Holmes and Watson End Peace: A Novel of Sherlock Holmes Read Free Page B

got nothing left, but to talk to himself. Except it’s not even like normal talking to yourself; he is having a right old conversation in there with somebody in his head.”
    â€œAre you sure you didn’t let a visitor stay behind, Lucy? The witch will come down hard on you.”
    â€œNo, of course not. A mouse could not hide in those rooms. Poor Dr Watson, Polly. Not a single visitor these last two months.”
    â€œCome on, Lucy. Cheer up and go and put the kettle on. Let’s have a cuppa.”
    â€œThat’s your job isn’t it?”
    â€œMine?”
    â€œPolly put the kettle on, we’ll all have tea.”
    â€œFunny girl... and by the way-you can’t sing!”

Chapter 3
    â€œWhat time is it, Holmes?”
    â€œYou could say it is both late and early, but in reality the time is of no importance.”
    â€œI seem to have forgotten what we were talking about earlier; my brain feels as though it has turned to cotton wool. An old case was it?”
    â€œActually, we were discussing... yes, you are right, Watson, an old case it was.”
    â€œWhy did I get the impression just then that you were humouring me? Oh well... we certainly faced some dangers together, some more tangible than others. Some more deadly than others. That blessed swamp adder; Dr Roylott’s deadly gift to his stepdaughters.”
    â€œIt was a nerve-wracking time waiting there in the dark of Miss Stonor’s room for its presence to make itself known.”
    â€œYou at least had some notion of the nature of what was on its way. I, however was completely in the dark, quite literally of course”
    â€œI did not feel at any time that we ourselves were in danger as long as we acted immediately and decisively.”
    â€œWhich, of course, you did in returning death to its originator.”
    â€œAs I have often said and indeed stated on that occasion; violence does in truth recoil upon the violent and the schemer falls into a pit he digs for another.”
    â€œA shocking way to die though, Holmes.”
    â€œIt was a fate he entirely deserved, he had no compunctions about inflicting such an end on his victims who, after all, were his wards and as such should have been entitled to protection from their stepfather. So, I have to say that Dr Grimesby Roylott’s death has never been on my conscience at any time.”
    â€œA life for a life, Holmes? Regardless of a seemingly just end, it has been an eternal struggle for my conscience. And what of Charles Augustus Milverton?”
    â€œNow there was another evil man who filled me with a revulsion I had hardly known before or indeed since. A miserable man who inflicted misery on those he sought to squeeze of their cash. And if that cash was not forthcoming he thought nothing of ruining reputations and destroying marriages, in fact he delighted in it. As to his death, no, that is not and never has been on my conscience. A cruel man such as he can hardly have cause to complain when justice is meted out to him in such a fashion.”
    â€œThat having been said, Holmes, we could still have saved him and in due course he would have paid the penalty for his crimes.”
    â€œThe end result would have been to destroy that noble woman’s life completely; she who had suffered so much already. No, her bullets were the best end for him.”
    â€œI remember so clearly your refusal to help Lestrade when he appeared in our sitting-room the following morning. If only he had obtained better descriptions of the two men seen fleeing from the house then we might well have landed up in the dock ourselves. Hampstead Heath seemed endless that night.”
    â€œI’m sure that was the impression your readers would have had after reading your account of the matter. Your estimate of how far we ran that night was somewhat of an exaggeration, my friend.”
    â€œPoetic licence cuts across all notions of time and space, Holmes. My