Dr.Zerffi declared that he would not remain a member if avowed Atheists were admitted.

I promptly declared that I was an Atheist, and that the basis of the union was liberty of opinion.

The result was that I found myself cold-shouldered, and those that had been warmly cordial to me merely as a non-Christian looked askance at me when I had avowed that my scepticism had advanced beyond their "limits of religious thought." The Liberal Social Union soon knew me no more, but in the wider field of work open before me, the narrow-mindedness of this petty clique troubled me not at all.
I started my definite lecturing work at South Place Chapel in January, 1875, Mr.Moncure D.Conway presiding for me, and I find in the _National Reformer_ for January 17th, the announcement that "Mrs.
Annie Besant ('Ajax') will lecture at South Place Chapel, Finsbury, on 'Civil and Religious Liberty.'" Thus I threw off my pseudonym, and rode into the field of battle with uplifted visor.

The identification led to an odd little exhibition of bigotry.

I had been invited by the Dialectical Society to read a paper, and had selected for subject, "The Existence of God." (It may be noted, in passing, that young students and speakers always select the most tremendous subjects for their discourses.