He ought to reveal himself; he ought to drop this pretense and tell Watson now, but the pretense is the only thing that's keeping him upright. It is a difficult thing, to raise oneself from the dead, and what if -- what if he would be unwelcome? Watson has not taken up another lover, Holmes can see that; he sleeps in Holmes's room, he hasn't abandoned their flat. But what if, in the intervening years, Watson had decided to release himself from the terms of their always?

What if, upon discovering the game, he decides Holmes doesn't deserve resurrection?

"It's just that I've seen you a time or two, sir; I have a bookshop at the corner, and when I realized I'd bumped into my neighbor, I thought I ought to come and apologize for my gruff manner. Occupational hazard, sir, to be so involved in my books, and I really wasn't watching where I was going. I only wanted to apologize, sir, and to thank you."