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 brief contents
Preface xxii

1 About Human Development 6 Emerging and Young Adulthood

part

1 The Study of Human Development
2 Theory and Research 22
part
2 13 Physical and Cognitive Development in
Emerging and Young Adulthood 418
14 Psychosocial Development in Emerging
and Young Adulthood 450

2 Beginnings
part

3 Forming a New Life 52 7 Middle Adulthood

4 Birth and Physical Development during

part
15 Physical and Cognitive Development in
the First Three Years 94
Middle Adulthood 478
5 Cognitive Development during the First
16 Psychosocial Development in Middle
Three Years 136
Adulthood 508
6 Psychosocial Development during the
First Three Years 174

8 Late Adulthood
part

3 17 Physical and Cognitive Development in

Early Childhood
Late Adulthood 538
part

7 Physical and Cognitive Development in

18 Psychosocial Development in Late
Early Childhood 212
Adulthood 572
8 Psychosocial Development in Early
Childhood 250

9 The End of Life

part

4 19 Dealing with Death and

Middle Childhood
Bereavement 602
part

9 Physical and Cognitive Development in

Middle Childhood 282
10 Psychosocial Development in Middle
Childhood 322

Glossary G-1
5 Adolescence Bibliography B-1
part

11 Physical and Cognitive Development in

Credits C-1
Adolescence 352
Name Index I-1
12 Psychosocial Development in
Adolescence 388 Subject Index I-23

vii
contents Preface xxii

1 About Human Development

part

Theoretical Perspectives 26
Perspective 1: Psychoanalytic 27
Perspective 2: Learning 30
Perspective 3: Cognitive 32
Perspective 4: Contextual 35
Perspective 5: Evolutionary/Sociobiological 37
A Shifting Balance 37

Research Methods 38
Quantitative and Qualitative Research 38
Sampling 39
Forms of Data Collection 40
chapter 1 Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research 42
The Study of Human Basic Research Designs 42
Development 2 Developmental Research Designs 47
Human Development: An Ever-Evolving Field 4
Ethics of Research 49
Studying the Life Span 5
summary and key terms 50
Human Development Today 5
Box 2.1 Window on the World Purposes of
The Study of Human Development: Cross-Cultural Research 44
Basic Concepts 5
Domains of Development 6
Periods of the Life Span 7
2 Beginnings
Influences on Development 10
part

Heredity, Environment, and Maturation 10

Contexts of Development 10
Normative and Nonnormative Influences 15
Timing of Influences: Critical or Sensitive Periods 16

Paul B. Baltes’s Life-Span

Developmental Approach 18
summary and key terms 20
Box 1.1 Window on the World Children of Immigrant
Families 14
Box 1.2 Research in Action Is There a Critical Period for
Language Acquisition? 18
chapter 3
chapter 2 Forming a New Life 52
Theory and Research 22 Conceiving New Life 54
Basic Theoretical Issues 24 How Fertilization Takes Place 54
Issue 1: Is Development Active or Reactive? 25 What Causes Multiple Births? 55
Issue 2: Is Development Continuous
or Discontinuous? 26

viii
 Mechanisms of Heredity 56
The Genetic Code 56
What Determines Sex? 57
Patterns of Genetic Transmission 58
Genetic and Chromosomal Abnormalities
Genetic Counseling and Testing 65
Nature and Nurture: Influences of
Heredity and Environment 67
Studying Heredity and Environment
How Heredity and Environment Work Together 69
Some Characteristics Influenced by
Heredity and Environment 72
Prenatal Development 74
Stages of Prenatal Development 75
Environmental Influences: Maternal Factors 81
Environmental Influences: Paternal Factors 88
Monitoring and Promoting
Prenatal Development 88
Disparities in Prenatal Care 90
The Need for Preconception Care 90
summary and key terms 91
Box 3.1 Research in Action Genetic Testing
chapter 4
Birth and Physical Development
during the First Three Years 94
Childbirth and Culture: How
Birthing Has Changed 96
The Birth Process 98
Stages of Childbirth 98
Electronic Fetal Monitoring 98
Vaginal versus Cesarean Delivery
Medicated versus Nonmedicated Delivery 100
The Newborn Baby 101
Size and Appearance 102
Body Systems 102
Medical and Behavioral Assessment
States of Arousal 104
Complications of Childbirth
Low Birth Weight 105
Can a Supportive Environment Overcome
Effects of Birth Complications? 109
Postmaturity 110
Stillbirth 110
Survival and Health 111
Reducing Infant Mortality 111
Immunization for Better Health
Early Physical Development 115
Principles of Development 115
Growth Patterns 116
Nutrition 116
61 The Brain and Reflex Behavior 118
Early Sensory Capacities 126
Motor Development 127
Milestones of Motor Development 127
68 Motor Development and Perception 130
Eleanor and James Gibson’s Ecological
Theory of Perception 130
How Motor Development Occurs: Thelen’s
Dynamic Systems Theory 131
Cultural Influences on Motor Development 132
summary and key terms 132
Box 4.1 Research in Action Lessons from Neuroscience 119
Box 4.2 Research in Action The Autism “Epidemic” 122
chapter 5
Cognitive Development during the
First Three Years 136
66 Studying Cognitive Development:
Six Approaches 138
Behaviorist Approach: Basic
Mechanics of Learning 139
Classical and Operant Conditioning 139
Infant Memory 139
Psychometric Approach: Developmental
and Intelligence Testing 141
Testing Infants and Toddlers 141
Assessing the Impact of the Early Home Environment 142
Early Intervention 142
99 Piagetian Approach: The Sensorimotor Stage 144
Substages of the Sensorimotor Stage 144
Do Imitative Abilities Develop Earlier
than Piaget Thought? 147
Development of Knowledge about
Objects and Symbols 149
103
Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage 151
Information-Processing Approach:
105 Perceptions and Representations 151
Habituation 151
Visual and Auditory Perceptual and Processing Abilities 152
Information Processing as a Predictor of Intelligence 153
Information Processing and the Development
of Piagetian Abilities 155
Evaluating Information Processing Research on Infants 158
Cognitive Neuroscience Approach:
114 The Brain’s Cognitive Structures 159
CONTENTS EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ix
 Social-Contextual Approach: Learning 3 Early Childhood
from Interactions with Caregivers 160

part
Language Development 161
Sequence of Early Language Development 161
Characteristics of Early Speech 165
Classic Theories of Language Acquisition:
The Nature-Nurture Debate 166
Influences on Early Language Development 168
Preparing for Literacy: The Benefits of Reading Aloud 170
summary and key terms 171
Box 5.1 Research in Action Do Infants and Toddlers Watch
Too Much Television? 154

chapter 6
Psychosocial Development during
chapter 7
the First Three Years 174
Foundations of Psychosocial Development 176
Physical and Cognitive
Emotions 176
Development in Early
Temperament 181
Childhood 212
Earliest Social Experiences: The Infant in the Family 184 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 214
Gender: How Different Are Baby Boys and Girls? 186 Aspects of Physical Development 214
Developmental Issues in Infancy 187 Bodily Growth and Change 214
Developing Trust 187 Sleep Patterns and Problems 215
Developing Attachments 188 Brain Development 217
Emotional Communication with Caregivers: Motor Skills 217
Mutual Regulation 193
Health and Safety 220
Social Referencing 193
Preventing Obesity 220
Developmental Issues in Toddlerhood 195
Undernutrition 221
The Emerging Sense of Self 195
Food Allergies 222
Development of Autonomy 196
Deaths and Accidental Injuries 223
The Roots of Moral Development:
Health in Context: Environmental Influences 223
Socialization and Internalization 196

Contact with Other Children 200 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 227

Siblings 200 Piagetian Approach:

Sociability with Nonsiblings 201 The Preoperational Child 227
Advances of Preoperational Thought 228
Children of Working Parents 201
Immature Aspects of Preoperational Thought 230
Effects of Maternal Employment 201
Do Young Children Have Theories of Mind? 232
Early Child Care 202

Maltreatment: Abuse and Neglect 205 Information-Processing Approach:

Memory Development 235
Maltreatment in Infancy and Toddlerhood 205
Basic Processes and Capacities 235
Contributing Factors: An Ecological View 206
Recognition and Recall 236
Helping Families in Trouble 207
Forming and Retaining Childhood Memories 236
Long-Term Effects of Maltreatment 208
Intelligence: Psychometric and
summary and key terms 209
Vygotskian Approaches 238
Box 6.1 Research in Action How Postpartum Depression
Affects Early Development 194 Traditional Psychometric Measures 238
Influences on Measured Intelligence 239
Box 6.2 Window on the World Are Struggles with
Toddlers Necessary? 198 Testing and Teaching Based on Vygotsky’s Theory 239

x EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONTENTS

 Language Development 240 4 Middle Childhood
Vocabulary 240

part
Grammar and Syntax 241
Pragmatics and Social Speech 242
Private Speech 242
Delayed Language Development 242
Preparation for Literacy 243
Media and Cognition 244

Early Childhood Education 244

Types of Preschools 244
Compensatory Preschool Programs 245
The Child in Kindergarten 246
summary and key terms 247
Box 7.1 Research in Action Food Security 222 chapter 9
Box 7.2 Window on the World Surviving the First Five Physical and Cognitive Development
Years of Life 224
in Middle Childhood 282
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 284
chapter 8
Aspects of Physical Development 284
Psychosocial Development in
Height and Weight 284
Early Childhood 250 Nutrition and Sleep 284
The Developing Self 252
Brain Development 285
The Self-Concept and Cognitive Development 252
Motor Development and Physical Play 286
Self-Esteem 253
Health, Fitness, and Safety 288
Understanding and Regulating Emotions 254
Obesity and Body Image 288
Erikson: Initiative versus Guilt 256
Other Medical Conditions 290
Gender 256
Accidental Injuries 291
Gender Differences 256
Perspectives on Gender Development 257
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 292

Play: The Business of Early Childhood 264

Piagetian Approach: The Concrete
Operational Child 292
Cognitive Levels of Play 264
Cognitive Advances 292
The Social Dimension of Play 266
Influences of Neurological Development,
How Gender Influences Play 267 Culture, and Schooling 295
How Culture Influences Play 268 Moral Reasoning 296
Parenting 269 Information-Processing Approach:
Forms of Discipline 269 Planning, Attention, and Memory 297
Parenting Styles 271 How Do Executive Skills Develop? 297
Special Behavioral Concerns 273 Selective Attention 297
Relationships with Other Children 276 Working Memory 297
Sibling Relationships 276 Metamemory : Understanding Memory 298
The Only Child 277 Mnemonics: Strategies for Remembering 298
Playmates and Friends 278 Information Processing and Piagetian Tasks 300
summary and key terms 279
Box 8.1 Research in Action Does Play Have an
Evolutionary Basis? 265

CONTENTS EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT xi

 Psychometric Approach: Assessment 5 Adolescence
of Intelligence 300

part
The IQ Controversy 300
Influences on Intelligence (IQ) 301
Is There More Than One Intelligence? 304
Other Directions in Intelligence Testing 306

Language and Literacy 306

Vocabulary, Grammar, and Syntax 306
Pragmatics: Knowledge about Communication 307
Second-Language Learning 308
Becoming Literate 308

The Child In School 309

Entering First Grade 309
Influences on School Achievement 310
chapter 11
Educating Children with Special Needs 313
Children with Learning Problems 313 Physical and Cognitive
Gifted Children 317 Development in
summary and key terms 318 Adolescence 352
Box 9.1 Research in Action Do Barbie Dolls Affect Girls’ Adolescence: A Developmental
Body Image? 289 Transition 354
Adolescence as a Social Construction 354
chapter 10 Adolescence: A Time of Opportunities and Risks 355

Psychosocial Development in PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 355

Middle Childhood 322 Puberty 355
The Developing Self 324 How Puberty Begins: Hormonal Changes 355
Self-Concept Development: Timing, Signs, and Sequence of Puberty
Representational Systems 324 and Sexual Maturity 357
Self-Esteem 324 The Adolescent Brain 360
Emotional Growth and Prosocial Behavior 325 Physical and Mental Health 362
The Child in the Family 326 Physical Activity 362
Family Atmosphere 326 Sleep Needs and Problems 363
Family Structure 330 Nutrition and Eating Disorders 363
Sibling Relationships 335 Use and Abuse of Drugs 367
The Child in the Peer Group 336 Depression 370
Positive and Negative Effects of Peer Relations 336 Death in Adolescence 371
Popularity 337
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 372
Friendship 338
Aspects of Cognitive Maturation 372
Aggression and Bullying 339
Piaget’s Stage of Formal Operations 372
Mental Health 343
Changes in Information Processing 374
Common Emotional Problems 343
Language Development 375
Treatment Techniques 345
Moral Reasoning: Kohlberg’s Theory 375
Stress and Resilience 346
An Ethic of Care: Gilligan’s Theory 378
summary and key terms 350 Prosocial Behavior and Volunteer Activity 378
Box 10.1 Research in Action Pass the Milk: Family
Mealtimes and Child Well-Being 327
Box 10.2 Research in Action Talking to Children about
Terrorism and War 348

xii EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONTENTS

 Educational and Vocational Issues 379 6 Emerging and Young Adulthood
Influences on School Achievement 380

part
Dropping Out of High School 383
Preparing for Higher Education or Vocations 384
summary and key terms 386
Box 11.1 Window on the World The Globalization of
Adolescence 356
Box 11.2 Research in Action Multitasking and
Gen M 383

chapter 12
Psychosocial Development in
Adolescence 388
chapter 13
The Search for Identity 390
Erikson: Identity versus Identity Confusion 390 Physical and Cognitive
Marcia: Identity Status—Crisis and Commitment 391 Development in Emerging and
Gender Differences in Identity Formation 393 Young Adulthood 418
Ethnic Factors in Identity Formation 394 Emerging Adulthood 420
Sexuality 395 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 421
Sexual Orientation and Identity 396
Health and Fitness 421
Sexual Behavior 397
Health Status and Health Issues 421
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) 399
Genetic Influences on Health 422
Teenage Pregnancy and Childbearing 401
Behavioral Influences on Health and Fitness 422
Relationships with Family, Peers, Indirect Influences on Health 426
and Adult Society 403
Mental Health Problems 429
Is Adolescent Rebellion a Myth? 403
Sexual and Reproductive Issues 430
Changing Time Use and Changing Relationships 404
Sexual Behavior and Attitudes 431
Adolescents and Parents 405
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) 431
Adolescents and Siblings 408
Menstrual Disorders 432
Adolescents and Peers 409
Infertility 433
Antisocial Behavior and Juvenile
Delinquency 412 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 434
Becoming a Delinquent: Genetic and Perspectives on Adult Cognition 434
Neurological Factors 412
Beyond Piaget: New Ways of Thinking in Adulthood 434
Becoming a Delinquent: How Family, Peer, and
Schaie: A Life-Span Model of Cognitive Development 436
Community Influences Interact 412
Sternberg: Insight and Know-How 437
Long-Term Prospects 414
Emotional Intelligence 438
Preventing and Treating Delinquency 415
summary and key terms 417 Moral Reasoning 439
Culture and Moral Reasoning 439
Box 12.1 Research in Action Consequences of the Social
Network 411 Gender and Moral Reasoning 441
Box 12.2 Research in Action The Youth Violence Education and Work 442
Epidemic 414
The College Transition 443
Entering the World of Work 445
summary and key terms 448
Box 13.1 Research in Action Assisted Reproductive
Technology 434
Box 13.2 Research in Action Development of Faith across
the Life Span 440

CONTENTS EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT xiii

chapter 14 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 482

Psychosocial Development in Physical Changes 482

Emerging and Young Adulthood 450 Sensory and Psychomotor Functioning 482
The Brain at Midlife 483
Emerging Adulthood: Patterns and Tasks 452
Structural and Systemic Changes 484
Varied Paths to Adulthood 452
Sexuality and Reproductive Functioning 485
Identity Development in Emerging Adulthood 453
Developing Adult Relationships with Parents 455 Physical and Mental Health 488
Health Trends at Midlife 488
Personality Development: Four Views 456
Behavioral Influences on Health 490
Normative-Stage Models 457
Socioeconomic Status and Health 490
Timing-of-Events Model 458
Race/Ethnicity and Health 491
Trait Models: Costa and McCrae’s Five Factors 459
Gender and Health 492
Typological Models 461
Stress in Middle Age 495
Foundations of Intimate Relationships 462
Emotions and Health 496
Friendship 462
Mental Health 497
Love 463

Marital and Nonmarital Lifestyles 464 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 499

Single Life 464 Measuring Cognitive Abilities in

Gay and Lesbian Relationships 465 Middle Age 499
Cohabitation 466 Schaie: The Seattle Longitudinal Study 499

Marriage 467 Horn and Cattell: Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence 501

Parenthood 470 The Distinctiveness of Adult Cognition 501

Parenthood as a Developmental Experience 470 The Role of Expertise 501

How Dual-Income Families Cope 472 Integrative Thought 502

When Marriage Ends 473 Creativity 503

Divorce 473 Characteristics of Creative Achievers 503

Remarriage and Stepparenthood 475 Creativity and Age 503

summary and key terms 476 Work and Education 504

Box 14.1 Research in Action The Millennials 453 Work versus Early Retirement 504

Box 14.2 Research in Action Intimate Partner Violence 474 Work and Cognitive Development 505
The Mature Learner 505
summary and key terms 506
7 Middle Adulthood
Box 15.1 Window on the World Cultural Differences in
part

Women’s Experience of Menopause 488

chapter 16
Psychosocial Development in
Middle Adulthood 508
Looking at the Life Course in Middle Age 510

Change at Midlife: Theoretical Approaches 511

Trait Models 512
Normative-Stage Models 512
Timing of Events: The Social Clock 515
chapter 15 The Self at Midlife: Issues and Themes 515

Physical and Cognitive Development Is There a Midlife Crisis? 515

in Middle Adulthood 478 Identity Development 516

Psychological Well-Being and Positive Mental Health 519
Middle Age: A Social Construct 480

xiv EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONTENTS

 Relationships at Midlife 522 Physical Changes 549
Theories of Social Contact 522 Organic and Systemic Changes 549
Relationships, Gender, and Quality of Life 523 The Aging Brain 550

Consensual Relationships 523 Sensory and Psychomotor Functioning 551

Marriage 523 Sleep 552

Cohabitation 524 Sexual Functioning 553

Divorce 524 Physical and Mental Health 554

Marital Status, Well-Being, and Health 525 Health Status 554
Gay and Lesbian Relationships 526 Chronic Conditions and Disabilities 554
Friendships 527 Lifestyle Influences on Health and Longevity 555

Relationships with Maturing Children 527 Mental and Behavioral Problems 557

Adolescent Children: Issues for Parents 528 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 562

When Children Leave: The Empty Nest 528
Aspects of Cognitive Development 562
Parenting Grown Children 529
Intelligence and Processing Abilities 562
Prolonged Parenting: The “Cluttered Nest” 529
Memory: How Does It Change? 565
Other Kinship Ties 530 Wisdom 568
Relationships with Aging Parents 530 summary and key terms 569
Relationships with Siblings 532 Box 17.1 Research in Action Centenarians 547
Grandparenthood 532
summary and key terms 535
chapter 18
Box 16.1 Window on the World A Society without
Middle Age 511 Psychosocial Development in Late
Adulthood 572
Theory and Research on Personality
8 Late Adulthood Development 574
part

Erik Erikson: Normative Issues and Tasks 575

The Five-Factor Model: Personality Traits in Old Age 575

Well-Being in Late Adulthood 577

Coping and Mental Health 577
Models of “Successful,” or “Optimal,” Aging 579

Practical and Social Issues Related to Aging 582

Work and Retirement 583
How Do Older Adults Fare Financially? 585
Living Arrangements 586

Personal Relationships in Late Life 590

Theories of Social Contact and Social Support 590
chapter 17 The Importance of Social Relationships 591
Physical and Cognitive The Multigenerational Family 591
Development in Late Adulthood 538 Marital Relationships 592
Old Age Today 540 Long-Term Marriage 592
The Graying of the Population 540 Widowhood 594
Young Old to Oldest Old 541 Divorce and Remarriage 594

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 542 Nonmarital Lifestyles and Relationships 595

Single Life 595
Longevity and Aging 542
Cohabitation 595
Trends and Factors in Life Expectancy 542
Gay and Lesbian Relationships 596
Why People Age 544
Friendships 596
How Far Can the Life Span Be Extended? 547

CONTENTS EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT xv

 Nonmarital Kinship Ties 597 Facing Death and Loss 606
Relationships with Adult Children 597 Physical and Cognitive Changes Preceding Death 606
Relationships with Siblings 599 Confronting One’s Own Death 607
Becoming Great-Grandparents 599 Patterns of Grieving 607
summary and key terms 600 Attitudes about Death and Dying
across the Life Span 610
Box 18.1 Window on the World Aging in Asia 583
Box 18.2 Research in Action Mistreatment of the Significant Losses 612
Elderly 598 Surviving a Spouse 612
Losing a Parent in Adulthood 613
Losing a Child 615

9 The End of Life Mourning a Miscarriage 615

Medical, Legal, and Ethical Issues:

part

The “Right to Die” 616

Suicide 616
Hastening Death 618

Finding Meaning and Purpose

in Life and Death 623
Reviewing a Life 623
Development: A Lifelong Process 624
summary and key terms 624
Box 19.1 Research in Action Ambiguous Loss 609

Glossary G-1
chapter 19
Bibliography B-1
Dealing with Death and
Credits C-1
Bereavement 602
The Many, Changing Meanings Name Index I-1

of Death and Dying 604 Subject Index I-23

The Cultural Context 604
The Mortality Revolution 605
Care of the Dying 605

xvi EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONTENTS

Experience Human Development and APA Goals
APA UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING GOALS AND OUTCOMES
1 Knowledge Base of Psychology
Demonstrate familiarity with the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in psychology.
1.1 Characterize the nature of psychology as a discipline.
1.2 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding representing appropriate
breadth and depth in selected content areas of psychology.
1.3 Use the concepts, language, and major theories of the discipline to
account for psychological phenomena.
1.4 Explain major perspectives of psychology (e. g., behavioral, biological,
cognitive, evolutionary, humanistic, psychodynamic, and sociocul-
tural).
2 Research Methods in Psychology
Understand and apply basic research methods in psychology, including research design, data analysis, and interpretation.
2.1 Describe the basic characteristics of the science of psychology.
2.2 Explain different research methods used by psychologists.
2.3 Evaluate the appropriateness of conclusions derived from
psychological research.
2.4 Design and conduct basic studies to address psychological questions
using appropriate research methods.
2.5 Follow the APA Codes of Ethics in the treatment of human and
nonhuman participants in the design, data collection, interpretation,
and reporting of psychological research.
2.6 Generate research conclusions appropriately based on the
parameters of particular research methods.
EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONTENT
• Ch 1: Studying the Life Span, p. 5; The Study of Human Development: Basic
concepts, p. 5; Heredity, Environment, and Maturation, p. 10
• Ch 2: Basic Theoretical Issues, pp. 24–26
• Ch 5: Cognitive Development: Six Approaches, p. 138; Six Substages of
Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage of Cognitive Development, p. 145
• Ch 6: Emotions, pp. 176–179; Studying Temperament Patterns, pp. 181–184
• Ch 7: Piagetian Approach: The Preoperational Child p. 227
• Ch 9: Piagetian Approach: The Concrete Operational Child, p. 292; Informa-
tion Approach: Planning, Attention, and Memory, pp. 297–300; Psychomet-
ric Approach: Assessment of Intelligence, pp. 300–301
• Ch 11: Piaget’s Stage of Formal Operations, p. 372
• Ch 14: Personality Development: Four Views, pp. 456–461
• Ch 16: Change at Midlife: Theoretical Approaches, pp. 511–515
• Ch 17: Theories of Biological Aging, p. 544
• Ch 18: Theory and Research on Personality Development, pp. 574–577
• Ch 1: Research in Action: Is There A Critical Period for Language
Acquisition?, p. 18
• Ch 2: Basic Research Designs, pp. 42–47; Window on the World: Purposes of
Cross-Cultural Research, p. 44; Ethics of Research, p. 49–50
• Ch 3: Research in Action: Genetic Testing, p. 66
• Ch 4: Research in Action: The Autism “Epidemic” pp. 122–123
• Ch 5: Research in Action: Do Infants and Toddlers Watch Too Much
Television?, p. 154
• Ch 6: Research in Action: How Postpartum Depression Affects Early
Development, p. 194
• Ch 7: Research in Action: Food Security, p. 222
• Ch 8: Research in Action: Does Play Have an Evolutionary Basis?, p. 265
• Ch 9: Research in Action: Do Barbie Dolls Affect Girls’ Body Image?, p. 289
• Ch 10: Research in Action: Talking to Children about Terrorism and War, p. 348
• Ch 11: Research in Action: Multitasking and Gen M, p. 383
• Ch 12: Research in Action: Consequences of the Social Network, p. 411
• Ch 13: Research in Action: Assisted Reproductive Technology, p. 434-435
• Ch 13: Research in Action: Development of Faith Across the Life Span, p. 440
• Ch 14: Research in Action: Intimate Partner Violence, p. 474
• Ch 17: Research in Action: Centenarians, p. 547
• Ch 18: Research in Action: Mistreatment of the Elderly, p. 598
• Ch 19: Research in Action: Ambiguous Loss, p. 609
xvii
 APA UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING GOALS AND OUTCOMES
3 Critical Thinking Skills in Psychology
Respect and use critical and creative thinking, skeptical inquiry, and, when possible, the scientific approach to solving problems
related to behavior and mental processes.
3.1 Use critical thinking effectively.
3.2 Engage in creative thinking.
3.3 Use reasoning to recognize, develop, defend, and criticize arguments
and other persuasive appeals.
3.4 Approach problems effectively.
4 Application of Psychology
Understand and apply psychological principles to personal, social, and organizational issues.
4.1 Describe major applied areas (e.g., clinical, counseling, industrial/
organizational, school, etc.) and emerging (e.g., health, forensics,
media, military, etc.) applied areas of psychology.
4.2 Identify appropriate applications of psychology in solving problems.
4.3 Articulate how psychological principles can be used to explain social
issues and inform public policy.
4.4 Apply psychological concepts, theories, and research findings as
these relate to everyday life.
4.5 Recognize that ethically complex situations can develop in the
application of psychological principles.
xviii EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT APA GOALS
EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONTENT
• Ch 1: p. 4; p. 16
• Ch 2: Ethics of Research, pp. 49–50
• Ch 3: Research in Action: Genetic Testing, p. 66; p 68
• Ch 5: p. 158
• Ch 7: p. 239
• Ch 8: p. 254; p. 270
• Ch 10: p. 334; Does Electronic Media Violence Stimulate Aggression?,
pp. 340–342
• Ch 11: p. 369
• Ch 13: Research in Action: Development of Faith Across the Life Span, p. 440
• Ch 17: p. 548
• Ch 2: p. 25; Ethics of Research, pp. 49–50
• Ch 3: What Causes Multiple Births?, pp. 55–56; The Need for Preconception
Care, p. 90
• Ch 6: Window on the World: Are Struggles with Toddlers Necessary?, p. 198
• Ch 7: Preventing Obesity, pp. 220–221; Research in Action: Food Security,
p. 222
• Ch 9: Moral Reasoning, p. 296
• Ch 10: Research in Action: Pass the Milk: Family Mealtimes and Child
Well-Being, p. 327; Aggression and Bullying, pp. 339–343
• Ch 11: Sleep Needs and Problems, p. 363; Nutrition and Eating Disorders,
pp. 363–367
• Ch 12: Is Adolescent Rebellion a Myth?, pp. 403–404
• Ch 17: Safety Checklist for Preventing Falls in the Home, p. 553; Warning
Signs of a Stroke, p. 555; Alzheimer’s Disease versus Normal Behavior, p. 559
• Ch 18: Practical and Social Issues Related to Aging, pp. 582–590; Group
Living Arrangements for Older Adults, p. 589
• Ch 19: Manifestation of Grief in Children: p. 611
APA UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING GOALS AND OUTCOMES EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONTENT

5 Values in Psychology
Value empirical evidence, tolerate ambiguity, act ethically, and reflect other values that are the underpinnings of psychology
as a science.

5.1 Recognize the necessity for ethical behavior in all aspects of the sci-
ence and practice of psychology.
5.2 Demonstrate reasonable skepticism and intellectual curiosity by asking
questions about causes of behavior.
5.3 Seek and evaluate scientific evidence for psychological claims.
5.4 Tolerate ambiguity and realize that psychological explanations are
often complex and tentative.
5.5 Recognize and respect human diversity.
5.6 Assess and justify their engagement with respect to civic, social, and
global responsibilities.
5.7 Understand the limitations of their psychological knowledge and skills.
• Ch 1: Window on the World: Children of Immigrant Families, p. 14
• Ch 2: Window on the World: Purposes of Cross-Cultural Research, p. 44;
Ethics of Research, pp. 49–50
• Ch 3: Research in Action: Genetic Testing, p. 66
• Ch 6: Gender: How Different Are Baby Boys and Girls?, pp. 186–187
• Ch 7: Window on the World: Surviving the First Five Years of Life, pp. 224–225
• Ch 8: Perspectives on Gender Development, pp. 257–263
• Ch 11: Window on the World: The Globalization of Adolescence, pp. 356–357;
Dropping Out of High School, pp. 383–384
• Ch 12: Sexual Orientation and Identity, pp. 396–297
• Ch 13: Research in Action: Development of Faith Across the Life Span, p. 440

• Ch 15: Window on the World: Cultural Differences in Women’s Experience of

Menopause, pp.488–489
• Ch 16: Window on the World: A Society without Middle Age, p. 511; Gay and
Lesbian Relationships, pp. 526–527
• Ch 18: Window on the World: Aging in Asia, p. 583

• Ch 19: Mourning a Miscarriage, pp. 615–616

6 Information and Technological Literacy

Demonstrate information competence and the ability to use computers and other technology for many purposes.

6.1 Demonstrate information competence at each stage in the • Ch 1: p. 4

following process: • Ch 12: Research in Action: The Consequences of the Social Network, p. 411
a. Formulate a researchable topic that can be supported by database
search strategies
b. Locate and choose relevant sources from appropriate media, which
may include data and perspectives outside traditional psychology
and Western boundaries
c. Use selected sources after evaluating their suitability based on
(1) Appropriateness, accuracy, quality, and value of the source
(2) Potential bias of the source
(3) The relative value of primary versus secondary sources,
empirical versus nonempirical sources, and peer-reviewed
versus non-peer-reviewed sources
d. Read and accurately summarize the general scientific literature
of psychology
6.2 Use appropriate software to produce understandable reports of the
psychological literature, methods, and statistical and qualitative
analyses in APA or other appropriate style, including graphic
representations of data.
6.3 Use information and technology ethically and responsibly.

6.4 Demonstrate these computer skills:

a. Use basic word processing, database, e-mail, spreadsheet, and
data analysis program
b. Search the Web for high-quality information
c. Use proper etiquette and security safeguards when communicating
through e-mail

APA GOALS EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT xix

 APA UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING GOALS AND OUTCOMES
7 Communication Skills
Communicate effectively in a variety of formats.
7.1 Demonstrate effective writing skills in various formats (e.g., essays,
correspondence, technical papers, note taking) and for various purposes
(e.g., informing, defending, explaining, persuading, arguing, teaching).
7.2 Demonstrate effective oral communication skills in various formats (e.g.,
group discussion, debate, lecture) and for various purposes (e.g., inform-
ing, defending, explaining, persuading, arguing, teaching).
7.3 Exhibit quantitative literacy. Demonstrate interpersonal communication
skills.
7.4 Exhibit the ability to collaborate effectively.
8 Sociocultural and International Awareness
Recognize, understand, and respect the complexity of sociocultural and international diversity.
8.1 Interact effectively and sensitively with people from diverse
backgrounds and cultural perspectives.
8.2 Examine the sociocultural and international contexts that influence
individual differences.
8.3 Explain how individual differences influence beliefs, values, and
interactions with others and vice versa.
8.4 Understand how privilege, power, and oppression may affect
prejudice, discrimination, and inequity. Recognize prejudicial
attitudes and discriminatory behaviors that might exist in
themselves and others.
xx EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT APA GOALS
EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONTENT
• Ch 1: p. 13
• Ch 2: p. 26
• Ch 2: Basic Research Designs, p. 43–44.
• Ch 5: Language Development, p 163
• Ch 16: Relationships with Maturing Children, p. 527–529
• Ch 18: Elderspeak, p. 577
• Ch 19: Helping Someone Who Has Lost A Loved One, p. 610
• Ch 2: Window on the World: Purposes of Cross-Cultural Research, p. 44
• Ch 3: Disparities in Prenatal Care, p. 90
• Ch 4: Can A Supportive Environment Overcome The Effects of Birth
Complications?, pp. 109–110
• Ch 6: Window on the World: Are Struggles with Toddlers Necessary?, p. 198
• Ch 7: Socioeconomic Status and Race/Ethnicity, pp. 223–225; Window on
the World, Surviving the First Five Years of Life, pp. 224–225; Homelessness,
pp. 225–226
• Ch 10: Research in Action: Talking to Children about Terrorism and War,
p. 348
• Ch 11: Window on the World: The Globalization of Adolescence,
pp. 356–357
• Ch 12: Ethnic Factors in Identity Formation, p. 394; Becoming a Delinquent:
Genetic and Neurological Factors, p. 412
• Ch 13: Culture and Moral Reasoning, pp. 439, 441; Research in Action:
Development of Faith Across the Life Span, p. 440
• Ch 14: Research in Action: Intimate Partner Violence, p. 474
• Ch 15: Window on the World: Cultural Differences in Women’s Experience of
Menopause, pp.488–489; Race/Ethnicity and Health, p. 491
• Ch 16: Gay and Lesbian Relationships, pp. 526–527
• Ch 18: Window on the World: Aging in Asia, p. 583
APA UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING GOALS AND OUTCOMES EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONTENT

9 Personal Development
Develop insight into their own and others’ behavior and mental processes and apply effective strategies for self-management and
self-improvement.

9.1 Reflect on their experiences and find meaning in them. • Ch 9: Research in Action: Do Barbie Dolls Affect Girls’ Body Image?, p 289

9.2 Apply psychological principles to promote personal development.
9.3 Enact self-management strategies that maximize health outcomes.
9.4 Display high standards of personal integrity with others.
9.5 Seek input from and experiences with diverse people to enhance the
quality of solutions.
• Ch 12: Outcomes of Teenage Pregnancy, pp. 401–402; Research in Action:
Consequences of the Social Network, p. 411
• Ch 13: Sexual and Reproductive Issues, pp. 430–434
• Ch 14: Research in Action: Intimate Partner Violence, p. 474
• Ch 15: How Stress Affects Health, pp. 497–498

• Ch 16: Psychological Well-Being and Positive Mental Health, pp. 519–522;

Dimensions of Well-Being Used in Ryff ’s Scale, p. 521
• Ch 19: Finding Meaning and Purpose in Life and Death, pp. 623–624

10 Career Planning and Development

Pursue realistic ideas about how to implement their psychological knowledge, skills, and values in occupational pursuits in a
variety of settings.

10.1 Apply knowledge of psychology (e.g., decision strategies, • Ch 1: Human Development: An Ever-Evolving Field, pp. 4–5
life span processes, psychological assessment, types of • Ch 11: Preparing for Higher Education or Vocations, pp. 384–386
psychological careers) when formulating career choices.
• Ch 13: The College Transition, pp. 443–445
10.2 Identify the types of academic experience and performance in
psychology and the liberal arts that will facilitate entry into the • Ch 15: Work and Education, pp. 504–506
workforce, post-baccalaureate education, or both. • Ch 16: Work and Cognitive Development, p. 505
10.3 Describe preferred career paths based on accurate self-
assessment of abilities, achievement, motivation, and work habits.
10.4 Identify and develop skills and experiences relevant to
achieving selected career goals.
10.5 Articulate how changing societal needs can influence career
opportunities and foster flexibility about managing
changing conditions
10.6 Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of lifelong
learning and personal flexibility to sustain personal and
professional development as the nature of work evolves.

APA GOALS EXPERIENCE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT xxi

 experience
Human Development
a program that connects
experience students to the real world!

• Milestones—real life, real development

McGraw Hill’s Milestones is a powerful tool that allows students to
experience life as it unfolds, from infancy to late adulthood.
Milestones consists of two essential components that work together to
capture key changes throughout the lifespan—Milestones of Child
Development and Milestones: Transitions.
In Milestones of Child Development, students track the early stages of
physical, social, and emotional development. By watching one child
over time or comparing various children, Milestones provides a unique,
experiential learning environment that can only be achieved by
opment as it happens
watching real human development all in pretransitional
happens—all
and postmilestone segments. ts.
In Milestones:
Transitions, students
meet a series of people,
from teenagers to
individuals in late
adulthood, to hear their
perspective on changes
that occur throughout the
rest of the life span.
Through a series of
interviews, students are
given the opportunity to
g
think critically while exploring
the differences in attitudes
on everything from body
image to changes in emotion, n,
sexuality, cognitive processes,s,
and death and dying.
In addition, McGraw-Hill’s
rful,
Milestones includes a powerful,
customizable assessment tool
t
to help students and instructors
track progress and gauge understanding of
key course concepts. To ensure that students are mastering
key concepts, assessments are linked to core learning outcomes.

xxii
 Students receive feedback on their level of mastery,
and their scores are automatically graded and
recorded in the Connect grade book. Milestones
may be experienced with or without the
assessment tool.

• Research in Action
Experience the impact of current developments
in the field with Research in Action features.
Connecting research to everyday life
demonstrates both the relevancy and
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ever-changing nature of the field.

research in action
LESSONS FROM NEUROSCIENCE
While we have known for some time that early experi-
ences can have a profound effect on who we are and who
we become, neuroscience and behavioral research is
beginning to illuminate the specific ways in which our
brain development itself is shaped by such processes. On
the basis of decades of scientific inquiry, the National
Symposium on Early Childhood Science and Policy issued
a series of brief summaries encapsulating basic concepts
in early brain development. They specify five basic con-
cepts about early brain development:
1. Brains are built over time, from the bottom up. Brains do
not emerge full formed in adulthood. Rather, their
construction begins in the fetal period and continues
at an incredibly rapid pace through early childhood.
Our brains are constructed out of the millions of influ-
ences and interactions all of us go through in our lives.
And our abilities come online in a prescribed and or-
ganized fashion: first sensation and perception, then
language and cognitive functions.
2. The interactive influence of genes and experience
shape the developing brain. Although the nature-
nurture debate certainly predates the existence of
the field of psychology, research in early brain de-
organs that work as an integrated whole. There is no
“left brain” and “right brain”; there is only one brain. All
areas of our development are likewise related. For ex-
ample, without feeling safe and loved, babies are less
likely to explore their environment, limiting their abil-
ity to learn about the world.
5. Toxic stress damages developing brain architecture,
which can lead to lifelong problems in learning, be-
havior, and physical and mental health. Our bodies
are well adapted to dealing with time-limited stress-
ors, but we are not made to handle chronic stress 4.1
effectively. Long-term stress is very damaging to
our bodies as a whole and can have especially
strong effects on a young brain. Unfortunately,
many children are exposed to toxic levels of stress
through such factors as poverty, abuse or neglect,
and parental mental illness.
How do findings such as these translate into action in the
real world? The National Symposium on Early Childhood
Science and Policy has used these basic concepts to
develop a series of recommendations for interventions in
early childhood. First, the work on plasticity suggests that
the earlier the intervention, the more effective it will be.

experience
diversity and the impact of culture
on human development.
• Window on the World
Window on the World features include cross-cultural research and
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explore the way an issue is treated or experienced in one or more
cultures, in the Unites States, and
around the world.

THE GLOBALIZATION OF ADOLESCENCE

Young people today live in a global neighborhood, a web
of interconnections and interdependencies. Goods, in-
formation, electronic images, songs, entertainment, and
fads sweep almost instantaneously around the planet.
Western youth dance to Latin rhythms, and Arabic girls
draw their images of romance from Indian cinema. Maori
youth in New Zealand listen to African American rap
music to symbolize their separation from adult society.
Adolescence is no longer solely a Western phenome-
11.1 non. Globalization and modernization have set in motion
societal changes the world over. Among these changes
are urbanization, longer and healthier lives, reduced birth-
rates, and smaller families. Earlier puberty and later mar-
riage are increasingly common. More women and fewer
children work outside the home. The rapid spread of ad-
vanced technologies has made knowledge a prized re-
source. Young people need more schooling and skills to
enter the labor force. Together these changes result in an
extended transitional phase between childhood and
adulthood.
GOLDPOST
Puberty in less-developed0 countries
Last traditionally
First Level was
parents’ footsteps and to be guided by their advice. If
they work, they are more likely to work in factories than
on the family farm.
This does not mean that adolescence is the same the
world over. The strong hand of culture shapes its mean-
ing differently in different societies. In the United States,
adolescents are spending less time with their parents
and confiding in them less. In India, adolescents may
wear Western clothing and use computers, but they
maintain strong family ties, and their life decisions often
are influenced by traditional Hindu values. In Western
countries, teenage girls strive to be as thin as possible. In
Niger and other African countries, obesity is considered
beautiful.
In many non-Western countries, adolescent boys and
girls seem to live in two separate worlds. In parts of the
Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, puberty brings
more restrictions on girls, whose virginity must be pro-
tected to uphold family status and ensure girls’ marriage-
ability. Boys, on the other hand, gain more freedom and
Head
mobility, and their sexual
E X P Eexploits
RIENC areE tolerated
H U M A by
N parents
DEVELOPMENT xxiii
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
trudged sturdily homewards, with her petticoats held well out of the
mud, and her country-made boots defying the slushy road.
When Mrs. Dulcimer had gone the two girls sat at opposite sides
of the hearth, very much as they had been seated the night before,
only there was no pretence of reading to-night. Beatrix sat looking
idly at the fire with great melancholy eyes. Bella watched her, ready
to offer any scrap of consolation which might suggest itself.
‘It seems painfully clear that my father committed suicide,’ Beatrix
said, at the end of a long reverie.
‘Oh, I hope not,’ exclaimed Bella, piously. ‘We must not think that,
dear. He may have taken an overdose of laudanum.’
‘Yes, if he had been in the habit of taking laudanum. But he was
not.’
‘How can you know that? Poor Mr. Harefield was so reserved. He
lived so much apart from you.’
‘But if he had taken laudanum habitually somebody would have
known of it. Peacock, for instance, who always waited upon him. No,
Bella, there was something in that Italian’s visit. I believe my father
poisoned himself.’
‘But why?’
‘For the last ten years his life has been one long regret. Yes. I am
sure of that now. His coldness and unkindness to me were the
growth of despair. He told me that he had closed his heart against all
human affection ten years ago. That was the time of my mother’s
death. And last night those long years of grief culminated in a
paroxysm of despair, and in a rash moment—a moment in which he
was not responsible for his actions—he threw away his life.’
‘But how did he come by the poison?’ asked Bella. ‘He must have
obtained the poison somehow. That would be a deliberate act—just
as deliberate as yours when you went into six different chemists’
shops.’
‘Why do you look at me like that, Bella?’ inquired Beatrix, struck by
something curious in the other’s intent gaze. ‘Do you suppose that I
did not tell the truth about the laudanum I bought at Great Yafford?’
‘I know you told the truth. I was with you in the pony carriage, you
know. Don’t you remember my asking the meaning of all those little
packages? I was only thinking, just now, that had I been you I don’t
think I should have told the coroner about that laudanum.’
‘Why not? There was no harm in my buying it. I had as much right
to buy that as any other medicine.’
‘Of course, dear. But still I am sorry you told about it.’
‘Why, in goodness name?’
‘Because it might make a bad impression upon some people—
people who don’t know you as your friends know you. People who
think that you and your father lived unhappily together. It might put
curious ideas into their heads.’
‘Bella, what do you mean?’ cried Beatrix, starting up from her
chair. ‘Do you mean that there is any creature on this earth so vile in
mind and heart as to be capable of believing that I poisoned my
father?’
‘My dear Beatrix, there are people wicked enough to be ready to
believe anything evil of those who are richer than themselves.’
‘I am sorry such a hideous suggestion should come from you,
Bella,’ said Beatrix, coldly.
Bella saw that she had gone a little too far, and knelt down by her
dear Beatrix’s chair, and tried to soothe the irritation her suggestions
had caused. Beatrix’s wounded feeling was not easily appeased.
‘If such a thing can enter into the mind of my earliest friend, my old
playfellow, what measure of evil am I to expect from strangers?’ she
said.
‘My dearest Beatrix, have I been speaking of my own thoughts? I
only said I was sorry you mentioned those unfortunate purchases at
Yafford.’
‘I shall never be sorry for having spoken the truth.’
 Mrs. Dulcimer had her wish gratified. At the gate of the Vicarage a
large and blundering vehicle loomed upon her through the rainy
darkness. It was one of the Great Yafford flies, a cumbrous
conveyance of wood, iron, and mouldy leather, which Mr. Bollen, of
‘The George,’ innkeeper and postmaster, facetiously called a landau.
‘Have you brought any one from the town?’ asked Mrs. Dulcimer.
‘Yes, mum, I’ve bringed a gen’leman from t’ steation.’
Mrs. Dulcimer went into the house delighted. She forgot the
awfulness of things at the Water House, forgot everything but this
propitious arrival of Sir Kenrick.
‘My dear Kenrick!’ she exclaimed, making a friendly rush at the
newly-arrived guest, as he stood in the hall talking to the Vicar. ‘How
good of you to remember your promise!’
‘My dear Mrs. Dulcimer, do you suppose there is any house in
which I would sooner spend my Christmas than in this? But what
terrible news this is about Mr. Harefield.’
‘Is it not awful? Poor Beatrix, without a relative; and with hardly a
friend except Clement and myself. With her great wealth, too—for
now she is mistress of everything.’
‘There is no one else, I suppose, to whom Mr. Harefield can have
left his estates?’
‘Not a creature. He lived like a hermit, and Beatrix is his only child.
It is a great fortune for a girl to be mistress of.’
‘Is it really so large a fortune?’ inquired Kenrick, in a
conversational tone, taking off his coat and wraps.
‘Immense. Mr. Harefield’s mother was old Mr. Pynsent’s only
daughter, and a great heiress. There is the Lincolnshire property. I
have heard Mr. Scratchell say that it brings in more than the
Yorkshire estate.’
 ‘In plain words, Beatrix will have something like ten thousand a
year,’ said the Vicar, rather impatiently. ‘A great deal too much
money for any young woman, and likely to be a burden instead of a
blessing.’
‘Not if she marries an honourable man, Clement,’ remonstrated
Mrs. Dulcimer. ‘All depends upon how she marries. She ought to
marry some one who can give her position. She does not want a rich
husband.’
Mr. Dulcimer sighed.
‘If our English Church had what it ought to have, educational
establishments for women, I should recommend Beatrix to avoid the
rocks and shoals of matrimony, and bestow her wealth upon such an
institution. She could live very happily as the foundress and superior
of a Protestant convent, like Madame de Maintenon, at St. Cyr.’
‘With this difference,’ said Sir Kenrick. ‘Madame de Maintenon was
an old woman, and had had two husbands.’
‘But her only period of happiness was at St. Cyr.’
‘So she said; yet she intrigued considerably to be Queen of
France, à la main gauche.’
‘Clement!’ exclaimed Mrs. Dulcimer, looking the image of horror;
‘the word convent makes me shudder. When a Protestant clergyman
talks approvingly of convents, people may well say we are drifting
towards Rome.’
‘Please, ’um, the fowls are getting as cold as ice,’ said Rebecca, at
the door of the dining-room. ‘Do let me take your bonnet and shawl,
’um.’
They all went in, Mrs. Dulcimer having removed her wraps, and
shaken out her frillings hastily. The dining-table looked the picture of
comfort, with its composite meal, half tea, half supper, a pair of fowls
roasted to what Rebecca called ‘a turn,’ a dish of broiled ham, a cold
sirloin and a winter salad, made as only Rebecca—taught by the
Vicar himself—could make salads. Kenrick had a fine appetite after
his long damp journey from the South.
 All tea-time the talk was of Mr. Harefield and Beatrix. The Vicar
had been in the little group of listeners standing by the door of the
Water House dining-room, and had heard the whole of the coroner’s
inquiry.
‘That poor girl ought to have somebody to watch the proceedings
on her behalf,’ said Mr. Dulcimer. ‘I shall go over to Great Yafford on
Wednesday and see Mivers. He is about the cleverest lawyer in the
town.’
‘Mr. Scratchell would surely protect Beatrix’s interests,’ suggested
Mrs. Dulcimer.
‘Mr. Scratchell is very good as a collector of rents, but I do not give
him credit for being exactly the man for a critical position.’
‘What do you mean by a critical position, Clement?’ exclaimed
Mrs. Dulcimer.
‘I mean that Beatrix’s position is a very critical one. Her admission
that she bought laudanum at six different shops, within one week of
her father’s death by that poison, is calculated to raise very painful
suspicions in the minds of those who do not know the girl’s nature as
well as you and I do.’
‘Oh, Clement, how dreadful!’
‘To protect her against such suspicion she must have a clever
lawyer. Mr. Harefield must have got the laudanum that killed him
somewhere or other. The mode and manner of his getting it ought to
be found out before this day week.’
‘It must be found out!’ exclaimed Mrs. Dulcimer. ‘Kenrick, you will
help this poor ill-used girl, will you not? Your chivalry will be aroused
in her defence.’
‘I am sure if I can be of any use’—faltered Kenrick.
‘You can’t,’ said the Vicar. ‘A clever lawyer will be of use—and no
one else. I shall write to Mivers directly after tea.’
‘Has Miss Harefield any idea that the admission she made about
the laudanum may be dangerous?’ inquired Kenrick.
 ‘Not the slightest. Poor girl, she is simply dazed—that is the word
—dazed! She did not even want me to stay with her. She did not
care whether I stayed or went away. Her brain is in a state of stupor.’
‘It was very lucky for her that she did make that statement about
her purchase of the laudanum,’ said the Vicar.
‘But why, if the admission was likely to do her harm?’ asked
Kenrick.
‘Because to have concealed the fact would have done her more
harm. The chemists from whom she bought the stuff would have
talked about it.’
‘Of course,’ assented Mrs. Dulcimer, ‘everything is talked about in
Great Yafford. Though it is such a large town, it is almost as bad as a
village for gossip.’

Not at the Vicarage only, but at every tea table in Little Yafford the
inquest at the Water House was the only subject of conversation.
Though very few people, save those actually concerned, had
crossed the threshold of the house during the inquiry, yet everybody
seemed to know all about it. They knew what the butler had said,
what Mr. Namby had said, what Beatrix and Bella had said—how
each and every witness had looked—and the different degrees of
emotion with which each particular witness had given his or her
evidence. Opinions at present were distinguished by their
vagueness. There was a general idea that Mr. Harefield’s death was
a very mysterious affair—that a great deal more would come out at
the next inquiry—that the butler and Bella Scratchell were both
keeping back a great deal—that Beatrix and her father had lived
much more unhappily together than anybody had hitherto suspected
—that Beatrix, being of Italian origin on the mother’s side, was likely
to do strange things. In support of which sweeping conclusion the
better informed gossips cited the examples of Lucretia Borgia,
Beatrice Cenci, and a young woman christened Bianca, whose
surname nobody was able to remember.
 Late in the evening Cyril Culverhouse came to the Vicarage. He
had promised to be there to hear the carol singers, in whom, as his
own scholars, he was bound to be interested. He was looking pale
and worried, and Mrs. Dulcimer immediately suggested a tumbler of
Rebecca’s port wine ‘negus,’ a restorative which the curate
obstinately refused.
‘I am a little anxious about your friend Miss Harefield,’ he said. ‘I
have written to a London lawyer to come down here immediately and
protect her interests.’
‘And I have written to Mr. Mivers, of Great Yafford,’ said the Vicar.
‘She ought to be well looked after between us.’
‘You were with her after the inquest, Mrs. Dulcimer,’ said Cyril,
‘How did she seem?’
‘Dazed,’ exclaimed Mrs. Dulcimer, exactly as she had exclaimed
before. ‘There is no other word for it. She reminded me of a sleep-
walker.’
 CHAPTER V.
gloomy days.
Mrs. Dulcimer called at the Water House after the morning service
on Christmas Day. She found Beatrix alone, and very quiet,
disinclined to talk of her grief, or, indeed, to talk about any subject
whatever. Bella had gone to assist at the early dinner at the Park, or,
in other words, to see that the juvenile Pipers did not gorge
themselves with turkey and pudding.
‘You ought not to have let Bella leave you, my love,’ said Mrs.
Dulcimer. ‘It is dreadful for you to be alone.’
‘Dear Mrs. Dulcimer, Bella cannot do me any good. She cannot
bring my father back to life, or explain the mystery of his death. I
insisted upon her going to the Park to-day. I am really better alone.’
‘My poor Beatrix, I cannot understand you.’
‘Am I so eccentric in liking to sit by my fireside quietly, and suffer in
silence?’ asked Beatrix, with a wintry smile. ‘I should have thought
any one would have preferred that to being the object of perpetual
consolation.’
This was a strong-minded view of the case which Mrs. Dulcimer
could by no means understand. It seemed to remove Beatrix further
away from her. But then she had always been able to get on better
with Bella than with Beatrix.
‘You are not without friends, Beatrix, and advisers in this hour of
trouble,’ she said, encouragingly.
And then she told Beatrix about the two lawyers to whom the Vicar
and his curate had written.
‘Strange, was it not, that Cyril and my husband should both think
of the same thing?’
 ‘Very strange,’ said Beatrix, deeply thoughtful.
‘You see, my dear, the important question is, where did your father
get the laudanum?’
‘Oh, I think I know that,’ answered Beatrix.
‘You know, and did not tell the coroner? How very foolish!’
‘I did not think of it yesterday. I could think of nothing. I felt as if I
had lost myself in some hideous dream. But this morning, in my
mother’s room—I am free to go into my mother’s room now—the
idea occurred to me. It must have been there my poor father found
the laudanum.’
‘How do you know that?’ asked Mrs. Dulcimer, eagerly.
Beatrix described her former visit to her mother’s room, and how
she had found a medicine chest there, and in the medicine chest a
bottle half full of laudanum.
‘I looked at the bottle this morning,’ she said, ‘and it was empty.’
‘And your father was found lying dead in that room. Nothing can
be clearer,’ exclaimed Mrs. Dulcimer. ‘The coroner ought to be
communicated with immediately. How glad Clement will be! This will
stop people’s mouths.’
‘What people?’ asked Beatrix.
‘Those horrid people who are always ready to think the worst of
their neighbours. I shall go back to the Vicarage at once. Clement
ought to know without a moment’s delay. How I wish you could eat
your Christmas dinner with us, poor child! Kenrick has come back,
looking so handsome, and so full of Culverhouse Castle. What a
noble old place it must be! and what a pity he cannot afford to live in
it!’
Beatrix did not hear a word about Culverhouse Castle.
‘Cyril will be with you too, I suppose?’ she said presently.
‘No; it’s extremely tiresome. Poor Cyril has one of his bad
headaches, and says his only chance of getting through his evening
duty is to keep quietly at home between the services. I feel quite
annoyed. We have such a superb turkey. Rebecca chose it at
Moyle’s farm six weeks ago. It was a great fierce creature, and flew
at her like a tiger when she went into the poultry-yard. Well, good-
bye, dear. Pray keep up your spirits. Clement will be so glad to know
about the laudanum.’
Beatrix sat alone, till the twilight gathered round her, thinking of
Cyril. To-day, for the first time, she thought of her own position, which
was assuredly a horrible one. But she contemplated it without a
shadow of fear. Bella’s speech yesterday, Mrs. Dulcimer’s hints to-
day, had shown her that—in their minds at least—it seemed possible
that people might suspect her of being her father’s murderer. There
were people who would think that she, to whom crime seemed as far
off as the stars, had blossomed all at once into the most deliberate
and vilest of criminals. Could this really be so? Were there people
capable of believing such a thing? Why was not Cyril near her in this
hour of doubt and trouble? Mrs Dulcimer came with her good-
natured attempts at consolation; but he, her natural consoler, held
himself aloof, now, when there was no one to bar the door against
him. Was it delicacy that kept him away? Yes, possibly. He might
consider it an outrage against that silent master of the house to
cross his threshold unbidden.
‘By and by, after the funeral, he will come,’ she thought.
He had entered the house yesterday as one of the public. She had
seen him in the hall, but he had either not seen her, or had not
chosen to recognise her. These things were bitter to her, but she
fancied there must be some wise meaning in his conduct which she
could not fathom.
‘But he might at least have written to me,’ she thought, piteously.
Bella came home from the Park by and by, full of the history of her
day, trying to change the current of Beatrix’s thoughts by talking
briskly of all that had happened in the Piper ménage. Mr. Piper had
been wonderfully kind, and had insisted upon the brougham being
brought out to take her back to the Water House.
 ‘I have no doubt the coachman hates me for bringing him out this
damp evening,’ said Bella, ‘but Mr. Piper would not let me come any
other way. “What’s the use of having ’osses eating their heads off,
and a parcel of idle fellers standing about chewing straw?” he said.
“It’ll do ’em good to ’ave a turn.”’
‘How is poor Mrs. Piper?’ Beatrix asked, languidly.
‘Not any better. She had to dine in her own room. It was dreadful
to see all those children stuffing turkey and pudding and mince pies,
and making themselves spectacles of gluttony at dessert, without a
thought of their poor mother, whose last Christmas Day was passing
by—for I really don’t think Mrs. Piper can live to see another
Christmas.’
‘Then you dined alone with Mr. Piper and the children?’ inquired
Beatrix, in the same listless tone.
‘Not quite alone. Miss Coyle was there.’
Miss Coyle was a maiden lady of intense gentility, who possessed
a small annuity—bestowed on her by the head of the house of
Coyle, which was supposed to be a family of distinction—and who
inhabited one of the prettiest cottages in Little Yafford—a rustic
bower with a porch of green trellis-work, curtained with clematis and
woodbine. The cottage was so small that a single friend dropping in
to tea filled it to overflowing, insomuch that the small servant could
hardly turn the corner of the parlour door with the tea-tray. This
smallness Miss Coyle found economical. She visited a great deal in
Little Yafford, and was not called upon to exercise any hospitality in
return.
‘With my poor little place it would be ridiculous to talk about giving
parties,’ she used to say, ‘but if my friends will drop in upon me any
afternoon they will always find a good cup of tea.’
Thus Miss Coyle contrived to cry quits with the best people in Little
Yafford at the cost of a cup of tea. Even Mrs. Dulcimer—who prided
herself upon the superiority of her tea—confessed that Miss Coyle
excelled as a tea maker, and would condescend to drop in at the
cottage once in a way on a hot summer afternoon, when the roads
were ankle-deep in dust, and seemed longer than usual. Miss Coyle
had not only tea to offer for the refreshment of the body, but she
generally had some scrap of news for the entertainment of her
visitor’s mind. She was a wonderful woman in this way, and seemed
always to be the first to know everything that occurred in Little
Yafford, as if she had been the centre of an invisible telegraphic
system.
‘Oh, Miss Coyle was there, was she?’ said Beatrix.
‘Yes, she has been at the Park a good deal since the beginning of
Mrs. Piper’s illness. She goes to sit with poor Mrs. Piper almost
every afternoon, and they talk of the wickedness of servants. Miss
Coyle’s father kept seven servants—four indoor and three outdoor. I
have heard her describe them all, again and again. They seem to
have been models; but Miss Coyle said they belonged to a race that
has disappeared off the face of the earth—like the Drift people, or
the poor Swiss creatures who lived in the lakes. You may imagine
how lively it is to hear Miss Coyle and Mrs. Piper bewailing the
iniquities of the present race.’
‘Did Miss Coyle speak about my father—or me?’ asked Beatrix,
with an anxious look.
She remembered meeting Miss Coyle at the Vicarage two or three
times, and she had a vague notion that if this lady had assisted at a
memorable scene, when the sinless among the crowd were bidden
to cast the first stone, she would assuredly have been ready with her
pebble.
Bella looked embarrassed at the question.
‘They did talk a little,’ she faltered. ‘Mr. Piper and Miss Coyle. Yon
know how vulgar and coarse he is—and I’m afraid she is not so
good-natured as she pretends to be. But you must not be unhappy
about anything such people can say.’
‘Do you think I am going to make myself unhappy about it? Do you
suppose I care what such people say or think of me?’ exclaimed
Beatrix, irritably.
 ‘You must not imagine that they said anything very bad, dear,’ said
Bella, soothingly.
‘I shall not imagine anything about them—their remarks are
perfectly indifferent to me.’
‘Of course, dear. What need you care what anybody says—or
thinks—with your fortune? You can look down upon the world.’
‘With my fortune!’ echoed Beatrix, scornfully. ‘I do not know
whether I have sixpence belonging to me in this world, and I do not
very much care. Indeed, I think I would just as soon be without
fortune. I should find out what the world was like then.’
‘Ah!’ sighed Bella, ‘you would see it “the seamy side without.” It is
a very rough world on the wrong side, I assure you.’
Beatrix did not answer. She was wondering how it would be if her
father had left his estates away from her. If she were to find herself
standing in the bleak hard world, penniless as the beggarmaid
chosen by King Cophetua! Would Cyril, her king, in her mind the one
pre-eminent man upon earth, would he, the true and noble lover,
heedless of fortune, descend from his high estate to win her? She
could not doubt that it would be so. Wealth or poverty could make no
difference in him.
The weary week dragged slowly to its dull dark end. There was a
stately funeral, solitary as the life of the dead man had been, for the
mourners were but two—Mr. Scratchell, the agent, and Mr. Namby,
the village doctor. But the escutcheoned hearse and nodding
plumes, the huge Flemish horses with their manes combed reverse
ways, the empty black carriages, the hired mourners, cloaked and
scarved, and struggling heroically to impart a strangeness of
expression to features which were familiar to the populace in every-
day life—one of these venal followers being only too well known as a
drunken carpenter, and another as a cobbler skilled in his art, but
notorious for a too free use of the fire-irons in the correction of his
wife and children—these trappings and suits of woe were not
wanting. All that the most expensive undertaker in Great Yafford
could devise to do honour to the dead was done; and Little Yafford,
draining the dregs of its Christmas cup of dissipation, felt that Squire
Harefield’s funeral made an appropriate finish to the festivities of the
season. The weather had changed; the bare barren fields were
lightly powdered with snow, the black ridge of moorland was sharply
cut against a bright blue sky.
‘It’s an outing, anyhow,’ said the people of Little Yafford, and there
was a good deal of extra liquor consumed at small wayside
beerhouses after the funeral.
In the course of that afternoon the will was produced by Mr.
Scratchell, who had drawn it, and who knew where to look for it.
Nothing could be simpler or more decided. It had been executed
nine years before, and, with the exception of legacies to old
servants, and five hundred pounds to Mr. Scratchell, it left everything
to Beatrix. Mr. Dulcimer was made joint executor with Mr. Scratchell,
and Beatrix’s sole guardian in the event of her father dying while she
was under age.
Two days later came the adjourned inquiry before the coroner.
This time Beatrix Harefield’s interests were watched by the lawyer
from London, a little dark man, with heavy eyebrows and a hard
mouth, a defender who inspired Beatrix with a nameless horror,
although she could but be grateful to Cyril Culverhouse for his
forethought in procuring her such skilled service. Mrs. Dulcimer had
harped upon the curate’s thoughtfulness in sending for one of the
cleverest men in London to protect her dear Beatrix from the
possibilities of evil.
‘It was very kind of him,’ Beatrix said somewhat constrainedly, ‘but
I would much rather have dispensed with the London lawyer—or any
lawyer.’
‘My dearest Beatrix, Mr. Dulcimer and Cyril must understand the
exigencies of the case far better than you can, and both are agreed
that the inquest cannot be too carefully watched on your behalf. If
you only knew the dreadful things people say’——
Beatrix’s marble cheek could grow no paler than it had been in all
the sorrowful days since her father’s death, but a look of sharpest
pain came into her face.
‘Mrs. Dulcimer, do people think that I murdered my father?’ she
asked suddenly.
‘My love,’ cried the Vicar’s wife, startled by this plain question,
‘how can you suggest anything so horrible?’
‘You suggested it, when you spoke of people saying dreadful
things about me.’
‘My dear Beatrix, I only meant to say that the world is very
censorious. People are always ready to say cruel things—about the
most innocent persons. It was so in David’s time even. See how
often he alludes to the malice and injustice of his enemies.’
Beatrix said no more, but, when Mrs. Dulcimer had left her, she sat
for a long time with her face hidden in her clasped hands, in blank
tearless grief.
‘I see now why he shuns me,’ she said to herself. ‘He believes that
I poisoned my father.’
Beatrix was one of the first witnesses examined at the adjourned
inquest.
She made her statement about the medicine chest in her mother’s
room, and the empty laudanum bottle, simply and briefly.
‘Why did you not mention this before?’ asked the coroner.
‘I forgot it.’
‘What! could you forget a fact of such importance? You found your
father dead in that very room, and you forgot the existence of a
medicine chest, which, according to your statement of to-day,
contained the poison by which he died.’
‘The fact did not occur to me at the previous examination,’ Beatrix
answered firmly.
Her manner and bearing were curiously different from what they
had been on the previous occasion. She was deadly pale, but firm as
a rock. That firmness of hers, the calm distinctness of her tones, the
proud carriage of her beautiful head, impressed the coroner and jury
strongly, but not favourably. They had been more ready to
sympathize with her a week ago, when she had stood before them
trembling, and bowed down by her distress.
The medicine chest was brought from the late Mrs. Harefield’s
room. There was the bottle as Beatrix had described it—an empty
bottle which had obviously contained laudanum.
‘Do you know if your mother was in the habit of taking laudanum?’
asked the coroner.
‘I know very little about her. All that I can remember of her is like a
dream.’
Mr. Namby was re-examined upon this question of the laudanum.
He remembered that Mrs. Harefield had suffered from neuralgic
pains in the head and face during the last year of her residence at
the Water House. She had complained to him, and he had
prescribed for her, not successfully. He was of opinion that the Water
House was too much on a level with the river. He would not go so far
as to say the house was damp, but he was sure it was not dry. It was
not unlikely that Mrs. Harefield would resort to laudanum as a
palliative. He had never given her laudanum.
Peacock, the butler, was examined. He remembered Mrs.
Harefield complaining of pain in the head and face. It was called tic-
dollerer. He fancied the name meant something like toothache,
independent of teeth. As he understood it you might have tic-dollerer
anywheres. He remembered being in Great Yafford with the carriage
one day when Mrs. Harefield told him to go into a chemist’s shop
and ask for some laudanum. He got a small quantity in a bottle. Mrs.
Harefield used often to drive into Great Yafford. Sometimes he went
on the box with the coachman—sometimes not. He knew that she
had a medicine chest in her room. He had heard Chugg, the young
woman who waited on her, say that she took sleeping draughts.
The jury agreed upon their verdict, after some deliberation.
Mr. Harefield had died from the effects of laudanum, but by whom
administered there was no evidence to show.
 CHAPTER VI.
bella’s revenge.
The blinds were drawn up at the Water House, and the wintry sun
shone upon the empty rooms. Miss Scales had come back to her
charge, leaving that provoking old lady in Devonshire still undecided
whether to live or die, ‘making it so very perplexing as to one’s
choice of a winter dress when one might be called upon at any
moment to go into mourning,’ Miss Scales complained to her
Devonshire acquaintance, when discussing her aunt’s weak-minded
oscillation.
But now there was no further difficulty about the mourning
question. For Mr. Harefield, her employer of fifteen years, Miss
Scales could not assume too deep a sable, especially when the
sable would naturally be provided and paid for by her dearest
Beatrix.
Banbury and Banbury’s forewoman came to the Water House with
boxes of crape and rolls of bombazine, and the governess and her
pupil were measured for garments of unutterable woe.
And now, at nineteen, Beatrix found herself on the threshold of a
new life, a life of supreme independence. Wealth, and liberty to do
what she pleased with it, were hers. Mr. Dulcimer was likely to prove
the most indulgent of guardians; Mr. Scratchell was subservient to
the last degree, his sole anxiety being to retain his position, and to
ingratiate himself and his family in Miss Harefield’s favour.
‘If Mrs. Scratchell can be useful in any way, pray command her,’
said the village lawyer. ‘She will be only too proud to serve you, Miss
Harefield, but she would be the last to obtrude her services.’
‘I do not think you need entertain any apprehensions as to Miss
Harefield’s being properly taken care of, Mr. Scratchell,’ Miss Scales
remarked, stiffly. ‘She has Mr. Dulcimer—and she has me.’
 Mr. Scratchell rumpled the scanty bristles at the top of his bald
head, and felt himself snubbed.
‘Neither Mrs. Scratchell nor myself would wish to obtrude
ourselves,’ he said, ‘but Miss Harefield being fond of Bella might like
to make use of Mrs. Scratchell. She is a very clever manager, and
might put Miss Harefield in the right way with her servants.’
‘Miss Harefield’s servants know their duties, and do not require
managing, Mr. Scratchell. I should be very sorry to live in a
household where the servants had to be managed. The bare idea
implies a wrong state of things.’
‘Well,’ exclaimed Mr. Scratchell, testily, ‘I don’t want to press
myself or my family upon Miss Harefield—although I am joint
executor with Mr. Dulcimer, and had the honour to enjoy her father’s
confidence for five-and-thirty years. I should be very sorry to be
intrusive. And there’s Bella, she has made a very long stay here, and
she’s wanted badly elsewhere. If Miss Harefield is agreeable she
had better come home.’
‘She must do as she likes,’ Beatrix answered, listlessly. ‘I am a
very dull companion for her.’
‘Dear Beatrix, you know I love to be with you,’ murmured Bella, in
her affectionate way, ‘but I think I ought to go home, as papa says.
Poor Mrs. Piper is so ill, and the young Pipers get more troublesome
every day. Their holidays are too trying for her. I believe I ought to
resume my duties.’
‘I am sure you ought,’ said her father, who was bursting to assert
his independence. He did not mind how subservient he made himself
to Beatrix, but he was not going to knuckle under to Miss Scales. ‘I
met Mr. Piper in the village yesterday, and he told me the house was
all at sixes and sevens for want of you.’
Beatrix seemed indifferent as to whether Bella went or stayed, so
Miss Scratchell got her goods and chattels together, and departed
with her father, after many loving embraces and pretty expressions
of gratitude. Perhaps in the book of the recording angel that parting
kiss of Bella’s went down in a particular column devoted to such
Judas kisses—that traitor kiss of Darnley’s, for instance, on the night
of Rizzio’s assassination.
Bella went home with her father, looking slim and pretty in her new
black dress and bonnet, and doing her best to soothe her parent’s
wrath with sweet deprecating speeches. In the box which she had
just packed—to be brought home later—there were many things that
she had not taken to the Water House, including a handsome black
silk gown, and innumerable trifles in the shape of gloves, collars, and
neck-ribbons; but there was one thing which Miss Scratchell carried
away in her pocket, and which she held to be of more importance
than all her finery.
This was the sealed envelope which she had found upon Mr.
Harefield’s writing-table. ‘For my daughter Beatrix.’
She took it from her pocket when she was safely locked in her own
room, secure from the intrusion of the family herd. She sat with the
packet on her lap, thoughtfully contemplating it.
She had kept it more than a fortnight, and had not broken the seal.
She had been sorely tempted to see what was inside the envelope,
but had resisted the temptation. To open it would be a crime, she
had told herself, and she made a kind of virtue of this self-denial. All
she wanted was to keep the document. She had made up her mind
that this sealed packet contained the key to the mystery of Christian
Harefield’s death. So long as the seal remained unbroken that death
would remain a mystery. No one would know whether it was suicide
or murder; and this uncertainty would hang like a cloud over Beatrix.
This was Isabella Scratchell’s revenge. That pink and white
prettiness of hers was not incompatible with the capacity to seize an
opportunity and to persevere in an inexorable hatred.
‘She has beauty and wealth, and a good old name,’ thought Bella;
‘but so long as her father’s death remains unexplained she will
hardly have the love of Cyril Culverhouse.’
Bella had heard enough from Mr. Piper and Miss Coyle on
Christmas Day to know very well which way opinion was drifting in
Little Yafford. It was a settled thing already in the minds of a good
many deep thinkers, and profound students of human nature as
exhibited in the weekly papers, that Beatrix Harefield knew more
about her father’s death than anybody else. The very horror of the
idea that her hand had put the poison in his way gave it a morbid
attraction for tea-table conversation. There was a growing opinion
that the coroner’s jury had done less than their duty in returning an
open verdict.
‘The verdict would have been very different if Miss Harefield had
been a labouring man’s daughter,’ said Miss Coyle, who had more to
say on this subject than any one else, and who was always
uncompromising in her opinions.
Bella was not sorry to leave the Water House, though home
looked a little more squalid and untidy than usual, after the subdued
splendour of Miss Harefield’s mansion. She had not been able to feel
at her ease with Beatrix during this last visit. Even to her essentially
false nature there was some effort required to preserve a demeanour
of unvarying sweetness towards a person she detested. The old
Adam was in danger of breaking out now and then. Between Beatrix
and herself there stood the shadowy image of Cyril Culverhouse;
and there were moments when Bella could not quite command her
looks, however sweetly she might attune her voice. And now that
Miss Scales was on the scene, with eyes which saw everything,
Bella felt that the veneer of affection might be too thin to hide the
hardness of the wood underneath it.
So Bella resumed the monotonous order of her home life,
breakfasted at eight, and presented herself at the Park upon the
stroke of nine, where the Piper children, clustering round the newly-
lighted fire in the schoolroom, hated her for her punctuality. But she
knew that if the children disapproved, Mr. Piper approved, for he
generally looked out of the dining-room, newspaper in hand, to give
her a friendly nod of welcome.
‘Good little girl, always up to time,’ he said; ‘those are the ’abits
that make success in life. That was Brougham’s way. He might be
hard at it, drinking and dissipating far into the small hours, but he