The Girl In The Background – A Young Sherlock Holmes Story

(Part 9)

The day passed pleasantly. We spent the morning strolling in the manor grounds, telling Lily old fairy-tales and picnicking in the heather-covered fields by the river. It was about noon when Sherlock suggested that we take a walk into the woods, and since Lily seemed eager, I agreed. We followed a winding path from my residence which led us past Holmes Manor and towards the most thickly-foliaged section of the woodland, and I found myself becoming observant, for the first time, of how beautiful the trees looked in the golden afternoon sunlight.

"What's on your mind, Rosella?" Sherlock asked me, his voice softer than usual. I smiled at him tenderly, feeling a blush rise to my cheeks.
"Nothing at all, for once. I'm just admiring the view. I absolutely adore England, don't you? I've been to France and Switzerland with my family, and seen many great things – but here, in England, is where I see the most beauty."
"Because it's familiar?"
"I see beauty in both the familiar and unfamiliar, Sherlock. What I know well is comforting, and what I do not know well promises to become comforting also. It's just a question of how long one is prepared to wait."

He gave me a look which was underpinned with slight confusion, and I could not help laughing. "You'll understand it better, someday."
"I truly hope so." I looked ahead, watching Lily pick up the skirts of her dress and chase a butterfly some distance down the path. "Be careful, darling," I called out to her, "it would not be wise to get lost here."
Giggling slightly, Lily turned to look at us. "It's just the woods, isn't it? I like the woods."
My friend smirked, the afternoon sunlight dancing in his eyes as he stepped forward to scoop her up in his arms, "Even the scary brown bears and the beetles?"
"Hmm…maybe not the beetles."
"I thought so."

Although I was listening to the exchange with an affectionate smile, something had caught my attention among a thick grove of trees off to my left. Fooled by the false, sunny security of an afternoon walk with the two people I had come to consider as my family, I ventured out towards the object which glistened among the trees.


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