"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" features a woman with a distinct personality. Discuss the character of Helen Stoner, focusing on her levels of independence, bravery, accomplishment, and likely future. What can you conclude about Sherlock Holmes' opinion of women?

Helen Stoner in The Adventure of the Speckled Band is a particularly independent and brave woman for her time. After her mother's death, she lives with her stepfather, Dr. Roylott, and is accustomed to doing all the housework herself. She says to Holmes and Watson, referring to herself and her sister, "No servant would stay with us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house." Helen Stoner is clearly not spoiled and is hardworking. 
She is also a courageous woman, and she must endure the dreadful and violent temper of her stepfather. In addition, since her sister Julia's mysterious death two years before, she must endure living without any real companion. Her sister died in what Helen Stoner perceives is a frightful way--out of shock--after her sister heard a low whistle and a metallic sound. Helen tells Homes and Watson about her sister, “It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine.” Still, Helen lives on in her stepfather's house, though the horror of what she has endured has made her hair turn white. 
Despite the barbarity of her stepfather, Helen Stoner tries to protect him. When Holmes rolls up the lace on Helen's hand, he finds the following: "Five little livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed upon the white wrist." Her stepfather has clearly seized her violently, but Helen doesn't want to tell Holmes about her stepfather's cruelty because she is honorable and wants to protect him out of a misguided sense of loyalty.
Above all, Helen Stoner is intelligent. She is soon to marry and hears the low whistle in her room one night. She escapes from her room and comes to see Watson and Holmes right away, and she tells them her story in painstaking detail. When they undertake their investigation, she trusts them implicitly and allows them to stay in the room she has been staying in (while she retires to the room she used to use). By trusting them, she allows them to solve the mystery and discover that her stepfather has a snake called a swamp adder that he let loose through the ventilator passage to kill her sister (and that wound up killing him). Helen will likely now live a bright future married to her fiancé, and she will receive her mother's fortune that had been settled on her stepfather. She is clearly a bright, brave, and intelligent woman, and Sherlock Holmes surely respects her and finds her admirable and trustworthy. Holmes is capable of respecting an admirable woman like Helen Stoner.