Watson laid the letter on a nearby table. "It was the best he could have done, in the circumstances," he said. "I'm thankful for what there is. There was a... conversation we had, the night before. He made reference to it."

Always. Watson ran his fingers over the words on the paper, sighing. "I'm not sure what I would have managed to write, were our positions reversed."

In retrospect, he wondered if the 'conversation' they had had the night before had been a goodbye, if Holmes had somehow knew... if that were true, Watson would likely never know the answer.