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Cybersecurity Readiness
Sara Miller McCune founded SAGE Publishing in 1965 to support
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Los Angeles | London | New Delhi | Singapore | Washington DC | Melbourne

Cybersecurity Readiness
A Holistic and
High-Performance Approach

Dave Chatterjee, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, MIS Department,
Terry College of Business, The University of Georgia
Visiting Professor, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University
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Description: Los Angeles : SAGE, [2021] |
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(hardcover; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781071837344 (epub) |
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Subjects: LCSH: Computer security. | Business enterprises—

Security measures. | Electronic information resources—Access
control. | Risk management. | Computer crimes—Prevention. |
Readiness.

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 To my father, Subroto Chatterjee
In my eyes, you are the practitioner’s practitioner. You were the most
charismatic, dynamic, and caring leader, loved and respected by your
colleagues and subordinates. You supported me in every possible way,
in all aspects of life, and encouraged me to be the very best I could be.
Your selfless, honest, straightforward, bold, and courageous ways are
and will always be a source of profound inspiration. I would like to honor
you and your life with this book and hope today’s and tomorrow’s
practitioners find value in the insights and recommendations.

To my mother, Kuljit Chatterjee

Your kind and noble ways never cease to amaze me.

To my grandparents, late Prof. Sushil Kumar and Smrity Chatterjee

Truly blessed to have experienced your love and
nurturing during the formative years.

To my wife Bineeta, daughter Rhea, and son Victor

You are a source of great pride, joy, and inspiration.
Contents
Preface xi

Foreword xiii

Endorsements xv

Acknowledgments xxiii

About the Author xxvii

Chapter 1 Introduction: The Challenge

of Cybersecurity 1

Chapter 2 The Cyberattack Epidemic 5

2.1 Expanding Hardware and Software Attack
Surfaces 6

2.2 The Human Vulnerability Factor 8

2.3 Growing Attack Vectors 10

2.3.1 Malware Types 10
2.3.2 Malware Distribution Methods and Channels 13

2.4 Nature and Extent of Impact 21

Chapter 3 Breach Incidents and Lessons Learned 29

3.1 The Capital One Breach That Exposed
100 Million Applicants and Customer Information 29

3.2 British Airways Ordered to Pay a Record Fine

of $230 Million 31

3.3 Target Retail Chain Experiences an

External Intrusion That Compromised Millions
of Customers’ Data 33

3.4 Adult Friend Finder Site Breach Exposes

Millions of Customer Records 34

3.5 Three Billion Yahoo User Accounts Compromised 35

3.6 Equifax Data Breach Exposes Millions of

Customers’ Data 37
 3.7 Adobe Breach Exposes 38 Million
Customer Records 38

3.8 Anthem Breach Affects 78.8 Million People 40

Chapter 4 Foundations of the High-Performance

Information Security Culture Framework 49
4.1 Organizational Culture and Firm Performance 49

4.2 Organizational Culture and Cybersecurity 50

4.3 High-Reliability Organizational Culture Traits 52

Chapter 5 Commitment 59
5.1 Hands-On Top Management 61

5.2 “We-Are-in-It-Together” Culture 63

5.3 Cross-Functional Participation 64

5.4 Sustainable Budget 67

5.5 Strategic Alignment and Partnerships 68

5.6 Joint Ownership and Accountability 70

5.7 Empowerment 72

Chapter 6 Preparedness 77
6.1 Identify 78
6.1.1 Organizational Role Recognition 78
6.1.2 Cyber-Risk Assessment 81
6.1.3 Asset Identification and Prioritization 86

6.2 Protect 90
6.2.1 Access Control 91
6.2.2 Configuration Management 96
6.2.3 Securing Email Clients and Web Browsers 98
6.2.4 Securing Networks, Ports, Protocols, and Services 100
6.2.5 Managing Removable Media 102
6.2.6 Data Security 102
6.2.7 Data Backup and Retention 110
6.2.8 Asset Maintenance 112
6.2.9 Awareness and Training 113

6.3 Detect 120

6.4 Respond and Recover 125

6.4.1 Incident Response Capability 126
6.4.2 Disaster Recovery Planning 128
Chapter 7 Discipline 139
7.1 Information Security Governance Policy 139

7.2 Communications and Enforcement of Policies 142

7.3 Continuous Monitoring 143

7.4 Continuous Performance Assessment and

Improvement 146

7.5 Security Audits and Drills 148

7.6 Penetration Testing and Red Team Exercises 151

Chapter 8 Key Messages and Actionable

Recommendations 155
8.1 Commitment 155
8.1.1 Hands-On Top Management 155
8.1.2 “We-Are-in-It-Together” Culture 155
8.1.3 Cross-Functional Participation 156
8.1.4 Sustainable Budget 156
8.1.5 Strategic Alignment and Partnership 156
8.1.6 Joint Ownership and Accountability 157
8.1.7 Empowerment 157

8.2 Preparedness 157

8.2.1 Risk-Based Asset Identification and Prioritization 158
8.2.2 Securing Sensitive Data and Related Digital Assets 159
8.2.3 Detecting Threats and Attacks 163
8.2.4 Responding and Recovering from Breach Incidents 163

8.3 Discipline 164

8.3.1 Information Security Governance Policy 164
8.3.2 Communication and Enforcement of Policies 164
8.3.3 Continuous Monitoring 164
8.3.4 Continuous Performance Assessment and Improvement 165
8.3.5 Security Audits and Drills 165
8.3.6 Penetration Testing and Red Team Exercises 165

Appendix 1 Information Security Monitoring Controls 167

Appendix 2 Cybersecurity Performance Measures 175

Appendix 3A Cybersecurity Readiness Scorecard:

Commitment  177

Appendix 3B Cybersecurity Readiness Scorecard:

Preparedness183
Appendix 3C Cybersecurity Readiness Scorecard:
Discipline199

Appendix 4 Cybersecurity and Privacy Laws and

Regulations205

Appendix 5 Physical, Technical, and Administrative

Controls: A Representative List 227

Appendix 6 Case Studies 235

Case Study 1. Target’s Debit/Credit Card

Data Breach 237

Case Study 2. Bangladesh Bank’s Cyber Heist 249

Case Study 3. Ashley Madison Security Breach 269

Case Study 4. Yoti and Responsible Cybersecurity

Innovation 279

Cybersecurity Resources 291

Index 297
Preface

I t often takes a major calamity such as the coronavirus pandemic to

remind us of how vulnerable we are and the consequences of being
underprepared. Seemingly secure and robust economies and companies
have been brought to their knees by an invisible and unexpected enemy.
Can we afford to be so reactive? Do we need major catastrophes to serve
as wake-up calls on being proactive and thorough in our approach to pre-
paredness? The consequences of cyberattacks can be equally devastating,
especially if nuclear sites, power grids, water filtration plants, and other
critical infrastructure resources are compromised.
This book is motivated by the need to encourage and aid organizations
to take a proactive, deliberate, and conscientious stand on cybersecurity.
While most organizations are not in the business of securing data and digi-
tal assets, protecting such assets is critical to survival and success in today’s
highly digitized and connected environment. With rapidly expanding
attack surfaces and evolving attack vectors, organizations are in a perpetual
state of breach and have to deal with this existential threat. Cybersecurity
readiness is a critical and distinctive competency, and this book is intended
to help organizations develop and enhance this capability. It is written with
current and future practitioners in mind as individuals continue to be the
strongest and weakest link of a cyber defense system. The overall goal of
the book is to enhance cybersecurity awareness and preparedness among
individuals and organizations.
To effectively prepare and respond to the ever-increasing and evolv-
ing cyberattacks, organizations must not only have a comprehensive plan
but also execute that plan with great precision and consistency. This book
draws upon high-reliability organization principles to identify character-
istics and traits associated with a high-performance information security
culture. It presents a set of seventeen cybersecurity readiness success fac-
tors uncovered from analyzing primary and secondary data gathered over
several years.
I sincerely hope you will find the book useful. It is the latest outcome
of a cybersecurity journey that has been quite enlightening. I have been
studying this phenomenon for nearly a decade; I have authored and edited
scholarly papers, consulted with companies, served on a cybersecurity
SWAT team with chief information security officers (CISOs), conducted
workshops and webinars, given expert radio and television interviews, and
delivered numerous talks at academic and practitioner forums around the

xi
world. Information Security and Risk Management has been a core learn-
ing module in my graduate and undergraduate classes for several years.
Among the distinctive strengths of the book are its comprehensive
scope and an easy-to-understand framework to help readers get their arms
around cybersecurity readiness. It recognizes that the battle or war against
current and future cyber threats must be fought holistically and compre-
hensively by adopting people-, process-, and technology-driven measures.
The book presents a set of seventeen success factors associated with three
high-performance information security culture traits—commitment, pre-
paredness, and discipline. Further, numerous breach incidents, presented
in the form of vignettes and cases, are used to highlight key challenges and
issues and reinforce the recommendations. Included in the appendix sec-
tion are cybersecurity readiness scorecard elements; list of physical, techni-
cal and administrative controls; information security monitoring control
guide; an overview of cybersecurity and privacy laws and regulations;
cybersecurity performance measures; and case studies.

Dave Chatterjee

xii  Cybersecurity Readiness
Foreword

T he evolution from the early days of information security to today’s

cybersecurity teams provides a varied and rich history of challenges,
successes, and failures. As the systems used by society, businesses, and
governments increase reliance on technology, we also see the opportunities
for threat actors to take advantage of weaknesses in these systems or the
people who regularly use or maintain these systems.
In the 1980s we got our first taste of cybersecurity challenges when the
so-called Morris Worm was released by a student at MIT targeting vulner-
abilities in Unix systems, and resulting in several days of disruption on the
nascent Internet.
Further historical events led to more lessons. Active virus and malware
(e.g. rootkits) development competed with antivirus makers and showed
the limitations and challenges with signature-based detections. The Code
Red (2001) and SQL Slammer (2003) worms reinforced the need for active
patch management programs to apply system updates, as well as demon-
strating the need for network defenses such as firewalls and intrusion pre-
vention systems. 2015 saw the compromise of the Ukrainian power grid,
later attributed to Russian actors, demonstrating both the weaknesses in
SCADA and critical infrastructure systems, as well as providing a look into
the future of cyberwarfare.
As the attacks and technologies have changed, so have the approaches.
Cybersecurity practices have evolved from a set of philosophies to more
active and proactive approaches. Concepts such as defense-in-depth, prin-
ciple of least privilege, change management, and access control are neces-
sary and required building blocks for good cybersecurity programs. The
NIST Cybersecurity Framework and Center for Information Security pro-
vide roadmaps and approaches to help organizations prioritize and build
strong cybersecurity programs. However, what is missing is an approach
to building a cybersecurity culture within an organization, permeating all
aspects of that organization. Dr. Chatterjee’s book provides actionable rec-
ommendations to create and sustain a high-performance information secu-
rity culture.
A key area of concern for organizations is the human element. Social
engineering attacks, including phishing, have taught us that attackers
can and will bypass the best defenses easily when targeting a human.
Technology and tools alone cannot secure an organization; rather, security
must be seen as a shared value and culture, and all members of the organi-
zation are accountable and have a role to play.

xiii
 The human element is one of the reasons that advancements in tech-
nology and approaches to protect key assets and detect attacks continue to
fall prey to debilitating attacks, loss of data, and in some cases, financial
repercussions (fines or ransoms). Successful organizations have recognized
what Dave Chatterjee will discuss in this book. A high performing cyber-
security culture requires commitment from leadership for a strategic and
sustainable program; a prepared team with the right framework, processes,
and tools in place; and the discipline to assess and adapt the program to
meet the changing and evolving threat landscape.
Drawing from consulting experience, prior research, and expert inter-
views, Dave explores several key case studies on incidents and lessons
learned, ultimately setting forth an easy-to-use framework that organiza-
tions can use to model a strong cybersecurity culture in their organization.
As with other frameworks, it can and should be adapted to match an orga-
nization’s objectives, but the core principles of commitment, preparedness,
and discipline must permeate all aspects of the organization, not just the
team directly responsible for cybersecurity defenses and response.
Each core principle leads to actionable strategies that can and should
be implemented within an organization. Commitment requires active
leadership involvement and support; preparedness requires assessing and
implementing security protections across the organization, while improv-
ing the ability to detect attacks and issues as quickly as possible; and dis-
cipline requires active governance to ensure that cybersecurity efforts align
with organizational goals, and the security operations are assessed for con-
tinuous improvement.
To get started, you will find useful resources that map common techni-
cal controls and approaches to the three core principles, scorecards to assess
the maturity of your organization, and current security and privacy regula-
tions that organizations should factor into the cybersecurity programs.
This book provides a much-needed organizational blueprint for orga-
nizations to build and mature not just a cybersecurity program but rather
a cybersecurity culture that can adapt and change as risks and threat actors
change and adapt.

Richard Biever
Chief Information Security Officer
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina, USA

xiv  Cybersecurity Readiness
Endorsements
Mauricio Angee, Chief Information Security Officer, GenesisCare
USA, Fort Myers, Florida, USA
Information security has become an important and critical compo-
nent of every organization. In his book, Professor Chatterjee explains the
challenges that organizations experience to protect information assets. The
book sheds light on different aspects of cybersecurity including a history
and impact of the most recent security breaches, as well as the strategic
and leadership components that help build strong cybersecurity programs.
This book helps bridge the gap between academia and practice and pro-
vides important insights that may help professionals in every industry.

Vidhya Belapure, Chief Information Officer, Huber Engineered

Materials & CP Kelco, Marietta, Georgia, USA
This book by Dave Chatterjee is by far the most comprehensive book
on cybersecurity management. Cybersecurity is on top of the minds of
board members, CEOs, and CIOs as they strive to protect their employees
and intellectual property. This book is a must-read for CIOs and CISOs to
build a robust cybersecurity program for their organizations.

Mike Benz, Partner and Fractional CIO, Fortium Partners, Minneapolis,

Minnesota, USA
Professor Chatterjee’s Cybersecurity Readiness: A Holistic and High-
Performance Approach fills a critical unmet need for concise, timely, and
actionable information for information technology and business leaders.
So much of the literature available today is either too high level or too
detailed to be usable by most practitioners. The book’s novel Cybersecurity
Readiness Scorecard is a tool that any business should be able to use to
better manage their risk.

Shoukat Ali Bhamani, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Schaeffler,

Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA
Business executives in today’s world are aware of cybersecurity
threats, but many of them are not comfortable with technical discussions.
Dr. Chatterjee has made an excellent effort to help business executives
understand cybersecurity risks and learn how to mitigate them at the
management level. A systematic approach described in this book will help
executives launch an effective cybersecurity strategy. I would highly recom-
mend this book for all business and IT executives.

xv
Professor Som Bhattacharya, Dean, College of Business and
Management, University of Illinois at Springfield, Illinois, USA
It is time for a holistic (and high-performance) approach to cyber-
security. While cybersecurity remains, nay grows, a pandemic in its
own right, it is increasingly more than simply an engineering problem,
a network problem, an access problem, or a denial of service problem,
awaiting technical solutions. It is all of the above and then some. It is
an overarching and alarming business problem. From an accounting/
auditing perspective, it represents a going concern issue; from a manage-
rial standpoint, it may lead to reputation loss, capital market misgivings,
internal audit harangues, external audit jitters, legal woes, privacy impli-
cations, customer flight, and penalties, and it questions the very survival
of corporate and non-corporate entities. This book, in response, spans a
wide range of issues such as privacy, national and transnational guide-
lines, opt-in vs. opt-out, ransomware, the use of crypto-currencies, the
dark web, occasional sovereign nation sponsorships of miscreants and
malware, and it presents a solution scorecard and other approaches that
appeal to more than the technical or IT wings of an enterprise. These
issues are more likely to be understood and acted upon by enterprise
and enterprising managers. It is this holistic perspective, then, of a grow-
ing cyber pandemic, that sets this book apart and makes for its likely
adoption by the government, the corporate sector and academia alike.
Cybersecurity issues need to be addressed and managed holistically and
this book tells us how.

Professor Indranil Bose, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta,

Kolkata, India
In the age of pandemic, the importance of cybersecurity readiness can-
not be overemphasized. While a number of authors have focused on the
technical aspects of cybersecurity, this book uniquely blends technology
with management of cybersecurity and does it in a lucid and comprehen-
sive manner. The author’s vast experience and regular interactions with
people in the field is showcased in the engaging writing style involving
practical examples and case studies. The book fulfills a gap that exists in
the area and makes a timely and worthwhile contribution. The coverage of
topics is extensive and depth of topics will fascinate even the specialized
cybersecurity expert. This book is a must-have for academics and practi-
tioners who want to learn about and manage the efforts toward creating
cybersecurity awareness and preparedness in organizations.

xvi  Cybersecurity Readiness
Dr. Anne DeBeer, Former Senior Vice President & Chief Information
Officer/Chief Financial Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta,
Georgia, USA
Dr. Dave Chatterjee is a renowned scholar and technology thought
leader. His vast knowledge and insight into the world of cybersecurity is
well known and widely sought after by industry, academic, and govern-
ment leaders around the globe. Now he delivers a book that gives leaders
a real-world, coherent understanding of what they face and the multiple
dimensions necessary to prepare and respond. I highly recommend reading
Dr. Chatterjee’s book to learn and benefit from his years of experience and
perceptions into this important subject.

Gretchen Hiley, Chief Information Security Officer, Senior Vice

President, Global Information Security, Crawford & Company,
Peachtree Corners, Georgia, USA
While there are many publications focused on the technical aspects of
cybersecurity, very few provide such a well-formulated crosswalk between
the technical and business sides of cyber risk. Cybersecurity Readiness:
A Holistic and High-Performance Approach provides a clear roadmap for
security practitioners to utilize as they build comprehensive information
security programs, and it also guides business leaders and board members
as they navigate through the journey of understanding and managing cyber
risk as an enterprise risk.

Professor Ashish Kumar Jha, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

With increasing importance of data as a source of competitive advan-
tage, cybersecurity has moved beyond the confines of IT departments
to an enterprise-wide endeavor. Professor Chatterjee takes a company
culture–level perspective in his new book wherein he has dived deep
into his years of experience as a cybersecurity expert and his role in
advising firms and CIOs on this issue. This is an extremely relevant and
timely piece of work that would advise many firms on the best orga-
nizational practices required to safeguard their data from cyberthreats.
Professor Chatterjee leads his readers into the domain organizational
aspects of cybersecurity and provides mechanisms to assess and plan
a company’s readiness for future vulnerabilities and not just respond to
the threats from a technical viewpoint. The book would find favor with
an entire generation of business leaders interested in creating a secure
organization.

Endorsements   xvii
Professor Jimmie Lenz, Director, Master of Engineering in FinTech and
Master of Engineering in Cybersecurity, Pratt School of Engineering,
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Very few issues in the modern world are as pervasive to individuals,
corporations, and governments as that of cybersecurity. Dave brings to
light aspects that have received too little attention, that is, the human fac-
tor, which provides a context that is central to this issue. The “success fac-
tors” he puts forward in the book provide any organization with the means
to benchmark and monitor changes in programs of all sizes.

Mary Levins, President, Sierra Creek Consulting LLC, Dacula, Georgia,

USA
This book is a valuable resource for cybersecurity readiness today.
Many breaches in the past could have been prevented. This book reviews
past leadership decisions and breach examples to provide an effective
approach using lessons learned and best practices.

Professor Daniel O’Leary, Marshall School of Business, University of

Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Prof. Chatterjee’s book is a very pragmatic and comprehensive guide to
cybersecurity readiness. The governance framework is both powerful and
easy to comprehend. Anchored on three high-performance security culture
dimensions of commitment, preparedness, and discipline, the framework
presents a set of seventeen cybersecurity success factors. Uncovered from
analyzing primary and secondary data gathered over several years, these
success factors encompass people-, process-, and technology-driven mea-
sures. Numerous breach incidents, presented in the form of vignettes and
cases, are used to highlight vulnerabilities and lessons learned. The book
also provides useful resources such as cybersecurity readiness scorecard
elements; a list of physical, technical, and administrative controls; an infor-
mation security monitoring control guide; an overview of cybersecurity
and privacy laws and regulations; cybersecurity performance measures;
and case studies.

Stoddard Mannikin, Chief Information Security Officer, Prominent

U.S. Pediatric Healthcare Organization
Dr. Chatterjee’s book fortifies the most essential truth when it comes
to effective cybersecurity programs: “technology alone will not mitigate
cybersecurity risks.” He identifies key traits that need to be engrained
in organizational culture to support the cybersecurity mission as well as

xviii  Cybersecurity Readiness
seventeen success factors within that cultural framework that any student
or practitioner should consider when evaluating their security posture.

Arun Kumar Narayan, Director, Audit & Asset Protection, Alshaya

Group, Kuwait
Dr. Dave’s book on cybersecurity management is an eye opener for all
organizations in today’s world. He has made tremendous efforts in present-
ing how to identify, defend, respond, and build resilience in case of cyber-
attacks in a very simple way. This book is very easy to understand and
very important for the senior leadership team of an organization to gain
thorough knowledge on the subject of cybersecurity.

Joseph Pekala, President, ESP Holdings LLC, Richmond, Virginia, USA

Cyber threats, in their many and continuously evolving ways, remain
more than ever an existential threat to virtually all companies, both large
and small. In his new book Cybersecurity Readiness: A Holistic and High-
Performance Approach, Dr. Chatterjee does an excellent job of breaking
down these threats and providing a framework for creating a culture of
engagement at all levels in an organization to effectively and proactively
manage these threats. In my years leading enterprise IT organizations, I
can personally attest to the effectiveness of the concepts outlined here and I
wholeheartedly recommend this book. In fact, I believe that this should be
required reading for anyone entering today’s workforce, regardless of their
role. Cybersecurity is not an IT issue, which Dr. Chatterjee makes clear,
but rather something that requires everyone’s knowledge and involvement.
A must read!

Rob Purks, Senior Executive, Telecommunications Industry

Public and hybrid cloud adoption have made the boundaries of corpo-
rate IT infrastructure more nebulous, and the need for a well-defined and
executed security strategy has never been greater. As companies increas-
ingly pursue the financial benefits of cloudification by virtualizing and con-
tainerizing their application architectures, the architectural complexity and
the number of potential vulnerabilities significantly increase. Dr. Chatterjee
does a superb job of portraying both the business need and the technology
approach to define a successful security strategy.

Azi Quinn, Agile Transformation Leader, Financial Services Industry

Our financial lives, our business lives, and even our personal lives are
all online. Cybersecurity is a non-negotiable investment for almost every

Endorsements   xix
company in our global community. Just as we have to make sure people
walking into a store are physically safe during their experience, we have to
ensure their information is safe when they “walk into” the cyber version.
Professor Chatterjee’s book highlights the traits of a high-performing infor-
mation security culture: commitment, preparedness, and discipline. His
insight and accessible tactics make this book mandatory for any institution
looking to mitigate financial and reputational risk.

Tushar Sachdev, Chief Technology Officer, KORE Wireless, Alpharetta,

Georgia, USA
Commitment, preparedness, and discipline in cybersecurity are things
Professor Chatterjee has been advocating for many years. The book is a
comprehensive summary for executives who wish to understand how
cybersecurity has moved from a “techie” topic to a serious boardroom
agenda and is what organizations should be doing to not only defend
but also respond and build resilience in case of a cyberattack. Professor
Chatterjee’s writing style is simple and offers an engaging, informative, and,
most importantly, actionable read and is highly recommended as an execu-
tive leadership must-read and must-discuss book.

Zareer Siganporia, Chief Executive Officer, Trusted Tech Partners,

Alpharetta, Georgia, USA
Information security is a part of everyone’s responsibility; yet, too many
people and organizations still do not completely understand and embrace
this. People (and organization culture) continue to be the weakest link
in most organization’s security postures. Too often, information security
teams focus on technical solutions and audit-driven processes, while not
being able to drive the organization-wide awareness, buy-in, and culture
change that is needed to holistically secure the enterprise.
Dr. Chatterjee’s Cybersecurity Readiness: A Holistic and High-Performance
Approach tackles this weakest link, the hardest part of information security.
He uses high-performance culture traits, supporting success factors, and
actionable guiding questions to integrate top-down and bottom-up human-
centric approaches, to permeate information security awareness and own-
ership across the organization. His Cybersecurity Readiness Scorecard,
built from these guiding questions, is an effective way to periodically assess
and quantify an organization’s cultural cybersecurity maturity.
This book is definitely a must-read for everyone in the knowledge
economy. If your organization uses this approach to fortify its cybersecurity
culture, it will ultimately save your jobs and your reputation, enhance your

xx  Cybersecurity Readiness
competitiveness, and avoid millions to billions of dollars in costs down the
line! Cancel the rest of your meetings today and start reading!

Rohit Verma, Chief Executive Officer, Crawford & Company, Peachtree

Corners, Georgia, USA
Professor Chatterjee’s book is a must-read for any executive who views
their organization’s data as a strategic asset. It is one of the finest works I
have read on giving a broad understanding of the dangerous cyber world
we live in and why it is here to stay with us. His work provides an excellent
framework for building and sustaining a high-performance security cul-
ture, with appropriate systems and processes, to achieve cyber risk resili­
ence and operate business with confidence rather than fear.

Professor Hugh J. Watson, Management Information Systems Depart­

ment, Terry College of Business, The University of Georgia, Athens,
Georgia, USA
Organizations need to protect against cybersecurity attacks, not just
respond to them, for it is too late then as most of the damage has already
been done. Professor Chatterjee’s book does an outstanding job of identify-
ing the different kinds of cybersecurity attacks and describing the various
managerial, organizational, and technological preventive measures. Dave’s
book is highly readable and actionable, with numerous examples drawn
from recent accounts of cybersecurity attacks and data breaches.

Dr Edgar A. Whitley, London School of Economics and Political

Science, United Kingdom
Data is an increasingly valuable resource for organisations. If it is
not managed securely it runs the risk of becoming a toxic asset, yet how
best to manage data securely is not always obvious. This invaluable book
“Cybersecurity Readiness: A Holistic and High-Performance Approach”
combines academic rigour with practitioner driven insights to provide
clear guidance for organisations to enhance their cybersecurity readiness.

Endorsements   xxi
Acknowledgments

I am grateful to many who have directly and indirectly contributed towards

the development of the book. It has been quite the journey—intellectually
stimulating, emotionally demanding, physically challenging, and spiritu-
ally uplifting. While the first version of the book was crafted in the sum-
mer of 2019, cybersecurity research and teaching have been an ongoing
endeavor for almost a decade. Over the years, I have presented the research
findings at numerous practitioner and academic forums around the world
and benefitted from valuable and thought-provoking feedback. I also had
the opportunity to share my insights with the general public by conducting
expert interviews in print media and on radio and TV.
Inspiration and motivation often come from the most unexpected
quarters. On November 9, 2017, during a live interview session, Rich
Casanova, the host of Pro Business Channel, very generously recognized
my expertise and efforts to enhance cybersecurity awareness and educa-
tion. I came away from that interview inspired and motivated to live up
to Rich’s kind words of praise. There is power in words and his surely did
energize my cybersecurity journey.
It was truly an honor to be interviewed by hosts and media personali-
ties such as Audrey Galex of AIB Network, Condace Pressley of 95.5 FM
NewsTalk/WSB, and Rose Scott of WABE 90.1 FM (a National Public Radio
affiliate). The reflective interactions shaped the evolution of ideas for the
book.
I am grateful to Shandra Hill Smith, public relations professional
and freelance writer, for creating opportunities to share my cybersecu-
rity insights with the general public. In her quiet and professional way,
Shandra was always looking for opportunities to get me in front of different
audiences.
The following are representative of the invitations to present my work
at numerous practitioner and academic forums around the world.

•• London School of Economics and Political Sciences, London,

United Kingdom (2020)
•• The European Information Security Summit, London, United
Kingdom (2020)
•• Initiative for the Digital Economy at Exeter (INDEX), University
of Exeter, London, United Kingdom (2020)

xxiii
 •• Huber Engineered Materials (HEM) Executive Education
Workshop, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia,
Atlanta, Georgia, USA (2020)
•• Mercer University, Macon, Georgia, USA (2020)
•• Gowling, WLG, London, United Kingdom (2019)
•• European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security, Coimbra,
Portugal (2019)
•• Georgia GMIS Conference, Athens, Georgia, USA (2019 and
2017)
•• Digital Business Transformation Summit, New York City,
New York, USA (2019 and 2018)
•• South Florida Chief Information Officer (CIO) Forum, Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, USA (2018)
•• Decision Sciences Institute Conference, Chicago, Illinois, USA
(2018)
•• Salesforce Tech Talk Forum, San Francisco, California, USA (2017)
•• John Cabot University, Rome, Italy (2017)
•• CDC University Business and Technology Forum, Atlanta,
Georgia, USA (2017)
•• European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security, Dublin,
Ireland (2017)
•• European Conference on Information Systems, Genoa, Italy (2017)
•• Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, India (2017)
•• Department of Computer Science, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata,
India (2017)
•• Society for Information Management (SIM) Atlanta Chapter
Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (November 2017)
•• Georgia-GMIS Conference, Savannah, Georgia, USA (October 9,
2017)
•• Chief Information Officer (CIO) Forum and Executive IT
Summit, Atlanta, Georgia (2014)

xxiv  Cybersecurity Readiness
 I am indebted to many for the talk invitations and warm hospitality.
They include: Edgar Whitley, London School of Economics and Political
Sciences; Rocio de la Cruz, Gowling WLG; Russell Lawson, European
Information Security Summit; Wendy Gunther, Vrije Universiteit,
Amsterdam; Lisa Newman, Mercer University; Indranil Bose, Indian
Institute of Management; Ian Chakeres, Google; Cal Braunstein and Adam
Braunstein, Robert Frances Group; Ian Roberts, Stefano Arnone, Silvia
Pulino, and Joanne Bergamin, John Cabot University; and Rev. Dominic
Savio and Shalabh Agarwal, St. Xavier’s College.
One of the highlights of the speaking tour was an article penned by
Mariia Bondar, then an undergraduate student at John Cabot University.
Her succinct review of my talk (at that institution in 2017) made me real-
ize that the cybersecurity recommendations were also resonating with the
young minds.
This manuscript has greatly benefited from the content review and
feedback offered by Richard Biever, Chief Information Security Officer,
Duke University; Malcolm Harkins, Chief Security and Trust Officer,
Cymatic; and Hugh Watson, Professor at The University of Georgia. The
SAGE Publishing editorial team of Andrew Boney and Sanford Robinson
have worked tirelessly to enhance the quality of this manuscript. I also
wish to thank the production team led by Astha Jaiswal for their efforts.
I am also immensely grateful to Larry Baker of SAGE Publishing and
Katie Kish, Professional Development Program Associate, Unum Group,
for proofreading the document.
I greatly appreciate the support of Connor Schlegel, Oracle; Amit
Yoran, Tenable; John Ballard and Laurie Webb-Des Jardins, Circadence;
and Amrita Mitra, Asigosec Technologies in obtaining permission to repro-
duce some of the figures in this book. My daughter Rhea was very kind to
take time out of her busy schedule and help me with some of the graphics.
It is truly an honor to receive endorsements from accomplished prac-
titioners and academics: Mauricio Angee, CISO, GenesisCare USA, Fort
Myers, Florida; Vidhya Belapure, CIO, Huber Engineered Materials & CP
Kelco, Marietta, Georgia; Mike Benz, Partner and Fractional CIO, Fortium
Partners, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Prof. Somnath Bhattacharya, Dean &
Professor of Accountancy, College of Business and Management, University
of Illinois Springfield; Shoukat Ali Bhimani, Chief Information and Digital
Officer, Schaeffler, Fort Mill, South Carolina; Prof. Indranil Bose, Indian
Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata, India; Dr. Anne DeBeer, Former
Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer/Chief Financial Officer,
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Georgia; Gretchen Hiley, Chief Information

Acknowledgments   xxv
 Security Officer, Senior Vice President Global Information Security,
Crawford & Company, Peachtree Corners, Georgia; Prof. Ashish Kumar
Jha, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; Dr. Jimmie Lenz, Director, Master
of Engineering in FinTech and Master of Engineering in Cybersecurity,
Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina;
Mary Levins, President, Sierra Creek Consulting LLC, Dacula, Georgia;
Stoddard Mannikin, Chief Information Security Officer, prominent U.S.
pediatric healthcare organization; Arun Kumar Narayan, Director, Audit
& Asset Protection, Alshaya Group, Kuwait; Joseph Pekala, President, ESP
Holdings LLC, Richmond, Virginia; Rob Purks, Senior Executive, telecom-
munications industry; Azi Quinn, Agile Transformation Leader, finan-
cial services industry; Tushar Sachdev, Chief Technology Officer, KORE
Wireless, Alpharetta, Georgia; Zareer Siganporia, Chief Executive Officer,
Trusted Tech Partners, Alpharetta, Georgia; Rohit Verma, Chief Executive
Officer, Crawford & Company, Peachtree Corners, Georgia; and Prof. Hugh J.
Watson, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.
Finally, I would like to recognize my physio team—Kathy Lee
Handley and Brooke Padilla—for their efforts to keep me mobile and
pain-free. Challenging myself to achieve higher levels of fitness, success-
fully completing two half-marathons, and returning to competitive tennis,
were essential diversions during the intense book authoring, editing, and
­publishing period.

xxvi  Cybersecurity Readiness
About the Author
Dave Chatterjee, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of
Management Information Systems at the University of Georgia’s Terry
College of Business and Visiting Professor at Duke University’s Pratt School
of Engineering. Dr. Chatterjee’s interest and expertise lie in the various
facets of information technology management, with current focus on
cybersecurity and enterprise digitization. His work has been accepted and
published in prestigious outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, MIT Sloan
Management Review, California Management Review, Business Horizons, MIS
Quarterly, and Journal of Management Information Systems. Dr. Chatterjee
has significant experience teaching undergraduate, graduate, and execu-
tive education classes. He also serves as Senior Editor of the Journal for
Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, a Taylor & Francis
research journal, with full oversight over cybersecurity research. Dr.
Chatterjee delivers talks around the world, moderates CXO panel discus-
sions, conducts corporate training and workshops as well as webinars, and
provides consulting and advisory services. He has appeared on radio and
TV interviews and is often quoted by news media on major technology-
related developments. He has served on the corporate and community
leadership board of a prestigious cybersecurity network of CISOs and on a
CISO SWAT team. For more details please visit https://dchatte.com.

xxvii
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of A song-bird
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at
no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the
terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are
located before using this eBook.

Title: A song-bird

Author: Eleanora H. Stooke

Illustrator: Alfred Pearse

Release date: December 1, 2023 [eBook #72274]

Language: English

Original publication: London: The Religious Tract Society, 1908

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SONG-BIRD ***

Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.

"YOU ARE NOT AFRAID OF MY DOG?"

A SONG-BIRD

BY

ELEANORA H. STOOKE

Author of "Angel's Brother," "Little Maid Marigold,"

"The Bottom of the Bread Pan," etc.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALFRED PEARSE

 LONDON

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY

4 BOUVERIE STREET AND 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD E.C.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. MAVIS AND HER MOTHER

II. CONCERNING MISS DAWSON

III. THE ARRIVAL AT THE MILL HOUSE

IV. MRS. GREY'S DEPARTURE

V. PETTY JEALOUSY

VI. ROSE IN TROUBLE

VII. A GREAT GIFT

VIII. LOOKING FORWARD TO CHRISTMAS

IX. CHRISTMAS TIME

X. SICKNESS AT THE MILL HOUSE

XI. HAPPY DAYS

A SONG-BIRD

CHAPTER I
MAVIS AND HER MOTHER
"THERE, I've finished. How the days are drawing in, to be sure! I declare it's getting dark
already, though it's only six o'clock."

The scene was an upstairs sitting-room in a dingy London lodging-house, on a September

evening. And the speaker—Mrs. Grey—rose from her seat at the table as she spoke, and
laid aside her writing materials with an air of relief, afterwards placing the letter, over the
composition of which she had spent fully half an hour, on the mantelpiece. She then took
an easy-chair by the window, whilst the other occupant of the room—her little daughter,
Mavis, who had been watching the passers-by in the street—settled herself on a stool at
her feet.

"Now we can have a nice chat, mother," Mavis said. "I've been longing to talk, but I
haven't liked to disturb you. You've been writing a very particular letter, haven't you?"

"Yes, dear; but how did you guess that?"

"You looked so grave, and, I thought, sad. There's nothing very much amiss, is there,
mother? Are you worrying because you haven't had any nursing to do lately? We've money
left to go on with, haven't we?"

Mavis was a pretty little girl of ten years, with beautiful hazel eyes, and a quantity of soft
brown hair which curled naturally and could never be kept tidy. Her expression was one of
great anxiety, as she looked up into her mother's face and waited for her response.

Mrs. Grey did not answer immediately. She was a tall, handsome woman, with a self-
reliant manner, and a countenance which inspired trust. She had been left a widow several
years previously, since when she had had a hard battle to fight. For her husband, who had
held a curacy in the East End of London, had had no private means, and at his death she
had found herself nearly penniless.

Before her marriage, however, she had been fully qualified as a nurse, so she had taken up
her old profession again, and had earned sufficient by private nursing to support herself
and her child. Of late, she had been out of work, and things had looked dark altogether;
but she owned a brave heart and was not easily cast down. So that it had been with awe
as well as with surprise, that Mavis had observed her shedding tears over the letter she
had been writing.

"As a matter of fact, we've very little money left," Mrs. Grey admitted, at length. "But I'm
not troubled about that now, for I have been asked and have engaged to nurse a rich
young lady who is threatened with consumption, and—and it is likely to be a long
engagement."

"Oh, mother! You said you felt sure God would provide for us, and you were right. Who is
the young lady? Does she live near here? Will you be away at night? How shall you
manage?"

On previous occasions, when Mrs. Grey had been absent, Mavis had boarded with the
lodging-house keeper, Miss Tompkins. And she thought very likely it would be arranged for
her to do so again. She would have no objection to raise to the plan, for Miss Tompkins, a
kind-hearted, elderly spinster, who had seen better days, was a great favourite of hers.

"I-I hardly know," Mrs. Grey answered, somewhat hesitatingly. "I don't like the idea of
being separated from you, child, but I feel it must be."
"Oh, I shall be all right, mother!" Mavis declared, reassuringly.

"You don't understand, dear; I must explain. Miss Dawson—the young lady I have engaged
to nurse—is the only child of a very rich man, and I do not think my duties will be arduous,
but—but I shall have to go abroad with her—to Australia."

"To Australia!" echoed Mavis, aghast, the colour fading from her 'cheeks, a look of dismay
in her hazel eyes. "Why, Australia's ever so far away—right at the other side of the world!"

"Yes. I shall be gone months, perhaps even a year or longer, it will depend upon the
patient."

"Oh, mother," gasped Mavis, "you don't mean it! Say you don't."

"But I do mean it, my dear. I am to have a splendid salary, and shall be able to provide for
you well during my absence. It would have been madness to have refused this post.
Suppose nothing else offered? Then we should be face to face with want, and with the
winter coming on, too. Don't look at me so reproachfully, Mavis."

"Mother, how can you leave me?" cried the little girl. "I don't mind living with Miss
Tompkins for a few weeks, but for months, perhaps years—" She completed the sentence
with a sob.

"It is not my intention to leave you with Miss Tompkins, my dear. I am thinking of sending
you to your father's relations, if they will have you, and I expect they will. You know you've
an uncle and aunt living at W—, near Oxford, and they have children about your age, a girl
and a boy. Wouldn't you like to know them? I've written to your uncle to-night. You
remember him, don't you? He came to your father's funeral, and once afterwards, he
called to see us, when he was in town on business."

"Yes," replied Mavis, dolefully. She had a somewhat hazy remembrance of a tall, stout
man, with stooping shoulders, who had presented her with a big box of chocolates. She
had the box still, it was one of her few treasures.

"He is a miller at W—, and is a very prosperous man, I believe. I have written to ask him
to take you into his home, and I am sure he will. Come, my dear, don't cry. We ought to be
very, very thankful that I have succeeded in obtaining such a good post."

In spite of her brave words, there were tears in Mrs. Grey's own eyes as she spoke. Her
little daughter leaned against her knees and wept heart-brokenly, and she smoothed her
tangled brown locks with a gentle, caressing hand.

Mavis knew by experience, that when her mother had quite made up her mind that a
certain course of action was right, she would certainly pursue it. So by-and-by, she dried
her eyes and tried to compose herself, but her heart was dreadfully sore. Mrs. Grey went
on to explain that Miss Dawson was very young—only seventeen—and that the doctors
hoped the long voyage and a few months' sojourn in Australia might do much for her
health.

"I am very, very sorry for her, for she is terribly delicate," she said, pityingly. "She is
motherless, too, poor girl! Her father has business engagements to keep him in England,
or he would make the trip to Australia with her, himself. She will be completely in my
charge, so mine will be a responsible position. It is very sad to see one so young, so weak
and ill. Don't you feel sorry for her, Mavis?"

"Yes, of course I do," Mavis answered.

Then she added, with a touch of jealousy in her tone, "She will have you all to herself; but
you won't forget your own little girl, will you?"

"Do you think that is likely?" Mrs. Grey asked, seriously.

"No, mother, indeed I don't," Mavis replied, feeling rather ashamed of herself; "but it is so
very hard that we should be parted."

"It does appear so, dear; but, depend upon it, God knows best. You don't realize how
worried I've been lately, wondering how we should manage, if I didn't get an engagement
soon. Of course, I ought not to have felt like that. I ought to have remembered that
'sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' And now it seems to me, that this work is the
answer to my prayers, and that therefore it is the work God wishes me to do. It has come
like light in darkness, and I want you to rejoice with me. Come, little song-bird, it grieves
me to look at your gloomy face; let me see you smile."

Mavis tried to obey, but it was a sorry attempt. Her dead father had chosen her somewhat
fanciful name, and it suited her well. For she was the possessor of a voice as sweet and
clear as the bird—the song-thrush—after which she had been named. She was a healthy,
bright, happy child who had never had a real trouble in her life till now. She remembered
her father quite well, but he had died when she had been too young to realize her loss.
She had certainly cried when, on inquiring for him, she had been told he had gone a long
journey to a far country. But she had soon dried her eyes, and been consoled by the
assurance that if she was a good girl, she would go to him some day.

Mavis had never thought much about her relatives. She knew her mother was an orphan
who had been brought up at a charitable institution. And she had frequently heard her
remark that she did not think she had any one near akin to her in the world, and that, but
for her husband's brother, who wrote to her very kindly from time to time, there was no
one to whom she could go for assistance or advice.

Now, as she sat at her mother's feet and tried to reconcile herself to the parting which
seemed inevitable, the little girl reflected that it would be rather nice to have companions
of her own age, and that it would be pleasant to live in the country. By-and-by, she looked
up with a smile, and her mother saw that she meant to make the best of things.

"That's right, my dear," Mrs. Grey said cordially, "you're my sensible little daughter again, I
see. We shall not be separated quite yet—"

"When will it be, mother?" Mavis broke in.

"In about a fortnight, I think. Mr. Dawson asked me if I could be ready by then, and I told
him I could. Of course, if your uncle and aunt decline to have you at W—, I must arrange
for you to remain with Miss Tompkins, but I would rather leave you with relatives. I've
never been to W—, but I believe it's a very pretty place; the nearest railway-station is
Oxford. Perhaps I may take you to W— myself."

"Oh, mother, I hope you will."

"We shall see."

Mrs. Grey rose as she spoke, lit the gas, and pulled down the blind. Then she took up the
letter she had written, and remarked, "It may as well go to-night. I will put on my bonnet
and cloak and post it. You may come with me, if you like, Mavis, and we will have a look at
the shops."
"Oh yes," Mavis agreed, readily.

Accordingly, mother and daughter went out together. Mrs. Grey posted her letter at the
first pillar-box they passed. And a few minutes later, they turned from the dingy street in
which their home was situated, into a wider thoroughfare lined on either side with fine
shops, brilliantly illuminated with electric light.

Mavis amused herself, for a while, by pointing out to her mother the various articles she
would like to buy, and it did not trouble her that she could not purchase any of them, for
she was a contented little soul who had never fretted at poverty. But by-and-by, she grew
silent, and her interest in her surroundings commenced to flag.

"Shall we go home, now?" suggested Mrs. Grey, thinking the child was getting tired.

"Yes, if you like, mother," Mavis answered, in a dispirited tone.

She did not explain that she had become suddenly depressed by the thought that she and
her mother might never thus gaze into the shop windows together again. Who could tell
what might happen in the months to come? Her mother might be shipwrecked and
drowned. Oh, there were scores of accidents which might happen to prevent her return. A
panic of fear, such as she had never experienced before, had taken possession of her. But
she kept her self-control until she went to bed and her mother came to kiss her good
night. Then, as she felt the clasp of her mother's loving arms, she broke into tears and
wailed piteously.

"Oh, don't, don't leave me! Don't go to Australia! What shall I do without you? Oh, mother,
I've only you—only you! Oh, I feel so frightened!"

"Hush, hush, dear," Mrs. Grey whispered tenderly, as she pressed the little quivering form
to her breast. "You must not be frightened. You must trust in God, and never forget that if
I am far away from you, He will be always near—caring for you, protecting you, and loving
you all the time. Jesus said, 'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' Often
we can't help being troubled and fearful, but if we had more faith in our Saviour, we should
never be either. The thought of separation is as distressing to me as it is to you, Mavis, but
I believe God has willed it for the good of both of us. Won't you try to believe it, too?"

"Indeed I will try," Mavis returned, checking her sobs. "I want to be brave, for I know it
hurts you to see me like this, mother. But, oh, I never once dreamed you would go away
from me—so far, far away, right to the other side of the world!"

CHAPTER II
CONCERNING MISS DAWSON

MRS. GREY received a letter from her brother-in-law by return of post, in which, as she
had anticipated would be the case, he expressed his willingness to make a home for Mavis
for as long as she should need it.
"My wife bids me say she will do her best for your little girl," he wrote, "and I am sure she
will not be lonely with Rose and Bob for playfellows. Bob goes to the village school; but
Rose attends a private school for girls, kept by a Miss Matthews, and I suggest that Mavis
should accompany her. Why not come and spend a few days with Mavis at W— before you
leave England? It would give us much pleasure to welcome you to the Mill House."

"I should like to go," Mrs. Grey said, smiling at her little daughter, to whom she had been
reading extracts from her brother-in-law's letter, "and I will try to manage it. I think I must
go and see Miss Dawson to-day, and ascertain if her father has decided by which vessel
she is to travel. Would you like to accompany me—to Camden Square, I mean, where the
Dawsons live?"

"Indeed I should, mother," Mavis answered.

"I have told Miss Dawson about you, and she expressed a desire to see you. I think she
will like to talk to you, Mavis, and you must try not to be shy with her, for she is little more
than a child herself. She is exceedingly low-spirited at the prospect of leaving her father, to
whom she is most devotedly attached."

"She's very rich, didn't you say, mother?" said Mavis.

"Rich as far as money goes, but she cannot enjoy life, like most girls of her age, because
she is in such poor health."

"I suppose she'll get well, won't she?"

"I cannot say, my dear. God alone knows that."

Mavis' interest in Miss Dawson was increasing, and she was now all eagerness to see her.
She and her mother started for Camden Square shortly after their midday dinner, but it
was nearly four o'clock by the time they reached their destination.

Never before had the little girl been in such a luxuriously furnished house as Mr. Dawson's,
and she made good use of her eyes as she crossed the hall in the wake of the servant who
ushered her mother and herself into a large, lofty drawing-room. How soft was the thick
velvet pile carpet, with its pattern of moss and pale pink rosebuds! It was almost too
handsome to step on, Mavis thought, and she looked at her boots anxiously, to make sure
they were not muddy.

"Oh, mother, this is a lovely room," she whispered as the servant, who had informed them
that her master was not at home, but that he was expected shortly, went to tell Miss
Dawson of their arrival; "but if it was mine I should be afraid to use it, I am sure. It is far,
far handsomer than Miss Tompkins' front drawing-room."

Miss Tompkins' front drawing-room, which that worthy lady let at half a guinea a week,
had hitherto been Mavis' idea of what a drawing-room should be, but now she relegated it
to a second place in her estimation.

In a very short while, the servant returned, and said that Miss Dawson was ready to
receive them, and they were shown upstairs. The servant drew back a heavy crimson
plush curtain hanging before a door which she opened, and announced—"Mrs. Grey, if you
please, Miss Laura."

"I'm so glad to see you've brought your little girl with you, Mrs. Grey," said a soft musical
voice. "How do you do? It's rather chilly, isn't it? At least, I find it so."
Mavis looked at the speaker with an interest she did not strive to conceal. Miss Dawson lay
on a sofa, but she certainly did not appear ill to an inexperienced observer, for there was a
beautiful flush in her cheeks, and her blue eyes were extremely brilliant. Mrs. Grey would
not permit her to rise, but drew a chair near to her sofa, and, having duly introduced Mavis
to her, questioned her concerning her health.

"Oh, I don't believe I'm half so bad as the doctors try to make out," the young girl
declared, "and I wouldn't consent to go to Australia but for father. He was so unhappy
when, at first, I refused to go. And you, you poor little thing," she proceeded, turning her
attention to Mavis, "you greatly dislike the idea of parting from your mother, do you not?"

"Yes," Mavis was obliged to admit.

"How you must hate me, because I'm going to be the cause of your separation! But, since
the doctors are bent on exiling me from England, I'm glad your mother is going with me,
because—Oh, come in!" she cried, as there was a tap at the door.

It was the servant who had shown Mavis and her mother upstairs, come to say that Mr.
Dawson had returned, and would like to see Mrs. Grey.

"There, now everything will be settled," Miss Dawson remarked, as Mrs. Grey left the
room. "I consider you and I are companions in misfortune, in one way, for you are to be
separated from your mother and I from my father. It's a great nuisance my lungs are so
delicate."

"I am very sorry," Mavis said gently.

"But I won't believe that I am very bad; sometimes I don't feel ill at all. Where are you
going to live whilst your mother is away?"

Mavis told her, adding that she did not know her aunt and cousins, and that she would
miss her mother dreadfully. Her brown eyes filled with tears as she spoke.

"Poor little thing!" murmured Miss Dawson, in a tone of such deep sympathy, that the tears
overflowed and ran down her companion's cheeks. "I have no doubt you begrudge your
mother to me," she continued, after a brief pause, "but please do try not to. I really am ill,
you know, though I like to pretend I'm not sometimes, and—by the way, you have not told
me your name?"

"It is Mavis."

"Mavis?"

"Yes. My father chose it for me. A mavis is a thrush—a bird which sings."

"And do you sing?" Miss Dawson inquired, with a smile.

"Yes," Mavis replied, drying her eyes and smiling too. "I used to sing when I was quite a
little girl."

Miss Dawson laughed; but the laugh brought on a fit of coughing which lasted several
minutes. When it had passed, she seemed quite exhausted, and lay back on the sofa with
her eyes shut, panting. Mavis was rather frightened, and wished her mother would return,
but presently Miss Dawson opened her eyes and smiled at her, remarking apologetically—
"I hope I have not alarmed you; this wretched cough takes all my strength away. There,
I'm all right again. I wish you would sing to me."

"Do you mean now?" Mavis inquired, dubiously.

"Yes, unless you would rather not."

The little girl coloured nervously; but she feared to appear disobliging, so she sang one or
two simple ditties very prettily. Miss Dawson was charmed, and Mavis felt gratified at being
able to give her pleasure.

"You have a very sweet voice," Miss Dawson said by-and-by, at the conclusion of the last
song. "Do—please do sing something more."

"I'm afraid I don't know any more songs," Mavis replied, "but I will sing a hymn, if you
like. I know! I will give you mother's favourite psalm."

She commenced forthwith to sing an old version of the twenty-third psalm—

"The Lord is only my support, and He that doth me feed;

How can I then lack anything whereof I stand in need?
In pastures green He feedeth me, where I do safely lie;
And after leads me to the streams which run most pleasantly."

"And when I find myself near lost, then doth He me home take;
Conducting me in His right paths, e'en for His own Name's sake.
And though I were e'en at death's door, yet would I fear no ill;
For both Thy rod and shepherd's crook afford me comfort still."

"Thou hast my table richly spread in presence of my foe,

Thou hast my head with balm refresht, my cup doth overflow—"

Mavis stopped suddenly, for, much to her consternation, she saw that Miss Dawson was
struggling to subdue an emotion which threatened to overpower her, and that her blue
eyes were swimming in tears. There was silence for a few minutes.

"I am very foolish," the sick girl said, at length, in a tremulous tone, "and you mustn't
think I don't like your singing, for I do, especially that psalm, it's—it's so comforting—"

"And when I find myself near lost, then doth He me home take."

"I shall think of that when I'm ever so far away from England, and—and I shall try to fear
no ill, and remember that the Good Shepherd is with me. I am so glad you came with your
mother to-day, Mavis; I would not have missed knowing you for a great deal. You must
come to see me again."

Mavis, immensely flattered, flushed rosy red. After that, they talked quite confidentially,
until Mrs. Grey re-entered the room. Miss Dawson told her in what manner Mavis had been
entertaining her, and that her company had done her a vast deal of good.

"I must see more of her," she declared.

Then, with a sudden change of tone, she asked anxiously, "What has been decided?"

"That we are to sail from Plymouth, by the 'Nineveh,' on Thursday week," Mrs. Grey
replied. "So we have only a short while in which to make our final arrangements. I am
afraid I shall have no opportunity of bringing Mavis to see you again."

"Oh, mother!" cried Mavis, regretfully.

"I am sorry," said Miss Dawson, with a disappointed sigh. She took a fine gold chain, from
which was suspended a little heart-shaped locket, from her neck as she spoke and called
Mavis to her. "There, dear," she said, as she clasped the chain around the little girl's neck,
"I give you that as a keepsake, for I want you to remember me, and—pray for me. You
need not mind taking it, for I bought it with my own money."

"Oh!" cried Mavis, delightedly. "Oh, how kind of you! Mother, may I have it? Yes. Oh, thank
you, thank you!" She threw her arms around Miss Dawson's neck and kissed her warmly.
"I shall never forget you," she proceeded, her voice very earnest; "and I will pray for you,
be very sure of that. I hope you will soon get quite, quite well, and come home again.
Mother will take great care of you; she really is a capital nurse. Oh, she is ready to go, and
I must say good-bye."

"Good-bye," Miss Dawson said, with a bright smile. "We shall meet again some day. I am
glad you like the locket and chain."

"How I wish I had something to give you!" Mavis exclaimed.

"You have given me a great deal," Miss Dawson replied, in a low tone.

Then, as Mavis regarded her with wondering, questioning eyes, she said, "You have given
me comfort, and reminded me that I am not setting out on a long journey without support
from God. I shall remember that, I hope, now, and I'd nearly forgotten it. Good-bye, Mavis
—little song-bird."

"Good-bye," Mavis responded, quite huskily.

She was surprised that she should feel so sad at saying good-bye to one who had been a
stranger to her a short hour before; but it was so, and her eyes were dim with unshed
tears as she followed her mother out of the room. In the hall, they met Mr. Dawson—a
gentleman with rather an anxious-looking face—who spoke to Mavis very kindly and
accompanied them to the door, where his private carriage was waiting to take them home.

"Remember Thursday week," he said impressively, as he closed the carriage door upon
Mrs. Grey and Mavis.

Then he stood back, and the carriage moved off.

"Oh, mother!" cried Mavis. "Thursday week! And it's Tuesday now! Oh, it will be dreadfully
soon!"

CHAPTER III
 THE ARRIVAL AT THE MILL HOUSE

IT was a fine afternoon at the end of September, on one of those golden days which
frequently come when summer is ended, and the Mill House at W— was looking its best. It
was an old stone house, close to the river, with lattice windows, around which creepers,
now gorgeous with autumn's brilliant colouring, crept and twined whilst over the porch,
which faced the southwest, clambered a monthly rose, on which a few pink blossoms
bloomed, though it was so late in the season. Before the house was a well-kept plot of
grass, surrounded by flower-beds and intersected by the path which led to the wicket-gate
in the privet hedge which separated the garden from the high-road. And at the back of the
house was a large yard, and a kitchen-garden reaching to the river's brink.

The mill wheel was silent on this perfect autumn afternoon, as it usually was on Saturday
afternoons, and everything was very still within the house, where all was in apple-pie
order. For visitors were expected, and a substantial meal was awaiting them in the parlour.
Whilst in the kitchen, the kettle was singing merrily, and Jane, the capable middle-aged
maid-of-all-work, in a spotless gown and clean cap and apron, was moving noiselessly
about, duster in hand, in search of a speck of dust which might have escaped her notice.

"Everything's as clean as a new pin, and so it ought to be, seeing how I've slaved this
day," she mused, her eyes wandering over the well-scrubbed table, the various shining tin
and copper articles on the mantelpiece, and resting at length on the tall brass-faced clock
which stood near the door. "Half-past four!" she exclaimed. "They ought to be here by this
time."

She opened the door as she spoke, and walked along a dark, narrow passage which led
her into a stone-paved hall, flooded with sunshine which found entrance through a window
at the right of the front door. Outside the front door, beneath the porch, stood a very little
woman—the Mistress of the Mill House—shading her eyes with her hand, as she looked for
the expected approach of a vehicle on the road which stretched before the house and led
to Oxford.

"Are they coming, ma'am?" Jane inquired, as she crossed the hall and joined her mistress.

"The gig is not in sight yet," replied Mrs. Grey—or Mrs. John Grey, as we must call her, to
distinguish her from Mavis' mother. In fact, she was generally known as Mrs. John.

"The children are outside the gate; they are as excited as they usually are when we expect
any one. I wonder what our visitors will be like. I don't think Mrs. Grey can have much
heart, or she wouldn't have accepted this engagement to go to Australia. I know I could
not endure to be parted from my children—and she has only one child. John has asked her
to visit us on several occasions, but she has always found an excuse—generally that of
work—for declining our invitations. Now she wants to make use of us, she can came to see
us fast enough."

Mrs. John spoke in an aggrieved tone. She was a fair-haired, blue-eyed little woman, who
had held the post of useful help to a neighbouring farmer's wife previous to her marriage.
She owned rather a sharp tongue and a jealous temper, but she was an affectionate wife
and mother, and her husband and children loved her dearly. And it was she who, by her
thrifty ways and good management, had helped to make the miller the well-to-do man he
was to-day. Her unreserved manner of speaking to her servant was to be accounted for by
the fact that Jane had lived at the Mill House before Mr. Grey had married, in his parents'
lifetime, and was regarded more as a friend than a dependent.
"I expect Mrs. Grey hasn't had opportunities for visiting," Jane said thoughtfully. "She must
have had to work very hard since her husband's death."

"He ought not to have been a clergyman," observed Mrs. John. "Gentlemen with private
means can afford to do as they please, but he came of working stock. How much wiser it
would have been, if he had been brought up to some business!"

"I don't know about that, ma'am," Jane responded. "Christ's disciples came from working
stock, anyway. Master Rupert was just the man to be a clergyman, his heart was in his
work."

"He should not have married, to leave his wife and child unprovided for."

"He could not foresee his life would be cut short as it was, ma'am. I've always wondered
why God took him—but, there, He knows best, and all things will be made plain to us some
day. Isn't that the gig I see in the distance?"

At that moment the wicket-gate swung open, and a little girl, blue-eyed and fair-haired like
her mother, ran up the garden path, crying excitedly—

"They're coming! They'll be here in a few minutes now! Do come to the gate to meet them,
mother, and you, too, Jane."

ALL THE HOUSEHOLD THERE TO MEET THEM.

They willingly complied, so that when the gig, in which were seated Mr. Grey and his
sister-in-law, with Mavis between them, drew up before the Mill House, the strangers were
gratified to find all the household there to meet them.

The miller was the first to get down from the conveyance. He was a tall, stout man, whose
stooping shoulders proclaimed his trade, for they looked as though they were accustomed
to bear heavy burdens such as sacks of flour. He had a loud, hearty voice, and his plain,
somewhat heavy countenance, usually wore an expression of great kindliness. Having
lifted Mavis from the gig, he helped his sister-in-law to alight, and then, addressing her by
her Christian name—Margaret—he commenced a round of introductions.

"Margaret, let me introduce you to my wife—Lizzie. Lizzie, this is poor Rupert's wife, and
here's his little girl, who's his living image. Rose and Bob, come here and speak to your
aunt and cousin. Yes, that's right, Rose, kiss Mavis and make her welcome."

"And here's Jane! You've heard of Jane, haven't you, Margaret? Yes, I thought Rupert must
have spoken of her to you; he and Jane were always good friends. Now go into the house,
all of you—I'm sure the travellers must want their tea—and I'll be in as soon as I have
taken out the horse. The luggage is coming by the carrier."

The miller's wife led the way into the house with Mrs. Grey, whilst the children followed
with Jane, who told Mavis she ought to feel at home at the Mill House because her father
and grandfather had been born there. The visitors were taken upstairs by their hostess, to
the room which was to belong to Mavis.

"I thought you would like to occupy the same bedroom," said Mrs. John, glancing from
mother to daughter, "more especially as you are to be parted so soon."

"Very, very soon!" sighed Mavis, mournfully.

"What a pretty room this is!" exclaimed mother, looking around with an appreciative smile.
"I like that old-fashioned mahogany bed, and the window-seat; and how nice to be able to
indulge in a white counterpane and white curtains! In London, in the part where we have
been living, they would be drab in no time. It is very kind of you to spare Mavis such a
beautiful room."

"Yes, indeed," Mavis said earnestly; "I shall put my desk on that table by the window, and
there I shall write my letters to you, mother, and—" Her voice faltered, and the sentence
ended in an involuntary sob.

"I hope you will be happy with us, I'm sure," said Mrs. John, her heart touched by the little
girl's emotion. "You must call me 'Aunt Lizzie,'" she added.

"Yes, Aunt Lizzie," Mavis replied, her face brightening. "Oh," she cried, as her gaze
wandered out of the window, "what a lovely view!"

It was, indeed. For in the distance lay Oxford in the mellow autumn sunshine. The spires
and towers of the grand old university town standing out against a background of pale-
blue sky. Whilst nearer was a green stretch of meadow-lands through which the river made
its way.

"Yes, it is very lovely," her mother agreed. Then, as their hostess left the room, she
continued, "I am so very glad I could come with you, for now I shall be able to picture
everything as it really is. It seems a dear old house, and I am sure we have been given a
hearty welcome. Now let us be quick and remove the traces of our journey; your aunt said
tea would be ready in a few minutes."

Mavis was a trifle shy with her cousins at first, and greatly disappointed them, after tea, by
saying that she would prefer to remain with her mother in the parlour to going into the
garden with them. Bob, who was her junior by a year, regarded her rather scornfully; but
Rose, being older, was better able to understand her cousin's feelings, and whispered to
her brother—
"Never mind, Bobbie, she'll like to play with us when her mother's gone; of course she
wants to stay with Aunt Margaret now. Wouldn't you want to stay with mother if she was
going away next week for months and months?"

So Mavis remained with her mother till bedtime. She was in exceedingly low spirits, and on
retiring to rest, she bedewed her pillow with tears before she fell asleep. She slept well,
however; and when she was awakened by her mother's kiss, she opened her eyes to find
another fine day had dawned.

That was a never-to-be-forgotten Sunday, and, oh, how very quickly to two of the inmates
of the Mill House it slipped away! To Mavis and Mrs. Grey, the hours seemed to fly. They
attended the services in the village church in the morning and evening, and the little girl,
as she knelt between her mother and aunt at the latter service, felt that her heart must
surely break, for it was aching so painfully. And when the Vicar ascended the pulpit to
preach, she was glad that the light from the oil lamps with which the church was lit was so
inferior, because she did not want any one to notice the misery which she was sure was
depicted on her face.

The Vicar, Mr. Moseley, was quite an old man, and Mavis had heard her uncle tell her
mother at dinner-time that he had had a very troublous life, that his best years had been
spent in hard work in the metropolis, and that he had been presented with the living of W
— five years previously. In a corner of the yard outside the church, he had laid his wife
quite lately. She had been his faithful helpmeet for more than forty years, and yet there
was no sign of trouble on his face as Mavis saw it by the light of the wax candles in the
pulpit, but rather was its expression one of contentment. In a voice which, without being
loud, was deep and distinct, he gave out his text—

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you:

not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

It was a sermon about loneliness. The words of his text, the preacher reminded his
congregation, were the words with which Jesus had consoled His disciples after He had told
them He was going to leave them. He had promised them the Comforter, the Holy Ghost,
even the Spirit of truth, to abide with them for ever. Jesus had not left the world
comfortless, He had left His peace, not such peace as the world gives, it was something
higher, mightier than that, something all-satisfying, for its root was faith in God. They were
not to be troubled, neither were they to be afraid.

Mavis listened with rapt attention as the Vicar proceeded in such simple language that she
found no difficulty in following him. It seemed to her that he was preaching to her alone,
for all he said fitted in with her mood. Perhaps God had told him what to say, she
reflected; yes, she was sure He had. She slipped her hand into her mother's and kept it
there, and the sigh she gave at the conclusion of the sermon was one of contentment.
Then the Vicar gave out the number of a hymn, which was a favourite of hers, and she
joined in singing it heartily.

"'Saviour, again to Thy dear Name we raise

With one accord our parting hymn of praise;
We stand to bless Thee ere our worship cease;
Then, lowly kneeling, wait Thy word of peace.'"
Many a one in the congregation turned to look at the little girl with the beautiful voice
which rang out so clearly and unfalteringly. And her aunt wondered that the child should
have the heart to sing with such evident enjoyment on the eve of separation from her
mother, as though she had not a trouble in the world.

CHAPTER IV
MRS. GREY'S DEPARTURE

MRS. GREY was to leave the Mill House soon after breakfast on Monday morning.
Accordingly, she arose at daybreak, and was fully dressed and had packed her travelling-
bag before Mavis awoke. She was standing by the window looking out, when the little girl
opened her eyes, and, seeing her there, addressed her.

"Good morning, mother. Have I overslept myself?"

"No, dear," Mrs. Grey answered. She crossed to the bedside and kissed Mavis as she
spoke. "Get up now, though," she proceeded. "I want to have a talk with you before
breakfast. We shall have no time together afterwards."

Mavis jumped out of bed at once. And, whilst she was dressing, her mother told her that it
had been arranged for her to accompany Rose to school, and that she was to go to-
morrow.

"To-morrow!" Mavis echoed. "Oh, I am sorry for that! It is such lovely weather, and the
country looks so beautiful, and it's so nice in the garden, and—"

"And, in short, you consider you ought to have a holiday before you commence work," said
Mrs. Grey, smiling.

She did not agree with her little daughter, for she knew it would be better for her mind to
be fully occupied during the first days of their separation.

"You will have a whole holiday every Saturday," she went on to explain. "And your school
hours are not long—from half-past nine to twelve o'clock in the morning, and from two to
four o'clock in the afternoon. I am sure Rose does not look overworked."

"No," agreed Mavis. "I think I shall like Rose, mother."

"I am glad of that. She and her brother seem nice children. Your aunt has promised to
write to me frequently, Mavis; I believe she will be very kind to you. And your uncle—"

"Oh, I love Uncle John already!" Mavis broke in. "He has promised to take me for some
drives, and Rose says he's certain to, for he always keeps his word. What is that noise I
hear, mother?"

"The mill wheel. You will soon grow accustomed to the sound. Do you know that this used
to be your father's bedroom? Yes, so your uncle said. Think how often your father must
have looked across those meadows to Oxford! Ah, I shall picture this view when I am far
away, and be glad that I was able to leave you in your father's home."

Mavis had finished dressing by this time, and was standing by her mother's side, her
mother's arm around her shoulder.

"You will be a good girl during my absence, I know," Mrs. Grey remarked by-and-by. "Do
your best at school, and always obey your aunt, will you not?"

"Of course, mother," Mavis replied. "I hope you will not be gone very long, though. Perhaps
Miss Dawson will got well quickly."

"I trust she will."

"I wish I had something to give her in return for the locket and chain she gave me,
mother, or that there was something I could do to show her how grateful I am."

"You can pray for her, my dear, as she asked you. If you and I, who are well and strong,
dread separation, what must she, who is weak and ill, feel about leaving her father? She
knows it is not unlikely that she will never see him again in this world. It is very sad for
her."

"She will have you, mother," Mavis said, with a little sob.

"Yes; but I am merely a stranger to her. You will miss me dreadfully, I know, darling, but
your sense of loneliness will not equal Miss Dawson's."

"I am glad, yes, I am really glad you are going with her—glad for her sake, you know."

"It pleases me to hear you say that. Come, dear, let us kneel down and say our prayers
together, and ask God's blessing."

Accordingly, mother and daughter knelt side by side and poured out their hearts to God.
The tears rose to Mavis' eyes, but she resolutely blinked them away and would not let
them overflow, for she was most anxious not to distress her mother more than she could
help.

Shortly after they had arisen from their knees, the breakfast-bell rang, and they went
downstairs. Mavis perceived that every one was looking at her very sympathetically, and
no remarks were made when her appetite failed her and she left her breakfast almost
untasted on her plate.

As soon as the meal was over, Rose and Bob said good-bye to their aunt, and betook
themselves to school. And not long afterwards, Mr. Grey strolled out into the yard to order
the horse to be put in the gig to convoy his sister-in-law to Oxford.

It had been previously arranged that Mavis was to say good-bye to her mother at the Mill
House. She would have liked to accompany her to the railway-station, but Mrs. Grey
herself had negatived that idea.

We will not linger over the moments of farewell when the mother and daughter clung to
each other in grief too deep for words. The last good-bye kisses were exchanged, and Mrs.
Grey took her place in the gig by her brother-in-law's side, whilst Mavis, between her aunt
and Jane, stood outside the wicket-gate, struggling to keep calm.

"Good-bye," Mrs. John said. "We shall hear from you before you sail."