"Tell me about it, then." She had seated herself and was busy with the tea things which a maid had brought in. Good found it necessary to read words several times before he caught their meaning. It was difficult to keep his eyes upon the paper. "Shall I give the inventory first?" he asked. "Oh, don't bother with the details. I can read all that later. Just give a summary--and tell me what it all means." He cleared his throat. "Well--advertising fell off fast at first. Then some of it came back. Mostly small stuff, though. The big stores have never come back. And all the heavy advertisers, like the telephone and the electric light companies, seem gone for good. Advertising revenue has been cut in half--maybe a little more." "But you expected that." "Oh, yes. It's quite natural. We've hammered the telephone company pretty hard on its purchase of the independents. And of course you know what we did to the department stores. Oh, I knew we'd lose advertising. But the circulation--that's been more disappointing." "Has it fallen off?" "Pretty badly. I knew we'd lose at first. But I thought we'd gain later. We haven't, though--not as we should. People don't seem to want the truth--unless it's sensational. They want excitement and partisanship. Sometimes I think they'd rather be lied to than not. And they don't like to hear so much about misery and evil. We expose too much. We're unpleasant. They'd rather ignore unpleasant things. Of course I knew your class would hate us and fight us--and they have. But the ordinary people--I felt sure--I thought--they'd support us. But they haven't--not as they should. It hurts ... I can't tell you how much!" His voice broke, and he looked pathetically old and worn. The tears came into Judith's eyes as she recalled the enthusiasm with which he had first broached the plan of purchasing _The Dispatch_. "I'm disappointed, too," she said slowly, after a pause. He recoiled as if she had struck him. "Not in the paper--in you," she added hastily, seeing the pain in his eyes. "I thought your faith was stronger. Have you forgotten what you said to me--'serve, not for them, for yourself'? Is it popularity you're after? Has truth ever been popular?" "A newspaper, to succeed, must be popular," he murmured. "Did you persuade me to buy _The Dispatch_ in order to be successful? Come, Mr. Good, this is unlike you. Didn't you warn me I would lose friends as well as money? Well--I have. Didn't you show me quite candidly that whatever success might come would be very small? You hated charity because it was only temporary and expedient. But charity is popular, and the results show. Truly I am surprised at you." She paused, waiting, but Good only sighed. "Come, if you were in my place--if _you_ owned _The Dispatch_--would you be down like this?" She was surprised and taken aback a little at his reply. "Yes," he said heavily, "I would." She was not to understand his meaning for a long time.