Dr. Stockmann. No, we meant something quite different. Well, what do you think of my article, Mr. Hovstad? Hovstad. I think it is simply a masterpiece. Dr. Stockmann. Do you really think so? Well, I am very pleased, very pleased. Hovstad. It is so clear and intelligible. One need have no special knowledge to understand the bearing of it. You will have every enlightened man on your side. Aslaksen. And every prudent man too, I hope? Billing. The prudent and the imprudent--almost the whole town. Aslaksen. In that case we may venture to print it. Dr. Stockmann. I should think so! Hovstad. We will put it in tomorrow morning. Dr. Stockmann. Of course--you must not lose a single day. What I wanted to ask you, Mr. Aslaksen, was if you would supervise the printing of it yourself. Aslaksen. With pleasure. Dr. Stockmann. Take care of it as if it were a treasure! No misprints--every word is important. I will look in again a little later; perhaps you will be able to let me see a proof. I can't tell you how eager I am to see it in print, and see it burst upon the public-- Billing. Burst upon them--yes, like a flash of lightning! Dr. Stockmann. --and to have it submitted to the judgment of my intelligent fellow townsmen. You cannot imagine what I have gone through today. I have been threatened first with one thing and then with another; they have tried to rob me of my most elementary rights as a man-- Billing. What! Your rights as a man! Dr. Stockmann. --they have tried to degrade me, to make a coward of me, to force me to put personal interests before my most sacred convictions. Billing. That is too much--I'm damned if it isn't. Hovstad. Oh, you mustn't be surprised at anything from that quarter. Dr. Stockmann. Well, they will get the worst of it with me; they may assure themselves of that. I shall consider the "People's Messenger" my sheet-anchor now, and every single day I will bombard them with one article after another, like bombshells-- Aslaksen. Yes, but Billing. Hurrah!--it is war, it is war! Dr. Stockmann. I shall smite them to the ground--I shall crush them--I shall break down all their defenses, before the eyes of the honest public! That is what I shall do! Aslaksen, Yes, but in moderation, Doctor--proceed with moderation. Billing. Not a bit of it, not a bit of it! Don't spare the dynamite! Dr. Stockmann. Because it is not merely a question of water- supply and drains now, you know. No--it is the whole of our social life that we have got to purify and disinfect-- Billing. Spoken like a deliverer! Dr. Stockmann. All the incapables must be turned out, you understand--and that in every walk of life! Endless vistas have opened themselves to my mind's eye today. I cannot see it all quite clearly yet, but I shall in time. Young and vigorous standard-bearers--those are what we need and must seek, my friends; we must have new men in command at all our outposts. Billing. Hear hear! Dr. Stockmann. We only need to stand by one another, and it will all be perfectly easy. The revolution will be launched like a ship that runs smoothly off the stocks. Don't you think so? Hovstad. For my part I think we have now a prospect of getting the municipal authority into the hands where it should lie. Aslaksen. And if only we proceed with moderation, I cannot imagine that there will be any risk. Dr. Stockmann. Who the devil cares whether there is any risk or not! What I am doing, I am doing in the name of truth and for the sake of my conscience. Hovstad. You are a man who deserves to be supported, Doctor. Aslaksen. Yes, there is no denying that the Doctor is a true friend to the town--a real friend to the community, that he is. Billing. Take my word for it, Aslaksen, Dr. Stockmann is a friend of the people. Aslaksen. I fancy the Householders' Association will make use of that expression before long. Dr. Stockmann (affected, grasps their hands). Thank you, thank you, my dear staunch friends. It is very refreshing to me to hear you say that; my brother called me something quite different. By Jove, he shall have it back, with interest! But now I must be off to see a poor devil--I will come back, as I said. Keep a very careful eye on the manuscript, Aslaksen, and don't for worlds leave out any of my notes of exclamation! Rather put one or two more in! Capital, capital! Well, good-bye for the present-- goodbye, goodbye! (They show him to the door, and bow him out.) Hovstad. He may prove an invaluably useful man to us. Aslaksen. Yes, so long as he confines himself to this matter of the Baths. But if he goes farther afield, I don't think it would be advisable to follow him. Hovstad. Hm!--that all depends- Billing. You are so infernally timid, Aslaksen! Aslaksen. Timid? Yes, when it is a question of the local authorities, I am timid, Mr. Billing; it is a lesson I have learned in the school of experience, let me tell you. But try me in higher politics, in matters that concern the government itself, and then see if I am timid. Billing. No, you aren't, I admit. But this is simply contradicting yourself.