Chapter Two

At the top of the stairs to 221 Baker Street, Jane stood with the pistol hidden in her skirts, pointed at the stranger’s back while he looked for his keys. A church bell rang out eleven o’clock. It would be simple to run back to the cab and hire the driver to take her to the train station and wait for the first train north. She could be back in Staffordshire by afternoon, with no harm to her person, or further harm to her reputation, but the piteous way this treetrunk of a man had begged her to end him formed an image in her mind that wouldn’t leave. Would it be right to desert a man determined to end his life?

Caught between the desire to escape and her duty to succor a desperate man, she was blinded by the lamplight when the door swung open, revealing Mrs. Hudson.

“Good evening?”

She was a short woman in a high-necked dress fashionable a decade ago. Her grey hair bundled up beneath a cotton cap escaped in frizzy tendrils, but if she had been sleeping at this hour, her somewhat messy hair was the only indication. Not only did Mrs. Hudson wear proper shoes, but silver rings adorned her fingers and a decorative pin held the ruffled white neck of her blouse closed to her chin.

“Mrs. Hudson, may I present…” He stepped beside Jane.

“Jane Watson.”

“You are a nurse?” The woman’s tone bordered on incredulous.

“Yes, Madame, and in need of lodgings. My trunks are still on board the ship and must be removed tomorrow.”

“And how do you know Mr. Holmes?”

Her unusual companion cut off her answer. “We met, quite by chance, near the docks and decided to share a cab. Miss Watson is made of sturdy stuff, and I can guarantee personally that she will not fall behind on the rent.”

Quite correct. Jane was always punctual with tradesmen and suppliers, but how could he have known?

“Very good, then.” The landlady stepped back, allowing them to follow her up the carpeted staircase.

As she named the price with and without breakfast, Jane noticed that the woman’s clothing had been taken in, inexpertly, so that the seams bulged, but the fabric clung to the woman’s gaunt frame. Unnaturally pale, she reminded Jane of a sparrow with twig-like limbs. Skin hung from her matronly chin as if she had once been comfortably plump. Perhaps the woman had survived a wasting disease.

“The parlor is shared, but the rooms on either side are quite private.” She opened the door to an empty room furnished with a simple dressing table, narrow bed, and a nightstand with an oil lamp.

“How nice to have a window,” said Jane.

“In the daytime, the parlor is airy with large windows and a cozy fireplace. The neighborhood is conveniently positioned close to Oxford Street’s shops to the south, and you can take your exercise in The Regent’s Park to the north. We are also spoiled for transport with Paddington Station, Euston Station, St. Pancras, and King’s Cross Stations only a cab ride away.”

The area was better than anything Jane had expected to afford.

Why was Hudson offering it so cheaply? Because of her unusual tenant, no doubt.

Fear that he would do something rash still troubled Jane. She was not her brother’s keeper, but as a nurse, it was difficult not to see every sufferer as her patient. Once he had exposed his weakness and surrendered his pistol, he no longer inspired fear in her, only pity.

“It would be nice to have a woman’s company,” Mrs. Hudson said. “I am a widow.” She glared at Holmes as if he greatly disappointed her expectations for British manhood.

After the long journey, the emotional turmoil near the docks, and the inevitable nausea as she regained her “land legs,” Jane’s body swayed as she strove not to fall asleep standing up. She reached into her purse and pressed two shillings into the landlady’s hand. “Will this do for tonight? I shall visit the bank tomorrow.”

By “bank,” she meant a pawn shop, for her meager nurse’s wages had mostly gone to upgrading her meals in India and paying for her second-class saloon ticket home. Until she found a good job in London, she would have to live off her emerald hair pin.

But this clean and private room, in a safe and convenient neighborhood, with a sturdy lock on the door?

It was worth any price.