Chapter I - An Unexpected Guest
In early May London had begun to heat up. It was now the end of May and 'The Great Heat' as it had become known was the sole topic on the lips of every Londoner from the ushers at the Lyceum Theatre to their illustrious clients.
The Heat seemed to be accompanied by a drought in the criminal activities of the land. Ergo, the combination of my companion's restless and formless bored energy with the stench of London in the heat was making life close to unbearable for both Mrs Hudson and me.
Holmes was stretched out lugubriously on the sofa; his jacket discarded; tie loose and a pained expression on his hawk-like visage. I was sitting by the window observing the squalor Holmes' lethargy had created in the room. On seeing a pair of red velvet slippers placed neatly on the mantel piece, I decided that further perusal of the room could not be good for may health and turned too look at the street. There I saw a familiar and some what forgotten face.
"Holmes we have a guest." I said unable to hide the surprised excitement from my voice.
"A Client?" Asked Holmes sharply though his eyes remained close.
"No, I don't think so."
"Who then?"
"Guess."
Holmes opened his eyes and straightened up. I did not think that even his superior intellect could possibly discover who was at the door.
"Well, it is someone who you are both pleased and rather surprised to see. More surprised than if it were a previous client. You and I clearly both know this mysterious guest so I can only guess it is the young Stamford."
I suppose I should not have been surprised. Homes' deductive powers commonly surpassed my comprehension but his deduction here, whist simple on revealing, did surprise me.
At that moment the doorbell sounded hailing the imminent arrival of out mutual friend…
I had a go at de-typoing this chapter but I'm sure it is far from perfect. I humbly beg that even if you don't want to review you could point out any grammer or spelling mistakes or stylisting/characterisation errors in this whole story because its un-betad and I'd like it not to cause to much main on reading :)