Lestrade chuckled with delight at having puzzled the famous expert.

#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

“No stain! But there must——”

“Yes, so you would say. But the fact remains that there isn’t.”

#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

“Yes? You found——”
Holmes’s face grew tense with anxiety.
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

It has nothing to do with the main fact—can’t have, on the face of it.”

“What is it, then?”

#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

We’ve got it all clear as if we had seen it.”

#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

She knocked at the door—surprise visit, I guess, for he kept his life in water-tight compartments—he let her in, couldn’t keep her in the street. She told him how she had traced him, reproached him.

#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

all pointed to a taste which was luxurious to the verge of effeminacy.

#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

The room into which we were shown was that in which the crime had been committed, but no trace of it now remained save an ugly, irregular stain upon the carpet.

#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

“Halloa! Lestrade seems to have observed something of interest. Put on your hat, Watson, and we will stroll down together to Westminster.”
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

Should I bring it to a successful conclusion, it will certainly represent the crowning glory of my career. Ah, here is my latest from the front!” He glanced hurriedly at the note which had been handed in.
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

Did the letter ever reach him? If so, why is it not among his papers? Did this mad wife of his carry it off with her? If so, is it in her house in Paris?
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

I get reports almost hourly from the government, and it is certain that nowhere in Europe is there any sign of trouble.
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

“You are most long-suffering, but if I have told you nothing in the last three days, it is because there is nothing to tell. Even now this report from Paris does not help us much.”

“Surely it is final as regards the man’s death.”
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

There is evidence that a woman, who might have been Mme. Fournaye, was seen for some hours upon Monday night watching the house in Godolphin Street.
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

It is probable, therefore, that the crime was either committed when insane, or that its immediate effect was to drive the unhappy woman out of her mind.
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

It is conjectured that it was in one of these that she committed the terrible crime which has caused such a sensation in London.
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

and there is evidence to connect her with the crime at Westminster.
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

Our readers will remember that the deceased gentleman was found stabbed in his room, and that some suspicion attached to his valet, but that the case broke down on an alibi.
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

I knew that he was in close touch with every development. Upon the fourth day there appeared a long telegram from Paris which seemed to solve the whole question.
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain

As to the housekeeper, she had heard nothing on the night of the crime. If her master had a visitor he had himself admitted him.
#ArthurConanDoyle
#SherlockHolmes
#TheAdventureoftheSecondStain