I explained the plan to Holmes. He listened in silence, his pipe in his hand. Then he said, 'Can he write, this friend of yours? Can he tell a true story? Does he understand the difference between facts and lies?'
'I think so,' I said. 'He has just begun to write, but already he is becoming fashionable.'
'Fashionable!' Holmes said coldly. 'How can it interest me that he is fashionable? Can a fashionable writer have a serious interest in the facts of one of my cases?'