the only one who had an intimate knowledge of me, having been my confessor during eight years, and he knew that I had arrived at a serious and final resolution. Without further ceremony he handed me the form of deposition from my position, and an order to retire to the friary at Chilworth, in Surrey. Out of curiosity I asked him why I was deposed, and he replied that he did not know.
The friary to which I was ordered is in a very secluded locality. It is the novitiate of the fraternity, and in it I should be compelled to occupy all my time in formal religious exercises, and should be entirely cut off from the outside world, besides being expected to put my confidence in a superior who was absolutely innocent of philosophy, and who would much rather frizzle an Agnostic at the stake than argue with him. It would have been utterly useless for me to go there, now that my mind was firmly convinced, and I preferred to remain and commence my new career with sympathetic friends. To avoid unpleasantness, however, I said nothing of my intention, and prepared to leave the college about the time of the departure of the train; although, when formally asked if I intended to take the train, I refused to say—it was well known that I would not. Meantime I packed up my books, &c., which I sent down to a friend’s house: I also balanced accounts and handed over all loose cash except a small sum which F. David had himself offered me for travelling expenses, and which I subsequently
