I took no new step, but my absence from the Communion led to some gossip, and a relative of Mr.Besant pressed on him highly-coloured views of the social and professional dangers which would accrue if my heresy became known.

My health, never really restored since the autumn of 1871, grew worse and worse, serious heart trouble having arisen from the constant strain under which I lived.

At last, in July or August, 1873, the crisis came.

I was told that I must conform to the outward observances of the Church, and attend the Communion; I refused.

Then came the distinct alternative; conformity or exclusion from home--in other words, hypocrisy or expulsion.