d Armstrong.

"I shall at least have tried," returned the other, carelessly. "I can
call the attention of Saint Peter to that fact."

Armstrong leaned back farther in his chair. His eyes sought the ceiling
whimsically.

"That would naturally bring up the old problem," he philosophized, "of
whether it were better to attempt to do a thing and fail or not to make
the attempt and retain one's self-confidence."

In her place the girl shifted restlessly, as though the digression
annoyed her.

"To return to the starting point," she said, "you think the greatest
pleasure in life is in action, not in passive sensation? We lazy
folks--"

"Pardon me," interrupted Armstrong, "but I want to anticipate and enter
an objection. Some of us aren't lazy. We're merely economical of our
energies."

"We lazy folks," repeated the girl, evenly, "are sometimes inclined to
think differently."

This time Roberts hesitated, his face a blank as he studied the two
before him. Just perceptibly he leaned forward. His big hands closed on
the chair arms.

"Are you really interested in hearing the definition of pleasure as I
have formulated it for myself, Miss Gleason?" he asked; "I repeat, as I
have formulated it for myself?"

"Yes."

Again Roberts hesitated, his face inscrutable, his body motionless as one
asleep.

"Pleasure," he began low, "is power; conscious, unquestionable, superior
power. In a small way we all experience it when we are hungry and have
the ability to satisfy that hunger. The big animal feels it when the
lesser animal is within its reach and the big animal knows it. The lover
tastes it when he knows another returns that love completely,
irresistibly--knows, I say. The student comprehends it when he is
conscious of ability to solve the problem presented, to solve it
unqualifiedly. The master of men realizes it when those in his command
obey him implicitly; when his word is law. Pleasure is not necessarily an
exercise of that power, in fact is not generally so; but it lies in the
consciousness of ability to exercise it at will. For the big animal to
annihilate the less would bring pain, not pleasure. Hunger satisfied is
passivity, not pleasure. And so on down the list. Superior, conscious
power exercised defeats its own purpose. It is, as men say,
unsportsmanlike. Held in reserve, passive, completely under control, it
makes of a human being a god. This to me is pleasure, Miss Gleason."

For a moment after he ceased