“My friend told me the strangest story the other day,” said Mrs. Hudson, as we joined her for tea. “A cousin of hers was married to a man who was plagued with nightmares about being beheaded. One night, the man was having this same dream again, and just as the axe was being swung his wife tapped him on the back of the neck to wake him up and stop him snoring. Well, the shock of it gave the poor man a heart attack, and he died on the spot!”
“I’m afraid your friend was pulling your leg,” said Holmes solemnly.
“Yes,” I agreed. “It does sound a bit unlikely.”
“Unlikely? I should say it was impossible for it to have happened as Mrs. Hudson reported it.”
Why did Holmes think the story could not be true?