24 lines
1.2 KiB
Plaintext
24 lines
1.2 KiB
Plaintext
ADVENTURE I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA
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I.
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To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard
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him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses
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and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt
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any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that
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one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but
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admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect
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reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a
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lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never
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spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They
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were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the
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veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner
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to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely
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adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which
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might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a
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sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power
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lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a
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nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and
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that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable
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memory.
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