Rhys and his mother are left without any income but are offered a home (and protected against Uncle James) by a simple-minded but generous cobbler called Thomas Bartley, a recent convert. Rhys is apprenticed to Abel Hughes, an elder in the chapel who owns a drapers shop, and moves into Abel's house when his mother dies a short time afterwards. As he grows into adolescence, he falls away from the devout faith that his mother taught him whilst nurturing a secret desire to be a preacher, being dazzled by the status that preachers had in Welsh society at the time. His best friend, Wil Bryan, leads him further and further astray until an incident where they very nearly kill a man brings Rhys to a crisis of conscience. He realises that, despite his upbringing, he was never really a Christian in the proper sense at all. He eventually confesses his predicament to Abel Hughes who, instead of casting him out as he'd expected, treats him kindly and gives him good advice about how to find a true faith in Christ. The light dawns and Rhys becomes a zealous member of the chapel and is set on the path towards being a preacher after all. However, just as he is about to go to college, Abel dies and Uncle James cheats him out of all the savings he had up to that point, leaving him penniless once again.