100% found this document useful (2 votes)
14 views48 pages

Principles of Managerial Finance Brief Gitman 7th Edition Test Bank instant download

The document provides links to various test banks and solutions manuals for finance and management textbooks, including 'Principles of Managerial Finance' by Gitman in its 7th and 14th editions. It also contains multiple-choice questions related to financial institutions, markets, and investment banking, along with their correct answers. Additionally, it discusses concepts such as primary and secondary markets, capital and money markets, and the roles of different financial entities.

Uploaded by

leannpstereoe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
100% found this document useful (2 votes)
14 views48 pages

Principles of Managerial Finance Brief Gitman 7th Edition Test Bank instant download

The document provides links to various test banks and solutions manuals for finance and management textbooks, including 'Principles of Managerial Finance' by Gitman in its 7th and 14th editions. It also contains multiple-choice questions related to financial institutions, markets, and investment banking, along with their correct answers. Additionally, it discusses concepts such as primary and secondary markets, capital and money markets, and the roles of different financial entities.

Uploaded by

leannpstereoe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 48

Principles of Managerial Finance Brief Gitman

7th Edition Test Bank install download

https://testbankmall.com/product/principles-of-managerial-
finance-brief-gitman-7th-edition-test-bank/

Download more testbank from https://testbankmall.com


Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) available
Download now and explore formats that suit you...

Principles of Managerial Finance Brief Gitman 7th Edition


Solutions Manual

https://testbankmall.com/product/principles-of-managerial-finance-
brief-gitman-7th-edition-solutions-manual/

testbankmall.com

Principles of Managerial Finance Gitman 14th Edition Test


Bank

https://testbankmall.com/product/principles-of-managerial-finance-
gitman-14th-edition-test-bank/

testbankmall.com

Principles of Managerial Finance Gitman 14th Edition


Solutions Manual

https://testbankmall.com/product/principles-of-managerial-finance-
gitman-14th-edition-solutions-manual/

testbankmall.com

Test Bank for Strategic Management: Creating Competitive


Advantages, 10th Edition, Gregory Dess, Gerry McNamara,
Alan Eisner, Seung-Hyun Lee
https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-strategic-management-
creating-competitive-advantages-10th-edition-gregory-dess-gerry-
mcnamara-alan-eisner-seung-hyun-lee/
testbankmall.com
Test Bank for Microeconomics, 3rd Edition: Hubbard

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-microeconomics-3rd-
edition-hubbard/

testbankmall.com

Solution Manual for Environmental Economics and Management


Theory, Policy, and Applications, 6th Edition

https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-environmental-
economics-and-management-theory-policy-and-applications-6th-edition/

testbankmall.com

Engineering Mechanics Statics Bedford 5th Edition


Solutions Manual

https://testbankmall.com/product/engineering-mechanics-statics-
bedford-5th-edition-solutions-manual/

testbankmall.com

Test Bank for Accounting Information Systems, 3rd Edition,


Vernon Richardson, Chengyee Chang, Rod Smith

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-accounting-information-
systems-3rd-edition-vernon-richardson-chengyee-chang-rod-smith/

testbankmall.com

Test Bank for Management People Performance Change 1st


Edition by Gomez-Mejia

https://testbankmall.com/product/test-bank-for-management-people-
performance-change-1st-edition-by-gomez-mejia/

testbankmall.com
Solution Manual for Intel Microprocessors 8/E 8th Edition
Barry B. Brey

https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-intel-
microprocessors-8-e-8th-edition-barry-b-brey/

testbankmall.com
4) Government is typically a .
A) net provider of funds because it borrows more than it saves
B) net demander of funds because it borrows more than it saves
C) net provider of funds because it can print money at will
D) net demander of funds because it saves more than it borrows
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Institutions
Learning Obj.: LG 1
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: New
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

5) Government can obtain funds .


A) by trading in equity market
B) by issuing financial instruments such as futures and options
C) through forex market
D) by selling debt securities
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Institutions
Learning Obj.: LG 1
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

6) Firms that require funds from external sources can obtain them _.
A) through financial institutions
B) from central bank directly
C) through forex market
D) by issuing T-bills
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Institutions
Learning Obj.: LG 1
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

2
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
7) Investment banks are institutions that .
A) perform all activities of commercial banks and retail banks
B) are exempted from Securities and Exchange Commission regulations
C) engage in trading and market making activities
D) are only limited to capital market activities
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Commercial Banks, Investment Banks, And The Shadow Banking System
Learning Obj.: LG 1
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

8) Which of the following serves as an intermediary channeling the savings of individuals,


businesses, and governments into loans and investments?
A) financial institutions
B) financial markets
C) Securities and Exchange Commission
D) OTC market
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Institutions
Learning Obj.: LG 1
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

9) The shadow banking system describes a group of institutions that engage in lending activities,
much like traditional banks.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Commercial Banks, Investment Banks, And The Shadow Banking System
Learning Obj.: LG 1
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

3
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
10) Which of the following provides savers with a secure place to invest funds and offer both
individuals and companies loans to finance investments?
A) investment banks
B) securities exchanges
C) mutual funds
D) commercial banks
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Commercial Banks, Investment Banks, And The Shadow Banking System
Learning Obj.: LG 1
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

11) Which of the following assists companies in raising capital, advise firms on major
transactions such as mergers or financial restructuring, and engage in trading and market making
activities?
A) investment banks
B) securities exchanges
C) mutual funds
D) commercial banks
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Commercial Banks, Investment Banks, And The Shadow Banking System
Learning Obj.: LG 1
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

4
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
2.2 Contrast the functions of financial institutions and financial markets.

1) Primary and secondary markets are markets for short-term and long-term securities,
respectively.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 2
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

2) Financial markets are intermediaries that channel the savings of individuals, businesses, and
government into loans or investments.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 2
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

3) A public offering is the sale of a new security issue—typically debt or preferred stock—
directly to an investor or group of investors.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 2
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

4) A primary market is a financial market in which pre-owned securities are traded.


Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 2
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

5
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
5) The Glass-Steagall Act was imposed to allow commercial and investment banks to combine
and work together.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Institutions and Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 2
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

6) Most businesses raise money by selling their securities in a .


A) public offering
B) forex market
C) futures market
D) commodities market
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 2
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

7) Which of the following is a means of selling bonds or stocks to the public?


A) private placement
B) public offering
C) organized selling
D) direct placement
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 2
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

6
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
8) Which of the following is a forum in which suppliers and demanders of funds can transact
business directly?
A) shadow banking system
B) financial markets
C) commercial banks
D) financial institutions
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 2
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

9) The sale of a new security directly to an investor or a group of investors is called .


A) arbitraging
B) short selling
C) a capital market transaction
D) a private placement
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 2
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

10) The market is where securities are initially issued and the market is
where pre-owned securities (not new issues) are traded.
A) primary; secondary
B) money; capital
C) secondary; primary
D) primary; money
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 2
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

7
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
2.3 Describe the differences between the capital markets and the money markets.

1) The over-the-counter (OTC) market is a market for trading smaller and unlisted securities.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

2) NASDAQ is considered an OTC market since it is not recognized by the SEC as a "listed
exchange."
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

3) In the OTC market, the ask price is the highest price offered by a dealer to purchase a given
security.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

4) In the Eurobond market, corporations and governments typically issue bonds denominated in
dollars and sell them to investors located outside the United States.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

8
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
5) Capital markets are for investors who want a safe temporary place to deposit funds where they
can earn interest and for borrowers who have a short-term need for funds.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

6) Money markets are markets for long-term funds such as bonds and equity.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

7) An efficient market is a market that establishes correct prices for the securities that firms sell
and allocates funds to their most productive use as a result of the intense competition among
investors.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

8) Money markets involve the trading of securities with maturities of one year or less.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

9
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
9) Eurocurrency deposits arise when a corporation or individual makes a deposit in a bank in a
currency other than the local currency of the country where the bank is located.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

10) The Eurocurrency market is a market for short-term bank deposits denominated in U.S.
dollars or other easily convertible currencies.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

11) The money market is a financial relationship created by a number of institutions and
arrangements that allows suppliers and demanders of long-term funds to make transactions.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

12) The over-the-counter (OTC) market is .


A) a highly liquid market as compared to NASDAQ
B) a market in which low risk-high return securities are traded
C) an organized market in which all financial derivatives are traded
D) a market where smaller, unlisted securities are traded
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

10
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
13) Which of the following is true of a primary market?
A) It is an organized market in which all financial derivatives are traded.
B) It is regulated by The Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
C) It is a market where smaller, unlisted securities are traded.
D) It is the only market in which the issuer is directly involved in the transaction.
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: New
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

14) Which of the following is true of a secondary market?


A) It is a market for an unlisted company to raise equity capital.
B) It is a market where securities are issued through private placement
C) It is a market in which short-term money market instruments such as Treasury bills are traded.
D) It is a market in which preowned securities are traded.
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: New
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

15) Which of the following is true of preferred stock?


A) It has features of bonds and a common stock.
B) It has a claim on assets prior to creditors in the event of liquidation.
C) Its dividends can be paid only after paying dividends to the common stockholders.
D) It usually has a maturity of thirty years.
Answer: A
Diff: 2
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: New
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

11
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
16) The key securities traded in the capital markets are .
A) commercial papers and Treasury bills
B) Treasury bills and certificates of deposit
C) stocks and bonds
D) bills of exchange and commercial papers
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

17) Which of the following is true of international equity markets?


A) In the international equity market, corporations cannot raise capital through IPOs, instead
they can raise capital by trading in the secondary market.
B) In the international equity market, corporations can easily manipulate the price of the shares
since it is not regulated by any regulatory bodies.
C) In the international equity market, corporations can only sell blocks of shares to institutional
investors from European Union.
D) In the international equity market, corporations can sell blocks of shares to investors in a
number of different countries simultaneously.
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: New
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

18) Which of the following is true of a dealer market?


A) Buyers and sellers are never brought together directly.
B) Brokers execute the buy or sell orders in a dealer market.
C) It has centralized trading floors.
D) It is a part of the broker market.
Answer: A
Diff: 2
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: New
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

12
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
19) Which of the following is true of a securities exchange?
A) It serves as an intermediary by channeling the savings of individuals, businesses, and
governments into loans or investments.
B) It borrows funds directly from the financial institutions.
C) It is an association of banks who meet to buy and sell stocks and bonds.
D) It provides a marketplace in which firms can raise funds through the sale of new securities
and purchasers can resell securities.
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: New
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

20) A market that establishes correct prices for the securities that firms sell and allocates funds to
their most productive uses is called a(n) .
A) future market
B) forex market
C) efficient market
D) weak-form market
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

21) The is created by a financial relationship between suppliers and demanders of


short-term funds.
A) stock market
B) capital market
C) forex market
D) money market
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

13
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
22) By definition, the money market involves the buying and selling of .
A) stocks and bonds
B) short-term securities
C) all financial instruments except derivatives
D) secured premium notes
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

23) Most money market transactions are made in .


A) common stock
B) marketable securities
C) commodities market
D) preferred stock
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

24) The is created by a number of institutions and arrangements that allow the
suppliers and demanders of long-term funds to make transactions.
A) forex market
B) capital market
C) money market
D) commodities market
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

14
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
25) Long-term debt instruments used by both government and business are known as .
A) preferred stocks
B) T-bills
C) bonds
D) equities
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

26) Which of the following is an example of marketable securities?


A) U.S.Treasury bills
B) treasury stock
C) mortgage backed securities
D) loans
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

27) In a market, the buyer and seller are brought together to trade securities in an
organization called .
A) dealer; securities market
B) broker; over-the -counter market
C) broker; securities market
D) dealer; over-the-counter market
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

15
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
28) In a market, the buyer and seller are not brought together to trade securities
directly but instead have their orders executed on the .
A) dealer; securities market
B) broker; over-the -counter market
C) broker; securities market
D) dealer; over-the-counter market
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

29) An efficient market is one where .


A) prices of stocks move up and down widely without apparent reason
B) prices of stocks remain low for long periods of time
C) prices of stocks are unaffected by market news
D) the price of a security is an unbiased estimate of its true value
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: The Capital Market
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

30) The money market is a market .


A) that enables suppliers and demanders of long-term funds to make transactions
B) which brings together suppliers and demanders of short-term funds
C) where smaller, unlisted securities are traded
D) where all derivatives are traded
Answer: B
Diff: 2
Topic: The Capital Market
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: New
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

16
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
31) Apex Inc. issues a bond of $1,000 which pays interest semiannually at a coupon interest rate
of 8%. The maturity of the bond is 15 years. Where should this bond be traded?
A) forex market
B) money market
C) capital market
D) commodities market
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Topic: The Capital Market
Learning Obj.: LG 3
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: New
AACSB Tag: Reflective Thinking Skills

2.4 Explain the root causes of the 2008 financial crisis and recession.

1) Securitization is the process of pooling mortgages or other types of loans and selling the
claims or securities against that pool in the secondary market.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Institutions and Real Estate Finance
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

2) Securitization made it harder for banks to lend money because they could not pass the risk on
to other investors.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Institutions and Real Estate Finance
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

3) Mortgage-backed securities are securities that represent claims on the cash flows generated by
a pool of mortgages.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Institutions and Real Estate Finance
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

17
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
4) Prior to the 2008 financial crisis, most investors viewed mortgage-backed securities as
relatively safe investments.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Falling Home Prices And Delinquent Mortgages
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

5) Subprime mortgages are mortgage loans made to borrowers with high incomes and better than
average credit histories.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Topic: Falling Home Prices And Delinquent Mortgages
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

6) Recessions associated with a banking crisis tend to be more severe than other recessions
because many businesses rely on credit to operate.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Spillover Effects And The Great Recession
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: New
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

7) The process of pooling mortgages or other types of loans and selling the claims or securities
against that pool in the secondary market is called .
A) valuation
B) securitization
C) private placement
D) capital restructuring
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Financial Institutions and Real Estate Finance
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

18
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
8) The primary risk of mortgage-backed securities is .
A) that the prices of have high volatility
B) that the prices of housing will increase
C) that the government will not be able to meet the guarantees on the cash flows
D) that homeowners may not be able to, or choose not to, repay their loans
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Topic: Financial Institutions and Real Estate Finance
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

9) Which of the following is true of mortgage-backed securities?


A) Mortgage-backed securities assure a flat 15% return.
B) Mortgage-backed securities are guaranteed by the U.S. government.
C) Mortgage-backed securities can only be purchased by investment banks.
D) Mortgage-backed securities represent claims on the cash flows generated by a pool of
homeloans.
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Topic: Financial Institutions and Real Estate Finance
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

10) When home prices are falling, we would expect a(n) .


A) high mortgage default rates
B) low mortgage default rates
C) unchanged mortgage default rates
D) higher percentage of owner home equity
Answer: A
Diff: 2
Topic: Falling Home Prices And Delinquent Mortgages
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Reflective Thinking Skills

19
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
11) A crisis in the financial sector often spills over into other industries because when financial
institutions borrowing, activity in most other industries .
A) increase; slows down
B) contract; slows down
C) increase; increases
D) contract; increases
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Spillover Effects And The Great Recession
Learning Obj.: LG 4
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

2.5 Understand the major regulations and regulatory bodies that affect financial institutions and
markets.

1) The Glass-Steagall Act .


A) was intended to regulate the activities in the secondary market
B) created the Securities Exchange Commission
C) separated the activities of commercial and investment banks
D) was intended to regulate the activities in the primary market
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Topic: Regulations Governing Financial Institutions
Learning Obj.: LG 5
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

2) The Securities Act of 1933 focuses on regulating the sale of securities in the primary market,
whereas the 1934 Act deals with the regulations governing the transactions in the secondary
market.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Topic: Regulations Governing Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 5
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Previous Edition
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

20
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
3) The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) .
A) is an agency, created by the Glass-Steagall Act, that monitors banks on a regular basis to
ensure that they were safe and sound.
B) is an agency that monitors business combinations between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurance companies
C) guarantees individuals will not lose any money held at any type of financial institution that
fails
D) guarantees individuals will not lose any money, up to a specified amount, held at any type of
financial institution that fails
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Regulations Governing Financial Institutions
Learning Obj.: LG 5
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

4) The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act .


A) is created to monitor banks on a regular basis to ensure that they were safe and sound.
B) allows business combinations between commercial banks and investment banks, but not
insurance companies
C) allows business combinations between commercial banks, investment banks, and insurance
companies
D) was signed during the Great Depression because of the financial crisis
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Regulations Governing Financial Institutions
Learning Obj.: LG 5
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

5) Which of the following acts regulates the secondary market?


A) The Securities Act of 1933
B) The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
C) The Securities Exchange Act of 1934
D) The Glass-Steagall Act
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Regulations Governing Financial Markets
Learning Obj.: LG 5
Learning Outcome: F-01
Question Status: Revised
AACSB Tag: Analytic Skills

21
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
Other documents randomly have
different content
the flaws in his own heart with that dogged devotedness that was
part of his nature. No easy and emotional religiosity inspired him,
but rather the grim spirit of an old Stoic, striving after the best for
the nobleness thereof. Yet the change was not without its tender
tones. Almost unconsciously Bertrand had set up Tiphaïne in his
heart, while beside her, yet more in the shadow, Arletta’s white and
wistful face seemed to plead with him out of the past. Those who
had known him of old, saving Olivier and his mother, wondered at
the new gentleness, the air of patience, that had mellowed the
rough and violent boy whom they remembered.
Bertrand was much alone that winter. It was a season of rest for
him, a girding up of the loins, a tightening of the muscles of the
heart. Nearly every day, in rain and sunshine, he would ride down to
the sea, and sit there on the cliffs, with the ever-changing sky above
him and the ever-restless waters at his feet. To Bertrand there was
something bracing in this solitude and in the unbelittled
magnificence of sea and shore. It was in those lonely days that he
learned to know the true courage, that nobler quietude that smiles
at defeat. And with the humility that had come upon him a deep and
solemn peace seemed poured like divine wine into his mouth. The
conviction grew in him that the higher life was yet before his face.
Even as the grand old Hebrews trusted in the Eternal One with a
faith that made them terrible, so Bertrand believed, with all the
simple instinctiveness of his soul, that the powers above had work
for him to do. The day would come for him, when or how he knew
not yet. He was content to rest and tarry for a season, perfecting
the self-mastery that was to make of him a man.
Bertrand mounted his rough pony and rode homeward that
March day with the sun going down amid a mass of burning clouds.
His heart was tranquil in him despite the wailing of the wind, the
moaning of the trees, and the bleak stretch of moorland and of
waste. He saw the peasants returning from their labor, and smiled at
the sight. The patience of these lowly tillers of the fields seemed to
comfort him. He had begun to think more of them of late than the
mere pomp of chivalry and the glamour of arms. They suffered,
these brown-faced, round-backed peasants, and Bertrand’s heart
went out to them as he thought of their hard lives and the heaviness
they bore.
The servants were trooping into supper when Bertrand rode into
the old court-yard and saw the hall windows warm with torch-light.
He stabled his pony, fed the beast with his own hands, and washed
at the laver in the screens before going in to supper. Sieur Robert
and his wife were already at the high table, with Olivier, the young
fop, lolling against the wall. His lips curled as he saw Bertrand enter,
for he hated his brother, and feared him in his heart.
Bertrand went to serve and carve at the high table. He had taken
the task on him of late with that quiet thoroughness that made him
what he was. It was proper, he thought, for him to serve before
those who had begotten him, even though he had known no great
kindness at their hands. Olivier would sneer and smile at Bertrand’s
newly inspired filial courtesy. He was a selfish fool himself, and
loathed stirring himself, even for the mother who would have given
him her head.
“Hallo there! those roast partridges look fat. Bring the dish,
brother; this north wind blows hunger into a man.”
Bertrand brought the dish without a word, and Olivier helped
himself, pleased with the honor of being waited on by his brother.
“Give us some Grenarde, Bertrand. Thanks. And the spice-plate.
Ah, madame, you keep to ypocrasse. Bertrand, my mother would
drink ypocrasse.”
Olivier had long lorded it over both his parents with the easy
insolence of a favored son. Bertrand poured out a cup of ypocrasse
for Dame Jeanne, and, having carved for his father, and given him a
tankard of cider, sat down to eat in turn. Olivier, who was greedy
despite his daintiness, left Bertrand in peace awhile, only deigning to
talk when he had ended his hunger.
“Well, Brother Bertrand, how are the pigs to-day?”
This question had become a nightly witticism with Olivier since a
certain morning two weeks ago, when he had found his brother
helping the swineherd to drive his hogs.
Bertrand kept silence and went on with his supper. Olivier, after
staring at him, took a draught of wine, wiped his mouth, and called
for water and a napkin that he might wash. Bertrand rose and
brought them from the buffet below the great window.
“Thanks, good brother.”
The patronage would have set Bertrand’s face aflame not many
months ago. He left Olivier waving his white hands in the air, and
carried the bowl and napkin to his father, and then to Dame Jeanne,
who thanked him with a slight nod of the head.
“Mother, I am thinking of joining the Countess at Rennes this
year.”
Olivier was forever on the point of sallying on imaginary quests,
and thrilling his mother’s heart with the threat of daring untold
perils. He had been to the wars but once in his life, when an English
spear-thrust had excused many months of unheroic idleness.
“They must miss you,” said Jeanne, with a jealous look.
Olivier spread his shoulders but did not see that Bertrand smiled.
“True,” he confessed, with divine self-unction; “I am a good man
at my arms. This cursed spear-wound still smarts a little and chafes
under the harness. How many men, mother, can you spare me in the
spring?”
Jeanne du Guesclin considered the demand with the fondness of
an unwilling fool. Olivier’s vaporings never rang false in her maternal
ears. Like many a shrewd, cold-hearted woman, she was deceived
pitifully by the one thing that she loved.
“Wait till the summer, child,” she said.
“Child!” And Olivier stood upon his dignity and showed temper.
“You are blind, madame; you never see that I am a man. You
women are made of butter. We men are of sterner stuff.”
His mother’s meekness was wonderful in one so proud.
“Ah, Olivier, you have the soldier’s spirit! I must not try to curb
your courage.”
The hero smoothed his diminutive peak of a beard, and deigned
to suffer her carefulness, like the inimitable peacock that he was.
“Honor is honor, madame. We men cannot sit at embroidery
frames and make simples. It is the nature of man that he should
thirst for war.”
A sudden stir among the servants at the lower end of the hall
drew Bertrand’s attention from his brother’s boasting. His ear had
caught the sound of hoofs and the pealing of a trumpet before the
court-yard gate. The clattering of dishes and the babbling of tongues
ceased in the great hall, for Plessis-Bertrand was a lonely house and
travellers rarely came that way. Hopart and Guicheaux, taught
caution by long, experienced exposure to all manner of hazards,
took down their swords from the wall and went out into the court-
yard, followed by some of Olivier’s men with torches. Olivier scoffed
at the free companions’ carefulness.
“Some dirty beggar,” he said, “or a couple of strolling friars. Hi,
Jacques, if they are players—and there be any wenches—show them
in.”
Bertrand, who was wiser, and had no vanity to consider, saw that
his sword was loose in its sheath.
They could hear Guicheaux shouting and a voice answering him.
Then came the unbarring of the gate and the ring of hoofs upon the
court-yard stones. The men were shouting and cheering in the court.
Hopart’s hairy face appeared at the doorway of the hall. He so far
forgot his manners for the moment as to bawl at his master on the
dais.
“Beaumanoir’s herald, Messire Jean de Xaintré. They are going to
maul the English at Mivoie’s Oak. The eagle must look to his claws!”
In came the servants, shouting and elbowing beneath a flare of
torches, old Jean, the butler, flourishing his staff and trying to keep
order and clear a passage. Hopart and Guicheaux were treading on
the toes of Olivier’s men, spreading their fingers and grinning from
ear to ear. Bertrand saw the flashing of a bassinet, the gay colors of
a herald’s jupon, the Sieur de Beaumanoir’s arms quartered with
those of Brittany. Some dozen men-at-arms followed in full harness,
shouldering back the cook-boys and scullions.
The herald, an esquire of the Marshal’s, Jean de Xaintré by name,
marched up the hall and saluted those at the high table.
“Greeting, madame and messires all; God’s grace be with you. I
come from the Sieur de Beaumanoir, Marshal of Brittany. Thirty
champions are to fight thirty English at the Oak of Mivoie on Passion
Sunday. We need the Sieur de Guesclin’s son with us.”
Dame Jeanne looked at Olivier and beckoned him forward.
“Here is your champion, herald,” she said. “Olivier, the Sieur de
Beaumanoir needs your sword.”
Jean de Xaintré stared at the lady and glanced, with a grim
twinkle, at Olivier, who looked as though he were not so ready to
deserve his mother’s pride.
“Your pardon, madame”—and Xaintré laughed—“Bertrand du
Guesclin is our man. Greeting, old friend; you have not forgotten
Jean de Xaintré.”
Jeanne du Guesclin bit her lips.
“What—Bertrand!”
“Madame, who but Bertrand, the best son you ever bore!”
Bertrand had risen and was standing with one hand on his
father’s shoulder, knowing that his chance had come at last. The
hall, with its crowd of faces, seemed blurred to him for the moment.
Yet he saw Hopart and Guicheaux squealing and flapping their caps
in the faces of Olivier’s men.
“I am here, old comrade. Give me the Marshal’s orders.”
Jeanne, white and angry, glared at him, and put her arm about
Olivier.
“To choose the clumsy fool!” she said.
Jean de Xaintré had drawn his sword, and was holding the hilt
crosswise before him.
“Swear, brother in arms, swear on the cross.”
“Ay, Jean, give me the oath.”
“Swear by Christ’s cross. The Oak of Mivoie on Josselin Moors, to
fight Bamborough and his English on Passion Sunday.”
Bertrand lifted his hand, crossed himself, and took the oath.
“Before God—and our Lord—I swear,” he said.
Xaintré thrust his sword back into its sheath.
“Bertrand du Guesclin will not fail.”
Sieur Robert, sleepy and querulous, sat staring about him, and
looking weakly at his wife. Jeanne du Guesclin had sunk back heavily
in her chair, and was still biting her lips, and looking bitterly at
Bertrand. Olivier had tossed down a cup of wine, and was braving it
out as though the whole matter were the choicest farce. Guicheaux
and Hopart were still stamping and shouting till Dame Jeanne
started up in a blaze of fury, and shouted to her men, who crowded
by the door:
“Take the fools out and have them whipped!”
But Bertrand cowed his mother for the once, and swore that no
one should lay hands upon his men.
“Quiet, dogs,” he said, shaking his fist at them, “you have barked
enough; let us have peace.”
He sprang down from the dais and gripped Jean de Xaintré’s
hands.
“Old friend, you have not forgotten me?”
“No, no. Come, give me wine. Here’s to you with all my heart.”
XVIII
It was seven in the morning on the day of his riding to join the
Marshal of Brittany at the Oak of Mivoie, and Bertrand stood
warming himself before the great hall fire. He was in full harness—
harness that he had burnished lovingly with his own hands, and the
raised vizor of his bassinet showed a calm face and the eyes of a
man who listened. Bertrand had broken fast alone in the hall, after
keeping a vigil in the chapel with his sword and shield before him on
the altar steps. He was to ride towards Dinan that day, for Xaintré
had told him that Robin Raguenel had been chosen among the thirty,
and Bertrand rode to seek him at La Bellière, and perhaps win a
glimpse of Tiphaïne herself. His heart felt full of joy that morning,
the joy of a man to whom life offers stirring days again.
Jean, the old butler, appeared at the door that closed the
stairway leading to the private rooms. He looked half timidly at
Bertrand, a tower of steel before the fire, and came forward slowly,
coughing behind his hand.
“Well, Jean, how long will they keep me waiting? The days are
short in March.”
“Your servant, messire—”
“Well?”
“My master has bidden me carry you his good grace—and
blessing—”
“What! My father is not out of bed?”
“He prays you to pardon him, messire. He feels the cold, and
these raw mornings—”
Bertrand silenced him with a gesture of the hand. His face had
lost its brightness for the moment, and there was a frown as of pain
upon his forehead.
“Ah, of course, Jean, say no more. And madame?”
“Madame, messire, is at her devotions; she would not be
disturbed. In an hour—”
Bertrand turned with a shrug of impatience, picked up his sword,
and buckled it on.
“My time is God’s time, Jean,” he said; “carry my respects to my
father and my mother—”
He winced over the words, frowning, and looking sorrowful about
the eyes.
“Tell them I could not tarry. And my brother Olivier? Curling his
pretty beard?”
“I will go and see, messire.”
“No, no; never trouble the sweet lad. It is a mere nothing, man,
to the parting of his hair. Good-bye, Jean; forget the mad tricks I
played you as a boy.”
He turned, took up his shield, and strode out from the hall, a
sense of forlornness chilling his ardor for the moment. Hopart and
Guicheaux were waiting for him in the court-yard, holding his horse
and spear. Bertrand had refused to take the men with him,
preferring solitude, content with his own thoughts. Guicheaux and
Hopart ran up to him, still hoping that he would change his purpose.
“Ah, lording, you will crack the English bassinets!”
“Good luck, good luck!”
“Take us, too, messire. We can live on rust and leather.”
Bertrand was glad even of their rude affection. He took out an
old brooch and a ring of silver from his shrunken purse, and thrust
the largesse into their hands.
“No, no, sirs, I ride alone. Keep these things, and think of
Bertrand du Guesclin if he comes not back again.”
They hung round him like a couple of great children, eager and
devoted.
“Messire, courage, you are too tough for the English dogs.”
“Keep up your heart, captain, and give them the clean edge.”
They ran for a mile along the road beside him, holding his
stirrup-straps and looking up into his face. And theirs was the only
heartening Bertrand had when he rode out to fight for the Breton
poor at the Oak of Mivoie on Josselin Moors.
Bertrand’s courage warmed again as he mounted the moors and
felt the blue sky over him and the broad Breton lands before his
face. He forgot Olivier’s sneers and his mother’s coldness, and the
way they had let him go uncheered. The truth remained that
Beaumanoir had chosen him, and that the chance had come for
which he had waited. That day, also, he might see Tiphaïne again,
give her the good news, and tell her of the change that had been
working in his manhood.
Bertrand was in fine fettle by the time he struck the windings of
the Rance, and saw the river flashing below the cliffs and glimmering
amid the green. He tossed his spear and sang as the towers of
Dinan came in view, the gray walls girding the little town, with the
Ranee running in the narrow meads below. All the thickets were
purpling with the spring. The bare aspens glittered, the clouds sailed
white over the wind-swept Breton town.
But Dinan had no call for Bertrand that March day. He rode on,
still singing, happy at heart, watching for the tall chimneys of the
Vicomte’s house, finding a quick, strange joy at the thought of
seeing Tiphaïne again. Bertrand was not a Provençal rhapsodist. He
could not write love songs to a woman’s lips, but look bravely into
her face he could, and crown her with the homage that only great
hearts know.
Soon the turrets and carved chimneys rose up amid the trees,
smoke floating with the wind, the Vicomte’s banner slanting from its
staff. Bertrand rode up amid a swirl of March-blown leaves and blew
his horn before the gate. The servants who came out to him knew
the eagle on his shield, and Robin himself met Bertrand in the court.
“Messire du Guesclin, welcome indeed!” and he held out his
hands to take Bertrand’s spear and shield, his beaming face a
greeting in itself.
“Xaintré told me you were chosen.”
“To be sure, he passed this way on the road to Concale. Mother
of God, but I am glad you are come! Tiphaïne is above, playing
chess with my father.”
Robin gave the spear and shield to one of the servants and
embraced Bertrand when he dismounted. There was something
comforting to the lad in having this strong man to bear him
company.
“It will be a grim business, Bertrand. Croquart is to fight on
Bamborough’s side, and Knowles and Calverly. Pssh! but who is
afraid of the Flemish butcher? Come to my room; I will help you to
disarm.”
He led Bertrand through the garden to his bedchamber joining
the chapel, chattering all the way, with a restless smile on his boyish
face. There was an exaggerated fervor in the lad’s gayety, and his
eyes looked tired as though he had not slept. Bertrand saw that his
hands trembled as he helped to unbuckle the harness, and that his
mouth drooped when he was not talking.
“What a day for us, brother in arms!” he babbled, drawing out
Bertrand’s sword and feeling the edge thereof with his thumb.
“Croquart is a terrible fellow. But then Beaumanoir is as brave as a
lion, and Tinteniac a powerful smiter, and you, Bertrand, are as good
a man at your weapons as any.”
Bertrand looked hard at Robin, and forced a smile.
“We shall hold our own,” he said.
“You think so?” and the lad’s face brightened. “I have been
running two miles each morning to better my wind. Look at my new
armor, yonder. It is the cleverest German work. See the kneecaps,
and the pallets to guard the armpits. It will take a good sword,
Bertrand, to pierce it, eh?”
He seemed so eager to be cheered, despite his vivacity, that
Bertrand felt troubled for the lad, and pitied him in his heart. He was
wondering why Beaumanoir had chosen young Raguenel. He was tall
and strong enough, but he had not the dogged look of a born
fighter.
“You will do bravely enough, Robin,” he said. “Why, I have seen
these English beaten many a day. We Bretons are the better men.”
“Good, good indeed! Why, man, you are thirsting for Passion
Sunday to come round.”
“Because we shall win,” said Bertrand, quietly, smiling at the lad
and eager to hearten him.
Bertrand had finished his disarming, and, having washed his face
and hands in Robin’s laver, stood for him to lead on to the Vicomte’s
room. He was troubled now that he was to meet Tiphaïne again,
wondering how she would greet him, and whether her father knew
what had passed within the Aspen Tower. He followed Robin through
the oriel, stroking his chin and bracing his manhood for the meeting.
Tiphaïne was seated before the solar window, with the chess-
board between her and the Vicomte. She rose up at once when
Bertrand entered, and held out her hands to him with a readiness
that made him color.
“Messire, we meet again.”
To Bertrand her voice brought back a hundred memories that
gave him pain. He winced a little as he took her hand and felt her
clear eyes searching his face. It meant more to Bertrand to meet
those eyes than an enemy’s sword would cost him at Mivoie.
“God grant madame is well,” and he bowed to her clumsily and
turned to Stephen Raguenel, who had pushed back the chess-table
and was rising from his chair.
“Well met at last, Messire du Guesclin. I can thank you with my
own lips for the great debt we owe your sword.”
Bertrand guessed that Tiphaïne had saved his honor. He flashed
a look at her, and saw by the smile and the shake of the head she
gave him that the Vicomte knew nothing of the first spoiling of the
Aspen Tower. Bertrand blessed her, yet felt a hypocrite.
“If I have served you, sire, say no more of it.”
The Vicomte de Bellière, stately seigneur that he was, kissed
Bertrand’s cheek after the quaint fashion of those days.
“My house is your house, lad,” he said, “my servants your
servants. I hold myself your debtor.”
For Bertrand, La Bellière had a strange and saddened sense of
peace that night as he sat before the log fire and talked to the
Vicomte of the combat at the Oak of Mivoie. La Bellière contrasted
with the memories of his own home, for here they loved one another
and knew no discords. The solar, warm with the firelight, had
something sacred and beautiful within its walls. Bertrand felt the
quiet dignity of the Raguenels’ life, the charm, the mellowness that
made home home.
Tiphaïne sat opposite to him, her embroidery in her lap—a mass
of green and gold—her eyes shining in the firelight, her hair coiled
above the curve of her shapely neck. Her father’s chair was turned
towards the fire, and he could see both his children, for Robin stood
leaning against the chimney-hood, his face drawn and pinched when
in repose.
It was pathetic the way the old man gloried in his son. He did not
grudge him to the Breton cause, but let his pride soar over the lad’s
honor. He told Bertrand the deeds of his own youth, beneficently
garrulous, and swore that Robin would outshine his father. His
handsome face mellowed as he sipped his wine and looked from one
child to the other. Bertrand, silent, yet very reverent, watched
Tiphaïne’s hands, too conscious all the while of Robin’s strained and
jerky gayety. The lad’s heart was not happy in him, of that Bertrand
felt assured.
“Come, messire, you have not seen Robin fight as yet.”
Bertrand smiled, a little sadly, and shook his head.
“He had his christening when our Countess retook the castle of
Roche-D’Errien. You were one of the first in the breach, Robin, eh?
Yes, yes, and Beaumanoir heard of the spirit you showed in that
tussle down in the south, Ancenis—was it? What a head I have for
names!”
Tiphaïne looked up from her work and gave her father the word.
“Aurai, to be sure, where that rogue Dagworth had his quittance
from Raoul de Cahours. Robin won his spurs there. You shall see
how the lad can fight, messire, at the Oak of Mivoie.”
Robin laughed, blushed, and frowned at the fire. Tiphaïne was
looking at him with almost a mother’s love in her eyes. Her brother’s
restless gayety had no sinister significance for her sister’s pride in
him. It was a solemn evening; Robin might be unnerved by the
pathos of it, but nothing more.
“Robin will play his part,” she said, quietly.
“God’s grace, of course, he shall! More wine, messire; let us drink
to brave Beaumanoir and to Brittany.”
Before the hour for sleep came round, Tiphaïne drew Bertrand
aside towards the window, and stood looking keenly in his face. His
eyes were happier than of old, and the sullen discontent had left him
since Arletta’s burying in the garden of the Aspen Tower.
“Bertrand.”
“Yes, Tiphaïne?”
“How is it with you?”
He looked at her frankly, yet with a saddened smile.
“I am learning my lesson—letter by letter,” he answered.
“I am glad of it. We are the firmer friends, and—”
She hesitated, with a troubled light shining in her eyes. Bertrand
saw her glance wistfully at Robin and her father.
“Bertrand.”
“I stand to serve you.”
“Take care of Robin for us, Bertrand; it would kill my father to
lose the lad. And he is so young, though brave and strong enough.
If—”
Bertrand reached for her hand and held it, his face transfigured
as he looked into her eyes.
“Trust me,” he said.
“Ah!—”
“I will stand by the lad, and take the blows from him even with
my own body. Tiphaïne, I have not forgotten.”
And Bertrand did not sleep that night with thinking of Tiphaïne
and the Oak of Mivoie.
XIX
Bertrand and Robin Raguenel rode southwest from Dinan, holding
towards Montcontour, so that they should come on Josselin from the
west. All about Ploermel, and even to the walls of Rennes,
Bamborough’s English and Croquart’s ruffians were still burning and
plundering, and driving the wretched peasantry like sheep before
them. Montfort’s English had been very bitter against the Bretons
since Dagworth’s death, vowing that he had fallen through treachery,
and that Brittany should pay the price in blood.
The sun was setting on the Friday before Passion Sunday, when
Bertrand and Robin came to the little town of Loudéac and sought
out a lodging for the night. They were guided to an inn on the north
of the market square, and given a private chamber, as befitted
young Raguenel’s rank. The lad had shown a strange temper all the
way from Dinan, his face like an April sky, now all sunshine, now all
gloom. Moments of gusty gayety alternated with morose and restless
silence. Bertrand had done what he could to humor the lad, without
letting him suspect that he was troubled for the part he would play
at the Oak of Mivoie.
Robin drifted into a reckless mood that night at Loudéac. He
called for much wine and showed the innkeeper an open purse. The
servants stirred themselves to honor “my lord,” who was to fight for
Brittany on Josselin Moors. The innkeeper, a shrewd old pimp, who
wished his guests to be amused, sent up a couple of dancing-girls to
the chamber after supper. Bertrand looked black when the girls came
in to them, giggling and twitching their bright-colored skirts. It was
customary at many inns to keep such ladies, and young Robin
laughed at them, his head half turned with wine.
“Hallo, wicked ones! Come and sit by me. You can dance and
sing for a gentleman, eh? To be sure, Mistress Red-stockings, you
have a pretty pair of ankles. Who calls for muscatel and good
Bordeaux? Bertrand, fill up your cup.”
The women were ready enough to make play for Robin, seeing
that he was a handsome fellow and two parts drunk. Bertrand,
however, had no desire to see the lad preyed upon by such a pair of
harpies. Ignoring their oglings and their tittering, he went to the
door and shouted for the innkeeper, and gave the man a look that
did not miscarry.
“None of your tricks, my friend; we have no purses to be picked.
What we have ordered we have ordered, but these delicacies are not
to our taste.”
The man looked at Robin, who had taken the girl with the red
stockings on his knee.
“But, my lord yonder—seems satisfied.”
“Robin, let the girl go.”
The lad quailed before Bertrand’s eyes, and surrendered to him
sheepishly, yet not without some show of spite.
“Now, Sir Shepherd, out with your sheep.”
The innkeeper saw that Bertrand was in no mood to be trifled
with, and that he was the master of the situation so far as Robin
was concerned. He beckoned the women out, pulling a wry face, yet
outwardly obsequious as any son of Mammon. The women followed
him, tossing their ribbons and looking saucily at Bertrand, whose
ugly face was like a block of stone. Their insolence was nothing to
him, for he had drunk the dregs of recklessness and thrown the cup
away.
Robin was sitting sulkily before the fire, biting his nails and
glancing at Bertrand out of the corners of his eyes. He knew that the
elder man was in the right, and yet Bertrand’s mastery chafed his
pride.
“You meddle rather much, messire,” he said.
Bertrand went up to him with the air of a brother, a good-
humored smile softening his face.
“Nonsense, Robin; you are a little hot in the head. No more wine,
lad; I ask it as a favor. Who kissed you last—was it not your sister?”
Robin shuddered, and sat staring at the fire.
“You are right, Bertrand,” he said. “By God, I was going to Mivoie
with a harlot’s kisses on my mouth!”
“No, no, lad, you have the true stuff in you. Come to bed; we
must not waste our sleep.”
It was some time after midnight when Bertrand woke with a start
and lay listening in the darkness of the room. A voice was babbling
in the silence of the night, making a hoarse whispering like dead
leaves shivering in a frosty wind. Bertrand’s eyes grew accustomed
to the dark, and he could see Robin half kneeling, half lying upon
the bed. The lad was praying like a man in the extremity of terror.
“Oh, Lady of Heaven, pardon all my sins. I am young, and I have
erred often, and often I have prayed with a cold heart. Mea culpa!
mea culpa! Lord Jesu watch over me at the Oak of Mivoie. It is
terrible, very terrible, to be afraid, but I have taken the oath, and all
men will mock me if I fail. St. Malo, hear me; I will build a chapel to
thee if I come back safe from Mivoie.”
To such whimperings Bertrand listened as he lay motionless in
bed. Robin’s whispering terror troubled him; he grieved for the lad,
yet knew not what to do. If Robin had his sister’s heart, there would
be no quailings, no shivering prayers at midnight, no grovelling on
the floor. Bertrand lay listening, half tempted to speak to the lad. He
held his words, however, and watched till Robin climbed back with
chattering teeth to bed. Bertrand betrayed nothing of what he had
seen or heard when they rose to dress and arm that morning,
though his heart misgave him when he saw the lad’s red eyes and
drooping mouth. He began to be keenly afraid for the lad’s courage,
lest it should fail utterly and bring shame on Robin and on those who
loved him.
They rode out through Loudeac after paying the reckoning at the
inn. Robin’s spirits revived somewhat as they went through the
narrow streets and the townsfolk cheered them and waved their
caps.
“Grace to the Breton gentlemen!”
“God bless ye, sirs, at the Oak of Mivoie!”
The glory of it all brought a flush to Robin’s cheeks. He looked
handsome enough in his new armor, his horse going proudly, with
trappings of green and gold. His manhood stiffened; his blood came
more blithely from his heart. Had he not a part to play, a cause to
champion? Men looked for great things from him, trusted to his
word. Robin’s pride kindled as he rode through the streets of
Loudeac, and Bertrand, watching him, felt glad.
It was when they were free of the town and plunged into the
woodlands that Robin’s courage began to wane once more. Loudeac
had been full of life and the stir thereof, but here in the deeps of the
mysterious woods there was nothing but silence and loneliness
about him. The wind sighed in the beech-trees; the firs waved their
solemn boughs. The damp grass and the sodden leaves were as yet
unbrightened by many flowers. The pitiful thinness of the lad’s
courage grew more plain as the hours went by.
Bertrand talked hard, and tried to make young Raguenel more
ready for the morrow. He told him of the tussles he had come
through unharmed and of the many times that he had seen the
English beaten. And Croquart—what was Croquart the Fleming that
they should talk so much of him? The fellow was only a butcher’s
brat; he had learned to use the knife and the cleaver, and boasted
the insolence of a scullion. Brittany had as good men as Croquart,
Calverly, and all the gang of them. Bertrand took no heed of Robin’s
frailty, but held forth strenuously, as though fired by his own
convictions. Yet the more he talked the deeper grew the lad’s
depression.
About noon they halted beside a stream where moor and
woodland met, watered their horses, and made a meal. Robin ate
but little, and seemed to have no heart to talk. Bertrand ignored his
restless manner and the weak twitching of his lower lip. He gave the
lad little time for reflection, feeling that Robin’s courage leaked like
wine out of a cracked jar.
“Come, we must make Josselin before dark.”
Robin dragged himself up from the foot of a tree. He went slowly
towards his horse, walking with no spring at the knees, his chin
down upon his chest. Bertrand’s back was turned for the moment,
for he was tightening his saddle-girths, that had worked slack since
the morning. Robin glanced at him, with the look of a hunted thing
in his eyes. He stooped, lifted up his horse’s left fore foot, and
plunged the point of his poniard into the frog.
Bertrand turned to find Robin’s horse plunging and rearing, with
his master hanging to the bridle.
“Hallo, lad, what’s amiss?”
Robin, fearful lest Bertrand should guess his treachery, patted the
beast’s neck and coaxed him back into control.
“By the saints, Hoel is dead lame!”
He tugged at the bridle and walked the horse to and fro, gloating
inwardly at the way the poor brute hobbled.
“What’s to be done?”
Bertrand marched up without a word, lifted the beast’s fore foot,
and saw the bleeding hoof. His mouth hardened as he turned on
Robin, grim but very quiet.
“Show me your poniard.”
The lad stared at him, his lower lip a-droop.
“My poniard?”
“Yes.”
“Upon my soul, messire—”
He had flushed crimson, and was shaking at the knees, nor did
Bertrand need to press his guilt. He stood looking at Robin,
contemptuous, yet moved to pity, debating inwardly what he should
do.
“Well, messire, a nice trick this, laming your own horse! I will get
you to Josselin to-night, even if I have to carry you.”
“Bertrand, I—My God, I cannot go, I am not fit!”
He broke down utterly of a sudden, and threw himself upon the
grass, burying his face in his arms, and sobbing like a girl. Bertrand
had never seen such cowardice before; it was new and strange to
him, and the very pitiableness of it shocked his manhood.
“Come, lad, come,” and he bent down and tried to turn him over.
Robin squirmed away like a frightened cur.
“I can’t, I can’t! Don’t jeer at me; let me be!”
“What! You will break your oath?”
The lad’s shoulders only twitched the more, and he buried his
face yet deeper in his arms.
“For God’s sake, lad, stand up and play the man. What will they
say of you at Dinan?”
It was all useless, useless as trying to turn milk into wine. Robin
lay snivelling on the grass, all the manhood gone from him, his fine
armor a veritable mockery, his whole body palsied by abject fear.
Even Bertrand’s taunts could sting no courage into him. Robin
Raguenel was a coward; Bertrand knew the truth.
He stood looking at the lad, disgust and pity warring together on
his face. Was this the brother Tiphaïne loved, and for whom he had
promised to risk his life! Once more in despair he tried to rouse the
lad, yet doubting in his heart that any good would come of it.
“So, Robin”—and he spoke gently—“you will let your father know
that you are a coward?”
Robin groaned, but did not stir.
“Well—and your sister, she is proud of you?”
“Mercy, have mercy!” And the taunts only brought forth more
snivellings and tears.
“Then you will break your oath to Beaumanoir, messire?”
“Yes, curse him, why did the fool choose me?”
Bertrand turned from Robin with a half-uttered oath, picked up
his spear, and moved towards his horse. There was no help for it; he
must leave the coward to his shame. They needed men, not girls, at
Mivoie.
XX
Bertrand faltered as he was about to mount his horse and stood
irresolute, like a man who repents of parting in anger from a friend.
He thrust his spear into the grass, buckled the bridle round it, and
went back towards Robin with a frown of thought upon his face. His
promise to Tiphaïne had dared him to desert the lad, however much
he might despise him for a weakling and a coward.
“Stand up, messire, I have some last words to say to you.”
Robin turned on his side, his green surcoat dew-drenched and
muddy, and, propping himself upon one elbow, plucked at the grass.
“Ride on,” he growled; “let me be.”
“For the last time, Robin, will you go with me to Mivoie?”
“What! to have my brains beaten out by that brute Croquart? He
has a grudge against me. Xaintré warned me to beware of the
fellow.”
“A cool confession, messire.”
“Cool! Why should I be butchered for the sake of a crowd of
wretched serfs?”
Bertrand looked at him as though half minded to pick the lad up
and shake the terror out of him by sheer strength. But even
Bertrand saw how useless it was to argue with such a quivering and
sulky tangle of nerves. Young Raguenel was too soft and sensitive a
creature to bear the rubs of the age he lived in. The stark fear of
death was on him, and he was worse than an hysterical woman for
the moment. Even if he were dragged to Josselin that night he
would only disgrace himself at Mivoie on the morrow.
Bertrand turned on his heel, and began to march to and fro
under the trees. Now and again he looked grimly, yet sorrowfully, at
Robin, his eyes full of reproachfulness as he began to realize what
the lad’s cowardice might mean. The words that he had spoken to
Tiphaïne were sounding in his ears: “Trust me, and I will shield the
lad even with my own body.” There was no shirking such a promise,
and argue as he would the rough candor of his own conscience had
him baffled at every point. What would Tiphaïne think of him if he
left this loved but weak-willed brother to be shamed and dishonored
in the knowledge of all Brittany? And Stephen Raguenel, that
generous old man? The blow would kill him, and bring his white
head down into the grave. Bertrand ground his teeth as he realized
the bitterness of it all, and felt his own honor tangled in the fatal
web of Robin’s fear.
Bertrand trampled the sodden grass till he had worn a muddy
track under the beech-trees between Robin and the place where his
horse was tethered. Never did Bertrand fight a tougher fight than he
fought with himself that day on the road to Josselin. Renunciation,
the higher courage, triumphed. Bertrand dashed his hand across his
eyes, looked bitterly at the sword he had sharpened so lovingly and
at the shield with the Du Guesclin blazonings thereon. Well, there
was no help for it; he would sacrifice himself for this miserable boy;
he had given Tiphaïne his promise. And as for his oath to
Beaumanoir, he would both keep it and break it, and God would
know the truth.
With the tussle ended, doubt and indecision had no more power
over Bertrand’s will. He made no boast of the deed he was about to
do, but marched to it boldly with a set mouth and an unflinching
face.
“Off with your armor, lad; there is no time to lose.”
Robin stared as though Bertrand had commanded him to crawl
out of his skin.
“Up with you!” and there was a ring of fierceness in the voice.
“Strip off your armor; we must change our coats.”
Robin leaned upon one hand, eying Bertrand furtively, and not
grasping his meaning for the moment.
“What will you do, messire?” he asked.
“Do!” and Bertrand’s lips curled as he unbuckled his graves and
cuishes; “save you from shaming the folk who love you by taking
your place at the Oak of Mivoie.”
Had the veriest spark of nobleness been left alive in him that
moment, Robin would have risen up with generous shame,
compelled towards courage by Bertrand’s chivalry. But the meaner
powers were in the ascendant, and the dread of death made him
blind to his own littleness. Even Bertrand saw the look of relief upon
his face as he scrambled up, evading Du Guesclin’s eyes.
“Messire Bertrand, this is too good of you—”
A contortion of contempt swept over Bertrand’s face. The lad was
pleased to approve the sacrifice and mildly call it “good.”
“Don’t thank me, messire. Take off your armor. We are much of a
size. The fesse of silver shall make a show at Mivoie.”
Robin obeyed him, secret exultation stifling shame.
“I shall not forget this, Bertrand.”
“Nor shall I!”
“Beaumanoir will think that something has hindered you.”
“Ah, no doubt.”
Bertrand’s brows contracted as he gave the lad a look that should
have let light into his soul. Robin seemed glib enough with his
excuses.
“Do not think that I am doing this for your sake, Messire Robin
Raguenel.”
“No?” and the coward looked astonished at the words.
“I am thinking of your father and your sister at La Bellière. They
love you, Robin, and God knows I am loved by no one. Therefore, I
remember the love they have for you, for no one will grieve if
Bertrand du Guesclin gathers shame.”
Robin looked at him vacantly. So wrapped up was he in his own
troubles that he did not realize the greatness of Bertrand’s sacrifice.
“Oh, it will work very well,” he stammered.
“You think so? Thanks.”
“We can say that your horse fell lame. And if you keep your visor
down no one will know you. Besides, you are strong enough to fight
any man who gives you the lie.”
Bertrand ground his teeth over the ease with which the lad
contrived it all. By the blood of God! did the fool think that it was
easy for a strong man to throw away the chance he had longed and
prayed for? Bertrand knew what men would say of him, and that the
public tongue is as uncharitable as it is false.
“Unbuckle my arm pieces.”
He rapped the words out as though the uttering of them gave
him relief. Robin skipped forward to complete the sacrifice. He was
still possessed by a blind and selfish joy.
“I will help to make the tale sound honest for you,” he said.
Bertrand’s shoulders heaved.
“You are quick enough with your wits,” he answered. “Come,
listen to me. I know this road; there is a low inn not five miles from
here, set back in an empty quarry. Hide there till we have fought at
Mivoie.”
Bertrand was curt and peremptory enough; Robin understood
him, and looked sullenly at the grass.
“What if you are killed?” he asked.
The utter coolness of the question staggered Bertrand, despite
the revelations of the last hour.
“Who thinks of being killed!”
“Croquart will strike at you.”
“And am I afraid of Croquart? If I were to fall the trick would be
discovered. You have scented that out, eh, you little fox! No, lie
quiet in your hole till I ride back.”
“And then?”
Bertrand bit his lips.
“God knows, so far as I am concerned!” he said.
In half an hour the transformation was complete. He took Robin’s
shield upon his arm (the fesse argent on an azure ground), but kept
his own horse and his heavy axe that hung at the saddle-bow. Robin
melted somewhat when the time for parting came. He tried to
embrace Du Guesclin, but Bertrand would have none of the lad’s
gratitude.
“Off, sir, you owe me nothing; it is your father’s honor that I
cherish, and the vow I made your sister. Keep up the mockery,
messire: you are Bertrand du Guesclin, skulking in the woods of
Loudeac.”

You might also like