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Answer: A
Page Ref: 10
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

5) Information that reduces uncertainty, improves decision makers' ability to make predictions, or
confirms or corrects their prior expectations, is said to be
A) complete.
B) relevant.
C) reliable.
D) timely.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

6) Information that is free from error or bias and accurately represents the events or activities of the
organization is
A) relevant.
B) reliable.
C) verifiable.
D) timely.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

7) Information that does not omit important aspects of the underlying events or activities that it measures
is
A) complete.
B) accessible.
C) relevant.
D) timely.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

2
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
8) When two knowledgeable people acting independently each produce the same information, this
information is said to be
A) complete.
B) relevant.
C) reliable.
D) verifiable.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

9) Data must be converted into information to be considered useful and meaningful for decision-making.
There are six characteristics that make information both useful and meaningful. If information is free
from error or bias and accurately represents the events or activities of the organization, it is
representative of the characteristic of
A) relevancy.
B) timeliness.
C) understandability.
D) reliability.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

10) An accounting information system must be able to perform which of the following tasks?
A) collect transaction data
B) process transaction data
C) provide adequate controls
D) all of the above
Answer: D
Page Ref: 10
Objective: Learning Objective 5
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

11) Which of the following is not an example of a common activity in an AIS?

A) buy and pay for goods and services
B) sell goods and services and collect cash
C) summarize and report results to interested parties
D) recording of sales calls for marketing purposes
Answer: D
Page Ref: 8
Objective: Learning Objective 5
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic
3
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
12) Which of the following is not one of the components of an AIS?
A) Internal controls and security measures
B) People
C) Procedures and instructions
D) Hardware
Answer: D
Page Ref: 10
Objective: Learning Objective 5
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

13) One group that relies on both the adequate collection and transformation of data for decision-making
purposes for an organization is
A) management.
B) interested outsiders.
C) competitors.
D) the government.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 12
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

14) The primary objective of accounting is to

A) implement strong internal controls.
B) provide useful information to decision makers.
C) prepare financial statements.
D) ensure the profitability of an organization.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 12
Objective: Learning Objective 5
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

4
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
15) The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has recognized the importance of
AIS and the major impact information technology has on the area of accounting. To recognize individual
CPAs who have met educational and experiential requirements in this area, the group formally created
the designation known as
A) the Certified Management Accountant.
B) the Certified Information Technology Professional.
C) the Certified Internal Auditor.
D) the Certified Data Processing Professional.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 11
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

16) The AIS must include controls to ensure

A) safety and availability of data.
B) marketing initiatives match corporate goals.
C) information produced from data is accurate.
D) both A and C
Answer: D
Page Ref: 10
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

17) A change in the AIS that makes information more easily accessible and widely available within an
organization is most likely to first influence the
A) organizational culture.
B) customer base.
C) external financial statement users.
D) production activity.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 13
Objective: Learning Objective 7
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

18) The process of creating value for customers is the result of nine activities that form a
A) value chain.
B) profitable operation.
C) successful business.
D) support system.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 13
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic
5
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
19) The value chain concept is composed of two types of activities known as
A) primary and support.
B) primary and secondary.
C) support and value.
D) technology and support.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 13-14
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

20) Which of the following is a primary activity in the value chain?

A) infrastructure
B) technology
C) purchasing
D) marketing and sales
Answer: D
Page Ref: 14
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

21) In value chain analysis, what is the activity of arranging the delivery of products to customers
called?
A) outbound logistics
B) inbound logistics
C) shipping
D) delivery
Answer: A
Page Ref: 14
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

22) An AIS provides value by

A) improving products or services through information that increases quality and reduces costs.
B) providing timely and reliable information to decision makers.
C) creating new products.
D) both A and B
Answer: D
Page Ref: 11
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

6
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
23) In Chapter 1, Figure 1-4 shows the factors that influence the design of AIS. The diagram shows a bi-
directional arrow between the organizational culture and the AIS. The reason for this two-way
interchange between organizational culture and AIS is
A) that the AIS should not influence the values of the organizational culture.
B) because the organization's culture influences the AIS, and likewise the AIS influences the
organization's culture by controlling the flow of information within the organization.
C) due to the transfer of managers between the two corporate elements.
D) the AIS impacts the organization's key strategies.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 13
Objective: Learning Objective 7
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

24) An example of inbound logistics would consist of

A) the activities that transform inputs into final products or services.
B) the activities that help customers to buy the organization's products or services.
C) the activities that provide post-sale support to customers.
D) the activities that consist of receiving, storing, and distributing the materials used as inputs by the
organization to create goods and/or services it sells.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 13
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

25) A good example of how an AIS is used to share knowledge within an organization is
A) the use of a corporate database to help staff identify the relevant experts who can help with a
particular client.
B) the use of laptop computers to access a network for messaging worldwide.
C) the monitoring of production equipment to watch for defects.
D) the use of point-of-sale data to determine hot-selling items.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 11
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

7
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
26) One activity within the value chain is research and development. This activity can be identified as a
A) firm infrastructure activity.
B) human resources activity.
C) technology activity.
D) purchasing activity.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 14
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

27) When the AIS provides information in a timely and accurate manner, it stands as an example of
A) improved decision making.
B) improving the quality and reducing the costs of products or services.
C) improving efficiency.
D) all of the above
Answer: D
Page Ref: 11
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

28) Accounting information plays major roles in managerial decision making by

A) identifying situations requiring management action.
B) reducing uncertainty.
C) providing a basis for choosing among alternative actions.
D) all of the above
Answer: D
Page Ref: 12
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

29) A well-designed AIS can improve the decision-making function within the organization. Which
statement below would describe a limitation, rather than a benefit, of an efficient AIS?
A) An AIS reduces uncertainty, and therefore accounting information can provide a basis for choosing
among alternative courses of action.
B) An AIS identifies situations requiring management action.
C) An AIS provides to its users an abundance of information without any filtering or condensing of such
information.
D) An AIS provides information about the results of previous decisions which provides decision makers
with feedback that can be used in future decision making.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 12
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic
8
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
30) Jill Fredson is in charge of the mail room at Gammon University. Every Friday morning she receives
a report via email that summarizes the number of outgoing and incoming pieces of mail by source and
destination department. Every Friday afternoon, Jill deletes the report without reading it because it has
no bearing on mail room operations. Which of the following characteristics of useful information is
absent in the situation described above?
A) Relevant
B) Reliable
C) Complete
D) Timely
E) Understandable
F) Verifiable
G) Accessible
Answer: A
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

31) Inventory information is provided in real time by a firm's accounting information system. The
accuracy of this information is questionable, however, since the production manager often reports stock
outs of components that the system indicates are in stock. Which of the following characteristics of
useful information is absent in the situation described above?
A) Relevant
B) Reliable
C) Complete
D) Timely
E) Understandable
F) Verifiable
G) Accessible
Answer: B
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

9
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
32) Joe Marzetti has been the controller of Fairview Tires for 25 years. Ownership of the firm recently
changed hands and the new owners are conducting an audit of the financial records. The audit has been
unable to reproduce financial reports that were prepared by Marzetti. While there is no evidence of
wrongdoing, the auditors are concerned that the discrepancies might contribute to poor decisions. Which
of the following characteristics of useful information is absent in the situation described above?
A) Relevant
B) Reliable
C) Complete
D) Timely
E) Understandable
F) Verifiable
G) Accessible
Answer: F
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

33) In 2003, Custer Manufacturing implemented a Web-based information system that allows all
employees to access mission-critical information. The intention was to increase production efficiency.
Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect, as deliveries fell behind schedule and costs increased. Jeff
Akspen, the director of information technology services, asked Joyce Jenkins to come in and talk with
him about the system. Joyce is a long-time employee of Custer, and her opinion is valued by her peers
and by her supervisor. "So Joyce, how's it going down there in the shop?""Not so good, Jeff. Used to be
we got a weekly pick list so we knew how to plan production. Now, we got that computer system. Most
of us can't figure out how to use it to do our jobs. Is there some way to print out a pick list?"Jeff thought
for a while before responding. "Well, Joyce, to tell you the truth, I'm not so sure how to do it myself, but
there must be a way. We'll bring in the consultants that helped us build the system. Maybe they can
help." Which of the following characteristics of useful information is absent in the situation described
above?
A) Relevant
B) Reliable
C) Complete
D) Timely
E) Understandable
F) Verifiable
G) Accessible
Answer: E
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

10
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
34) Razzmataz, Wisconsin, is a popular tourist destination. During the winter months, the population
dwindles to a meager few, but when summer comes, the size of the town surges. Chuck Hewitt is the
town sanitation engineer. When the size of the town surges, so do his responsibilities. Among them is
management of the sewage processing volume.In an interview with the local paper, Chuck complained
that a report on tourist population that he uses to adjust processing volume refers to data that was
collected five days ago and it takes him a week to make adjustments.Which of the following
characteristics of useful information is absent in the situation described above?
A) Relevant
B) Reliable
C) Complete
D) Timely
E) Understandable
F) Verifiable
G) Accessible
Answer: D
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

35) A frantic Stro Frinzel called the home office from Des Moines."You have got to help me. I am about
to close a great sale, but I have to be able to guarantee delivery by the fourteenth. I can't get through to
the company Web site to verify delivery!""Thank you for calling. Your call is very important to us.
However, all of our lines are currently in use. Please try again later."Which of the following
characteristics of useful information is absent in the situation described above?
A) Relevant
B) Reliable
C) Complete
D) Timely
E) Understandable
F) Verifiable
G) Accessible
Answer: G
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

11
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
36) Message left on an answering machine: "Hi Bob! Just got into town. How about dinner this evening
if you're available. Call me!"Which of the following characteristics of useful information is absent in the
situation described above?
A) Relevant
B) Reliable
C) Complete
D) Timely
E) Understandable
F) Verifiable
G) Accessible
Answer: C
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

37) Robinson Crusoe has formed a business that sells carved gourmet coconuts. He has hired five
employees. The most senior is Friday, who manages the carving process. Monday is the newest
employee. She collects the coconuts. Tuesday, as you might expect, takes calls from curstomers, oops, I
mean customers, who are unhappy with their coconuts. Wednesday tosses finished coconuts into the sea,
whereupon they drift to the wholesaler. Thursday sends smoke signals to the wholesaler extolling the
virtues of the latest production run of nuts that are drifting across the bay.Which of the following
functions in the value chain is Monday performing?
A) Inbound logistics
B) Operations
C) Outbound logistics
D) Marketing and sales
E) Service
Answer: A
Page Ref: 13
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

12
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
38) Robinson Crusoe has formed a business that sells carved gourmet coconuts. He has hired five
employees. The most senior is Friday, who manages the carving process. Monday is the newest
employee. She collects the coconuts. Tuesday, as you might expect, takes calls from curstomers, oops, I
mean customers, who are unhappy with their coconuts. Wednesday tosses finished coconuts into the sea,
whereupon they drift to the wholesaler. Thursday sends smoke signals to the wholesaler extolling the
virtues of the latest production run of nuts that are drifting across the bay.Which of the following
functions in the value chain is Friday performing?
A) Inbound logistics
B) Operations
C) Outbound logistics
D) Marketing and sales
E) Service
Answer: B
Page Ref: 13
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

39) Robinson Crusoe has formed a business that sells carved gourmet coconuts. He has hired five
employees. The most senior is Friday, who manages the carving process. Monday is the newest
employee. She collects the coconuts. Tuesday, as you might expect, takes calls from curstomers, oops, I
mean customers, who are unhappy with their coconuts. Wednesday tosses finished coconuts into the sea,
whereupon they drift to the wholesaler. Thursday sends smoke signals to the wholesaler extolling the
virtues of the latest production run of nuts that are drifting across the bay.Which of the following
functions in the value chain is Wednesday performing?
A) Inbound logistics
B) Operations
C) Outbound logistics
D) Marketing and sales
E) Service
Answer: C
Page Ref: 14
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

13
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
40) Robinson Crusoe has formed a business that sells carved gourmet coconuts. He has hired five
employees. The most senior is Friday, who manages the carving process. Monday is the newest
employee. She collects the coconuts. Tuesday, as you might expect, takes calls from curstomers, oops, I
mean customers, who are unhappy with their coconuts. Wednesday tosses finished coconuts into the sea,
whereupon they drift to the wholesaler. Thursday sends smoke signals to the wholesaler extolling the
virtues of the latest production run of nuts that are drifting across the bay.Which of the following
functions in the value chain is Thursday performing?
A) Inbound logistics
B) Operations
C) Outbound logistics
D) Marketing and sales
E) Service
Answer: D
Page Ref: 14
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

41) Robinson Crusoe has formed a business that sells carved gourmet coconuts. He has hired five
employees. The most senior is Friday, who manages the carving process. Monday is the newest
employee. She collects the coconuts. Tuesday, as you might expect, takes calls from curstomers, oops, I
mean customers, who are unhappy with their coconuts. Wednesday tosses finished coconuts into the sea,
whereupon they drift to the wholesaler. Thursday sends smoke signals to the wholesaler extolling the
virtues of the latest production run of nuts that are drifting across the bay.Which of the following
functions in the value chain is Tuesday performing?
A) Inbound logistics
B) Operations
C) Outbound logistics
D) Marketing and sales
E) Service
Answer: E
Page Ref: 14
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

14
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
42)

Refer to the chart above. At what point, measured in terms of the net cost of information, does
information overload begin?
A) 0
B) 5
C) 10
D) 12
Answer: C
Page Ref: 4
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

43) Tri-Anything, Limited, is a British company operating in New York state. It offers stylized, boutique
public relations services to upscale retailers in quaint New England towns. A major source of revenue is
a weekly newsletter that reports on current and projected tourist travel and spending patterns.
Preparation of the newsletter requires study and analysis of weather conditions, economic activity, and
travel costs. It is available at an annual subscription rate of $299.99. There are currently 190 subscribers.
Preparation and distribution of the newsletter costs $12,000 annually. The value of information to
subscribers is:
A) $236.83
B) $44,998.10
C) Less than $63.16
D) At least $300.00
Answer: D
Page Ref: 4
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic
15
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
44) Many modern accounting software packages offer separate transaction cycle modules. What is the
reason for this?
A) Every organization does not need to implement all of the available transaction cycle modules.
B) Most businesses do not need the revenue cycle module as part of their AIS.
C) The nature of a given transaction cycle is the same irrespective of the type of organization.
D) A properly designed AIS does not use the concept of separate business transaction cycles to process
transactions.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 9
Objective: Learning Objective 5
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

45) The business owners obtain financing from outside investors, which results in an inflow of cash into
the company. This transaction is considered to be part of which cycle?
A) the revenue cycle
B) the payroll cycle
C) the production cycle
D) the financing cycle
Answer: D
Page Ref: 7-8
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

46) Which of the following is not a transaction cycle?

A) revenue
B) expenditure
C) human resources
D) general ledger and reporting
Answer: D
Page Ref: 7-9
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

47) Which of the following statements is false?

A) Retail stores do not have a production cycle.
B) Financial institutions have installment-loan cycles.
C) A service company does not have an inventory system.
D) Every organization should implement every transaction cycle module.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 9
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic
16
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
48) Transaction cycles can be summarized on a high level as "give-get" transactions. An example of
"give-get" in the expenditure cycle would be
A) give cash, get cash.
B) give cash, get goods.
C) give cash, get labor.
D) give goods, get cash.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 7
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

49) Transaction cycles can be summarized on a high level as "give-get" transactions. An example of
"give-get" in the revenue cycle would be
A) give cash, get goods.
B) give goods, get cash.
C) give cash, get labor.
D) give cash, get cash.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 7
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

50) Groups of related business activities such as the acquisition of merchandise and payment of vendors
are called
A) transaction cycles.
B) economic cycles.
C) business events.
D) transactions.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 6-7
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

51) Which of the following is a true statement?

A) Business strategy directly influences AIS, but not information technology.
B) Information technology directly influences organizational culture, but not business strategy.
C) Organizational culture directly influences business strategy, but not AIS.
D) AIS directly influences information technology, but not business strategy.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 13
Objective: Learning Objective 7
Difficulty : Difficult
AACSB: Analytic
17
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
52) The transaction cycle that includes the events of hiring employees and paying them is known as the
A) revenue cycle.
B) expenditure cycle.
C) human resources cycle.
D) financing cycle.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 7-8
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

53) The transaction cycle approach leads to efficient processing of a large number of transactions
because
A) transaction cycles are easier to computerize.
B) a large number of transactions within a given cycle can be categorized into a relatively small number
of distinct types.
C) the transaction cycle approach represents the natural order of business.
D) transaction cycles are easy to understand.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 7
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

54) Which of the following is not an example of how an AIS adds value to an organization?
A) All employees at a hospital can access and update patient records from any computer terminal in the
hospital.
B) A customer service representative can find a customer's account data, purchase history, payment
history, and salesperson's name while on the phone with the customer, to resolve issues quickly.
C) Suppliers are able to access sales data directly from the point-of-sale system of a retailer and deliver
inventory automatically when needed.
D) Client tax files are encrypted and made available on the CPA firm's network to any employee with an
access code.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 11
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Difficult
AACSB: Analytic

18
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
55) Rolleigh Corp. identifies growth by new product development and product improvement as the
number one corporate goal. An employee at Wrigley's, one of Rolleigh's wholly-owned subsidiaries,
developed an innovation to an existing product that would directly address a shortcoming in the similar
product offered by Rolleigh's closest competitor. Wrigley's current Return on Investment (ROI) is 15%,
but the product innovation is expected to generate ROI of only 12%. Awarding bonuses to subsidiary
managers based on ROI could result in:
A) goal conflict
B) information overload
C) goal congruence
D) decreased value of information
Answer: A
Page Ref: 4
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Difficult
AACSB: Analytic

56) Which of the following tradeoffs between characteristics of useful information is least
objectionable?
A) Incomplete information received on a timely basis
B) Irrelevant information received in an understandable format
C) Unreliable information easily accessible
D) Verifiable information received in unreadable format
Answer: A
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

57) Paid time-off policies, job descriptions, and procedures manuals are examples of information needed
to support key decisions in what business process?
A) Hire and train employees
B) Acquire inventory
C) Sell merchandise
D) Collect payment from customers
Answer: A
Page Ref: 6
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

19
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
58) Which of the following is not a key decision to be made when starting a business?
A) How to estimate the allowance for uncollectible accounts
B) Whether to advertise on TV, radio, or newspaper
C) How to raise capital
D) Whether to accept American Express
Answer: A
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

59) Paying federal payroll taxes is part of which transaction cycle?

A) Human resources/payroll
B) Expenditure
C) Financing
D) Revenue
Answer: A
Page Ref: 8
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

60) Who of the following would not be involved in the revenue cycle?
A) Accounts payable clerk
B) Customer
C) Cashier
D) Credit manager
Answer: A
Page Ref: 7-8
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

61) Which of the following is not one of the three basic types of data about a specific sales transaction
that should be captured by an Accounting Information System?
A) Name of the employee who completed the sale
B) Daily sales quota
C) Product sold
D) Date
Answer: B
Page Ref: 4
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

20
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
62) Who of the following is not a stakeholder with whom an accounting information system typically
communicates directly?
A) Wall Street industry analyst
B) Venture capitalist
C) Company that supplies raw materials
D) Company that purchases finished goods for resale to consumers
Answer: A
Page Ref: 6
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

63) Define the concept of a system.

Answer: A system is a set of two or more components that are somehow interrelated and interact
together to achieve a specific goal.
Page Ref: 4
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

64) Define data, information, and how the value of information is determined.
Answer: Data: facts that are collected, entered, recorded, stored, and processed by an AIS. Information:
data that has been organized and processed and is meaningful to its users. Such information is
accessible, relevant, timely, reliable, verifiable, complete, and understandable. Information is of value
when the benefits received from using or acting upon it outweighs the cost to produce the information.
Page Ref: 4
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

65) Define an accounting information system.

Answer: An AIS is a system that collects, records, stores, and processes data to produce information for
decision makers.
Page Ref: 10
Objective: Learning Objective 5
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

66) Identify the components of an accounting information system.

Answer: A well-designed AIS consists of people, procedures and instructions, data, software,
information technology infrastructure, and internal controls and security measures.
Page Ref: 10
Objective: Learning Objective 5
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

21
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
67) What is the CITP designation and why is it important to AIS?
Answer: The CITP designation stands for "Certified Information Technology Professional." It is
awarded to CPAs who have demonstrated a broad range of knowledge and skill sets in the areas of
accounting and information systems and technology. The AICPA (American Institute of CPAs) has
acknowledged the importance and close relationship that accounting and information systems share in
creating this specialty designation for accounting information system professionals.
Page Ref: 11
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

68) Differentiate between an AIS course and other accounting courses.

Answer: Other accounting courses assume the preparation or reporting of accounting information is for
external or internal users. However, the AIS course focuses on the flow of accounting information in the
organization from a systems perspective. The AIS course traces the origin, processing, storing, and
ultimate disposal of information. An AIS course also focuses on business processes, organization
structure, information systems, and corporate planning and goals.
Page Ref: 10-12
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Difficult
AACSB: Analytic

69) What is the purpose behind the five primary activities in the value chain?
Answer: The goal of the five primary activities in the value chain is to facilitate the business in
providing value to its customers. The five primary activities allow the business to create, market, and
deliver its products and services to its customers, as well as providing postsale support.
Page Ref: 13
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

70) How can an AIS add value to the organization?

Answer: An AIS can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the value chain by improving the
quality and lowering costs of products or services, improving efficiency of operations, improving
decision making, enhancing the sharing of knowledge, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of its
supply chain and improving the internal control structure.
Page Ref: 11-12
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

22
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
71) How can a well-designed AIS improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a company's value chain?
Answer: The AIS can be designed to allow customers direct access to a company's inventory and sales
order entry systems. This allows the customer to do more of the work that traditionally has been done by
sales, marketing, and administration personnel. This allows for faster ordering, and cuts the company's
labor costs. It may also have the effect of allowing the customer more control in a purchase transaction
that may bring more satisfaction and value to the customer.
Page Ref: 11
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

72) Discuss the concept of a system and the issues of goal conflict and goal congruence.
Answer: A system is a set of two or more components that are somehow interrelated and interact
together to achieve a specific goal. A system usually consists of smaller components called subsystems.
These subsystems have specific and defined functions, which interact with and support the larger
system. The concept of systems is key to information technology and AIS. All systems, including the
AIS, must work to achieve one or more organizational goals. Goal conflict results when a decision or
action of a subsystem is inconsistent with another subsystem or the system (organization) as a whole.
Goal congruence results when a subsystem achieves its goals while contributing to the organization's
overall goal. Subsystems should maximize organizational goals.
Page Ref: 4
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

73) Discuss the seven characteristics of useful information.

Answer: The seven characteristics of useful information are: relevant, reliable, complete, timely,
understandable, verifiable and accessible. These characteristics are qualities that information should
possess to be useful in a business environment. Briefly stated, in order for information to be useful it
must be: 1) relevant, meaning that it reduces uncertainty and adds to the decision-making process; 2)
reliable information is information that is free from error, and is accurate in its nature; 3) complete
information is information that does not omit any important data, facts, or aspects about events or
activities; 4) information is timely when it is fully available to enable the decision-making process to
proceed; 5) understandable information must be both in an intelligible and useful format; 6) information
is considered verifiable if two people, acting independently of each other, produce the same information
or the same results. 7) Information is accessible if it is available to users when they need it and in a
format they can use.
Page Ref: 5
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

23
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
74) Explain what an AIS is, describe the basic tasks it performs in an organization, and give some
examples of the types of accounting transactions it processes.
Answer: An AIS consists of six components: people, procedures and instructions, data, software,
information technology infrastructure, and internal controls and security measures. The AIS performs
three major functions: 1) it collects and stores data about activities and transactions so that the
organization's management, employees, and interested outsiders can review what has happened; 2) the
AIS processes data (that is, facts that have been collected and stored) into information that is useful for
making decisions, and is of value to the organization; and 3) the AIS provides adequate controls
designed to safeguard the organization's assets, including its data and information. Common examples of
accounting transactions that an AIS helps to process and track are the sales of products to customers,
cash collections, cash payments, and the recording and payment of the employees' payroll.
Page Ref: 10
Objective: Learning Objective 5
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

75) Discuss the components of a supply chain.

Answer: The supply chain shows how an organization interacts with suppliers, distributors, and
customers to provide value in the products it sells. The supply chain depicts the creation and sale of a
product the chain is somewhat different when a service is involved. The supply chain has five
components: raw materials; manufacturer; distributor; retailer; and the consumer. Raw materials come
from any number of suppliers, which in turn become part of a manufacturing process, which produces a
product. The business then provides the product to distributors, who in turn sell the product to retail
businesses. The product is ultimately purchased and used by consumers (who may be individuals or
businesses). It is important to realize that AIS can greatly impact the traditional supply chain by creating
a more efficient and timely environment in which a business can operate. More efficient operations are
more effective, which in turn lowers costs, and add greater value and create improved customer
satisfaction.
Page Ref: 14-15
Objective: Learning Objective 8
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

76) How can an AIS become part of the firm's value chain and add value to the business?
Answer: The AIS can add value by: helping to improve products and services an organization offers for
sale; increasing the quality of products and services; creating greater efficiency by reducing costs and
saving time; and improving the overall efficiency of the organization. Decision making is enhanced by
the better availability of timely, complete, reliable, verifiable, and relevant information. A firm can
enjoy a competitive advantage with better customer ordering, billing, and customer service made
possible by an improved AIS. The AIS can also enhance overall communication and use of knowledge
in a business by making the knowledge readily available to interested parties.
Page Ref: 11
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

24
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
77) How can the value of the information produced by an accounting information system be
determined? What would a measurement and verification expert think about quantification and
verification of such information?
Answer: A well-designed AIS improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the value chain by
improving the quality and lowering the overall cost of products or services, improving efficiency of
operations, improving decision making, and enhancing the sharing of knowledge. These are the benefits
of possessing and using information. Drawbacks to possessing and using such information are the costs
of obtaining and maintaining such information. These costs include investments in people, processes,
and computing and networking hardware and software on an ongoing basis. Costs of the information are
quantifiable to some extent. However, some of the benefits of using the information involve numerous
estimates and assumptions. As such, the quantification of the benefits of utilizing such information
depends on the accuracy of the assumptions.
Page Ref: 11
Objective: Learning Objective 6
Difficulty : Difficult
AACSB: Analytic

78) Why have accounting software packages been designed with separate transaction modules?
Answer: Since every organization does not necessarily use all of the transaction cycles in its operations,
it is to the advantage of the organization to be able to "pick and choose" from among various software
modules that track and record different transaction cycles. For example, a law firm would have no need
to implement a production cycle module. Also, the nature of a transaction cycle varies across the broad
spectrum of business organizations. Again, a law firm would have a revenue cycle, but it would not
involve the purchase, receipt, and payment for products or merchandise; likewise a retail store chain
may not sell any consulting services to its customers.
Page Ref: 9
Objective: Learning Objective 5
Difficulty : Easy
AACSB: Analytic

79) How are "Give and Take" transactions classified in business today and what impact does this have
on AIS?
Answer: The concept of "Give and Take" transactions has been used to classify business transactions
into "cycles" that have starting points, processes, and end points (or closure). The majority of business
transactions can be classified as revenue, expenditure, human resources (payroll), production, and
financing cycles. AIS has been modeled after these transaction cycles to achieve its basic functions of
collecting and processing data, providing information useful for decision making, and establishing
adequate controls.
Page Ref: 5-7
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty : Moderate
AACSB: Analytic

25
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
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 The trial itself was a form from beginning to end, with the Queen
a declared partisan, and the assize packed with her friends or his.
My lord rode down to it as to a wedding; he rode one of the dead
king’s horses—rode it gaily; and as he departed he looked up at the
window and waved his hat, and all men saw the flutter of the
Queen’s white handkerchief; and some say that she herself was to
be seen smiling and nodding to him. Certain it is that when he was
cleared—a matter of a few hours—and came out into the light of day
and the face of a huge crowd, which blocked the street from side to
side, he was met by Lethington, bareheaded, and by Melvill, bowing
to the earth, and by the concourse with a chill and rather terrible
silence. One shrill cry went up in all that quiet, and one alone. ‘Burn
the hure!’ was shrieked by a woman, but instantly hushed down, and
nothing was heard after it but the trampling of horses as Bothwell’s
troop went by. When the Queen met him at the foot of the palace
stairs, he went down on his knees; but many saw the smile that
looped up his mouth. She was very much moved, could not say
more than, ‘Get up—come—I must speak with you.’
He went upstairs with her—they two alone. The courts and yards
of Holyrood were like a camp.
Such a state of things might not last for long. Bothwell could not
go out of doors alone. Even in company his hand was always at his
dagger, his eye for ever casting round, probing corners for
ambushes, searching men’s faces for signs of wavering or fixed
purpose. Strong man as he was, circumstances were too many for
him: he told Paris one day that he was ‘near done.’
‘Sir,’ says Paris, ‘and so, I take leave to say, is the Queen’s majesty.
If your lordship is for the seas——’
‘Damn you, I am not!’ said Bothwell.
He considered the case as closely as ever anything in his life, for
he was engaged in a great game. He consulted one or two men—
Melvill, Lord Livingstone, his leering old uncle of Orkney. He sounded
Morton, Argyll, Bishop Lesley (as he now was become); and then he
gave a supper at Ainslie’s, opened his plans, and got their promises
to stand by him. He wrote these out and made them sign. This was
on 19th April, and that night he certainly saw the Queen. I say
‘certainly’ because Des-Essars, who was with her afterwards, was
told by her that ‘her lord’ had gone into Liddesdale to harry the
reivers. Something in her tone—he could not see her eyes—made
him doubt her: a little something made him suspect that she
intended him to doubt.
So, ‘Reivers, ma’am!’ he cried. ‘Is this a time to consider the lifting
of cattle, when yourself and him are in danger, and no man knows
when the town may rise?’
Her answer was an odd one. She was sitting in a low chair by the
wood fire, leaning back, looking at the red embers through her
fingers. Before she spoke she lowered her head, as if to put her face
in shadow, and looked up at him sideways. He saw the gleam of one
eye, the edge of her cheek where the light caught it. As he read her,
she was laughing at him.
‘More may be lifted than cattle by these wild men of the Border. I
am going to Stirling in two days’ time, and maybe we shall meet, my
lord and I.’
He asked her calmly—accustomed to her way of declaring
certainties as possibilities—was such a meeting arranged for? ‘Come
to me, child,’ she said (though he was not a child), and when he
obeyed, ‘Kneel by my side.’ She put her arm round his neck in a
sisterly fashion, and said, ‘You shall be with me to Stirling, and again
when we depart from Stirling. You forget not that you are my
brother? Well, then, brother, I say to you, Leave me not now, for the
time is at hand when I shall need you. I believe I am to be made the
happiest woman in the world, and need you to share my joy as
much as ever you did my sorrow. Hereafter, for many days, I may
have no time to speak privately with you. Kiss me, therefore, and
wish me happy days and nights.’
 He kissed her, wondering and fearing. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘bethink you
what you are about! I beg of you to speak with my lord of Huntly in
this business of Stirling.’
She said, ‘It is done. I have spoken with him: he was here but an
hour gone. And I have Lethington on my side, and Mary Livingstone
and Fleming will both be with me.’ She laughed at her thoughts; not
for a long time had her old malicious gaiety been upon her. ‘I knew
that I could win back Livingstone. Guess you how I did it.’ And when
he could not, or would not, she whispered in his ear, ‘She believes I
am with child by the King.’
Des-Essars had nothing to say, but she kept him by her, talking of
her life about to begin, her joy and pride, love, duty, privilege, in a
way so innocent and candid, she might have been a child at play.
The hours were small when he bade her good-night, and she said
laughingly, ‘Yes, go now. I shall be wise to sleep while I may.’
As he went he stretched out his arms, let them fall, and shrugged
his young shoulders—gestures all of despair.
Where all was prepared beforehand it was not hard to forecast the
turn of events. It fell out much as Des-Essars had reasoned it over
to himself. Upon a fresh spring morning of flitting clouds and
dancing grasses, the Queen’s party, rounding the shoulder of a
green hill, was suddenly advised of a company of horsemen,
advancing at a leisurely trot, at some quarter mile’s distance. One
could look upon what followed as at a play; for it may be taken for
truth that not a man, soldier or other, so much as swept the uplands
with his eye, so conscious was he that a play indeed it was! The
oncoming troop was observed in silence; in silence, without word of
command or lifted hand, each halted at a spear’s throw. The Earl of
Bothwell, with two lieutenants, rode forward, baring his head as he
came. Nobody of the Queen’s men went out to meet him; nobody
hailed him; nobody moved to safeguard the Queen, who herself sat
motionless upon her little white jennet, in the forefront of her escort,
Mary Livingstone on one side of her and Mary Fleming on the other.
The Earl came to her side, reining up short as his stirrup clicked
against hers.
‘Madam, for your Grace’s protection and honour I am come to lead
you to a safe hold. I beseech your Majesty take it not amiss in one
who desires above all things to serve you.’
The Queen, in a very low voice, replied, ‘Lead me, sir, according to
your good judgment.’
He took up the rein of her horse, wheeled, and led her away to his
own troop, no one staying him. Mary Livingstone whipped after her,
Mary Fleming followed. Then the Earl of Huntly, looking round upon
the remnant, free there and armed upon the road, said in measured
tones, ‘Follow, sirs, since it seems we are prisoners.’
If play it was, it was not even played properly, but had been
reduced to a spiritless rite. Yet, as Des-Essars has the wit to remark,
to the Queen the whole had been an act of very beautiful
symbolism. He had noticed, as no one else did, the gesture with
which she gave herself up—her opened palms, bowed head, good
eyes, at once trusting and thankful. Ah! she had been immodest
once in her dire need, panting, blowsed, scratched, dishevelled by
her ardent chase. He had seen her so, and shuddered. But now she
was modest, but now she had regained virginity. A folded maid
sought in marriage by a man, she had bowed her head. ‘Lead me,
sir, according to your good judgment!’ Thus Des-Essars, fond lover!
It is safe to assert that he was alone in discerning these fine things,
as the lining of a very vulgar business.

The moment he had the Queen at Dunbar, which was reached by

nightfall, my lord dismounted her and took her away. Led by his
hand, she went without a word to her women, without any looking
back. The rest of the company was left to shift as best it could.
There were meat and drink on the spread tables; there may have
been beds or there may not. The Queen was no more seen.
 Sir James Melvill made an effort, let off a quip or two, ruminated
aloud in an anecdotic vein, rallied Lethington, flattered Huntly, felt
himself snubbed and knew that he deserved it, but waived off the
feeling with his ‘H’m, h’m!’ and recovered his dignity. Huntly gloomed
upright; Des-Essars was bent double, head in hands; Lethington
walked up and down the hall, marking with his eye flagstones upon
which he must alight at every step, or be ruined. To watch his mad
athletics made his gentle wife grieve and Mary Sempill rage. Most of
Bothwell’s men were asleep; Ormiston was drunk; Hob, his brother,
was both. Gradually silence, which had been fitful, became
universal; and then they heard the wind moaning round the great
house and the sea beating at the black rock on which it stands. The
casements shook, doors far off slammed again and again, gulls and
kittiwakes screamed as they swept to and fro over the strand; and
as the doomed company sat on in the dark listening to all this, and
some thinking with horror of what could be doing between those
two in the vast wind-possessed house, and some with pity welling
like blood, and some shamefully, and some with wisely nodding
heads—presently, when the shrilling of the birds grew piercingly
loud, one of these banged against the window, and fought there at
the glass, battling with wings of panic.
Mary Sempill rose with a shriek. ‘O God, save her! O God, save
her!’ She was thinking of her Queen.
Nobody moved except Mary Fleming, who felt out the way to her
and put arms about her.
Thus the night went on.
In the morning Paris came down and said that her Majesty desired
to see Mistress Sempill. She was taken up, and found the Queen in
bed in a darkened room. She walked to the edge of the bed and
looked down, seeing little. The Queen lay still, one of her bare arms
out of bed; this arm she slowly raised and touched her Livingstone’s
cheek, then dropped it again heavily.
 But her Livingstone had now recovered herself, and could afford to
be cynical.
‘Well—Honeypot?’ said she.
‘Empty,’ said the Queen.
Then her Livingstone kissed her.

CHAPTER VIII
THE BRIDE’S PRELUDE

French Paris took a letter to Lady Bothwell from Dunbar, as he

thinks, on the day after the ravishing: he fixes his date from the fact
that Sir James Melvill happened to tell him that it was his birthday,
the 25th of April.
‘Not the first I have spent in durance, my good fellow,’ the genial
gentleman had added, ‘although I tell you candidly that it is the first
wedding-night—so to call it—at which I have assisted in such a
place.’
Paris would have prolonged so interesting a conversation if his
master had not been waiting to be dressed. As it was, he excused
himself and hurried up to his duties; which done, my lord handed
him a letter, saying, ‘Deliver this safely, at your peril; and remember
also that whatsoever my lady shall ask you, she is to have a full
answer.’
‘Your lordship may count upon me,’ says the valet, hoping with all
his heart that she would not tax his countenance too far. Leaving the
room, he was recalled.
‘One thing more, Paris. Your mistress will give you a coffer for me.
Guard it well, as you value your neck; for, trust me, if you come not
home with that intact, I will run you down though you were in the
bury of Hell.’
‘Rest easy, my lord,’ said Paris superbly, ‘rest easy here, and
disport yourself as seems good to your wisdom; for certainly I shall
never fail you. Nor have I ever,’ added the poor complacent rogue,
and took the thought with him up the gallows ladder.
It is a singular thing that Bothwell knew his wife so little as to
provide against a line of conduct which she could never have taken.
According to Paris, she asked him no awkward questions at all, but
read her letter calmly, dipping a toast in white wine and whey as she
read. At the end, after musing a while, looking extremely handsome,
she said: ‘My lord, I see, makes no mention how long he remains at
Dunbar. Knowest thou anything to the purpose?’
Nothing awkward here; but Paris blundered it. ‘Oh, my lady,’ he
says, conscious of his red face, ‘I suppose his lordship will stay out
the moon.’
‘What hath he to do with the moon, or the moon with him, fool?’
said the Countess; and soon afterwards sent him away, as without
any value for her.
One can picture him then in the kitchen quarters—jaunty,
abounding in winks and becks; or with the grooms in the stables—
what conversations! The play, dragged by the weary, high players,
must have quickened when the clowns tumbled through it.
Next day my lady had him up again to her chamber and gave him
letters for Edinburgh: a large packet for a notary, one Balnaves or
Balneaves, another for the Archbishop’s Grace of Saint Andrews at
Hamilton House.
‘Deliver these with speed, Paris, and come back to me—but not
here. I shall be at Crichton expecting you—and give you a packet for
my lord.’
This is how Paris learned that process of divorce was begun. He
dates it the 26th-27th April.
 Demure, wide-eared scamp! he was not idle in town, I assure you;
but ran from cawsey to cawsey, from tavern-parlour to still-room,
into all churches, chapels, brothels, about the quays of Leith, up and
down the tenement stairs, spying, watching, judging, and
remembering. He was most amazed at the preachers, whose licence
to talk exceeded all bounds of belief. There was one Cragg, well
named for a rock-faced, square-hewn man, colleague of Mr. Knox’s:
to listen only to this firebrand! This Cragg—Paris heard him—rocked
screaming and sweating over the brink of his pulpit, and hailed his
Queen a Jezebel, a Potiphar’s wife, a strumpet of the Apocalypse.
‘And I could have wrung his brazen neck for him,’ said Paris, ‘but
that all the people stood packed about him murmuring their
agreement. It would have been my death to have declared myself—
and I was vowed to return to my lord.’
The city seemed to be in the governance of the Earl of Morton,
unsuspected of any hand in the late crime, and of Lord Lindsay,
whom all hot gospellers loved. Close in with them was Grange—
Kirkcaldy of Grange—a very busy man, Marshal of the City, Captain
of the Guard, who kept surveillance of Holyrood and the lower town.
Paris perceived that he was lieutenant to Lord Morton, a cultivable
person if willing to be cultivated. About his doors, every day and at
all hours of the day, he saw messengers stand with horses ready.
Now and again one would come out with his despatches bound upon
him, mount and ride off—south, north, west. Similarly, others came
in, white with dust, and delivered up their charges to the porter at
the door. Paris, never without resource, inquired into the matter, and
found out with whom Grange corresponded. With my Lord of Atholl
at Perth! With my Lord of Moray in Paris! With Mr. Secretary Cecil in
London! Why, this was treasonable stuff, hanging stuff, as he told his
informant—Gavin Douglass, body-servant to Mr. Archie of the name
—who knew it as well as he did.
‘Oh, ay, you make up your mind to the treason o’t, Paris,’ says
Gavin; ‘but I recommend you let not my master catch you in this
town. You have had six hundred gold crowns of his for the price of
an old shoe—he has never ceased to talk of it, believe me. No later
than yesterday he was at it, saying that pretty soon he could afford
to give all his clothing to the world and stand up mother-naked as he
was born, and be none the worse. “And to think,” says he, “to think I
could be such a custard-faced loon as to buy back my slipper from a
rogue I shall be hanging in a week.”’
Paris was indignant and hurt. ‘I can see,’ he said, ‘that the lords of
Scotland are at their favourite game of beggar-my-neighbour. Dieu
de Dieu! what else could we have expected? Your Scotch way:
roguery upon roguery, thieves on thieves’ backs, traitors who betray
their co-traitors—hogs and rats, one and all!’
He left Edinburgh much alarmed at the state of its affairs,
determined to be done with the Countess at Crichton and back again
in Dunbar as soon as might be; but, greatly to his annoyance, her
ladyship, being busy with her law business, kept him four or five
days kicking his heels: it was the 4th of May before she delivered
him her packet. That was a coffer, strongly bound and clamped with
iron, locked and sealed.
At the moment of his going Lady Bothwell said to him, ‘Tell my
lord, Paris, that this day he and I are free of each other; tell him that
here I am and here remain.’
Paris, always the servant of a fine woman, knelt upon one knee.
‘My lady,’ he said, ‘your ladyship has never loved me, but I take God
to witness that I have ever honoured your ladyship. Albeit I am a
poor devil of a lacquey, madam, I have wit enough to know a great
lady when I see her.’
Said the Countess: ‘If you think that I have a disliking for you,
Paris, you are mistaken. I neither love nor hate you. I have never
thought about you.’
‘Madam,’ said he, ‘why should your ladyship? I shall venture, none
the less, to pray God give you all health, fame, and happiness.’
Lady Bothwell sat bolt upright, one firm hand on the table. ‘Health
I have from God already. Fame, if you mean good fame, I have kept
for myself. Happiness, if that lies in the satisfaction of abiding desire,
I intend to have before long. Now begone with your charge.’
He went out shaking his head, muttering to himself: ‘Terrible lady!
fine, carven, deep-eyed lady! What is her abiding desire?’
He found out afterwards.
The coffer and he came safe to Dunbar and into the presence of
their master. The Queen was in the room: red eyes, hot patches in
her cheeks, a swinging foot, fingers a-tap on the table——‘Ho! a tiff,’
thinks Paris.
My Lord Bothwell hands over the coffer, or rather puts it on the
table by the Queen’s elbow. ‘Here is your testimony, ma mie. By my
advice you burn every scrap of it.’
‘Shall I burn what has cost me so much, and you, it seems, so
little?’ she asked bitterly. ‘Is it nothing to you that I have written with
my blood and sealed with my tears?’
‘I had not analysed the ink,’ said my lord; ‘and if I had I should
value your honour more. However, you must do what you will.’ She
left him without answer; and by and by Des-Essars presented
himself, saying that he had her Majesty’s command to take charge of
the coffer for her. Something in message or messenger seemed to
anger the Earl. ‘Damn you, French monkey, you take too much in
charge. Must her Majesty always have an ear to pull or a cheek to
pinch? Man, Baptist, for two pence I’d have both your lugs off and a
hot iron at your cheeks: with a broad C branded there, my man: ay,
by God, and a double C! Chamberer Convict, man, Baptist!’
He worked himself crimson in the face, his eyes savage and red.
‘Mind your ways, young sir, mind your ways’—he threatened with his
fist,—‘I warn ye mind your ways just now—lest you come into the
deep mire, man, where no ground is.’
Des-Essars drilled his slim body to attention, and fixed his eyes on
the opposite wall. The Earl glared at him open-mouthed, and
fingered his dagger as though he itched to be at it. But presently he
scoffed at himself—‘A white-faced boy to stand by side o’ me!’ He
turned: ‘Take your coffer, master, and be out of this. A little more
and I might colour you finely.’
Des-Essars removed both coffer and himself. Paris was trembling:
he knew that what he had to report of Edinburgh’s doings would not
make matters any better. Nor did they—though it may be doubted
whether they could have made matters any worse.

The joys of love—love’s moment of victory, love’s rest, and

possession of the spoils—are gossamer things: an adverse breath
may shred them away. As for Love himself, you may call him a Lord
or a Beast, give him his roseate wings or his cloven hoofs and tail:
certainly there never was in the world so refined a glutton.
Perfection is what he claims, no less; perfection of leisure to obtain,
perfection of content, and all according to that standard of mind
which, in a field without limit, grudges the stirring of a filament as a
hindrance to the enormous calm he covets, and sees in a speck of
sand a blemish upon his prize. ‘Alas! no man, no kingdom of this
world, no ordering attainable by mortal minister could have
appeased Queen Mary. She was made to hunt for happiness and
never to find it. She had risked all upon this cast of hers, had made
it, at her last gasp had fallen upon the quarry. And now, clutching it,
eyeing the coverts fearfully to right and left, starting at a whisper,
cowering at the lightest shadow—like a beast of prey, she had no
time to taste what she had so hardly won. O miserably stung by the
rankling arrow! Poor Io, spurred by the gad-fly, what rest for thee?
Come, ye calm-browed beneficent goddesses of the night!
Handmaids of Death, come in! and with cool finger-tips close down
these aching lids, and on these burning cheeks lay the balm of the
last kiss; so the mutinous, famishing heart shall contend with
Heaven no more!’ The dithyrambic cry of Des-Essars does not
indicate a comfortable state of things at Dunbar.
The Queen was madly in love, aching to be possessed, but
knowing herself insecurely possessed. Her tyrant, master, beloved—
whatever Bothwell may have desired to be—was harassed by events,
and could not play the great lover even if he would. Rebellion
gathered outside his stronghold, and he knew every surge of it; he
was not safe from disaffection within doors, and had to watch for it
like a cat at a mousehole. If the Queen had sinned to get a lover, he
had risked his head to wive a queen. Well, and he had not got her
yet, though she asked for nothing better all day and night. Queens
and what they carry are not got by highway robbery: it’s not only a
question of kissing. You may steal a Queen for the bedchamber—but
there’s the Antechamber to be quieted, there’s the Presence
Chamber to be awed, there’s the Throne Room to be shocked into
obsequiousness: ah, and the Citadel to be taught to fly your banner.
Brooding on these things—all to do except one—his lordship had no
time for transports, and no temper neither. When the Queen wept
he swore, when she pleaded he refused her, when she sulked he
showed his satisfaction at being let alone, and when she stormed he
stormed loudlier. He was not a man of fine perceptions: that was his
strength, he knew. By the Lord, said he, let others, let her, know it
too! And the sooner the better.
She would not discuss politics. Dunbar, which was to have been
her bride-bower, should be so still, in defiance of beastly fact. She
refused to hear what Paris had to say of Edinburgh pulpits, of
Morton’s men-at-arms, Grange’s flying messengers. When Bothwell
spoke of the Prince at Stirling she promised him a new prince at
Dunbar; when he cried out threats against Archie Douglas she
stopped his mouth with kisses; when he summoned Liddesdale to
arms she pouted because her arms were not enough for him. It was
mad, it was unreasonable, it fretted him to feverish rages. He
gnashed his teeth. Lethington kept rigidly out of his way: he was
really in danger, and knew it; not a day passed but he made some
plan of escape. Melvill spoke in whispers, could not have stood on
more ceremony with his Maker. Huntly was always on the verge of a
quarrel; and as for poor little Des-Essars, you know how he stood.
There came anon swift confirmation of Paris’ fears: a letter from
Hob Ormiston, now in Edinburgh, to his brother the Black Laird. Both
worthies had been, as we know, with Bothwell on the night of Kirk o’
Field. Hob wrote that Kirkcaldy of Grange had met him after sermon
in a company of people, taxed him with the King’s murder and
threatened him with arrest ‘in the Queen’s name and for her honour.’
He went in fear, did Hob; his life was in it. Now, might he not clear
himself? Let his lordship of Bothwell be sounded upon that, who
knew that he was as guiltless of that blood as his lordship’s self. It
would be black injustice that an innocent Hob should suffer while a
blood-guttered Archie went scot-free, and a crowning indignity that
he should perish under the actual guilty hands. For well he knew
that my L—d of M——n stood behind Grange. Ormiston, with this
crying letter in hand, sought out his master, and found him on the
terrace overlooking the sea, walking up and down with the Queen
and Lord Huntly. As he approached he saw her Majesty cover her
mouth and strangle a yawn at birth.
Bothwell read the letter through, and handed it to the Queen. She
also read it hastily. ‘Innocent!’ she mocked, with a curling, sulky lip,
‘the innocent Hob—a good word! But this letter concerns you,
Huntly, more than me.’
In turn the dark young lord read it. He was much longer at it,
slower-witted; and before he was half-way through for the second
time the Queen was out of patience.
‘Well! well! What do you make of it, you who know the very truth
and do not choose to declare it? Are our friends to be cleared, or will
you see them all butchered for the Douglases’ sake?’
He did not answer for a while, but looked far oversea with those
hawk-eyes of his, which seemed able to rend the garniture of
Heaven and descry the veiled secrets of God. When he turned his
face towards her it was a far nobler than the soured face he looked
upon.
‘But to clear them, madam—Hob and the like of Hob—am I to
betray them that trusted me?’
 She gave a thring of the shoulder, a fierce flash of her eye, and
turned shortly, and went away by herself. There was a hot wrangle
between the three men afterwards—in which Bothwell did not
scruple to curse his brother-in-law for ‘meddling in what concerned
him not,’ or (if he must meddle) for not meddling well[9]; but Huntly
could not be moved.
Things like these drove Bothwell into action—to go through with
his business, possess himself of Edinburgh and the Prince, and
marry the Queen? Why not? He was free, he had her in the crook of
his arm; he had but to go up to blow away the fog of dissidence:
afflavit ventus, etc.! He urged her Majesty, lectured Lethington,
conferred with Huntly, and got agreement, more or less. Well then,
advance banners, and let the wind blow!
At the first tidings of the Queen’s approach, the Earl of Morton
and his belongings—his Archie Douglas, his Captain Cullen, his
Grange—departed the city and repaired to Stirling. This gave fair
promise; and even the greeting she got when, pacing matronly by
Bothwell’s side, surrounded by a live hedge of Bothwell’s spears, she
entered the gates and went down to Holyrood, was so far good that
it was orderly. No salutations, no waving of bonnets; but close
observation, a great concourse in a great quiet. She did not like that,
though Bothwell took no notice. He had not expected to be
welcome; and besides, he had other things to think of.
I extract the following from Des-Essars:—
‘The Queen had a way of touching what she was pleased with.
She was like a child in that, had eyes in her fingers, could not keep
her hands away, never had been able. To stroke, fondle, kiss, was as
natural to her as to laugh aloud when she was pleased, or to speak
urgently through tears when she was eager. I remember that, as we
rode that day into the suburb of Edinburgh, she, being tired (for the
way had been hot and long), put her hand on my shoulder; and that
my lord looked furiously; and that she either could not, or would not
see him. I had had reason only lately to suspect him of jealousy,
though she as yet had never had any. But for this very innocent act
of hers he rated her without stint or decorum when we were at
Holyroodhouse; and as for me, I may say candidly that I walked with
death as my shadow, and never lay down in my bed expecting to get
out of it on the morrow.
‘The effect of his unreason upon her, when she could be brought
to believe in it, was of the unhappiest. It lay not in her nobility to
subserve ignoble suspicions. Our intercourse, far from ceasing out of
deference to him, was therefore made secret, and what was wholly
innocent stood vested in the garb of a dear-bought sin—an added
zest which she had been much better without. I was removed from
all direct service of her—for he saw to that; but she found means of
communicating with me every day; waited for me at windows,
followed me with her eyes, had little speedy, foolish signals of her
own—a finger in her mouth, a hand to her side, her bosom touched,
her head held askew, her head hung, a smile let to flutter—all of
which were to be so much intelligence between us. She excelled in
work of the kind, was boundlessly fertile, though I was a sad
bungler. But, God forgive me! I soon learned in that blissful school,
and became, I believe, something of a master.
‘I was not the only man of whom he was jealous, by any means.
There was my Lord Livingstone, a free-living, easy man of advanced
age, who had been accustomed to fondle her Majesty as his own
daughter, and saw no reason to desist, being given none by herself.
But one day my lord came in and found him with his hand on her
shoulder. Out he flung again, with an oath; and there was a high
quarrel, with daggers drawn. The Queen, who could never be curbed
in this kind of way by any one, lover or beloved, dared his lordship
to lay a finger on Livingstone; and he did not. There was also my
lord of Arbroath, who had pretensions and a mind of his own; to
whom she gave a horse, and induced more high words. There was
my Lord Lindsay, who admired her hugely and said so: but to follow
all the wandering of unreason in a gentleman once his own master,
were unprofitable. All that I need add (for the sake of what ensued
upon it) is that one day Mr. Secretary Lethington came into the
Cabinet all grey-faced and shaking as with a palsy, and laid his
hands upon the Queen’s chair, saying fearfully: “Sanctuary, madam,
sanctuary! I stand in peril of my life.” It appeared that my lord, who
abhorred him, had drawn on him in full hall. So then once more she
grew angry and forbade his lordship to touch a hair of Lethington’s
head: “For so sure as you do it,” she said, “I banish you the realm.”
For the moment he was quite unnerved, and began to babble of
obedience and his duty; and I say, let God record of our lady in that
time of her disgrace that she had not forgotten how to stand as His
vicegerent in Scotland.
‘Affairs went from bad to worse with her. We learned every day by
our informers how the lords were gaining strength in the west, and
stood almost in a state of war against us. They were close about the
Prince—the chiefs of their faction being the Earls of Mar, Atholl,
Argyll, Glencairn, and Morton. With them was Grange, the best
soldier in the kingdom; and Lord Lindsay would have gone over, but
that he grossly loved the Queen and could not keep his eyes off her.
Letters intercepted from and to England made it certain that the
Queen of that country was supporting our enemies and preparing for
our ruin—nor was it without reason, as I am bound to confess, for
the safety of our young prince imported the welfare of her country
as well as ours; and it may well have been distasteful to her English
Majesty to have the fingers of the Earl of Bothwell so near to dipping
in her dish. As if these troubles were not enough, we were presently
to hear of flat rebellion under the Queen’s very eyes, when we were
told that Mr. Cragg, the preacher, would not read out the banns of
marriage. That same was a stout man, after Mr. Knox’s pattern. It is
true they forced him by a writ to publish them, but neither summons
before the council nor imminent peril of worse would keep his
tongue quiet. He daily railed against those he was about to join in
wedlock, and had to be banished the realm.
‘Hard-faced was the Queen through these disastrous days, and all
stony within; bearing alike, with weary, proud looks, the indifference
of her trusted friends, the insolent suspicions of my lord of Bothwell,
the constant rumours, even the shameful reports, put about
concerning herself, as if she was ignorant of them. She was not, she
could not be ignorant, but she was utterly negligent. To her but one
thing was of concern—his love; and until she was sure of that all
else might go as it would. True, he was jealous: at one time she had
thought that a hopeful sign. But when she found out that in spite of
her kindness he remained indifferent; when he abstained from her
company and bed, when he absented himself for two days together
—and was still jealous—she was bound to doubt the symptom. It
wanted but one thing, in truth, to break down her pride and trail her
lovely honour in the dust: and she had it sharp and stinging. O
unutterable Secret of Secrets, never to be divulged but in this dying
hour when she must ask for pity, since honest dealing is denied to
her! She was stung—down fell she—and I saw her fall—heart-
broken, and was never more the high Huntress, the Queen
“delighting in arrows.” My pen falters, my tears blind me; but write it
I must: her fame, her birthright, nay, her gracious head, are in dire
peril.[10]
‘It was commonly suspected that Lethington was desirous of
escaping to the lords at Stirling, among whom he could count upon
one firm friend in the Earl of Atholl. To say nothing that he went
hourly in fear of my lord of Bothwell, and believed that the Queen
distrusted him, he had been too long in the Earl of Moray’s pocket—
kept there as a man keeps a ferret—to be happy out of it. Nominally
at large, a pretty shrewd watch was kept upon him, since it would
not have been at all convenient to have him at large among her
Majesty’s enemies. He knew too much, and his wife, that had been
Mistress Fleming, more than he. Therefore it was not intended that
he should leave us. Yet I am certain that no day passed in which he
did not make some plan of escape.
‘It was for a step in one of such schemes, I suppose, though I
cannot see how it should have helped him, that on the day before
my lord of Bothwell was created Duke of Orkney, and three days
before the marriage, he gave the Queen a thought which very soon
possessed her altogether.
 ‘My lord was away, but expected back that night; Lethington,
being with some others in the Queen’s Cabinet when the talk fell
upon the Countess of Bothwell, told her Majesty that the lady was
dwelling at Crichton. He said it very skilfully—quasi negligently and
by the way—but instantly she caught at it, and took it amiss. “She
has cast him off—let him cast her off. Crichton! Crichton! Why, he
holds it of me! How then should Jean Gordon be there? Or do we
share, she and I?” She spoke in her petulant, random way of hit or
miss, meaning (it is likely) no more than that she was weary of
Lethington. But he coughed behind his hand, and rising up suddenly,
went to the window. The Queen marked the action, and called him
back.
‘“Come hither, Mr. Secretary,” said she quietly; and he returned at
once to her side.
‘“You will please to explain yourself,” she said. Very quiet she was,
and so were we all.
‘He began vast excuses, floundering and gasping like a man in
deep water. The more he prevaricated the more steadfast she
became in pursuit; and so remained until she had dragged out of
him what he knew or had intended to imply. The sum and substance
was that Paris (a valet of my lord’s) had of late taken letters to and
from Crichton: common knowledge, said Lethington. And then, after
a good deal, not to the purpose, he declared that my lord had spent
two several nights there since the Court had returned to Edinburgh
from Dunbar.
‘The Queen, being white even to the lips, said faintly at the end
that she did not believe him. Lethington replied that nothing but his
duty to her would have induced him to relate facts so curious; the
which, he added, must needs concern her Majesty, the Fountain of
Honour, who, unsullied herself, could not brook defilement in any of
the tributaries of her splendour. She dismissed us all with a wave of
her hand—all but Mistress Sempill (who had been Mistress
Livingstone), who stayed behind, and whose ringing voice I heard,
as I shut the door, leap forward to be at grips with the calumny.
 ‘She had recovered her gallantry by the evening. Incredible as it
may seem, it is true that she publicly taxed my lord with the facts
charged against him, when he returned. He did not start or change
colour—looked sharply at her for an instant, no more.
‘“Jealous, my Queen?” he asked her, laughing.
‘“And if I am, my lord, I have an example before me,” said she.
“Have you not been pleased to condemn me in regard to this poor
boy?”
‘I bore that with what face I could: he regarded me with the look
of a wild hog that grates his tooth. Anon he said: “Master Baptist
and I know each other of old. I believe I can give as good account
of the reckonings between my staff and his back as——Well, this is
unprofitable jesting. Now, let me understand. Your Grace charges
me with—what in particular?”
‘“Oh, my lord,” cried she, with a bold face, “I make no charges. I
did but put you a question: whether you had visited your Castle of
Crichton these late days—your Castle of Crichton which you hold of
me in chief?”
‘He shrugged his shoulders; and “Chi lo sa?” quoth he, with a
happy laugh. “Let your Majesty and me confer upon these and other
high matters of state when my head is on better terms with my
stomach. I am a fasting man, no match for your Majesty. Your
Majesty knows the Spanish saw, When the belly is full it saith to the
head, Sing, you rascal? I crave your leave, then, to get my singing
voice again.” He took it with bravery, as you perceive; and, having
his liberty, went away singing to supper.
‘He stayed below stairs for the rest of the night, drinking and
talking with Sir James Melvill and my lord of Livingstone—ribald and
dangerous talk, for he had a lewd mind, and neither discretion nor
charm in the uses to which he put his tongue. The Queen sat
miserably in the dark far into the night, and went to bed without
prayers. I heard her cry out to Mistress Sempill that she wished she
lay where the King was, and Sempill answered, “Damn him, damn
him!” Next day, with what grace she could muster, she created my
lord Duke of Orkney. That was done before noon; by five o’clock of
the evening he was ridden away for Borthwick and Dunbar, as he
said, upon State business. In three days’ time she was to marry him,
O Heaven!
‘Early in the morning—the morrow after his going—she sent for
me to come up to her bedchamber; and so I did, and found her very
worn in the face, her hand hot and dry to the touch. Commanding
herself with great effort, speaking slowly, she told me that she could
not continue to live unless she could deny once and for all the truth
of Lethington’s tale. My lord would not help her. “You know his way
of mockery,” says she. “He laughs to tease me: but to me this is no
laughing matter. Mary Sempill has been at me ever since——” Here
she fretted, muttering to herself, “I do not believe it—I do not—I do
not,” fidgeting her hands under the bedclothes; then, breaking off
short, she said that she wished me to ride to Crichton with her that
very day. She would take Mary Sempill—because she would not
remain behind—Erskine would bring an escort; there would be no
danger. I said that I was ready to live or die for her, and that all my
care was to save her from unhappiness. I asked her, Would she
suffer Erskine and myself to go?
‘She stared at me. “Are you mad?” she asked. “Have you found
me so patient, to sit at home in suspense? or so tame, to shirk my
enemies? Nay, my child, nay, but I will prove Lethington a liar with
my own eyes.” To be short, go she would and did; and we with her,
as she had already contrived it.
‘The weather was hot—as hot as summer—and very still; riding as
fast as we did, our bodily distresses saved our minds’. We had, as I
reckon, some fifteen miles to go, by intricate roads, woodland ways,
by the side of streams overhung with boughs, encumbered with
boulders. The Queen was always in front, riding with Mistress
Sempill: she set the pace, said nothing, and showed herself vexed
by such little delays as were caused by Erskine sounding the banks
for good fording-ground, or losing the road, as he once did, and
trying a many before he could make up his mind. “Oh, you weary
me with your Maybe yeas and Maybe nays!” she railed at him. “Why,
man, I could smell my way to Crichton.” I believe her; for now I am
sure that she had steeled herself for what she was to find there. I
knew it not then: she allowed nothing of her mind to be seen.
Nobody could be more secret than she when she saw fit.
‘That Castle of Crichton stands, as do most of them in these parts,
on a woody bluff over a deep glen, out of the which, when you are
in it, you can never see how near you may be to your journey’s end.
Thus we wound our way at a foot’s pace along the banks of a small
stream, in and out of the densest woodland—beautiful as a
summer’s dream just then, with birds making vocal all the thickets,
wild flowers at our feet, and blooming trees, wild cherry and
hawthorn and the like, clouds come to earth and caught in the
branches—and found a steep path to our right hand, and climbed it
for half an hour: and lo! gaining the crest first, I saw before me,
quite close, the place we sought—a fair tower of grey stone, with a
battlemented house beside it, having an open gate in a barbican.
Before the barbican was a lawn snowed with daisies, and upon that
two white greyhounds, which sat up when they first saw us, and
then crouched, their muzzles between their paws. But as we
advanced, jumping up and barking together, they raced together
over the turf, met us, and leapt upwards to the Queen’s hand. All
beasts loved her, and she loved them.
‘There was neither guard nor porter at the gates. They stood open
upon an empty court, beyond which we could see the hall doors:
open, they, also. In the air all about us was the sound of bees, and
of doves hidden in the woody slopes; but no noises of humankind
were to be heard: we all sat there on our horses, and watched, and
listened, like errant adventurers of old time come upon an
enchanted lodging, a castle and hermitage in a forest glade.
‘Mistress Sempill broke silence. “’Tis not for us to enter—this still
place,” she said. “Come your ways, madam; you have seen what
there is to be seen.”
 ‘The Queen, as one suddenly awakened, called to me. “Baptist,
dismount and help me down. I am going in.”
‘I obeyed, and helped Mistress Sempill after. Erskine would stay
with the guard. We three went through the gateway, crossed the
inner court, and passed the doors into the hall—a long dusky
chamber with windows full of escutcheons and achievements, and
between them broad sheets of ancient arras which flapped gently in
a little breeze. The sunlight, coming aslant, broke the gloom with
radiant blue bars—to every window a bar. As we peered about us,
presently Sempill gave a short little cry, then called to me, “Baptist,
Baptist, have a care for her.”
‘It was an old woman come out of a door in the panel to look at
us—old, grey and wrinkled. I asked her, Was any other within? She
shook her head, pointing at the same time to her mouth, within
which, when she opened it wide, I saw the seared stump of her
tongue, and perceived that she had been maimed of that organ.
Sempill remarked it also, and was afraid. “Oh, come away, for God’s
love!” said she: “there is witchcraft here”; and signed herself many
times. But the Queen laughed, and went up to the mutilated hag,
and, patting her shoulder, went by her through the door by which
she had come in, and turned to beckon us after her. So we climbed a
narrow stair, built in the thickness of the wall round and round a
pillar. In the gallery above were doors to left and right, some open
upon empty, fragrant chambers, some shut and locked. I believe
that I tried them all the length of the gallery on one side; and so
came at the farther end to a short passage on my right hand: at the
end of that a low-pitched door ajar. Thither I went on tiptoe, with a
strong sense that that room was occupied. I know not what had
certified me, save some prescience which men have at times. So
certain was I, at least, that when I was at the door I knocked. I was
answered, “Enter.”
‘I entered not. I dared not do it. I sped back to the Queen, who
now stood with Sempill at the head of this short passage. For the
moment my nerve was clean gone: “Some one there—let us go
away!”—Who knows what hissed foolishness I let fly?—“I urge you:
let us go away.” But the Queen, rose-bright, keen as fire in the wind,
threw up her head and flashed her eyes full upon me. “Stand aside,
sir—I will go in.” She pushed by me and went into the room without
ceremony. We had followed her with beating hearts.
‘She had not gone far—was not a yard from the door; nor do I
marvel at it, nor need you. For by the open window sat the Countess
of Bothwell at needlework, making, as I saw in a moment, a child’s
shift. If God the Father of all, who framed women nobly and urged
them cast their hearts in the dust to make soft the ways of men—if
He, I say, pausing in His vast survey, might have discerned this dear
woman now, with the wound upon her still raw and bleeding whence
she had torn that generous heart—naked, emptied, betrayed; ah,
and face to face with that other woman also, not less injured, not
less the vessel of a man’s beastly convenience—I dare swear He
would repent Him of His high benevolence, and say, “Tush, I have
planned amiss. The waste is divine, the waster shall be crowned
with the glory of the Magdalene, that Mary whom I would no more
condemn. But what shall be done with him for whom these women
spent so vainly?” Thus, it might well be, would God reason with
Himself. Yet who am I, poor bastard of a dead mother (spending
she, too, with little avail) to interpret the reproaches of the
Almighty?
‘For an age of suspense, as it seemed to me, the Queen stood
where we had found her—a yard from the door, perfectly still, but
not rigid. No, but she was like a panther, all lithe and rippling, prest
for a pounce, and had her eyes set fast upon the other. I was in a
muck of fear, and Sempill muttering fast to herself her “O Christ,
keep us all! O Christ, save her!” and the like, what time the
Countess, affecting to be unaware, crossed one knee over the other
and bent diligently to her needlework. The time seemed a slow hour,
though I know not how long it may have been, before the Queen
began to move about the room.
 ‘I know what made her restless: it was curiosity. At first she had
only had eyes for the lady; now she had seen what she was at work
upon. Yes, and she had been at the same proud task herself not
long since. I am certain that she was just then more curious than
enraged. At least, instead of attacking as she was wont, with her
arrows of speech leaping forward as she went, she said nothing, and
began to walk the room restlessly, roaming about; never going near
the window, but looking sidelong towards it as she passed to and
fro: bright spots in her cheeks, her hands doubled, biting her lips,
longing, but not yet resolved, to know all. The storm, which was not
far off, gathered strength as she walked: I saw her shake her head, I
saw a tear gleam and settle on her shoulder. And so at last she
clenched her teeth, and stood before Lady Bothwell, grinning with
misery.
‘“O woman,” she said, snarling, “what are you making there?”
‘The Countess looked up, then down: the far-searching eyes she
had! “I am making,” said she, “a shift for my fair son that is to be—
my lord’s and mine.”
‘“You make for a bastard, woman,” said the Queen; and the
Countess smiled wisely.
‘“Maybe I do, maybe. But this child of mine, look you, in my
country we call a love-child.”
‘The Queen reeled as if she were sick-faint, and had Sempill
beside her in a moment, flaring with indignation.
‘“Come you with me, madam,” cried she; “come you with me. Will
you bandy words with a——?”
‘She was not suffered to get out her word. The Queen put her
away gently, saying, “No, no, you shall not call her that, lest she may
ask you some home questions.”
‘But the Countess was not offended. “Why should she not? What
harm in a name? Call me as you will, ma’am, I shall never forbid
you.”
 ‘“Have you no shame?” cried Sempill. “And you divorced on your
own motion?”
‘The Countess replied to the Queen, as if it had been she that
spoke. “O, madam, if divorce stands not in your way, shall it stand in
mine? You have given him your body, as I did mine; and the Church
cannot gainsay me that. But I’ll have you remember that when I got
my child I was a wife; and when you get yours you’ll be none, I
doubt.”
‘At this spiteful speech the Queen, in her turn, smiled. She was far
from that sort of recrimination. Presently she began in a new and
colder tone—remembering her errand. “Why are you here?” she
asked the Countess.
‘She was answered, “It is my lord’s pleasure.”
‘“He is very clement, I think,” said the Queen.
‘The Countess made no reply; and Sempill, who knew whether
clemency had moved my lord or not, did all she could to prevent the
Queen from knowing it also. Unfortunate lady! She gave her new
suspicions.
‘“You do not answer me, mistress,” she said, in her high
peremptory way. “I said that my lord is clement, and you make no
reply. You will tell me these are your jointure-lands, I suppose? Let
be for that. Tell me now this—How are you here?”
‘The Countess hereupon, and for the first time, looked her in the
face, her own being venomous beyond a man’s belief.
‘“How am I here? Just as you may have been at Dunbar, madam—
as his kept woman, just.”
‘“You lie! You lie!” cried the Queen. “Dear God, she is a liar! Take
back your lies—they hurt me.”
‘She pressed her side with all her might. I thought that Sempill
would have struck the cruel devil. But she never flinched.
 ‘“No, no, I am no liar, madam,” she answered. “You are his
woman, and so am I. Eh, there’s been a many and a many of us—a
brave company!”
‘The Queen was tussling with her breast, but could get no breath.
I thought she was frightened at the sudden revelation, or
confirmation, of how she stood: she faltered—she cast about—and
then she said:
‘“I know that you lie, and I know why you lie. You hate me
bitterly. This is mere malice.”
‘“It is not malice,” says the Countess; “it is the bare truth. Why
should I spare you the truth—you of all women?”
‘“You hate too much, you hate too much! I have accorded with
you—we have kissed each other. I tried to serve you. It is not my
fault if my lord—if my lord——O Jeannie!” she said, with a pitiful
gesture of stretched-out arms—“O Jeannie, have mercy upon me—
have a thought for my sorrow!”
‘She came nearer as she spoke, so near that the two could have
touched; and then the Countess, who had sat so still, turned her
head a little back, and (like a white cat) laid her ears flat and struck
at last.
‘“Woman,” she said, “when you raked my father out of his grave,
and spat upon his dead corse, what thought had you for his flesh
and blood? What mercy upon their sorrow?”
‘The Queen, when she had understood her, wiped her eyes, and
grew calmer. “I had no thought for you then, nor durst I have any.
Princes must do justice without ruth; and he was a rebel, and so
were you all. Your brothers Huntly and Adam have read me better.”
‘“Ay,” said the Countess, “the greedy loons! They put your fingers
in their mouths and suck sweetness and solace—like enough they
will read you well. But I am not of their fashion, you must know.”
Stiffening herself, she spoke swiftly: “And if you could dishonour a
dead old man whom you vow you had once loved, what wonder if I
dishonour you whom I have always hated?”
‘The Queen smiled in a sweet, tired way, as if she was sorry for
this woman. “Do you so hate me, Jeannie?”
‘And the Countess answered her: “Ay, worse than hell-fire for my
dead father’s sake, and for my brother John’s, whom you slew. And
so I am well content to be here, that you should see me
unashamed, owner without asking of what you long for but can
never have; and that I should see you at my feet, deeply abased.”
‘If her tongue had been a blade and her will behind it as the hand
of one who lived for cruelty, she could not have got her dear desire
more utterly than by these slow-stabbing words. Content to be here!
Yea, lascivious devil that she was, I could see that she was rolling in
her filthy comfort. But, by heaven, she was redeemed by the fading
breath of the most unhappy lady that ever moaned about the world.
‘The Queen, I tell you, went directly to her—went close to her,
without thought of fear or sickening of disgust. And she took the
wicked white face between her hands and kissed the poisonous lips.
And she said: “Hate me no more, Jeannie Gordon, for now I know
that we are sisters in great sorrow, you and I. If we are not loved
we must needs be unhappy; but in that we have loved, and do still
love, we are not without recompense. So we must never rend each
other; but you, poor lover, must kiss me, your sister, as now I do
you.”
‘I ask myself here—and others have asked me—was this sudden
alteration in her Majesty that old sweet guile of hers, inveterate still
and at work? Was it possible that, even now, she could stay and
stoop to cajole this indurate woman, to woo her with kisses, kill her
with kindness? I like not to consider: many there be, I know, who do
believe it, Mistress Sempill being one. Who am I to judge that deep,
working heart more narrowly than by what appears? Such questions
are too nice; they are not for my answering. Candour compels me to
record them; but I can only report what I saw and heard.
 ‘I heard the Countess give a throttled cry, as she struggled like
one caught in a fire; but the Queen kissed her again before she
could free herself. When at last she had flung away, with crying and
a blenched face—she who had been so hard before was now in a
state of wild alarm, warning off our lady with her fighting hands.
“No, no, no! Touch me not—defile not yourself. Oh, never that—I
dare not suffer you!”
‘“What, am I so vile?” says the poor Queen, misunderstanding her
in this new mood. The Countess burst out into passionate weeping,
which hurt her so much (for she was no tearful woman by nature)
that she writhed under the affliction as if the grief within was tearing
at her vitals. She shrieked, “Ah, no! Not you—not you—but I. Oh,
you torture me, brand me with fire!” I could not guess what she
meant, save that she was beaten, and her wicked passion with her.
‘She sat up and stared at our Mistress, her face all writhen with
grief. “Listen, listen—this is the truth as God knows it. That man who
stands between us two and Heaven is your ruin and mine. For I love
him not at all, and have consented to him now, degrading myself for
hatred’s sake. And for you, who have loved him so well, he has no
care at all—but only for your crown and royal seat; for he loves me
only—and so it has always been.”
‘The Queen could only nod her head. Mary Sempill said sternly:
“Woman, you do well to lash yourself at last; for none can hurt you
beside yourself. Now, may God forgive you, for I never will.”
‘“Oh, Mary,” says the Queen, “what have you or I to do with
forgiveness of sins? Alas, we need it for ourselves. And she is in as
bad a case as I am.” Then, “Come to me now, Jeannie,” she said;
and most humbly that wicked, beaten woman crept up to her late
enemy. The Queen embraced and comforted her. “Farewell, Jeannie,”
said she, “and think as well of me as you can. For I go on to I know
not what—only I do think it will be unhappiness—and we shall never
meet again.” With sublime calm she turned to us, weeping behind
her. “Come, my children, let us go our ways.”
 ‘This is the most terrible secret sorrow which broke her heart, and
ends my plea for pity upon her who loved so fondly. My breath and
strength are done; for I had them from her alone, and with her high
heart’s death dies my book.’
Honest, ingenuous, loyal Des-Essars! seeing, maybe, but in a glass
darkly; seeing, certainly, not more than half—thou wert right there.
If thy mistress beat the woman at last, it was with her fading breath.
She knew herself beaten to the dust by the man.

[9] Here I am bound to agree with Bothwell; for if Huntly

wished to keep him from blood-guiltiness and knew that he could,
why not have kept him and his kegs away altogether? One
answer may be, of course, that Morton and his friends would
never have stood in had Bothwell and his been ruled out.
[10] Des-Essars, plainly, was at work during the Queen’s
captivity in England; and, as I judge, while the inquiry was being
held in Westminster Hall in 1568.

CHAPTER IX
THE BRIDE’S TRAGEDY

The heart being an organ of which we have opinions more gallant

than practical, Des-Essars should perhaps have judged wiselier that
his Secret of Secrets was what broke the Queen’s spirit. There he
had been right, for from this day onwards to the end of her throned
life the tragedy is pure pity: she drifts, she suffers, but she scarcely
acts—unless the struggles of birds in nets can be called acts. After
her spirit went rapidly her animal courage; after that her womanly
habit. She was like to become a mere tortured beast. And as I have
no taste for vivisection, nor can credit you with any, I shall be as
short as I can.
 Silent all the long way home from wooded Crichton to the sea, it
might seem as if she had been hardening herself by silent
meditation for what she knew must take place. She saw nothing of
Bothwell that night—she was not yet ready for him; but she did what
had to be done with Mary Sempill.
When that loyal soul came late into the bedchamber to bid her
good-night, she found her mistress in bed, calm and clear in mind.
Forewarned in some measure, as she stooped over to kiss her, the
Queen did not as usual put out her arms to draw her friend nearer,
but lay waiting for the kiss, which hovered, as it were, above her;
and before it could come she said, ‘Do you kiss me, Mary? Wait
while I tell you something. I am to be married to my lord come the
day after to-morrow.’
Sempill, prepared or not, started back, on fire. ‘You’ll never do it.
You’ll never dare to do it.’
‘I shall dare to do it, if I dare avouch it.’
Sempill was trembling. ‘I cannot endure it, cannot face it—most
wicked! Oh, my dear love and my friend, you that have been all the
world to me in times bygone, never go so far from me that I cannot
follow you!’
The Queen bit her lip, and wrinkled her eyes where the tears were
brimming, drowning her sight. ‘I must, I must—I cannot go back.
Oh, have mercy upon me! Oh, Mary——’
Sempill hid her face. ‘I cannot see it done. I cannot know of it. I
am—I do my best to be—an honest woman. These things be far
from me—unholy things. As Christ is my Saviour, I believe He will
pardon you and me all our sins of the hot blood. But not of the cold
blood—not of the dry!’ She changed suddenly, as if struck chill. ‘Why,
you will be an harlot!’ she said.
The Queen turned over in her bed and faced the wall.
Sempill went down on her knees. ‘I conjure you—I beseech you!
Madam, I implore you! By your mother’s bliss and your father’s
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