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IN "A SCANDAL LN BOHEMIA," the first Sherlock Holmes story, published in 1891, Holmes is upstaged and tricked, for the first and the last time, by a woman.1 The story involves the beautiful and cunning Irene Adler, a retired opera singer and "well-known adventuress"2 and the hapless King of Bohemia, her former lover. The Monarch plans to marry someone of his own rank: consequently, Ms Adler threatens to ruin his betrothal by exhibiting a compromising photograph of the couple. The King hires Holmes to find the ruinous evidence, and using one of his famous schemes the detective discovers the exact location of the photo in Adler's sitting room. Both men return the next morning to retrieve the object, only to find Adler and the photograph gone. She has, however, left a snapshot of herself and a letter for Holmes, promising never to release the damaging item. This is the only time when "the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were beaten by a woman's wit."3
Upon learning that he has been fooled by a woman, Holmes is embarrassingly "white with chagrin and surprise,"4 an odd and uncharacteristically emotional reaction from the brightest detective in the country, known for his coolness and composure. The trauma and the impact of that failure are so great on Holmes that, years later, he still cannot bring himself to refer to Adler by name, calling her "the woman"5 instead. At the close of the case, Holmes also behaves strangely when, in an unusually sentimental gesture, he asks to keep the photograph of Adler as payment of services rendered, in lieu of a valuable emerald ring. This selfless gesture is even more extraordinary when one remembers how adamant Holmes had been about payment at the beginning of the story. When he first sees the King, the detective remarks that "there's money in this case;"6 the fee is then discussed with great intensity as Holmes inquires "as to money?" to which the Sovereign replies, "you have carte blanche.... I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to have that photograph." Holmes insists "and for present expenses?" He then gets "three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in notes."7 The request seems even stranger as Holmes already possesses a memento...