[Sherlock Holmes] The Legend of the Nightingale

(God's perspective)

"It's... wonderful, Miss Nightingale," Detective Jones said. "I've heard that the two are good at preparing wonderful surprises for the police. Today I finally saw it with my own eyes."

"Thank you, Mr. Detective." Nightingale smiled and smoothed Holmes's wrinkled cuff. "Cooperating with the police is Mr. Holmes' specialty, and my business in Manchester is nothing more than a trivial skill." Then she headed west in an orderly manner. Holmes saluted, as if he had seen it.

"Mr. Holmes, I beg your pardon for my offense." Holmes said to his father, with an involuntary sarcasm in his tone.Sig Holmes stooped angrily to raise his stick, but Sherlock had picked it up and handed it to him.The old gentleman pulled his cane over and looked at Sherlock's sly smile as if he was about to explode, but he shook his head and gave up.

"I don't care about some things," he said in a muffled voice. "Sherlock, it doesn't work for you anyway. But your mother's test is not so easy. Don't blame me for not warning you."

In front of everyone, Holmes could only shrug his shoulders without answering a single word, successfully hiding a sneer.This matter can be reduced to whether Holmes should refer to the opinion of an old lady who has lived in the manor for many years and hardly ever goes out—the answer is ready to come.Making her old man happy was a technical job, Sherlock never thought he was proficient in it, and it was the only thing he could admit to not being proficient in it.

"Miss Nightingale has a story to share." Jones coughed, beginning to feel like he was meddling in someone else's family meeting.

"It's also very simple to say." Nightingale said, throwing the little book she had crumpled into shape on the table. "Through the relationship of Mr. Holmes, we have borrowed information about these strange things. I copied and bound a small volume. To me it’s literature, to some it’s witchcraft. Then memorize a few letters and inexplicable terms on the train, and you can pretend to be a folk witch. In fact, I I also don’t remember very well, but fortunately, they are all people who can’t even read English, so it’s easy to get away with it. If you really find a professor to test the so-called ‘runes’ I wrote, I’m afraid he will still I thought it was a Chinese character!"

"But how did you send this clue?" Jones asked. "When did you meet Mr. Holmes?"

"I tried to get them to trust Cindy Green to follow the progress of the case," Nightingale said. "None of them can write. This is a bad pen that I claim is needed for the spell. Usually there is nothing to write. They were not entirely sure of me, there was always someone with me at the tailor's shop, and I found time to write only a few words, and they were on the title page of my little book, which I had tucked away during my visit to Holmes' house. In "Faust", which I can't understand a word. Mr. Holmes understands it very accurately, but we both feel that Sherlock Holmes should meet as little as possible with Cindy Green, so that both sides can make up less about each other. things, so they didn’t meet me.”

"I wish you would write more," said Holmes. "The time it took to decipher that paper would have given me enough time to find the clue myself."

"Yes, Mr. Holmes." Nightingale sighed, "Mr. Holmes can actually handle it all by himself. Mr. Holmes, I have applied for my resignation."

"You had better not think of it," said Holmes, snapping his fingers.

"My case has caused you a lot of trouble, Miss Nightingale." Sherinford was still in the embarrassment after the shock, his tongue was a little awkward, "I didn't expect you to take such a risk."

"It's nothing, it's the duty. Believe me, Mr. Holmes, I've seen worse."

"Well sir... ladies and gentlemen, if there are no other questions about this case, we will stop here. We will have to investigate further as to whether Bryant's husband was involved," Jones said. You two are bothered. Of course, the lives of the twins and Miss Odo still depend on her to a large extent, and we will also find ways to solve their problems. Do you have any questions?"

"I'm gone." Holmes looked at the watch in the room. "Is Miss Nightingale still busy?"

"I'd love to give Mrs. Bryant a slap in the face, but considering that Cindy Green has won her one of the big games of her life, I'm not going to bother with her."

Holmes turned to Inspector Jones with an exaggerated gesture of salutation.

"Then, ladies and gentlemen, the show is over for today. I would also like to thank Mr. Holmes and Miss Nightingale again. This is an unprecedented and wonderful case in North Riding."

"Sherlock, I still have something to say." Sherinford adjusted the collar of his coat uncomfortably, and glanced cautiously at Nightingale. "It's a family matter."

"Let me avoid it for a moment." Nightingale replied quickly.Sherinford immediately ordered the maid to take Miss Nightingale to the living room downstairs for tea.The place and the incident made her uncomfortable, and there was the danger of meeting Mrs. Holmes, but she had to do so.Holmes looked at her back apologetically, and shook his head slightly.

"I would never have brought her to this place if it hadn't been for this case."

"You mean you won't come back either?"

"You know exactly what the answer is, Sheringford."

This answer obviously disappointed Sherinford.For a moment, he looked at the indifferent Sherlock speechlessly, feeling a sense of strangeness spontaneously.Ever since Sherlock returned from Europe as a teenager, Sherringford has had this sense of alienation in front of him.

"Sherlock, they didn't mean to make you miserable."

"I don't think there's any point in distinguishing that now." Sherlock knew that Sherringford meant Seager and Violet.

"Then I think you also understand that you shouldn't intentionally..."

"I'm sorry, but I've never deliberately turned against anyone. Some people happen to be in my way, and it's not anyone's fault. If 20 years later, I suddenly turn to the old story to decide whether it is right or wrong, I can only refuse to answer. "

"If only you weren't so stubborn like the old gentleman." Sherinford sighed.Sherlock really didn't answer.

"Miss Nightingale is . A party, going in and out of the place where dragons and snakes are mixed, dealing with people from all walks of life, everyone talked about the female detective in Manchester..."

Sherlock only moved his eyes to look at him, and was indifferent again.In fact, all of them knew what Nightingale's negative reputation in Manchester was.There are not a few people who slander her as "Manchester's undercover/prostitute", and even some newspapers have hinted at it between the lines.

"This is a dilemma. If you are willing to marry her, it will bring gossip to the Holmes family. If the answer is no, an improper relationship will lead to the same or even worse consequences. I hope you can rationally think about it."

"I won't get married." A perfunctory smile flashed across Sherlock's face, which quickly turned into a cold expressionless face very ironically.Sherinford wanted to swallow what he just said, why did he mention "rational thinking" with Sherlock!

"Then, there is still room for negotiation, Sherlock, if what you just said is true."

"It's not because of the reason you think." Sherlock looked down for a long time before finding out the last cigarette. He casually wiped a match on the sleeve of his elder brother and lit the cigarette. "Wouldn't it be too harsh to ask you to understand the absurd idea of ​​a consulting detective leading a woman into a domestic life?"

"But Sherlock..."

"You guys can't imagine me raising a baby already? God, you're a genius."

Sherringford had to admit to himself that he had had Sherlock coaxing children with bullet magazines or warming milk with hydrochloric acid bottles in his mind.Sounds reasonable.

"Big mistake, Sherringford." Sherlock continued mockingly as if he could read his mind. "The landlady is the highly concentrated family life of 221B. The picture that appears in your mind is only valid under one circumstance, and that is me. Leave Baker Street and go back to the manor. As for the feasibility of this hypothesis—I hope you can think about it rationally."

Very well, Sherringford Holmes, you will never settle for the third.

"Then how do you deal with Miss Nightingale?" asked the poor boss. "Objectively speaking, she is really sincere...I'm sorry."

Sherlock moved the cigarette away from his lips in thought, and slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke as if in pain.

"There will never be a day when that answer will be clear enough even to you. By the way, I think Mom is already grilling her."

Looking at the face of Cindy Green who had changed her name, Violet still couldn't arouse any good feelings, but the fact that Nightingale made extraordinary contributions to the case prevented her from taking a cold attitude.She was trying to get straight to the point as quickly as possible, cutting down on the harrowing small talk.

"Now I want to talk seriously about practical issues. I hope you will not be offended, Miss Nightingale."

Nightingale tightened her collar as if feeling a little cold.

"please say."

"The last time we talked in this room, under special circumstances, did your answers—I want a sincere answer—have a hidden meaning?"

"I don't quite understand the question, Mrs. Holmes."

"You said some very ambiguous things about a certain character. You said that if there is such an actor..."

"I remember, ma'am." Nightingale's expressionless face flushed slightly. She remembered that she had said that she would fall in love with the actor who played Mephisto, and she couldn't help but regret that she casually said such a private thing in front of Mrs. Holmes. if. "No offense, but I still don't quite get it."

Old Lady Violet suddenly felt tempted to jump up and order the young woman to get off the estate and never to appear in the presence of any Holmes again, but, as always, she restrained herself gracefully.

"Do you imply Sherlock?"

"I did not expect that, madam. Although Mr. Holmes would be very successful if he were to take the part of Mephisto."

"Do you want to get away with it, Miss Nightingale?"

Nightingale's expression turned serious.

"I need further explanation from you, ma'am."

"You know very well that Sherlock played the part," said the old lady, trembling slightly, "and it was quite successful. Everyone said that it was a loss to the theater stage that he finally left. He had just left college at that time, and except for those close to him Few people know. What do you mean by those words, miss?"

Nightingale grabbed her collar subconsciously.

"I didn't know about it. I thought Mr. Holmes had given up anything to do with literature very early on, except for Hamlet at university and then Dracula in London. I heard he was on stage."

"He went to America with a theater troupe."

"Has he been to America?"

"Yes, and in complete disregard of our objections. How else would he know Chicago, and the hooligans there? Why would he be on that health-damaging drug?"

Nightingale suddenly recalled "The Lord" McGinty.They had become so accustomed to Holmes' supernatural powers that they had never wondered why he was able to track down a man the British had never heard of.

"I think I understand, Mrs. Holmes."

"I've heard about you in Manchester too, and I'm sure you're a man of integrity...but I hope you understand that if Sherlock - a hypothetical - ever settles down, we hope the lady is not one of his colleagues , or a governess or something. And privately, I don't really believe that Sherlock will settle down."

Nightingale looked at her quietly, but the old lady felt a little embarrassed for forcing the conversation, but she continued firmly.

"Miss Nightingale, what I'm saying is also for you. I hope you can make a prudent decision out of the consideration of your future family."

"Does Madam want to say that I will not be allowed to be named Holmes?" Nightingale asked strangely.

"You can say that if you want," replied a choked Violet.

"There won't be such a day." To her surprise, Nightingale said softly without hesitation, "I can assure you."

The author has something to say: consider the next chapter or two and the volume will end. If the author is still angry, add a special episode.In addition, there is another BGM (additional a little spoiler).Forewarned, the next volume (if not counting the epilogue) will be the last volume of the main text, and there will be no more reasoning. _(:з」∠)_So I suddenly feel a little reluctant...