in the darkness of the living room his
greedy eyes devoured the girl as she moved about the room busy at
the great range. All thought was swept from his mind, leaving only
the mad desire to crush in his arms once again the girl who
awakened in him this overmastering passion.
Meanwhile, Cyril Stanley had mechanically turned his horse's head
toward the foothills. He had no definite purpose in mind; he was
vaguely conscious of being hungry for a sight of Nettie. His long
absence had not cured him; he loved the girl as deeply as on that
first day when their eyes had met across the space of the poor D. D.
D. shack, and the room was full of laughter.
How pretty she had looked, in spite of her shabby dress; how her
hair had shone in the sun! How gentle and sweet and good she had
been to her little brothers and sisters! Even the strange woman in
the C. P. R. shack had melted before Nettie's shy effort to help her in
those days, reflected the unhappy Cyril. No one could have resisted
her, and he told himself that it was small wonder that he had "fallen
so hard" for her. He had seen many women in the big cities of
America, but had found no face like Nettie's. No, he wouldn't change
his girl for any girl in the States. And as in his thought he called her
"his," he awoke suddenly to the realization that Nettie was "his" no
longer; someone had stolen her heart from him! Yet such a longing
was on him to see the beloved face again, that he resolved to risk
her displeasure by going to Bar Q before burying himself in the deep
woods at the lumber camp.
On the road he fell in with a couple of riders from the hill country,
and their suggestive gossip aroused him somewhat from his gloom,
for he caught the girl's name and the sneer that came into their
voices caused him to sit up abruptly, his hat pushed back, and his
eyes full of dangerous interrogation. They protested they had only
been "stringing" him, and rode rapidly off. What they had hinted was
that the quicker the girl at Bar Q was married, the better, and that
he, Cyril Stanley, had come back only just in time.
Cyril turned this over heavily in his mind, shaking his head as though
the problem were beyond him, but he changed his course away from
the hill, deciding to spend a few days at his homestead. He would
stay in the little house he had built for Nettie; he wanted to look
over the place that was to have been their home. He would go to
Bar Q later. At least, Nettie would not refuse to bid him good-by.
As he rode along, his hat over his eyes, smarting tears bit at the lids,
and the heart of the lad who used once to go singing along the trail
and about his work was heavy as lead within him.
At the homely little cabin, faith and confidence in Nettie seemed to
come back to him; perhaps her strange behavior had all been some
hideous mistake. Perhaps she had been merely angry at his going to
Barstairs. Well, a girl had a right to be angry, and maybe she had
gotten over it by now. There was no accounting for a girl's moods,
he reasoned; he "wasn't no saint himself" to hold anything against
her. If only Nettie would smile at him again he would forget all he
had suffered during all those cruel months. If only she would look at
him and speak to him as she used to do. Nettie! His girl! His own,
out of all the world. It had been love at first sight; so much they had
always agreed on, and she had been fond of repeating that it was
also a love that would never die. She had meant it then, as they sat
hand in hand amongst the berry bushes, with the evening sunlight
on the tree-tops glistening like moon rays on the whispering leaves.
The longer Cyril stayed there gazing around the cabin that was filled
with things Nettie herself had helped him to make, the stronger
grew his hope and faith. A new exhilaration suddenly possessed him,
making him feel that life was worth living again. He looked with a
new warmth and kindness upon the world, and not even the slowly
gathering storm that darkened the March day could quell his
mounting spirits.
He was whistling and bustling about the shack when he heard a
hanging upon the door, and opened the door to find Dr. McDermott
standing there. He greeted his old friend with unaffected delight, for
the doctor was always associated in his thoughts with Nettie, whom
he had brought into the world in the best day's work he ever
accomplished, so thought Cyril.
"Hello, doc. Gee, it's great to see your good old mug again. How'd
you know I was back? How're you?"
But the old doctor was scowling at him like an angry bulldog,
underlip thrust out, and his face puckered into lines of unmistakable
disapproval; worse still, he was pointedly refusing Cyril's proffered
handshake.
"No, sir," he said, "I'll not shake hands with a scallawag. Not till he's
done the right thing, by gad!"
"Wow, doc! What's bitin' you?"
"Lad," said Dr. McDermott sternly, "I'm not here on any pleasure call.
I've come as a matter of duty, mon to mon to ask—to demand—that
you do the right thing by that puir lass."
"Lass? Who do you mean?"
"You know domned well who I mean. None other, mon, but Nettie
Day."
At the mention of that name Cyril's face turned suddenly gray and
stern.
"There are certain things I don't discuss with no man, doc. One of
them's—Nettie. I don't let no man talk to me about her. Some
coyotes on the road stopped me, and started to blat some stuff
about her, but they shut up tight enough and gave me the heels of
their broncs before they'd barely got started with that line of talk.
And I ain't lettin' even an old friend like you say anything about
Nettie. What's fallen between her and me is our affair."
Dr. McDermott's fist came heavily down upon the table.
"Lad, ye're going to marry that girl, if I have to shove you by your
neck to the parson."
A light flamed in the boy's face; his eyes widened as he stared
incredulously at the doctor.
"I say," he said, all but weeping for joy, "that's a good joke on me. Is
that what you're drivin' at, doc? Marry her! Say, I'd marry Nettie Day
this blessed minute if she'd have me!"
"Very good, lad. You'll have your chance. I've got her now at Miss
Loring's. I'll go myself after the missionary, if you'll lend me a horse.
Trail's not fit for a car. I'll do my best to get back first thing in the
morning. Meanwhile, you'll have a chance to get your house in
shape. You'll want it to shine for that wife and baby of yours."
"That wi—and— Say, what's the joke, anyway?"
The doctor was now in better humor. His errand had been highly
successful, and after all a lad was only a lad, and he liked young
Cyril Stanley. There was good stuff in Cyril—good Scotch stuff.
Cyril, taking the doctor's remark for one of the coarse jokes
commonly cracked in that countryside at the time of a wedding,
laughed half-heartedly, but the words stuck queerly in his mind. To
change the subject, he said:
"Doc, what do you suppose ever possessed Nettie to treat me as she
did? When I got back from Barstairs—let me see, that was last
October—no, a bit before that—What does she do but run away
from me, and when I chased after her, she turned me down dead
cold. Said she'd changed—wasn't the same, and a—and—she simply
sent me packing—made me think someone'd cut me out with her
and——"
Cyril broke off. The memory of that time was still an open wound in
his mind.
"I don't blame her a bit," blustered the doctor, in assumed anger. "If
it wasn't for that baby now, she'd do better to send you packing
altogether. What's the matter with you young people today? Can't
you hold back like respectable folk? Don't you realize that even
though you marry the gell now, she'll always be branded with the
shame of this thing; and it's not only the lass to be considered,
there's the innocent child—the baby to consider."
"That's the third or fourth time that you've said that word. What do
you mean, anyway? What baby? Whose?"
"Whose? Why, your own, lad—yours and Nettie's."
"Mine and—Have you gone plumb crazy, doc?"
"Not I, lad. I helped bring your child into the world this morning, and
Nettie's resting quiet now, and waiting for you, I have no doubt.
Now, lad——"
He broke off, for something in the look and motion of Cyril Stanley
stopped him from further reproach.
"I've no intention of being hard on you. Young blood—is—young
blood, and I was young myself once."
Cyril had staggered back, like one mortally struck. Slowly the truth
had dawned upon him, and with the realization that Nettie had been
false to him, something primitive and furious seemed to shake the
foundations of his being; something that was made up of outrage
and ungodly hatred.
"So—she's—got—a baby, has she?"
"A wee lad——"
"And you come to me—to me to get a name for it!"
"To you? Who else?"
"Who else?" jeered the lad frantically. "Ask her!"
Dr. McDermott recoiled before the savage glare in the young man's
eyes, and slowly he began to realize the truth. He was stunned by
the thought that another man than Cyril had been the cause of the
girl's downfall. Who could it be? Slowly he turned the matter over in
his mind, rejecting one by one each of the possible men he could
think of, till at last the great sinister figure of the Bull loomed up
before his mind's eye. He began clearly to recall a certain day at Bar
Welcome to Our Bookstore - The Ultimate Destination for Book Lovers
Are you passionate about testbank and eager to explore new worlds of
knowledge? At our website, we offer a vast collection of books that
cater to every interest and age group. From classic literature to
specialized publications, self-help books, and children’s stories, we
have it all! Each book is a gateway to new adventures, helping you
expand your knowledge and nourish your soul
Experience Convenient and Enjoyable Book Shopping Our website is more
than just an online bookstore—it’s a bridge connecting readers to the
timeless values of culture and wisdom. With a sleek and user-friendly
interface and a smart search system, you can find your favorite books
quickly and easily. Enjoy special promotions, fast home delivery, and
a seamless shopping experience that saves you time and enhances your
love for reading.
Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and
personal growth!

testbankmall.com