A Second Explanation

by Maxwell Gabriel Neiman the Second

At this point, the rather disconnected chronology of Holmes's account disintegrates entirely. He breaks off and, rather patchworkily, begins to recount bits of his journeys through Persia and Tibet.

In order to properly comprehend the series of events that took place in that fateful March of 1883, it is necessary to now turn our attention to the Hiatus Era personal writings of Dr. John H. Watson himself. These documents are invaluable to the true Watsonian scholar, for although Holmes is the famous enigma, Watson can only be said to be more so. Here we see some of Watson's demeanor as not a writer of accounts that would further the honor of his friend, but as a man compelled to recount events close to his heart. In these works, the doctor puts pen to paper in desperation so as not to forget a man who he at once venerated and, perhaps secretly, in the darkest corners of his mind, reviled.

Here I begin by print Watson's initial entry to what cannot be properly called either a diary or a memoir, but simply a retrospective, as it was neither intended for publication nor written while events took place. I have omitted his view on events already described by Holmes, as Holmes's viewpoint is the more pertinent to the tale up to that point.