om he
must reach and move if he were to produce much effect of any kind, one
way or the other. Why there were between fifteen and twenty thousand
poor in the parish, of whom but the merest fraction ever attended a place
of worship. Some few went to dissenting chapels, a few were Roman
Catholics; by far the greater number, however, were practically infidels,
if not actively hostile, at any rate indifferent to religion, while many
were avowed Atheists--admirers of Tom Paine, of whom he now heard for the
first time; but he never met and conversed with any of these.

Was he really doing everything that could be expected of him? It was all
very well to say that he was doing as much as other young clergymen did;
that was not the kind of answer which Jesus Christ was likely to accept;
why, the Pharisees themselves in all probability did as much as the other
Pharisees did. What he should do was to go into the highways and byways,
and compel people to come in. Was he doing this? Or were not they
rather compelling him to keep out--outside their doors at any rate? He
began to have an uneasy feeling as though ere long, unless he kept a
sharp look out, he should drift into being a sham.

True, all would be changed as soon as he could endow the College for
Spiritual Pathology; matters, however, had not gone too well with "the
things that people bought in the place that was called the Stock
Exchange." In order to get on faster, it had been arranged that Ernest
should buy more of these things than he could pay for, with the idea that
in a few weeks, or even days, they would be much higher in value, and he
could sell them at a tremendous profit; but, unfortunately, instead of
getting higher, they had fallen immediately after Ernest had bought, and
obstinately refused to get up again; so, after a few settlements, he had
got frightened, for he read an article in some newspaper, which said they
would go ever so much lower, and, contrary to Pryer's advice, he insisted
on selling--at a loss of something like 500 pounds. He had hardly sold
when up went the shares again, and he saw how foolish he had been, and
how wise Pryer was, for if Pryer's advice had been followed, he would
have made 500 pounds, instead of losing it. However, he told himself he
must live and learn.

Then Pryer made a mistake. They had bought some shares, and the shares
went up delightfully for about a fortnight. This was a happy time
indeed, for by the end