"There can be only one possible choice," said Brandon, planting his hands flat on his knees. "Really!" said Ronder, looking at the Archdeacon with an air of innocent interest. "Do tell me, if it isn't a secret, who that is." "It's no secret," said Brandon in a voice of level defiance. "Rex Forsyth is the obvious man." "Really!" said Ronder. "That is interesting. I haven't heard him mentioned. I'm afraid I know very little about him." "Know very little about him!" said Brandon indignantly. "Why, his name has been in every one's mouth for months!" "Indeed!" said Ronder mildly. "But then I am, in many ways, sadly out of things. Do tell me about him." "It's not for me to tell you," said Brandon, looking at Ronder with great severity. "You can find out anything you like from the smallest boy in the town." This was not polite, but Ronder did not mind. There was a little pause, then he said very amiably: "I have heard some mention of that man Wistons." "What!" cried Brandon in a voice not very far from a shout. "The fellow who wrote that abnominable book, _The Four Creeds_?" "I suppose it's the same," said Ronder gently, rubbing his knee a little. "That man!" The Archdeacon bounced in his seat. "That atheist! The leading enemy of the Church, the man above any who would destroy every institution that the Church possesses!" "Come, come! Is it as bad as that?" "As bad as that? Worse! Much worse! I take it that you have not read any of his books." "Well, I have read one or two!" "You _have_ read them and you can mention his name with patience?" "There are several ways of looking at these things----" "Several ways of looking at atheism? Thank you, Canon. Thank you very much indeed. I am delighted to have your opinion given so frankly." ("What an ass the man is!" thought Ronder. "He's going to lose his temper here in the middle of the road with that coachman listening to every word.") "You must not take me too literally, Archdeacon," said Ronder. "What I meant was that the question whether Wistons is an atheist can be argued from many points of view." "It can not! It can not!" cried Brandon, now shaking with anger. "There can be no two points of view. 'He that is not with me is against me'----" "Very well, then," said Ronder. "It can not. There is no more to be said." "There _is_ more to be said. There is indeed. I am glad, Canon, that at last you have come out into the open. I have been wondering for a long time past when that happy event was to take place. Ever since you came into this town, you have been subverting doctrine, upsetting institutions, destroying the good work that the Cathedral has been doing for many years past. I feel it my duty to tell you this, a duty that no one else is courageous enough to perform----" "Really, is this quite the place?" said Ronder, motioning with his hand towards Bassett's broad back, and the massive sterns of the two horses that rose and fell, like tubs on a rocking sea.