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02 - The Curse of the Baskervilles · Sherlock Holmes

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Speaker 1: Chapter two of the Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir
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Speaker 1: Arthur Conan Doyle. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: Chapter two, The Curse of the Baskervilles. I have in
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Speaker 1: my pocket a manuscript, said doctor James Mortimer. I observed
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Speaker 1: it as you entered the room, said Holmes. It is
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Speaker 1: an old manuscript, early eighteenth century. Unless it is a forgery.
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Speaker 1: How can you say that, sir, you have presented an
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Speaker 1: inch or two of it to my examination all the
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Speaker 1: time that you have been talking. It would be a
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Speaker 1: poor expert who could not give the date of a
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Speaker 1: document within a decade or so. You may possibly have
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Speaker 1: read my little monograph upon the subject. I put that
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Speaker 1: at seventeen thirty. The exact date is seventeen forty two.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Mortimer drew it from his breast pocket. This family
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Speaker 1: paper was committed to my care by Sir Charles Baskerville,
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Speaker 1: whose sudden and tragic death some three months ago created
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Speaker 1: so much excitement in Devonshire. I may say that I
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Speaker 1: was his personal friend as well as his medical attendant.
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Speaker 1: He was a strong minded man, Sir shrewd, practical and
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Speaker 1: as unimaginative as I am myself. Yet he took this
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Speaker 1: document very seriously, and his mind was prepared for just
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Speaker 1: such an end as did eventually overtake him. Holmes stretched
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Speaker 1: out his hand for the manuscript and flattened it upon
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Speaker 1: his knee. You will observe Watson the alternative use of
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Speaker 1: the long s and the short. It is one of
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Speaker 1: several indications which enabled me to fix the date. I
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Speaker 1: looked over his shoulder at the yellow paper, and the
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Speaker 1: faded script at the head was written Baskerville Hall and
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Speaker 1: below in large scrawling figures, seventeen forty two. It appears
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Speaker 1: to be as statement of some sort. Yes, it is
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Speaker 1: a statement of a certain legend which runs in the
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Speaker 1: Basquerville family. But I understand that it is something more
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Speaker 1: modern and practical upon which you wished to consult me.
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Speaker 1: Most modern, a most practical, pressing matter which must be
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Speaker 1: decided within twenty four hours. But the manuscript is short
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Speaker 1: and is intimately connected with the affair. With your permission,
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Speaker 1: I will read it to you. Holmes leaned back in
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Speaker 1: his chair, placed his finger tips together, and closed his
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Speaker 1: eyes with an air of resignation. Doctor Mortimer turned the
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Speaker 1: manuscript to the light and read in a high cracking
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Speaker 1: voice the following curious Old World narrative of the origin
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Speaker 1: of the Hound of the Baskervilles. There have been many statements,
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Speaker 1: Yet as I come in a direct line from Hugo Baskerville,
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Speaker 1: and as I had the story from my father, who
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Speaker 1: also had it from his, I have set it down
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Speaker 1: with all belief that it occurred, even as is here
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Speaker 1: set forth. And I would have you believe, my sons,
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Speaker 1: that the same justice which punishes sin may also most
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Speaker 1: graciously forgive it, and that no man is so heavy,
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Speaker 1: but that by prayer and repentance it may be removed. Learn, then,
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Speaker 1: from this story, not to fear the fruits of the past,
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Speaker 1: but rather to be circumspect in the future, that those
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Speaker 1: foul passions, whereby our family has suffered so grievously, may
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Speaker 1: not again be loosed to our undoing. Know then, that,
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Speaker 1: in the time of the Great Rebellion, the history of
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Speaker 1: which by the learned Lord Clarendon I most earnestly commend
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Speaker 1: to your attention, this manner of Baskerville was held by
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Speaker 1: Hugo of that name. Nor can it be gain said
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Speaker 1: that he was a most wild, profane and godless man.
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Speaker 1: This in truth his neighbors might have pardoned, seeing that
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Speaker 1: saint have never flourished in those parts. But there was
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Speaker 1: in him a certain wanton and cruel humor, which made
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Speaker 1: his name a by word through the west. It chanced
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Speaker 1: that this Hugo came to love, if indeed so dark
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Speaker 1: a passion may be known under so bright a name,
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Speaker 1: the daughter of a yeoman who held lands near the
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Speaker 1: Baskerville estate. But the young maiden, being discreet and of
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Speaker 1: good repute, would ever avoid him, for she feared his
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Speaker 1: evil name. So it came to pass that one Michaelmas,
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Speaker 1: this Hugo, with five or six of his idle and
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Speaker 1: wicked companions, stole down upon the farm and carried off
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Speaker 1: the maiden, her father and brothers being from home, as
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Speaker 1: he well knew. When they had brought her to the hall,
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Speaker 1: the maiden was placed in an upper chamber, while Hugo
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Speaker 1: and his friends sat down to a long carouse, as
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Speaker 1: was their knightly custom. Now, the poor lass upstairs was
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Speaker 1: like to have her wits to turned the singing and
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Speaker 1: shouting and terrible oaths which came up to her from below.
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Speaker 1: For they say that the words used by Hugo Baskerville
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Speaker 1: when he was in wine, were such as might blast
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Speaker 1: the man who said them. At last, in the stress
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Speaker 1: of her fear, she did that which might have daunted
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Speaker 1: the bravest or most active man. For by the aid
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Speaker 1: of the growth of ivy, which covered and still covers
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Speaker 1: the south wall, she came down from under the eaves,
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Speaker 1: and so homeward across the moor, there being three leagues
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Speaker 1: betwixt the hall and her father's farm. It chanced that
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Speaker 1: some little time later Hugo left his guests to carry
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Speaker 1: food and drink, with other worse things perchance to his captive,
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Speaker 1: and so found the cage empty and the bird escaped. Then,
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Speaker 1: as it would seem, he became as one that hath
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Speaker 1: a devil, for rushing down the stairs into the dining hall,
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Speaker 1: he sprang upon the great table, flagons and trenchers flying
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Speaker 1: before him, and he cried aloud before all the company
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Speaker 1: that he would that very night render his body and
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Speaker 1: soul to the powers of evil, if he might not
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Speaker 1: overtake the wench. And while the revelers stood aghast at
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Speaker 1: the fury of the man, one more wicked, or it
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Speaker 1: may be more drunken than the rest, cried out that
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Speaker 1: they should put the hounds upon her whereat. Hugo ran
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Speaker 1: from the house, crying to his grooms that they should
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Speaker 1: saddle his mare and unkennel the pack, and giving the
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Speaker 1: hounds a kerchief of the maids, he swung them to
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Speaker 1: the line, and so off full cry in the moonlight
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Speaker 1: over the moor. Now, for some space the revelers stood agape,
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Speaker 1: unable to understand all that had been done in such haste.
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Speaker 1: But anon, their bemused wits awoke to the nature of
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Speaker 1: the deed which was like to be done upon the moorlands.
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Speaker 1: Everything was now in an uproar, some calling for their pistols,
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Speaker 1: some for their horses, and some for another flask of wine.
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Speaker 1: But at length some sense came back to their crazed minds,
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Speaker 1: and the whole of them, thirteen in number, took horse
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Speaker 1: and started in pursuit. The moon shone clear above them,
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Speaker 1: and they rode swiftly abreast, taking that course which the
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Speaker 1: maid must needs have taken if she were to reach
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Speaker 1: her own home. They had gone a mile or two
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Speaker 1: when they passed one of the night shepherds upon the moorlands,
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Speaker 1: and they cried to him to know if he had
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Speaker 1: seen the hunt, and the man, as the story goes,
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Speaker 1: was so crazed with fear that he could scarce speak.
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Speaker 1: But at last he said that he had indeed seen
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Speaker 1: the unhappy maiden with the hounds upon her track. But
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Speaker 1: I have seen more than that, said he, For Hugo
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Speaker 1: Baskerville pass me upon his black maire, and there ran
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Speaker 1: mute behind him, Such a hound of hell, as God forbid,
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Speaker 1: should ever be at my eels. So the drunken squires
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Speaker 1: cursed the shepherd and rode onward. But soon their skins
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Speaker 1: turned cold, for there came a galloping across the moor,
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Speaker 1: and the black mare, dabbled with white froth, went past
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Speaker 1: with trailing bridle and empty saddle. Then the revelers rode
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Speaker 1: close together, for a great fear was on them, but
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Speaker 1: they still followed over the moor, though each, had he
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Speaker 1: been alone, would have been right glad to have turned
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Speaker 1: his horse's head. Riding slowly in this fashion, they came
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Speaker 1: at last upon the hounds. These, though known for their
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Speaker 1: valor and their breed, were whimpering in a cluster at
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Speaker 1: the head of a deep dip or goyle as we
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Speaker 1: call it, upon the moor, some slinking away and some
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Speaker 1: with starting hackles and staring eyes gazing down the narrow
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Speaker 1: valley before them. The company had come to a halt,
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Speaker 1: more sober men, as you may guess, than when they started.
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Speaker 1: The most of them would by no means advance, But
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Speaker 1: three of them, the bowl oldest, or it may be,
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Speaker 1: the most drunken, rode forward down the goyle. Now it
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Speaker 1: opened into a broad space, in which stood two of
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Speaker 1: those great stones still to be seen there, which were
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Speaker 1: set by certain forgotten peoples in the days of old.
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Speaker 1: The moon was shining bright upon the clearing, and there
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Speaker 1: in the center lay the unhappy maid, where she had fallen,
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Speaker 1: dead of fear and of fatigue. But it was not
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Speaker 1: the sight of her body, nor yet that of the
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Speaker 1: body of Hugo Baskerville lying near her, which raised the
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Speaker 1: hair upon the heads of these three dare devil roisterers.
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Speaker 1: But it was that, standing over Hugo and plucking at
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Speaker 1: his throat, there stood a foul thing, a great black beast,
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Speaker 1: shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that
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Speaker 1: ever mortal eye has rested upon. And even as they looked,
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Speaker 1: the thing tore the throat out of Hugo Baskerville, on which,
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Speaker 1: as it turned its blazing eyes and dripping jaws upon them.
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Speaker 1: The three shrieked with fear and rode for dear life,
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Speaker 1: still screaming across the moor. One, it is said, died
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Speaker 1: that very night of what he had seen, and the
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Speaker 1: other twain were but broken men for the rest of
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Speaker 1: their days. Such is the tale, my sons, of the
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Speaker 1: coming of the hound, which is said to have plagued
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Speaker 1: the family so sorely ever since. If I have set
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Speaker 1: it down, it is because that which is clearly known
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Speaker 1: hath less terror than that which is but hinted at
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Speaker 1: and guessed. Nor can it be denied that many of
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Speaker 1: the family have been unhappy in their deaths, which have
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Speaker 1: been sudden, bloody, and mysterious. Yet may we shelter ourselves
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Speaker 1: in the infinite goodness of Providence, which would not forever
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Speaker 1: punish the innocent beyond that third or fourth generation which
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Speaker 1: is threatened in holy writ to that Providence. My sons,
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Speaker 1: I hereby commend you, and I counsel you by way
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Speaker 1: of call, to forbear from crossing the moor in those
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Speaker 1: dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted. This
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Speaker 1: from Hugo Baskerville to his sons, Roger and John, with
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Speaker 1: instructions that they say nothing thereof to their sister Elizabeth.
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Speaker 1: When doctor Mortimer had finished reading this singular narrative, he
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Speaker 1: pushed his spectacles up on his forehead and stared across
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Speaker 1: at mister Sherlock Holmes. The latter yawned and tossed the
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Speaker 1: end of his cigarette into the fire. Well, said he,
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Speaker 1: do you not find it interesting to a collector of
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Speaker 1: fairy tales? Doctor Mortimer drew a folded newspaper out of
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Speaker 1: his pocket. Now, mister Holmes, we will give you something
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Speaker 1: a little more recent. This is the Devon County Chronicle
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Speaker 1: of May fourteenth of this year. It is a short
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Speaker 1: account of the facts elicited at the death of Sir
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Speaker 1: Charles Baskerville, which occurred a few days before that date.
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Speaker 1: My friend leaned a little forward, and his expression became intent.
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Speaker 1: Our visitor readjusted his glasses and began. The recent sudden
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Speaker 1: death of Sir Charles Baskerville, whose name has been mentioned
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Speaker 1: as the probable Liberal candidate for mid Devon at the
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Speaker 1: next election, has cast a gloom over the county. Though
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Speaker 1: Sir Charles had resided at Baskerville Hall for a comparatively
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Speaker 1: short period his amiability of character and extreme generosity had
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Speaker 1: won the affection and respect of all who had been
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Speaker 1: brought into contact with him. In these days of neu
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Speaker 1: vau riche, it is refreshing to find a case where
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Speaker 1: the scion of an old county family, which had fallen
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Speaker 1: upon evil days, is able to make his own fortune
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Speaker 1: and to bring it back with him to restore the
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Speaker 1: fallen grandeur of his line. Sir Charles, as is well known,
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Speaker 1: made large sums of money in South African speculation, more
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Speaker 1: wise than those who go on until the wheel turns
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Speaker 1: against them. He realized his gains and returned to England
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Speaker 1: with them. It is only two years since he took
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Speaker 1: up his residence at Baskerville Hall, and it is common
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Speaker 1: talk how large were those schemes of reconstruction and improvement
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Speaker 1: which have been interrupted by his death. Being himself childless,
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Speaker 1: it was his openly expressed desire that the whole countryside
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Speaker 1: should within his own lifetime profit by his good fortune,
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Speaker 1: and many will have personal reasons for bewailing his untimely end.
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Speaker 1: His generous donations to local and county charities have been
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Speaker 1: frequently chronicled in these columns. The circumstances connected with the
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Speaker 1: death of Sir Charles cannot be said to have been
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Speaker 1: entirely cleared up by the inquest, but at least enough
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Speaker 1: has been done to dispose of those rumors to which
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Speaker 1: local superstition has given rise. There is no reason whatever
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Speaker 1: to suspect foul play or to imagine that death could
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Speaker 1: be from any but natural causes. Sir Charles was a
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Speaker 1: widower and a man who may be said to have been,
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Speaker 1: in some ways of an eccentric habit of mind. In
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Speaker 1: spite of his considerable wealth, he was simple in his
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Speaker 1: personal tastes, and his indoor servants at Baskerville Hall consisted
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Speaker 1: of a married couple named Barrymore, the husband acting as
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Speaker 1: butler and the wife as housekeeper. Their evidence, corroborated by
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Speaker 1: that of several friends, tends to show that Sir charles
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Speaker 1: health has for some time been impaired, and points especially
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Speaker 1: to some affection of the heart, manifesting itself in changes
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Speaker 1: of color, breathlessness, and acute attacks of nervous depression. Doctor
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Speaker 1: James Mortimer, the friend and medical attendant of the deceased,
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Speaker 1: has given evidence to the same effect. The facts of
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Speaker 1: the case are simple Sir Charles Baskerville was in the
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Speaker 1: habit every night before going to bed of walking down
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Speaker 1: the famous u alley of Baskerville Hall. The evidence of
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Speaker 1: Barrymore's shows that this had been his custom. On the
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Speaker 1: fourth of May, Sir Charles had declared his intention of
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Speaker 1: starting next day for London, and had ordered Barrymore to
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Speaker 1: prepare his luggage. That night, he went out as usual
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Speaker 1: for his nocturnal walk, in the course of which he
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Speaker 1: was in the habit of smoking a cigar. He never returned.
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Speaker 1: At twelve o'clock, Barrymore, finding the hall door still open,
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Speaker 1: became alarmed, and, lighting a lantern, went in search of
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Speaker 1: his master. The day had been wet and Sir Charles's
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Speaker 1: footmarks were easily traced down the alley. Half Way down
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Speaker 1: this walk there is a gate which leads out on
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Speaker 1: to the moor. There were indications that Sir Charles had
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Speaker 1: stood for some little time here. He then proceeded down
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Speaker 1: the alley, and it was at the far end of
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Speaker 1: it that his body was discovered. One fact which has
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Speaker 1: not been explained is the statement of Barrymore that his
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Speaker 1: master's footprints altered their character from the time that he
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Speaker 1: passed the moor gate, that he appeared from thence onward
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Speaker 1: to have been walking upon his toes. One Murphy, a
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Speaker 1: gipsy horse dealer, was on the moor at no great
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Speaker 1: distance at the time, but he appears, by his own confession,
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Speaker 1: to have been the worse for drink. He declares that
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Speaker 1: he heard cries, but is unable to state from what
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Speaker 1: direction they came. No signs of violence were to be
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Speaker 1: discovered upon Sir Charles's person, and though the doctor's evidence
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Speaker 1: pointed to an almost incredible facial distortion, so great that
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Speaker 1: doctor Mortimer refused at first to believe that it was
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Speaker 1: indeed his friend and patient who lay before him, it
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Speaker 1: was explained that is a symptom which is not unusual
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Speaker 1: in cases of dysneer and death from cardiac exhaustion. This
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Speaker 1: explanation was borne out by the post mortem examination, which
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Speaker 1: showed long standing organic disease, and the coroner's jury returned
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Speaker 1: a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence. It is
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Speaker 1: well that this is so, for it is obviously of
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Speaker 1: the utmost importance that Sir Charles's heir should settle at
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Speaker 1: the hall and continue the good work which has been
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Speaker 1: so sadly interrupted. Had the prosaic finding of the coroner
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Speaker 1: not finally put an end to the romantic stories which
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Speaker 1: have been whispered in connection with the affair, it might
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Speaker 1: have been difficult to find a tenant for Baskerville Hall.
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Speaker 1: It is understood that the next of kin is mister
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Speaker 1: Henry Baskerville, if he is still alive, the son of
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Speaker 1: Sir Charles Baskerville's younger brother. The young man, when last
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Speaker 1: heard of, was in America, and inquiries are being instituted
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Speaker 1: with a view to informing him of his good fortune.
17:49
Speaker 1: Doctor Mortimer refolded his paper and replaced it in his pocket.
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Speaker 1: Those are the public facts, mister Holmes, in connection with
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Speaker 1: the death of Sir Charles Baskerville. I must thank you,
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Speaker 1: said Sherlock Holmes, for calling my attention to a case
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Speaker 1: which certainly presents some features of interest. I had observed
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Speaker 1: some newspaper comment at the time, but I was exceedingly
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Speaker 1: preoccupied by that little affair of the Vatican Cameos, and
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Speaker 1: in my anxiety to oblige the Pope, I lost touch
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Speaker 1: with several interesting English cases. This article, you say, contains
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Speaker 1: all the public facts it does. Then let me have
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Speaker 1: the private ones. He leaned back, put his finger tips together,
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Speaker 1: and assumed his most impassive and judicial expression. In doing so,
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Speaker 1: said doctor Mortimer, who had begun to show signs of
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Speaker 1: some strong emotion. I am telling that which I have
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Speaker 1: not confided to any one. My motive for withholding it
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Speaker 1: from the coroner's inquiry is that a man of science
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Speaker 1: shrinks from placing himself in the public position of seeming
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Speaker 1: to endorse a popular superstition. I had the further motive
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Speaker 1: that Baskerville Hall, as the paper says, would certainly remain
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Speaker 1: untenanted if anything were done to increase its already rather
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Speaker 1: grim reputation. For both these reasons, I thought that I
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Speaker 1: was justified in telling rather less than I knew, since
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Speaker 1: no practical good could result from it. But with you,
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Speaker 1: there is no reason why I should not be perfectly
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Speaker 1: frank The more is very sparsely inhabited, and those who
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Speaker 1: lived near each other are thrown very much together. For
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Speaker 1: this reason I saw a good deal of Sir Charles Baskerville.
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Speaker 1: With the exception of mister Franklin of Laughter Hall and
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Speaker 1: mister Stapleton the Naturalist, there are no other men of
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Speaker 1: education within many miles Sir Charles was a retiring man,
19:49
Speaker 1: but the chance of his illness brought us together, and
19:52
Speaker 1: a community of interest in science kept us so. He
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Speaker 1: had brought back much scientific information from South Africa, and
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Speaker 1: many a charming evening we had spent together discussing the
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Speaker 1: comparative anatomy of the bushman and the hottentot. Within the
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Speaker 1: last few months, it became increasingly plain to me that
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Speaker 1: Sir Charles's nervous system was strained to the breaking point.
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Speaker 1: He had taken this legend, which I have read you
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Speaker 1: exceedingly to heart, so much so that although he would
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Speaker 1: walk in his own grounds, nothing would induce him to
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Speaker 1: go out upon the moor at night. Incredible as it
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Speaker 1: may appear to you, mister Holmes, he was honestly convinced
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Speaker 1: that a dreadful fate overhung his family, and certainly the
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Speaker 1: records which he was able to give of his ancestors
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Speaker 1: were not encouraging. The idea of some ghastly presence constantly
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Speaker 1: haunted him, and on more than one occasion he has
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Speaker 1: asked me whether I had, on my medical journeys at night,
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Speaker 1: ever seen any strange creature or heard the baying of
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Speaker 1: the hound the latter question he put to me several times,
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Speaker 1: and always with a voice which vibrated with excitement. I
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Speaker 1: can well remember driving up to his house in the evening,
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Speaker 1: some three weeks before the fatal event. He chanced to
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Speaker 1: be at his hall door. I had descended from my
21:14
Speaker 1: gig and was standing in front of him when I
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Speaker 1: saw his eyes fix themselves over my shoulder and stare
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Speaker 1: past me with an expression of the most dreadful horror.
21:24
Speaker 1: I whisked round and had just time to catch a
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Speaker 1: glimpse of something which I took to be a large
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Speaker 1: black calf passing at the head of the drive. So
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Speaker 1: excited and alarmed was he that I was compelled to
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Speaker 1: go down to the spot where the animal had been
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Speaker 1: and look around for it. It was gone, however, and
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Speaker 1: the incident appeared to make the worst impression upon his mind.
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Speaker 1: I stayed with him all the evening, and it was
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Speaker 1: on that occasion to explain the emotion which he had shown,
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Speaker 1: that he confided to my keeping that narrative which I
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Speaker 1: read to you when I first came in. I mentioned
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Speaker 1: this small episode because it assumed some importance in view
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Speaker 1: of the tragedy which followed. But I was convinced at
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Speaker 1: the time that the matter was entirely trivial, and that
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Speaker 1: his excitement had no justification. I was at my advice
22:16
Speaker 1: that Sir Charles was about to go to London. His
22:19
Speaker 1: heart was I knew, affected, and the constant anxiety in
22:23
Speaker 1: which he lived, however chimerical the cause of it might be,
22:27
Speaker 1: was evidently having a serious effect upon his health. I
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Speaker 1: thought that a few months among the distractions of town
22:35
Speaker 1: would send him back a new man. Mister Stapleton, a
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Speaker 1: mutual friend, who was much concerned that his state of health,
22:42
Speaker 1: was of the same opinion. At the last instant came
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Speaker 1: this terrible catastrophe. On the night of Sir Charles's death. Barrymore,
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Speaker 1: the butler who made the discovery, sent Perkins the groom,
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Speaker 1: on horseback to me, and as I was sitting up late,
22:58
Speaker 1: I was able to reach Bastville Hall within an hour
23:01
Speaker 1: of the event. I checked and corroborated all the facts
23:05
Speaker 1: which were mentioned at the inquest. I followed the footsteps
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Speaker 1: down the yew alley. I saw the spot at the
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Speaker 1: moor gate where he seemed to have waited. I remarked
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Speaker 1: the change in the shape of the prince after that
23:18
Speaker 1: point I noted that there were no other footsteps save
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Speaker 1: those of Barrymore on the soft gravel. And finally I
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Speaker 1: carefully examined the body, which had not been touched until
23:29
Speaker 1: my arrival. Sir Charles lay on his face, his arms out,
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Speaker 1: his fingers dug into the ground, and his features convulsed
23:38
Speaker 1: with some strong emotion, to such an extent that I
23:42
Speaker 1: could hardly have sworn to his identity. There was certainly
23:46
Speaker 1: no physical injury of any kind. But one false statement
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Speaker 1: was made by Barrymore at the inquest. He said that
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Speaker 1: there were no traces upon the ground round the body.
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Speaker 1: He did not observe any, but I did some little
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Speaker 1: distance off, but fresh and clear footprints, footprints a man's
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Speaker 1: or a woman's. Doctor Mortimer looked strangely at us for
24:15
Speaker 1: an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper
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Speaker 1: as he answered, mister Holmes, they were the footprints of
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Speaker 1: a gigantic hound. End of Chapter two