eased from an armor of ice went singing by him. Hill and meadow deepened verdantly into smiles. A little while now and the whole green earth in its tenderness would dimple exquisitel

in the trees. With the sun warm upon his face and the gladness of spring in his

th in glitter, defying nearness. Every human thing that made for life lay there

ills and winding quiet roads, spring rid

thrilled to the song of the earth and the whistle of the ploughman turning up the fresh brown earth. He filled his lungs with the wind of the open country,

rst of them all it was," said Kenny gently, "and prickin' deepest!") and the robin who plucked it fro

t his heels, his excitement chronic. Adventure had endlessly stalked Kenny for its own, waylaid him at intervals when

m credulously back into bondage if he kept to the siege. His promises were fluent always and alluring

men, living and learning. For the highway meant to him the passion

ack to the words of a modern poet which K

often I'm lo

and golde

r's face by

and I t

o that limbo that had claimed his peace of mind. That he felt himself abnormally methodic lay entirely in the fact that he watered the fern each day. It had for him a morbid fascination. Incomprehensible forces were

emembered Kenny sadly, "si

s terrified clinging to the things of the heart that belonged to him by birth. It was part of his race and creed. He hated to be alone. And

the disruption of the Holbein Club, took up in perturbed detail the

you could earn your living

wife's portrait," sputtered Kenny. "But I can

the me

Kenny sent for a mo

ly to Garry. "I'm just in the mood to make a colossal fool of myself. S

en

!" insis

e and you know it. And t

with an air. "It's a hindrance to work. You concentrate on a type and

pped Garry, and went o

ed him home. He felt a

her loom. As it was, sick with brooding and pity for himself, Kenny abandoned all pretense of labor and rushed on blindly to his fate. The spring was in his blood. What form of midsummer madness lay ahead of him depended now upon the hairtrigger of impulse. A wind, a sketch, the perfume of a flower, and he would be off wherever the reminis

orry for him, Garry unwittingl

letter fr

rn of

Cou

en World

r Ga

t once. You'll find in the studio a scrapbook of clippings which represent my ebullitions in print. W

r Moon, smiles down upon the ashes of my camp fire, full-faced and silver. An excellent host! Never once has he grumbled about light or pay and he grants me a roof without question. Ah! it's a blesse

e he'll be my friend, though he i

Beyond in the moonlight two people had halted, a boy who was denouncing someone in a hard and bitter voice and, clinging to his arm, a girl in a cloak, whom I judged to be his sister. Her eyes were like pools of ink and tragic with imploring, Laughter would

bellious. He was the younger of the two, seventeen or so, and wo

ed her away. The hurt in his heart perhaps had made him rough. But the girl shrank away from him with a sob and ran back up the hill. He watched her climb to a hill-farm near the river, with shame and ago

g away had plainly given him an arrogant conviction of manhood. Garry, old dear, I had to thras

self on the ground and sobbed like the kid he is. While he was pull

need of thrashing him. For one thing I hadn't cared for the way he spoke to his sister. And for another I hadn't cared at all for his insults to me. He listened sullenly to the facts of my eavesdropping

ays. Chance will make or mar him. And therefore I told him that if he ins

te know yet

kid. Both of them have an overdose of temperament and need

ils I could have dragged him up the hill home but if h

his sister, I in a sense seeking to guarantee a respectability I do not look or feel since I am a truant myself with an

like a youngster who's carried heartbreak into his sleep. Poor kid!

termittently a rotten ploughman, a fair fence-mender and a skillful whitewasher. My amazing facility there I attribute to an apprenticeship in sunsets. Once, during a period of rain, I lived in a corncrib f

less I brace myself with a lot of temper, he can twist me around his fin

w the homesick pangs himself and therefore could give the good Irishmen who journeyed to his shrine strength to bear them. I'm not in exile but there are times when I should be journeyin' off, as Kenny says when the brogue is

had no earthly right to blaze out so about the shot

Tell him I'm brown and lean already, an

d it. Later, why it was Garry's, gave him a sense of power. Brian was homesick and repentant. And

! Tree-walls and Dame Wind a-sweeping! Why, the lad was a poet-a poet like his father. And the big-hearted kindness of him, thrashing the runaway into sense. I

in a wave of tenderness, "living

ty and sense, compassion and humor. The inherited charm

bered, "he must be ta

g of jealousy that that

e himself in the wrong, no less was Kennicott O'Neill, his unsuccessful f

Brian had done. He would find the farmhouse, the wood and the river! There happily would be some clue or other that he needed. And Kenny, in rags and penitential, his feet blistered by the hardships of the road, would overtake his son and apologize for everything. Nay, more, he would promise anything. After that the rest would be easy. Brian had written it there

ove and art. Not the love of woman, which was after all

Emotionally it was complex to be actor and audience both. Thank God, he reflected, as he opened a closet door, dragged forth a battered multitude of bags and suit ca

n an hour now. Garry, how can I possibly

mmanded Garry, thunderstruck. "What'

th his chin out and his ey

of it wearily mopping his forehead. It was impossible to locate the crags he mu

r vaguely off, seeking a farm on a hill, a wood, a river

table confidence. "See, even you m

"is of course a clue with absolute in

unhurried air of one who scores an unexp

for the envelope. Kenn

ith dignity, "where your wood and your river will li

of sympathy. It had become a boomerang. What if Brian's protégé in a fit of remorse saw fit to k

e advantage of my letter to hunt Brian down. I'm sorry I sent it in. If he wanted you

re Kenny proudly. "Brian will appreciat

ctor in his lunacy, by the time he reached the farmhouse Brian would be well on ahead. And Garry was bitterly

e will lead the kid to write to his sister," he said. "Otherw

strongly for an interval. Then, mercifull

en?" sa

l pick up his trail at the farmhouse and from the

d t

ll come hom

d t

n 'And then?' sort of mind as you seem to have. There's an 'And then?

ut the sc

lready

elessly at the me

o go sagging along the highway with a suit ca

ase which will eventually become a knapsack. The problem now i

said Garry

looked

natin'. I mind me of the sketching trip we took togeth

a word he could restrain this madcap penitent from roving off in

id, "will neve

is a jewel for sense.

into a chair with a

want you to tell me prec

tion of footsore penance had taken vigorous hold of his imagination and his love of adventure. Characteristically, since

eriod of indecision, eliminated a floorful of luggage. In the rebound he took less than he should. He was read

e said. "You-you're not o

" said

n and clos

elieve it!"

rry, talking of honor and letters, had given

t on Sid. "You were al

eeled fu

're amazed when the sun's out and amazed when it isn't. Thunder-and-turf! you're

ed upon the door panels in round-eyed incredulity. To

id Sid. "Wonder

good-natured little painter embarked upon a tour of inspection, locked the

he tale of the Irish piper who added a phrase to some fairy music he heard below him in a hi

lief that the piper must have had therea