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Print Number: 01 Print Year: 2017
7 Cognition 201
iv
Contents v
vi Contentss
Contents vii
Impairments 174
The Adult in Perspective 197
Chapter Summary 198
The Chemical Senses: Taste and Smell 175
Key Terms 199
The Somaesthetic Senses 176
Influences on Early Perceptual Development 177
7 Cognition 201
Piaget’s Contributions 204
Challenges to Piaget 205
A Modern Take on Constructivism 206
viii Contentss
Contents ix
x Contentss
Contents xi
xii Contentss
Peers: The Second World of Childhood 441 Exploration 14.3 Lonely Hearts 463
Contents xiii
15.1 Understanding the Family 468 Exploration 15.3 Caring for Aging Parents in China 490
The Family as a System within Systems 468 15.6 Diverse Family Experiences 491
Mothers, Fathers, and Infants: The System at Work 473 Why Does Child Abuse Occur? 496
What Are the Impacts of Child Abuse? 497
15.3 The Child 474
Parenting Styles 474 Application 15.1 How Do We Stop the Violence? 498
Social Class, Economic Hardship, and Parenting 475 Chapter Summary 499
Exploration 15.1 Culture and the Tiger Mother 476 Key Terms 499
xiv Contentss
Application 16.1 How Do You Treat a Depressed Engagement 16.2 Is Anyone You Know Suicidal?
3-Year-Old? 517 Know the Warning Signs 524
Contents xv
Research 562
Teaching 563
Resources 566
Glossary 568
References 586
xvi Contentss
xvii
xviii Preface
Preface xix
Chapter 4. Prenatal Development and Birth Chapter 11. Self and Personality
• The latest research on fetal programming in response to the • A new box on culture and personality to supplement the chap-
prenatal environment and its implications for later health and ter’s contrasts of development in individualistic and collectivist
development cultures
• New studies of the effects of exposure to radiation, pollution, • Recent multicultural research on changes in self-esteem and
and maternal stress on prenatal development personality in adulthood
• A box on parenting tiny, low birth weight babies
xx Preface
Preface xxi
xxii Preface
Preface xxiii
xxv
In a middle-class neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, 8-year-old Ben’s father asks him to
get his jacket so they can leave the house. Ben ignores him, trying to put his feet into shoes that are already
tied. Ben’s father, expressing his annoyance, tells Ben again to get his jacket. Instead, Ben sits down and
says, “Seriously, it’s like you’re always a control freak,” then asking his father to untie his shoes and, that
accomplished, asking his father to tie them—after getting Ben’s jacket for him. After more resistance from
Ben, Ben’s father finally insists, “No, son, go get your own jacket and you tie your shoes and let’s go” (Ochs &
Izquierdo, 2009, p. 400). The boy finally goes for his jacket.
This sounds like pretty typical child behavior until we contrast it with the behavior of Matsigenka
children in Peru. The Matsigenka live by fishing, hunting, and growing vegetables and children contribute
to the work of the family and community from an early age. Thus 6-year-old Yanira, invited to travel down
the Amazon with another family from her village, pulls her weight the whole time without ever being
asked—stacking and carrying leaves to be used for roofing, sweeping sand off the sleeping mats, fishing
for crustaceans and cleaning and boiling them to serve to the group, taking care of her own needs without
prompts or help. Like other children in her culture, she probably experimented with heating her own food on
the fire as a toddler—expected to learn, even if by burning herself, how to do it well. She was probably told
folk stories about characters whose laziness had terrible consequences. By the age of 6 or 7, Matsigenka
girls are cooking alongside their mothers while boys are hunting and fishing with their fathers.
1.1
L E A R N I NG OBJE CTIV E S
• Define development, aging, and their relationship to each other.
• Explain and illustrate the role played by age grades, age norms, and the social clock in
making human development different in different historical, cultural, and subcultural
How Should contexts.
We Think about • Summarize the extreme positions one can take on the “nature–nurture” issue and the
Development? position most developmental scientists today take.
We begin by asking what it means to say that humans “develop” or changes as systematic, we imply that they are orderly, patterned,
“age” over the life span, how we can conceptualize the life span and relatively enduring—not fleeting and unpredictable like
and its cultural and historical diversity, and how we can approach mood swings. The changes can be gains, losses, or just differ-
the single biggest issue in the study of development, the nature– ences from what we were like before. Development also involves
nurture issue. continuities, ways in which we remain the same or continue to
reflect our past selves.
The systematic changes and continuities of interest to
Defining Development students of human development fall into three broad domains:
Development can be defined as systematic changes and con- 1. Physical development. The growth of the body and its organs,
tinuities in the individual that occur between conception and the functioning of physiological systems including the brain,
death, or from “womb to tomb.” By describing developmental physical signs of aging, changes in motor abilities, and so on.
spreading to developing ones, especially in urban areas (Arnett, their society, and how people should lead their lives as adults.
2015). According to Arnett (2004), emerging adults (maybe you?): Different cultures can lead us along different developmental
pathways, as we saw in the case of Ben and Yanira, but we all
• explore their identities;
participate in a culture. That culture becomes part of us, influ-
• lead unstable lives filled with job changes, new relationships,
encing how we live and how we experience our lives (Packer &
and moves;
Cole, 2015).
• are self-focused, relatively free of obligations to others,
Each culture has its own ways of carving up the life span
and therefore free to focus on their own psychological needs;
and of treating the people in different age groups. Each socially
• feel in between—adultlike in some ways but not others; and
defined age group in a society—called an age grade—is assigned
• believe they have limitless possibilities ahead.
different statuses, roles, privileges, and responsibilities. Separat-
Do you believe you are truly an adult rather than an “emerg- ing children into grades in school based on age is one form of
ing” adult? Why or why not? There are many ways to define age grading. Just as high schools have “elite” seniors and “lowly”
adulthood, but sociologist Frank Furstenberg and his colleagues freshmen, whole societies are layered into age grades.
(2004) looked at five traditional, objective markers of adulthood: Our society, for example, grants “adults” (18-year-olds by law in
completing an education, being financially independent, leaving the United States) a voting privilege not granted to children. Legal
home, marrying, and having children. In 1960, 65% of men and definitions of the boundary between adolescence and adulthood vary,
77% of women in the United States had achieved these milestones though. In most states in the United States, the legal age for marry-
by age 30. By 2000, only 31% of men and 46% of women had ing is lower than the legal ages for voting or serving in the military,
achieved them by age 30. and the right to drink alcohol is granted last, commonly at age 21
Not everyone agrees that emerging adulthood is a truly dis- (Settersten, 2005). Similarly, although we seem to define age 65 as
tinct period of development (Epstein, 2013). However, it is clear the boundary between middle age and old age, in fact the ages at
that adolescents in modern societies are taking longer and longer which people become eligible for Medicare, Social Security benefits,
to enter adult roles. Knowing that many youth do not yet have and “senior discounts” at restaurants and stores differ.
adult responsibilities and knowing too that brain development We define old age as age 65 or older, but the !Kung San of
is not complete in our 20s, some European countries and some Botswana often don’t know people’s chronological ages and define
states in the United States are questioning the notion that 18-year- old age instead in terms of functioning (Rosenberg, 2009). They
olds should be treated as adults under the law. For example, they distinguish between the na or “old” (an honorary title meaning
are raising legal ages or creating special provisions to protect big and great granted to all older people starting at around age
emerging adults from the adult criminal system (Schiraldi & 50); the “old/dead” (older but still able to function); and the “old
Western, 2015). to the point of helplessness,” who are ailing and need care. The
St. Lawrence Eskimo simply distinguish between boys and men
(or between girls and women), whereas the Arusha people of East
Cultural Differences Africa devised six socially meaningful age grades for males: youths,
• Table 1.1 represents only one view of the periods of the life junior warriors, senior warriors, junior elders, senior elders, and
span. Age—like gender, race, and other significant human retired elders (Keith, 1985). In certain other cultures, the recog-
characteristics—means different things in different societies nized periods of the life span include a period before birth and an
(Fry, 2009). Culture is often defined as the shared understand- afterlife (Fry, 1985; Kojima, 2003).
ings and way of life of a people (see Mistry & Dutta, 2015; Cultures differ not only in the age grades they recognize but
Packer & Cole, 2015). It includes beliefs, values, and prac- in how they mark the transition from one age grade to another.
tices concerning the nature of humans in different phases of A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a person’s “passage” from
the life span, what children need to be taught to function in one status to another, usually in reference to the transition from
Historical Changes
The nature and meanings of periods of the life span also change Although medieval children were pressured to abandon their
from one historical period to another. In Europe and North childish ways as soon as possible and were dressed like
America, they have changed along these lines: miniature adults, it is doubtful that they were really viewed
as miniature adults. Still, the modern concept of children as
• Childhood as an age of innocence. Although it is not quite this innocents to be nurtured and protected did not begin to take
simple (Stearns, 2015), it has been claimed that not until the 17th hold until the 17th century.
century in Western cultures did children come to be viewed as PAINTING/Alamy Stock Photo
distinctly different from adults, as innocents to be protected and
nurtured. In medieval Europe (A.D. 500–1500), for example,
6-year-olds were dressed in miniature versions of adult clothing, • Middle age as an emptying of the nest. This distinct life phase
treated much like adults under the law, and expected to con- emerged in the 20th century as parents began to bear fewer
tribute to the family’s survival as soon as possible (Ariès, 1962). children and live long enough to see their children grow up
Today the goal in Western families is for children to be happy and and leave home (Moen & Wethington, 1999).
self-fulfilled rather than economically useful, as illustrated by the • Old age as retirement. Not until the 20th century did our soci-
case of Ben at the start of the chapter (Stearns, 2015). ety come to define old age as a period of retirement. In earlier
• Adolescence. Not until the late 19th century and early 20th eras, adults who survived to old age literally worked until they
century was adolescence—the transitional period between dropped. Starting in the last half of the 20th century, thanks
childhood and adulthood that begins with puberty and involves to Social Security, pensions, Medicare, and other support pro-
significant physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes— grams, working adults began to retire in their 60s with many
given a name and recognized as a distinctive phase of the life years ahead of them (Schulz & Binstock, 2006).
span (Kett, 1977). As farming decreased and industrialization
advanced, an educated labor force was needed, so laws were
passed restricting child labor, making schooling compulsory, Projecting the Future
and separating youths attending school from the adult world What will the life span look like in the future? In the early 21st cen-
(Furstenberg, 2000). tury, the average life expectancy for a newborn in the United States—
• Emerging adulthood. As you saw earlier, the transition period the average number of years a newborn who is born now can be
from adolescence to adulthood has become so long in modern expected to live—is almost 79 years, compared with 47 years in 1900
societies that a new period of the life span, emerging adulthood, (National Center for Health Statistics, 2015). As ■ Figure 1.1 shows,
has been defined in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. that life expectancy is generally greater for females than for males and
1.2
L E A R N I NG OBJE CTIV E S
• Summarize the four goals of the science of life-span development and describe how the
study of human development began.
• List and illustrate the seven key assumptions of the modern life-span perspective.
What Is the
Science of
Life-Span
Development?
If development consists of systematic changes and continuities In this section we consider the goals of the science of life-span
from conception to death, the science of development consists development, its origins, and the modern life-span perspective
of the study of those changes and continuities and their causes. on development.
EXPLORATION 1.1
Growing Up Online
How is adolescent development affected by the are boys (Lenhart
fact that teens today spend many hours a week et al., 2015). And
with media—everything from TV and videos to now that teens are
Facebook, texting, Twitter, and Skype? When spending much of
baby boomers grew up, there were no cell their online time
phones or home computers, much less an Inter- interacting with
net. The Internet came into being in the early friends, studies
1980s, around the time that home computers seem to be show-
were becoming common (see, for example, ing more posi-
Cotten et al., 2011). Facebook was launched in tive correlations
2004, Twitter in 2006, Snapchat in 2011. between Internet
Media are now a big part of the daily lives use and social
of children and teens (Calvert, 2015; Lenhart adjustment and
et al., 2015). In a national survey, it was found well-being (Reich,
that 8- to 18-year-olds spent an average of 7½ Subrahmanyam, The creation of the Internet is an historical change with many
hours a day using media—from most to least & Espinoza, 2012; implications for the social lives of teens and for human develop-
frequently used, TV, music, computers, video Valkenburg & Peter, ment more generally.
games, print, and movies (Rideout, Foehr, & 2009). For emerg- Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
Roberts, 2010). And the researchers did not ing adults who
even ask about texting! Of teens aged 13 to 17, have gone away
88% text with friends and 55% do it daily to college, for example, social networking sites related to these aspects of social well-being.
(Lenhart et al., 2015). can be a way to hold on to the social support Then there are the negative effects of cyber-
How are these technologies affecting offered by their high school friends (Manago et bullying to consider. Cyberbullying, which has
adolescent development? Researchers are al., 2012). increased in recent years (Jones, Mitchell, &
beginning to address the question (see Calvert, However, questions about the effects of Finkelhor, 2013), is linked to stress, depres-
2015). For example, early research suggested digital media on adolescents are far from sion, and suicidal thoughts among its victims
that heavy Internet use was turning adoles- resolved. For example, Roy Pea and his col- (Hamm et al., 2015; Kowalski et al., 2014).
cents into social isolates with few friends and leagues (2012), studying a young sample of We have much to learn about the effects
low well-being. However, that may have been girls aged 8 to 12, found that heavy media of digital media. It is becoming clear that
because the first adolescent users were surfing use—especially spending large amounts of these effects can be good or bad depending
the web and talking to strangers in chat rooms time watching videos, communicating online, on what adolescents are doing with media,
(Valkenburg & Peter, 2009). Now most ado- and multitasking by using multiple media at how much time they are spending with it, and
lescents use the Internet and use it primarily once—was negatively associated with feel- whether it is crowding out other more devel-
to interact with their friends—mainly through ing good about one’s close relationships and opmentally important activities. In the mean-
Facebook and other social media sites if they social acceptance. By contrast, spending time time, there is much to be said for interacting
are girls, often through video game sites if they in face-to-face conversations was positively with friends the old-fashioned way: offline.
1.3
L E A R N I N G OBJE CTIV E S
• Summarize the scientific method and the choices involved in selecting a sample and choos-
ing data collection methods.
• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the case study, experimental, and correlational
How Is methods.
Development • Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the cross-sectional, longitudinal, and sequential
Studied? designs.
How do developmental scholars gain understanding of life-span intended to describe and explain certain phenomena. Jean Piaget,
development? Let us review for you, briefly, some basic concepts for instance, formulated his influential theory of cognitive devel-
of scientific research and then turn to research strategies devised opment by closely observing how French children of different
specifically for describing, predicting, explaining, and optimiz- ages responded to items on the Binet IQ test when he worked on
ing development (see Miller, 2013). Even if you have no desire the test’s development, as well as by watching his own children’s
to do developmental research yourself, it is important for you to development (see Chapters 2 and 7).
understand how the knowledge of development represented in Theories generate specific predictions, or hypotheses, regard-
this book was generated. ing a particular set of observations. Consider, for example, a the-
ory claiming that psychological differences between males and
females are largely caused by differences in their experiences in
The Scientific Method the family. Based on this theory, a researcher might hypothesize
There is nothing mysterious about the scientific method. It is that if parents grant boys and girls the same freedoms, the two
both a method and an attitude—a belief that investigators should sexes will be similarly independent, whereas if parents give boys
allow their systematic observations (or data) to determine the more freedom than girls, boys will be more independent than
merits of their thinking. For example, for every “expert” who girls. Suppose that the study designed to test this hypothesis indi-
believes that psychological differences between males and cates that boys are more independent than girls no matter how
females are largely biological in origin, there is likely to be their parents treat them. Then the hypothesis would be discon-
another expert who just as firmly insists that boys and girls differ firmed by the findings, and the researcher would want to rethink
because they are raised differently. Whom should we believe? It this theory of gender differences. If other hypotheses based on this
is in the spirit of the scientific method to believe the data—the theory were inconsistent with the facts, the theory would have to
findings of research. The scientist is willing to abandon a pet be significantly revised or abandoned in favor of a better theory.
theory if the data contradict it. Ultimately, then, the scientific This, then, is the heart of the scientific method: Theories
method can help the scientific community and society at large generate hypotheses, which are tested through observation of
weed out flawed ideas. behavior, and new observations indicate which theories are worth
The scientific method involves generating ideas and testing keeping and which are not (■ Figure 1.2). It should be clear that
them by making observations. Often, preliminary observations theories are not just speculations, hunches, or unsupported opin-
provide ideas for a theory—a set of concepts and propositions ions. A good theory should be:
New observations
Data Collection
(research data) No matter what aspect of human development we are interested
in, we must find appropriate ways to measure what interests
us. The methods used to study human development are var-
Design research ied, depending on the age group and aspect of development
to test of interest (Miller, 2013). Here we will focus on three major
hypothesis methods of data collection used by developmental research-
ers: verbal reports, behavioral observations, and physiological
■ Figure 1.2 The scientific method in action. measurements.
Verbal Reports
• Internally consistent. Its different parts and propositions Interviews, written questionnaires or surveys, ability and
should hang together and should not generate contradictory achievement tests, and personality scales all involve asking peo-
hypotheses. ple questions, either about themselves (self-report measures) or
• Falsifiable. It can be proved wrong; that is, it can generate about someone else (for example, child behavior as reported
specific hypotheses that can be tested and either supported or by informants such as parents or teachers). These verbal report
not supported by the data collected. If a theory is vague or does measures usually ask the same questions in precisely the same
not generate clear hypotheses, it cannot be tested and will not order of everyone so that the responses of different individuals
be useful in advancing knowledge. can be directly compared. Increasingly, verbal report measures
• Supported by data. A good theory should help us better are administered via websites and smart phones (Wilt, Condon,
describe, predict, and explain human development; that is, its & Revelle, 2012).
hypotheses should be confirmed by research results. Although self-report and other verbal report methods are
widely used to study human development, they have shortcom-
ings. First, self-report measures typically cannot be used with
Sample Selection infants, young children, cognitively impaired elders, or other
Any study of development focuses on a particular research individuals who cannot read or understand speech well. Infor-
sample (the group of individuals studied) with the intention of mant surveys, questionnaires, or interviews are often used in these
generalizing the results to a larger population, a well-defined situations instead. Second, because individuals of different ages
group (such as premature infants, American high school stu- may not understand questions in the same way, age differences in
dents, or Chinese elders) from which the sample is drawn responses may reflect age differences in comprehension or inter-
and about which we want to draw conclusions. Although it is pretation rather than age differences in the quality of interest to
advocated more than it is used, the best approach is to study a the researcher. Finally, respondents may try to present themselves
random sample of the population of interest—a sample formed (or those they are providing information about) in a positive or
by identifying all members of the larger population and then, socially desirable light.
by a random means (such as drawing names blindly), selecting
a portion of that population to study. Why do this? Random Behavioral Observations
sampling increases confidence that the sample studied is rep- Naturalistic observation involves observing people in their every-
resentative of the larger population of interest and therefore day (that is, natural) surroundings (Miller, 2013; Pellegrini, 1996).
that conclusions based on studying the sample will be true of Ongoing behavior is observed in homes, schools, playgrounds, work-
the whole population. places, nursing homes, or wherever people are going about their
Physiological Measurements
Finally, developmental scientists sometimes take physiological
measurements to assess variables of interest to them. For exam-
ple, they use electrodes to measure electrical activity in the
brain, chart changes in hormone levels in menopausal women,
or measure heart rate and other indicators of arousal to assess
emotions.
Today, exciting breakthroughs are being made in under-
standing relationships between brain and behavior through
the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a
brain-scanning technique that uses magnetic forces to measure
the increase in blood flow to an area of the brain that occurs
when that brain area is active. By having children and adults
perform cognitive tasks while lying very still in an fMRI scanner,
researchers can determine which parts of the brain are involved
Functional magnetic resonance imaging is increasingly being used
in particular cognitive activities. Sometimes fMRI studies reveal
to study which parts of the brain are activated when humans of
that children and adults, or young adults and older adults, rely different ages p
erform various cognitive tasks. Testing children
on different areas of the brain to perform the same tasks, provid- is challenging, however; they may fear entering the tube of the
ing new insights into typical and atypical brain development MRI scanner and, once there, may have difficulty staying still as
and aging and its implications (see, for example, Goh & Park, required.
2009; Matthews & Fair, 2015; Wittmann & D’Esposito, 2012; Stephan Elleringmann/laif/Redux
and see Chapter 5).
to establish that one variable causes another. We will illustrate afternoon and night until 8 or 9 A.M. online, mostly in chat
these methods by sampling research on the implications of digital rooms and at blogs or playing video games. He enjoyed disguising
media for human development. his identity and making other participants in chat rooms think
that he knew of their most painful experiences. All four men in
The Case Study the study had psychological problems and difficulties in interper-
A case study is an in-depth examination of an individual (or a sonal relationships.
small number of individuals), typically carried out by compil- The case study method can complement correlational and
ing and analyzing information from a variety of sources, such as experimental research (Flyvbjerg, 2011). It can be a good source
observation, testing, and interviewing the person or people who of hypotheses that can be examined further in larger-scale stud-
know her (see Flyvbjerg, 2011; Miller, 2013). The case study ies, and it can provide a rich picture of atypical development.
method can provide rich information about the complexities of However, conclusions based on a single case (or four) may not
an individual’s development and the influences on it. It is particu- generalize to other individuals, and inferences about what may
larly useful in studying people with rare conditions, disorders, and have caused a person to develop as he or she did often need fur-
developmental experiences when it is not possible to assemble a ther study.
large sample of people to study or when an unusual case can say
something important about typical development. To illustrate, The Experimental Method
the case study method was used by Matthew Bowen and Mar- In an experiment, an investigator manipulates or alters some
vin Firestone (2011) to describe four individuals, all European aspect of the environment to see how this affects the behavior of
American males, who have what has come to be called “Inter- the sample of individuals studied. Consider the effects of watching
net addiction.” One of the four men that they studied spent all videos or DVDs on infants. Many of today’s parents, wanting to
Percentage correct
opment—products such as Baby Einstein’s Baby Wordsworth, 40
Intellectual Baby (which promises to teach babies to read), and
many others. Do such infant videos actually speed infant language 30
development?
Judy DeLoache and her colleagues (2010) decided to find 20
out by conducting an experiment with 72 infants ranging in age
from 12 to 18 months. The DVD they studied showed scenes of 10
a house and yard while a voice labeled 25 different household
objects, each shown three different times. Each family in the
0
study was randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups: Parent Video with Video with Control
(1) parent teaching (in this old-fashioned condition, no video teaching interaction no interaction
was provided; rather, parents were given the 25 words featured Condition
in the video and asked to teach as many as possible to their ■ Figure 1.3 Infants’ mean scores on the vocabulary test after
babies however they wished), (2) video-with-interaction (child training in the DeLoache et al. (2010) experiment. Only infants
and parent watched the video together five or more times a week taught words by their parents did better than chance on the test;
for four weeks and interacted as they did), (3) video-with-no-inter- exposure to baby videos that taught the words had no effect.
action (infants watched the video by themselves; their parents
Source: Adapted from DeLoache, J. S. Chiong, C. S., Sherman, K. Islam,
were usually nearby but did not interact with them), and (4) a N., Vanderborght, M., Troseth, G. L., Strouse, G. A., & O’Doherty, K. (2010). “Do babies
no-intervention control (these babies got no video and no parent learn from baby media?” Psychological Science, 21, 1570–1574 (Figure 1 on p. 1572).
training; this control group was needed to determine how many
words infants might learn naturally, without any training). After
the training period, babies took a test of their knowledge of the
target words. For example, an infant would be presented with way—those in the parent teaching group. And it wasn’t that
replicas of a table (a target word in the video) and a fan (not a babies or mothers were unenthusiastic about the video. As one
target word) and asked to point to the right object: “Can you mother exclaimed, “She loves the blasted thing. It’s crack for
show me the table?” babies!” (p. 1572).
The goal of an experiment is to see whether the different The DeLoache study has the three critical features shared by
treatments that form the independent variable—the variable any true experiment:
manipulated so that its causal effects can be assessed—have 1. Random assignment. Random assignment of participants
different effects on the behavior expected to be affected, to different experimental conditions (for example, by draw-
the dependent variable in the experiment. The independent ing names blindly to determine who gets which treatment)
variable in DeLoache’s experiment was the type of training is critical in experiments. It helps ensure that the treatment
babies received, as defined by the four different experimental groups are similar in all respects at the outset (for example,
conditions. The dependent variable of interest was vocabulary in the baby video study, similar in socioeconomic status,
learning (the percentage of words taught in the video that were ethnicity, previous level of cognitive and language devel-
correctly identified by the infant during the vocabulary test). opment, and any other characteristics that could affect
When cause-effect relationships are studied in an experiment, infants’ performance). Only if experimental groups are
the independent variable is the hypothesized cause and the similar in all respects initially can researchers be confident
dependent variable is the effect. For example, if researchers were that differences among groups at the end of the experiment
testing drugs to improve memory function in elderly adults with were caused by differences in which experimental treat-
Alzheimer’s disease, the type of drug administered (for example, ment they received. Some studies, such as those evaluat-
a new drug versus a placebo with no active ingredients) would ing already-started interventions, cannot randomly assign
be the independent variable, and performance on a memory participants to groups; instead they compare the group
task would be the dependent variable. receiving the intervention to a control group. Such studies
So, in DeLoache’s experiment, did vocabulary learning are sometimes called “quasi experiments” because uncon-
“depend on” the independent variable, the type of training trolled differences between the two groups could influence
received? Did infants learn from the baby video? The mean or the results.
average word learning scores for the four treatment groups are 2. Manipulation of the independent variable. Investigators
shown in ■ Figure 1.3. Babies did no better on the vocabulary must arrange the experiences that different groups in the
learning test if they had seen the video than if they were in experiment have so that the effects of those experiences can be
the control condition and received no training at all. The only assessed. If investigators merely compare infants who already
group that did better on the test than what would be expected watch baby videos with infants who do not, they cannot
by chance was the group of babies taught the old-fashioned establish whether video watching causes an increase in word
(A) Hours of baby videos watched (B) Hours of baby videos watched (C) Hours of baby videos watched
■ Figure 1.4 Plots of hypothetical correlations between the time babies spend watching infant videos and their knowledge of vocabulary
words. Each dot represents a specific child who watches a certain amount of baby videos and has a certain score on a vocabulary test.
Panel A shows a positive correlation between video watching and vocabulary: The more infants watch infant videos, the more vocabulary
words they know. Panel B shows a negative correlation: The more infants watch videos, the fewer vocabulary words they know. Finally,
Panel C shows zero correlation: The amount of time watching baby videos is unrelated to an infant’s knowledge of vocabulary words.
"Very well," I said; "I promise on condition that you stop crying at once, and
walk on like a reasonable being."
Agneta's face brightened instantly. She rose, and, slipping her hand within my
arm, as though she felt the need of support, began to walk at a pace which
soon brought us within the gate of "Gay Bowers."
CHAPTER XVI
MISJUDGED
"Yes," he said. "Jenny insisted on bringing me some. She said all the others
were out."
"No, thank you, I will not have any just now," I responded awkwardly; "but I will
take a cup for Agneta. She has a headache."
I began to prepare a little tray to carry upstairs, and he helped me deftly. It had
been a surprise to me to discover that such a learned man could be so handy
and practical in everyday matters.
I went upstairs and remained with Agneta until she had taken her tea. I
expected that Mr. Faulkner would have quitted the dining-room ere my return,
but when I came back with the tray, he was still there, doing nothing more
profitable than playing with Sweep.
"I poured out a cup for you, Miss Nan," he said as I entered. "I know you do
not like strong tea, but now I am afraid you will find it cold. Let me ring for
some fresh tea?"
"This will do nicely, thank you," I said constrainedly as I seated myself at the
table.
He had moved to the window, and sat there in such a position that I only
caught a side view of him. Sweep's forepaws were on his knee, and he was
stroking the dog's ears with a regular, even movement, which appeared to be
equally agreeable to them both.
"Why could he not go away and leave me to take my tea in peace?" I thought,
as I waited nervously for him to speak. I tried hard to appear at my ease as I
sipped my tea, but I was far from being so. I longed to break into careless talk,
but somehow I could think of nothing to say.
Gradually I became aware that he was scarcely less embarrassed than I was.
Once or twice, he shot a grave, inquiring glance at me, and seemed about to
speak, but nothing came of it. When at last he spoke, his words gave me a
shock.
"That was Mr. Ralph Marshman whom I saw with you in the wood, Miss Nan."
"It was," was all I could say, while, to my vexation, I felt myself flushing again.
I was silent, for I felt myself in a dilemma. For Agneta's sake I should have
liked to question him concerning Mr. Ralph Marshman; but if I did so he would
imagine that I took a personal interest in the young man. Indeed, I much
feared that already that idea had possession of his mind. I longed to explain
the true state of affairs, but I could not betray Agneta's secret. I was bound to
keep silence, but I realised with a sinking heart that my promise was likely to
cost me dear.
An awkward silence had lasted for some minutes, when Alan Faulkner said in
a low, deep voice, that seemed to vibrate with some subtle emotion:
"I wonder, Miss Nan, if I dare take the privilege of a friend, and venture to give
you a warning."
"Ah, you do not know," he said quickly; "you are young, Miss Nan, and may be
easily deceived by a specious manner and good appearance. I hate to speak
against people. It seems mean to rake up the errors of a man's past. If I
thought he had reformed, I would not say a word; but as it is, I think you ought
to know that while I was at the University Ralph Marshman made himself
notorious by a course of conduct which resulted in his being sent down. I—I
hardly know how to tell you, but it was something more than a mad escapade,
the outcome of youthful riot; he acted in a way that showed him to be utterly
unprincipled and dishonourable to a degree. Forgive me if I give you pain."
Of course, he said it with the kindest intention; but his thus taking it for granted
that I was so deeply interested in Ralph Marshman made me unreasonably
angry. His words certainly caused my heart to quiver with pain; but in a way
that he could not understand. At the same time they kindled within me such a
fire of passionate indignation as led me to exclaim, in a voice unlike my own:
"Pain! How can you give me pain, Mr. Faulkner? I can assure you that is
beyond your power; but it amazes me that you should thus misjudge another."
I paused, for my voice had grown husky. I found myself on the point of
bursting into tears. Alan Faulkner had turned on the window seat, and was
looking at me with eyes full of pain, and with something of reproach in them
too, it seemed to me. The next moment there was the sound of wheels on the
gravel outside, and the wagonette drove up to the door containing Aunt Patty,
Mr. Dicks, and innumerable parcels.
"What is the matter with you, Nan? You don't seem yourself somehow. Have
you been ministering to Agneta, till you have got a headache from force of
sympathy?"
"Not exactly," I replied, thankful that Mr. Faulkner had taken himself off ere
aunt made this remark: "but the weather is trying, don't you think? It seems so
hot and oppressive this afternoon."
"I have not found it so," said Aunt Patty; "there was a nice breeze driving."
"If you'd lived in New York, Miss Nan, I guess you wouldn't call this a hot day,"
said Josiah Dicks; "I wonder what Pollie would say to it. Do you know that she
is sitting up to-day? I saw her, bless her heart! And she waved her hand to her
old dad from the window."
"Yes, I know. Auntie told me. I am so glad," I said, trying hard to seem glad,
while I secretly felt as if gladness and I had parted company for ever. Then I
went away. My bedroom, unfortunately, was no longer a place of refuge for
me, so I turned into Paulina's deserted room, which had been thoroughly
disinfected after she quitted it. I sat down, and tried to review the situation
calmly; but my thoughts were like goads, and soon drove me to pacing the
floor in a restless anguish which sought relief in movement. I was angry with
Alan Faulkner and angry with myself. What right had he to leap to the
conclusion that I was attracted by Ralph Marshman? It was intolerable that he
should imagine him to be my lover. My face burned with shame as I thought of
it, and I reproached myself bitterly for the ill-considered action which had
placed me in such a false position. That he should think it necessary to warn
me that the man was unworthy!
My mind found no relief as I recalled all that had passed between us. I had
said not a word that could remove the impression which he had received. Now
that it was too late, I thought of many a neatly-turned, significant phrase which
might have convinced him of his mistake without revealing my cousin's folly.
Why had I dumbly submitted to the imputation? Why had the few words I had
uttered been so passionately incoherent? Ah! I knew but too well how it was.
The discovery that he had so misunderstood me dealt me a blow which
deprived me of the power to defend myself. No one's good opinion would I
less willingly lose than that of Alan Faulkner. And I had lost it—lost it, as I
feared, for ever, through my own blind folly!
Agneta was already dressed when I entered our room. Her face was flushed.
She looked pretty and excited. Her mood too had changed. She persisted in
discussing all kinds of trifles with me as I made my toilette, till in my irritation I
could hardly refrain from bidding her hold her tongue. And this was the girl
who had seemed broken-hearted a little while before! I reflected that she
could have no depth of character. Her tears had arisen from mere surface
emotion. She could not really care greatly for Ralph Marshman. And it was for
the sake of such a one that I was stung with sharpest self-reproach and
suffered such a cruel sense of loss. I was far from loving my cousin as I
followed her downstairs that evening.
My head ached, and I had little appetite as I seated myself at the table. I saw
aunt glance at me and then at Agneta, who had quite regained her spirits, and
was chatting with Colonel Hyde. When I ventured to turn my eyes on Alan
Faulkner it struck me that he looked grave and stern. Beyond making a few
remarks to Aunt Patty in a subdued tone, he contributed little to the
conversation. Once I caught a searching glance from him, beneath which my
eyes sank involuntarily.
The next moment an indignant sense of the injustice of his judgment rallied
my spirit. Why should I be ashamed, when I had no true cause for shame? If I
had acted unwisely in meeting Ralph Marshman in the wood, my intention had
been good. I had done nothing that I should fear to confess to mother. Oh,
how I longed for the time when I could tell her all about it!
I had never been so wretched as I was that night. I was entangled in a mesh
of adverse circumstances from which I was powerless to extricate myself. I lay
down feeling sure that there could be little sleep for me. Throughout the hours
of the night the same poignant thoughts tortured me. Yet I was not without
hope. Surely the morrow must bring relief. I determined to make an effort to
right myself in Alan Faulkner's estimation. He had, I knew, accepted Mrs.
Canfield's invitation to her garden party. During the hours we should spend in
those beautiful grounds, I could hope to find an opportunity of saying a few
quiet words to Alan Faulkner, which, without compromising Agneta would
convince him that Ralph Marshman was no friend of mine.
Round this idea my thoughts finally gathered as the weary night passed away.
Agneta's restless movements made me doubt if she were sleeping much more
than I, but I never addressed a word to her. I found it hard to forgive her for
the mischief she had wrought.
Day was dawning ere the first gleam of true comfort visited my soul. It came
with a memory of Holy Writ. "If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our
heart, and knoweth all things." My heart did condemn me for folly and mistake,
but not for the moral ugliness and dissimulation which I believed were imputed
to me. And God knew all things! However others might misjudge me, there
was perfect comprehension, perfect justice for me with Him. Why had I not
carried my sense of wrong to Him, instead of resenting my injury with
weapons of pride and indignation which had only recoiled against myself? I
had longed for the comfort of mother's sympathy, and all the while there was a
stronger, mightier Love, a Love which knew those hidden recesses of my
heart that I could hardly have laid bare even to her, and the arms of that love
were outstretched to draw me near! Weak, helpless, crying like a child, I crept
into the embrace of that love, and found rest. As the birds began to chirp
beneath the eaves I fell asleep.
When I came into the breakfast-room the next morning, rather later than
usual, Mr. Dicks cheerily congratulated me on its being such a fine day for the
garden party.
"It is just the kind of weather you young ladies like," he said; "fine and warm
enough for you to wear your muslins and laces without a fear. How my Pollie
would have enjoyed it! However, she will enjoy going to the seaside before
long, if all goes well. The doctor says he will soon give us permission to shift
our quarters."
I hardly know how I replied to him, for at the same moment there fell on my
ears the voice of Alan Faulkner saying to Aunt Patty in clear, incisive tones:
"I must write a note to Mrs. Canfield, and beg her to excuse me this afternoon.
I am obliged to go to town to-day on important business."
"Oh, what a pity!" Aunt Patty exclaimed, with genuine regret in her tones.
"Mrs. Canfield will be so disappointed."
"I think not," he said with a shake of the head. "Out of a hundred guests she
can surely spare one."
"That may be, but not such a one," was aunt's reply. "I know that both she and
the Squire were looking forward to seeing you."
"None," he replied. "I must go, and by the first train, too."
My heart sank within me as I realised that the hope to which I had clung
during the wakeful hours of the night was doomed to disappointment. Not yet
was I to be reinstated in the estimation of my friend. Unconsciously I had
cherished many pleasurable anticipations of the day's festivity. Now I shrank
from the thought of it, but I little foresaw how different from my preconceptions
everything would be.
CHAPTER XVII
A GALA DAY AT GREENTREE
John Canfield was justly proud of his venerable house and beautiful grounds.
He employed several gardeners, and could boast the best-kept gardens in the
neighbourhood. His head gardener was wont to win the chief prizes at most of
the local flower shows. The extensive conservatories belonging to Greentree
Hall were well worth seeing, and when they were in the perfection of their
beauty the Squire would invite all his friends and acquaintances for many
miles round to come and see them. The garden party, for which Mrs. Canfield
issued invitations every June, was a festivity much appreciated in the locality,
and by no means despised by town folk, for a good many visitors came from
London by the mid-day express to assist at it. Mrs. Canfield was generally
fortunate in having good weather for her entertainment. Never could she have
had a more brilliant day than this promised to be.
Aunt Patty needed my help in various ways that morning, and I was glad to be
well occupied. I saw hardly anything of Agneta before luncheon. She kept
upstairs, and I fancied she was engaged in arranging some details of her
dress for the afternoon. Mrs. Canfield, with whom Aunt Patty was on the most
neighbourly terms, had begged her to bring her young people early, as she
wanted our assistance in starting the games.
Her own daughters were both married; one, the wife of an Essex M.P., was
coming from town with her husband for the day. Aunt Patty had promised that
we would be there by three o'clock, for which hour the guests were invited.
My toilette was quickly made—a short, light skirt and a pretty blouse, specially
designed by Olive for the occasion, gave me an agreeable sense of being
suitably attired.
"You look as nice as possible, Nan," Agneta said, casting a careless glance at
me as she fastened her shoe-string. "One cannot be very smart when one is
expected to play tennis."
"Nevertheless you seem to have achieved it," I said as I looked at her. She
was dressed as I had not seen her before—in a short skirt and smart little coat
of white serge, with gold buttons and gold braiding on collar and cuffs. Her
vest was of pale blue silk, daintily finished with lace, and her simple white hat
completed a costume which was in remarkably good taste for my cousin. "I
never saw you more becomingly dressed."
She laughed, and her face flushed with pleasure. "Thank you," she said. "I am
glad you approve; it is something to win a compliment from you."
"Oh, yes—only—I must find another handkerchief," she replied. "Don't wait for
me, Nan—I'll overtake you. I know the way through the fields."
I ran downstairs, and told Aunt Patty that Agneta would be there in a minute.
Apparently the handkerchief was hard to find, for though we waited several
minutes she did not come. At last we passed into the garden. We had no
intention of walking by the road. We had only to go through the orchard and
across two fields beyond, and we were in Greentree Park. So aunt and I
strolled slowly on. Colonel Hyde and Mr. Dicks would follow later, but we knew
that Mrs. Canfield would like us to be there when her guests began to arrive.
"What can be keeping Agneta?" I said when we reached the end of the first
field. We waited, looking impatiently towards "Gay Bowers," but she did not
appear. "I must run back and hurry her," I said at last. "She has not been to
the Hall before, so I cannot leave her to follow alone. Don't wait for us, auntie."
"I suppose you had better go back," said aunt reluctantly, "but don't make
yourself hot by running. I will walk on slowly."
"Miss Redmayne has gone, miss," she said. "I saw her go out of the gate a
few minutes ago."
"Out of the gate," I repeated. "Do you mean that she went by the road?
Whatever made her do that? It is much farther."
"So I thought, miss," replied Jenny. "I wondered she should take that way, with
all the dust there'll be from the vehicles coming along presently. She had her
dust-cloak on her arm, though."
"I was surprised myself, miss, to see Miss Redmayne with it, but she certainly
did take it," Jenny persisted.
"How very strange!" I said, amazed that Agneta should exhibit such unusual
and, to my mind, absurd carefulness on this occasion. "Well, it is no good my
following her along the road. If I go across the fields I shall be there almost as
soon as she is."
As I spoke a carriage full of ladies drove past our gate, and I could hear
another vehicle following it. People were coming early, determined to have a
long and pleasant afternoon. I turned back, feeling annoyed with my cousin,
and was by no means cool when I reached the Park. I saw Aunt Patty in the
midst of a group on the lawn, but Agneta was not with her. Before I could look
about for my cousin, Mrs. Canfield met me, greeted me kindly, and asked me
to go and see if the croquet hoops were properly set. They were not quite at
the right distances, and I was hurriedly altering them when a strong hand took
the last one from my grasp, and fixed it for me. With pleasure I perceived that
Jack Upsher had come to my assistance.
"Rather!" he said. "But I could not get away till twelve o'clock to-day. I have
hardly been home half-an-hour, but I was not going to miss this social function
if I could help it."
"Really," I said, "You astonish me! This is something new. It seems only the
other day that you were saying how stupid you found this festivity last year."
"And so I did," he coolly replied. "You were not here last year, Nan. That fact
makes all the difference."
"Oh, I dare say!" I responded with a laugh. "You don't think my vanity is equal
to swallowing that? By the by, did you see anything of Agneta as you came
through the grounds?"
"Hardly that," I said with a smile; "but I have missed her somehow, and I am
afraid she may be feeling lonely as she knows hardly any one here. We will go
and look for her. But now tell me how you got on in your exam."
"Oh, don't ask me, Nan!" he groaned. "You may expect to hear that I am
ploughed again."
"Nonsense I shall expect nothing of the kind," was my reply. "You might tell me
how you think you have done."
"Oh, badly," he said, "though I am not without a faint hope that I may squeeze
through. I sincerely hope it may be so, for the governor's sake. I say, where's
that crank of a professor?"
As he spoke we had come round to the front of the Hall, and saw before us a
party on the lawn. The number of the guests had increased considerably, but I
looked in vain for Agneta.
"I don't know what you mean," I said stiffly. Then I saw Aunt Patty coming
towards me with the evident intention of addressing me.
"What about her?" I repeated stupidly, as I glanced around. "She is not here?"
"Of course not," said Aunt Patty quickly, "but you saw her—how is she?"
"I did not see her," was my reply; "Jenny said she had started."
"Then what is the meaning of this, which a servant has just brought me?" aunt
asked, holding out an envelope as she spoke. Within, hastily pencilled on a
slip of paper, were the words:
"AGNETA."
I was amazed. Agneta had made no complaint of headache to me, nor had
she seemed to be suffering in any way. One wild conjecture after another
presented itself to my mind with lightning speed, and I suppose my expression
betrayed something of what was passing within, for Aunt Patty exclaimed
hastily:
"What is it, Nan? Of what are you thinking? Why do you look like that?"
"Oh, nothing," I replied hurriedly, "but I must go; I must find out what is wrong
with Agneta."
"Yes, do," said my aunt; "walking in the sun may have upset her and obliged
her to turn back. Go quickly, dear, and, if she should seem really ill, be sure to
send word to me."
"You will do nothing of the kind," I replied. "You will stay and start some games
of tennis and croquet, and help Mrs. Canfield, as I promised to do, until I come
back."
"Oh, I say—" he began; but I waved him away, and was off for the nearest exit
from the Park. I needed no urging to haste. Once within the fields, I ran at my
utmost speed, for a painful suspicion had taken possession of my mind. Had I
fallen into a snare when I agreed to say nothing to Aunt Patty about Ralph
Marshman till this day was over?
I reached the house and tore upstairs to our bedroom. Agneta was not there.
Everything belonging to her was left in perfect order. A hasty glance round
convinced me that she had been gathering her things together and arranging
them with a certain method and purpose.
I had now no fear that my cousin was ill. A very different explanation forced
itself upon my mind. So strong was this conviction that I did not wait to search
the house. After one futile call, unheard even by the servants, who had
betaken themselves to the garden, and were watching from behind the trees
the unusual traffic along the quiet country road, I got out my bicycle, mounted
it, and rode at full speed for Chelmsford.
I felt desperate as I sped along the road. For the first time in my career as a
cyclist I was guilty of "scorching." Agneta must have had fully half-an-hour's
start of me. How she had gone I could not tell; probably she had availed
herself of one of the conveyances returning from Greentree Hall. I knew that a
train left Chelmsford for London some time between three and four o'clock,
and by this I imagined that she would travel, for I had made up my mind that
she was bent on elopement. If only I could get to the station before that train
started! It hardly seemed possible that I could be in time.
I had never ridden so hard before, and I certainly never felt so ashamed of
myself. I kept meeting carriages carrying guests to the garden party. With
many of the people I was doubtless acquainted, but I looked neither to the
right nor left as I rode on, mechanically steering my way as directly as
possible. How thankful I was that my machine was such a splendid runner! I
got over the ground at a record pace. I dimly wondered, as I passed each
conveyance, whether the people it carried would think me mad, or imagine
that sudden illness or accident was the cause of my thus rushing into town.
Those who recognised me would assuredly think it very strange that I should
be going from Greentree in such haste on that afternoon.
But now I was coming into the town, and it behoved me to ride more
circumspectly, if I would not get into trouble. I heard a church clock strike the
half-hour, and felt sure that I should miss the train unless it were behind time,
which might possibly happen, as it came up from Ipswich, and I believed it
was market day there. The way to the station seemed to have mysteriously
lengthened out; but I turned the corner at last, and saw the booking-office
before me.
The train was just coming in as I sprang from my bicycle and gave it into the
care of a porter. I got my ticket and rushed on to the platform. My eyes fell on
Agneta, wrapped in her long grey dust-cloak, just as she was stepping into a
carriage. A porter was closing the door. By an imperious sign, I bade him hold
it open, and, running up, sprang breathless into the compartment just as the
train began to move. As I sank panting on to a seat opposite to my cousin, she
uttered a cry of surprise and dismay.
CHAPTER XVIII
AN ELOPEMENT
THERE were several other persons in the carriage with Agneta, and they
observed me curiously as I slowly recovered from the effects of the rush I had
made.
"Nan," said Agneta, leaning forward and speaking in an angry whisper, "what
is the meaning of this? Why are you here?"
"It is I who should put such questions," was my reply. "Why are you, Agneta,
running away thus? How could you dare to send such a false excuse to Aunt
Patty?"
"It is true enough!" she said defiantly. "My head does ache; and I could not go
to the Hall because I had promised to go to London."
She nodded.
"Of course; but it is all right, Nan. He has procured a special licence, and we
shall be married almost as soon as I reach London."
"It is perfectly mad of you to come away thus," she went on, "and you will do
no good. How could you be so foolish as to leave the garden party? What will
Mrs. Canfield say?"
"I do not care," I said doggedly; but it was hardly true. I did care. The thought
of Aunt Patty's anxiety and Mrs. Canfield's astonishment made me uneasy. It
was not pleasant to think of the remarks people were probably making about
me at that moment; but I believed I was doing right. Better that I should be
misunderstood and misjudged than that Agneta, on the threshold of
womanhood, should bring upon herself a lifelong misery. I might not succeed
in thwarting her purpose; but it should not be my fault if she threw herself
away upon a bad man.
"How you managed to get here so quickly I cannot think," Agneta continued.
"You could not have done it if the train had not been late, I know, for I made a
calculation. To think it should be late to-day of all days! Not that it will make
any difference. You need not think that you are going to stop me! My mind is
quite made up! I mean to marry him!"
"You shall not marry him in this wrong and secret manner if I can help it!" was
my reply. "I tell you that frankly!"
Then aware that our fellow travellers were watching us, and doubtless
wondering what caused the altercation we were carrying on in undertones, I
became silent, and Agneta, after a few indignant and cutting comments on my
behaviour, to which I made no reply, also ceased to speak.
I felt far from comfortable as the train bore us rapidly towards London. I
dreaded the thought of another encounter with Ralph Marshman. I had but the
vaguest ideas of what action I ought to take in the strange situation into which
I was thus thrust. I could only resolve that I would not quit my cousin. I would
witness her marriage if I could not hinder it; but I believed that no clergyman
would perform the ceremony if I told him that Agneta was under age, and
about to marry in defiance of her parents' will.
At the last station before we reached Liverpool Street most of the people in
our compartment got out. Agneta seized the opportunity to make another
attempt to shake my resolution.
"It is of no use, Nan," she said. "You had better take the next train back to
Chelmsford. You will only make yourself ridiculous. You cannot prevent us
from doing as we please."
"I never knew such folly!" she said so passionately that I felt sure she was not
so confident of carrying out her plans as she wished to appear.
"The folly is yours, Agneta!" I replied. "You are worse than foolish! You are a
wicked, ungrateful girl, and if you get your own way in this you will be a
miserable woman!"
That she responded with angry and offensive words was no sign that she did
not feel my words to be true. Her face grew very white as the train began to
slow into the terminus. I expect I was pale too. I know I felt faint, and trembled
all over as I rose and grasped Agneta's arm, determined that she should not
slip away. As we glided past an array of porters, I caught sight of Ralph
Marshman peering eagerly into each compartment. The next moment he saw
Agneta, and, darting forward, opened the door and helped her out almost
before the train stopped. He looked amazed as I sprang after her and clung to
her side.
"You here!" he faltered, and his brow grew dark. "What is the meaning of
this?"
"It means that I have come to look after my cousin!" I said boldly.
"It is very kind of you," he said sarcastically; "but she needs your care no
longer. I will take care of her now."
"Where she goes I go too," was all I said as I tightened my grasp of her arm,
in spite of her efforts to shake me off.
"But this is absurd!" he said, and went on to make angry and rude remarks,
which had no more effect on me than if I had been deaf, so firmly strong was
my resolve. He even laid his hand on my arm and tried by force to separate
me from my cousin, but I was able to resist the attempt, and he could not do
more without making a scene amid the crowd of passengers now upon the
platform.
We moved toward the exit, I clinging to Agneta's left arm, and Marshman
walking on the other side of her. Suddenly she uttered a low cry of dismay and
drew away from him.
Why I looked towards him I do not know, but as I did so I saw that Alan
Faulkner stood just behind him, and was gazing at me with astonished eyes. It
was only for a moment that I saw him. A mist passed before my eyes and my
head grew dizzy. When I looked again he had vanished in the crowd, and so
had Ralph Marshman.
But it was not the sight of Alan Faulkner that had startled Agneta. Some one
else was claiming her attention. An elderly gentleman, spare and trim in
appearance and of dignified demeanour, had laid his hand on her shoulder
and was gazing at her with wrath and indignation in his eyes.
"Agneta, what are you doing here? Was it you that rascal came to meet?"
Agneta was dumbfounded. When she tried to speak utterance failed her. Her
lips quivered helplessly and she burst into tears. The speaker looked at her
with more exasperation than compassion in his glance. His eyes fell on me,
and he said with an air of extreme irritation:
"Perhaps you will kindly explain what brings my daughter to town at this hour.
You seem to be her companion."
I had not seen my uncle since I was a child, and till he spoke thus I failed to
recognise him. He was the last person I expected to meet just then.
Deliverance had come from the most unexpected quarter; but thankful I was
that it had come.
"Oh, really! And you think it right to assist her to meet that scoundrel," he said
huskily. "So this is how Mrs. Lucas discharges her responsibility! I see I made
a mistake in committing my daughter to her care."
"You make a very great mistake now," I replied; "my aunt knows nothing of our
being here."
"The more shame to you," he responded severely; "but now, please take my
daughter into the waiting-room while I look after that scoundrel."
I was only too glad to obey, for Agneta had lost all control of herself and was
sobbing hysterically, and I felt like crying myself, though I was determined I
would not give way.
"I shall take charge of you now," he said grimly; "you will both come with me to
my hotel."
"I must send a telegram at once to Aunt Patty," I said. "She does not know
what has become of us and will be very uneasy."
"Oh, I am glad you have some consideration for her," he said bitterly. "Really
the lawlessness of young people nowadays is appalling! Running off by
yourselves to London in this way! I never heard of such disgraceful conduct
on the part of well-brought-up girls."
"You should not speak so to Nan, father," Agneta said. "It is not her fault that
we are here. She only came because I did."
"I beg her pardon if I am unjust," he said, "but the whole affair is
incomprehensible to me. I will go and telegraph to Mrs. Lucas, and then I will
take you away."
"I could take you, certainly," he said. "Perhaps—I wonder if—However, we can
talk of that presently." And he went off to despatch the telegram.
"Oh, Nan, don't leave me!" Agneta said when he had gone. "Father is awful
when he is angry! He won't be quite so bad if you are with me."
"And yet you were ready to dare his utmost anger," I said.
"Oh, I should not have minded so much if Ralph were with me!" she said. "And
he always said that father would be sure to forgive us when he found it
impossible to part us, but I was afraid."
"It seems that Mr. Marshman is afraid too, now," I could not help saying. "At
any rate, he has found it convenient to slip away and leave you to bear the
brunt of your father's displeasure."
When Uncle Redmayne came back to us, his bearing was somewhat less
severe. He said he had been thinking things over, and had come to the
conclusion that it would be well to take me home at once and explain to my
parents what had happened. Perhaps my mother would be willing to take
Agneta in for the night. He had business that would occupy him for some
hours on the following day, but he could take her back to Manchester with him
in the evening. He would write and explain to Mrs. Lucas his reasons for not
allowing her to return.
Agneta looked miserable enough when she heard this, but she said not a
word. Her father's manner towards her had lost none of its harshness. I could
not but feel sorry for her as I heard the cutting words he addressed to her
every now and then.
Before we started for Clapham, he took us to the refreshment room to have
some tea. He pressed me to try various sweet cakes, but neither I nor Agneta
could eat anything. The tea refreshed us, however, and still more sustaining to
me was the thought that I was going home. I had no fear of meeting my
parents. I knew that they would not condemn me unheard.
Mother's astonishment when she saw us drive up to the door was beyond
words to express. She looked absolutely frightened, till I assured her that we
were both well, and that no fresh outbreak of illness had occurred. She told
me afterwards that I could have no idea how we had alarmed her, for both
Agneta and I looked as if something terrible had happened.
By this time, indeed, my cousin's strength was about gone, while her
headache had become almost unbearable. When we went upstairs she broke
down utterly, and, feeling sure that she could endure nothing more in the way
of rebuke or reproach, I persuaded her to go to bed.
Olive and Peggy bustled about and rearranged the rooms, aching with
curiosity to know what was the meaning of our sudden, unexpected arrival. I,
too, was longing to tell them, but nothing could be said till poor Agneta's
aching head lay on a cool pillow, and we could leave her to the quiet she so
sorely craved, though inward tranquillity it was beyond our power to give her.
A little later I was telling Mr. Redmayne in the presence of my father and
mother what I knew of Ralph Marshman's meetings with Agneta, and all that
had happened that day. When I had done, he expressed his regret that he had
blamed me ere he knew the truth of the matter.
"I see now that you were my headstrong girl's true friend," he said. "You tried
to save her from herself." Then, turning to father and mother, he added, "You
are more fortunate in your children than I am. I don't know how it is. I have
done everything for my children that I could do. They have had every
advantage, and all kinds of indulgences, yet when I look for a little comfort
from them, they reward me by the basest ingratitude."
"Agneta will surely be wiser after this. She has learned a lesson, I trust."
"If she has not, I will see that she does," he replied angrily. "She will find that I
will stand no more nonsense of this kind. That man thought that, if he
succeeded in marrying her, I should be fool enough to forgive her, and let her
have the portion I can give to my daughters, or, at any rate, leave it to her
when I die. I should have done nothing of the kind. If Agneta had married in
defiance of my wishes I would never have forgiven her. She might have
starved before I would have given her a shilling!"
"Oh, don't say that!" mother cried with a shiver, but there was no relenting in
his countenance. He looked quite capable of so acting at that moment, and I
am sure that he meant what he said.
Then he went on to explain how he had learned that Marshman had been
dismissed from his post in the bank at Newcastle, certain doubtful practices of
his having come to the knowledge of the firm. Thinking it probable that the
young man had gone to London and might make an attempt to see Agneta,
Mr. Redmayne decided to take an early opportunity of going to town himself.
While there, he would go down to "Gay Bowers," see Agneta, and put Aunt
Patty on her guard in case the detrimental should present himself.
He had not long arrived in town, and was on his way to Liverpool Street with
the idea of going down that very evening to Chelmsford, if there was a train
that would serve his purpose, when he perceived Ralph Marshman entering
the station in advance of him. Instantly, he resolved to watch the young man's
proceedings. He followed him to the platform where the train from Chelmsford
would come in, and, carefully avoiding his observation, waited a wearisome
time till at last the overdue train arrived. The result that rewarded his pains I
have already narrated. I was interested in hearing uncle's description of what
had occurred, till suddenly mother's eyes fell on me, and she exclaimed:
And to bed I thankfully went, but did not sleep till I had told Olive the whole
story, and a good deal more.
CHAPTER XIX