"I made five children cry today..."
Sterk is a very serious person with an equally serious and stern expression permanently on his face. This causes numerous women and children, to be afraid of him.
However, when you get to know him you get used to him and thus are no longer bothered by him, though it has caused several misunderstandings. One of them being when someone assumed he was a kidnapper when he surprised them, causing them to scream at the sight of him. This is a matter that it is made quite clear that he is bothered by. To the point where he has abruptly excused himself on occasion and commented "made five children cry today."
His greatest love is raising pigeons. As such he employs messenger pigeons as a result. He very briefly seemed to connect with a fellow pigeon lover, the butler Rufus, until they began to argue about the proper color they should be. Sterk says as pigeons symbolize peace they should be white. Clearly replacing doves in this case. Whereas Rufus Claims Black is a better color as stealth is sometimes required.