Title: Alpine Photograph
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Rating: G
Length: 223 words
Summary: Watson asks Holmes about a photograph

One of the photographs which Holmes had unearthed prior to telling me about the Musgrave ritual, had shown a mountain scene.  I discovered it again a few days later and asked him about it.

Holmes took the picture and looked at it, smiling as he did so.  “The summer before I went up to university, Mycroft and I were invited to join my cousins on a trip to Switzerland.  Mycroft, naturally, declined the invitation.  He claimed he had too much work to permit his leaving his office.”

I laughed.  “I find it hard to imagine Mycroft, even as a young man, striding through the Alpine countryside.”

“As you say.  However, I was permitted to go by myself.  I felt it a great adventure travelling to meet my cousins by myself and free from the restraints of my immediate family.  We spent an excellent week, whilst Josiah sketched, Edwin and I hiked for many miles, exploring the mountain with the aid of a guide.”

Holmes fell silent for a moment and then added, “That was the last time I saw my cousins.  Shortly after that Edwin left for India and has since died there, and within the year, Josiah, who took the photograph, was dead from typhoid.”

“Bittersweet memories then.  It seems a shame, it looks such a beautiful place I would like to see it for myself.”

“One day, Watson, maybe you will.”