d
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.

She laughed, not because she was amused, but because she could think of
nothing to say. The sound seemed to brighten him a little.

"Of course you understand," he said, "that when I speak of the failure
of _The Dispatch_ I mean comparative failure. It's losing now ... but
not so much as it lost at first. Next year it should do better. I don't
mean that it will be profitable. I doubt if you'll ever take out much
more than you put in. Still...."

"Mr. Good," she interrupted severely, "you annoy me. Here you are
talking about _profit_. Did you ever talk profit before? Did I go into
it for profit? Has any of the money I've given to the church ever paid
any dividends? Is charity profitable? You're utterly absurd. Let's have
no more of this sorry pessimism. Profit! Really, you amaze me."

"You amaze