Chapter 4
Watson
The young woman looked very sternly at Holmes and me and said, "Can you at least give me back my clothes, this is really awkward talking to two guys naked." The blood rushed to my cheeks as I realized she was right, "I'm afraid that your clothes are in no condition to be worn, though Mary can possibly provide you with a dress." I suggested then pulled Holmes out of the room along with myself. "Mary!" I called and she arrived carrying a tray with a hot bowl of soup and tea. "I overheard from downstairs and got something for the poor dear's stomach. I'll see if I have anything that will fit her," she said and shuffled past us with the food. Holmes and I waited outside and Holmes said, "Well, we now know that she's American, and very likely a Feminist as well judging by the way she talked." "Or she's merely a girl who values her privacy," I argued back, "I mean really Holmes, why did you go along with that charade if you already knew she was conscious? That was a gross violation of her privacy."
Holmes's face assumed a slight smirk as he said, "I was only trying to determine why she would fake unconsciousness is all, I wouldn't have gone that far, and besides it did help us learn more about her." "That hardly justifies what you did," I said back and we were silent as we waited for her to get dressed.
Sam
The woman that 'Watson' had talked to before, Mary, came in with a tray with some soup and hot tea on it. "Good morning," she said cheerfully. She was about early thirties, kind of petite, but not like those cheerleaders back home, blonde, with large blue eyes and she was dressed in a blue dress with very wide sleeves that ended at her elbows that looked kind of tight around her waist and I could see that her shoes were black leather with two inch heels and sliver buckles on the front. "Um, hi. Thanks for bringing me breakfast," I managed to say. "My pleasure, though I must say, you and your friend gave us quite a fright last night, John and I were up all night checking up on you two," she said. "Yeah, sorry about that, look, this may sound really weird, but what year is this?" I asked her. "Oh, no trouble, after what you went through it's no surprise that you forgot the date, today is January the 27, Eighteen Hundred and Ninety One in the year of our Lord," Mary said. 1891! Holy Crap we were far in the past, but not that far, we've been farther but still.
I took a moment to look at the soup Mary had fixed, and was relieved when I realized it was plain old vegetable soup, no meat in it. "Take your time dear, my husband and Mr. Holmes can wait while you gain your strength, though afterwards we'll need to find you a proper dress to wear, the skirt might be a little short on you I'm afraid," Mary said as I started eating. After a few spoonfuls I finally said, "Can't we hide that somehow, maybe with some shoes or something?" "We will need to hire a cobbler to get shoes that fit you, I'm afraid to say that your feet are too big for mine," Mary told her then she gasped a little and said, "Where are my manners, all this talk and we haven't even been properly introduced. I'm Mary Watson, and you are?"
I had a choice to make then, tell her my real name or lie. I couldn't bring myself to lie for once, it felt…wrong to lie to the woman who was helping Danny and I, feeding me, even lending me her clothes, despite the fact that she didn't even know me. "I'm Samantha Manson, though I prefer Sam," I told her. "It's very nice to meet you…Sam," Mary said, obviously not used to a girl being called 'Sam'.
Watson
It had been about an hour before Mary finally came out of the room while carrying the now empty tray and soup bowl and told us, "She's properly dressed now, although my dress is slightly too small for her, we may need to hire a tailor, haberdasher, and cobbler if we are to give her more comfortable clothes." "I shall see to that," Holmes assured her, "Did she tell you her name and that of her companion?" "I'll introduce you as soon as I take the tray to the kitchen," Mary told him and bustled down to do so. Holmes had a blank expression on his face as Mary came back and let us into the bedroom. The young woman was wearing the violet long sleeved dress I had bought for Mary for our honeymoon and long black stockings. It was obvious that the sleeves were too short, as well as the skirt although the young woman was sitting in a way to hide most of her legs. She was quite a lovely young woman now that she was properly dressed.
"I apologize for how we were earlier. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Doctor John H. Watson," I greeted the young lady. "And I am Sherlock Holmes," Holmes introduced himself, still maintaining his blank expression. I could tell now that he was observing and analyzing her, looking for clues. "I'm Samantha Manson, though I'd prefer it if you just called me Sam," the young lady introduced herself, "And over there is my boyfriend, Danny Fenton." Anyone could feel the slight pain in her voice when she mentioned her…boyfriend. It was obvious that that word meant lover. "And how did you and Danny come to be so injured?" Holmes asked. Miss Manson put her right hand on her forehead and said, "I'm sorry, I'm still so tired from what happened." Holmes looked at her with a piercing glare and said, "Very well, we shall talk to you again when you are feeling better."
We both left and went down to the living room. "She's not talking to us," Holmes said and turned to Mary. "Did she tell you anything about what happened to her and her lover?" "No, I did not ask, and I thought that was your specialty," Mary replied. "Whatever happened, she isn't going to tell us if we are polite about asking. That performance she gave was quite good, she obviously has had to lie before and hide her secrets in like manner, however, she is an amateur compared to me," Holmes said. "And what are you going to do?" I asked, knowing Holmes's methods I feared he would resort to something underhanded and even immoral, remembering how he had once seduced a maid in an attempt to steal scandalous pictures from Ms. Irene Adler, the only woman to ever best him. "Nothing that she won't recover from; I'll wait an hour and then I'm going to give her a thorough interrogation, and I think this," Holmes then picked up the metal cylinder called the 'Ghost Thermos', "to help me."