Revelations II

For an intelligent man, I have been remarkably dense. The truth was within my reach all this time, but I was too blind to see it. I knew the kind of a man John Watson was, in essence, from the very beginning. For all my peculiar talents, he was no doubt the better man. It often seemed that Watson was the follower and I the lead – Watson recounted my feats of reasoning and triumphs of intellect in a manner that made me seem almost inhuman, while I led him to many a wondrous adventure. They do not know that Watson was the force motrice that drove me to these heights, for I needed these fantastical cases to ensure that Watson stayed by my side. Even though I was blind to many other things, I knew that he was the better man and that if I did not work to keep him under my thrall, I would surely lose him one day. The irony that I should be the Scheherazade of this tale is not lost on me – Watson’s storytelling gifts made me famous, but it was I who was week after week relentlessly searching for a case that might keep him spellbound a while longer.