ENTIRELY TO BE TRUSTED -- PAGE 5
	In VALL: . . . my experience of life has taught me that there are few wives, having any regard for their husbands, who would let any man’s spoken word stand between them and that husband’s dead body. Should I ever marry, Watson, I should hope to inspire my wife with some feeling which would prevent her from being walked off by a housekeeper when my corpse was lying within a few yards of her. (VALL)    About the icy Violet de Merville, Holmes says: I thought of her for the moment as I would have thought of a daughter of my own.(ILLU) And before releasing Leon Sterndale: I have never loved, Watson, but if I did, and if the woman I loved had met with such an end, I might act even as our lawless lion-hunter has done. (DEW) In that little garden of quotations, we hear Holmes say, “my own son, should I chance to have one,” “should I ever marry,” “a daughter of my own,” and “if the woman I loved had met with such an end.” Surely he would not have found these phrases in his mouth if womankind evoked
such emotions as antipathy or disgust. These are not the words of a misogynist. Perhaps most telling of all is his reaction to the wholesome beauty of Maud Bellamy in LION when he is no longer a young man: Women have seldom been an attraction to me, for my brain has always governed my heart; but I could not look upon her perfect clear-cut face, with all the soft freshness of the Downlands in her delicate colouring, without realizing that no young man would cross her path unscathed. (LION) Note again that opening phrase:  "women have seldom been an attraction to me” — seldom means rarely, not never! Again, this can hardly be described as a misogynistic reaction, as it is an admission of his susceptability to feminine allure. And we recall that Watson hoped Holmes’ response to Violet Hunter was something more than professional, and was disappointed when Holmes
showed no continuing interest after the mystery at the Copper Beeches was solved. Perhaps he was detecting a very real attraction that Holmes stifled by turning away. Sexual appeal, after all, was something of an area of expertise for the good doctor. I feel much better now. The man I call Master does not hate or despise women — he even admits our attraction. The care and rigor with which he distances himself from our presence, our influence, makes the case for the temptation he clearly feels. Had he not been subject to our allure, it would not be necessary to construct a life removed so completely from women’s company. Indeed, if Sherlock Holmes had not made the rational decision to avoid the irrational response evoked in him by the company of women, it might have been he who enjoyed three continents’ worth of experience. There’s one quotation I've not yet dealt with. Way back at the beginning, I mentioned that Holmes demeaned my half of the human race by claiming that a woman always runs to tea to soothe her agitation. While black coffee and dry martinis are my preferred pacifiers, I contend that tea is perfectly appropriate at times of stress whether or not the imbiber is equipped with an extra Y
chromosome. Indeed, a cursory reading reveals that such fine masculine fellows as Mortimer Tregennis, Mr. Blessington, Hilton Soames, Mr. Roundhay, and Inspector Lestrade enjoyed a cup of tea. Both Holmes and Watson sipped it frequently, and Holmes offered the beverage to Percy Phelps just before he uncovered the blue-gray treaty masquerading as a breakfast sausage.