n private ownership of property, and
advocated that everything should be taken over by the State. There
were also several atheistic societies in the town, and before long Paul
found himself standing at street corners listening to orators who
proclaimed that there was no God, that man had no soul, that there was
no future life, and that Christianity was a great organised fraud. In
opposition to this, on the other hand, there were many who held the
wildest opinions about religion. Every conceivable sect seemed to be
represented in the town. Seventh-Day Adventists, Spiritualists,
Theosophists, Christadelphians, and innumerable others, claimed to have
the exclusive possession of the Truth.

For a time he was influenced by all these contradictory views, but
presently his strong common sense asserted itself, and he began to
laugh at the fallacies which first of all fascinated him. Nevertheless
the life of Brunford influenced him greatly, and his whole intellectual
outlook was coloured by what he saw and heard. As a working man he
naturally allied himself with the working classes, even although he did
not share many of their views, and by the time he was a little over
one-and-twenty he began to be regarded as a leader. He became an adept
in public speaking too, and the announcement that he was to be present
at a meeting was almost sure to draw a crowd. He ceased attending any
place of worship, and indeed the incipient atheism of his earlier years
seemed to settle into a kind of general unbelief in anything spiritual
or supernatural.

One evening the minister of the Hanover Chapel called at the house in
which he was lodging, and, seeing him deeply engrossed in his books,
complimented him upon his studious habits. "I hear you are becoming
quite a scholar, Mr. Stepaside," he said.

Paul shook his head.

"Why, but it's becoming well known in the town," persisted the
minister. "I noticed that you took a lot of prizes on prize-giving day
in the Mechanics' Institute, and all sorts of complimentary things were
said about you in the papers. I am sorry, however, that I've not seen
you at chapel lately."

Paul remained silent.

"You've not forgotten the advice which the wise man gave in the last
chapter of Ecclesiastes, I hope?" said the minister.

"What advice?" asked Paul.

"'Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,'" replied the
minister. "I hope you have not forgotten that."

"Where is He--what is He