Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia (ASH)

The Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and hereditary King of Bohemia visits 221B Baker Street. The King explains that, five years earlier, he engaged in a secret relationship with American opera singer Irene Adler. He is set to marry a young Scandinavian princess but worries that her family will call the marriage off should they learn of this impropriety. The King seeks to regain a photograph of Adler and himself together which he gave to her as a token and which she now threatens to send to his fiancée's family.

The next morning, a disguised Holmes follows Adler and her soon to be husband Norton to a nearby church, where he is unexpectedly asked to be a witness to their wedding. Shortly afterwards, Holmes and Watson not only convince Adler to let Holmes into her home under a disguise, but fake a fire within her home leading her to reveal where the photo was hidden. That night after slipping away from Adler’s home, Holmes and Watson request that the King arrive at Adler’s home in the morning.

When Holmes, Watson, and the King arrive at Adler's house the next morning to retrieve the photograph, her elderly maidservant informs them Adler had left the country via train earlier that morning. Holmes goes to the photograph's hiding spot, finding a photo of Irene Adler in an evening dress and a letter addressed to him. In the letter, Adler tells Holmes she has left England with Norton and promises she will not compromise the King.

Watson concludes the story by noting that Holmes always referred to Adler by the honourable title of "the woman."

Story from Arthur Conan Doyle, 1891.