Until the day the soldier arrived, Johnny and Harry were allowed to play with the servants' children. That day, they were building sculptures out of garden mud, heedless of the hot Indian sun beating above them.
Harry, being the oldest, had kept his worn playclothes free of the mud, and so the soldier chose him to fetch some refreshment until the master of the house appeared. Bemused, Harry did nothing. Waiting upon guests was servants' work.
"Didn't you hear me, you filthy little half-caste?" the soldier snarled. He half-threw the boy across the yard.
"I heard you," said Major Watson.
Inspired by Ben Kingsley in Without a Clue, who is to my knowledge the first and so far the only Watson of mixed ethnicity. That, and a line from SCARLET set this mini-series in motion. More to come.