Miss Watson of the Sherlock Holmes

John Watson went to the emergency room during the day, and he hurried back to Baker Street in the spring cold until the lights came on.

He jumped out of the carriage, walked quickly to Block 221b, and was about to open the door.A black figure suddenly flashed in front of him.

"Doctor, your telegram." A boy in a faded beret handed him a piece of paper.

Dr. Watson was startled and almost drew his gun.Fortunately, he recognized the immaturity of the voice in time.He held down his hand that had reached the holster around his waist.

In the orange light shining through the glass windows of the house, the black shadow reveals a child's face.

It was the little head of Holmes's squad of Baker Street detectives.

"Wiggins! Don't suddenly come out of the darkness! It's too dangerous." Dr. Watson said to him sternly.

"Sorry, sir." Wiggins shrugged without guilt, and passed the telegram forward again. "Here you are, sir."

Watson reluctantly gave him a shilling, repeatedly confirming that he was not going home alone and was not in danger.Only then did he send the other party away.Then, pinching the telegram, he entered the door that had been opened by the porter.He stood in the hallway, looking through the light in the hallway.

"Oh, Holmes!"

Now there was another sound coming from outside the living room on the second floor, and the sound of rushing upstairs was accompanied by the doctor's fuss.

"I guess you want to tell me. The Green Express is delayed because of an accident?" Sherlock Holmes sat in a large armchair, flipping through a large old book, and replied without looking up.

"Have you also received a telegram from Mr. Holmes?" Watson sighed. "It's really bad luck. They should be stuck on the way for at least 24 hours."

"I know. But I don't think it's a bad thing." Holmes turned a page of the book and said calmly. "Maybe something interesting will happen."

"Interesting?" Watson looked at his friend disapprovingly. "I don't think it's interesting for a young girl to spend two nights on a train parked in the middle of nowhere."

"No, no, no. My dear doctor." Sherlock Holmes finally raised his head, nodded the writing in his hand, and signaled to the other party. "I'm not talking about the accident that happened to them, but perhaps something more miraculous."

Watson followed his fingers suspiciously, and saw that the pages of the detective's book were yellow, but clearly depicted a woman with a fishtail.

"Mermaid?!"

"Yes, mermaid. This is a village known as Mannan's favor." A gray-haired old gentleman took the lead in the front, speaking to the passengers in the No. [-] dining car. "Many villagers here claim to have seen mermaids, and some even say that their ancestors have captured sea horses, and the ponies at home are their descendants."

Ursula and Eric Holmes walked down the main street of a bay village, following the chattering group of travelers.

As for why they weren't on the train.

This has to go back to an hour ago, and Mr. Hayden just said that the village is in the front and back.Passengers in the dining car all looked out the window curiously.As the train moved forward, a small corner of the bay in the story appeared, but the train suddenly made a long beep.

woo woo woo~`~~~~`

There was a sudden brake, and the dishes and wine glasses on the table in the dining car slammed and fell onto the carpet in the car, creating a mess.And those who stood up and gazed curiously were also staggered by inertia.

After the conductor came to a complete stop, he hurried in to apologize, and told the passengers that the train had encountered a breakdown and needed to be repaired.As little as 24 hours, as many as two days.However, in order to appease the passengers, they contacted hotels and post stations in nearby towns and villages. Passengers can choose to wait in the train, visit the towns and villages or leave separately.

Seeing this, the blond nobleman proposed to revisit the old place with his fiancée.The other passengers were also full of curiosity about the small seaside village because of that story.They all expressed that they had nothing to worry about and wanted to meet that magical witch doctor.

So, the passengers of the No. [-] dining car got on the stagecoach that came later, and rushed to the village named Manannan.

Ursula and young Mr. Holmes also fell not far behind the curious group of travelers, listening to the local gentry who came to greet the fair-haired nobleman tell the tales of the village.

"Mannannan, does it mean the south of the sea god in Celtic mythology?" Ursula complained to Eric Holmes in a low voice. "I thought we had left the land of Ireland. It's almost London, and there are still such superstitions, oh no, traditional land."

Little Holmes laughed silently, and also said to Ursula in a low voice: "Then you are really wrong. Even in London, gypsy fortune-telling carriages and fortune-telling hidden in teahouses are the most popular places for noble men and women to visit. place. When social season is over, almost every school-age young girl entering the social world has a pink crystal for marriage."

"Oh, that's really fashionable..." replied Ursula dryly. "Maybe I can sell some money grass as a talisman, and then set up a street stall on the street. The business must be very good." (Money grass, legend has it that it can block bad things from approaching.)

"Maybe there are fortune cookies?" Eric looked at the mixed-race girl with an obvious oriental appearance beside him and laughed and teased.

"No." Ursula shook her head decisively.

"Because there are no fortune cookies in Huaxia?" Little Holmes raised his eyebrows.

"No no no~ just because I don't think it tastes good. But I can bake some green tea cake." Ursula laughed cheerfully. "It is publicized that the pattern formed by the dregs of tea-flavored cakes can also see the future." (Tea divination is to look at the shape of tea dregs after drinking tea)

"Then please be sure to give me this opportunity to spy on fate." Eric Holmes bowed slightly. "As a reward to the divination master, I will offer the best coffee beans."

"Sure." Ursula nodded arrogantly.The two laughed together behind the crowd.

"Everyone, please come in, come to my humble house and have a cup of tea." The old gentleman stopped in front of a Georgian-style building, and turned to invite the passengers.

Most people gladly accept the invitation.Young Holmes surveyed the house with a kind of admiration.Then asked Ursula with his eyes if he wanted to follow.

Ursula shook her head slightly.Gently pulled the hem of the other party's clothes and whispered: "I just saw a rather quaint hotel on the street. I would like to drink tea there."

Young Holmes glanced at her knowingly.Say goodbye to the host politely.

"Georgian buildings with a history of less than 200 years are indeed not detected more than Duyi-style inns." The two were walking towards the inn at the end of the street, and the young Holmes said to Ursula appreciatively. "What's more, the owner is a foreigner who only moved in in recent years."

"Outsiders? I really didn't find out!" Ursula recalled how the other party talked about local myths and legends. "Why... Uh, no, I shouldn't ask Holmes this. It should be, he was exposed? Eric, please tell me."

"Then you have to satisfy my curiosity first." Eric Holmes looked at Ursula in the same amazement. "Since you didn't upgrade because of the building and the owner, why did you choose to drink tea at the hotel. It is obvious that Mr. Lando's tea is much more advanced."

"Maybe it's because I heard from the mother of that cursed lady that they were staying in that hotel?" Ursula looked at him innocently, and when little Holmes just showed the expression that he did a good job, she quickly said: Added a sentence. "Of course, the most important thing is that the villagers who just passed by us talked about going there for afternoon tea. They said that the strawberry sea salt cream trifle there is a must. It is better than that of Mrs. Frau's Cake Shop in London. "

The two stopped and looked at each other.In the end it was Eric Holmes who couldn't help bending over and laughing. "Okay. Okay. Let's go try that amazing strawberry trifle."

"Here." He held out an arm. "Please, Miss Watson."

Ursula took him in her arms with good deeds.By the way, she propped up her folding parasol, and thoughtfully blocked half of the sun for little Sherlock Holmes.

In the restaurant of the Whale Hotel.

Satisfied, Ursula scooped a large spoonful of sea salt cream and stuffed it into her mouth in an extremely unladylike way.

The young Holmes held a cup of sea salt coffee, frowned slightly, and took a sip.Then his silver-gray eyes lit up.

"What a perfect match! Ma'am." He said to the hotel proprietress standing behind the bar. "Sea salt and caramel can be so harmonious in coffee."

"The sponge cake is delicious too! You can tell that the cream is real when you taste it. The strawberries are also delicious." Ursula also praised.

"You two are so sweet." The hotel proprietress with brown curly hair giggled, looking very pleased. "Unfortunately, there are so many tourists in the village, only you two have tasted my craft."

Speaking of which.She sounded a little strange. "Mr. Lando is really enthusiastic~ I heard that there are more than a dozen of you here. Except for a couple of young people like you, are you all drinking afternoon tea at his house?"

Looks pissed off.thought Ursula, taking another spoonful of cream.It's no wonder that there must be very few tourists here who have so many tourists at once.But no one came to the hotel to spend, and they all went to the old gentleman to enjoy free entertainment.

"Ah. Everyone was attracted by the myths and legends told by Mr. Lando. If we hadn't heard about your famous desserts here, we would actually like to hear it too. The village favored by the sea god is really amazing, isn't it? Mr. Lando As expected of a person who has lived here for many years, he really knows the history and stories of the village very well.”

Little Holmes deliberately feigned admiration.

"He's not a native." The proprietress curled her lips. "This old man, ahem, I mean Mr. Lando has only moved here for two years."

"Only two years?" Eric Holmes asked in surprise. "He told a lot of stories about villagers seeing mermaids. Oh, and about the ancestors of this village. I thought..." He stopped to observe the expression of the proprietress.

"Oh, of course he knows. Since the year he moved here, he has been keen to ask everyone about stories." The proprietress really couldn't hold back the conversation. "But I would say that he has adapted too much himself."

"How do you say it?" Eric pretended to listen carefully and encouraged the proprietress to continue.

"It's that mermaid!" The proprietress glanced around, the restaurant, it's past refreshment time, there are only these two guests.Then he complained with confidence. "There are so few legends about mermaids here. Oh, of course I mean compared to the legends about whales here. There must be more than other places," she added.

"In the past. People who come to our place will go straight to this hotel. Then admire the mural of the sea god. That's it." She pointed to the wall on the west side of the restaurant.

A gray slate was inlaid on the wall.On it are engraved with simple lines the patterns of huge fish in the sea and people standing on the surface of the sea.

"That's why we call the Whale Hotel. The legend of our Mannannan village is that the sea god Mannan drove his own boat, led a pair of huge whales, rescued the capsized people from the center of the ocean, and sent them to this bay." The proprietress said proudly. "This slate was found in the cellar when the house was rebuilt during the Duyi period. All tourists and scholars come here for this slate. Our hotel is also famous in some cultural circles for this reason."

"But Mr. Lando doesn't care about this." She held the curly hair around her ear and said disdainfully. "He messes with mermaids and sirens every day. Together with that crazy guy in the village who claims to be a witch. Advertise tourists that there are traces of mermaids and sirens."

"Is that really there? I also heard him say that someone has seen it, and there are some sea monster curses."

"It's nonsense." The proprietress slapped the table angrily. "The only thing we have here is the legend that people saw mermaids under the moonlight a long time ago. The curse of the sea monster is even more nonsense. That old man is thinking every day to replace the orthodox sea god legend here with his fabricated stories! Recently Some of the scholars and artists who came here were deceived by his rich squire who studied mythology, and went to live with him to do mermaid research.”

"But I'm sure those scholars aren't really learned. I live with real folklorists. I don't mix with them at all."

It sounds like it might just be a story of a local innkeeper who relied on cultural tourism for a living and was robbed of his business.Ursula thought, drinking tea quietly beside her, watching Eric Holmes perform the routine.

"Oh, folklorist!" Eric asked with interest. "Is he still living here?"

"Yes. He is still in the bay at this point. There are still some petroglyphs there. He has been copying them for a while. But he should be back soon." The proprietress looked at the wall clock and replied. "If you ask me, this gentleman is a professional. His drawing tools and demeanor are completely different from those weird people over at old man Lando."

At this time, the restaurant's wind chimes rang, interrupting their conversation.A young man in a fedora came in.He was wearing a woolen suit with Scottish plaid, and looked weakly at the bar.

"I'm back, Mrs. Mary. Get me something to eat, please! Hurry up. Oh! I'm dying of starvation. The nasty seagull snatched my sandwich out of it," he cried.

Eric glanced at the other side quickly with his alert eyes.Then she turned her head naturally, and said to Ursula in a voice that was neither too low nor too high, but could definitely be heard by the other party: "Miss Watson, please pass me a scone."

"Ah. Oh, oh, yes. Here." Ursula, who was watching the play all the time, was suddenly caught by the cue, and she didn't react at all, and passed the plate over in a daze.

Sure enough, the young man was noticed.He turned his head to look at the spot except for his only guest.His eyes lingered on Ursula's face.

He took two steps towards the table where she was dining.He took off his hat and asked in a polite tone. "Excuse me, miss. I have just overheard your companion addressing you as Watson. Excuse me, you are Mr. Antonio Watson's daughter."

"Ah, yes. Yes. It's my father." Ursula felt bright.Let's not talk about whether Miss Watson didn't let the other party hear what little Sherlock Holmes said.But this way of recognizing people seems familiar.

She glanced at it, as if Eric, who was suddenly interested in putting jam on the scone, couldn't help but feel sad and angry.

Why was she so easily identified by all kinds of people who knew her elders when she went out!

摔!