 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.
    »This is trifling with a grave question. We all know perfectly well that
happiness is the conscious exertion of individual powers. Why is there so much
suffering under our present social system? Because the majority of men are
crushed to a dead level of mechanical toil, with no opportunity of developing
their special faculties. Give a man scope, and happiness is put within his
reach.«
    »What do you mean by scope?« inquired Godwin.
    »Scope? Scope? Why, room to expand. The vice of our society is hypocrisy; it
comes of over-crowding. When a man isn't allowed to be himself, he takes refuge
in a mean imitation of those other men who appear to be better off. That was
what sent me off to South America. I got into politics, and found that I was in
danger of growing dishonest, of compromising, and toadying. In the wilderness, I
found myself again. - Do you seriously believe that happiness can be obtained by
ignoring one's convictions?«
    He addressed the question to both, snuffing the air with head thrown back.
    »What if you have no
