“Let me see,” Holmes said. “Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year 1858. Contralto — hum! La Scala — hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw — Yes! Retired from operatic stage — ha! Living in London — quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and is now desirous of getting those letters back.”
— Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “A Scandal in Bohemia”
