All this was a dubious method of consolation, and yet Dr. Schrotter, or rather Paul Haber, decided that though further contact with Barinskoi must be avoided, he was an object of increasing interest to Wilhelm.  Barinskoi had many ideas in sympathy with his, which he did not find in others, and their views of society and practical maxims of life were so much in common that Wilhelm was often puzzled by this question:  “How is it possible that people can draw such completely different conclusions from the same suppositions by the same logical arguments?  Where is the fatal point where one’s ideas separate—­ideas which have so far traveled together?”

Barinskoi thought as Wilhelm did, that the world and its machinery were mere outward phenomena, a deception of the senses, whose influence acted as in a delirium.  All existing forms of the common life of humanity, all ordinances of the State or society appeared to him as foolish or criminal, and at any rate objectionable.  He considered that the object of the spiritual and moral development of the individual was the deliverance from the restraint, and the complete contempt of all outward authority.

So far his opinions agreed with Wilhelm’s, and then he disclosed the laws of morality which he had evolved from them.

“The whole world is only an outward phenomenon, and the only reality is my own consciousness,” said Barinskoi; “therefore I see in the would only myself, live only for myself, and try only to please myself, I am an extreme individualist.  My morality allows me to gratify my senses by pleasant impressions, to convey to my consciousness pleasant representations, so as to enjoy as much as possible.  Enjoyment is the only object of my existence, and to destroy all those who come in the way of it is my right.”

Wilhelm wondered whether this frightful code could possibly belong to the same views of life which, in despising the enjoyment of the senses, denied desires, demanded the sacrifice of individuality for the sake of others, and found happiness in the enjoyment of love for one’s neighbors, and in the struggle for human reason over animal instinct?

Barinskoi understood Wilhelm’s character and saw that he could quite safely trust to his forbearance and his single-mindedness, so he made no further secret of the fact that he was a Nihilist and an Anarchist.  When Wilhelm asked him if he imagined what the realization of his theories meant, he had the answer ready.

“We demand unconditional freedom.  Our will shall not be confined by the will of others, or by oppressive laws.  The Parliament is our enemy as well as the monarch, the tyranny of the autocrat as well as that of the majority, the coercion of laws of the State, as well as those of society.  We will gather together groups according to their free choice and inclination out of the fragments of annihilated society, that is, if we can manage to procure our enjoyment as well in groups as alone.  These groups will