no need to describe at length Paul's experiences during the
time he was imprisoned in Strangeways Gaol. The moral effect of prison
life is rather harmful than good. In Paul Stepaside's case, at all
events, it was so. He knew his punishment was unjust, he knew he was
guiltless of the crime which had been attributed to him; knew, too,
that for some purpose which he could not understand a case was made out
against him which had no foundation in fact. These things alone would
have had a tendency to embitter his heart and to make him rail at the
so-called justice of the land. But when we add to this the fact that
he was of a proud, sensitive nature, that he shrank from the unenviable
notoriety to which he had been exposed, and that he writhed under the
things that had been said about him, it can be easily seen that his
whole nature rose up in revolt. Everything in the gaol aroused his
antagonism, and made him bitter and revengeful. The daily routine, the
constant surveillance of the warders, the thousand indignities to which
he was subjected, made him, even while he said nothing, grind his teeth
with passion and swear to be revenged in his own time.

One thing, however, interested him during his stay there: it was his
study of the Book of Job, and he read through this old Eastern poem
which fascinated him. At first he was prejudiced against it because it
was in the Bible, but the majesty of the poem charmed him, overwhelmed
him. He had read the plays of Shakespeare; he had closely studied what
many consider to be the great dramatist's masterpiece, but "Macbeth"
seemed to him poor and small compared with the Book of Job. The
picture of Satan going to and fro on the earth, the story of Job's
calamities, of his sorrows, and of the dire extremity in which he found
himself, appealed to him and fascinated him. Yes, it was fine. The
old Eastern poet had seen into the very heart of life. He had enabled
Job to answer tellingly, brilliantly, these three wise fools who poured
out their platitudes. In spite of himself, too, he was influenced by
the conclusion of the poem. It was not only poetically just, but there
was something in it that comforted him, that gave him hope in spite of
himself, Was there, after all, he wondered, a God Who spoke out of the
whirlwind, Who laughed at men's little theories, and worked His own
will? It would be splendid if it were so. The idea possessed him; God
behind all, in all, through all