Albert Kinross

“ So this was why they had sent for him.
“My name's Duke; we settled that a good many years ago.”
“Pig-headed, eh?”
Geoffrey sat like bronze.
“Pig- headed, eh? The same as me,” said Sir Anthony; “I'm a good hater, too. But now—now there's no need for hate. I shall be gone as soon as this is settled. I've hung on for this. I want the name to go on—you're the eldest.”
“There' s Merrick and Timothy.”
“They're no good. They're frightened of me, like that cold slut downstairs. You were never frightened. That's why we fell out.”
“My name's Duke, and Duke it stays,” said Geoffrey, rising. ”

“ Ella and her Earl would do as they pleased, and play at life with no remonstrances, no awkward quarters of an hour such as the one now irking them. How the Earl must have hated his new connections—even at a price! And from them Geoffrey turned to Lady Vigo. A change had come over her pale face. A new beauty touched her cheeks with a faint rose and put a strange light in her eyes, as though, instead of “What are all these Vigos to me or I to them?” she were repeating, “I am thirty-three—seven more years in which I can live and love and lose myself ”

“ You're a man, Geoff, in spite of your trade—I grant that, too. I thought artists were fools; I thought they were spongers and lap-dogs, hangers-on who shirked honest work and amused the women. Some made money—I knew that. But so do fiddlers and men who sing at the opera, and actors, and all that trash. The women—they amuse the women. ”

“ Life
By Albert Kinross
Geoffrey had come; so they were complete—the three sons of the house of Vigo, the daughter, the son-in-law, and their stepmother Lady Vigo, second wife to Sir Anthony Vigo, now dying in the room above. It was the first time the whole family had been together under that roof. All,of them were there, even Geoffrey, who had been cast out, and Sir Anthony, who now lay dying. Geoffrey had seen nothing of them since he had gone away. Then Sir Anthony had not been dying, but very much alive. “Not in my House—not in my house!” ”

“ Geoffrey nodded.
“I've heard of you these five years, and seen your portrait in the papers—Geoffrey Duke—my son Geoffrey Vigo!”
“Did you tell anybody?”
The older man reflected. “No.”
“I didn't either.”
Sir Anthony changed the subject yet again.
“Look here, Geoff. I kicked you out because you wanted one thing and I another. I said, 'He'll come back as soon as his belly pinches'; and so I kicked you out.... You said you'd be a painter. I said iron and steeel and Vigo's Foundry for all who have my name. I had made the firm; it was the work of my life ”