Some of these misunderstandings may have a quite legitimate source, often, if not aways, overlooked. We offer some musings on this subject, making use of the Irene episode.

It is not entirely fair that Irene seems to get all the attention from Sherlockians, and so here are some thoughts about that King who, after all, Holmes was working for.

What is not so much a misunderstanding as a missed opportunity is also illustrated in Scandal, when Watson (correctly) deduces that the mysterious note is written on paper from Bohemia.

Then too, some of Watson's misunderstandings may well have their origin in Holmes' habit of keeping his partner a bit mystified as to what he was really up to. The little episode of the palimpsest may be a case in point.

Indeed, it sometimes seems that Holmes is not above burnishing his image with Watson, as he did on the trip to King's Pyland in SILV, where he startled Watson with the observation that they were going at 53 and one-half miles an hour. Holmes claimed that it was the result of a "simple calculation", but as you may see, the calculation was not so simple, and there is some reason to suppose pre-planning was involved.

Of course there is the possibility that not all was known to Watson when he came to write up the cases. One such possibility is explored in this modest pastiche

It has to be admitted that Watson did not help his own case, as he seems to have scattered enough slips of the pen through his writings to allow -- if not to positivily encourage -- speculation on how many wives he had. Speculation has ranged from three (agreed to by a surprizing number of Sherlockians) to a current high of six. In defense of this man, whose matrimonial history seems quite conventional, if tinged with sadness, we present an explanation of why a straight-forward reading of his tales leads to the conclusion that he had but one wife (well, maybe two).

Watson seems to have been somewhat bemused by Holmes' many hobbies, quite a few of which led to the publication of monogaphs on the subjects. One in particular seems to have led Watson into a solecism which may have been deliberate. The hobby was Holmes' study of Medieval music, and the resulting monograph was upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus.