A STRANGER AT THE DOOR- CHAPTER 11- MEANING AND MEMORY
After breakfast, Watson left to attend to a patient and Holmes retreated to his room to take a nap. He would resist sleep until it so overpowered him that he had no choice but to give in to it.
Violet remained in the sitting room at the table looking at a newspaper Holmes had left there. She spent several minutes trying to read, but gave up in frustration. Her mind wandered back to the nightmare. She went over each detail over and over as if to burn it into her memory, then she recalled the journal Holmes had given to her. Instead of trying to commit each detail to memory, she could write them down.
Once she retrieved the journal from her room, Violet returned to the sitting room and sat down at the table. For the first time she noticed the cover of the journal. There were small violets embossed in gold on it. She traced her finger over each one of them and smiled to think that Holmes had chosen this particular one for her. She picked up her pen to start recording her memories of the nightmare. Sunlight streamed over her shoulder as she began to write. It felt good to sit in the light and make a record of the dream that haunted her in the darkness. However, retelling it on paper was as exhausting as it had been when she told it to Holmes in the middle of the night. Laying her pen aside, she sighed and put her head down on the table and slept for an hour. When she awoke, Violet stood up to move to the settee but paused to look out the window and was startled to see a young man standing across the street, his face lifted and looking up at her.
Even from a distance she could see his blond hair and piercing blue eyes. For the briefest moment, Violet thought she recognized him. She whispered, "James, Jimmy?" She leaned her head against the window and stared at him for several minutes..
"Do you recognize that man?" Holmes had come up behind her so quietly that she jumped and almost stumbled back into him before he caught her.
Violet turned to face him. "Yes…. No…. I cannot be sure." She placed her hand over her heart as if that gesture could make it stop racing, "Oh Mr. Holmes, do you always creep up behind people like that?" Then she saw what looked like a glimmer of amusement in his eyes and bit her lower lip to keep from smiling back at him.
She made her way to the settee reflecting on that glimmer in Holmes' eyes. It made him seem for the briefest of moments more warm and human that his usual behavior would indicate. He remained at the window looking out on the street for several minutes before he sat in his chair by the fireplace. "He is gone now, Miss Carroll. As I told you before, do not go out of this house alone for any reason."
She sighed, "Yes, I understand, Mr. Holmes," That little voice within told her, "Do not tell him a lie; that is wrong." In her thoughts Violet told the voice, "I did not lie to him; I only told him I understood what he said to me."
Watson returned to Baker Street shortly before noon. When he entered the sitting room, Violet noticed he was holding something behind his back and smiling. He crossed the room and sat down beside her. "I saw these and thought you might like them." He held out a small bouquet of flowers to her. Violet took them, ran her fingers over the petals and said, "Thank you, they are lovely." A memory stirred in her mind of receiving flowers from someone before. What did it mean?
He saw a puzzled expression on her face. "Violet, are you alright?"
"Yes." She rubbed her face with her hands and pushed back her thick, troublesome hair away from her forehead. "However, my memory is so full of holes; it makes anything that seems new or unknown to me somewhat confusing. I somehow know to show my appreciation for things given to me, but I do not understand the meaning of the gift. I am so sorry."
Watson sat down beside her. "You have nothing to apologize for. As to the meaning for the gift of the flowers, they were intended to give you a little pleasure." He smiled at her and patted her hand. Violet stood up, her eyes filling with tears. "Please excuse me gentlemen, I need to go to my room now." She clutched the flowers to her chest and ran from the room.
"Holmes, she seems distressed. Did you say something to upset her? What happened?" Watson suddenly felt very protective of Violet.
"Watson, it was not anything I said to her. It was what or rather "who" she saw from the window while you were out. There was a man standing across the street looking up at the window. She caught a glimpse of him and for the briefest moment thought she recognized him. "
"Did she seem frightened or confused?" Watson asked Holmes.
"Miss Carroll seemed more confused than frightened. I warned her again not to go out of this house without one of us with her. She told me" she understood". She did not promise me that she would not go out alone. Watson, her distress is only beginning. She is…No we are in for a difficult time as she regains more and more of her memory."
Violet has not promised Holmes anything. Wonder what will happen next?
Note: In the several floor plans of 221B Baker Street I have seen, there is no room like the one Violet is using. I confess it's my own creation. As Mrs. Hudson said in an earlier chapter, it's a "glorified closet". My apologies for not mentioning this sooner.
Dear Readers, again I thank you for your support and reviews.
