Today's Prompt: The secret adventures of Mary Morstan (from Wordwielder).

It was around tea time. Mrs. Mary Watson was in the sitting room, reading and sipping at a cup of tea when she heard a sharp rapping at the door. The maid went to answer it, and Mary put aside her novel and stood to greet their visitor - no doubt a patient looking for her husband, who was at the moment out on his rounds, but would return soon.

To her surprise, a young woman strode into the sitting room and took Mary's hands.

"Liza!" Mary exclaimed with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Won't you come away with us for the week?" Liza asked. "Will and I are visiting some friends of his in the countryside again, and I can't bear to go alone. He insisted I come, but they want nothing to do with women there. If you join us, we two can make some sport of our own and maybe you'll give me the courage to talk some sense into him. I know he means well, but he can be so daft sometimes."

"Of course! It can be just as lonely in London as the countryside, this way we'll both have some company. Let me leave a note for John and I'll pack my bags."

It was with some girlish excitement that they hurried upstairs to the bedroom, where Mary threw some dresses into a suitcase, and then they were off with but a moment's notice on what, to Mary, was an impromptu adventure.

"I really don't know what to do, Mary," Liza said as they sat side by side in a cab on their way to the station. "I'm at my wit's end! Will puts on a brave face, but I can see he just doesn't want to worry me about it. I'm afraid any day now we'll be turned out onto the street. If only I was the benefactor of some mysterious treasure, but the closest my father has gotten to buried treasure is the cellar."

"I would offer you a pearl, but I fear the Agra treasure is scattered in the Thames," Mary said with a comforting hand on her friend's arm.

"I know. And I wouldn't ask you to part with it. I could just do with a little treasure of my own." Liza let out a sigh and both women leaned back in their seats, each lost in their own thoughts.

Suddenly, Mary exclaimed, "Liza! Perhaps the Agra treasure is not entirely lost! Mr. Small dumped the chest into the Thames, but what if not all of the treasure was in the chest. We know Mr. Bartholomew Sholto had a miserly vein, like his father. Is it not conceivable that he had already hid away some of the treasure, especially if he knew his brother wanted to share it?"

"If he had hidden it away, how would you begin to know where to look?" Liza asked, barely able to conceal her excitement at the prospect.

"If his father found it fit to hide it for so long in Pondicherry Lodge, I don't see why his son would be any different."

"Oh, it would be wonderful! Just imagine it! What would you do with all those jewels? The men wouldn't miss us, you know."

"I suppose we could pay Mr. Thaddeus Sholto a visit," Mary said with a smile.

"Take us to Pondicherry Lodge," Liza instructed the cabby. "Oh, this is so exciting! Like a treasure hunt right out of a novel!"

"John has been saying he'll write up our adventure with Mr. Sherlock Holmes one day, perhaps we can give him an epilogue."

"Perfect!" Liza declared.

They chatted eagerly about the romantic prospect of treasure all the way to their destination. At last they sent the cabby with their luggage on to the station and made their way up to the doors of the grand house. In the bright light of day, it did not look like the house of tragedy Mary had visited on that fateful night, but it was still with some trepidation that she knocked upon the door.

Thaddeus Sholto's Indian servant led them inside to meet the new master of the house. There was now no doubt to whom it belonged. What had once been ill-kept and threadbare was now covered in rich curtains and tapestries, intercut with paintings and vases. The contents of Mr. Sholto's cramped oasis in the heart of London comfortably spread out to cover the large house.

Mr. Sholto himself met them in the sitting room, still as nervous as ever, repeating everything he said at least twice, if not more. "Mrs. Watson, what a pleasure. It's so good of you to come. What brings you here?"

"My friend and I were discussing that ill-fated Agra treasure and I could not but wonder if perhaps there were a few jewels that had escaped falling into the Thames after all, and we just had to know for sure," Mary explained.

"What do you mean?" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together in nervous excitement.

"Do you think it might be possible that your poor brother managed to hide some jewels away before Mr. Small took the chest?"

Mr. Sholto leaped to his feet. "That would be just like him! Oh, he must have! We must search the entire house!"

"Do you know where he might have hid them?" Mary attempted to pre-empt Mr. Sholto from tearing the house apart.

"I don't know! I don't know!"

"Wasn't the treasure found in some sort of secret attic?" Liza asked. "Or maybe he buried it on the grounds."

"No, no, no. He can't have buried it, and the attic room was searched so thoroughly after the treasure was stolen."

"Well, maybe there's some clue up there," Mary suggested. "After all, they weren't looking for a few hidden jewels."

"Maybe you're right. We must see for certain!" Mr. Sholto exclaimed and led them up into the living quarters of the house without any further ado.

Mary and Liza exchanged excited smiles as their treasure hunt began in earnest.

The room had once been a chemical laboratory, but had since been converted to a storage room.

"I can hardly bear to come in here after the terrible tragedy," Mr. Sholto explained. "I would have never thought to search, but you must be right!"

He opened the secret door to the little attic and the ladies scrambled inside. They examined the walls, the floorboards, the ceiling. Between the three of them they must have checked every inch at least twice by the time they gave up in defeat and at last descended back into the house proper.

"I could have sworn you were onto something, Mary," Liza said, as they sat in the storeroom catching their breath. "But it has been fun treasure hunting."

Mary nodded, but her mind was elsewhere. "Once the little attic was discovered, it's the first place anyone would look, isn't it?"

Liza nodded.

"That doesn't make it a very good hiding spot. Maybe he put the jewels somewhere else. He could have stowed them away in here, near where he was keeping the treasure. With the treasure there, no one would spare a thought to look anywhere else."

"It's worth a shot," Liza said and stood as she started to get her second wind.

Mr. Sholto called his servant to help them move the boxes and furniture as they combed through the room.

Suddenly, Liza exclaimed, "I found something!"

The others helped her pry open a floorboard and buried underneath was a small satchel, heavy for its size. Mr. Sholto did the honor of drawing out the contents; a small handful of priceless jewels and gold.

"It belongs to you," he exclaimed, thrusting the bag at Mary.

She shook her head. "I don't really need any jewels. John's practice does well enough."

"I couldn't in good conscience use them after all my family has cost you," he insisted.

Mary glanced between Mr. Sholto and her friend. "Liza, you should take one. After all, we wouldn't have found them if not for you."

"I couldn't!"

Mary picked a jewel from the pile and handed it to her friend. "For a rainy day. Just in case." She turned to Mr. Sholto. "I don't have a use for them, but maybe someday someone else will. Could you hold on to them for me? I wouldn't want to worry my dear John with it."

"Of course," Mr. Sholto said.

"Are you sure?" Liza asked, still staring at the little crystal in her hands. "Who knows what these jewels are worth."

"I hope you never need to find out," Mary said. "And take it as my thanks for encouraging this adventure of our own."

Note: I love that Mary has a reputation for helping friends with their problems, it's a shame we don't see more of that.