21. From mrspencil - Mary's secret
Every Christmas, Mary Morstan kept a secret. It was a harmless one, she reasoned; only she suffered.
Mary hated gingerbread with a passion.
She never refused any when the hostess insisted she take some, and she had mastered the polite expression and the emphatic, "It's delicious, thank you." She'd done it since childhood at boarding school, where she'd been taught to eat all she'd been offered; she'd done it under Mrs. Forester's employment; she'd done it at Mrs. Hudson's Christmas dinners. No one had ever noticed anything, until she was next to Mr. Holmes at one party.
"You don't have to eat it, you know," He murmured to her.
"I-"
"You don't like gingerbread. You never have. I know. Your face flickers when you eat it."
"I don't," she confessed, relieved. "But Mrs. Hudson-"
"Won't notice, with so many patrons clamoring for her food. Here, give me yours. You can have my cranberry sauce. I don't care much for it."
They did a stealthy trade and exchanged conspiratorial grins.