He seated himself with an air of supreme enjoyment, and began to cram the bowl of a large pipe from a bulky pouch.

‘How stands the fight with Kenyon and Co.?’ he cried, as soon as the tobacco was glowing.

Earwaker briefly repeated what he had told Peak.

’Hold out!  No surrender and no compromise!  What’s your opinion, Mr Peak, on the abstract question?  Is a popular paper likely, or not, to be damaged in its circulation by improvement of style and tone—­ within the limits of discretion?’

‘I shouldn’t be surprised if it were,’ Peak answered, drily.

’I’m afraid you’re right.  There’s no use in blinking truths, however disagreeable.  But, for Earwaker, that isn’t the main issue.  What he has to do is to assert himself.  Every man’s first duty is to assert himself.  At all events, this is how I regard the matter.  I am all for individualism, for the development of one’s personality at whatever cost.  No compromise on points of faith!  Earwaker has his ideal of journalistic duty, and in a fight with fellows like Runcorn and Kenyon he must stand firm as a rock.’

‘I can’t see that he’s called upon to fight at all,’ said Peak.  ‘He’s in a false position; let him get out of it.’

’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.