The Second Stain: Not so Inscrutable

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Second Stain
Rating: G
Warning: Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope/Mme. Henri Fournaye
Author's Note: Let's give our murderer a bit more consideration.

“My fate was sealed, Hilda, the day you answered my letter.”
“We were girls, Marie.”
“Henri! Bastard!”
“We’ll have our happy ending. I’ve found someone to help.”
“That detective’s blind.”
“But his companion is less so. You’ll be declared insane, returned to France by boat for commitment.”
Marie smiled. “Sea voyages are always perilous.”
“I’ll perish conveniently. We’ll start anew.”

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

The famous ACD sea voyage ;)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

If ACD can use it for his purposes, so can I.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Yes, Mme. Fournaye does rather get the Victorian 'exotic and therefore overly passionate' treatment in SECO ^^"

Yours is such an elegant reworking of the story - it connects up the details so neatly. It immediately gives an excellent reason for how 'Lucas' came into possession of the letter, and perhaps gives both women a happier ending.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Right. It's the 'illogical' portrayal that rankles most (today, at least, for me). She could've had a logical reason for killing him. If I'd had more time, I would have thought of a less romantic one, but I also thought of the Lady Hilda's letter and what might be so bad she wouldn't want her husband to know. And yes if ACD can use the wild sea for his purposes, I can do it, too.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Aha. A little 'invisible lesbians' plus the ever-popular Death By Neptune ploy and voila, escape!

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit tired of the 'irrational' portrayal. She's a woman of colour so by default she's capable of a 'passion-driven' murder and women's behavior aren't even worth being considered clues because they're so inscrutable?! Holmes can figure out all kinds of ciphers, expect a woman's mind, lovely. I tried to give her a 'logical' reason for killing Lucas and accentuate that Holmes can't see through Lady Hilda's acting.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

This one falls into Doyle's/Holmes' big, wide, woman-shaped blind spot - right next to his genteel Victorian racism and classism. The women in some of the stories definitely needed a makeover. And considering that a woman of the time could be considered "irrational" (and locked away) for reading novels or objecting to her husband's physical abuse, there's definitely more to the story than we were told.

[debriswoman]

Oh, that's a better and canon-compliant ending:-)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Yes, let's use a couple of tricks from ol' Artie's bag for our own purposes.