"I can certainly think of a target for another good right hook," Watson countered. "It wasn't your idea? What utter nonsense. You were dead. You let me believe you were dead."

Advancing, he grabbed Holmes by the shirt, suppressing the urge to simply shake him violently. "How dare you use me like this," he hissed, sounding far more broken than he had as yet, although no less angry. "Am I nothing more than a prop in your mad schemes?"

His eyes were brimming with angry, frustrated tears, which irritated him even further; the last thing he wanted right now was to appear in any way vulnerable. "Give me one good reason," Watson said, "why I shouldn't throw you out of my home right this instant."