ar，science–youseemohavepaidafairlyhighpriceforyourhappiness，“saidhesavage，whenheywerealone“anyhingelse？”

“well，religion，ofcourse，”repliedheconroller“hereusedobesomehingcalledgod–beforehenineyears’warbuiwasforgeing；youknowallabougod，isuppose”

“well…”hesavagehesiaedhewouldhavelikedosaysomehingabousoliude，abounigh，abouhemesalyingpaleunderhemoon，abouheprecipice，heplungeinoshadowydarkness，aboudeahhewouldhavelikedospeak；buherewerenowordsnoeveninshakespeare

heconroller，meanwhile，hadcrossedoheohersideofheroomandwasunlockingargesafeseinohewallbeweenhebookshelvesheheavydoorswungopenrummaginginhedarknesswihin，“i’sasubjec，”hesaid，“hahasalwayshadagreaineresforme”hepulledouahickbckvolume“you’veneverreadhis，forexample”

hesavageooki“heholybible，conainingheoldandnewesamens，”hereadaloudfromheilepage

“norhis”iwasasmallbookandhadlosiscover

“heimiaionofchris”

“norhis”hehandedouanohervolume

“hevarieiesofreligiousexperiencebywilliamjames”

“andi’vegoplenymore，”musaphamondconinued，resuminghissea“awholecollecionofpornographicoldbooksgodinhesafeandfordonheshelves”hepoinedwihaughohisavowedlibrary–oheshelvesofbooks，herackfullofreadingmachinebobbinsandsoundrackrolls

“buifyouknowabougod，whydon’youellhem？”askedhesavageindignanly“whydon’yougivehemhesebooksabougod？”

“forhesamereasonaswedon’givehemohello：hey’reold；hey’reabougodhundredsofyearsagonoabougodnow”

“bugoddoesn’change”

“mendo，hough”

“whadifferencedoeshamake？”

“allhedifferenceinheworld，”saidmusaphamondhegoupagainandwalkedohesafe“herewasamancalledcardinalnewman，”hesaid“acardinal，”heexcimedparenheically，“wasakindofarchcommuniysongser”

“‘ipandulph，offairmin，cardinal’i’vereadabouheminshakespeare”

“ofcourseyouhavewell，asiwassaying，herewasamancalledcardinalnewmanah，here’shebook”hepullediou“andwhilei’mabouii’llakehisoooi’sbyamancalledmainedebiranhewasaphilosopher，ifyouknowwhahawas”

“amanwhodreamsoffewerhingshanhereareinheavenandearh，”saidhesavagepromply

“quiesoi’llreadyouoneofhehingshediddreamofinamomenmeanwhile，lisenowhahisoldarchcommuniysongsersaid”heopenedhebookahepcemarkedbyaslipofpaperandbeganoread“‘wearenoourownanymorehanwhawepossessisourownwedidnomakeourselves，weca

obesupremeoverourselveswearenoourownmaserswearegod’sproperyisinoourhappinesshusoviewhemaer？isianyhappinessoranycomfor，oconsiderhaweareourown？imaybehoughsobyheyoungandprosperoushesemayhinkiagreahingohaveeveryhing，asheysuppose，heirownway–odependonnoone–ohaveohinkofnohingouofsigh，obewihouheirksomenessofconinualacknowledgmen，coninualprayer，coninualreferenceofwhaheydoohewillofanoherbuasimegoeson，hey，asallmen，willfindhaindependencewasnomadeforman–haiisanu

auralsae–willdoforawhile，buwillnocarryusonsafelyoheend…’”musaphamondpaused，pudownhefirsbookand，pickingupheoher，urnedoverhepages“akehis，forexample，”hesaid，andinhisdeepvoiceoncemorebeganoread：“‘amangrowsold；hefeelsinhimselfharadicalsenseofweakness，oflislessness，ofdiscomfor，whichaccompaniesheadvanceofage；and，feelinghus，imagineshimselfmerelysick，lullinghisfearswihhenoionhahisdisressingcondiionisdueosomeparicurcause，fromwhich，asfromanillness，hehopesorecovervainimaginings！hasicknessisoldage；andahorriblediseaseiisheysayhaiishefearofdeahandofwhacomesaferdeahhamakesmenurnoreligionasheyadvanceinyearsbumyownexperiencehasgivenmeheconvicionha，quieaparfromanysucherrorsorimaginings，hereligioussenimenendsodevelopaswegrowolder；odevelopbecause，ashepassionsgrowcalm，ashefancyandsensibiliiesarelessexciedandlessexciable，ourreasonbecomeslessroubledinisworking，lessobscuredbyheimages，desiresanddisracions，inwhichiusedobeabsorbed；whereupongodemergesasfrombehindacloud；oursoulfeels，sees，urnsowardshesourceofallligh；urnsnaurallyandineviably；fornowhaallhagaveoheworldofsensaionsislifeandcharmshasbegunoleakawayfromus，nowhaphenomenalexisenceisnomorebolseredupbyimpressionsfromwihinorfromwihou，wefeelheneedoleanonsomehinghaabides，somehinghawillneverpyusfalse–arealiy，anabsolueandeversingruhyes，weineviablyurnogod；forhisreligioussenimenisofisnauresopure，sodelighfulohesoulhaexperiencesi，haimakesupousforallouroherlosses’”

musaphamondshuhebookandleanedbackinhischair“oneofhenumeroushingsinheavenandearhhahesephilosophersdidn’dreamabouwashis”（hewavedhishand），“us，hemodernworld‘youcanonlybeindependenofgodwhileyou’vegoyouhandprosperiy；independencewon’akeyousafelyoheend’well，we’venowgoyouhandprosperiyrighupoheendwhafollows？evidenly，hawecanbeindependenofgod‘hereligioussenimenwillcompensaeusforallourlosses’buherearen’anylossesforusocompensae；religioussenimenissuperfluousandwhyshouldwegohuningforasubsiueforyouhfuldesires，whenyouhfuldesiresneverfail？asubsiuefordisracions，whenwegoonenjoyingallheoldfooleriesoheverys？whaneedhaveweofreposewhenourmindsandbodiesconinueodelighinaciviy？ofconsoion，whenwehavesoma？ofsomehingimmovable，whenhereishesocialorder？”

“henyouhinkhereisnogod？”

“no，ihinkherequieprobablyisone”

“henwhy？…”