omes of questioning!
Why can't you leave the universe alone and let it
mean what it likes? Why shouldn't the thunder be
Jupiter? More men have made themselves silly by
wondering what the devil it was if it wasn't
Jupiter.

DOCTOR. [_Looking at him._] Do you believe in your
own religion?

SMITH. [_Returning the look equally steadily._]
Suppose I don't: I should still be a fool to
question it. The child who doubts about Santa
Claus has insomnia. The child who believes has a
good night's rest.

DOCTOR. You are a Pragmatist.

SMITH. That is what the lawyers call vulgar abuse.
But I do appeal to practice. Here is a family over
which you tell me a mental calamity hovers. Here
is the boy who questions everything and a girl who
can believe anything. Upon whom has the curse
fallen?

At this point the curtain was made to fall on the Second Act. The Third
and last Act takes place in the same room a few hours later. The
Conjuror has packed his bag, and is going. The Doctor has been sitting
up with the patient. Morris is in a more or less delirious state, and is
continually asking how the trick was done. The Doctor believes that the
explanation would satisfy the patient and would probably help him to
turn the corner. But the Conjuror will not provide an explanation. He
has many reasons, the most practical of which is that he would not be
believed. The Duke comes in and tries to make a business matter of the
secret, even to the extent of paying L2000 for it. Suddenly the Conjuror
changes his mind. He will tell them how the trick was done, it was all
very simple. "It is the simplest thing in the world. That is why you
will not laugh. . . . I did it by magic." The Doctor and the Duke are
dumbfounded. Smith intervenes; he cannot accept the explanation. The
Conjuror lets himself go, now he is voicing Chesterton's views. The
clergyman who merely believes in belief, as Smith does, will not do. He
must believe in a fact, which is far more difficult.

CONJUROR. I say these things are supernatural. I
say this is done by a spirit. The doctor does not
believe me. He is an agnostic; and he knows
everything. The Duke does not believe me; he
cannot believe anything so plain as a miracle. But