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  ...fresh ground in the annals of crime in this country,--though parallel cases suggest themselves from India, and, if my memory serves me, from Senegambia."
"How came he, then?" I reiterated. "The door is locked, the window is inaccessible. Was it through the chimney?"
"The grate is much too small," he answered. "I had already considered that possibility."
"How then?" I persisted.
"You will not apply my precept," he said, shaking his head. "How often have I said to you that When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.   We know that he did not come through the door, the window, or the chimney. We also know that he could not have been concealed in the room, as there is no concealment possible. Whence, then, did he come?"
"He came through the hole in the roof," I cried.
"Of course he did. He must have done so. If you will have the kindness to hold the lamp for me, we shall now extend our researches to the room above,--the secret room in which the treasure was found."
He mounted the steps, and,...   Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan

Excerpt from The Sign of the Four · This quote is tagged Truth · Search on Google Books to find all references and sources for this quotation.

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