This chapter's epigraph comes from a famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe, entitled "The Ballad of a Young Man." In this poem, Edgar is described as a young man who is ashamed of his past, but who is also proud of his present. He is also ashamed of the fact that he is a member of a group of men who do not believe in God. In this passage, Edgar explains that he does not want to be a part of the "stranger group" of men because he has his own business to take care of. He also explains that the group does not have the power to force a change in Edgar's mind. The narrator