'A false position? I can't see that. No man better fitted than Earwaker to raise the tone of Radical journalism. Here's a big Sunday newspaper practically in his hands; it seems to me that the circumstances give him a grand opportunity of making his force felt. What are we all seeking but an opportunity for striking out with effect?' Godwin listened with a sceptical smile, and made answer in slow, careless tones. 'Earwaker happens to be employed and paid by certain capitalists to increase the sale of their paper.' 'My dear sir!' cried the other, bouncing upon his seat. 'How can you take such a view? A great newspaper surely cannot be regarded as a mere source of income. These capitalists declare that they have at heart the interests of the working classes; so has Earwaker, and he is far better able than they to promote those interests. His duty is to apply their money to the best use, morally speaking. If he were lukewarm in the matter, I should be the first to advise his retirement; but this fight is entirely congenial to him. I trust he will hold his own to the last possible moment.' 'You must remember,' put in the journalist, with a look of amusement, 'that Peak has no sympathy with Radicalism.' 'I lament it, but that does not affect my argument. If you were a high Tory, I should urge you just as strongly to assert yourself. Surely you agree with this point of mine, Mr. Peak? You admit that a man must develop whatever strength is in him.' 'I'm not at all sure of that.' Malkin fixed himself sideways in the chair, and examined his collocutor's face earnestly. He endeavoured to subdue his excitement to the tone of courteous debate, but the words that at length escaped him were humorously blunt. 'Then of what _are_ you sure?' 'Of nothing.' 'Now we touch bottom!' cried Malkin. 'Philosophically speaking, I agree with you. But we have to live our lives, and I suppose we must direct ourselves by some conscious principle.' 'I don't see the necessity,' Peak replied, still in an impassive tone. 'We may very well be guided by circumstances as they arise. To be sure, there's a principle in that, but I take it you mean something different.' 'Yes I do. I hold that the will must direct circumstances, not receive its impulse from them. How, then, are we to be guided? What do you set before yourself?' 'To get through life with as much satisfaction and as little pain as possible.' 'You are a hedonist, then. Well and good! Then that is your conscious principle'-- 'No, it isn't.' 'How am I to understand you?' 'By recognising that a man's intellectual and moral principles as likely as not tend to anything but his happiness.' 'I can't admit it!' exclaimed Malkin, leaping from his chair. 'What _is_ happiness?' 'I don't know.' 'Earwaker, _what_ is happiness? What _is_ happiness?' 'I really don't know,' answered the journalist, mirthfully.