“For Sherlock Holmes, she is always That Woman. I rarely heard him mention her in any other way. In his eyes, she eclipses and reduces her entire sex to dust. No, it’s not that he felt anything like love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and this one especially, were unacceptable to his cold, precise and perfectly balanced intellect. He was, as I understand it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine the world has ever seen, but in the role of a lover he would have put himself in a false position. In conversations, he never touched on tender feelings, except with a contemptuous grin and barbs. However, they served as an excellent tool for the observer to tear away the veil from human motives and actions...”