Kenny

asped. The note of permanency in the chronic rite of disinheritance was startling. So was something in the set of Brian's chin and the flush of anger burning

lder man strode across the studio and rapp

be in bed,"

" It was much th

and the rags he affected for a bathrobe, hung from a pair of shoulders noticeably broad and graceful. If he wore his frayed splendor with a certain picturesque distinction, it was the way he

And his eyes were as blue and merry now as when with pagan reverence he

ordained otherwise. Kenny glanced at the fragments of a statuette conspicuously rearranged

!" he flung o

y looked-with gu

ccidentally,"

! You flung a

o," corrected Brian, "just after

the sh

courtesy," reminded Br

r, and losing ground, Kenny felt that he must needs dramatize his parent

lat. Garry Rittenhouse, in bathrobe and slippers, confronted the pair with a look of weary inquiry. He sometimes regretted th

that I was in bed," he began irritably. "I

the preposterous irrelevance of the shotgun, the one unessential thing in the studio, and point with rising temper to th

it. He said all that was on his mind without restraint as to duration or intensity, thunderstruck at Brian's white-hot response

azed. "Let's get down to brass

oth to

petty funds, went out to pawn Brian's shotgun. And you, Brian, losing yo

ll again and overshot the mark, brin

ly sane and regular. It's by no means a criminal offense for him to pick a

ian lost by chronic disinheritance lay ever before the eye, particularly now when Kenny, in one of his periods of insolvency, was posted downstairs for club debt and Mrs. Hag

chain armor, weapons of all kinds, climes and periods; an Alpine horn, reminiscent of the summer Kenny had saved a young painter's life at the risk of his own; some old masters, a cittern, a Chinese cheng with tubes and reeds, an ancient psaltery with wires you struck with a crooked stick that was always lost (Kenny when the mood was upon hi

e littered closet, Garry recalled, until Brian inspired had bought too many bouillon cups, figuring that one handle always would be left;

hen he was in a temper or excited, he was smoking furiously. But the threat of disinheritance was not forthcomin

aid Garry

explained Brian dryly. "Twice. A

y sa

demanded K

t I'm tired of it all. I'm sick

easel. Brian went in for sunsets. He said so himself with an in

d beside a landscape, brilliant and unforgettabl

" he said

ing up the keynote of his son's rebellion

lace skill whipped into shape by an art school. Aerial battlefields-my sunsets-in more ways than one. I paint 'em because they happen to be the thing in Nature that thrills me most. And when I fire to a thing, most

zy?" interrupted

ness. "You're merely subject to periodic fit

ffended, brought his fist do

's misdirected generosity on your part, Kenny. And I'm through. I'm tired," he added simply

to-ni

ung out

traw!" he s

he shotgun, Brian

ning the

terposed the peacemake

hint of Kenny's soft and captivating brogue-was splendidly boyish and eager now. "Foreign perhaps or war. Maybe Mexico. Anything so I can write the truth, G

is son's defection. Brian, it was plain, had been decoyed by bromidic tales of cub reporters and

l," said Brian. "It's everything. It's the studio here and things like-like the shotgun. I hate the brilliant, disorde

y no

ity in essentials. Plebeian, of course, but comfortable. I mean, money in suffic

er. Life with Kenny, who borrowed as freely as he gav

ian. "that are mine w

t. Kenny struck his hand

ort. "You hear that? By the Lord Harry, Brian, it's damnable and i

They were back to Kenny's

he said. "There have been times, K

y with quick sympathy. "I

ing the fragments of Ann's statuette into

t an established privilege of mine, since I und

-r-

apped

id," sai

ly, "may have a-a moment of luna

rapped you'd been hypnotized by the justice

ndidly and glared at Garry

It's late and I'm tired. I'll referee this thing in my own wa

?" inquired Kenny,

enumerated Garry brutally. "You even p

id Kenny, affronted. "D

aid for it,"

proper degree of respect

ways easy to remember that Kenny had eloped at twenty with the young wi

ugh your fool head off.

cquet," reminded Garr

quet and the shotgun had seemed the least

y, "they and a number of other

d like to have them both remember that it had been winter and one

didn't,"

hed afield for cigarettes and found them at his elbow. A noise at the

s over there?" he d

He's come down the fire-escape. Ma

the club rules denied him hospitality-came in with a jaunty air of confidence. At the sight of the

if now and again he did forget a minor essential and have to forage for it. He added with an air of

Kenny's fashionable wardrobe, portentous in all truth, had an unmistakable air of originality abou

s willingness to

the point and difficult to remember when Brian is in

nius for always having money somewhere. Brian had of necessity been saved considerable inco

runs the scale a bit. Faith, I'm that impecuniou

inevitably strategic. Wily and magnetic Kenny always had his way. It was plain he t

ian, "but I've a lot more capacity for worry and I'm tire

kkee

m denying a lie of yours." The nature of the thrust was unexpected. Kenny changed color

y, regarding his son with a lo

ian. "You know prec

ly colored, you can't refuse it expression simply because it isn't true. You must make a good story. I've sometimes thought you'd have a qualm or two of conscience if you didn't,

him into grotesque dilemmas and kept him keyed to an abnormal alertness of memory. A

his temper utterly. Thereafter he blazed out a hot-he

ng. He was willing to concede that his imagination was wayward and romantic. But why in the name of Heaven must a man-and an Irishman-justify the indiscretions of his wit? Well, the lad had always had an unnatural trend for fa

quarrel this time was sharp and brief. Brian hated repetitions. Hotly impenitent he flung out of the studio and slammed his bedroom door, leaving

ay haze in the court be

"And I've a model coming at ten

. Certainly in the grip of untoward events, a man i

often to resent it all at once to-night. As for the shotgun, that dispute or its equivalent was certainly as normal

ot into the lad?" he

sh temper like his father. Kenny forgot and forgave. Both were a spontaneit

ave flung back the door with a show of temper. Penitential, he opened it with an air of gentle forbearance. The

was

nearthed the chafing dish a

man who worshipped him, and bang the studio door. The lad was not given to such definite revolt. Besides, Brian, he must remember, was an O