He had accepted the idea of an Absolute God.

A personal, sympathizing, benevolent Providence was in his opinion one of the illusions of the theologic stage of human development.

Things happened by inexorable law, he said.

And in the drowning of Katy he saw only the overloading of a boat and the inevitable action of water upon the vital organs of the human system.

It seemed to him now an awful thing that such great and terrible forces should act irresistibly and blindly.
He wished he could find some ground upon which to base a different opinion.