Two days had past since her rescuer brought her back to Baker Street. Holmes was barely around so Ellanor had the time to get more acquaintance with Watson and Mrs. Huddson.
Her bag had been send for, because when Ellanor realised that she was free (or at least had new masters) she didn't want to stay in that God forsaken hole longer than she had needed too. Of course she was sad to leave Sarah behind, that girl had taken care of her and been the only friend in the house. But she also knew that things were looking up for her. A man by the name of Mr. Hemingsworth, a long term friend of Sarah's, had finally got the courage to ask her hand in marriage.
When they had their afternoon tea a knock in the door could be heard and Watson opened it. On the other side stood a man in his late 40's with a very odd looking bag in his hands.
"My bag!" exclaimed Ellanor and rose. She still wore her servant outfit, but she felt in desperate need of a change. The bag in itself was not very odd looking for someone who had the knowledge and history of bags up to the 21:st century. It was a quite large handbag made out of red leather. The straps were small; made for wearing around the arm and with small golden letters you could read: Michael Kors. Overall the bag looked new and hardly worn, but it was Ellanors favourite bag, and she was delighted to see it again.
Watson grabbed it and gave the man a chilling. He bowed his head and was down the stairs in a second. Watson closed the door. He carried it to Holmes's bedroom where she had been spending the nights. Sherlock was seldom around, and when he was, he was not sleeping much – he was on a case.
Ellanor found it peculiar that Holmes didn't bring Watson with him. But she also knew that Watson only wrote down the more thrilling and exciting cases, so she thought this must not be one of those cases, and frankly, it looked like Holmes didn't need the Doctor to solve this one.
"It's very kind of Mr. Holmes to lend me his bedroom" Ellanor said when Watson placed her bag on the bed. "What shall we do when he needs it back? I don't have that kind of money to rent an apartment." Well, at least that is what she thought.
Watson, who had by now gotten familiar with the woman's choice of words, didn't think much about them.
"We will think of something." He replayed.
She smiled.
"It's awfully kind of you. I'll pay you back…" "Somehow"
Watson left the room so Ellanor could ramble through her things. Both to her disappointment and delight she could only find new underwear.
"Must have dropped the top and shorts off at the hotel before visiting the museum" She thought, and with a sigh of both relief and dissatisfaction she let her black dress fall to the floor.
Her mouth dropped when she saw it. With shaking hand she held up her purse and opened it. Inside nuzzled between receipts and photographs lay the entire sum of her holiday account; 2500 pounds. She licked her dry lips, the blood drumming in her ears and it's not until she see flickering spots in front of her eyes that she realises that she had held her breath. She exhales through her nose. Carefully she closed her purse and laid it on top of the only book she had with her on the journey, The Complete Sherlock Holmes collection. She smiled vaguely and sat down on the bed
"Finally I can get out of these rags" she thought.
The book finally caught her attention and she opened it with some hesitation. It was torn and well red. She knew every line, smile and gasp. She knew what was supposed to happen next, that's why she was surprised to read her name on the first page of the second case "The sign of Four". She could only read her name once, but then again, this case hasn't taken place yet. This is what she red:
Things became quite different when She stepped into ur lives. Her name was Ellanor and nothing were the same, and I found myself smiling more often than before. Holmes, on the other hand, was buried in work. He did not ask for my assistance in some cases and I did not intrude by compelling him with my presence.
That was it. Nothing more, nothing less. She was in the books she had reread more than 20 times, but somehow she didn't know how to cope with this new feeling that was growing inside her. Did Watson really care for her this much? And what will happen when he meets Mary Morstan?