On meeting the Committee, who had managed our affairs in our absence, I found everything in perfect order, besides a considerable profit at the banker's.

Messrs.

A.Hilditch, R.O.Smith, J., Grout and G.Standring had given ungrudgingly of their time; Mr.
C.Herbert, acting as treasurer, had kept the accounts with painstaking precision; and Mrs.Besant had proved how a woman could take the lead of men.

Nor must I forget Mr.Robert Forder, the Secretary of the National Secular Society, who acted as shopman at our publishing office, and sustained the business by his assiduity.

I had also to thank Dr.Aveling for his interim editorship of the _Freethinker_, and the admirable manner in which he had conducted _Progress_.
The first number of the _Freethinker_ under my fresh editorship appeared on the following Thursday.