nothing of the flunkey in this, or I greatly
deceive myself. Birth in a sphere of refinement is desirable and respectable; it
saves one, absolutely, from many forms of coarseness. The masses are not only
fools, but very near the brutes. Yes, they can send forth fine individuals - but
remain base. I don't deny the possibility of social advance; I only say that at
present the lower classes are always disagreeable, often repulsive, sometimes
hateful.«
    »I could apply that to the classes above them.«
    »Well, I can't. But I am quite ready to admit that there are all sorts of
inconsistencies in me. Now, the other day I was reading Burns, and I couldn't
describe what exaltation all at once possessed me in the thought that a
ploughman had so glorified a servant-girl that together they shine in the
highest heaven, far above all the monarchs of earth. This came upon me with a
rush - a very rare emotion. Wasn't that democratic?«
    He inquired dubiously, and Earwaker for a moment had no reply but his
familiar »M-m-m!«
    »No, it was not democratic,« the journalist decided at length; »it was pride
of intellect.«
    »Think so? Then look here. If it happens that a whining wretch stops me in
the street to beg, what do you suppose is my feeling? I am ashamed in the sense
of my own prosperity. I can't look him in the face. If I yielded to my natural
impulse, I should cry out, Strike me! spit at me! show you hate me! - anything
but that terrible humiliation of yourself before me! That's how I feel. The
abasement of which he isn't sensible affects me on his behalf. I give money with
what delicacy I can. If I am obliged to refuse, I mutter apologies and hurry
away with burning cheeks. What does that mean?«
    Earwaker regarded him curiously.
    »That is mere fineness of humanity.«
    »Perhaps moral weakness?«
    »I don't care for the scalpel of the pessimist. Let us give it the better
name.«
    Peak had never been so communicative. His progress in composition these last
evenings seemed to have raised his spirits and spurred the activity of his mind.
With a look of pleasure he pursued his self-
    »Special antipathies - sometimes explicable enough - influence me very
widely. Now, I by no means hate all orders of uneducated people. A hedger,