The Secret Diary of Dr Watson

by Anita Janda

  The pressure on Watson must have been severe, from all directions. As Holmes’s secretary and general factotum, Watson would have been treated on an almost hourly basis to the sight of desperate people, turning to the risen Holmes with their eyes shining with hope, then turning to Watson in confusion, wondering why he had lied to them.

  How did they handle it? Did Holmes say that it would all be in Watson’s next adventure? Did Watson say that they would have been equally deceived? Or was it Mrs Hudson’s job to impress upon prospective clients the need for tact, the great importance of avoiding any awkward questions? The only thing we know is that the two partners did not undertake to explain the situation. Had they done so, had they agreed together on what to tell and how to tell it, Watson’s tale of Holmes’s return after the Fall would have appeared in print much sooner than it did.

  Setting aside ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’, Watson’s “Great Hiatus” was to last nearly ten years. Imagine: ten years of silence on the subject which if not nearest to his heart (his life with Mary must have been that) must have been nearest to his lips a dozen times a day. Certainly it was the subject nearest to his integrity.

  ‘The Adventure of the Empty House’ did not make its appearance in the Strand until October, 1903. Just as Watson finally found the words to tell the story of Holmes’s “return from the dead,” Holmes retired from active practice, fleeing London for the Sussex Downs and a life devoted to the study of philosophy and a little light bee-farming. The timing was almost exact, as we know from ‘The Adventure of the Creeping Man’, one of the last cases Holmes ever handled, in September of 1903.

  Coincidence? Fear of a sudden, unmanageable rise in the demand for his services? Or something else?

  I leave it to you to say.

  The End

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