Christianity, was not generally known. The orthodox were apt to
content themselves with shuddering at the mention of his name; very
few troubled themselves to think or inquire how this man had been
driven into atheism. Had they done so they might, perhaps, have
treated him more considerately, at any rate they must have learned
that the much-disliked prophet of atheism was the most
disinterested of men, one who had the courage of his opinions, a
man of fearless honesty.

Raeburn had lost his mother very early; his father, a well-to-do
man, had held for many years a small living in the west of
Scotland. He was rather a clever man, but one-sided and bigoted;
cold-hearted, too, and caring very little for his children. Of
Luke, however, he was, in his peculiar fashion, very proud, for at
an early age the boy showed signs of genius. The father was no
great worker; though shrewd and clever, he had no ambition, and was
quietly content to live out his life in the retired little
parsonage where, with no parish to trouble him, and a small and
unexacting congregation on Sundays, he could do pretty much as he
pleased. But for his son he was ambitious. Ever since his
sixteenth year--when, at a public meeting the boy had, to the
astonishment of every one, suddenly sprung to his feet and
contradicted a false statement made by a great landowner as to the
condition of the cottages on his estate--the father had foreseen
future triumphs for his son. For the speech, though
unpremeditated, was marvelously clever, and there was a power in it
not to be accounted for by a certain ring of indignation; it was
the speech of a future orator.

Then, too, Luke had by this time shown signs of religious zeal, a