Thank you. Yes, Holmes isn't sure how a direct offer of advice would be received so he's letting Watson think that he's discovered a new place for himself. But Holmes definitely didn't anticipate the consequence. And now he's sort of stuck.

And there was a line I deleted that would have made the ending more ambiguous. Did Mrs. Hudson know what Holmes was up to and was she chastising him for getting caught in a muddle of his own making or was it as you say. I didn't know how much to put her in things.