December 4: "Inspector Lestrade has retired and sends Holmes a letter" (from W. Y. Traveller)
Dear Mr. Holmes,
It has been some ten years now since your retirement, and I daresay I never should have expected to have stayed in the business longer than you, for whom it often seemed to be your life's sole purpose. But I am gladdened to hear from Watson that you are well and have been, if I may say so, somewhat less energetically engaged in your pursuits in recent years than when our acquaintance was at its peak.
I am writing to you because I myself retired last week. It is a strange thing; I was more than ready to move to the next phase of my life, but now that I have done it, the change is more jarring than I expected. It has only been a week and I've already grown restless. My wife has begun chiding me for speaking so often of crime with her when she would rather speak of more pleasant things.
I have considered Watson to be a dear friend for some years, but you and I tended to meet only for professional matters. I have long held you in high regard, and though we had our occasional professional differences, I would be the first to admit that you were always the best of us when it came to investigation. If we may in our declining years take up correspondence, I would consider it an honor (and my wife would find much relief in it, I think). We will be installing one of those new 'telephones' in our home in the next month or so. Watson told me that you have one already; you always were up with the latest of technology. If you are not too averse to it, I should like very much to talk with you sometimes. You would be welcome to visit of course, but London is far out of the way for you, as the Sussex Downs is for me.
Kind regards,
G. Lestrade
Lestrade,
Call me when the telephone is installed. If I do not answer, I am caring for my bees.
-S.H.