The three of us made no conversation while the woman obligingly drank down the tea. She had removed the hat from her head when it was apparent that Sherlock Holmes and I would not be contented until we were certain that she was comfortable and well, and revealed a mass of curling brown hair, hastily arranged. Her eyes were keen and a deep blue, and her high brow revealed an intelligence that was also apparent in the set of her rosy lips.
When she had completed her cup of tea and warmed herself before the fire, some colour had returned to her cheeks. I was as sure as I could be that she was of strong constitution and in no immediate medical danger. She looked to me, almost as if she were seeking permission before continuing. I nodded to her and she laid aside her cup.
"Mr Holmes," she began again, a touch of amusement in her voice, "now that your friend has determined me able enough to speak, I will tell you something of the matter that has brought me here."
"Do not tax yourself," urged Holmes. "Perhaps I shall rather begin by telling you what I know of you. And you may fill in the details from where I leave off."
"You need not concern yourself with me," she replied leaning forward in her chair, her voice firm and resolute. "I am quite well."
"Go on, Holmes," said I, much more at ease when she was reclining back comfortably in her chair.
"Might I be blunt?" asked Holmes, obviously not wanting to offend the lady's sensibilities.
"If you are so determined to have me rest," she answered, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms, "then please do not hesitate to speak plainly. My sensibilities are not so delicate as may be first presumed."
"When do you expect your husband back from sea?" inquired Holmes.
"Not for several weeks, at the least," she informed him, not the least bit surprised with his question. "The vessel left some months ago, as part of a convoy to the east."
"Does he know of your condition?" asked Holmes sharply, looking unabashedly at her swollen middle. Our visitor's expression did not change, but my own face flushed with Holmes's boldness.
"I shouldn't think so. It is hardly such a thing as may be trusted to a mere letter."
"Holmes," I broke in. "You have even bothered to get the lady's name!"
"Oh," commented he, "but I have no need to inquire. She insisted upon introducing herself prior to being helped up the stairs. Although that help was difficult enough to insist upon."
"I apologize, Doctor Watson," said she sweetly. "You had missed the introduction. I am Mrs Marian Kendrick, and I am sorry to have startled you earlier." She sounded contrite. "When I said that I was glad that you were here, I meant not as a physician per se, but rather as a former Army man."
I was surprised at that. "How theā¦"
"Language, Watson," Holmes interrupted with some amusement. "There's a lady present."
I had had no intention of saying anything that would be inappropriate for the lady's ears, but I was duly chastised nonetheless. "I assure you, Mrs Kendrick," I started awkwardly.
"Think nothing of it," she replied good-naturedly. "I have spent much time around sailors and nothing you could say would shock me."
"Your husband," said I.
"I should think," interrupted Holmes, "that it was not her husband to whom she referred, but rather to her time spent nursing at the naval hospital."
"Quite right, Mr Holmes," she agreed amiably. She didn't appear surprised in the least to hear Holmes's revelation. I, on the other hand, was shocked.
"Now, Holmes, how can you tell that?" I couldn't help but ask.
"I would imagine that it is merely the matter of a simple deduction," Mrs Kendrick spoke up. "A husband would be unlikely to use such language around his wife, so I would have had to have chance to encounter large numbers of sailors under conditions that they would be inclined to use foul language. The two cases that come most readily to hand would be either a seafront pub or a naval hospital. I'm sure inferences can be made on the basis of my attire that I am unlikely to have worked in a pub, leaving the latter as the most probable." She arched a brow delicately at Holmes. "Or am I remiss in my reasoning?"
To his credit, Holmes's face had a mild look of surprise upon it. "Why no," he told her gruffly. "Your reasoning is sound."
"Mr Holmes," she started again. "Would you care to continue to tell me what you have deduced? Or shall I begin to tell the story as I know it?"
"You may begin," commented Holmes wanly. He was obviously put out to have had his own game turned back upon him.
"Shall I tell all the facts as I know them, or shall I leave out just enough to make the inferences a task of mental concentration?" she asked archly.
"The facts, please," answered Holmes.
"As I'm sure you can figure from that which you have learned of me already," began Mrs Kendrick, "my husband is a naval man; a ship's surgeon on one of Her Majesty's ships. He had been wounded in a squall offshore and come for treatment at the naval hospital at which I was working. He was quite enraptured and proposed marriage. We were married not long after and he is currently in the East and is expected back some time within the month."
"I had deduced as much," noted Holmes dryly.
"You had wanted all the facts," replied she unapologetically.
"So I had," admitted Holmes.
I noted that she moved her hands from her lap to the arms of her chair, clutching slightly at the arms. I half-rose, intending to go again to my bag. "You may regain your seat, Doctor Watson," she assured me. "Your professional assistance will not be required tonight."
I mumbled some excuse about refilling the teacups and inquiring as to whether the lady took sugar. Holmes laughed, having immediately seen through my ruse. "I believe that you are overeager tonight, my dear doctor," noted Holmes. "Kindly remember that the lady herself has something of a medical background." Then to the lady, he commented, "Please continue."
"I lately received a letter posted from my husband," she went on, "instructing me to see to some business he had left unfinished prior to having been shipped out. Through correspondence, I attended to as much as I was able, and the rest I was forced to entrust to a dear friend of ours, a fellow naval man whose ship was then in the harbour."
"When was this letter received?" asked Holmes.
"Six days ago," she informed Holmes. "But it was posted on a much greater time ago."
"Of course."
"Much of the business I had been instructed to tend to was routine; accounts left untended and small kindnesses owed by the ship's company to the families of deceased sailors. My friend dealt with these matters. There was also some personal business that I conducted via correspondence, but these bear little enough upon the problem as it exists."
Normally Holmes would have insisted on knowing the details of the personal business, knowing that no detail could be too trivial. But he did not press the point, rather leaving Mrs Kendrick to continue on. Holmes was behaving strangely, and I half wondered if he was perhaps coming down with something. His normally sallow face was rather too flushed considering his relative location to the fire.
"The reason I have come to you, Mr Holmes, is that given the circumstances, I am unable to properly tend to matters myself. I know you are not in the nature of gathering facts yourself, rather having people bring the facts to you for proper resolution, but perhaps you will be willing to make an exception. The case is not overly complex at the moment, especially for a mind as keen as yours, but you, and your companion, are the only two that I may trust to carry through the matter to its conclusion," said she.
"You may rely on our utmost discretion," Holmes assured her.
"Oh," answered she, returning her hands to her lap, "I have no need of that assurance. I would much rather attend to things myself, for the thrill of the problem you understand, but am quite unable."
"I would imagine that you will be in quite enough trouble from your landlady when you return to your lodgings," noted Holmes.
"Should she learn where I have been, I would imagine so," agreed she. "As you can no doubt tell from the state of my hair and boots, she was unaware of my plans to leave."
"I confess that I had been quite unable to observe the details of your boots," admitted Holmes, "but your dress and hair provided quite enough details for me." He turned to me. "You see, Watson, the dress is several inches too long, and must therefore have been made initially for someone else, likely an older friend or companion. Her hair has been hastily arranged, likely in the few moments while the landlady was occupied with other business, for she would have had no occasion to have it pinned up while she was confined to the house."
"And that it was a landlady she was attempting to evade?"
"It could hardly have been her husband, even if he were not at sea," explained Holmes, "for no self-respecting husband would have allowed his wife to go about in such condition. Had she been living with either her family or her husband's family, she should have more likely sent one of them to us, or summoned us to her. The same holds if she were living with a friend. She and her husband are still newly married, and it would be unlikely that they would have purchased their own home. Which leaves a landlady, and probably one quite well-known to both husband and wife."
"She is, in fact, the wife of my husband's captain, who has insisted upon staying with me in my apartment until such time as she feels right leaving me to stay alone."
"You see, my dear Watson," said Holmes, "thus far nothing has been revealed that couldn't be deduced from the first impression. But I believe that we are coming to some of the more interesting details." He leaned back in his chair and brought the tips of his thin fingers together, closing his eyes.
"And so we are," replied Mrs Kendrick. "My friend, the one I had entrusted with the business that I was unable to tend to, returned to me this morning with a most intriguing letter. One of the widows sent back the note and pittance from the ship's company with this most unusual message." Here she withdrew a note from one of her sleeves, awkwardly levering herself up out of the chair so that she could pass the note across to Holmes.
I was across the room, still standing near the teapot, otherwise I should have immediately snatched the paper from her and prevented her from straining herself. As it was, I abandoned the teapot and hurried to her side, helping her to ease herself back into the comfort of the chair and snatching a pillow from the sofa to place behind the small her back.
Holmes watched my ministrations with a critical eye. "Are you quite finished, Watson?" he inquired lazily, making no effort to help me.
I noted that the lady's face had again gone quite pale and pressed her filled teacup into her hands. Her hands were trembling, although her face appeared quite composed. She was quite unlike any of Holmes's other clients, who generally were quite upset or concerned with the events that caused them to seek him out.
"Please," pleaded she quietly, "take your seat, doctor. My condition may be delicate, but I will not have you wearing yourself out over me. I know well that it has been a hard few weeks for both doctors and nurses and you have likely had little rest. I assure you again that I am in no imminent danger, but rather am just tired with my exertions of the day."
I could understand that and sank down into my own chair. Feeling the need of restoration, I took up my own teacup and waited for Holmes to finish with the note Mrs Kendrick had passed over to him. Holmes read it over several times, then turned over and over in his hands, and held it up to the light, as was his custom.
