An excellent kind of pastiche, with Phineas Nigellus as an older Sherlock Holmes (and what could be more British?) who never met Watson and had his temper sweetened, and Philipp and Georg Lindner as Germans straight out of The Magic Mountain - mild, poetic, humourless, and respectful of authority. You could practically hear the accents. "Immortal longings" are not just a German theme, though: they have been memorably treated by C.S.Lewis - ever read his magnificent allegory The Pilgrim's Regress? But I enjoyed this.

P.S.: May I ask for your opinion of a fic of mine on somewhat the same theme? http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/fabio_p_barbieri/SOTW01a.html
You don't have to read it if you don't want to, of course.