DR. JOHN WATSON 221 BAKER STREET LONDON
SHERLOCK HOLMES ILL HOTEL DULONG STOP REFUSES TO SEE PHYSICIAN STOP PLEASE COME AT ONCE STOP INSPECTOR RECHARDE LYONS POLICE
I dropped the wire with a curse – I should have gone with him on that case.
It had promised to be a long one, however (had been three weeks since he had left London) and my newly established practice did not allow for such an uncertain prolonged absence.
He probably had not slept or eaten in the last three weeks without me there to perform what he termed 'infernal nagging'; I had no doubt that he had collapsed from mental and physical exhaustion as he had in the past so often. Curse the man and his iron pride and constitution.
After hurried preparations I left London that very day, and the next evening I entered a modest hotel room and scuffed through a litter of telegrams to where my friend lay on the bed, ghastly pale. But his tired eyes lit up with a smile when they saw me.
"I knew I should have come with you, Holmes – you're lucky you did not have a complete mental collapse!" I growled, after finding nothing seriously amiss.
"Yes, I'm glad to see you too, my dear Watson," he replied dryly.
"How are you feeling now?"
"Better."