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Palgrave Studies in Governance, Leadership and Responsibility

Corporate Social
Responsibility in the
Post-Financial
Crisis Era
CSR Conceptualisations and International
Practices in Times of Uncertainty

EDITED BY
ANASTASIOS THEOFILOU
GEORGIANA GRIGORE
ALIN STANCU
Palgrave Studies in Governance, Leadership
and Responsibility

Series Editors

Simon Robinson
Leeds Beckett University
Leeds Business School
Leeds, United Kingdom

Jim Parry
Charles University
Prague 1, Czech Republic

William Sun
Leeds Beckett University
Leeds Business School
Leeds, United Kingdom
Aim of the Series
The fall-out from many high profile crises in governance and leadership in
recent decades, from banking to healthcare, continues to be felt around the
world. Major reports have questioned the values and behaviour, not just
of individual organizations but of professionals, industries and political
leadership. These reports raise questions about business corporations and
also public service institutions. In response this new series aims to explore
the broad principles of governance and leadership and how these are
embodied in different contexts, opening up the possibility of developing
new theories and approaches that are fuelled by interdisciplinary
approaches. The purpose of the series is to highlight critical reflection and
empirical research which can enable dialogue across sectors, focusing on
theory, value and the practice of governance, leadership and responsibility.
Written from a global context, the series is unique in bringing lead-
ership and governance together.The King III report connects these two
fields by identifying leadership as one of the three principles of effective
governance however most courses in business schools have traditionally
treated these as separate subjects. Increasingly, and in particular with the
case of executive education, business schools are recognizing the need to
develop and produce responsible leaders. The series will therefore encour-
age critical exploration between these two areas and as such explore socio-
logical and philosophical perspectives.

More information about this series at

http://www.springer.com/series/15192
Anastasios Theofilou • Georgiana Grigore • Alin Stancu
Editors

Corporate Social
Responsibility in
the Post-Financial
Crisis Era
CSR Conceptualisations and International
Practices in Times of Uncertainty
Editors
Anastasios Theofilou Georgiana Grigore
Bournemouth University Bournemouth University
Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom

Alin Stancu
Bucharest University of Economic Studies
Bucharest, Romania

Palgrave Studies in Governance, Leadership and Responsibility

ISBN 978-3-319-40095-2    ISBN 978-3-319-40096-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40096-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016957154

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and the Author(s) 2017

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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
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The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
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Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Contents

Part I Corporate Responsibility in the “Post-Financial Crisis”:

A Moral Discussion   1

1 Embedding Social Responsibility in HE Corporate

Communications Degrees. The Place of CSR in Teaching
Corporate Communications Programs
(Advertising, Branding and Public Relations)  3
Rutherford and Richard Scullion

2 Does Religiousness Influence the Corporate Social

Responsibility Orientation in Germany? 25
Maria Anne Schmidt

3 New Corporate Responsibilities in the Digital Economy 41

Georgiana Grigore, Mike Molesworth, and Rebecca Watkins

4 A New Paradigm: How Social Movements Shape Corporate

Social Responsibility After the Financial Crisis 63
Camelia Crisan and Ana Adi

v
vi Contents

5 An Ontologically Innovative Design of CSR Strategies:

Enabling Value Added Institutional Collaborations83
Fragkoulis Akis Papagiannis

Part II Corporate Responsibility in the “Post-Financial

Crisis”: A Need to Institutionalize   97

6 Who Is Ethical?: The Code of Business Ethics in Korean

Workplaces  99
Kyungmin Baek

7 CSR and Banking Morals: On the Introduction

of the Dutch Banker’s Oath  117
Wybe T. Popma

8 Private–Public Sector Interaction in Terms of Crisis

Management for Maintaining Sustainability
and Enhancing CSR  135
Christina Nizamidou and Fotis Vouzas

9 The Need for a Responsible Public Administration  155

Athanasios Chymis, Paolo D’Anselmi, and
Christos Triantopoulos

Part III Corporate Responsibility in the“Post-Financial

Crisis”: Case Studies As discussed in previous cases   175

10 Exploring Post-Financial Crisis CSR Digital

Communications by MNEs in Mexico  177
María Castillo and Virginie Vial
 Contents vii

11 Value Chain and CSR of Global Pharmaceutical

Companies: A Framework to Define Practices  199
Nathalie Gimenes and Marielle A. Payaud

12 Fear, Loathing and Shale Gas. The Introduction

of Fracking to the UK: A Case Study  221
David McQueen

13 For-Profits and Non-Profits: A Research on

the Collaboration’s Premises during the Financial Crisis  243
Andreea Angela Vonțea and Alin Stancu

Index263
 Notes on Contributors

Ana Adi is the Head of the Department of Corporate Communications at

Quadriga University of Applied Sciences (Berlin, Germany) (https://www.quad-
riga.eu/). She defines herself as a digital humanist whose research covers, among
others, digital storytelling and corporate digital discourses.
Kyungmin Baek is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at
Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan. His research interests include corporate
social responsibility, environmental management, work–family programs, diver-
sity management, and statistics. Recent publications include Asian Business
& Management, Law & Social Inquiry, and Journal of Business Ethics.
Maria Castillo is a PhD candidate at KEDGE Business School (Marseille,
France). She holds an MBA from Arizona State University. Her research inter-
ests include corporate social responsibility, business model innovation, sustain-
ability, and international business in developing countries. She can be reached at
maria.castillo@kedgebs.com.
Athanasios Chymis is a research fellow at the Centre of Planning and Economic
Research, (KEPE) in Athens, Greece. He holds a PhD from the University of
Missouri-Columbia in Agricultural Economics. He is interested in the connec-
tion between Ethics and Economics and, currently, his research is focused on
how social responsibility could be infused in the public administration sec-
tor as well as in all organizations, both of the private and the public sectors.

ix
x Notes on Contributors

Camelia Crisan is a senior lecturer at the College of Communication and

Public Relations (www.comunicare.ro) Bucharest, Romania. She believes in the
power of social networks to craft the common good and researches on how
employees’ storytelling increases the corporate citizenship behavior.
Paolo D’Anselmi is a practitioner of management consultancy and policy
analysis. He teaches Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Rome
Tor Vergata, Italy. He is a graduate in Engineering (Sapienza, Rome) and in
Public Policy (Harvard). He is working on extending Corporate Social
Responsibility to Public Administration.
Nathalie Gimenes is a PhD student affiliated with the Magellan Research
Center at Lyon. She is also Medical Manager in Janssen France, a medical sub-
sidiary of Johnson and Johnson. Nathalie’s thesis focuses on the responsible
business model deployed by Janssen France to facilitate the access of revolution-
ary molecules for everyone.
Georgiana Grigore is Senior Lecturer in Corporate and Marketing
Communications at Bournemouth University, UK. In 2012, Georgiana co-­
founded an annual international conference in ‘Social Responsibility, Ethics and
Sustainable Business’, and in 2015, she co-edited two academic monographs on
responsibility and ethics.
David McQueen is Lecturer in Politics, Media and PR at Bournemouth
University. His research interests include public relations, news and current
affairs, political communications and media management. He is researching
various lobbying and ‘greenwashing’ campaigns by the fossil fuel industry and
the presentation of fracking in the news.
Mike Molesworth is a Principal Teaching Fellow at the University of
Southampton. He has been teaching digital marketing for almost 20 years with an
emphasis on ethical and critical aspects of technology. His research interests
include emerging online practices and the use and possession of digital consump-
tion objects.
Christina Nizamidou is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Business
Administration at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. She has
working experience in private sector in administrative and consulting positions.
She is Member of the Academy of Management (USA). Her research interests
include crisis management, human resources management, corporate social
responsibility, and business ethics.
 Notes on Contributors xi

Fragkoulis Akis Papagiannis is a senior lecturer at Liverpool Business School,

Liverpool John Moores University. As a consultant, for over 25 years, he deliv-
ered several European Union-funded projects involving strategic planning and
redesign. His research interests relate to innovation and entrepreneurship, busi-
ness strategies, change management, and enterprise architecture.
Marielle A. Payaud is an associate professor at the University of Lyon III
(France), within the Lyon Graduate School of Business (IAE Lyon). Her research
centers on management and marketing strategies at the bottom of the pyramid
(BoP), sustainable development, and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
www.bopmap.net.
Wybe T. Popma is principal lecturer at Brighton Business School in the
UK. His research interests relate to managerial ethics, decision making, CSR,
and competition. He has worked at universities and business schools in the
Netherlands, the UK, and Switzerland. He also holds an appointment at the
University of Montpellier (France).
Rutherford was previously a director of communications for non-profit groups,
and since 1999, has designed and led programs in advertising and corporate
communications. His essays on the influence of the visual presentation of infor-
mation on our perceptions (‘mental pictures’) of products, policies, and the right
priorities have appeared in peer-reviewed academic journals, newspapers, and
magazines. Rutherford’s website: http://www.theshadowofthephotographer.
co.uk/.
Maria Anne Schmidt is a lecturer at the HTW Berlin University of Applied
Sciences in the area of communication studies and corporate social responsibil-
ity. Her research interests focus around social business, religion, and quantitative
projects. She is writing her PhD thesis on the topic of religion and business eth-
ics expectations.
Richard Scullion has a PhD from the London School of Economics on ‘The
meanings that consumers ascribe to their consumer and political choice prac-
tices’. His research interests include the intersection of consumer culture and
civic culture, and the issues of voice and marginality linked to the Paralympics.
He is Member of the Promotional Cultures & Communication research group:
http://promotionalculturescommunication.org.
Alin Stancu is Associate Professor of Corporate Social Responsibility and
Public Relations at Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania. He is
xii Notes on Contributors

the co-founder of The International Conference on Social Responsibility,

Ethics and Sustainable Business (from 2012), and he also organized the 4th
Organisational Governance Conference.
Christos Triantopoulos is a research fellow at the Centre of Planning and
Economic Research, (KEPE) in Athens, Greece. He holds a PhD from Athens
University of Economics and Business. His interests lie in the area of Political
Economy and Financial System. He also does research on Financial Supervision,
Institutions and Economy and Public Finance, and he regularly does con-
sulting at the Ministry of Finance.
Virginie Vial is an associate professor at Kedge Business School (Marseille,
France) and an affiliate researcher at the Lyons Institute of East Asian Studies
(ENS de Lyon). Her research deals with the measurement and determinants of
economic growth, economic welfare, and human well-being in the context of
emerging economies.
Andreea-Angela Vonțea is Assistant Professor of Marketing and Social
Marketing for undergraduate courses at the Bucharest University of Economic
Studies, Romania. Her research interest concerns aspects referring the non-­
profit organizations’ strategic and tactical approach of fundraising, as well as the
general fields of non-profit marketing and corporate social responsibility.
Fotis Vouzas is an associate professor in the Department of Business
Administration at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. He is a
senior researcher at Lancaster University (UK) in part of the European Union
Research Project Human Capital and Mobility Programme. He is also a partici-
pant in various European Union projects ADAPT, TEMPUS specialized in
Total Quality Management-related issues.
Rebecca Watkins is Lecturer in Marketing at Cardiff University. Her research
explores the impact of digital media upon consumer culture, in particular the
ownership and possession of digital consumption objects. Rebecca’s work has
previously appeared in the Journal of Consumer Culture, Journal of Marketing
Management, and the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research.
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1  Levels of agreement by 1250 international MBA

and Masters of Business students to proposed
changes in responsible management education
(adapted from Haski-Leventhal 2014) 14
Fig. 5.1 Semiotic triangle: The meaning of a value added strategy 89
Fig. 5.2 The CSR ontological parallelogram 90
Fig. 5.3 The organisational levels of a MNC relating to CSR 91
Fig. 5.4 The innovative design of a CSR strategy 93
Fig. 6.1 The cumulative number of newspaper articles regarding
CSR, 1996–2010 103
Fig. 8.1 The Theoretical Hybrid Model 149
Fig. 9.1 Relation between competition and the ethical
behavior of firms 165
Fig. 10.1 Digital CSR communication distribution
of the 50 largest MNEs in Mexico 186
Fig. 10.2 Digital CSR communication of the top 50 largest
companies in Mexico in context 191

xiii
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 Correlations and reliabilities—religiousness 31

Table 2.2 ANOVA results for differences between highly and
low religious individuals 33
Table 2.3 Correlations and reliabilities—subsample religious affiliation 34
Table 2.4 ANOVA results for differences between unaffiliated
and affiliated individuals 34
Table 6.1 Descriptive statistics 109
Table 6.2 Statistical results of the presence of a code of
business ethics across workplaces in Korea 111
Table 8.1 Models of Crisis Management 139
Table 9.1 Average compensation (euro/year) 2013 166
Table 9.2 Public sector efficiency 166
Table 10.1 List of the 50 largest MNEs in Mexico 184
Table 10.2 Most recurrent CSR key terms in CSR and integrated
reports grouped by category 187
Table 10.3 Number of CSR posts and tweets by company
(January–August 2015) 188
Table 10.4 Posts by social media categories and by social network 190
Table 11.1 Research questions per form of CSR prospect
(Adapted from Gond 2011) 203
Table 11.2 Taxonomy of CSR’ strategies of Martinet and Payaud (2008) 204
Table 11.3 A framework to define CSR along the value chain 206
Table 11.4 Main CSR issues defined by pharmaceutical companies 208
Table 11.5 Defining CSR at the top ten biggest
pharmaceutical companies 209
xv
 Introduction

As there is a general consensus that global economy is recovering from

the great recession, the focus of this book is to investigate how corporate
social responsibility (CSR) is perceived in this new era of uncertainty. The
consequences of the financial crisis (2007–2008) and the global reces-
sion (2008–2012) have severely affected the everyday operation of both
for-­profit and non-profit organizations not to mention societal stability.
Cutbacks, layoffs, and strategic changes have been on the top of the orga-
nizational agenda leading occasionally to the question of whether or not
CSR is a necessity or a commodity and what is really the role of for-profit
organizations in society.
In the aftermath of every crisis, one should look for opportuni-
ties. This financial crisis has provided organizations with the space to
re-­conceptualize and re-configure the role of CSR within the everyday
business practice. It has created the ground for organizations to actively
demonstrate that a business may go beyond making profit.
The book breaks down into three parts: moral discussions, institution-
alization, and case studies. Key observation for the chapters included in
this book is the diverse perspective and different angle presented, which
on its own is a consequence of the financial crisis, that is, the necessity
to practice and research CSR differently than before. All chapters of this
book are based on data collected during or after the global recession,
offering insight on current trends and future directions of CSR.
xvii
xviii Introduction

The first part of this book involves a more philosophical discus-

sion around CSR with authors expressing new views and paradigms.
Rutherford and Scullion (Chap. 1) putting education in the very center
consider the implications, opportunities and challenges of embedding
the principles and practices of CSR in the design and delivery of advertis-
ing, marketing communications and public relations programs. Schmidt
(Chap. 2) observed that in times of uncertainty, a turn to religion may
break out as form of solidarity. Grigore et al. (Chap. 3) argue that respon-
sibility in the use of digital technologies requires more than just legal
compliance and address a need to theorize responsibilities derived from
the use of technologies that have been previously silent in CSR literature.
Crisan and Adi (Chap. 4) explore the debate of whether or not after
the financial crisis and in the context of the social movements which
are becoming political movements too, there will be a paradigmatic con-
viction or conversion. In Chap. 5, Papagiannis attempts to design an
ontologically innovative framework entailing long-term Critical Success
Factors (CSFs) necessary for a sustainable CSR design, secondly, to iden-
tify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) necessary for the implementation
of a CSR strategy, and finally, to realize internal and external socio-­
economic and political forces of the indicated stakeholders that shape the
CSR policies and collaborations.
In the second part, the necessity for institutionalization arises. The
financial crisis has directed, as Baek (Chap. 6) observed, toward hav-
ing a code of business ethics to respond to institutional pressures and to
improve their market competiveness. Popma (Chap. 7) brought to the
surface the value of an oath as an important and peculiar new element
of CSR within the organization when discussing the case of the Banker’s
Oath. In this second part of the book, as an integral part of institution-
alizing CSR, it becomes also apparent that there is a necessity for CSR
to expand from private sector to public administration as suggested by
Chymis et al. (Chap. 8) and even explore the importance of maintaining
operational sustainability, and returning to normality through an inte-
grated crisis management model adopted by private/public organizations
in order to enhance CSR (Nizamidou and Vouzas in Chap. 9).
Finally in Part III, some particularly interesting case studies are pre-
sented upon reflection of the financial crisis. Castillo and Vial (Chap. 10)
 Introduction xix

found significantly low percentage of multinational enterprises (MNEs)

operating in Mexico to be exploiting social media drawing theoretical as
well as practical implications. Gimenes and Payaud (Chap. 11) describe
CSR projects of pharmaceutical companies’ contribution toward society,
while McQueen (Chap. 12) investigates the proposed introduction of
fracking in the UK. Last but not least, Vontea and Stancu (Chap. 13)
analyze the manner in which the corporate organizations interact with
non-profit organizations in terms of the fundraising activity during the
forthcoming timeframe to the financial crisis.
It is the editors’ and authors’ aim to bring together through this book
normative and instrumental CSR conceptualizations, practice-based
examples, and international case studies post-financial crisis. We hope
that we played our part in the creation of knowledge in the field.

Poole, UK Anastasios Theofilou

Poole, UK Georgiana Grigore
Bucharest, Romania Alin Stancu
 Part I
Corporate Responsibility in the
“Post-Financial Crisis”: A Moral
Discussion
 1
Embedding Social Responsibility
in HE Corporate Communications
Degrees. The Place of CSR in Teaching
Corporate Communications Programs
(Advertising, Branding and Public
Relations)
Rutherford and Richard Scullion

1.1 Introduction
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a politically, morally, economi-
cally and culturally loaded concept, not simply a niche area of contempo-
rary business practice. This chapter will consider the implications of CSR
for the design and delivery of advertising, marketing communications and
public relations programs, including the opportunities and challenges for
fostering ethical corporate behavior. We suggest that there are two main
issues: How we can enhance our students’ knowledge and u­ nderstanding of
CSR and how we can engender their commitment to the application of its
objectives, principles and practices.

Rutherford (*) • R. Scullion

Corporate and Marketing Communications,
Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK

© The Author(s) 2017 3

A. Theofilou et al. (eds.), Corporate Social Responsibility in the
Post-­Financial Crisis Era, Palgrave Studies in Governance, Leadership
and Responsibility, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40096-9_1
4 Rutherford and R. Scullion

As observed by the editors of this volume, consumers as well as the

broader civic community increasingly demand that companies demon-
strate a commitment to creating what Porter and Kramer (2011) term
‘shared value’. In addition to the impact of CSR on competitive advan-
tage, customer loyalty, staff morale and the ability to attract and retain
staff (Webb 2016), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) reports (Nieuwenkamp 2016) that even access to
finance will increasingly depend on companies’ demonstrable commit-
ment to ethical policies and practices such as sustainable design, social
justice, the ethical treatment of animals and environmental responsibil-
ity. As a consequence, CSR metrics have become a standard feature of
corporate annual reports (Waller and Lanis 2009).

[A] cursory glance at the websites of large multinationals such as British

Petroleum, Shell, British American Tobacco and BT [reveals that] many
industries and sectors create much fanfare around their corporate responsi-
bility initiatives. Indeed […] Corporate Social Responsibility is now a key
marketing and branding reference point for most large and medium sized
corporations. (Hanlon and Fleming 2009)

Despite the evidence that CSR is increasingly important in ensuring the

goodwill of both consumers and communities, public confidence in the
professed commitment of the corporate sector is regularly undermined
by reports that, in the pursuit of maximized profits, many major corpo-
rations are prepared to ignore or actively flout popular notions of social
justice and environmental responsibility with little or no regard for the
consequences for their reputations.

A big part of the problem lies with companies themselves, which remain
trapped in an outdated approach to value creation […] optimizing short-­
term financial performance in a bubble while missing the most important
customer needs and ignoring the broader influences that determine their
longer-term success [including] the well-being of their customers, the
depletion of natural resources [and] the economic distress of the communi-
ties in which they produce and sell […]. (Porter and Kramer 2011)

In the wake of the economic recession of 2007–08 which led to gov-

ernment spending cuts and a reduction in public services, already ris-
 1 Embedding Social Responsibility in HE Corporate... 5

ing levels of social inequality (OECD 2016) have been exacerbated by

the spread of predatory employment practices such as the use of ‘zero-­
hour’ contracts (up 19 % during 2014—Office for National Statistics).
During the same period, the public has seen executive pay expand while
the pay of workers stagnates, enormous bonuses paid to bankers widely
blamed for both the financial crash of 2007–08 and the resulting aus-
terity measures imposed by the same governments that countenance, or
even tacitly support, ‘aggressive’ corporate tax avoidance and the use of
tax havens which reduce the revenues needed to fund healthcare, educa-
tion, social programs and infrastructure. As acknowledged by the Chair
of the OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct, how-
ever, ‘Corporate tax responsibility […] is most often not on the radar
screen of a CSR manager’ (Nieuwenkamp 2016).

[A]ccording to a survey of the British public […] four out of five people
agreed that tax avoidance by multinationals made them “feel angry” [and]
that a third of Britons say that they are boycotting companies which do not
pay their “fair share” of tax in the UK. In a 2012 IBE survey carried out by
Ipsos MORI, ‘tax avoidance’ was the second most important ethics issue
that the British public think business needs to address. (Institute of Business
Ethics 2013)

Media reports of large-scale protests, boycotts, petitions, social media

campaigns and various forms of public ‘shaming’ attest to public anger
in response to what are deemed unacceptable corporate behaviors. The
increase in both the number and frequency of such actions indicates that
the public is both more likely to be informed about—and less willing to
tolerate—the indifference of corporations to the consequences of their
policies and practices on lives, communities, the natural environment and
the climate. The claim that ‘We’re all in this together’ has t­ransmogrified
from just another political platitude to become a rallying cry in the grow-
ing demand for meaningful change.

[T]he tide of public opinion is visibly turning. Even 10 years ago, news of
a company minimising its corporation tax would have been more likely to
be inside the business pages than on the front page. In September 2009,
the Observer ran with the headline: “Avoiding tax robs our public services,
declares minister”. (Barford and Holt 2013)
6 Rutherford and R. Scullion

In light of growing public anger, cynicism and increasingly well-­organized

campaigns able to channel this into effective action, empty claims by
companies of ethical practice behind which it is ‘business as usual’ risk
being promptly and publicly exposed with potentially devastating con-
sequences for both reputations and share value. (It will be instructive to
see how long it will take for Volkswagen’s reputation for environmental
responsibility to recover from the discovery of having ‘cheated’ in emis-
sions testing.) The OECD has warned of the consequences should the
public come to see CSR ‘primarily as a PR tool [and] merely a greenwash-
ing exercise’ (Nieuwenkamp 2016), especially where such assurances are
used as an argument against government regulation. The authors take the
position that, to ensure public goodwill, CSR initiatives must reflect a
demonstrable commitment to ethical policies and practices.
As a major influence over the attitudes and behaviors of graduates (Stes
et al. 2010; Parsons et al. 2012), we argue that educators have a respon-
sibility to foster students’ understanding of—and commitment to—the
principles of CSR. Following a brief examination of the role of CSR
in corporate communications, we consider how Higher Education (HE)
communications programs might achieve this.

1.2 CSR in Corporate Communications

While the relevance of CSR to business and management is gaining
acceptance, Kendrick et al. (2013) note that less attention has been paid
to its application to, and its implications for, corporate communica-
tions. While CSR has an important role in guiding the management of
­companies (for example, in their procurement and HR policies), corpo-
rate communications has an equally important role in creating construc-
tive relationships between customers and brands as a means to enhance
social justice and environmental sustainability.
At the heart of corporate communications is the notion of compelling
narratives: the ‘stories’ told about brands, products and services, as well
as politicians, policies and the Right Priorities. Through the affective use
of emotionally resonant words and images, corporate communications is
able to present clients’ products as the solution for the audience’s desire
 1 Embedding Social Responsibility in HE Corporate... 7

for popularity, worthiness and success, thereby subtly influencing the way
in which audiences define their desires and ‘mentally picture’ their fulfill-
ment. As a result, despite the contribution of advertising, marketing com-
munications and public relations agencies to constructive social change
through pro bono work on campaigns to reduce smoking, domestic vio-
lence and climate change, the corporate communications industry is
often associated in the public consciousness with less positive influences.

[T]he social impact of advertising is often viewed as detrimental [with]

criticism ranged from promoting commercialism, intrusion and irrational-
ity, reinforcing sexual stereotypes, trivializing language, and provoking
negative feelings. (Kendrick et al. 2013)

The persuasive influence of the presentation of information on our per-

ceptions is well known.

The effect of making men think in accordance with dogmas, perhaps in the
form of certain graphic propositions, will be very peculiar: I am not think-
ing of these dogmas as determining men’s opinions but rather as com-
pletely controlling the expression of all opinions. People will live under an
absolute, palpable tyranny, though without being able to say they are not
free. (Wittgenstein 1937)

However, as companies come to realize the extent to which their ability

to differentiate their brands, and so protect their share value, depends
on their public persona, communications agencies have begun to provide
more substantial services than the design and production of materials
that influence the perceptions and behaviors of consumers. As ‘the first
step towards developing a CSR mentality is to redefine the principles of
the company’ (Camilleri 2016), to assist clients in responding effectively
to the market’s demand for sustainable design, social justice and environ-
mental responsibility, advertising, marketing communications and pub-
lic relations agencies are increasingly called upon to lead clients through
a fundamental re-conception of who they are and how they ‘prove’ it.
In undertaking this work, creative agencies have both an opportunity
and responsibility to assist clients in recognizing the extent to which their
current definition of ‘success’ and the pursuit of short-term financial goals
8 Rutherford and R. Scullion

have got them ‘stuck’ in policies and practices which, by damaging the
environment and the social and economic well-being of the communities
in which they operate, threatens to undermine their continued viability.
But of course, in preparing to undertake such an ontological task (Help
us to become something else … something better …), the corporate com-
munication industry must ask its own ‘raison d’être’ questions. Thus,
just as the rise of social media fundamentally changed both the purpose
and practices of advertising, branding, marketing communications and
public relations (from creating persuasive messages and visual materials
for defined target markets—to engaging diverse audiences in meaning-
ful conversations and relationships), the demand for socially responsible
practices and ‘corporate citizenship’ is once again obliging communica-
tions agencies to comprehensively re-evaluate the nature of the relation-
ships between brands and their customers, including what and how they
communicate, to whom—and for what purpose.
In his 1964 manifesto First Things First, British designer Ken Garland
spoke for many corporate communications professionals who had grown
increasingly uneasy with supporting—and thereby implicitly endors-
ing—their influence on the ways in which ‘citizen-consumers speak,
think, feel, respond and interact’, arguing that this had led to ‘a reductive
and immeasurably harmful code of public discourse’ (Garland 1964).
Revised by Barnbrook et al. in 1999, 33 visual communicators renewed
the call for an urgent change of priorities:

Unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crises demand our atten-

tion. […] We propose a reversal of priorities in favour of more useful, lasting
and democratic forms of communication—a mindshift away from product
marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of
meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism
[…] must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through
the visual languages and resources of design. (Barnbrook et al. 1999)

1.3 Teaching CSR in Higher Education

This impetus for more reflective approaches and more socially con-
scious practices by communications professionals demands a meaningful
response from higher education. In considering our role in shaping the
 1 Embedding Social Responsibility in HE Corporate... 9

knowledge and perspectives of graduates (what they understand and how

they use this understanding), institutions of higher education must also
reflect on our societal purpose beyond merely supplying the next genera-
tion of skilled workers.
Despite—or perhaps in response to—the failure of many compa-
nies to embed CSR practices, HE business and management programs
have begun to include ethics, CSR and sustainability into their curricula
(Brennan 2012) to equip students/graduates with the knowledge and
skills necessary to assist their future employers in responding to the grow-
ing pressure to contribute to (or, at least, to be seen to contribute to) the
well-being of the community. ‘The companies that hire our graduates are
demanding it, our students need and usually want it, and our economy
and society rely on it’ (Ikenberry and Sockell 2012).
Despite this, however, there is evidence that the inclusion of CSR into
HE business and management programs has been uneven. Although a
majority of the top 50 global MBA programs (as rated by the Financial
Times in their 2006 Global MBA rankings) now include CSR in their
curricula, a 2003 survey of European business schools found an ‘intel-
lectual bias against business ethics’ (Matten and Moon 2004), that CSR
is often relegated to the status of ‘an elective or optional track of studies’
(Hasrouni 2012), and that, ‘[r]egardless of what is happening in the top
[…] MBA programs, there is a trend toward less ethics education overall’
(Nicholson and DeMoss 2009). Furthermore, consistent with the find-
ings of Kendrick et al. (2013) that less attention has been paid to the
role of CSR in corporate communications as a means to promote social
justice and environmental sustainability, the literature on CSR in HE
has likewise given relatively little attention to its integration in (or its
implications for) the curricula of corporate communications (advertising,
marketing communications and public relations) programs.
If HE programs are to serve the national economic interests
(Mandelson 2009), our programs must enable our graduates to under-
stand and respond effectively to the changing socio-economic environ-
ment in which companies—their future employers—now operate. This
will require more than just new modules inserted into existing curricula
(Nicholson and DeMoss 2009; Turker et al. 2016); it demands a funda-
mental reconsideration of the purpose of professional education, includ-
ing what and how we teach—and for what purpose. It requires a critical
10 Rutherford and R. Scullion

review and re-evaluation of what these ‘national economic interests’

should (and could) be.

[E]thics and corporate social sensitivity is not just a core curriculum issue.
[The] ethical culture of a business school is pervasive. It is reflected in the
context of courses, in expectations of ethical student conduct (and repercus-
sions for unethical behaviors) […] and in the projects and programs to which
the school devotes its energies and resources. (Nicholson and DeMoss 2009)

We argue therefore that those who teach the corporate leaders of tomor-
row have a responsibility, not only to our students and their future
employers, but to the broader communities whose lives will be affected
by their values and behaviors. Embedding the values of social and envi-
ronmental responsibility within the teaching and learning environment
is therefore essential, not only to improve our graduates’ career prospects
but also to encourage ‘business students to critically evaluate, analyse and
question the basic premises underlying contemporary business practices’
(García-Rosell 2012) and their impact on the lives of those who will be
affected by the policies and practices they will help to shape. This, in
turn, will both encourage and enable our students to redefine the concept
of ‘successful business practices’ and what it means to engage in these.

The question is no longer whether CSR should have a place in the business
curricula, but how it should be incorporated and what role business schools
play within the wider “business in society” debate. Students, the marketplace,
the community, government and civil society are increasingly demanding
that business schools rethink their traditional role. (Haski-­Leventhal 2014)

The oft-cited argument is that higher education has educated the politi-
cians, managers, teachers, scientists and engineers who have taken us to our
current and generally unsustainable position, and it is the education of
future groups of these folk that will enable us to step up to new levels of
sustainability. On this basis, curriculum change towards sustainability, for
all students and not just those who choose to study sustainability-related
topics, is the next critical stage. (Shepard 2015)
 1 Embedding Social Responsibility in HE Corporate... 11

In a recent review of CSR teaching in European business education,

Turker et al. (2016) report that the wide variations in the way in which
CSR is taught (and, by inference, the wide variations in the way in which
it is defined) have significantly influenced students’ perception of the
topic. As observed by Boulding (1956), the way in which we imagine,
define or ‘mentally picture’ what something ‘is’ shapes our (often subcon-
scious) assumptions about what it is ‘for’, and this, in turn, informs the
decisions we make in our efforts to achieve it (Rutherford 2015).

[W]e are bound to take a view of […] higher education, whether or not we
articulate it and whether or not we are conscious of it. In that case, the
models and approaches that we develop […] will take on the form of an
ideology [that] contain hidden interests, bound up with our assumptions
about the fundamental purposes of higher education. (Barnett 1992, p. 15)

It follows therefore, that way in which we ‘mentally picture’ the purpose

of teaching CSR will shape the way in which we present it to our students
(what Entwistle 2003, termed our ‘ways of thinking and practising in the
subject’), and this, in turn, will influence our students’ assumptions about
the reasons we are teaching it. If we wish to encourage our students’ com-
mitment to the principles of CSR and its role in establishing a new, con-
structive relationship between the corporate and social spheres, we must
consider carefully our ‘mental picture’ of CSR and our beliefs about the
purpose for including it in the curriculum. Do we ‘see’ CSR as just another
promotional tactic for short-term economic advantage, and therefore just
another professional skill our students will need if they are to improve
their ‘marketability’ to future employers—or do we ‘see’ CSR as a means
to engage our students, as citizens and professionals, in a debate about the
contribution of affective communication to social justice, environmental
responsibility and community health? (To ‘build value in people’s lives,
rather than plant messages in consumers’ heads’, Johnson 2013.). In the
way in which we ‘see’ (and so present) the purpose of teaching CSR, we
believe that HE programs have an opportunity to re-claim and re-invent
our historic role as a critical friend and a source of radical social reform.
As explicitly endorsed by the Mission Statements of many universities,
a central objective of higher education is to encourage our students to
see themselves as more than just aspiring professionals, consumers and
12 Rutherford and R. Scullion

tax payers, but as human beings and citizens with a responsibility to con-
tribute to the well-being of the communities in which they will live and
work. In our efforts to foster this attitude among students, we submit that
advertising, marketing communications and public relations programs
have a clear positional advantage over many other business disciples.
If we are to help our students to understand how to use communi-
cations to influence the ways in which audiences imagine or ‘mentally
picture’ brands, products, services, ideas and events, it is necessary to
encourage (and assist) them in identifying—and in reflecting critically
upon—how the narratives implicit within commercial messages have
influenced their perceptions. In other words, if we are to teach students
How We (as advertisers) Do It to Audiences, it is necessary to lead them
to consider How They (advertisers) Do It to Us (Rutherford 2012). If our
students are unable to recognize how and why they have been affected by
certain campaigns, we argue that they will be at a significant disadvantage
in being able to make informed and appropriate decisions in the concep-
tion and execution of materials that will likewise affect others.
In designing our programs to foster, or even require, such on-going reflec-
tion and analysis on the part of students, we must encourage (and equip)
our students to ‘look around the frame’ of the current neoliberal dogma
in order to recognize—and question the implications of—the values and
assumptions reflected by, and implicit within, corporate campaigns and
messages. In this way, we not only encourage and validate the integration
of professional and civic objectives, but simultaneously assist our students
in developing the critical, imaginative and creative problem-­solving skills
upon which the future of their employers and clients will depend.
In the effort to achieve this, there are two inter-related issues: How we
can enhance our students’ knowledge and understanding of CSR and how we
can engender their commitment to the application of its objectives, principles
and practices.

1.3.1 E
 nhancing Students’ Knowledge
and Understanding of CSR

New dynamics, as well as changing consumer values and expectations

have radically changed the communications industry (Johnson 2013). If
students are to develop the cognitive, strategic and practical skills needed
 1 Embedding Social Responsibility in HE Corporate... 13

for a career in the communications industry, they must understand how

to ‘build value in people’s lives, rather than plant messages in consumers’
heads’ (Johnson 2013) and develop the ability to translate that under-
standing into action (Ikenberry and Sockell 2012).
According to numerous studies (Hidi and Harackiewicz 2000;
Crumpton and Gregory 2011; Entwistle et al. 2002; Hockings et al.
2008; Sanacore 2008; Thomas and Jamieson-Ball 2011; Yorke and
Longden 2008), the single most important influence on students’ will-
ingness to engage with a subject is the extent to which they perceive it
to be ‘relevant’ to their lives and careers. To assist our students in under-
standing the ways in which CSR contributes to ‘shared value’, we must
provide opportunities to witness its impact through practical examples,
case studies and live projects.
As identified by Haski-Leventhal (2014), students studying business
subjects are keen to see how CSR issues can be incorporated into ‘real life’
business situations (Fig. 1.1).

1.3.2 E
 ngendering Students’ Commitment
to the Objectives, Principles and Practices
of CSR

We believe however, that it is not enough that students understand the

ways in which CSR contributes to ‘shared value’. To encourage our stu-
dents’ commitment to the aspirations of CSR, we advocate that we must
do more than ‘teach’ it: We must ‘practice what we preach’ by demon-
strably embedding CSR in the design and delivery of our programs
(Entwistle’s ‘ways of thinking and practising in the subject’), includ-
ing the nature of the projects we set and the criteria by which we assess
these by ensuring that a passing grade requires the appropriate and effec-
tive application of its principles and practices and, at higher levels, the
ability to critique these.
We must also embed its principles and practices in the management of
our institutions. While the widening participation agenda is often cited
as a prime example of the incorporation of CSR in the management and
delivery of UK higher education, as universities now reply for their fund-
ing on student tuition, ‘widening participation’ has become an economic
necessity in order to ensure an adequate revenue stream.
Another random document with
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 “Spare no money, no time, no labor,” he said, “but let the criminal
be found. Sir Ronald is too ill, too overwhelmed, to give any orders at
present; but you know what should be done. Do it promptly.”
And Captain Johnstone had at once taken every necessary step.
There was something ghastly in the pretty town of Leeholme, for
there on the walls was the placard, worded:
“MURDER!
“Two hundred pounds will be given to any one bringing
certain information as to a murder committed on Tuesday
morning, June 19th, in the Holme Woods. Apply to
Captain Johnstone, Police Station, Leeholme.”
Gaping rustics read it, and while they felt heartily sorry for the
unhappy lady they longed to know something about it for the sake of
the reward.
But no one called on Captain Johnstone—no one had a word
either of certainty or surmise. The police officers, headed by
intelligent men, made diligent search in the neighborhood of the
pool; but nothing was found. There was no mark of any struggle; the
soft, thick grass gave no sign of heavy footsteps. No weapon could
be found, no trace of blood-stained fingers. It was all a mystery dark
as night, without one gleam of light.
The pool had always been a favorite place with the hapless lady;
and, knowing that, Sir Ronald had ordered a pretty, quaint golden
chair to be placed there for her; and on the very morning when the
event happened Lady Clarice Alden had taken her book and had
gone to the fatal spot to enjoy the beauty of the morning, the
brightness of the sun and the odor of the flowers. The book she had
been reading lay on the ground, where it had evidently fallen from
her hands. But there was no sign of anything wrong; the bluebells
had not even been trampled under foot.
After twenty-four hours’ search the police relinquished the matter.
Captain Johnstone instituted vigorous inquiries as to all the beggars
and tramps who had been in the neighborhood—nothing suspicious
came to light. One man, a traveling hawker, a gaunt, fierce-looking
man, with a forbidding face, had been passing through Holme
Woods, and the police tracked him; but when he was examined he
was so evidently unconscious and ignorant of the whole matter it
would have been folly to detain him.
In the stately mansion of Aldenmere a coroner’s inquest had
been held. Mrs. Glynn declared that it was enough to make the
family portraits turn on the wall—enough to bring the dead to life.
Such a desecration as that had never occurred before. But the
coroner was very grave. Such a murder, he said, was a terrible thing;
the youth, beauty and position of the lady made it doubly horrible. He
showed the jury how intentional the murder must have been—it was
no deed done in hot haste. Whoever had crept with stealthy steps to
the lady’s side, whoever had placed his hand underneath the white
lace mantle which she wore, and with desperate, steady aim stabbed
her to the heart, had done it purposely and had meditated over it.
The jury saw that the white lace mantle must either have been raised
or a hand stealthily crept beneath it, for the cut that pierced the
bodice of the dress was not in the mantle.
He saw the red puncture on the white skin. One of the jury was a
man who had traveled far and wide.
“It was with no English weapon this was done,” he said. “I
remember a case very similar when I was staying in Sicily; a man
there was killed, and there was no other wound on his body save a
small red circle like this; afterward I saw the very weapon that he had
been slain with.”
“What was it like?” asked the coroner eagerly.
“A long, thin, very sharp instrument, a species of Sicilian dagger. I
heard that years ago ladies used to wear them suspended from the
waist as a kind of ornament. I should not like to be too certain, but it
seems to me this wound has been caused by the same kind of
weapon.”
By the coroner’s advice the suggestion was not made public.
The verdict returned was one the public had anticipated: “Willful
murder against some person or persons unknown.”
 Then the inquest was over, and nothing remained but to bury
Lady Clarice Alden. Dr. Mayne, however, had not come to the end of
his resources yet.
“The local police have failed,” he said to Sir Ronald; “we will send
to Scotland Yard at once.”
And Sir Ronald bade him do whatever in the interests of justice
he considered best.
In answer to his application came Sergeant Hewson, who was
generally considered the shrewdest and cleverest man in England.
“If Sergeant Hewson gives a thing up, no one else can succeed,”
was a remark of general use in the profession. He seemed to have
an instinctive method of finding out that which completely baffled
others.
“The mystery will soon be solved now,” said Dr. Mayne;
“Sergeant Hewson will not be long in suspense.”
The sergeant made his home at Aldenmere; he wished to be
always on the spot.
“The murder must have been done either by some one in the
house or some one out of it,” he said; “let us try the inside first.”
So he watched and waited; he talked to the servants, who
considered him “a most affable gent;” he listened to them; he
examined everything belonging to them—in vain.
Lady Clarice Alden had been beloved and admired by her
servants.
“She was very high, poor thing!—high and proud, but as
generous and kind a lady as ever lived. So beautiful, too, with a
queer sort of way with her! She never spoke an unkind word to any
of us in her life.”
He heard nothing but praises of her. Decidedly, in all that large
household Lady Clarice had no enemy. He inquired all about her
friends, and he left no stone unturned; but, for once in his life,
Sergeant Hewson was baffled, and the fact did not please him.
 CHAPTER IV.
KENELM EYRLE.

It was the night before the funeral, and Sir Ronald sat in his study
alone. His servants spoke of him in lowered voices, for since the
terrible day of the murder the master of Aldenmere had hardly tasted
food. More than once he had rung the bell, and, when it was
answered, with white lips and stone-cold face, he had asked for a
tumbler of brandy.
It was past ten o’clock now, and the silent gloom seemed to
gather in intensity, when suddenly there came a fierce ring at the hall
door, so fierce, so imperative, so vehement that one and all the
frightened servants sprang up, and the old housekeeper, with folded
hands, prayed, “Lord have mercy on us!”
Two of the men went, wondering who it was, and what was
wanted.
“Not a very decent way to ring, with one lying dead in the house,”
said one to the other; but, even before they reached the hall door, it
was repeated more imperatively than before.
They opened it quickly. There stood a gentleman who had
evidently ridden hard, for his horse was covered with foam; he had
dismounted in order to ring.
“Is this horrible, accursed story true?” he asked, in a loud, ringing
voice. “Is Lady Alden dead?”
“It is quite true, sir,” replied one of the men, quick to recognize the
true aristocrat.
“Where is Sir Ronald?” he asked, quickly.
“He cannot see any one.”
 “Nonsense!” interrupted the stranger, “he must see me; I insist
upon seeing him. Take my card and tell him I am waiting. You send a
groom to attend to my horse; I have ridden hard.”
Both obeyed him, and the gentleman sat down in the entrance
hall while the card was taken to Sir Ronald. The servant rapped
many times, but no answer came; at length he opened the door.
There sat Sir Ronald, just as he had done the night before—his head
bent, his eyes closed, his face bearing most terrible marks of
suffering.
The man went up to him gently.
“Sir Ronald,” he asked, “will you pardon me? The gentleman who
brought this card insists upon seeing you, and will not leave the
house until he has done so. I would not have intruded, Sir Ronald,
but we thought perhaps it might be important.”
Sir Ronald took the card and looked at the name. As he did so a
red flush covered his pale face, and his lips trembled.
“I will see him,” he said, in a faint, hoarse voice.
“May I bring you some wine or brandy, Sir Ronald?” asked the
man.
“No, nothing. Ask Mr. Eyrle to come here.”
He stood quite still until the stranger entered the room; then he
raised his haggard face, and the two men looked at each other.
“You have suffered,” said Kenelm Eyrle; “I can see that. I never
thought to meet you thus, Sir Ronald.”
“No,” said the faint voice.
“We both loved her. You won her, and she sent me away. But, by
heaven! if she had been mine, I would have taken better care of her
than you have done.”
“I did not fail in care or kindness,” was the meek reply.
“Perhaps I am harsh,” he said, more gently. “You look very ill, Sir
Ronald; forgive me if I am abrupt; my heart is broken with this terrible
story.”
“Do you think it is less terrible for me?” said Sir Ronald, with a
sick shudder. “Do you understand how awful even the word murder
is?”
“Yes; it is because I understand so well that I am here. Ronald,”
he added, “there has been ill feeling between us since you won the
prize I would have died for. We were like brothers when we were
boys; even now, if you were prosperous and happy, as I have seen
you in my dreams, I would shun, avoid and hate you, if I could.”
His voice grew sweet and musical with the deep feelings stirred
in his heart.
“Now that you are in trouble that few men know; now that the
bitterest blow the hand of fate can give has fallen on you, let me be
your true friend, comrade and brother again.”
He held out his hand and clasped the cold, unyielding one of his
friend.
“I will help you as far as one man can help another, Ronald. We
will bury the old feud and forget everything except that we have a
wrong to avenge, a crime to punish, a murderer to bring to justice!”
“You are very good to me, Kenelm,” said the broken voice; “you
see that I have hardly any strength or energy.”
“I have plenty,” said Kenelm Eyrle, “and it shall be used for one
purpose. Ronald, will you let me see her? She is to be buried to-
morrow—the fairest face the sun ever shone on will be taken away
forever. Let me see her; do not refuse me. For the memory of the
boy’s love so strong between us once—for the memory of the man’s
love and the man’s sorrow that has laid my life bare and waste, let
me see her, Ronald?”
“I will go with you,” said Sir Ronald Alden; and, for the first time
since the tragedy in its full horror had been known to him, Sir Ronald
left the library and went to the room where his dead wife lay.
 CHAPTER V.
WHICH LOVED HER BEST?

They went through the silent house without another word,

through the long corridors so lately gay with the sound of laughing
voices and the lustre of perfumed silken gowns. The gloom seemed
to deepen, the very lights that should have lessened it looked
ghastly.
They came to the door of my lady’s room, and there for one-half
minute Sir Ronald paused. It was as though he feared to open it.
Then he made an effort. Kenelm saw him straighten his tall figure
and raise his head as though to defy fear. With reverent touch he
turned the handle and they entered the room together. Loving hands
had been busy there; it was hung round with black velvet and lighted
with innumerable wax tapers. She had loved flowers so well in life
that in death they had gathered them round her. Vases of great,
luscious white roses; clusters of the sad passion flower; masses of
carnations—all mixed with green leaves and hawthorn branches.
In the midst of the room stood the stately bedstead, with its black
velvet hangings. Death lost its gloom there, for the quiet figure
stretched upon it was as beautiful as though sculptured from purest
marble; it was the very beauty and majesty of death without its
horror.
The white hands were folded and laid on the heart that was never
more to suffer either pleasure or pain. Fragrant roses were laid on
her breast, lilies and myrtle at her feet.
But Kenelm noted none of these details—he went up to her
hurriedly, as though she had been living, and knelt down by her side.
He was strong and proud, undemonstrative as are most English
gentlemen, but all this deserted him now. He laid his head down on
the folded hands and wept aloud.
 “My darling! my lost, dear love, so young to die! If I could but
have given my life for you!” His hot tears fell on the marble breast.
Sir Ronald stood with folded arms, watching him, thinking to himself:
“He loved her best of all—he loved her best!”
For some minutes the deep silence was unbroken save by the
deep-drawn, bitter sobs of the unhappy man kneeling there. When
the violence of his weeping was exhausted he rose and bent over
her.
“She is beautiful in death as she was in life,” he said. “Oh,
Clarice, my darling! If I were but lying there in your place. Do you
know, Ronald, how and where I saw her last?”
The haggard, silent face was raised in its despairing quiet to him.
“It was three weeks before her wedding day, and I was mad with
wounded love and sorrow. I went over to Mount Severn—not to talk
to her, Ronald, not to try to induce her to break her faith—only to
look at her and bear away with me the memory of her sweet face
forever and forever. It is only two years last June. I walked through
the grounds, and she was sitting in the center of a group of young
girls, her bridesmaids who were to be, her fair hair catching the
sunbeams, her lovely face brighter than the morning, the love-light in
her eyes; and she was talking of you, Ronald, every word full of
music, yet every word pierced my heart with hot pain. I did not go to
speak to her, but I stood for an hour watching her face, impressing
its glorious young beauty on my mind. I said to myself that I bade her
farewell, and the thought came to my mind, ‘How will she look when I
see her again?’”
Then he seemed to forget Sir Ronald was present, and he bent
again over the beautiful face.
“If you could only look at me once, only unclose those white lips
and speak to me, who loves you as I do, my lost darling.”
He took one of the roses from the folded hands and kissed it
passionately as he had kissed her lips.
 “You cannot hear me, Clarice,” at last he murmured, “at least with
mortal ears; you cannot see me; but listen, my darling, I loved you
better than I loved my life; I kiss your dead lips, sweet, and I swear
that I will never kiss another woman. You are gone now where all
secrets are known; you know now how I loved you; and when I go to
the eternal land you will meet me. No love shall replace you. I will be
true to you, dead, as I was while you were living. Do you hear me,
Clarice?”
All the time he poured out this passionate torrent of words Sir
Ronald stood with bowed head and folded arms.
“I kiss those white lips again, love, and on them I swear to know
no rest, no pleasure, no repose until I have brought the man who
murdered you to answer for his crime; I swear to devote all the talent
and wealth God has given me to that purpose; I will give my days
and nights—my thoughts, time, energies—all for it; and when I have
avenged you I will come and kneel down by your grave and tell you
so.”
Then he looked up at Sir Ronald.
“What are you going to do?” he asked. “What steps shall you
take?”
“Everything possible has been done. I know no more that I can
do.”
Kenelm Eyrle looked up at him.
“Do you mean to sleep, to eat, to rest, while the man who did that
dastardly deed lives?”
His eyes flashed fire.
“I shall do my best,” Sir Ronald said, with a heavy groan. “God
help us all. It has been a dreadful mistake, Kenelm. You loved her
best.”
“She did not think so then, but she knows now. I will live to
avenge her. I ask from Heaven no greater favor than that I may bring
the murderer to justice. I shall do it, Ronald; a certain instinct tells me
so. When I do, I shall show him no mercy; he showed none to her. If
the mother who bore him knelt at my feet and asked me to have pity
on him, I would not. If the child who calls him father clung round my
neck and prayed me with tears and asked for mercy, I would show
none.”
“Nor would I,” said Sir Ronald. Then Kenelm Eyrle bent down
over the dead body.
“Good-by, my love,” he said, “until eternity; good-by.”
With reverent hands he drew the white lace round her, and left
her to the deep, dreamless repose that was never more to be
broken.
He went downstairs with Sir Ronald, but he did not enter the
library again.
“I am going home,” he said. “I shall not intrude any longer,
Ronald.”
“You will come to-morrow?” said Sir Ronald, as Kenelm stood at
the hall door.
“Yes, I will pay her that mark of respect,” he said, “and I will live to
avenge her.”
So they parted, and Sir Ronald, going back to the old seat in the
library, remained there until morning dawned.
 CHAPTER VI.
KENELM EYRLE’S VOW.

In the picturesque and beautiful country of Loamshire they still tell

of the funeral, the extraordinary crowd of people assembled to pay
the last mark of homage to Lady Clarice Alden.
Perhaps most pity of all was given to the hapless lady’s mother,
Mrs. Severn, a handsome, stately, white-haired old lady, little
accustomed to demonstration of any kind. She had apologized for
her excessive grief by saying to every one:
“She was my only child, you know, and I loved her so dearly—my
only one.”
The long ceremony was over at last and the mourners returned to
Aldenmere.
The morning afterward the blinds were drawn. Once more the
blessed sunlight filled the rooms with light and warmth; once more
the servants spoke in their natural voices and the younger ones
became more anxious as to whether their new mourning was
becoming or not; but the master of the house was not sensible to
anything—the terrible tragedy had done its worst; Sir Ronald Alden
of Aldenmere lay in the clutches of fierce fever, battling for life.
The sympathy of the whole neighborhood was aroused. The
murder had been bad enough; but that it should also cause Sir
Ronald’s death was too terrible to contemplate.
Mrs. Severn remained to nurse her son-in-law; but after a time
his illness became too dangerous, and the doctors sent for two
trained nurses who could give the needful care to the sick man.
It was a close and terrible fight. Sir Ronald had naturally a strong
and magnificent constitution; it seemed as though he fought inch by
inch for his life. He was delirious, but it hardly seemed like the
ordinary delirium of fever; it was one long, incessant muttering, no
one could tell what, and just when the doctors were beginning to
despair and the nurses to grow weary of what seemed an almost
helpless task, Kenelm Eyrle came to the rescue. He took up his
abode at Aldenmere and devoted himself to Sir Ronald. His strength
and patience were both great; he was possessed of such intense
vitality himself, and such power of will, that he soon established a
marvelous influence over the patient.
For some days the contest seemed even—life and death were
equally balanced—Sir Ronald was weak as a feeble infant, but the
terrible brain fever was conquered, and the doctors gave a slight
hope of his recovery. Then it was that Kenelm’s help was invaluable;
his strong arm guided the feeble steps, his cheerful words roused
him, his strong will influenced him, and that Sir Ronald did recover,
after God, was owing to his friend.
When he was well enough to think of moving about, the doctors
strongly advised him to go away from the scene of the fatal tragedy.
“Take your friend to some cheerful place, Mr. Eyrle,” they said,
“where he can forget that his beautiful young wife was cruelly
murdered; whether he mentions the matter or not, it is now always in
his thoughts, his mind dwells on it constantly; take him anywhere
where it will cease to haunt him.”
Kenelm was quite willing.
“I must defer the great business of my life,” he said, “until Ronald
is himself again; then if the murderer be still on earth I will find him.
Thou hearest me, oh, my God—justice shall be done!”
Though outwardly he was cheerful and bright, seemingly
devoting all his energies to his friend, yet the one idea was fixed in
his mind as are the stars in heaven.
He had already spoken many times to Sergeant Hewson on the
subject, he had told him that he never intended to rest from his
labors until he found out who had done the deed.
“You will never rest, then, sir, while you live,” said the sergeant,
bluntly; “for I do not believe that it will ever be found out. I have had
to do with many queer cases in my life, but this, I am willing to own,
beats them all. I can see no light in it.”
“It will come to light sometime,” said Kenelm.
“Then it will be the work of God, Mr. Eyrle, and not of man,” was
the quiet rejoinder.
“What makes you despair about it?” asked Kenelm.
“There are features in this case different to any other. In most
crimes, especially of murder, there is a motive; I can see none in
this. There is revenge, greed, gain, robbery, baffled love, there is
always a ground for the crime.”
“There is none here?” interrupted Kenelm.
“No, sir, none; the poor lady was not robbed, therefore the motive
of greed, gain or dishonesty is not present. No one living gains
anything by her death, therefore no one could have any interest in
bringing it about. She is the only daughter of a mother who will never
get over her loss; the wife of a husband who is even now at death’s
door for her sake. Who could possibly desire her death? She never
appears to have made an enemy; her servants and dependents all
say of her that she was proud, but generous and lavish as a queen.”
“It is true,” said Kenelm Eyrle.
“I have known strange cases in my life,” continued Sergeant
Hewson, warming with his subject. “Strange and terrible. I have
known murder committed by ladies whom the world considers good
as they are fair——”
“Ladies!” interrupted Kenelm. “Ah! do not tell me that. Surely the
gentle hand of woman was never red in a crime so deep as that.”
Sergeant Hewson smiled as one who knows the secret of many
hearts.
“A woman, sir, when she is bad, is far worse than a man; when
they are good they are something akin to the angels; but there is no
woman in this case. I have looked far ahead. I am sure of it; there
was no rival with hot hate in her heart, no woman deceived and
abandoned for this lady’s sake, to have foul vengeance. I confess
myself baffled, for I can find no motive.”
Kenelm Eyrle looked perplexed.
“Nor, to tell you the truth, can I.”
“Do you think it possible that any tramp or beggar going through
the wood did it, and was disturbed before he had time to rob her?”
“No, I do not. However her death came to her, it was suddenly,
for she died, you know, with a smile on her lips. I have examined the
locality well, and in my opinion Lady Alden sat reading, never
thinking of coming harm, and the murderer stole up behind her and
did his deadly work before she ever knew that any one was near.
There was no horror of fright for her.”
“You heard what was said at the time of the inquest about the
weapon?”
“Yes; that is the clue. If ever the secret comes to light we shall
hear of that weapon again.”
“Then do you intend to give up the search?” asked Kenelm.
“I think so—if there was the least chance of success I should go
on with it—as it is, it is hopeless. I am simply living here in idleness,
taking Sir Ronald’s money and doing nothing for it. I have other and
more important work in hand.”
“Well,” said Mr. Eyrle, “if all the world gives it up I never shall.
What have you done toward it?”
“I have mastered every detail of the lady’s life. I know all her
friends. I have visited wherever she visited. I have exerted all the
capability and energy that I am possessed of, yet I have not
discovered one single circumstance that throws the least light on her
death.”
So Mr. Eyrle was forced to see the cleverest detective in England
leave the place without having been able to give the least
assistance.
 “I will unravel it,” he said; “even were the mystery twenty times as
great. I will fathom it. But first I will devote myself to Ronald.”
It was August when they left Aldenmere. Sir Ronald would not go
abroad.
“I could not bear the sound of voices or the sight of faces,” he
said, appealingly. “If I am to have change, let us go to some quiet
Scotch village, where no one has ever heard my ill-fated name. If
recovery be possible it must be away from all these inquiries and
constant annoyance of visitors.”
Mr. Eyrle understood the frame of mind that made his friend
shrink from all observation.
“I must manage by degrees,” he thought. “First of all, he shall
have solitude and isolation, then cheerful society until he is himself
again—all for your sake, my lost love, my dear, dead darling—all
because he is the man you loved, and to whom you gave your
loving, innocent heart.”
When Kenelm Eyrle left Aldenmere, at the bottom of his traveling
trunk there was a small box containing the white rose he had taken
from Lady Alden’s dead hand.
 CHAPTER VII.
THE RIVAL BEAUTIES.

The neighborhood of Leeholme was essentially an aristocratic

one; in fact, Leeholme calls itself a patrician country, and prides itself
on its freedom of all manufacturing towns. It is essentially devoted to
agriculture, and has rich pasture lands, fertile meadows and luxuriant
gardens.
The Aldens of Aldenmere were, perhaps, the oldest family of any.
Aldenmere was a magnificent estate; the grounds were more
extensive and beautiful than any other in the country. Nature had
done her utmost for them; art had not been neglected. The name
was derived from a large sheet of water formed by the river Lee—a
clear, broad, deep mere, always cool, shaded by large trees, with
water lilies lying on its bosom. The great beauty of the place was the
mere.
Holme Woods belonged to the estate; they bordered on the
pretty, picturesque village of Holme—the whole of which belonged to
the lords of Alden—quaint homesteads, fertile farms and broad
meadows, well-watered, surrounded the village. Not more than five
miles away was the stately and picturesque mansion of Mount
Severn, built on the summit of a green, sloping hill. Its late owner,
Charles Severn, Esq., had been one of the most eminent statesmen
who of late years had left a mark upon the times. He had served his
country well and faithfully; he had left a name honored by all who
knew it; he had done good in his generation, and when he died all
Europe lamented a truly great and famous man.
He had left only one daughter, Clarice Severn, afterward Lady
Alden, whose tragical death filled the whole country with gloom. His
widow, Mrs. Severn, had been a lady of great energy and activity;
but her life had been a very arduous one. She had shared in all her
husband’s political enterprises. She had shared his pains and his
joys. She had labored with her whole soul; and now that he was
dead she suffered from the reaction. Her only wish and desire was
for quiet and repose; the whole life of her life was centered on her
beautiful daughter.
Clarice Severn was but sixteen when her father died. His estate
was entailed, and at his widow’s death was to pass into possession
of his heir-at-law. But the gifted statesman had not neglected his only
child. He had saved a large fortune for her, and Clarice Severn was
known as a wealthy heiress.
She was also the belle and beauty par excellence of the country.
At all balls and fêtes she was queen. Her brilliant face, lighted by
smiles, her winning, haughty grace drawing all eyes, attracting all
attention. Wherever she was she reigned paramount. Other women,
even if more beautiful, paled into insignificance by her side.
She was very generous, giving with open, lavish hands. Proud in
so far as she had a very just appreciation of her own beauty, wealth
and importance. She was at times haughty to her equals, but to her
inferiors she was ever gentle and considerate, a quality which
afterward, when she came to reign at Aldenmere, made her beloved
and worshiped by all her servants.
She had faults, but the nature of the woman was essentially
noble. What those faults were and what they did for her will be seen
during the course of our story.
Mount Severn, even after the death of its accomplished master,
was a favorite place of resort. Mrs. Severn did not enjoy much of the
quiet she longed for. She would look at her daughter sometimes with
a smile, and say:
“It will always be the same until you are married, Clarice; then
people will visit you instead of me.”
So, little when she dreamed of the brilliant future awaiting that
beautiful and beloved child, did she dream of the tragedy that was to
cut that young life so terribly short.
 Leeholme Park was the family seat of the Earl of Lorriston, a
quiet, easy, happy, prosperous gentleman, who had never known a
trouble or shadow of care in his whole life.
“People talk of trouble,” he was accustomed to say; “but I really
think half of it is their own making; of course there must be sickness
and death, but the world is a bright place in spite of that.”
He was married to the woman he loved; he had a son to succeed
him; his estates were large; his fortune vast; he had a young
daughter, who made the sunshine and light of his home. What had
he to trouble him? He had never known any kind of want, privation,
care or trouble; he had never suffered pain or heartache. No wonder
he looked around on those nearest and dearest, on his elegant
home, his attached friends, and wondered with a smile how people
could think the world dull or life dreary. Yet on this kindly, simple,
happy man a terrible blow was to fall.
I do not know who could properly describe Lady Hermione
Lorriston, the real heroine of our story. It seems to me easier to paint
the golden dawn of a summer morning, the transparent beauty of a
dewdrop, to put to music the song of the wind or the carol of a bird,
or the deep, solemn anthem of the waves, as to describe a character
that was full of light and shade, tender as a loving woman, playful as
a child, spiritual, poetical, romantic, a perfect queen of the fairies,
whose soul was steeped in poetry as flowers are in dew.
By no means a perfect woman, though endowed with woman’s
sweetest virtues; she was inclined to be willful, with a delicious grace
that no one could resist. She liked to have her own way, and
generally managed it in the end. She delighted rather too much in
this will of her own. She owned to herself, with meek, pretty
contrition, that she was often inclined to be passionate, that she was
impatient of control, too much inclined to speak her mind with a
certain freedom that was not always prudent.
Yet the worst of Lady Hermione’s faults was that they compelled
you to love her, and even to love them, they were so full of charms.
When she was quite a little child Lord Lorriston was accustomed to
say that the prettiest sight in all the world was Hermione in a
passion.
She was completely spoiled by her father, but, fortunately, Lady
Lorriston was gifted with some degree of common sense, and
exerted a wholesome control over the pet of the household.
The earl’s son and heir, Clement Dane Lorriston, was at college,
and Lady Hermione, having no sister of her own, was warmly
attached to Clarice Severn.
There were several other families—the Thrings of Thurston, the
Gordons of Leyton, and, as may be imagined, with so many young
people, there was no inconsiderable amount of love-making and
marriage.
Sir Ronald Alden was, without exception, the most popular man
in the neighborhood. The late Lord of Aldenmere had never married;
to save himself all trouble he adopted his nephew, Ronald, and
brought him up as his heir; so that when his time came to reign he
was among those with whom he had lived all his life.
He was very handsome, this young lord of Alden. The Alden
faces were all very much the same; they had a certain weary, half-
contemptuous look; but when they softened with tenderness or
brightened with smiles, they were simply beautiful and irresistible.
They were of the high-bred, patrician type—the style of face that
has come down to us from the cavaliers and crusaders of old. The
only way in which Sir Ronald differed from his ancestors was that he
had a mouth like one of the old Greek gods—it would of itself have
made a woman almost divinely lovely—it made him irresistible. Very
seldom does one see anything like it in real life. A smile from it would
have melted the coldest heart—a harsh word have pierced the heart
of one who loved him.
He had something of the spirit that distinguished the crusaders;
he was brave even to recklessness—he never studied danger; he
was proud, stubborn, passionate. A family failing of the Aldens was a
sudden impulse of anger that often led them to words they repented
of.
 So that he was by no means perfect, this young lord of Alden; but
it is to be imagined that many people liked him all the better for that.