Modesty to the point where they trust each other as much as they trust themselves. Willie becomes Modesty's most trusted man in The Network, and stays on for six years until Modesty shuts the organisation down. Afterwards, the two remain close friends—Willie opening a pub 25 miles (40 km.) from London called The Treadmill—and when Sir Gerald Tarrant offers Modesty a chance to put her skills to work on behalf of British Intelligence, she easily recruits Willie to fight by her side. Character traits Willie has a well-developed, if slightly dark, sense of humour, and often jokes about his and Modesty's lifestyles. He is given to quoting psalms, as he was once imprisoned for a year in Calcutta with only a psalter to read. Very sociable, he has a number of female acquaintances from all social levels (as Modesty humorously describes them, "from premier cru to honest vin de pays"), and is often reminded of anecdotes of them in the most unusual situations (such as when swimming in shark-infested waters or when hauling heavy objects up slopes). The one exception to his romantic conquests is Modesty Blaise; feeling that he owes her a debt greater than anything physical can offer, he refuses to consider her in a romantic light and Modesty, in return, reciprocates by treating Willie as her one trusted friend. Willie rarely refers to Modesty Blaise by her name; his preferred nickname for her is "Princess". On occasion, he literally provides a shoulder for her to cry on (one of Modesty's character traits is that she occasionally weeps following the conclusion of a particularly nasty mission). Willie Garvin is a tall and extremely strong man, though not heavily muscle-bound. He has a scar on his right hand made by a man named Suleiman, who was later killed by Modesty because he was torturing Willie. Like Modesty, he is a polymath of the first order: adept in safe-cracking and lock-picking, micro-electronics, expert at military tactics and a student of the criminal arts. He speaks several languages, including German, Spanish, Arabic and French; his English has a heavy cockney tone to it, though he is able to turn it on and off like a switch. Willie is a master knife thrower and can throw almost any object with extreme precision. He makes his own knives and is deadly with them at ranges up to 90 feet. He does not like