The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger: The End of Reason

[vaysh]

Dear friends, I am currently in a wonderful place in the Black Forest without internet access, posting from a nearby restaurant that has wifi. My apologies for not yet having read all your drabbles and clerihews. I am looking forward very much to them. Here is my take on last week's story.

Canon Story: The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
Title: The End of Reason
Author: vaysh
Rating: PG
Words: 2 x 60
Author's Notes: Set in 1917. Watson is still practicing in London; Holmes is living in the Sussex Downs. I apologise for the double length; it was just impossible to fit this drabble idea into 60 words.


'He is young, Holmes, barely nineteen. The side of his face – shot of. Nothing left but halves, half mouth, half nose, one eye, one ear. It's a miracle he lived. I am doing what I can for him. It isn't much.'

Holmes' hand was on my shoulder as he looked towards the mantle-piece. I recognised the bottle of prussic acid, the gift Eugenia Ronder had bestowed on him twenty-five years ago.

'Logic, reason, our powers of deduction – those alone have endured through this Great War,' my friend finally said. 'And sometimes, the release this bottle holds is the only logic left to us.'

The sunlight streaming through the window of the cottage seemed unreal, a golden light from the past.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Your dedication does you credit. Hope you are having a wonderful time in the Black Forest.

Such a sad tale - and so poignant.

[vaysh]

I am having so much fun with you all and the community. My dedication is purely self-serving. :)

Thank you!

[debriswoman]

Beautifully linked in, and so sad.

[vaysh]

Thank you. I couldn't help think of the gruesome images of WWI survivors when Watson described the face of Eugenia Ronder.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I second thesmallhobbit's statement - I really admire your commitment to the comm, and I hope you're having a lovely time ^^

What a heart-breaking story - a terrible war, and Holmes and the world losing their youthful sense of hope.

[vaysh]

I am at a wonderful place, with two fellow writers. :) Will post pictures (in my own journal) when I am back.

Thank you so much. I wasn't sure whether I had got across what I meant to express but you read the drabble exactly as I meant it.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I'm really pleased that I interpreted your intentions correctly ^^

Btw, I've added you to my friends' list so that I will be sure to see the pictures when you post them. (Hope this is OK. I'm still uncertain of the rules for friending on LJ.)

[minervas-eule.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this double share - what a sad glimpse of the future.

[vaysh]

There is so much in the news about WWI these days, but what strikes me again and again is how much this war changed the emotional sense of the world people lived in. I am sure men like Watson and Holmes would have felt it keenly.