In the numerous years of my relationship with Sherlock Holmes, I have witnessed his mastery of the arcane, modern science, mock mysticism, and impenetrable impersonations. Always awed by the vast mental resources he had at his immediate beck and call, I was always in error whenever I doubted his line of thinking, resolution, or decision making... but there's still that one exception to the rule for which even today I cannot see his reasoning. It involed a particularly disreputable fellow, an American if memory serves, whom the master himself felt necessary to employ...
--John H. Watson