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 an arrest. Again, the idea behind this case is to show students how
ubiquitous, often-ignored wireless devices constantly record data.
In this case, the device was external to the suspect because he was
wearing it on his arm.
Study aids are provided throughout each chapter. These include the
following:
IT’s About Business cases provide real-world applications, with
questions that relate to concepts covered in the text. Icons relate
these sections to the specific functional areas in the text.
Highlighted examples interspersed throughout the text illustrate
the use (and misuse) of IT by real-world organizations, thus
making the conceptual discussion more concrete.
Tables list key points or summarize different concepts.
End-of-section reviews (Before You Go On …) prompt students to
pause and test their understanding of basic concepts before
moving on to the next section.
End-of-chapter study aids provide extensive opportunity for the
reader to review:
What’s in IT for Me? is a unique chapter summary section that
demonstrates the relevance of topics for different functional areas
(accounting, finance, marketing, production/operations
management, and human resources management).
The chapter Summary, keyed to learning objectives listed at the
beginning of the chapter, enables students to review the major
concepts covered in the chapter.
The end-of-chapter Glossary facilitates studying by listing and
defining all the key terms introduced in the chapter.
Chapter-closing cases address a business problem faced by actual
companies and how they used IS to solve these issues. The cases
generally consist of a description of the problem, an overview of
the IS solution implemented, and a presentation of the results of
that implementation. Each case is followed by discussion
questions so that students can further explore the concepts
 presented in the case.
Hands-on exercises and activities require the reader to do something
with the concepts they have studied. These include the following:
Apply the Concept Activities: This book’s unique pedagogical
structure is designed to keep students actively engaged with the
course material. Reading material in each chapter subsection is
supported by an “Apply the Concept” activity that is directly
related to a chapter objective. These activities include links to
online videos and articles and other hands-on activities that
require students to immediately apply what they have learned.
Each Apply the Concept has the following elements:
Background (places the activity in the context of relevant
reading material)
Activity (a hands-on activity that students carry out)
Deliverable (various tasks for students to complete as they
perform the activity)
Discussion Questions and Problem-Solving Activities: Provide
practice through active learning. These exercises are hands-on
opportunities to apply the concepts discussed in the chapter.
Collaboration Exercises: Team exercises that require students to
take on different functional roles and collaborate to solve business
problems using Google Drive. These exercises allow students to
get firsthand experience solving business problems using cloud-
based tools while also experiencing an authentic business team
dynamic. Exclusively in WileyPLUS.
Spreadsheet Activity: Every chapter includes a hands-on
spreadsheet project that requires students to practice their Excel
skills within the context of the chapter material. WileyPLUS
includes an Excel Lab Manual for students who need introductory
coverage or review.
Database Activity: Every chapter includes a hands-on database
project that requires students to practice their Access skills while
using concepts learned in the chapter. WileyPLUS Learning Space
 includes an Access Lab Manual for students who need
introductory coverage or review.

Key Features
We have been guided by the following goals that we believe will
enhance the teaching and learning experience.

What’s in IT for Me? Theme

We emphasize the importance of information systems by calling
attention in every chapter to how that chapter’s topic relates to each
business major. Icons guide students to relevant issues for their
specific functional area—accounting (ACC), finance (FIN), marketing
(MKT), production operations management (POM), human resources
management (HRM), and management information systems (MIS).
Chapters conclude with a detailed summary (entitled “What’s in IT for
Me?”) of how key concepts in the chapter relate to each functional
area.

Active Learning
We recognize the need to actively involve students in problem solving,
creative thinking, and capitalizing on opportunities. Therefore, we
have included in every chapter a variety of hands-on exercises,
activities, and mini-cases, including exercises that require students to
use software application tools. Through these activities and an
interactive website, we enable students to apply the concepts they
learn.

Diversified and Unique Examples from Different

Industries
Extensive use of vivid examples from large corporations, small
businesses, and government and not-for-profit organizations enlivens
the concepts from the chapter. The examples illustrate everything
from the capabilities of information systems, to their cost and
justification and the innovative ways that corporations are using IS in
their operations. Small businesses have been included to recognize the
fact that many students will work for small- to mid-sized companies,
and some will even start their own small business. In fact, some
students may already be working at local businesses, and the concepts
they are learning in class can be readily observed or put into practice
in their jobs. Each chapter constantly highlights the integral
connection between business and IS. This connection is especially
evident in the chapter-opening and closing cases, the “IT’s About
Business” boxes, and the highlighted examples.

Successes and Failures

Many textbooks present examples of the successful implementation of
information systems, and our book is no exception. However, we go
one step beyond by also providing numerous examples of IS failures,
in the context of lessons that can be learned from such failures. Misuse
of information systems can be very expensive.

Global Focus
An understanding of global competition, partnerships, and trading is
essential to success in a modern business environment. Therefore, we
provide a broad selection of international cases and examples. We
discuss the role of information systems in facilitating export and
import, the management of international companies, and electronic
trading around the globe.

Innovation and Creativity

In today’s rapidly changing business environment, creativity and
innovation are necessary for a business to operate effectively and
profitably. Throughout our book, we demonstrate how information
systems facilitate these processes.

Focus on Ethics
With corporate scandals appearing in the headlines almost daily,
ethics and ethical questions have come to the forefront of
businesspeople’s minds. In addition to devoting an entire chapter to
ethics and privacy (Chapter 3), we have included examples and cases
throughout the text that focus on business ethics.

A Guide to Icons in This Book

As you read this book, you will notice a variety of icons interspersed
throughout the chapters.
These icons highlight material relating to different
functional areas. MIS concepts are relevant to all business careers,
not just careers in IT. The functional area icons help students of
different majors quickly pick out concepts and examples of particular
relevance to them. Below is a quick reference of these icons:
For the Accounting Major highlights content relevant to
the functional area of accounting.
For the Finance Major highlights content relevant to the
functional area of finance.
For the Marketing Major highlights content relevant to
the functional area of marketing.
For the Production/Operations Management Major
highlights content relevant to the functional area of
production/operations management.
For the Human Resources Major highlights content
relevant to the functional area of human resources.
For the MIS Major highlights content relevant to the
functional area of MIS.

What’s New in Rainer Introduction to Information

Systems, 8e
The new edition includes all new or updated chapter opening cases,
closing cases, and IT’s About Business.
The new edition includes all new or updated IT’s About Business boxes
in every chapter.

Highlights of Rainer 8e (or New Material)

Digital transformation of organizations
More than likely, students will go to work for companies that are
undergoing digital transformation. We emphasize digital
transformation and the information technologies that drive such
transformations (see Chapter 1’s opening case, IT’s About Business 1.1,
and closing case). The technologies driving digital transformation
include the following: Big Data (see Chapter 5); Business Analytics
(see Chapter 12); Social Computing (see Chapter 9); Mobile
Computing (see Chapter 8); the Internet of Things (see Chapter 8);
Agile Systems Development methods (see Chapter 13); Cloud
Computing (see Technology Guide 3); and Artificial Intelligence (see
Technology Guide 4).

The European Union’s General Data Protection

Regulation (GDPR)
In Chapter 3, we provide a thorough discussion of the European
Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the world’s
strongest data protection laws, which went into effect on May 25,
2018.

Ransomware
Because the attacks are so serious and so pervasive around the world,
we discuss ransomware in detail in Section 4.3 and Chapter 4’s closing
case.

Data Lakes
Enterprise data warehouses can be inflexible when trying to manage
many different types of data. As a result, many organizations are
deploying data lakes. We address this emerging technology in IT’s
About Business 5.3.

Conversational Commerce
Due to its increasing importance, we elaborate on conversational
commerce using chatbots in IT’s About Business 7.1.

FinTech
Because of its increasing importance and potential to disrupt the
financial industry, we discuss FinTech (financial technology) in IT’s
About Business 7.2.

The Ongoing Battle between Amazon and Walmart

Chapter 7’s closing case addresses the classic battle between Amazon
(initially an electronic commerce company) and Walmart (initially a
bricks-and-mortar company). The case looks at how both companies
are changing their business models.

Internet over Satellite

We have rewritten and updated the section Internet over Satellite and
the companies providing this service (see Chapter 8).

Commercial Imaging
We have rewritten and updated the section Commercial Imaging and
the companies providing this service (see Chapter 8).

Internet Access via Balloons

We have rewritten and updated the material on Google’s Project Loon
(high-altitude balloons) for Internet access in underserved areas (see
Chapter 8).

Internet Access via Blimps

We have added material on Altaeros’s Internet blimps for Internet
access in underserved areas (see Chapter 8).

Fifth Generation (5G) Wireless

We updated the material on 5G wireless technologies (see Chapter 8).

The Changing Balance of Power between

Organizations and Customers
Chapter 9’s opening case provides an interesting look at how the
balance of power between organizations and customers has drastically
changed.

Messaging Apps
We added material on the variety and popularity of messaging apps
(see Chapter 9).

Impacts of Emerging Technologies on Supply

Chains
We discuss a new topic in IT’s About Business 11.6: the impacts of
emerging technologies (robotics, drones, driverless vehicles, and
three-dimensional printing) on supply chains and supply chain
management.

Online Resources
This text also facilitates the teaching of an introductory IS course by
providing extensive support materials for instructors and students. Go
to www.wiley.com to access the Student and Instructor websites.

Instructor’s Manual
The Instructor’s Manual includes a chapter overview, teaching tips and
strategies, answers to all end-of-chapter questions, supplemental
mini-cases with essay questions and answers, and experiential
exercises that relate to particular topics.
Test Bank
The Test Bank is a comprehensive resource for test questions. It
contains multiple-choice, true/false, short answer, and essay questions
for each chapter. The multiple-choice and true/false questions are
labeled according to difficulty: easy, medium, or hard.

Computerized Test Bank

Wiley provides complimentary software to generate print exams or to
import test bank questions into standard LMS formats. The
assessment items available in this software are a subset of those in the
WileyPLUS question banks. See the assignment banks in WileyPLUS
for the complete catalog of assessment items related to your adopted
text.

PowerPoint Presentations
The PowerPoint presentations consist of a series of slides for each
chapter of the text, are designed around the text content, and
incorporate key points from the text and all text illustrations as
appropriate.

Weekly Updates
Weekly updates, harvested from around the Web by David Firth of the
University of Montana, provide you with the latest IT news and issues.
These are posted every Monday morning throughout the year at
http://wileyinformationsystemsupdates.com/ and include links to
articles and videos as well as discussion questions to assign or use in
class.

OfficeGrader
OfficeGrader is an Access-based VBA macro that enables automatic
grading of Office assignments. The macros compare Office files and
grade them against a master file. OfficeGrader is available for Word,
Access, Excel, and PowerPoint for Office 2010 and Office 2013. For
more information, contact your Wiley sales representative or visit the
book companion site and click on “OfficeGrader.”

WileyPlus
WileyPLUS with adaptive practice improves outcomes with robust
practice problems and feedback, fosters engagement with course
content and educational videos, and gives students the flexibility to
increase confidence as they learn and prepare outside of class. With
adaptive practice, instructors can see how their students learn best
and then adjust material appropriately. For students, adaptive practice
allows them to focus on their weakest areas to make study time more
efficient.
WileyPLUS helps instructors:
Save time by automating grading of practice, homework, quizzes,
and exams
Create a focused and personalized course that reflects their
teaching style
Quickly identify and understand student learning trends to
improve classroom engagement
Improve their course year over year using WileyPLUS data
Instructor Resources include:
Video Lectures—The authors are featured in these video lectures,
which provide explanations of key concepts throughout the book.
(Note: This feature is only available in WileyPLUS.)
Real-World Video Activities—An exclusive new feature in
WileyPLUS offers chapter-level graded analysis activities on
cutting-edge business video content from Bloomberg.
Data Analytics & Business Module—With the emergence of data
analytics transforming the business environment, Wiley has
partnered with business leaders in the Business-Higher Education
Forum (BHEF) to identify the competencies graduates need to be
 successful in their careers. As a result, WileyPLUS includes a new
data analytics module with industry-validated content that
prepares operations management students for a changing
workforce.
Activity Links and Starter Files—Apply the Concept activities link
out to the Web, providing videos for students to view and use in
the activities. When appropriate, students are provided with
starter files to complete as part of the deliverable.
Database Activity Solution Files—Every database activity in the
book comes with a solution file that can be used in the Office
Grader Application or by an individual to grade the students’
submissions.
Database Activity Starter Files—When appropriate, students are
provided with starter files to complete as part of the deliverable.
Instructor’s Solutions Manual—This guide contains detailed
solutions to all questions, exercises, and problems in the textbook.
Practice Quizzes—These quizzes give students a way to test
themselves on course material before exams. Each chapter exam
contains fill-in-the-blank, application, and multiple-choice
questions that provide immediate feedback with the correct
answer.
Reading Quizzes—These quizzes reinforce basic concepts from the
reading.
Spreadsheet Activity Solution Files—Every spreadsheet activity in
the book comes with a solution file that can be used in the Office
Grader Application or by an individual to grade the students’
submissions.
Student Resources include:
Video Lectures—The authors are featured in these video lectures,
which provide explanations of key concepts throughout the book.
(Note: This feature is only available in WileyPLUS.)
Practice Quizzes—These quizzes give students a way to test
themselves on course material before exams. Each chapter exam
 contains fill-in-the-blank, application, and multiple-choice
questions that provide immediate feedback with the correct
answer.
Microsoft Office 2013/2016/2019 Lab Manual & Instructor
Resources—by Ed Martin, CUNY-Queensborough is a thorough
introduction to the Microsoft Office products of Word, Excel,
Access, and PowerPoint with screenshots that show students step-
by-step instructions on basic MS Office tasks.

Wiley Custom
This group’s services allow you to:
Adapt existing Wiley content and combine texts
Incorporate and publish your own materials
Collaborate with our team to ensure your satisfaction

Wiley Custom Select

Wiley Custom Select allows you to build your own course materials
using selected chapters of any Wiley text and your own material if
desired. For more information, contact your Wiley sales representative
or visit http://customselect.wiley.com/.
Contents
Cover
Preface
CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Information Systems
1.1 Why Should I Study Information Systems?
1.2 Overview of Computer-Based Information Systems
1.3 How Does IT Impact Organizations?
1.4 Importance of Information Systems to Society
CHAPTER 2: Organizational Strategy, Competitive Advantage,
and Information Systems
2.1 Business Processes
2.2 Business Process Reengineering, Business Process
Improvement, and Business Process Management
2.3 Business Pressures, Organizational Responses, and
Information Technology Support
2.4 Competitive Advantage and Strategic Information
Systems
CHAPTER 3: Ethics and Privacy
3.1 Ethical Issues
3.2 Privacy
CHAPTER 4: Information Security
4.1 Introduction to Information Security
4.2 Unintentional Threats to Information Systems
4.3 Deliberate Threats to Information Systems
4.4 What Organizations Are Doing to Protect Information
Resources
4.5 Information Security Controls
CHAPTER 5: Data and Knowledge Management
 5.1 Managing Data
5.2 The Database Approach
5.3 Big Data
5.4 Data Warehouses and Data Marts
5.5 Knowledge Management
5.6 Appendix: Fundamentals of Relational Database
Operations
CHAPTER 6: Telecommunications and Networking
6.1 What Is a Computer Network?
6.2 Network Fundamentals
6.3 The Internet and the World Wide Web
6.4 Network Applications: Discovery
6.5 Network Applications: Communication
6.6 Network Applications: Collaboration
6.7 Network Applications: Educational
CHAPTER 7: E-Business and E-Commerce
7.1 Overview of E-Business and E-Commerce
7.2 Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Electronic Commerce
7.3 Business-to-Business (B2B) Electronic Commerce
7.4 Ethical and Legal Issues in E-Business
CHAPTER 8: Wireless, Mobile Computing, and Mobile Commerce
8.1 Wireless Technologies
8.2 Wireless Computer Networks and Internet Access
8.3 Mobile Computing and Mobile Commerce
8.4 The Internet of Things
CHAPTER 9: Social Computing
9.1 Web 2.0
9.2 Fundamentals of Social Computing in Business
9.3 Social Computing in Business: Shopping
 9.4 Social Computing in Business: Marketing
9.5 Social Computing in Business: Customer Relationship
Management
9.6 Social Computing in Business: Human Resource
Management
CHAPTER 10: Information Systems within the Organization
10.1 Transaction Processing Systems
10.2 Functional Area Information Systems
10.3 Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
10.4 ERP Support for Business Processes
CHAPTER 11: Customer Relationship Management and Supply
Chain Management
11.1 Defining Customer Relationship Management
11.2 Operational Customer Relationship Management
11.3 Other Types of Customer Relationship Management
Systems
11.4 Supply Chains
11.5 Supply Chain Management
11.6 Information Technology Support for Supply Chain
Management
CHAPTER 12: Business Analytics
12.1 Managers and Decision Making
12.2 The Business Analytics Process
12.3 Descriptive Analytics
12.4 Predictive Analytics
12.5 Prescriptive Analytics
12.6 Presentation Tools
CHAPTER 13: Acquiring Information Systems and Applications
13.1 Planning for and Justifying IT Applications
13.2 Strategies for Acquiring IT Applications
 13.3 Traditional Systems Development Life Cycle
13.4 Alternative Methods and Tools for Systems Development
TECHNOLOGY GUIDE 1: Hardware
TG 1.1 Introduction to Hardware
TG 1.2 Strategic Hardware Issues
TG 1.3 Computer Hierarchy
TG 1.4 Input and Output Technologies
TG 1.5 The Central Processing Unit
TECHNOLOGY GUIDE 2: Software
TG 2.1 Software Issues
TG 2.2 Systems Software
TG 2.3 Application Software
TECHNOLOGY GUIDE 3: Cloud Computing
TG 3.1 Introduction
TG 3.2 What Is Cloud Computing?
TG 3.3 Different Types of Clouds
TG 3.4 Cloud Computing Services
TG 3.5 The Benefits of Cloud Computing
TG 3.6 Concerns and Risks with Cloud Computing
TG 3.7 Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture
TECHNOLOGY GUIDE 4: Artificial Intelligence
TG 4.1 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
TG 4.2 Artificial Intelligence Technologies
TG 4.3 Artificial Intelligence Applications
Appendix: Apply the Concept Activities
Index
End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations
CHAPTER 1
FIGURE 1.1 MIS provides what users see and use on their
computers.
FIGURE 1.2 Data, information, and knowledge.
FIGURE 1.3 Computer-based information systems consist
of hardware, software, databases, net...
FIGURE 1.4 Information technology inside your
organization.
FIGURE 1.5 Information systems that function among
multiple organizations.
FIGURE 1.6 Ergonomic products protect computer users.
CHAPTER 2
FIGURE 2.1 Business process for ordering an e-ticket from
an airline website.
FIGURE 2.2 Business pressures, organizational
performance and responses, and IT support.
FIGURE 2.3 Porter’s competitive forces model.
FIGURE 2.4 Porter’s value chain model.
FIGURE 2.5 Strategies for competitive advantage.
CHAPTER 4
FIGURE 4.1 Security threats.
FIGURE 4.2 Where defense mechanisms are located.
FIGURE 4.3 (a) Basic firewall for a home computer. (b)
Organization with two firewalls and ...
FIGURE 4.4 How public-key encryption works.
FIGURE 4.5 How digital certificates work. Sony and Dell,
business partners, use a digital c...
FIGURE 4.6 Virtual private network and tunneling.
CHAPTER 5
FIGURE 5.1 Database management system.
FIGURE 5.2 Hierarchy of data for a computer-based file.
FIGURE 5.3 Student database example.
FIGURE 5.4 Data warehouse framework.
FIGURE 5.5 Relational databases.
FIGURE 5.6 Data cube.
FIGURE 5.7 Equivalence between relational and
multidimensional databases.
FIGURE 5.8 The knowledge management system cycle.
FIGURE 5.9 Cardinality symbols.
FIGURE 5.10 One-to-one relationship.
FIGURE 5.11 Departments and documents flow in the
procurement process.
FIGURE 5.12 Many-to-many relationship.
FIGURE 5.13 Raw data gathered from orders at the pizza
shop.
FIGURE 5.14 Functional dependencies in pizza shop
example.
FIGURE 5.15 First normal form for data from pizza shop.
FIGURE 5.16 Second normal form for data from pizza shop.
FIGURE 5.17 Third normal form for data from pizza shop.
FIGURE 5.18 The join process with the tables of third
normal form to produce an order.
CHAPTER 6
FIGURE 6.1 Ethernet local area.
FIGURE 6.2 Enterprise network.
FIGURE 6.3 Twisted-pair wire.
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 “Oh!” said Marie-Celeste, but in a bewildered way, as though she
could not quite take in the idea.
“It isn't very pleasant not knowing who you belong to, but it isn't
such a bad place to stay. They keep things scrubbed up to the nines,
and everything's as neat and well ordered as a ship. I think being
trained that way was one thing that made me want to go to sea.”
It was easy to see, from the grave look on Marie-Celeste's face,
that she was still pondering the sad predicament of “no particular
father or mother,” but she asked, “Where was the hospital, Donald?”
“In London; and like as not if you go there you'll go out to see it.
They always have lots of visitors on Sundays. They dress the girls up
awful pretty in black dresses with short sleeves, and mitts that come
way up over the elbow, like ladies' gloves at a party, and caps and
kerchiefs folded crosswise round their shoulders, like this.”
“You've seen a picture of them singing out of a book, haven't
you?” called Chris, by way of illustration.
“Why, so I have,” said Marie-Celeste; “we gave an artist-proof of it
to our minister one Christmas.”
“I've seen it too,” continued Donald, wondering whether an artist-
proof and a waterproof had anything in common; “but the girls
aren't often so handsome as that; but I'll tell you when they do look
pretty as a picture: that's on a clear Sunday morning, just about
midway in the service, when the sun comes streaming through one
of the choir windows in a great white shaft of light, I think they call
it. It just goes slanting across the benches, and then the girls it
happens to strike, no matter how homely they are, really look just
beautiful, with their white caps and kerchiefs all lighted up in the
sunshine. I used to think they put the girls on that side to show
them off, for the boys just look pretty much as boys always do.”
“But you have a home now, haven't you, Donald, that you're going
to when we reach England?”
 “No; I don't know where I'm going I haven't decided,” he added,
with studied indifference; for Donald preferred not to burden these
new friends of his with his trials and perplexities. Likely as not he
would be able to find some decent enough place in Liverpool, and he
thought, if he managed very carefully, his savings might be made to
hold out till he could put to sea again on his dear old Majestic.
“And now I'd like to know all about you,” said Donald, by way of
changing the subject; “there must be a deal more to tell when
you've had your father and mother to help you remember things,
than when you've had to do all the remembering yourself. Getting
your start in a foundling hospital is sort of like being led into the
world blindfold.”
“Pretty old talk for a youngster,” thought Chris; “but I suppose it
comes along of his being alone half the time, with so much chance
to think.”
“Would you like me to commence at the very beginning,” asked
Marie-Celeste, “when I was just a mere scrap of a thing?” Donald
nodded assent.
“Well, then, I was rather good-looking, if you don't mind, and a
real sunshiny little body, papa says.” Donald looked as though he
could readily believe it, and Chris, in the retirement of his stateroom,
shook his head, as though he felt sure of it.
“But of course I soon got over that, and almost as soon as I was
in short dresses I began to show I had quite a little will of my own,
and then for two or three years they had a pretty hard time with me.
I would have regular tantrums, and just kick and scream if I couldn't
do just what I wanted to. I had two dear little brothers then, and I
remember—-yes, I remember this myself—how they used to amuse
me and try to make me good. And sometimes they seemed very
proud of me, and sometimes, Donald, I was proud of myself, too.
Mamma used to dress me in white dresses with short sleeves that
came just to my elbow, tied round with pink or blue ribbons, and a
sash to match, tied on one side in front, and I knew it was pretty
and stylish, and used to walk around with my head in the air, and
people would laugh and say I was awfully cunning. Somehow or
other I was rather spoiled, you see; but when I was only five years
old Louis and Jack died, both in one week, of diphtheria, and
mamma says from that week I have never given her any real
trouble. It seemed as though I remembered how Louis and Jack
wanted me to be good, and so I did try very hard. And now I almost
always think of them when I am getting into a temper, and if I get
the best of it, I feel that they know and are glad.”
“It must have been hard for your mother to do without them,” said
Donald a little awkwardly, but with his face full of sympathy.
“Very hard, Donald; and oh, how she used to cry; but mamma is
very good and sweet, and is so thankful that she has papa and me
left. You know, Jack and Louis used to say, 'Jesus, gentle Shepherd.'
at bedtime every night, just as I do, and mamma says she thinks of
them now, just as little lambs safe-folded by the dear Shepherd they
used to pray to every night. I think it's that that makes her brave
and bright.”
“That's a beautiful way to think,” said Donald warmly, and Chris
thought so too, and stopped whittling.
“Have you no brothers or sisters now?” questioned Donald.
“No, none; so, you see, it would be a shame if I didn't try to be all
the comfort I could; and now you know all there is about me.”
“Why, no, I don't,” said Donald, surprised, folding his hands
behind his head by way of a change of position; “I don't know where
you live, or where you are going, or how you came to know Mr.
Hartley, or what you are going to do this summer;” whereupon
Marie-Celeste straightway proceeded to give all the desired
information, and more besides.
Watchful Chris thought he began to detect signs of weariness in
Donald's occasional answers, and as soon as he felt sure of it he
bundled Marie-Celeste off in a hurry, and pinning a shawl over the
port-hole, left the little convalescent for a nap undisturbed in his
darkened state-room.
And now you have at least an idea of how Marie-Celeste passed
her time on the steamer, and you can understand how there might
have been some people rather less glad than sorry when they felt
the machinery stop at two o'clock one morning, and knew that the
Queenstown passengers were being transferred to the tender, and
that before sunset all the people aboard the great steamer would be
separated to the four winds. Chris was sorry, because he had looked
forward with so much pleasure to the voyage across with Marie-
Celeste, and it had all so far exceeded his expectations.
Donald was sorry, because he never had met “such lovely people”
as the Harrises and Mr. Hartley, and never expected to again, and I
half believe Mr. Belden was sorriest of all. He was going right up to
his club in London, to lead the same old loveless, self-centred life,
and somehow the glimpse of something very different he had had
through Marie-Celeste made it appear more vapid and colorless than
ever. But the steamer did not mind how any of her passengers were
feeling—she must make the best possible record, no matter who was
glad or sorry; and on she steamed, past lonely and beautiful
Holyhead, and then through the wide Irish Sea (that seems indeed a
veritable ocean in its wideness), until land once more was sighted
and the harbor reached, and the anchor dropped off the wonderful
docks at Liverpool. And then, in a few moments, the tender that was
to land them was bearing down upon them, and a handsome, eager-
faced little fellow, in an Eton jacket, was standing as far forward as
possible in her bow, and an older fellow, who resembled the younger
one closely, was standing, I am happy to say, close beside him.
 CHAPTER VI.—THE CASTLE
WONDERFUL.

I
t was marvellous what a change came over the
pretty little house where Ted and Harold lived
almost as soon as Aunt Lou, as they called Mrs.
Harris, came to feel at home there. The servants were
the same that had been with them at the time of their
mother's death, and had been as faithful as they knew
how to be, even when their patience had been well-nigh exhausted
by “Mr. Theodores” unreasonable demands of the previous summer;
and, indeed, unreasonable had been no word for it. There are boys
and girls everywhere who know, to their sorrow, what it means to
have the big brother come home from college. How he does lord it
over the rest of us! And if he chances to bring a new chum along
with him, whom he rather wants to impress, then heigh-ho! for a
hard time for everybody. He pays little or no heed at all to the
ordinary regulations of the household, and meals must wait for an
hour, or be served in a jiffy, as best suits his humor or convenience.
Of course there are some good fellows of whom this is not true at
all, and even those of whom it is, as a rule, in time get over it; but
meanwhile the mothers grow quite worn out sometimes, and the
mischief fares on past mending. So much for our little protest
against a tendency of college life. The bother of it is, it is not likely in
the least to help matters. As for Ted, you can imagine the life he led
those servants of his, with four college-men his guests for the
summer, and no one to gainsay him. Early and late they were kept
slaving away, with never a spark of consideration shown them, and
nothing but the love they had borne their mistress and an occasional
kind word from Harold, proving how he felt in the matter, had
carried them through it. Still faithful as they had been, something
had gone out of the house with its sweet little mistress, that had
happily come in again with Aunt Lou, and Harold was quick to
recognize it.
“Is it possible you've been here only a week?” he asked as they all
sat together one evening in the library—that is, with the exception of
Theodore, whose spring term still kept him at Oxford.
“Just a week to-day, Harold,” said Aunt Lou, looking up from a
great mass of crocheting, that would soon be a full-grown afghan; “I
hope it hasn't seemed more like a month to you, dear.”
“It has seemed as though mother was back—that's the way it has
seemed, and it's been like a bit of heaven and if ever Mrs. Harris felt
repaid for anything in her life, she felt repaid that moment for their
journey across three thousand miles of water.
“I wonder what it is makes such a difference with a woman—that
is, a lady—in the house?” Harold added. “I suppose you can't exactly
understand it, but even the books, and things on that table there,
have a different look since you came, Aunt Lou.”
Aunt Lou crocheted away for dear life, and looked very happy, and
Uncle Fritz laid aside his book, and announced wisely, “I can tell you
what makes the difference if you want to know, Harold; it's the
countless little touches here and there. You notice now and then,
and you'll see that Aunt Lou is forever changing the position of
something, if it's only a chair as she passes or the lowering of a
window-shade by the fraction of an inch. It's a sort of intuitive—”
“It's just mamma's own self, that's what it is,” interrupted Marie-
Celeste, since her father seemed to be at a loss for a word, and she
put her two arms around her mother's neck, as much as to say,
“Isn't a mother like mine the darlingest thing?” and then a little
fellow, who didn't have any mother, quite unconsciously to himself,
drew a great deep sigh, and Mrs. Harris gave her little daughter a
furtive push from her. Marie-Celeste looked puzzled a moment, and
then she understood.
“Remember, my little girl,” Mrs. Harris had said to her more than
once, “that there's nothing but sin itself has so many heavy hearts to
answer for as thoughtlessness; and thoughtfulness, next to love, has
lightened and brightened more hearts than anything else in the
world and Marie-Celeste knew how thoughtless she had been to
press home upon Harold in any way a keener sense of his own great
loss. Resolved that it should never happen again, and annoyed at
herself beside, Marie-Celeste moved away to the window on the
other side of the room. There was somebody sitting at the window—
somebody half asleep in a great arm-chair, and all but purring with
contentment, and it was no one else than Donald, if you please. It
had all come about so beautifully, that morning that Harold had
come out to meet them on the tender, at Liverpool. It had taken
nearly two hours to transfer the baggage after the steamer had
come to anchor, and during that time Marie-Celeste had stolen away
to have a last chat with Donald. He sat propped up in Mr. Belden's
steamer-chair, whither two of the stewards had carried him, and
lying out there in the open air, he seemed to look paler than ever.
“Who is your little white-faced friend?” Harold had asked at the
first opportunity.
“Oh, that is Donald you heard mamma speak about!”
“Donald who?”
“Oh, I don't really know who, and nobody does! He is called
Donald Brown. He was brought up in the Foundling Hospital, in
London, and hasn't any particular father or mother.”
“My! but that's hard; and he's been awfully ill, hasn't he?”
“Yes, for weeks and weeks in New York with a fever; and he hasn't
gained a bit of strength on the voyage, either.”
“He's going home, I suppose?”
 “He's going: somewhere, but I don't believe he knows where. The
steamer, he says, seems most like home to him. He's one of the
cabin boys and buglers when he's well.”
“I say,” said Harold, “let's bring him home to Windsor!”
“Oh, could you?” cried Marie-Celeste, who had thought of the
selfsame thing herself, but had not dared to suggest it.
“I wonder if Ted will mind?” as though thinking the matter over. “I
think I'd better ask him; but I shall do it anyway, since this is my
summer.”
“Your summer?” but Harold had no time to explain, and hurried
over to Ted, who was talking with Uncle Fritz and Aunt Lou, and who
was gracious enough to say, “Do as you like, Harold and as that, you
see, was just what Harold had meant to do, there was no trouble at
all about it. And this was the beautiful way it had happened, and
Donald was being built up and strengthened with all sorts of
nourishing food, and was gaining strength every day.
“Donald,” said Marie-Celeste, curling up on the window bench
beside his chair, “just how do you feel this morning?”
“First-rate; better than any day yet,” said Donald, who, by the
way, never called Marie-Celeste by any name whatsoever—“Marie-
Celeste” seemed quite too familiar, and “Miss Harris” was out of the
question.
“Well, then, do you want to hear about it now?” she asked
eagerly.
“You bet I do,” and then Donald begged her pardon with a blush.
“It's quite a long story; are you sure you feel strong enough?”
“Sure;” and forthwith Marie-Celeste sailed away on the wings of a
marvellous story. It had been a wonderful week, that first week at
Windsor, and Marie-Celeste had tried to see it all with two pairs of
eyes; for born little Englishman though Donald probably was, it had
been only since he had actually come to Windsor that he knew
anything whatever about it. Coming out in the train from London,
the beautiful castle had first flashed upon our little party, through
the perfect arch of the frequent English rainbow, and Donald had
straightway asked, “Oh, what is that?” and Marie-Celeste had
straightway replied, “Why, Donald, of course that's the castle!”
“Whose castle?”
“The Queen of England's, Donald!” as though such a lack of
knowledge was simply incredible. So, you see, there was a vast
amount of ignorance to be enlightened, and Marie-Celeste was fairly
revelling at the prospect of being the one to do it.
“You know,” she said, commencing in a low tone, so as not to
disturb the others, and with the introductory long breath of the
conventional story-teller, “we have been through the castle three
times, so I really know a great deal about it, and it is very fortunate
that the Queen happened to be in London, or we shouldn't have
seen some of the rooms at all.”
 “In the first place, Donald, you know how the castle looks from
the outside—the beautiful gray stone walls and the towers with the
turrets everywhere you turn.”
“What are turrets?” asked Donald, giving evidence at once of such
an eager desire to acquire information as Marie-Celeste feared in the
long run might prove rather annoying.
“Oh, I believe it's a round wall that goes like that on the top!”
tracing an imaginary line in the air with one finger. “Well, you go in
at one of the gates, and it's just as though you were in a little city of
itself. There are roadways and sidewalks and street lamps, and a big
church right in front of you, and people coming and going, just like a
city. And there's a guard at the gate, and there are guards
everywhere. They didn't look very fine, though, for every time
they've had on their coats for fear of rain, and seemed all coat and
gloves. You know how horrid white cotton gloves are?”
 For the sake of agreement Donald nodded assent, but he should
have thought himself that white gloves of any sort would have been
quite imposing, and above all on a soldier.
“Well, the first place we went into was the Albert Chapel; and oh,
Donald, but it's beautiful! There's a marble floor shaped in diamonds
and circles, and there are such beautiful stained-glass windows, and
under each window a picture of something from the Bible, and these
pictures are made of different sorts of marble, somehow, and there's
a great deal of gold in them, that makes them more beautiful still.
But, best of all, because I love anything that has to do with real
people, there is a portrait in marble right underneath each window
of one of the Queen's children. They are raised, you know, from a
flat background, not cut all round like a statue.”
“Yes, I understand,” really very much interested; “but why do they
call it the Albert Chapel?”
“I was just going to ask you if you knew,” with an extremely
patronizing air, which Donald noticed, but was quite too courteous to
resent.
“It is called that because Albert was the name of the Queen's
husband, the Prince Consort, and after his death the Queen built it
to his memory. No, she didn't exactly build it, either. There was a
king built it long ago for his tomb, and it has quite a history, I
believe; but it was the Queen who made it beautiful as it is now. And
underneath is a great big tomb, where ever so many royal people
are buried—kings and queens and princes and princesses.”
“Is Prince Albert buried there?”
“No; I was going to tell you he is buried in a mausoleum (very
proud of the word) at Frogmore, just beyond the Long Walk, as they
call it, where we drove you, you remember, day before yesterday.”
“Well, I guess I shall always remember it; I never saw anything so
lovely in my life. It looked just like a picture they used to have in a
book called 'Pilgrim's Progress at the hospital.” Impatient of the
interruption, Marie-Celeste shook her head, as much as to say, “Oh,
yes, of course anybody knows about 'Pilgrim's Progress;'” but
Donald, stopping merely to catch his breath, continued: “The name
under it was Beulah Land, and it meant a sort of heaven; and the
Long Walk looked to me as though it might be a straight road to
Beulah Land.” And older people than Donald have thought the
selfsame thing, as they have looked down the same matchless
avenue, with its wonderful far-reaching vista of branching elms, and
its perfect driveway diminishing to a thread in the distance, with
here and there a flock of grazing sheep roaming its ample grass-
grown borders, and finding rich and abundant pasture.
“Yes, it does look like that,” said Marie-Celeste, merely by way of
politeness, and then at once resumed eagerly: “But although the
Prince is not really buried in the chapel, there's a beautiful tomb to
his memory right in front of the chancel. You must surely see it
some day, Donald. The figure of the Prince lies right along the top of
it, and he has on wonderful armor, and at his feet is a carved statue
of his favorite hound. I think it was fine in them to put it there, don't
you? It seems as though faithful dogs ought to be remembered just
as well as people. Then there's another beautiful tomb to Prince
Leopold. He is really buried there, and he—but I suppose you'll be
more interested in the castle even than in the chapel.” and as
Donald looked as though he thought he might, and as that was
exactly the way he was expected to look, Marie-Celeste complacently
continued: “Well, first you go up a flight of steps, and you find
yourself in a sort of vestibule; and there's a splendid portrait of the
architect there—the man who restored the old parts of the castle
and added new parts to it and made it all beautiful as it is now; and
from this vestibule you go on and on from one grand room to
another. They call them the State Apartments; and they are stately, I
can tell you, and some of them have very high-sounding names that
I cannot remember. There are wonderful tapestries on the walls—
pictures made in a loom somehow—and portraits everywhere of
royal people. Then there's a room they call the Guard Room, where
they have suits of ancient armor; and there's a great oak writing-
table in it made from the wood of the old Arctic ship Resolute; and it
tells in an inscription on it how she was abandoned by the English,
and how she was found by an American whaling-ship captain three
years afterwards, who got her free from the ice. And after that the
American Government fitted her out and gave her to Her Majesty
Queen Victoria as a token of friendship; and then, when she was
broken up, a few years ago, they made the table out of the wood.
Then there's a chair besides, that's made from an elm-tree that grew
where the English beat Napoleon on the field of Waterloo; and in
another part of the room, on a piece of a mast, there's a great
colossal bust of Lord Nelson; and I'm ashamed to say I don't know
anything about him, but we ought to, Donald.”
“And what's more, we do,” interrupted Donald, with a little
mischievous smile of satisfaction; “I guess you can't find a sailor boy
on land or sea too young to know about Lord Nelson. If you'd ever
been to London you'd know something about him yourself, for one
of the grandest squares there is called after the great battle he won
at Trafalgar, and there's an ever-so-high column in the centre of it,
with a statue of Lord Nelson on top of it. Oh, you ought to see
Trafalgar Square, I can tell you!”
“And I shall, of course. No one would come to England without
going up to London, would they? But I think you have told me very
little about Lord Nelson for Marie-Celeste was somewhat suspicious
of Donald's ability in that direction. She soon found to her sorrow,
however, that she was mistaken: for Donald forthwith launched forth
into such a detailed account of Lord Nelson's history, from his
voyage as a boy to the North Pole, to his last great, glorious battle,
that the patience of that young lady, who was rather more eager at
all times to impart information than to receive it, was sorely tried.
Donald, nevertheless, was greatly advanced thereby in her
estimation, since it seemed that marvellous ignorance in one
direction was unquestionably offset by an astonishing amount of
information in another.
“Well, I am rather glad to know about him,” said Marie-Celeste at
the first opportunity; “and now I'll go on with the castle, shall I?”
And Donald, somewhat exhausted by his efforts, was altogether
willing that she should.
“Let me see! Where was I? Oh, yes, I remember—the Guard
Room. Well, the next room to that is the Banqueting all, a
wonderful, great, big place, and the ceiling is covered with the crests
of the Knights of the Garter. Do you know anything about the
Knights of the Garter, Donald?”
Donald, looking utterly mystified, shook his head.
“I do, then,” chimed in Harold, who had been listening to the latter
part of the conversation; and over he came to the window, dragging
his chair after him. “Those old Knights are great favorites of mine.
Do you want me to tell you about them?”
“Yes,” said Donald very cordially; and Marie-Celeste said “yes” as
cordially as was possible, considering it meant she should again
relinquish her province of story-teller; but Harold, wholly
unconscious, proceeded.
“You see,” he said, “you stumble across the Order of the Garter
everywhere you turn here at Windsor, and so I've read up a good
deal about them, and it's all just as interesting as any story you ever
heard. The Order was founded—”
“What do you mean, 'The Order was founded?'” interrupted
Donald, who was not going to have anything taken for granted.
“Oh, the Brotherhood of Knights! That is what an Order is, you
know, and this one was founded way back in the fourteenth century,
in the time of Edward the Third; and they say the way it came to be
called the Order of the Garter was this: That King Edward was
dancing with the Countess of Salisbury, when she had the
misfortune to lose her garter; and then as he stooped to pick it up,
and saw every one smiling, he gallantly announced, 'that they
should shortly see that garter advanced to so high an honor and
renown as to account themselves happy to wear it.'”
 “Oh, that was elegant!” cried Marie-Celeste; “that is just my idea
of a Knight.”
“Oh, they were truly elegant old fellows in ever so many ways,
and they wore elegant clothes, I can tell you; and they do still, for
that matter.”
“Why, are there any Knights nowadays?” questioned Donald,
incredulously.
“Why, of course there are; and it's a very high honor, indeed, to be
made a Knight of the Garter.”
“Made a Knight?” for Marie-Celeste had an idea that the article
was born, not made.
“Why, of course, Marie-Celeste; that is, when a man is a great
man to start with, and then does something to make himself greater,
the Queen may reward him by permitting him to become a member
of the Order, if there happens to be a vacancy; and there's nothing
much finer can happen to a man than that.”
“But there isn't any real garter business about it now, is there?”
asked Donald.
“Indeed there is. To every new Knight made the Queen gives a
dark blue velvet garter, and what's more, they are never to appear in
public without them, unless booted for riding, and then they are
allowed to wear a ribbon of blue silk under their left boot instead.
And there's lots more that's awfully interesting about the Knights;
and I tell you what, some day, when Donald's stronger, we'll go up
to the castle and St. George's Chapel, and sort of spend the day with
the Knights, looking at everything that belongs to them. But now
you know something of what the crests on the ceiling of the
Banqueting Hall mean, and the shields in the panels along the sides,
that are waiting for the crests of the Knights that may hereafter be
admitted into the Order. In fact, everything in that room has to do
with the Knights. The Garter and the Cross of St. George are even
woven into the pattern of the carpet.”
 “Oh, dear me!” sighed Marie-Celeste; “I know very little, indeed,
about St. George; and was there ever any place like Windsor for
showing you how little you do know, anyway?”
“No, Marie-Celeste, there never was,” chimed in Mrs. Harris; for
both she and Mr. Harris had been listening with interest to Donald;
“but you ought not to mind that as much as we older folks, who are
expected to know a great deal more than you little people. Why,
when we first went through the castle the other day with Canon
Allyn, I was half afraid to open my lips, for fear of betraying some
new ignorance.”
“Well, I wouldn't be afraid any more; you know twice as much as
most ladies;” for Harold was already the devoted champion of Aunt
Lou, and lost no opportunity for proving his devotion.
“Now, go on with the castle, please,” urged Donald, secretly
hoping there would be no more interruptions.
“Oh, well,” said Marie-Celeste with a sigh, as though becoming
oppressed with the greatness of her undertaking; “besides the
Banqueting Hall there's the Grand Reception-Room, with a beautiful
plate-glass window forming almost all of one end of it, and there's
the Waterloo Room, filled with portraits of officers who fought there,
and then, in a place they call the Grand Vestibule, there's a splendid
statue of the Queen. Everything's grand, you see, wherever you
turn.”
“Well, Oueen or no, I'm sure I shouldn't like to have everything so
tearing grand,” said Donald, more expressively than elegantly.
“No, nor I; and the Queen doesn't really live in these grand rooms,
either. You can only see her very own rooms from the outside, and
you can only imagine what they are like; but they point out which is
the drawing-room and which is her sitting-room, and they don't call
them grand anything, for a comfort, so I suppose they're lovely and
homelike, like other people's; but they do look out on a grand
garden—the East Terrace they call it. You saw it the same day we
drove down the Long Walk. You remember the bushes all trimmed
up to a point, and the flower-beds and the statues, and the
fountains playing in the centre. And near the Terrace, Donald, is the
Photographer's Studio. Think of having a place all fitted up just to
take the pictures of the Queen's own family! That's kind of regal,
isn't it? But the finest thing of all is the Royal Pantry. I would give a
good deal to look in it. It is crammed full of all sorts of gold things
and a gold dinner service of one hundred and fifty pieces.”
Donald's eyes opened as wide at this as extreme drowsiness
would let them, so that it was easy to discover that the little
convalescent was growing pretty tired.
“Well, you must just see it all for yourself some day,” Marie-Celeste
wisely concluded; “and you had better go to bed now, Donald.”
 CHAPTER VII.—“AND NOW GOOD-
MORNING,”

N
ever in all this world was there a happier little
host than Harold Harris when he found how
kindly his guests from across the water were
taking to the life at Windsor; but who would not have
taken kindly to it, I should like to know? The Queen
herself, in her great castle on the hill, could not have
planned more for the comfort of her guests than did
Harold in his little castle beneath it; and, indeed, this
name of Little Castle had somehow attached itself to the pretty
stone house, with its round tower and moat-shaped terrace.
It had been an idle bachelor's fancy to build after this unique
fashion some ten years before; but when Harold's mother had come
seeking a home in Windsor, he was already tired of it, and she found
the house was “To be let,” provided desirable tenants could be
found; and “desirable” the little widow proved in the eyes of the
discriminating agent. “None more so,” he thought complacently
when he called for the first quarter's rent, and saw what a gem of a
place she had made it. All the contents of the house in London,
which after her husband's death had seemed too sad a place to live
in, had been brought into the ivy-covered little castle, and under her
transforming touch it had soon become as cheery and cosey as
possible. But it was not enough for Harold that he was able to invite
his friends into such an attractive home. A room in the top story,
with a fine north light, was fitted up as a studio for Uncle Fritz, who,
though a business man by circumstance, was an artist through and
through. For Aunt Lou an up-stairs sitting-room was converted into a
little study; for although Aunt Lou herself was rather loath to confess
it, it was nevertheless somewhat generally known that she was very
fond of writing stories for children. For Marie-Celeste there seemed
nothing in particular that could be done, save to make her own little
room as inviting as could be. To accomplish this, Harold conferred
with a friend of Ted's, Canon Allyn's daughter. Miss Allyn, who had
been a great favorite of Harold's mother, was only too glad to have
him turn to her, and entered into all the preparations with an
enthusiasm that was very delightful. She suggested, among other
things, a valance and curtains for the little brass bedstead, already
purchased, and then went herself and selected a soft, white material
and superintended their making. At her suggestion, too, the couch
and chairs were upholstered with a pretty flower-patterned cretonne,
and some lovely white-framed etchings were hung upon the tinted
walls. Then, by grace of his own idea of fitness, Harold had added to
the other furnishings a Dresden china toilet-set, and in this he was
perhaps far wiser than he knew, for is there anything so well
calculated to captivate at sight the heart of a dainty little maiden as
the mysterious round-topped boxes that compose the dainty outfit of
the ideal dressing-table? Then, to crown it all, a pair of ponies and a
basket-phaeton had been purchased for the exclusive use of the
guests that were to be. Of course, all this meant money; but with
the exception of the previous summer, when Theodore's guests had
cost him such a pretty penny, Harold had conscientiously lived a
good way inside his income, so that there was a reserve fund to
draw on, on demand. As I said, then, who would not have taken
kindly to the life at Windsor under such conditions, and have lost no
time in stowing themselves happily away in the special niche
prepared for them? So Mr. Harris painted as for dear life in all
weathers, indoors or out, as the fancy struck him, and Mrs. Harris
turned her leisure to account for a bit of writing now and then, and
in between times they drove hither and thither in the basket-
phaeton, and, one by one, took in all the sights of old and delightful
Windsor. And Marie-Celeste did likewise, as far as the driving and
sight-seeing were concerned; but having no greater responsibility
than the arrangement of the Dresden boxes on the little dressing-
table, wandered about at her own sweet will, in the hours while
Harold was at school and when every one else was busy. And the
place to which she wandered most often was to St. George's Chapel,
which at the time of her talk with Donald she had not yet had the
good fortune to visit. But with Marie-Celeste, as with some of the
rest of us, to know St. George's was to love it, and she had soon
gained a standing permission to go there whenever she liked; and
that was very often—so often, in fact, that any one who saw her one
lovely May morning tripping down the walk from the Little Castle, as
though bent upon some special errand, could easily have guessed
her destination. It was a matter of five minutes to reach the corner
of High Street, and of three minutes more to climb Castle Hill; then a
smile to the guard who happened to be on duty at the gate, and she
was within the castle walls. And once there she stopped to take it all
in, for it had never seemed so beautiful before; and then in a
moment she knew what new touch had been added to the scene.
The sun had shone as brilliantly, and the gray round tower, with its
grass-grown terraces, had stood out as clearly against the blue of
the English sky, but never before—for Marie-Celeste, that is—had
those terraces been abloom with great masses of lilacs. Two days
had come and gone since her last visit, and the showers and
sunshine intervening had flashed the myriad tiny buds of every
cluster into full and transcendent bloom. No wonder the child held
her breath, spellbound from sheer delight, and no wonder, too, that
the spell lost its power to hold her the moment she spied a darling,
new little friend of hers standing in the chapel doorway. “And—and
now good-morning,” rang out a cheery little voice as she had
hastened up the path.
“Good-morning, Albert,” answered Marie-Celeste, smiling at the
expected, “and now,” with which, by way of getting the best of a
tendency to stutter, Albert was accustomed to preface many of his
remarks; “I thought I should find you here,” she added; “and have
you seen the lilacs, Albert?”
“Yes; and our bushes are out too,” with an emphatic little nod of
the head, as much as to say, that the Queen's lilacs were not
specially privileged in that direction.
“Is your sister going to play this morning?” asked Marie-Celeste,
with an eagerness on her face that gave place to intense satisfaction
as Albert answered, “Yes; she's comin' in a little while;” since to
have Miss Allyn at the organ during these visits of hers to the chapel
was just the most delightful thing that could possibly happen for
Marie-Celeste. “And now let's have a little chat,” said Albert, seating
himself on the step, and making room for Marie-Celeste beside him.
“And what shall we talk about?”
“The weather;” for with Albert this topic was always of paramount
importance. “And first, I'll see what kind of a day we are going to
have;” and suiting the action to the word, he stepped off a little
distance to take an observation. He was always the embodiment of
dainty freshness, this little four-year-old Albert, and thanks to his
mother's preference, boyish percale dresses still kept the Lilliputian
trousers of the period at bay. He was a cunning little object as he
strode a few feet down the path, his hat on the back of his golden
curls, a soft, red silk sash knotted soldier-like at his side, and his
hands folded behind him, in evident and precise imitation of some
older observer of the elements. His observations, however, were so
exceedingly cursory and so impartially comprehensive, including the
path at his feet every whit as carefully as the sky above him, that
Marie-Celeste had difficulty in preserving proper decorum.
 “We are going to have a fine day,” Albert asserted, resuming his
seat on the steps, and with the authority of one who knows; and the
matter of the weather being thus satisfactorily disposed of, Marie-
Celeste made so bold as to introduce another subject; and as it
chanced to meet with Albert's approval, they chatted merrily
together for ever so long. Meantime, a party of tourists, with
Marshall's familiar pink guide-hook open in the hands of one of
them, had been surveying the chapel at a distance, and now, after a
word or two with the children on the doorstep, made their way
within.
“Is Mr. Brooke in the chapel, Albeit?” asked Marie-Celeste.
“Yes,” sighed Albert; for he knew that his answer meant an end to
their chat; for whenever during these visits of hers a party of tourists
were so fortunate as to secure the services of the verier, Mr. Brooke,
Marie-Celeste invariably followed in their train, listening to every
word as it fell from the good old man's lips. She already knew many
of the monument inscriptions by heart, but that made no difference;
for her the old chapel possessed a never-ending fascination, and she
rarely crossed the threshold of the choir—which was a beautiful
chapel in itself—without an actual thrill of pleasure. So, as Albert had
expected, this morning proved no exception, and he was
unceremoniously left to communion with his own thoughts upon the
doorstep; but it did not prove a long separation. In their tour of the
chapel the travellers from across the water had but reached the
wonderful cenotaph of the Princess Charlotte, when a sweet single
chord from the great organ broke upon the air, as though the player
simply wanted to make sure that the instrument would respond
when the time came. But in that single chord lay a summons for
Marie-Celeste and for Albert; at least, they chose so to regard it, and
meeting at the foot of the organ-loft stairway, they climbed it hand-
in-hand.
“So here you are!” said a very sweet-looking young lady, turning
to greet the children from her seat on the organ-bench. “Seems to
me I would have waited for more of an invitation than that, just that
one chord.”
“You needn't mind 'bout inwiting us ever, Dorothy,” said Albert,
climbing on to a cushioned bench at his sister's side, “'cause we'd
tome anyhow, wouldn't we, Marie-Celeste?”
“Yes, Albert, I think we would; but you really don't mind having
us, do you, Miss Allyn?”
“No, I really don't,” in imitation of Marie-Celeste's frequent use of
the word. “In fact, I rather like to have two such every-day little
specimens near me here in this chapel, where so many great people
lie buried; and now I shall not say another word, because I want to
have a good practice.”
“But you'll—” and then Marie-Celeste thought perhaps she had
better not ask it.
“Stop in time for your favorites,” laughed Miss Allyn, finishing the
sentence. “Yes, of course I will. Perhaps you'd like them now, you
and Albert?”
“No, no, Dorothy,” said Albert firmly; “we want to think they are
tomin', and not dat dey're over.” And as Marie-Celeste was evidently
of the same mind, that settled the matter. Then for the first time the
tone of the organ rang out full and strong; and the visitors in the
chapel below looked up with rapt faces to the gallery, as though for
them, as for Marie-Celeste, the sweet music seemed to lend the last
perfecting touch to the holy enchantment of the place. For over an
hour, with scarce an interruption, Miss Allyn played on and on, and
Marie-Celeste never stirred from the choirmaster's chair, in which she
sat absorbed and entranced. Albert, it must be confessed, had made
more than one mysterious sortie down the gallery stairs, as though
bent on an important errand which had just occurred to him; but in
each case he brought up in rather aimless fashion in some remote
corner of the chapel; so it was easy to comprehend that the only
real purpose in view was to give his restless little four-year-old self
the benefit of a change. He was absent on the third of these little
excursions of his, and was surreptitiously amusing his audacious
little self by seeing how it seemed to sit in the Oueen's own stall,
when hark!—yes, that was going to be “The Roseate Hues,” and with
a bound that came near bringing the royal draperies with him he
was out of the stall in a trice and fairly scrambling up the organ
stairs.
“Bedin aden; it isn't fair; bedin aden, Dorothy, please,” he urged
with all the breath hurrying and excitement had left him; and
Dorothy, at sight of his anxious, entreating face, resolved to “begin
again,” first bringing the interrupted measure to a close with a brief
concluding improvisation of her own. Albert understood, and
brooked the momentary delay as best he could, but he confided to
Marie-Celeste, in highly audible whisper, that he didn't see why
Dorothy couldn't stop short off in the middle of a piece if she chose
to: he could, anyway—he knew he could.
“Perhaps,” said Marie-Celeste, far wiser than she knew, “you
couldn't if you were really a great musician.” And then instantly both
children stood still and motionless, for there was the familiar melody
again.
 “De roseate hoos of early dawn,” hummed Albert in a cunning, to-
himself sort of way,

De biteness of de day,
De kimson of de sunset sky,
How fast dey fade away,”

and then the same verse through again and still again, as Dorothy
was good enough to repeat the brief, sweet strain for his special
delectation. It is doubtful if Albert appreciated the pathos of the
lines. It was the rose hue of the sunrise and the crimson of the
sunset, wedded to the lovely melody of the refrain, that brought
such rapture of delight to his color-loving soul.
And now it was Marie-Celeste's turn, and the martial strain of “The
Son of God goes forth to war” woke the old chapel echoes. Three
times, as for Albert, the air was played effectively through, and then
Miss Allyn slipped down from the organ-bench and into the nearest
chair.
“I wish I had strength just once,” she said, “to play as long as I
should like to.”
“Then you'd never stop, Dorothy, not even at the ends,” said
Albert, looking comically doleful at the mere prospect of such an
undesirable state of affairs.
“I remember Mr. Belden told me on the steamer,” said Marie-
Celeste, with the air of one who settles down for a good talk with a
familiar friend, “of some musician who heard some one strike two or
three chords and then suddenly stop, and after that he; could not
get a wink of sleep till he jumped out of bed and rushed to his piano
and struck the chord that belonged at the end of the others.”
“Yes; that was Handel, I think,” said Miss Allyn.
“Handel!” repeated Marie-Celeste; “I want to remember that name
and everything else besides, if I can, that Mr. Belden told me.”
“Who was this Mr. Belden, Marie-Celeste?”
“Oh, he was the queerest English gentleman—an English
gentleman that I met on the steamer. I don't think many people
liked him—he said himself they didn't, anyway; but I liked him, and
we grew to be great friends, and we had a long chat together almost
every day.”
“What about?” asked Albert eagerly, since chats were just in his
line.
“Oh, often about books, and a great deal about the castle here,
for he seemed to know all about it. Besides, he was reading a book
called 'Royal Windsor,' and that was how I came to know him,
because I knocked it out of his hands accidentally, and then I had to
ask him to excuse me, and that's the way we commenced to be
friends. After that he told me a great deal about what he had been
reading. And did you ever hear, Albert, about a little French girl who
was made Queen of England, and came to live in the castle when
she was only eight years old, and who used to come to this very
chapel?”
“No, never,” with eyes as big as saucers.
“Well, some day, Albert, I'll tell you all about her, and some other
things that happened right here in St. George's. You know, about
her, don't you, Miss Allyn?”
“Yes, a little—Madame La Petite Reine, I believe they called her;
but tell me more, Marie-Celeste, about your steamer friend. He
must, as you say, have been a queer sort of a person to tell you
people didn't like him.”
“I guess it was true, though. He seemed kind of a selfish man,
and looked so cross until you came to know him, that I was really
very much frightened the day I knocked the book out of his hand.
He isn't ever very well, and he has to keep travelling about for his
health. I think that's one reason he looks cross; but he's very
handsome, and papa says very aristocratic.”
“I would radcr hear about de little Queen,” remarked Albert
demurely.
“Hush, dear!” said Dorothy; “I want to hear more about this Mr.
——— did you say his name was Belden, Marie-Celeste? Are you
sure it was Belden?”
“Yes, sure; I have it at home in the printed list of passengers. And
another queer thing about him”—for there was real pleasure in
enlarging on a subject in which her listener took such undisguised
interest—“was that he told me one day that he had too much
money. That was funny, wasn't it? And he said he thought life was
very stupid. He just seemed all out of sorts with everything, and I
got him to read the 'Story of a Short Life;' I thought it would do him
good, and I'm sure it did.”
“I don't know about that story, either,” said Albert aggressively,
and as though such constant allusion to very interesting things was
really more than could be patiently endured; but he found to his
sorrow that his gentle protest seemed to make no impression
whatsoever.
“I fancy it was Mr. Belden, too,” continued Marie-Celeste, as
though wholly unconscious of any interruption, “who asked them to
sing 'The Son of God goes forth to war' at the service in the saloon
Sunday morning. I think anybody who reads the 'Story of a Short
Life' must love that hymn, don't you? That's the reason I'm fond of
it. Whenever I hear it I seem to see the soldiers in the church at
Asholt and the V.C. out on the door-step, singing the beautiful words
loud and clear, so that dear little Leonard would hear; and then the
hand pulling down the curtain at the barrack master's window, so
that the V.C. knew at once that the little fellow had gone to heaven
at last.”
“Yes, it's a beautiful story,” said Miss Allyn thoughtfully. But
meantime, matters had reached a climax in little Albert's heaving
breast. If nothing was to be explained, there was no use staying any
longer, and he summarily took his departure; and but for his childish
reverence for the sacred place would doubtless have stamped his
indignant way down the steps of the spiral stairway. Miss Allyn
smiled significantly and rose to follow.
“From all you have told me, Marie-Celeste, your friend might well
be Theodore's uncle,” said Miss Allyn, as they made their way down
the stairs; “he and Harold have an uncle—their mother's brother—a
Mr. Harold Selden, who was very much the sort of man you
describe.”
“Oh, no; I'm sure that couldn't be, Miss Allyn! Because I talked
about Harold often, so that he would have known and told me, and
he would have told me, too, if his name had not been Bel-den, you
know.”
Miss Allyn was not so sure of that; but Albert was mounting the
wall of the terrace, to which he had led the way, in rather dangerous
fashion, and Miss Allyn hurrying to lift the little fellow to a safer
level, the conversation ended abruptly.
“Isn't it beautiful!” she said, as Marie-Celeste joined her, at the
same time lending a hand toward a less ambitious bit of climbing
with which Albert was fain to content himself.
Marie-Celeste looked away over the tops of the fine old trees that
just reach to the terraces from the steep decline of the slopes below,
way to the lovely meadows, and then turned to look up at the castle,
leaning comfortably against the wall at her back.
“Yes,” she said seriously; “I can't find any words for it all”—her
face fairly aglow with enthusiasm as she spoke—“everything is so
perfectly lovely: the views, and the towers, and the castle itself, and
the chapels, and the wonderful Long Walk, so that it seems as
though I was just dreaming it all, even to the little room Harold has
fitted up so beautifully for me.”
“I was sure it would look very prettily when it was finished,” said
Miss Allyn complacently. “Why, did you see it?”
“Why, of course I did! Hasn't Harold told you that I selected the
curtains, and the valance, and the hangings, and went with him to
buy the set for the toilette-table?”
“Oh, yes, of course he did. I don't know what I was thinking of.
You used to know Aunt Grace very well, didn't you?”
“Yes; and loved her with all my heart; and I used to spend a great
deal of time at the dear Little Castle.”
“Do you know much about Ted, Miss Allyn?”
“No, not much, dear—not nowadays; but why do you ask?”
“Oh, because—well, I suppose I ought not to say it, but we're
awfully disappointed in Ted. He wasn't ever half so nice as Harold,
was he?”
“Oh, yes, he was—just as nice every bit; though we English
people think that word nice of yours is so very queer. You have
heard, haven't you”—for Miss Aliyn was quite willing to change the
subject—“of the Englishman who said to a young girl whom he met
on the steamer, 'You Americans use nice so much, I think it's a nasty
word;' and of how she turned and archly said, 'And do you think
nasty is a nice word?'”
“Dood for her,” said Albert, thankful that the conversation had
once more grown intelligible.
“But nobody thinks Ted is so nice now, do they?” for Marie-Celeste
preferred to keep to the main point.
“No, I'm afraid not; but they would if he would let them, I'm sure,
for he had the makings of a splendid fellow in him.”
“He used to be Dorothy's best friend, didn't he, Dorothy?”
“Yes, he did, Albert, and I miss him very much. He and Harry are
great friends still. Harry's my big brother, Marie-Celeste.”
“Why doesn't he tom to see us now, Dorothy?” Albert questioned.
“He's tired of us, perhaps;” and Marie-Celeste, looking up at Miss
Allyn's sweet face, wondered how that could be, and then asked
very seriously, “Do you know what has changed him, Miss Aliyn?”
“Oh, yes, it is easy enough to tell: Oxford and popularity and more
money than is good for him, like your friend, Mr. Belden. It takes
pretty strong stuff to withstand that combination.”
“Well, I know one thing,” said Marie-Celeste, “and that is that he
isn't at all nice to Harold, and that he comes home very seldom, and
is very high and mighty when he does come.”
“High and mighty?” queried Albert, with a whimsical little smile.
“That must be a funny way to be;” and then Miss Allyn, more
impressed than ever with the doubtful propriety of discussing Mr.
Theodore Harris's shortcomings under existing conditions, looked at
her watch, and discovering it was time to go home, asked Marie-
Celeste to come with them to luncheon.
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