Chapter 4

Driving on the streets in London can be a bit tricky at times. Traffic congestion and stoplights and pedestrians have a tendency to slow things down. Hyacinth is becoming impatient because it is getting very close to the time she told her friend that she would arrive. Never wanting to be a second late, or early, Hyacinth puts some pressure on Richard to speed it up.

"Richard, can't you go any faster?"

"Where would you like me to go, Hyacinth? I can only go as fast as the traffic around me and right now it is not fast enough for you. Relax…we are not far from Baker Street, and according to the GPS, you will be there exactly on time…not a minute too soon or too late."

"Thank you, Richard! I can always count on you!" says Hyacinth with appreciation.

Richard couldn't believe what he just heard his wife say. "Hyacinth, that's the nicest thing you have said to me in a very long time!"

Feeling a bit insulted, Hyacinth responds, "Don't be ridiculous, Richard, I am always paying you compliments! You make it sound like I don't ever approve of you and what you do or wear, or say."

Richard knew when to leave well enough alone. After all, she didn't make a rude remark about the roses he cut for Mrs. Hudson. He feels he is one ahead at this point.

Richard knows he should say something to lift her spirits, and when they arrive at 221B Baker Street right on time he knows that should be sufficient.

"Here you are, Hyacinth, right on the dot!"

Richard pulls the car to the curb, gets out and walks around to the passenger side to let Hyacinth out and escort her to the door. He uses the door knocker to knock on the door for Hyacinth. Mrs. Hudson isn't answering her door so he knocks again and rings the doorbell.

When the door opens there is a tall, thin, dark haired young man, in a dressing gown over a handsome button down shirt and pants, standing there. As Hyacinth takes one look at Sherlock, a feeling as if she has seen him somewhere before overwhelms her, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling to say the least.

"Can I help you?" Sherlock asks very annoyed.

"Oh, hello? I'm here to see your Landlady, Mrs. Hudson. You must be one of the new tenants she was telling me about…the consulting detective with a funny name. Sherlock?"

Sherlock clears his throat and responds: "Yes, I'm Sherlock Holmes, the world's only consulting detective. Come in and I will see what is detaining Mrs. Hudson."

"Thank you! This is my husband Richard."

Sherlock nods his head to acknowledge Richard. Richard returns the nod to Sherlock and excuses himself saying he has appointment at an accountant's office in London not too far from Baker Street.

He reminds Hyacinth he will return to fetch her after his meeting is over. She replies affirmatively to him. When Richard leaves, Sherlock closes the door and excuses himself to go find Mrs. Hudson.

"You look very familiar to me. Have we met somewhere before?" Hyacinth nervously asks Sherlock.

"No, no…I don't think so. Unless you were involved in one of my murder cases." Sherlock replies.

Feeling a bit insulted that this consulting detective couldn't even tell she is from an upper class with proper social breeding, she responds, "I should say NOT, young man! I am an upholding, law abiding citizen. I have never murdered anyone nor know anyone who has been murdered, then she mumbles, but there are some in my family who probably have".

Sherlock doesn't want to get any more involved with this woman than he already has so he stores that last statement in his mind palace should he need it in the future, then he goes to fetch Mrs. Hudson.

As he enters her flat, he discovers that she has been eaves dropping all along. Annoyed at her Sherlock firmly but softly tells her, "Mrs. Hudson! You had this planned all along! You heard the knocks and the doorbell. You wanted me to answer the door so I could meet your visitor and therefore be persuaded to play the violin for her".

Mrs. Hudson whispering, "Shhhh! She'll hear you! Yes, OK, I admit it! I did have it planned this way so that you could meet her and see that she is a lovely woman who would enjoy hearing you play a tune on your violin. "PLEEEEEASE, Sherlock!" she says with her hands folded under her chin as if praying.

Groaning, "OH ALRIGHT! BUT NOT NOW, LATER!" He says whispering harshly through gritted teeth.

Mrs. Hudson very happy and pleased has a big smile on her face, "Oh lovely, Sherlock! Thank you!"

As she tries to give Sherlock a hug, he backs up a bit.

"No need, Mrs. Hudson! No need for that".

They both enter the foyer where Hyacinth is waiting for Mrs. Hudson to take her inside to have a lovely visit. Sherlock slightly bows to Hyacinth and grins and excuses himself and goes up the steps to his flat, and Mrs. Hudson invites Hyacinth inside her flat.

Handing Mrs. Hudson her award winning roses, Hyacinth says, "These are for you, dear. I hope you like them. They are from my rose garden. I am not the kind to show up empty handed to my hostess. Not that I ever expect anything in return."

"OHHH they are beautiful, Hyacinth! Thank you very much! Come, let's go into the kitchen so I can put them in a vase with some water."

Hyacinth and Mrs. Hudson go to the kitchen to care for the roses and begin their visit there. Mrs. Hudson finds a lovely vase and Hyacinth shows her how to cut the stem on the roses to get longer life out of them. Mrs. Hudson is very appreciative to Hyacinth for showing her that tip that she already knew but figured it wouldn't hurt to pretend she didn't.

After that, Mrs. Hudson has Hyacinth sit down at the table and serves her some tea and those extra special gourmet biscuits she bought at the bakery, hoping Hyacinth comments on how delicious they look.

"Would you care for a biscuit, Hyacinth?"

"Oh, yes, dear, they look lovely!" And Hyacinth takes a biscuit. "That young man….Sherlock…"

"Yes, what about him?"

"He seemed very familiar to me. Very well-mannered but a bit eccentric, shall we say?"

"That's Sherlock! Who knows what goes on in that funny head of his?"

"I do feel like I met him somewhere before…but as he says…unless I was involved in one of his murder cases, that's highly doubtful. And being the refined woman that I am, I do not associate with people who commit murder or know someone who was murdered."

Coming to that simple conclusion, Hyacinth lets the issue drop and she and Mrs. Hudson have a lovely afternoon chatting, laughing and getting caught up on what has been going on each other's lives.

Part 2

In the flat upstairs, Sherlock is a utterly aggravated that Mrs. Hudson is going to call him to play the violin, but then he has a brilliant idea to just play upstairs in his flat as he does when trying to concentrate on a case. The ladies downstairs will hear him and he just might be able to get away with having to do a "performance" downstairs for Mrs. Hudson's visitor.

"Who is playing that violin so beautifully! It sounds like heaven!" remarks Hyacinth.

"That's Sherlock! He plays when he is trying to concentrate on a case and to clear his mind. Sometimes I don't think he even hears himself playing he gets so deep in thought. I have asked him to come down here and play a tune for you."

"Oh that won't be necessary, dear. I can hear him from here and it sounds just lovely. Besides if you break his concentration and put him in front of an audience he might not do as well. I am not the kind of person who needs a private audience, dear, you know me long enough to know that."

Mrs. Hudson thinks to herself…."Who are you and what have you done to my friend Hyacinth?" The real Hyacinth Bucket is all about Hyacinth Bucket and she doesn't care about anyone but herself. But at the moment Hyacinth is uneasy with Sherlock because she feels she has encountered him before and since it feels like it wasn't a pleasant encounter, she would rather avoid interacting with him fearing he would remember an embarrassing situation that probably involved her 2 sisters and Onslow. That scares her more than anything in her life. After all she has a certain reputation to uphold. Out of sight, out of mind is what she is thinking.

Both ladies put all that out of her mind, and continue chatting.

Sometime during the visit, John returns back to the flat. When he enters he hears Sherlock on the violin and the 2 women laughing like cackling hens that he can hardly believe what he is hearing. The whole atmosphere had done 180 degree turn around from when he left. So John lets himself into Mrs. Hudson's flat and apologizes for interrupting.

"Excuse me, ladies!"

"Oh, John! Come in and meet my dear friend Hyacinth Bucket," says Mrs. Hudson. "John this is Hyacinth, Hyacinth, this is Dr. John Watson, Sherlock's assistant".

Hyacinth hears the word "doctor" and says, "Very lovely to meet you, John. So you're a doctor?"

"Yes, ma'am, and it's lovely to meet you too," answers John.

"What kind of doctor are you," asks Hyacinth.

"An Army doctor, ma'am."

"Where were you deployed?"

"Afghanistan."

"Oh you must have seen all kinds of terrible, terrible injuries there."

"Yes, more than enough…enough to last a lifetime," said John.

"And now you help Sherlock solve murder cases? What's the difference? Isn't it just the 'battlefield' that's different?" remarks Hyacinth.

"That's interesting," says John. "Mycroft says the same thing".

"Mycroft?" asks Hyacinth.

"That would be Sherlock's older brother. He works for the British Government. Sherlock says he IS the British government when he isn't busy being the Secret Service, or the CIA."

They all have a good laugh at that. Then John looks at Mrs. Hudson and asks, "How did you manage to get him to play? Did he play down here?"

"No, no. Well, it was a little planning on my part. I will tell you about it someday. I was going to go call him to come down and play, but Hyacinth said that wasn't necessary. This is satisfactory, John. We can continue chatting and laughing here with the lovely violin music in the background. Just like in a high class restaurant," Mrs. Hudson replies. And both women laughed hysterically over that.

John just looked at them puzzled and wondered what they were drinking in their tea. He smiles at them, tells them to enjoy the rest of their visit and excuses himself and goes back to his flat with Sherlock.

Getting closer to late afternoon, Richard has returned to fetch Hyacinth to take her home. When Mrs. Hudson answers the door to let Richard inside, he hears the beautiful violin music also and makes a comment.

"Hello, Mrs. Hudson, I am here for my wife. Is that real or a recording of a famous violinist?"

"That is not a recording…that is my Sherlock playing Violin. He has been playing and composing quite a while now. It helps him clear his mind and sort out evidence on cases he is trying to solve with Scotland Yard"

"It's very lovely! Is my wife ready to go? It's getting late and we really should be getting back to our home."

"Yes, Richard, I will fetch her for you. Please come in."

Mrs. Hudson goes to fetch Hyacinth for Richard and the 2 women exchange good-byes and Hyacinth promises to have a candlelight supper soon and invite Mrs. Hudson.

"I really enjoyed our afternoon together, Mrs. Hudson. I will be calling you soon to invite you to one of my candlelight suppers," says Hyacinth.

"I am looking forward to it, Hyacinth. Thank you for coming and thank you, Richard for bringing her."

Richard nods to Mrs. Hudson and Hyacinth and Richard proceed to their car and as usual Richard opens the door for Hyacinth to get in and closes it when she does. Then he gets in and after they put on their seatbelts, they are off on their way home.

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