Page:The Viaduct Murder (1926).pdf/166

"Well, as a matter of fact, I never did agree with Carmichael."

"Never did agree with him? Well, you kept jolly dark about it. What weren't you satisfied with about his explanation?"

"Oh, it seemed to me to disregard human probabilities. And, as I told you the other day, I trust human probabilities more than I trust circumstantial evidence. I didn't believe, for example, that the same man could be a Catholic from Saturday to Monday and an atheist for the rest of the week."

"But Carmichael explained that. Surely it's reasonable that a Roman Catholic should want to sweep away what he regards as inadequate theologies?"

"No, it's just what he wouldn't do. I used to know a good many Catholics at one time, and I know a certain amount about their point of view. And they couldn't act in the way Carmichael described, because it would be doing evil in order that good might come of it. And Catholic theology, you see, doesn't allow that."

"I only gave that as a possible explanation," objected Carmichael. "There are plenty of other possible explanations."

"I know. But what's the good of any number of possible explanations when no single explanation is probable? I never can understand the kind of madness that imagines it has solved a difficulty when it has found a whole number of possible explanations that aren't probable. What difference does