■
am inclined to think—” said I.
“I should do so,” Sherlock Holmes
remarked impatiently.
I believe that I am one of the most
long-suffering of mortals; but I’ll admit that I was
annoyed at the sardonic interruption.
“Really, Holmes,” said I severely, “you are a
little trying at times.”
He was too much absorbed with his own
thoughts to give any immediate answer to my remonstrance. He leaned upon his hand, with his
untasted breakfast before him, and he stared at the
slip of paper which he had just drawn from its envelope. Then he took the envelope itself, held it
up to the light, and very carefully studied both the
exterior and the flap.
“It is Porlock’s writing,” said he thoughtfully. “I
can hardly doubt that it is Porlock’s writing, though
I have seen it only twice before. The Greek e with
the peculiar top flourish is distinctive. But if it is
Porlock, then it must be something of the very first
importance.”
He was speaking to himself rather than to me;
but my vexation disappeared in the interest which
the words awakened.
“Who then is Porlock?” I asked.
“Porlock, Watson, is a nom-de-plume, a mere
identification mark; but behind it lies a shifty and
evasive personality. In a former letter he frankly
informed me that the name was not his own, and
defied me ever to trace him among the teeming
millions of this great city. Porlock is important,
not for himself, but for the great man with whom
he is in touch. Picture to yourself the pilot fish
with the shark, the jackal with the lion—anything
that is insignificant in companionship with what is
formidable: not only formidable, Watson, but sinister—in the highest degree sinister. That is where
he comes within my purview. You have heard me
speak of Professor Moriarty?”
“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. Led on by some rudimentary aspirations towards right, and encouraged
by the judicious stimulation of an occasional tenpound note sent to him by devious methods, he
has once or twice given me advance information
which has been of value—that highest value which
anticipates and prevents rather than avenges crime.
I cannot doubt that, if we had the cipher, we should
find that this communication is of the nature that I
indicate.”
Again Holmes flattened out the paper upon his
unused plate. I rose and, leaning over him, stared
down at the curious inscription, which ran as follows:
534 C2 13 127 36 31 4 17 21 41
DOUGLAS 109 293 5 37 BIRLSTONE
