Author's Note and Disclaimer:

This is an essay containing my thoughts if I were back in the year 18-something engaged to the amazing deducer, The great Sherlock Holmes. This is purely fictional. I was just wondering if I was in a situation like this and how would I deal with it. You may call this "essay" a short story if you like. Everything aside from me and the part I'm playing is rightfully owned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the honorable author of the adventures of Mr. Holmes. Of course, this story is opinionated, created by another Sherlock Holmes fan, me. If you are interested, pray read on. If you are otherwise, nothing of this text is of value to you. Thank you.

This is now the revised version of the original story. I now did the paragraph spacing.

Thanks for the reviews. I appreciate them very much.

AnD nOw We BeGiN…

Being engaged to a detective isn't easy. Cases are always flying everywhere. Everyday, my dear Sherlock is confined to his little house on Baker Street thinking over a new mystery while smoking his pipe. He never gets much company, except for his clients and his intimate friend, Dr. Watson, who volunteered to chronicle his adventures.

I'm not saying that I don't visit him though. I'm busy attending to the family business, so I rarely get to pay him a visit on Baker Street.

I met Mr. Holmes on the case of our family vault. More than 100,000 British Pounds was stolen from it. The vault was opened or broken into mysteriously. Ironically, it turns out that the butler did it. The method on how, Mr. Holmes narrated based on his smart judgement and the facts that he quickly deduced, but I am until now dumbfounded on how good he was.

I thought the case was unsolvable. But due to his intelligence, we caught the crook and even got all the money back. I was purely amazed by how Mr. Holmes saw clues and deduced facts so fast as if it was merely intuition. I asked Dr. Watson what was behind his peculiar yet amazing thinking, and he just said that, "Its something natural that he does."

I, in my whole life never ever found anyone as talented as the young Mr. Holmes. As he came on regular visits to our manision to investigate on the case then, I apparently knew that he was very interested in sorting out crime, it was actually a hobby of his and he gave up his course on medicine to pursue his well-loved interest of solving a case. How wonderful he truly is.

I ended up being engaged to Mr. Holmes because of my parents who secretly gave my hand to him in marriage for the gratitude of saving the family and the family business. If I were my dear Sherlock, I didn't see much choice in accepting my hand or not.

My parents insisted him to take their beloved daughter for his wife. I don't think he agreed to that deal, but my mother and father would be disappointed if he wouldn't take me. Besides, with the power my parents had, they could easily ruin his reputation by blackmailing or another sort of foul play. They had people for those kinds of doings.

But then, I am sure that Mr. Holmes would have something up his sleeve in return for their unfair treatment. He's probably more cunning than they are. Perhaps he would even scare them with blackmail of his own. Heaven knows what he might do. For all I know, he has a solution.

Either way, he accepted my hand, whether or not he liked it.

I really don't know why he chose to pull through with the engagement despite all the things he could think of to make a come back to my parents. The only advantage I saw in him taking me was partially inheriting the family riches and business which I doubt he is interested in.

When the truth of my engagement was finally revealed to me by my mother, I stood aghast and frozen with shock. Dear me, who would want to be soon married to a person one barely knows? But then, my parents wouldn't take any retort, refusal, or reconsideration of the sort. I had to live with it.

Two years have passed since the actual engagement. Through the time past, I wouldn't say that Mr. Holmes courted me. But he did come often to check on how matters were, how I was doing, and if I had any new case I needed him to crack. He was a sweet man, honestly. And we got to know each other on several outings.

As I examine his enigmatic personality, he makes it seem that being in love and being close to a person would cloud his judgement and mind him with worries. I personally was taken aback with his perception of being close to someone. If he believed like this, then it would seem as that I was a burden. I wouldn't want to be in the way of Mr. Holmes's wonderful capabilities.

I am faced with the fact that soon I am to be wed to a serious and fun-loving detective who may be unfeeling at times. One thing is for sure, keeping secrets from him would be useless, as he would find out sooner or later from observing my actions and scrutinizing me thoroughly with maybe as often as one look. How is that? I wouldn't be able to keep anything secret from him? I'll bet his intuition is even better than that of a mother's.

As days and hours continue to pass, I spend some time in our garden, pondering on the decision he and my parents made two years ago regarding our wedding. Am I to pull through? Am I to withdraw? Heaven knows. I admit, I am in the middle of one impossible task of choosing. What am I going to do? "Impossible". It rings a bell. I know of only one person who likes to solve these kind of problems---Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps I'd call him over today to think this subject over, scanning through any information that hasn't been considered, and identifying possibilities that may occur as what I have done several times with him already. I hope he is still willing to discuss this matter as he might be irritated with my annoyance on this topic.

Oh, what ever the matter. I must drop by his place, or give him a ring. Now where did I put my phone book...

Author's Note:

I hope I didn't bore you people. I was just curious on what would come out of my mind if a situation like this had happened. I sure do wish this wouldn't be my last update to this short story. More chapters would be nice, I guess. I pray you would give me reviews, yes? Please do…So there I have it. And there you have it. Until here, aside from deducing what might come next in school, like a couple of book reports, I must REduce that pile of homework on my desk. Now I must leave my world on Baker Street to snap back to my world on this real street. I bade you farewell. Sincerely, Noelle.

p.s. I am sooo sorry if ever I appeared vain to you…thank you…and don't forget to review!