He hesitates again, wondering briefly if he's being made fun of before dismissing the thought as unlikely. Watson lowers his cane and settles into a comfortable posture again.

"I was very ill," he says, his voice stiff, "and Her Majesty's army decided that I was unlikely to be of much use to anyone in the near future. It was more than a decade ago," Watson adds, the tension in his body easing. "I am much recovered from those days."