"The famous scientific criminal, as famous among crooks as... " "My blushes, Watson!" Holmes murmured in a deprecating voice.

"I was about to say, as he is unknown to the public." "A touch! A distinct touch!" cried Holmes.

"You are developing a certain unexpected vein of pawky humour, Watson, against which I must learn to guard myself.

But in calling Moriarty a criminal you are uttering libel in the eyes of the law -- and there lie the glory and the wonder of it!

The greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every deviltry, the controlling brain of the underworld, a brain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations -- that's the man!

But so aloof is he from general suspicion, so immune from criticism, so admirable in his management and self-effacement, that for those very words that you have uttered he could hale you to a court and emerge with your year's pension as a solatium for his wounded character.

Is he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific press capable of criticizing it?

Is this a man to traduce? Foulmouthed doctor and slandered professor -- such would be your respective roles!

That's genius, Watson. But if I am spared by lesser men, our day will surely come." "May I be there to see!" I exclaimed devoutly. "But you were speaking of this man Porlock." "Ah, yes -- the so-called Porlock is a link in the chain some little way from its great attachment.

Porlock is not quite a sound link -- between ourselves. He is the only flaw in that chain so far as I have been able to test it." "But no chain is stronger than its weakest link." "Exactly, my dear Watson! Hence the extreme importance of Porlock.