going wrong. He had come up to his suite with the idea
of restoring his shaken nerve system with a quiet cigar, and the sight
of his son-in-law had, as so frequently happened, made him feel worse
than ever. But, when Archie had descended from the chair and moved aside
to allow him an uninterrupted view of the picture, Mr. Brewster realised
that a worse thing had befallen him than a mere visit from one who
always made him feel that the world was a bleak place.

He stared at the Venus dumbly. Unlike most hotel-proprietors, Daniel
Brewster was a connoisseur of Art. Connoisseuring was, in fact, his
hobby. Even the public rooms of the Cosmopolis were decorated with
taste, and his own private suite was a shrine of all that was best and
most artistic. His tastes were quiet and restrained, and it is not too
much to say that the Wigmore Venus hit him behind the ear like a stuffed
eel-skin.

So great was the shock that for some moments it kept him silent, and
before he could recover speech Archie had explained.

"It's a birthday present from Lucille, don't you know."

Mr. Brewster crushed down the breezy speech he had intended to utter.

"Lucille gave me--that?" he muttered.

He swallowed pathetically. He was suffering, but the iron courage of the
Brewsters stood him in good stead. This man was no weakling. Presently
the rigidity of his face relaxed. He was himself again. Of all things
in the world he loved his daughter most, and if, in whoever mood of
temporary insanity, she had brought herself to suppose that this beastly
daub was the sort of thing he would like for a birthday present, he must
accept the situation like a man. He would on the whole have preferred
death to a life lived in the society of the Wigmore Venus, but even that
torment must be endured if the alternative was the hurting of Lucille's
feelings.

"I think I've chosen a pretty likely spot to hang the thing, what?" said
Archie cheerfully. "It looks well alongside those Japanese prints, don't
you think? Sort of stands out."

Mr. Brewster licked his dry lips and grinned a ghastly grin.

"It does stand out!" he agreed.

CHAPTER XXVI. A TALE OF A GRANDFATHER

Archie was not a man who readily allowed himself to become worried,
especially about people who were not in his own immediate circle of
friends, but in the course of the next week he was bound to admit that
he was not altogether easy in his mind about his father-in-law's mental
condition.