Either he must meet the old man's hunger for battle with a show of temper, the blacker the better, or leave the farm for good.

But even with his thraldom heavy on his soul the prospect of leaving Joan filled him with pain and panic.

There remained then but the show of temper in which Adam would be sure to thrive.
So Kenny set himself to his freak of mercy.

Thereafter, when the need arose, he walked the floor under the piercing battery of Adam's eyes, blazing forth a fury that, in the circumstances, with his sense of the ridiculous upper-most, could not be real.

He raved and swore when he wanted to collapse in a chair and rock with nervous laughter.
Keen, alert, intensely delighted, Adam began to thrive.