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2
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Business and Professional Communication
Third Edition

6
7
Business and Professional Communication
KEYS for Workplace Excellence

Third Edition

Kelly M. Quintanilla
Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi
Shawn T. Wahl
Missouri State University

8
FOR INFORMATION:

SAGE Publications, Inc.

2455 Teller Road

Thousand Oaks, California 91320

E-mail: order@sagepub.com

SAGE Publications Ltd.

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London EC1Y 1SP

United Kingdom

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Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044

India

SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd.

3 Church Street

#10-04 Samsung Hub

Singapore 049483

Copyright © 2017 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Quintanilla, Kelly M., author. | Wahl, Shawn T., author.

Title: Business and professional communication : keys for workplace excellence / Kelly M. Quintanilla, Shawn T.
Wahl.

Description: Third edition. | Los Angeles : SAGE, [2017] | Includes

bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015040048 | ISBN 978-1-5063-1552-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)

9
Subjects: LCSH: Business communication.

Classification: LCC HF5718 .Q56 2017 | DDC 658.4/5—dc23 LC record available at

http://lccn.loc.gov/2015040048

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Acquisitions Editor: Matthew Byrnie

Associate Editor: Natalie Konopinski

Editorial Assistant: Janae Masnovi

eLearning Editor: Gabrielle Piccininni

Production Editor: Kelly DeRosa

Copy Editor: Amy Marks

Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.

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Cover Designer: Gail Buschman

Marketing Manager: Ashlee Blunk

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Brief Contents
1. Preface
2. Acknowledgments
3. Part I. Beginning Communication Principles
1. 01. Business and Professional Excellence in the Workplace
2. 02. Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
3. 03. Listening
4. Part II. Entering the Workplace
1. 04. Résumés, Interviews, and Negotiation
2. 05. Getting to Know Your Diverse Workplace
5. Part III. Developing in the Workplace
1. 06. Interpersonal Communication at Work
2. 07. Strengthening Teams and Conducting Meetings
6. Part IV. Excelling in the Workplace
1. 08. Technology in the Workplace
2. 09. Business and Professional Writing
3. 10. Leadership and Conflict Management
7. Part V. Presenting in the Workplace
1. 11. Informing and Persuading
2. 12. Speech Design
3. 13. Delivering a Speech With Professional Excellence
8. Part VI. Surviving in the Workplace
1. 14. Work-Life Balance
9. Epilogue
10. References
11. Glossary
12. Index
13. About the Authors

11
Detailed Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I. Beginning Communication Principles
01. Business and Professional Excellence in the Workplace
What Is Business and Professional Communication?
Interviewing
Relational Communication
Mediated Communication
Presentational Speaking
Written Documents
Business and Professional Excellence in Context
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
Listening
Résumés, Interviews, and Negotiations
Getting to Know the Diverse Workplace
Interpersonal Communication at Work
Strengthening Teams and Conducting Meetings
Technology in the Workplace
Business and Professional Writing
Leadership and Conflict Management
Presentations
Work-Life Balance
Understanding the KEYS Process
Understanding the Importance of Human Communication in Business
and Professional Contexts
Role-Taking
Previous Communication Experiences
Communication Channels
Cultural Influences
Communication Relationships
Communication: A Complex Process
Sender and Receiver
Message and Feedback
Channel
Context
Noise
Social Media and Technology: Key Challenges in the Communication
Age
Communication Apprehension

12
 Types of Communication Apprehension
Causes of Communication Apprehension
Communication Ethics
KEYS for Excellence in the Workplace
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
02. Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
Verbal Communication
Nonverbal Communication
Codes of Nonverbal Communication
Vocal Expression
Space
Environment
Physical Appearance
Body Movement
Facial Behavior
Touch
Forming Relationships With Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication and Their Impact on
Professions
KEYS to Excellence in Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
03. Listening
Hearing and Listening
Barriers to Listening
Failing to Limit Distractions
Failing to Focus on the Message
Failing to Be an Active Listener
Listening Styles and Categories
Improving Your Listening
KEYS to Listening Excellence
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions

13
 Terms to Remember
Part II. Entering the Workplace
04. Résumés, Interviews, and Negotiation
The Job-Seeking Process
Stage One: Exploring
Self-Exploration
Career Exploration
Stage Two: Researching
Researching Openings
Researching Potential Employers
Stage Three: Applying
Developing Résumés
Customizing Résumés
Developing Electronic and Scannable Résumés and Online
Applications
Developing Cover Letters
Stage Four: Interviewing
Before the Interview
During the Interview
Stage Five: Following Up
Stage Six: Negotiating
KEYS to Excellence in the Job-Seeking Process
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
05. Getting to Know Your Diverse Workplace
Learning Your Workplace Culture
Assimilating College Students
Diversity in Your Workplace: Some Important Concepts
Cultural Diversity Awareness and Worldview
Cultural Competence
Mutual Respect
Examples of Diversity in Professional Contexts
Gender
Ethnicity and Race
Language Differences
Religion and Spirituality
People With Disabilities
Generational Differences
KEYS to Excellence in Getting to Know the Diverse Workplace

14
 Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
Part III. Developing in the Workplace
06. Interpersonal Communication at Work
Exploring Relationship Types at Work
Superior-Subordinate Relationships
Coworker Relationships
Customer-Client Relationships
The Line Between Professional and Personal
Romance in the Workplace
Sexual Harassment
Communication Privacy Management at Work
Professional Etiquette
KEYS to Excellence in Interpersonal Communication
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
07. Strengthening Teams and Conducting Meetings
How Do Groups Differ From Teams?
Conducting Meetings
Meeting Environment
Meeting Topics (Agenda)
Meeting Participants
Shared Leadership
Team Roles
Team Norms
Problem Solving
Describing and Analyzing the Problem
Generating Possible Solutions
Evaluating All Solutions
Deciding on the Solution
Planning How to Implement the Solution
Cultivating Innovative Thinking
Explorer
Artist
Judge
Warrior

15
 Supporting Each Role
Conflict in Team Meetings
Need for Conflict
Productive Conflict
The Unite Approach
KEYS to Excellence in Team Communication
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
Part IV. Excelling in the Workplace
08. Technology in the Workplace
Communication and Technology: Tools for Professionals
Maintaining Professional Excellence Online
Electronic Communication
Drawbacks of Technology
Employee Surveillance
Time Management
Information Overload
Electronic Aggression
Professional Etiquette With Technology
KEYS to Excellence With Communication and Technology
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
09. Business and Professional Writing
The Importance of Written Communication
Striving for Written Communication Excellence
Message Structure
Message Clarity
Message Presentation
Types of Written Communication
Business Letters
Employee Reviews
Recommendation Letters
Thank You Letters
Memos
Proposals and Reports
Planning Documents

16
 Press Releases
Proactive Media Writing
E-mail
KEYS to Excellence in Written Communication
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
10. Leadership and Conflict Management
What Is Leadership?
Utilizing Power
Improving Communication With Leadership Theories
Behavioral Theories
Situational Leadership Theories
Transformational Leadership
Hiring the Right Team
Developing the New Employee Profile
During the Interview
After the Interview
Following Up and Following Through
Communicating About Your Team
Dealing With Difficult People
Meet Your Organizational Family
Leader as Parent
Giving Feedback
Setting Expectations
Providing Feedback Regularly
Praising Team Members
Holding Team Members Accountable
Motivating Through Feedback
Enacting Consequences
Firing Employees
Putting It Together
Managing Your Public Image
KEYS to Excellence in Leadership
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
Part V. Presenting in the Workplace

17
11. Informing and Persuading
The Importance of Presenting With Professional Excellence
Identifying Presentation Opportunities and Purposes
Presentation Opportunities
General Purpose
Specific Purpose
Speaking to Inform
Ethos
Logos
Strategies for Informing With Excellence
Speaking to Persuade
Types of Reasoning
Pathos
Strategies for Persuading With Excellence
KEYS to Excellence in Professional Presentations
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
12. Speech Design
Analyzing the Audience
Analyzing the Context
Researching
Gathering Research
Determining What to Include
Organizing Your Presentation
Organizing the Body
Developing Transitions
Introductions
Conclusions
Language
KEYS to Excellence in Speech Design
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
13. Delivering a Speech With Professional Excellence
Delivering a Presentation With Professional Excellence
The Adrenaline Rush
Sense of Play

18
 Presenting From an Outline
PowerPoint and Other Supporting Aids
Should I Use Supporting Aids?
Types of Supporting Aids
Practice Makes Perfect
Team Presentations
KEYS to Excellence in Delivering a Speech
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
Part VI. Surviving in the Workplace
14. Work-Life Balance
The Importance of Work-Life Balance
Work-Life Balance Defined
Individual Benefits
Organizational Benefits
Triggers to Imbalance
Personality Types
The Impact of Difficult People on Work-Life Balance
Technologically Blurred Boundaries
Life Demands
Strategies for Balance
Knowing Yourself
Developing Emotional Intelligence
Developing Time-Management Skills
Using Technology to Maintain Balance
Taking a Vacation
KEYS to Excellence With Work-Life Balance
Executive Summary
Explore
Review
Discussion Questions
Terms to Remember
Epilogue
References
Glossary
Index
About the Authors

19
Preface

New look, new edition, a new journey for this book. We are thrilled to share the third
edition with you!

As instructors, we must answer many questions when planning a business and professional
communication course. First, we must address the broader conceptual questions, such as
“What do we want our students to learn?” “How can this information be applied to their
current and future professional lives?” “How can we make this material meaningful, useful,
and interesting to students with a variety of professional goals and interests?” “How can all
the important information, skills, and competencies relevant to business and professional
communication be covered in one term?”

Next, we must address the nuts-and-bolts questions that emerge about how to organize so
much information and how to translate it into accessible language for students. Instructors
often grapple with questions such as “Should I require both an individual and team
presentation?” “How much time should I put in the schedule for mock interviews?” “How
much attention should be given to résumé development?” “How can this course be
delivered online?”

We considered many of the same questions and challenges as we made decisions about
what content to cover in this text. Our mission in writing this book was to focus on the
research and competencies related to business and professional communication so that it
can easily be covered in one term across delivery formats (e.g., traditional, online, hybrid).
Further, we wanted to provide a book that speaks directly to the student as a developing
professional by focusing on the actual experiences—from the job search to developing
workplace relations to managing the challenges of coworker bullies, difficult clients,
burnout, and the like. We also wanted to provide a text that is adaptable to a variety of
instructional needs—for our colleagues who may need the flexibility to emphasize
individual presentations and for others who may focus more on team presentations, not
include oral communication at all, or deliver the course online. We recognize the diversity
from one college or university to the next.

In response to our goal of focusing directly on the individual student experience related to
the development of business and professional excellence, we developed an organizing
feature (the KEYS process described below), which we believe will help instructors guide
students and developing professionals in a variety of professional contexts. The KEYS
process fosters the primary theme of this text—one that encourages students, regardless of
industry or career, to strive for professional excellence. In this text, we provide 14 tightly
focused chapters in which the best material—drawn from the research bases of
communication, business, leadership, psychology, education, and other disciplines—is

20
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explored with relevance to the KEYS process. This book doesn’t attempt to cover the entire
business and professional world—we’ve made difficult choices regarding the content, based
on our years of communication consulting in the business world, teaching communication
in higher education, and experimenting with texts written by our friends and colleagues
across the nation. What we ended up with represents the cutting-edge work in the field,
including research from a variety of methods as well as popular literature, human resources,
corporate consulting, and leadership coaching. Our goal is to connect students across
industries and academic disciplines to both theory and practice by applying information
regarding business and professional communication directly to professional life inside
and outside the workplace—without overwhelming them.

We believe that one of the strengths of this text is that it addresses the challenges we face in
today’s workplace. In addition to our experience as teacher-scholars in communication, we
have worked as consultants designing training and development programs for organizations
in a variety of industries. Although all these organizations face similar communication
challenges, other textbooks merely mention the problems and rarely address solutions.
Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence not only examines
workplace problems (e.g., difficult people, negative impacts of technology, and work-life
balance), but also provides students with a communication process that helps them solve
problems and continue their professional journeys.

21
Organizing Feature: KEYS for Workplace Excellence
We believe that developing an organizing feature lends clarity to a textbook. Further, such a
feature helps students apply material directly to their lives. The organizing feature running
throughout the text is KEYS, a process designed to develop students’ critical thinking skills
and make them more reflexive communicators with the ability to adapt and continually
improve.

The KEYS Process includes the following four phases: Know yourself, Evaluate the
professional context, Your communication interaction, and Step back and reflect.

22
Overview of the Book: Strategies for Excelling in the
Workplace at Every Stage
The book is organized into five distinct parts. Part I provides an overview of the
foundations and key concepts important to the study of business and professional
communication and introduces students to central principles related to verbal and
nonverbal communication and listening. The next three parts correspond with the stages of
experience that come with entering the workplace for the first time, developing in the
workplace, and excelling in the workplace. Each chapter includes cutting-edge research,
skills, and tips that will help students to advance in the workplace at every stage of their
career by honing their communication skills. Throughout the text, we connect important
issues such as cultural diversity, cultural competence, mutual respect, gender, ethnicity and
race, religion, people with disabilities, and more to the business and professional context.
With each phase of development, students will gain interpersonal competency, enhance
their organizational ability, and refine their presentational skills. Finally, Part V, Surviving
in the Workplace, encourages students to develop strategies for balancing work and life
through communication, a topic not covered in most business and professional
communication textbooks.

23
Features of the Textbook
We provide several unique pedagogical features to help students understand and apply the
concepts and theories introduced in the text. These features help reinforce the book’s
themes and promote critical thinking in readers:

Chapter outlines detail the organization of each chapter, whereas chapter objectives
help students prioritize information so that they can learn more efficiently.
Themes from the narratives appear throughout each chapter and are applied to and
evaluated with the KEYS feature in a summary section, called KEYS for Workplace
Excellence, that appears at the end of each chapter.
The KEYS organizing theme is also highlighted in four distinct instructional features:
Know Yourself features self-assessments and inventories for readers to use to hone
their communication skills; Evaluate the Professional Context encourages
application of knowledge to a variety of professional contexts and situations; Your
Communication Interaction focuses on making competent communication choices
and selecting the appropriate communication channel, from calling a face-to-face
meeting to using social media and technology; and Step Back and Reflect presents
challenges and dilemmas in business and professional contexts, promoting analysis of
what went wrong in specific business and professional situations. All box features
contain discussion questions to promote critical thinking and classroom discussion.
Communication ethics is emphasized in all chapters with a feature called Ethical
Connection, which connects the topic to an ethical perspective—because it’s the
foundation of business and professional excellence.
All chapters also include a feature called Executive Summary, designed to promote
reading comprehension and serve as a guide to help connect chapter concepts to the
chapter objectives.
We include Discussion Questions that instructors may use as a means of generating
class discussions about chapter content, as assignments, or as thought-provokers for
students to consider on their own time.
Complete References to the research base cited within the text appear at the end of
the book and are organized by chapter. Students may find these references useful as
they complete assignments or conduct their own research projects. Instructors may
use the references to gather additional material for their own research or to
supplement instruction.

24
New to This Edition
New chapter-opening narratives introduce each chapter with a contemporary
example drawn from the real world to engage students’ interest in a new topic. In all
chapters, opening narratives are ripped-from-the-headlines news content representing
actual events and real experiences across business and professional contexts.
New Tools for Professional Excellence features focus on communication skills
development, career tips, and practical strategies for contexts related to business and
professional communication, social media, and technology.
Revised Your Communication Interaction features focus on making competent
communication choices and selecting the appropriate communication channel (e.g.,
face-to-face communication, making phone calls, sending e-mails, making
communication decisions related to social media and technology).
New Action Items features encourage students to apply chapter content to business
and professional communication skills and contexts.
Revised Executive Summary features concisely review key concepts and skills at the
end of every chapter.
New Explore questions encourage students to research and evaluate real-world
industries, career opportunities, workplace challenges, and more.
New Review questions are included in every chapter as a learning tool to support
mastery of chapter content.

25
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blown loose from a turret window and came flying down to strike Flip
on the head. She dropped like a wounded bird to the snow and lay
there, motionless. She did not see the man staring at her limp body
in horror, nor know when he picked her up and went into the chateau
with her and dumped her there in the dark, a small inert bundle on
the stone floor.
 CHAPTER SIX
The Prisoner Freed
FLIP was lying at the bottom of the ocean and all the weight of the
sea was upon her, pressing her down into the white sands, and bells
were ringing down at the bottom of the sea, ringing and ringing, and
the tides came and went above her and the waves were wild in the
wind and the breakers rolled and she lay with all the waters of the
world pushing her down onto the floor of the sea and the bells rang
and rang until finally they were dissolved into icy darkness.
She opened her eyes and she saw Paul's white face. She turned
towards him and whispered weakly, "I didn't get the picture, Paul,"
and then she moaned because the movement of turning her head
seemed to bring the waters of the ocean down on her once more.
She tried to push the weight of the waters away from her but her
fingers closed on a handful of cobwebs. She felt that she was being
lifted and then again she was drowned in darkness.
When the darkness finally raised it was a quiet and almost
imperceptible happening. She felt the bright warmth of winter
sunlight on her eyelids and she thought at first that it was a morning
back at school and in a moment the bell would ring and she would
have to get up. And then she remembered that now it was winter and
it was dark until after breakfast and if she had been in bed at school
the sun would not be warm against her closed eyes.
And then she remembered the night before, the man who said he
was Paul's father, and she remembered the chateau and the picture,
and the waters of darkness suddenly bearing down upon her and
she was afraid to open her eyes. Her lids still shut tight she stirred
faintly upon the pillow.
"You're all right, Flip. You're absolutely all right, darling."
Now she opened her eyes and there was Madame Perceval
standing beside the bed saying, "Everything's all right, Flip.
Everything's all right. Close your eyes and go to sleep, my darling."
So she closed her eyes and this time the waters were gentle and she
felt that she was slowly drifting down a river of sleep and when she
woke up she was no longer afraid to look.
She opened her eyes and she was lying in the big four poster bed in
the room in the gate house that Madame Perceval used; and Mlle.
Duvoisine, not in her uniform but in a tweed skirt and the sweater
she had been knitting the day of Flip's laryngitis, was sitting in a
chair by the window, reading. As Flip moved Mlle. Duvoisine rose
and came quickly over to the bed. She put her fingers lightly against
Flip's wrist and said,
"Well, Philippa, how are you?"
"I guess I'm fine. Where's Paul, please? Is he all right? I couldn't get
the picture!" Flip started to sit up in her anxiety but as she tried to
raise her head it felt as though a crushing weight were holding it
down and a wave of nausea swept over her.
"You'd better lie still," Mlle. Duvoisine warned her. "You'll probably
have that headache for a couple of days."
"Why? What happened?"
"A piece of one of the shutters blew off the chateau and gave you
what your roommate, Gloria Browne, would call a bop on the bean."
Mlle. Duvoisine smiled at her with a warmth Flip had never seen in
her eyes before.
"Is Paul all right?"
"Yes." Mlle. Duvoisine assured her. "You can see him in a few
minutes. You're a foolish little girl, Philippa. Did you know that?" But
she didn't sound as though she thought Flip foolish at all.
"How did you get here, please?" Flip asked her.
"I came to look after you till Madame Perceval gets back from
Montreux. I'm staying at the school chalet in Gstaad and I'm going
back this evening since you're all right and won't need me any
longer. Now if you're a good girl and promise to lie still and not get
excited I'll let Paul come in. He's been waiting at your door all
morning."
"I'll lie still."
Flip lay very still while Mlle. Duvoisine was gone but she could not
keep her heart from thumping with excitement. Paul opened the door
and came in.
"Flip! Are you all right!"
"Paul! Are you all right!"
They spoke simultaneously and then they both laughed and Paul
came over to the bed and kissed Flip and then stood looking down at
her. Flip smiled up at him and strangely her eyes filled with tears.
"I thought he'd killed you," Paul said.
"No, I'm fine, Paul. Are you all right?"
"Yes, Flip. Yes, I'm all right and there's so much to tell you only Mlle.
Duvoisine from your school said that I mustn't excite you and of
course she's right."
"You won't excite me. Please tell me."
Paul climbed up onto the foot of the bed and sat there, leaning his
dark head back against one of the posts. His eyes were ringed with
black and his face looked white and tired and as though he had not
slept.
"Tell me, Paul, please," she asked gently.
"He's not my father." Paul closed his eyes and a look of relief came
into his face. "He's not my father, Flip."
"He couldn't have been your father," Flip said. "Not that man."
Paul opened his eyes and tried to smile at her. "After you locked me
up in your room I shouted and banged and my father—I mean
Monsieur Laurens—never even noticed." Flip opened her eyes wide
because it was the first time Paul had corrected himself when he
called Monsieur Laurens his father. He continued, "He said he heard
something but he thought we were having some kind of a game with
Ariel. He'd forgotten Aunt Colette had Ariel with her. Then Aunt
Colette came home and let me out and I told her everything and we
ran downstairs and roused father and then we went to the chateau.
Father took his gun. Sometimes he can be a very active man, Flip.
It's only when he's writing that he seems to forget the world. We saw
the man who said he was my father coming out of the chateau and
father captured him and the man told us a piece of shutter had struck
you on the head and he thought it had killed you and he had put you
in the chateau to protect you from the wind and he kept crying out
that he did not want to be a murderer. And Aunt Colette and I rushed
into the chateau and found you and—" Paul paused for a long time.
Then he said, "I thought you were dead. But Aunt Colette said you
weren't and then you said something and moaned and we carried
you home and called the doctor and Mlle. Duvoisine from your
school."
"Where's Madame?" Flip asked him.
"She's down in Montreux with the man who said he was my father.
They're at the police office. You see, Flip, that's what he's been
doing. I mean, it's his profession. He went around finding out about
people who didn't know who they were and then he pretended he
was related to them and got money from whoever had become their
new families. Aunt Colette said he was ill and not right in his mind.
He admitted that he wasn't my father but it wouldn't have mattered if
he hadn't because when I saw you lying there all in a little heap
inside the chateau in the dark and I thought you were dead, I
remembered. I remembered who I was, Flip."
Flip lay very quietly on the bed. She didn't dare move, partly
because it hurt her head to move, but mostly because it was another
of those times when she knew it would be best for Paul if she was
very still and very silent.
Paul put his head down so that his cheek pressed against Flip's feet
and a lock of his dark hair fell across his forehead. "I'll try to be clear,
Flip," he said, "but I want to say it as quickly as possible because it's
a hard thing to say. My father was a writer. We lived in an old
chateau—something like our chateau, Flip—that had always been in
our family. During the war my father worked with the maquis. He was
the editor of one of the most important of the underground
newspapers. I had an older sister, she was fifteen, then, and she
helped. So did my mother. Sometimes they let me run errands.
Everybody helped who could possibly be used and sometimes I
could do things without arousing suspicion that an older person
couldn't do." He paused for a moment, and then went on. "One
evening I was coming home after dark. I went in through one of the
French windows. The room was dark and I stumbled over
something. It was my sister. She was lying there just the same way
you were lying in the chateau last night when I thought you were
dead. I saw you lying there and you were my sister and it wasn't last
night at all but the night my sister was shot. It was shortly after that
that all of my father's work was uncovered and we were sent to a
concentration camp.... I think if you don't mind very much I'll have to
let Aunt Colette tell you the rest."
Again Flip wanted to say something that would give Paul comfort,
but she knew that she was unable to. She lay there and felt the
pressure of his cheek against her feet, until he lifted his head and
stared up at her and his eyes were the grey of the lake and seemed
to hold in their depths as much knowledge and suffering as the lake
must have seen. He stared up at her and now Flip knew that she
must say something. She pushed herself up very slowly on one
elbow, raised herself up and beyond the pain that clamped about her
head, and reached down and gently touched Paul's dark hair. She
suddenly felt much older, and unconsciously, she echoed Madame
Perceval's words. "It's all right, Paul. Everything's going to be all
right."
2
After a while Mlle. Duvoisine came back into the room and sent
Paul away and Flip slept again. When she awoke Madame Perceval
was in the room and she took Flip into her arms and held her as her
mother had held her.
"You were very brave, little one," Madame told her.
Flip started to shake her head but stopped as the abrupt movement
sent the pain back again. "I wasn't brave. I was scared. I was—I was
like pulp I was so scared, Madame."
"But you went on for Paul's sake, anyhow. That was brave."
"Can you be brave and scared at the same time?" Flip asked.
"That's the hardest and the biggest kind of braveness there is."
"Oh," Flip said, and then, because the thought of being brave
somehow embarrassed her, she asked, "Madame, will this make me
miss any skiing? I'm all right, aren't I?"
"Yes, dear, you're fine. It's a miracle, but you didn't have a
concussion. You're just a bit bruised and battered. The doctor will
look in on you again later this evening but he says you'll be up and
about in a couple of days and I'll work with you every minute the rest
of the holidays to make up for the time you'll miss. Now. Paul's
asleep. Georges is writing and Mlle. Duvoisine's gone back to
Gstaad. How about eating something? Chicken soup and a poached
egg? Thérèse will be miserable if you don't eat. She blames herself
for last night's episode and she was very upset about losing her new
boy friend."
"I'll eat," Flip promised. "Madame ... Paul told me about himself ...
about having remembered...."
Madame Perceval looked at Flip gravely. "It will be better for him
now, Flip," she said, "in spite of the pain of the memory. Before, he
had lost his parents completely. Now he can never lose them again."
"And Madame ... there was more that Paul said you would tell me."
"All right," Madame Perceval said. "I'll just run down and get your
tray from Thérèse first. I won't be long."
When Madame returned with Flip's tray she sat down beside the bed
and said, "Mlle. Duvoisine thought I should wait till you were up to
tell you about Paul, but he has already told you so much and he's
anxious for you to know everything so that the knowledge won't be
between you. I think you're strong enough to hear. But eat your
supper first."
"Yes, Madame."
When Flip had finished Madame said, very quietly, "Paul's parents
were put into the gas chamber. He saw their bodies dumped with a
pile of others afterwards. The following month his little brother died in
his arms. It happened not only to Paul, you must understand. It
happened to thousands of other children."
After a long silence Flip said, "We don't know, do we, Madame? We
can't know. I mean none of us at school who haven't been through it.
I thought it was awful when my mother was killed and they didn't tell
me for a week and I couldn't understand why she didn't come to me,
but it wasn't like that. And even Gloria losing her teeth in the blitz.
She doesn't know."
"No, Flip. Gloria doesn't know."
"I feel it deep inside, Madame. But I don't know. How can you do
anything to make up, Madame? How can you help?"
"Just never forget," Madame Perceval said. "Never take it for
granted."
"I don't see how anyone could forget."
"It's far too easy," Madame Perceval told her. "But it's important for
us to remember, so that we can try to keep it from happening again.
That's one reason I'm not going back to school after Christmas."
"You're not going back!" Flip cried, and almost upset her tray.
"Steady," Madame Perceval said. "I hadn't meant to tell you so
soon."
"Oh, Madame," Flip wailed. "Why aren't you coming back!"
Madame got up and walked over to the window, looking out at the
fresh white world, swept clean by the wind the night before. "I feel
that I've outlived my usefulness at the school. After the war when my
aunt started it up again she needed me to help her, because she's
not as young or as strong as she once was. But the school's
reëstablished now. Everything's running smoothly. I'm not really
needed any longer. As a matter of fact," Madame Perceval turned
towards Flip with a half smile, "you're partly responsible for my
leaving."
"Me? How! Why!" Flip cried.
"I think if I hadn't seen your father's letters with their drawings of
forlorn and frightened children I might not have been quite so ready
to accept when a friend I worked with during the war wrote and
asked me to come and help her in a hostel for just such children. So
that's where I'm going after the holidays, dear. It's on the border
between Switzerland and Germany, right where I was during most of
the war, so it will be good for me in many ways to make myself go
there. Now, my Flip, I've talked to you far too long already. You're
supposed to be resting. Mlle. Duvoisine will be angry with me if I've
excited you."
"You haven't excited me," Flip said, and her voice was low and
mournful. "Only I don't see how I'll bear it back at school if you aren't
there."
"I'm surprised at you, Philippa." Madame Perceval spoke sharply. "I
didn't expect to hear you talk that way again. I thought that was the
old Philippa we'd left behind. Bear it! Of course you'll bear it! Things
won't be any different without me than they were with me. I've never
shown any favoritism at school and I never would."
"I didn't mean that!" Flip cried. "Madame, you know I didn't mean
that! It just helps me if I know that you're there, and it's because
you're so fair and—and just."
Madame Perceval took her hand quickly. "I apologise, dear. Please
forgive me. I've been very unjust to you. I know you'd never expect
favors of any kind. I should have been accusing myself, not you. I
said that because I've been afraid that I might show how particularly
you interested me—and I've always prided myself on complete
impartiality. But you remind me so much of Denise—my daughter....
She died of pneumonia during the war. You look very much like her
and she had your same intense, difficult nature and artistic talent.... I
said we weren't going to talk any more and I've been going a blue
streak, haven't I? Take your nap and Paul will come in when you
wake up. Mlle. Duvoisine and the doctor both say that security and
happiness are the best medicine he can have, and you can give him
a great deal of both. By the way, his real name was Paul Muret. Its
nice that we can go on calling him Paul. Of course it's a common
name, but Paul says he's always felt right being called 'Paul.' It was
my husband's name."
As Madame Perceval bent over her to put the covers about her, Flip
reached up and caught her hand, whispering, "I can't imagine
anybody who would make a more wonderful mother than you."
3
During the remainder of the holidays Madame Perceval took Flip
and Paul on long skiing expeditions every day. Once they got on the
train in the morning and traveled all day and then took two days to
ski home. Flip was beginning to feel more at ease on her skis than
she was on her own feet. When she put on her skis her clumsiness
seemed to roll off her like water and her stiff knee seemed to have
the spring and strength that it never had when she tried to run in a
relay race or on the basket ball court or on the hockey field. Flip and
Paul grew brown and rosy and the shadows slowly retreated from
Paul's eyes and Flip looked as though she could be no relation to the
unhappy girl who had moped about the school and been unable to
make friends. Now when they met other young people on their skiing
expeditions she could exchange shouts and laugh with them, safe in
her new security of friendship with Paul, confidence in her skiing,
and Madame Perceval's approval and friendship. She tried not to
think that someone new would be taking the art teacher's place at
school.
"By the way, Flip," Madame Perceval said once. "When the question
comes up at school about the ski meet, don't mention my part in the
surprise. Just say that it was Paul who taught you to ski."
"All right, Madame," Flip said, "if you think it would be better that
way."
"I do." Madame Perceval looked after Paul who had skied on ahead
of them. "After all, the credit is really Paul's anyhow."
In the evenings after dinner they sang Christmas carols. Flip had
taught them her favorite, The Twelve Days of Christmas. She had
loved it when she was very small because it was such a long one,
and when she was told that she could choose just one more song
before bedtime, that would be it. So she loved it for its memories and
now for its own charming tune and delicate words, from the first
verse,

On the first day of Christmas

My true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree,

to the twelfth verse when all the twelve gifts are sung with a glad
shout.
On Christmas Eve Georges Laurens stirred himself from his books
and they all went out and climbed up the mountain and brought
home a beautiful Christmas tree. Flip and Paul had been making the
decorations in the evening after dinner, chains of brightly colored
paper, strings of berries and small rolled balls of tinfoil; and Flip had
carefully painted and pasted on cardboard twenty delicate angels
with feathery wings and a stable scene with Mary and Joseph and
the infant Jesus, the kings and shepherds and all the animals who
gathered close to keep the baby warm. When the tree was trimmed
they sang carols, ending up with The Twelve Days. Paul took Flip's
hand and threw back his head and sang,

"On the twelfth day of Christmas

My true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a'leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a'milking
Seven swans a'swimming
Six geese a'laying
 Five gold rings,
Four calling birds
Three french hens
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree!"

4
On Christmas morning they sat in front of the fire and opened their
presents. Paul saved his gift to Flip till the last and then held out the
small square box shyly. Flip opened it and lifted out of pale blue
cotton a tiny silver pear on a chain.
"I couldn't find any of the gifts from the carol," Paul said, "but this is a
pear from the tree the partridge was in."
Flip looked up at Paul's eager face and her own was radiant. She
wanted to say something to express her happiness but she couldn't,
so she just flung her arms wide as though she wanted to embrace
them all.
"Why Miss Philippa," Georges Laurens said, "I never realized before
what a little beauty you are. We should have Christmas every day!"
"Do you like the pear?" Paul asked.
Flip, her eyes shining, whispered, "More than anything."
5
Towards the end of the holidays Flip persuaded Paul to stop off at
the school chalet one day when they were skiing at Gstaad. She felt
that perhaps it wasn't very nice of her to want to show Paul off, but
she couldn't help wanting it.
"The really nicest ones went home for the holiday which is too bad,"
Flip told him. "Gloria's all right. Oh, and I think Maggie and Liz
Campbell stayed and they're awfully nice. Maggie's in my class and
she's always been polite and everything, not like some of the others,
and Liz is two classes above. Jackie and Erna and Solvei are the
one's you'll like best, though. You'll have to meet them when they
come back."
"Erna's German, isn't she?" Paul asked.
"Yes," Flip answered quickly, "but Jackie Bernstein's father was in a
German prison near Paris for six months until he escaped and Erna
is Jackie's best friend. And you'll like Erna anyhow because she's
going to be a doctor, too."
"Well—" Paul said, "let's get this business at Gstaad over with before
we worry about anything else. The important thing is for you to get
used to the snow conditions at Gstaad before the ski meet."
The trip to Gstaad went off very well. Flip was so preoccupied with
putting Paul at ease that she forgot to be shy and awkward herself
and astounded the girls by making jokes and keeping up a rapid
stream of talk at the dinner table. And she and Paul kept having to
remember that they mustn't talk about skiing, or let on that they
weren't returning by train but had left their skis at the Gstaad station.
On the last night of the holidays Madame Perceval came up to say
good-night to them, and sat beside Paul on the foot of Flip's bed.
"It's good-night and good-bye, my children," she said. "I leave on the
five thirty-two, tomorrow morning, and Georges will take me to the
train and be back before you're awake."
"Couldn't we see you off?" Flip begged.
"No, dear. I don't like leave-takings. And in any case it's best for you
to be fresh and have had a good night's rest before you go back to
school. Work hard on the skiing; Paul will help you on week-ends,
though you don't need much help any more, and I expect to hear
great things of that ski meet. So don't disappoint me. I know you
won't."
"I'll try not to, Madame," Flip promised; and she knew that both she
and Madame Perceval meant more than just the skiing and the ski
meet.
"Paul," Madame said, "take care of your father and take care of Flip.
I'll keep in touch with you both and maybe we can all meet during the
spring holidays. Good-night, my children. God bless you." And she
bent down and kissed them good-night and good-bye.
 6
After the Christmas holidays, the exciting and wonderful holidays,
there seemed to be a great difference in Flip and her feeling towards
the school. As she ran up the marble staircase she no longer felt
new and strange. She realized with a little shock that she was now
an "old girl." Almost every face she saw was familiar and the few
new ones belonged to new girls who had replaced her as the lonely
and the strange one. She stopped at the desk where Miss Tulip was
presiding as she had on the day when Flip first came to the school
with her father and Eunice. Miss Tulip checked her name in the big
register and handed her a letter. It was from her father.
"Oh, thanks, Miss Tulip," she cried, and slit it open.
"My darling Flippet," she read, "I told you not to worry if you didn't
hear from me for a week or so while I was traveling. I did get you off
that one post card while I was in Paris having twenty-four hours of
gayety with Eunice and now I am in Freiburg in Germany and will be
traveling about for a month or so around here and across the border
in Switzerland. It seems a shame that I will be so close to you and
not be able to come to you at once, but I missed so much time while
I was in the hospital with that devilish jaundice that I must work
double time now to try to make up. However, I think I may be able to
manage to be with you for your ski meet. I shall try very hard to
make it. I want to see you ski (but darling don't worry if you don't win
any prizes. The fact that you have really learned to ski is more than
enough) and I want to see your Paul. I don't know where I shall be
during your Easter holidays but wherever it is I promise you that you
will be there too and we'll sandwich in plenty of fun between
sketches. And don't expect much in the way of correspondence from
me for the next few months, my dearest. You'll know that I am
thinking of you and loving you anyhow, but my work often makes me
unhappy and tired and when I stop at night I fall into bed and it is a
great comfort to me to know that you are warm and fed and well
cared for and that you have learned to have fun and be happy. I
know that it was difficult and I am very proud of my Flippet."
With the letter he enclosed several sketches and Flip thought that
Madame Perceval would have liked them—except the ones he had
done of his twenty-four hours in Paris with Eunice. Flip crumpled the
Paris sketches up but put the others carefully in the envelope with
the letter, slipped it in her blazer pocket and started up the marble
stairs just as a new group of girls came into the hall and started
registering with Miss Tulip.
On the landing she bumped into Signorina. "Have good holidays,
Philippa?" the Italian teacher asked her.
"Oh, yes, thank you, Signorina, wonderful! Did you?"
"Lovely. But it is good to get back to our clean Switzerland. So we
have lost our Madame Perceval. I shall miss her."
"Yes," Flip said, "Yes, Signorina."
Erna and Jackie came tearing up the stairs. "Hello, Signorina! Hello,
Flip!"
"Pill, mon choux, it's good to see you!" Jackie cried as Signorina
went on up the stairs. "When did you get here? Isn't it wonderful to
be back?"
"Flip, meine süsse!" Erna shouted.
Perhaps it was not wonderful, but neither was it terrible.
A group of them congregated in the corridor, since Miss Tulip was
downstairs and could not reprimand them. They all talked at once,
laughing, shouting, telling each other about the holidays. Gloria
could not wait to show them the black lace and silk pajamas Emile
had sent her for New Year, nor to tell them about Flip's visit to the
school chalet with Paul.
"You should see Pill's boy friend," she shouted, "you should just see
him!"
"That child? We saw him," Esmée said in a disinterested voice.
"Out the window the day the hols began? Don't be a dreep, Es. He's
no child. You're just jealous. Pill brought him to the chalet for lunch
and he's dreamy, positively dreamy, isn't he Sal?"
Sally grinned and nodded. "He really is. I never thought Pill had it in
her. She must have a whopper of a line after all."
"All I can say is hurrah for Flip," Maggie Campbell said. "I'd hate to
see Esmée get her claws into someone as nice as that."
Esmée turned angrily towards the laughing Maggie but Jackie broke
in, "I went to six plays and two operas. What did you do, Esmée?"
Esmée announced languidly, still with a baleful eye on Maggie, that
she had gone out dancing every night and worn a strapless evening
gown.
"Strapless evening gown my foot," Jackie whispered inelegantly to
Flip. "She'd look gruesome in a strapless evening gown."
Solvei had spent the holidays skiing with her parents. "I bet I could
teach you to ski, Flip," she said.
Oh, horrors, Flip thought. What shall I do if she really wants to try?
Later that evening Erna pulled Jackie and Flip out of the Common
Room and onto the icy balcony, whispering, "I have something to tell
you but it's a secret and you must promise never to tell a soul."
"Cross my heart and hope to die," Flip said, thrilled to be included in
a secret that Erna was sharing with Jackie.
"Jure et crâche," Jackie said, and spat over the balcony, imitating the
tough boys on the city streets.
Erna was satisfied. "Well, it's something I learned during the
holidays," she started. "Maybe you know it already, Flip. It's about
Madame Perceval."
Jackie grabbed Erna's arm. "Don't tell me it's the story of Percy's
past!" She almost shrieked.
Erna nodded. "You're sure you won't tell anybody?"
"I said jure et crâche, didn't I?" And Jackie spat over the balcony
again. Unfortunately in her excitement she had not seen Miss Tulip
walking below, and the matron jumped as a wet spray blew past her
face.
"Who is up on the balcony!" she exclaimed.
"Please, it's only us, Miss Tulip," Jackie called down meekly.
"I might have known it," Miss Tulip said, craning her neck and
looking up at them. "Naturally it would be Jacqueline Bernstein and
Erna Weber. And with Philippa Hunter. I am sorry to see you keeping
such bad company, Philippa. Get back indoors at once, girls, or you'll
catch your deaths of cold, and you may each take a deportment
mark."
They retired indoors, Erna sputtering, "the old hag! On the first day
after the hols, too. No one else would have given us a deportment
mark."
But Jackie was giggling wildly. "I spit on her! I spit on Black and
Midnight." Then she said seriously, "Percy would never have given
us a Deportment Mark for that. I don't know how we'll ever get on
without her. School won't be the same. Go on about what you were
going to tell us about her, Erna."
"I can't in here. They'd see we were having a secret and all come
bouncing about. We'll have to wait till Gloria goes to brush her teeth,"
Erna said, looking around as a girl with beautiful honey-colored hair
curling all over her head opened the glass doors and came into the
Common Room, looking diffidently about her.
"Can you tell me—" she started.
Gloria, anxious to prove that she was an old girl, went dashing
across the room to her. "Hello, are you a new girl? The seniors'
sitting room is on the next floor, just over the Common Room."
"I'm Miss Redford, the new art teacher," the girl said, smiling warmly.
"I was looking for someone by the name of Philippa Hunter."
"Oh. That's me. I mean I." Flip stepped forward and Gloria retired in
confusion.
"Oh, hullo, Philippa. Could I speak to you for a moment?"
Flip followed Miss Redford into the Hall, and the teacher smiled at
her disarmingly. "Madame Perceval wrote me that you were the best
art student in the school and that you'd show me around the studio
and give me a helping hand till I get settled. I feel terribly new and
strange coming into the middle of things like this and this is my first
job. I'm just out of the College of London and I'm afraid I shall make
a terrible muddle of things."
She laughed, and Flip thought,—Well, if someone had to take
Madame's place, this one couldn't be nicer.
"Would you like to see the studio now?" she suggested. "I have
about half an hour before the bell."
"I'd love to," Miss Redford said. "I've been up there, poking around.
It's really a wonderful studio for a school. I looked at some of your
things and I see that Madame Perceval was right." She paused and
panted, "I wonder if I shall ever get used to all these stairs!"
Flip was so used to the five flights of stairs that she never thought of
them, but Miss Redford was quite winded by the time they reached
the top.
"Of course my room is on the second floor so I shall always be
trotting up and down!" she gasped.
Much as Flip liked Miss Redford she was glad the new art teacher
was not to have Madame Perceval's rooms.
"Now, Philippa," Miss Redford said, "if you'll just show me where
things are kept in the cupboards I'll be tremendously grateful. I
thought we might do some modelling this term, and maybe if any of
the things are good enough we'll have them fired. I found the clay
but I would like to know where everything else is kept."
Flip opened the cupboard doors and showed Miss Redford Madame
Perceval's places for everything. She had just finished when the bell
rang, and she said, "There's my bell so I'll have to go downstairs or
Miss Tulip will give me a Tardy Mark. I'm glad Madame Perceval
thought I could help."
"You've been a great help." Miss Redford said warmly, "and if you
don't mind I'll probably call on you again. Good-night, and thanks
awfully."
 7
The others were in the room when Flip got downstairs. "Was I
embarrassed!" Gloria exclaimed. "What did she want?"
"Oh, just to have me show her where Madame kept the things in the
studio. Golly, I'm hungry. We always had something to eat before we
went to bed during the hols."
"Honestly," Gloria said, "I think she might have let us know she was
a teacher and not just come in like a new girl."
"She didn't have a uniform on," Jackie said reasonably.
"Well, lots of girls don't when they come. I think teachers should look
like teachers." Gloria was not ready to be pacified.
"Percy didn't look like a teacher."
"Yes, but she didn't look like a girl, either. What's she like, Pill, this
Redburn or whatever her name is?"
"Redford," Flip said, "And she seemed awfully nice."
"If you think she's nice she must be, you were so crazy about Percy."
"She said we were going to do things in clay," Flip said. "Aren't you
going to go brush your teeth, Gloria?"
"I've brushed them."
"You have not," Erna cried. "You just this minute finished getting
undressed."
"I brushed them before I got undressed."
"Oh, Glo, you fibber!" Jackie jumped up and down on her bed.
"You're just plain dirty," Erna said rudely but without malice.
"I am not!" Gloria started to get excited. "I did brush my teeth before I
got undressed. So there!"
"All right, all right!" Jackie said hastily. "Don't get in a fuss. I'm going
to go brush my teeth, though," and she looked meaningfully at Erna
and Flip, who echoed her and followed her out into the corridor.
"I bet she hasn't brushed her teeth," Erna whispered. "She just
knows I have something to tell you that I'm not going to tell her. My
father said I wasn't to go around telling people, but you're so crazy
about Percy, both of you, I thought it would be all right."
Miss Tulip bore down on them. "Girls! No talking in the corridors!
What are you doing?"
"We're just going to brush our teeth, please, Miss Tulip."
"Go and brush them, then. I don't want to have to give you another
Deportment Mark. Step, now."
"Yes, Miss Tulip."
"We'll meet in the classroom before breakfast," Erna whispered.
As she lay in bed that night, propped up on one elbow so that she
could look down the mountain side to the lake, Flip had a surprising
sense of homecoming. She had missed, without realizing that she
had missed it, being able to see the lake and the mountains of
France from her bed, and they seemed to welcome her back. And
when she lay down, the familiar pattern of light on the ceiling was a
reassuring sight. As she began to get sleepy she sang in her mind,
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in
a pear tree, and reached up to feel the silver pear on its slender
chain about her neck.
8
"At last!" Erna said the next morning as the three of them slipped
into the classroom.
"Go on, quick, before someone comes in." Jackie stepped onto the
teacher's platform and climbed up onto the table, sitting on it cross
legged.
"Yes, do hurry," Flip begged, sitting on her desk.
"Well, I have to begin at the beginning and tell you how I found out."
"Is it tragic?" Jackie asked.
"Yes, it is, and Percy was a heroine."