The Adventure of the Second Stain, one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle. ... Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about Arthur Conan Doyles fictional detective. ... Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. ... The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle. ...

Synopsis

Holmes listening to his clients.

Lord Bellinger, the Prime Minister, and Trelawney Hope, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, come to Holmes in the matter of a document stolen from Hope's despatch box, which he kept at home in Whitehall Terrace when not at work. If divulged, this document could bring about very dire consequences for all Europe, even war. They are loath to tell Holmes at first the exact nature of the document's contents, but eventually they feel that they must tell him that it was a rather injudicious letter from a foreign potentate. It disappeared from the despatch box one evening when Hope was out for four hours. No-one in the house knew about the document, not even the Secretary's wife, with whom he will not discuss his work. None of the servants could have guessed what was in the box. Lordship redirects here. ... A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. ... In the United Kingdom, a Secretary of State is a Cabinet Minister in charge of a Government Department (though not all departments are headed by a Secretary of State, e. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see War (disambiguation). ... A potentate (from the Latin potens, powerful) is an informal term for a person with potent, usually supreme, power. ... A servant is a person who is hired to provide regular household or other duties, and receives compensation. ...

Holmes decides to begin with some spies known to him, and is then astonished to hear from Dr. Watson that one of them that he names has been murdered. Eduardo Lucas of Godolphin Street, near Whitehall, was stabbed to death at his house last night. Holmes is sure that this is beyond coincidence. Spy and Secret agent redirect here. ... Dr. John H. Watson is a fictional character, the sidekick of Sherlock Holmes, the fictional 19th century detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle. ... Whitehall, London, looking south towards the Houses of Parliament. ...

Before Holmes has a chance to act, another piece of the puzzle arrives at 221B Baker Street in the form of Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope, the European Secretary's wife. She asks Holmes about the stolen document's contents, saying that it is in her husband's best interest for her to know. Holmes will only reveal that there would be very unfortunate consequences if the document were not found. Holmes reads terror in Lady Hilda's eyes. Lady Hilda also begs Holmes to tell her husband nothing of her visit. 221B Baker Street is the fictional London residence of the detective Sherlock Holmes, created by author Arthur Conan Doyle. ...

Holmes’s spy hunt does not go well. It lasts days without result. As for the murder, the police arrest Mitton, Lucas’s valet, but soon release him as he has a solid alibi. For alibi used in the sense of a legal defense, see the Wiktionary entry Alibi. ...

Four days after the murder, a newspaper report from Paris connects Madame Henri Fournaye to Lucas's death. A woman matching her description was seen in London, where Mme Fournaye has recently been. She is, it seems, Lucas's wife, Eduardo Lucas and Henri Fournaye having been the same person, as established by photographs. She is of no use as a witness, however, as she has gone insane. This article is about the capital of France. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see Photograph (disambiguation). ... This article is about witnesses in law courts. ... A mental illness or mental disorder refers to one of many mental health conditions characterized by distress, impaired cognitive functioning, atypical behavior, emotional dysregulation, and/or maladaptive behavior. ...

Inspector Lestrade calls Holmes to the murder scene to examine something odd. Lucas bled over a drugget, and the blood soaked through it, but curiously, there is no bloodstain on the floor under the drugget. However, there is one under the opposite edge of the carpet. It can only mean that the constable guarding the crime scene has been foolish enough to let someone in, and leave them alone while they moved things in the room, including the carpet. Holmes tells Lestrade to take the constable to a back room and obtain a confession, which he does, vigorously. Inspector Lestrade arresting a suspect, by Sidney Paget Inspector Lestrade in the Granada television series Inspector Lestrade is a Scotland Yard detective appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. ... For other uses, see Blood (disambiguation). ... For the painter, see John Constable. ...

Holmes finding a hiding place in the floor.

While Lestrade is remonstrating with his wayward constable, and therefore cannot learn anything about the other investigation involving the document, Holmes pulls the unfastened carpet aside and quickly finds a hiding place in the floor, but it is empty.

Lestrade and the constable come back, and the latter tells Holmes that the unauthorized visitor was a young woman. She apparently fainted at the sight of the blood, and the constable then actually went out to get some brandy to revive her, but she had left before he got back. As Holmes is leaving Lucas's house, he shows the constable a photograph, and he recognizes it as the visitor. It has been suggested that Central Ischaemic Response be merged into this article or section. ... For other uses, see Brandy (disambiguation). ...

Holmes now knows where the stolen document is, but not why it was stolen. He goes to the Hope household and confronts Lady Hilda with the evidence. At first, she denies everything, but is forced to admit her wrongdoing under threat of certain scandal. She was a blackmail victim. Eduardo Lucas had got hold of a compromising letter written by Lady Hilda years earlier, and demanded the contents of her husband's despatch box for the return thereof (a spy in her husband's office had made Lucas aware of the document). She went to his house to do the business when, as it happens, his wife from Paris showed up and confronted him about his affair, believing that Lady Hilda was his mistress. Lady Hilda hurriedly left. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A scandal is a widely publicized incident involving allegations of wrong-doing, disgrace, or moral outrage. ... For other uses, see Blackmail (disambiguation). ...

She returned, however, to fetch the stolen document after her visit to Holmes convinced her that she needed to do this. She hands the document to Holmes. Her only problem is how to return it. Holmes suggests putting it back in the despatch box using Lady Hilda’s duplicate key.

They do this, and when Hope arrives back home with the Prime Minister, Holmes pretends to believe that the evidence has convinced him that the document must still be in the box. It is soon found, and Hope rejoices that it was only a mistake.

In this way, the lost document is restored without Lady Hilda’s part in the affair being revealed - though at the possible price of making her husband look a bit stupid. The Prime Minister, however, is no fool. He can see that there is an underlying story. Holmes simply tells him that he also has diplomatic secrets.

Watson in the beginning mentions that publication of the affair was possible because "the times were ripe", but does not elaborate. it can be assumed, though he does not say so, that by the time of publication both Trelawney Hope and his wife Hilda are no longer alive - since the publication would most likely have ruined both their reputations and their marriage - and even so, Watson's indiscretion in publishing their names is not truly explained.

Background

This case was first mentioned in "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty", written 11 years earlier in 1893. In that story, Watson says that this case has "interest of such importance and implicates so many of the first families in the kingdom that for many years it will be impossible to make it public." The Adventure of the Naval Treaty, one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. ... Year 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

A reference in this same story makes it clear that "The Adventure of the Second Stain" is set in July 1888. Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

The British Cabinet never had such a position as "Secretary for European Affairs", and the post filled by Trelawney Hope is clearly that of Foreign Secretary. Evidently, Conan Doyle used a fictional term because the Foreign Secretary of the time (Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne) might have objected to the less than flattering depiction of his fictional counterpart and especially of the fictional counterpart's wife and their married life. The title of Foreign Secretary has been traditionally used to refer to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. ... The Most Honourable Henry Charles Keith Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE (14 January 1845 – 3 June 1927) was a British politician and Irish peer who served successively as Governor General of Canada, Viceroy of India, Secretary of State for War, and Secretary of State for...

Watson states that, due to Holmes' retirement, the detective has been trying to avoid publicity, and only allowed Watson to publish the story because the doctor had "promised" to in "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty."

A spy called Oberstein appears both in this story and in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans (again listed as one of the three most prominent agents in London), set seven years later. The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as His Last Bow. ...

The devise Lady Hilda uses in the story is mirrored in Agatha Christie's 1923 novel The Murder on the Links, when a character acts very similarly in order to steal a knife. Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), commonly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. ... The Murder on the Links is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1923 and in the UK by The Bodley Head in May of the same year. ...

The Granada TV Adaptation with Jeremy Brett is faithful to the original story except that Holmes slips the letter back into the dispatch box while Hope is reviewing the documents with the Prime Minister. Granada TV logo, used from 1956 to 1968. ... Peter Jeremy William Huggins (November 3, 1933 – September 12, 1995), better known as Jeremy Brett, was an English actor famous for his portrayal of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the British television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. ...

The International Situation

The international situation which forms an indispensable background to the story is that of 1904 when it was written, rather than of 1888 when it supposedly takes place - i.e., a time of fast escalating tensions between competing military alliances: "The whole of Europe is an armed camp. There is a double league which makes a fair balance of military power. Great Britain holds the scales. If Britain were driven into war with one confederacy, it would assure the supremacy of the other confederacy, whether they joined in the war or not."

Actually, shortly after the story was written Britain signed the Entente Cordiale and thereby joined one of the "confederacies" mentioned (i.e. France and Russia) against the other (Germany and Austro-Hungaria). However, the actual war was to show the two alliances evenly matched, also with Britain already committed to one of them, and the role of "holding the scales" and deciding the outcome by joining one side was to be eventually fulfilled by the United States. The Entente Cordiale (cordial understanding) is a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and France. ...

The unnamed "foreign potentate" - who was "ruffled by some recent Colonial developments" of Britain and who without consulting his ministers wrote an undiplomatic and provocative personal note to the British government - is very likely to be Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. The fictional behaviour attributed to him in this story closely anticipated his actual conduct a year later, when he was indeed "ruffled by some recent Colonial developments" (in that case, of France in Morocco) and made provocative statements which precipitated the First Moroccan Crisis. Wilhelm II of Prussia and Germany, Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert von Hohenzollern (January 27, 1859 - June 4, 1941) was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and the last King (König) of Prussia from 1888 - 1918. ... The First Moroccan Crisis (also known as the Tangier Crisis) refers to the international crisis over the colonial status of Morocco between March 1905 and May 1906. ...

In the story, the British Prime Minister talks of the possibility of Britain being plunged into "a great war" - a term which would a decade later be capitalised into "The Great War", a name commonly used for what is now usually remembered as The First World War. The fictional PM estimates that such a great war "may well mean the expenditure of a thousand millions [pounds] and the lives of a hundred thousand men" - nightmare figures for the readers in the still peaceful Britain of 1904, but a gross underestimation of the price in money and lives which the actual war would exact. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

Wikisource links

• "The Adventure of the Second Stain" on Wikisource.