AtthesametimeIfeelthatyouhaveaperfectrighttorefusetoanswersuchquestionsasIhaveaskedyou。Sciencemusttakeherpath，andTheologyhers，andtheywillmeetwhenandwhereandhowGodpleases，andyouareinnosenseresponsibleforitifthemeeting—pointshouldstillbeveryfaroff。IfIreceivenoanswertothisletterIshallinfernothingfromyoursilence，exceptthatyoufeltIhadnorighttomakesuchenquiriesofastranger。
[Myfatherrepliedasfollows:]
Down，December14，[1866]。
DearMadam，ItwouldhavegratifiedmemuchifIcouldhavesentsatisfactoryanswerstoyourquestions，or，indeed，answersofanykind。ButIcannotseehowthebeliefthatallorganicbeings，includingman，havebeengeneticallyderivedfromsomesimplebeing，insteadofhavingbeenseparatelycreated，bearsonyourdifficulties。These，asitseemstome，canbeansweredonlybywidelydifferentevidencefromscience，orbytheso—called\"innerconsciousness。\"Myopinionisnotworthmorethanthatofanyothermanwhohasthoughtonsuchsubjects，anditwouldbefollyinmetogiveit。
Imay，however，remarkthatithasalwaysappearedtomemoresatisfactorytolookattheimmenseamountofpainandsufferinginthisworldastheinevitableresultofthenaturalsequenceofevents，i。e。generallaws，ratherthanfromthedirectinterventionofGod，thoughIamawarethisisnotlogicalwithreferencetoanomniscientDeity。Yourlastquestionseemstoresolveitselfintotheproblemoffreewillandnecessity，whichhasbeenfoundbymostpersonsinsoluble。Isincerelywishthatthisnotehadnotbeenasutterlyvaluelessasitis。Iwouldhavesentfullanswers，thoughIhavelittletimeorstrengthtospare，haditbeeninmypower。Ihavethehonourtoremain，dearMadam，Yoursveryfaithfully，CHARLESDARWIN。