That's the backbone of success; and where facts can't be linked up,
then failure is usually the result. I never waste one moment on a
theory until I've got a tough skeleton of facts back of it. It was
up to you to hunt facts, Mark; and you didn't hunt facts."
"I had an encyclopedia of facts."
"Granted. But your encyclopedia began at the letter 'B,' instead of
the letter 'A.' We'll turn to that in a minute."
"My facts, such as they were, cannot be denied," argued Brendon, a
little aggrieved. "They are cast-iron. My eyes and observation are
trained to be exact and jealous of facts. No amount of synthesis can
prevent two and one from being three, Ganns."
"On the contrary, two and one may be twenty-one, or twelve, or a
half. Why jump to any conclusion? You had facts; but you did not
have all the available facts--or anything like all. You tried to put
on the roof before the walls were up; and, what's more, a great many
of your 'cast-iron facts' were no facts at all."
"What were they then?"
"Elaborate and deliberate fictions, Mark.
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