The second stain
The second spot (The Second Stain) is a Sherlock Holmes -Kurzgeschichte by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1904, which in Collier's Weekly was published and Sidney Paget was illustrated. In 1905 she appeared in the complete volume The Return of Sherlock Holmes (The Return of Sherlock Holmes).
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The (fictional) British Prime Minister Lord Bellinger and the Secretary of State for European Affairs Trelawney Hope visit Sherlock Holmes to commission him to retrieve an important document that was stolen from Hope's document case in his house. The contracting authorities tell Holmes that it is extremely important to get the document back because if it were exposed to the wrong hands, it could endanger peace in Europe. At first they do not clarify the contents of the document, but after Holmes threatens to reject the case, they admit that it is a personal note from a European monarch, contains precarious remarks and, if published, means war. Holmes notes the sovereign's name on a piece of paper and hands it to the Prime Minister, who nods in agreement. Now Holmes begins the investigation and questions the State Secretary, who swears that he had not left the document unattended and that he left it in a room next to his bedchamber at night, but that he and his wife were so lightly asleep that no one could have got inside . In addition, neither his wife nor his servants would have known about the explosive contents of the suitcase.
Holmes believes the document was stolen by one of the agents in London and is checking to see if anyone has left the city when Watson surprisingly informs him that Eduardo Lucas of Godolphin Street near Whitehall was murdered in his home. Before he begins his investigation there, Lady Hilda Trewlawney Hope, the Secretary of State's wife, appears in Baker Street and asks Holmes to divulge the contents of the document, because it is important that she know him. However, Holmes refuses to provide information and only gives her to understand that serious consequences can arise from the theft. Before she leaves, Lady Hilda asks that her husband not find out about her visit.
A few days passed without the investigation progressing until the police arrested Lucas' servant Mitton, who, however, had an alibi . Four days after the murder, a newspaper report from Paris reported that Madame Henri Fournaye was responsible for Lucas' death, who was actually called Henri Fournaye and led a double life. His wife is morbidly jealous because of her Creole origin and stabbed her husband in a fit of rage . She is convicted of the act and found insane because of her madness .
Inspector Lestrade calls Holmes to the scene to investigate a strange observation. Lucas was bleeding on a carpet, but there is no stain on the floor where the blood seeped through. Holmes combined that, as a result, someone entered the scene and moved the carpet, although Lestrade assures that the house was continuously guarded. Holmes has Lestrade convict the constable on watch, who admits to having given a woman access to the house. Holmes shows him a photograph and the constable is amazed because it shows the woman. Holmes examines the floor under the carpet again and finds a secret compartment, which is empty.
Holmes now knows who has the letter. He drives to Lady Hilda's house with Watson and confronts her with his conclusion that she has stolen the letter, but he doesn't know why. After initially denying everything, she admits that she stole the letter from the briefcase. Eduardo Lucas forced her to do so because he had a compromising letter from her youth in his possession, which she believed would have jeopardized her marriage to Trelawney Hope should it become known. She didn't want to harm her husband, but had no choice. Holmes devises a way how he can return the document to its owner in an unsuspicious manner and hides it back in the briefcase. When Hope comes into the house with the Prime Minister, Holmes informs him that the only possible conclusion from his investigation is that the document is still in the suitcase, otherwise it would have been published. Hope finds the document as expected and Holmes and Watson's work is done, only the Prime Minister realizes that Holmes was not telling the truth, but when asked by Holmes only receives the answer that he can keep a secret for himself.