The guardian., 1940-02-17
There Were Two
Irishmen-
By J. Y. BARBER
Mcclure Syndicate-WNU Service.)

III HIS OOuLn street SpeaKeaSy, Dut
by Saturday he was glad of it. Irish
men aren't temperamentally suited
for cooperative occupations; they
won't do as they're told. He was
glad his blue-eyed Kathleen never
argued with her father.
Way back in the ancestry there
may have been some weak strain
that accounted for her passivity. 1t
made Seumas more conscious than
ever that he was the only Irish
man in the ward. The only man
of intellect and discernment, he'd
almost say, except for that scaven-
ger of the streets, Adolphus Con
werz, whose insufferable exposes ap-
peared now and again between the
scrofulous lines of the local paper.
Twas a black day indeed when
Kathleen met Adolphus Gonwerz in
the bar where Kathleen had no bust
ness at all And a curse on the
day when she came to her kind old
father, him that was nearly killed
with worry over trying to get a re-
spectacle liquor license, to ask his
good will to their marriage.
Hes not the man." Seumas said
abruptly. D
"How, not the MANI" Kathleen
said, too quietly even for her.
Hes the sort" said Seumas,
"who writes about people that have
died of murder. And it's insulting,
he is, when he blackguards some
worthy citizen in public life"
Seumas knew he would have no
trouble with gentle Kathleen.
She would not, she said, let him
alone. She said why she wouldn't
and it took her five minutes to say
it.
''Bu-but, he's a drinking man, he
is" Seumas said with appeal. "He
drinks like fish and he be no good
at ALL"
"Aye," said Kathleen, "and that
coming from you! May God have
mercy on your soul for the narrow
ness of your heart You've little to
do to speak of that when it's your
own grog he drinks. And it isn't
true that he's no good. He's the
best newspaper man in the town.
And l like him. l love himn"
The debate had reached a point
where Seumas realized he would
have to assert himself. He leaned
forward in his chair. He Kissed soft
ly. 81 could break him. You know
my power when l want to use it.
Frame him! How would you like
that?"
But Kathleen never moved. She
looked at her father boldly. "Aye,"
she said. "Well, two can play at
that game-if it's a fight you're look
ing for!" And with that she ran
out of the room and out of the house
and he didn't see her for days. The
shame of it!
II want to see her just try and
marry that spalpeen," Seumas said
to himself all day on Friday. Gus
toners heard him as he whispered
under his breath. They thought he
was reciting the list of witnesses
who would appear when he came
up for his license hearing on the
morrow and they let him concen-
trate.
But Seumas had forgotten all
about the hearing until his attorney
came down and took him to court.
His reception there lulled him to
contentment. Mr.. Gavan was well
thought of up town in certain cir
cles. Not for long, however, did he
smile benignly this way and that.
His bright green eyes froze to the
witness box. For there in the mid
die of everything sat Adolphus Con
WerZ.
Not being familiar with the eXpe-
diencies of the newspaper business
Seumas didn't know that Adolphus
had merely wandered in there in
the course of his routine and that
in ten minutes he would be discov-
cred by court attache and thrown
out on his neck. Seumas' pain was
so great that he beat himself upon
the chest. Could Kathleen have
been so angry then to put this no.
torious eXposer onto him? .
"I'm going home," he said to his
attorney. I'm sick now. No,
don't care about the license; to hell
with it." And so Mr.. Gavan went
home feeling the power ooze out of
him with every step of the way.
Evening came to Seumas Gavan
in the little Office that he main
tanned upstairs. He sat sullenly be-
side the speaking tube that connect
ed his office with the bar and he
wished that he had anticipated Kath-
leen being at least half an Irish
man. That was bitter, bitter! It
made him very sorry. So absorbed
was he that he failed to hear the
buzzer until its third buzz.
The bartender's voice fioated dim
ly to him through the tube
"Kathleen's come homel"
"Aye," Seumas said noncommit-
tally. He was abruptly the old
Seumas and he had the look of a
hawk over a calf. 1t would be now!
and he would be brief but annihilat-
inc The bartender took uD a faroi1