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The Hound of the Baskervilles · The Hound of the Baskervilles

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  Dedication, My dear Robinson, it was your account of a West Country legend
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  which first suggested the idea of this little tale to my mind. For this,
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  and for the help which you gave me in its evolution, all thanks
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  yours, most truly A Conan Doyle, end Dedication, Chapter one. Mister
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  Sherlock Holmes. Mister Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings,
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  save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was
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  seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth rug and picked up
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  the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was
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  a fine thick piece of wood, bulbous headed, of the sort which is
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  known as a penang lawyer. Just under the head was a broad silver band
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  nearly an inch across to James Mortimer m R C. S. From his
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  friends of the C. C. H was engraved upon it with the date
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  eighteen eighty four. It was just such a stick as the old fashioned family
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  practitioner used to carry, dignified, solid and reassuring, Well, Watson,
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  what do you make of it? Holmes was sitting with his back to me,
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  and I had given him no sign of my occupation. How did you
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  know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of
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  your head. I have at least a well polished, silver plated coffee pot
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  in front of me, said he. But tell me, Watson, what
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  do you make of our visitor stick? Since we have been so unfortunate as
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  to miss him and have no notion of his errand this accidental souvenir becomes of
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  importance. Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it.
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  I think, said I, following as far as I could the methods of
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  my companion, that doctor Mortimer is a successful elderly medical man, well esteemed,
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  since those who know him give him this mark of their apiation, good,
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  said Holmes. Excellent. I think also that the probability is in favor
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  of his being a country practitioner who does a great deal of his visiting on
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  foot. Why so, because this stick, though originally a very handsome one,
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  has been so knocked about that I can heartily imagine a town practitioner carrying
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  it. The thick iron ferrule is worn down, so it is evident that
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  he has done a great amount of walking with it. Perfectly sound, said
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  Holmes, and then again, there is the Friends of the c H.
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  I should guess that to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt to whose
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  members he has possibly given some surgical assistance, and which has made him a
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  small presentation in return. Really, Watson, you excel yourself, said Holmes,
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  pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. I am bound to say
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  that, in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give
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  of my own small achievements, you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It
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  may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of
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  light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.
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  I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt.
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  He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his
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  words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference
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  to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to
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  his methods. I was proud, too, to think that I had so
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  far mastered his system as to apply it in a way which earned his approval.
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  He now took the stick from my hands and examined it for a few
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  minutes with his naked eyes. Then, with an expression of interest, he
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  laid down his cigarette, and, carrying the cane to the window, he
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  looked over it again with a convex lens. Interesting though elementary, said he
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  as he returned to his favorite corner of the settee. There are certainly one
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  or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis for several deductions.
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  Has anything escaped me, i asked, with some self importance. I
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  trust that there is nothing of consequence which I have overlooked. I am afraid,
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  my dear Watson, that most of your conclusions were erroneous. When I
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  said that you stimulated me, I meant to be frank that in noting your
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  fallacies, I was occasionally guided toward the truth, not that you are entirely
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  wrong. In this instance, the man is certainly a country practitioner, and
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  he walks a good deal, then I was right to that extent. But
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  that was all. No, no, my dear Watson, not all,
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  by no means all. I would suggest, for example, that a presentation
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  to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt,
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  and that when the initials c c are placed before that hospital. The
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  words charing Cross very naturally suggest themselves. You may be right. The probability
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  lies in that direction, and if we take this as a working hypothesis,
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  we have a fresh basis from which to start our construction of this unknown visitor.
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  Well, then, supposing that c c H does stand for Charing Cross
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  Hospital, what further inferences may we draw? Do none suggest themselves? You
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  know my methods apply them. I can only think of the obvious conclusion that
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  the man has practiced in town before going to the country. I think that
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  we might venture a little farther than this. Look at it in this light.
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  On what occasion would it be most probable that such a presentation would be
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  made? When would his friends unite to give him a pledge of their good
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  will? Obviously at the moment when doctor Mortimer withdrew from the service of the
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  hospital in order to start in practice for himself. We know there has been
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  a presentation. We believe there has been a change from a town hospital to
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  a country practice. Is it then stretching our inference too far to say that
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  the presentation was on the occasion of the change? It certainly seems probable.
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  Now you will observe that he could not have been on the staff of the
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  hospital, since only a man well established in a London practice could hold such
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  a position, and such a one would not drift into the country. What
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  was he then, if he was in the hospital and yet not on the
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  staff, He could only have been a house surgeon or a house physician,
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  little more than a senior student. And he left five years ago. The
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  date is on the stick. So your grave middle aged family practitioner vanishes into
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  thin air, my dear Watson, and there emerges a young fellow under thirty,
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  amiable, unambitious, absent minded, and the possessor of a favorite dog,
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  which I should describe roughly as being larger than a terrier and smaller than
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  a mastiff. I laughed incredulously, as Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his settee
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  and blew little wavering rings smoke up to the ceiling. As to the latter
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  part, I have no means of checking, you, said I, but
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  at least it is not difficult to find out a few particulars about the man's
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  age and professional career from my small medical shelf. I took down the medical
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  directory and turned up the name there were several Mortimers, but only one who
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  could be our visitor. I read his record aloud. Mortimer James M R
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  c S. Eighteen eighty two, Grimpen, Dartmoor, Devon House surgeon from
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  eighteen eighty two to eighteen eighty four at charing Cross Hospital, winner of the
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  Jackson Prize for Comparative Pathology, with essay entitled is Disease of Reversion? Corresponding
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  member of the Swedish Pathological Society, author of Some Freaks of Atavism lance at
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  eighteen eighty two. Do we Progress, Journal of Psychology, March eighteen eighty
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  three, Medical officer for the pshes of Grimpen, Thorsley and High Barrow.
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  No mention of that local hunt, Watson, said Holmes with a mischievous smile.
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  But a country doctor, as you very astutely observed, I think that
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  I am fairly justified in my inferences as to the adjectives I said, if
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  I remember right, amiable, unambitious and absent minded. It is my experience
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  that it is only an amiable man in this world who receives testimonials, only
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  an unambitious one who abandons a London career for the country and only an absent
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  minded one who leaves his stick and not his visiting card after waiting an hour
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  in your room. And the dog has been in the habit of carrying the
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  stick behind his master. Being a heavy stick, the dog has held it
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  tightly by the middle, and the marks of his teeth are very plainly visible.
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  The dog's jaw, as shown in the space between these marks, is
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  too broad, in my opinion, for a terrier, and not broad enough
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  for it may have been. Yes, by Jove, it is a curly
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  haired spaniel. He had risen and paced the room as he spoke. Now
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  he halted in the recess of the window. There was such a ring of
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  conviction in his voice that I glanced up in surprise. My dear fellow,
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  how can you possibly be so sure of that? For the very simple reason
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  that I see the dog himself on our very doorstep, and there is the
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  ring of its owner. Don't move, I beg you, Watson. He's
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  a professional brother of yours, and your presence may be of assistance to me.
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  Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a
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  step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not
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  whether for good or ill, What does doctor James Mortimer, the man of
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  science, ask of Sherlock Holmes, the specialist in crime come in the appearance
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  of our visitor was a surprise to me, since I had expected a typical
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  country practitioner. He was a very tall, thin man, with a long
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  nose like a beak, which jutted out between two keen, gray eyes set
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  closely together, and sparkling brightly from behind a pair of gold rimmed glasses.
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  He was clad in a professional but rather slovenly fashion, for his frock coat
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  was dingy and his trousers frayed. Though young, his long back was already
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  bowed, and he walked with a forward thrust of his head and a general
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  air of peering benevolence. As he entered, his eyes fell upon the stick
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  in Holmes's hand, and he ran towards it with an exclamation of joy.
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  I am so very glad, said he. I was not sure whether I
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  had left it here or in the shipping office. I would not lose that
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  stick for the world A presentation I see, said Holmes, Yes, Sir,
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  from charing Cross Hospital, from one or two friends there. On the
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  occasion of my marriage. Dear, dear, that's bad, said Holmes,
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  shaking his head. Doctor Mortimer blinked through his glasses in mild astonishment. Why
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  was it bad only that you have disarranged our little deductions your marriage? You
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  say, yes, sir, I married, and so left the hospital and
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  with it all hopes of a consulting practice. It was necessary to make a
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  home of my own. Come. Come, we are not so far wrong
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  after all, said Holmes. And now doctor James Mortimer. Mister sir,
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  mister a humble m R. C. S And a man of precise mind,
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  evidently a dabbler in science, mister Holmes, a picker up of shells
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  on the shores of the great unknown ocean. I presume that it is mister
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  Sherlock Holmes whom I am addressing, and not no, this is my friend,
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  doctor Watson, glad to meet you, sir. I have heard your
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  name mentioned in connection with that of your friend. You interest me very much,
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  mister Holmes. I had hardly expected so dolicocephalic a skull, or such
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  well marked supra orbital development. Did you have any objection to my running my
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  finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, sir, until
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  the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It
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  is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your
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  skull. Sherlock Holmes waved our strange visitor into a chair. You are an
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  enthusiast in your line of thought, I perceive, sir, as I am
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  in mine, said he. I observe from your forefinger that you make your
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  own cigarettes. Have no hesitation in lighting one. The man drew out paper
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  and tobacco and twirled the one up in the other with surprising dexterity. He
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  had long, quivering fingers, as agile and restless as the antennae of an
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  insect. Holmes was silent, but his little darting glances showed me the interest
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  which he took in our curious companion. I presume, sir, said he
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  at last, that it was not merely for the purpose of examining my skull
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  that you have done me the honor to call here last night and again to
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  day. No, sir, no, though I am happy to have had
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  the opportunity of doing that as well. I came to you, mister Holmes,
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  because I recognize that I am myself an unpractical man, and because I
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  am suddenly confronted with a most serious and extraordinary problem. Recognizing as I do,
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  that you are the second highest expert in Europe. Indeed, Sir,
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  may I enquire who has the honor to be the first? Asked Holmes,
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  with some asperity. To the man of precisely scientific mind. The work of
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  Monsieur Bertillon must always appeal strongly. Then had you not better consult him,
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  I said, sir, to the precisely scientific mind. But as a practical
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  man of affairs, it is acknowledged that you stand alone. I trust,
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  sir, that I have not inadvertently just a little, said Holmes. I
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  think, doctor Mortimer, you would do wisely if, without more ado,
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  you would kindly tell me plainly what the exact nature of the problem is in
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  which you demand my assistance. End of chapter one, Chapter two, The
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  Curse of the Baskervilles. I have in my pocket a manuscript, said doctor
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  James Mortimer. I observed it as you entered the room, said Holmes.
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  It is an old manuscript, early eighteenth century. Unless it is a forgery.
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  How can you say that, sir, you have presented an inch or
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  two of it to my examination all the time that you have been talking.
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  It would be a poor expert who could not give the date of a document
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  within a decade or so. You may possibly have read my little monograph upon
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  the subject. I put that at seventeen thirty. The exact date is seventeen
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  forty two. Doctor Mortimer drew it from his breast pocket. This family paper
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  was committed to my care by Sir Charles Baskerville, whose sudden and tragic death
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  some three months ago created so much excitement in Devonshire. I may say that
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  I was his personal friend as well as his medical attendant. He was a
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  strong minded man, Sir shrewd, practical, and as unimaginative as I am
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  myself. Yet he took this document very seriously, and his mind was prepared
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  for just such an end as did eventually overtake him. Holmes stretched out his
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  hand for the manuscript and flattened it upon his knee. You will observe Watson
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  the alternative use of the long s and the short. It is one of
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  several indications which enabled me to fix the date. I looked over his shoulder
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  at the yellow paper and the faded script at the head was written Baskerville Hall
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  and below in large scrawling figures, seventeen forty two. It appears to be
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  a statement of some sort. Yes, it is a statement of a certain
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  legend which runs in the Baskerville family. But I understand that it is something
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  more modern and practical upon which you wish to consult me. Most modern,
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  a most practical, pressing matter which must be decided within twenty four hours.
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  But the manuscript is short and is intimately connected with the affair. With your
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  permission, I will read it to you. Holmes leaned back in his chair,
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  placed his finger tips together, and closed his eyes with an air of
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  resignation. Doctor Mortimer turned the manuscript to the light and read in a high
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  cracking voice the following curious old world narrative of the origin of the Hound of
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  the Baskervilles. There have been many statements, Yet as I come in a
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  direct line from Hugo Baskerville, and as I had the story from my father,
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  who also had it from his, I have set it down with all
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  belief that it occurred, even as is here set forth. And I would
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  have you believe, my sons, that the same justice which punishes sin may
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  also most graciously forgive it, and that no man is so heavy, but
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  that by prayer and repentance it may be removed. Learn then, from this
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  story, not to fear the fruits of the past, but rather to be
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  circumspect in the future, that those foul passions, whereby our family has suffered
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  so grievously, may not again be loosed to our undoing. Know then,
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  that in the time of the Great Rebellion, the history of which by the
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  learned Lord Clarendon I most earnestly commend to your attention, this manner of Baskerville
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  was held by Hugo of that name. Nor can it be gainsaid that he
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  was a most wild, profane, and godless man. This, in truth
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  his neighbors might have pardoned, seeing that saints have never flourished in these parts.
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  But there was in him a certain wanton and cruel humor, which made
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  his name a byword through the west. It chanced that this Hugo came to
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  love, if indeed so dark a passion may be known under so bright a
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  name, the daughter of a yeoman who held lands near the Baskerville estate.
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  But the young maiden, being discreet and of good repute, would ever avoid
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  him, for she feared his evil name. So it came to pass that
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  one Nicchaelmas, this Hugo, with five or six of his idol and wicked
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  companions, stole down upon the farm and carried off the maiden, her father
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  and brother's being from home, as he well knew. When they had brought
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  her to the hall, the maiden was placed in an upper chamber, while
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  Hugo and his friend sat down to a long corrouse, as was their nightly
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  custom. Now the poor lass upstairs was like to have her wits turned at
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  the singing and shouting and terrible oaths which came up to her from below.
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  For they say that the words used by Hugo Baskerville when he was in wine
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  were such as might blast the man who said them. At last, in
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  the stress of her fear, she did that which might have daunted the bravest
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  or most active man. For by the aid of the growth of ivy,
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  which covered and still covers the south wall, she came down from under the
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  eaves, and so homeward across the moor, there being three leagues betwixt the
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  hall and her father's farm. It chanced that some little time later Hugo left
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  his guests to carry food and drink, with other worse things perchance to his
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  captive, and so found the cage empty, and the bird escaped. Then,
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  as it would seem, he became as one that hath a devil,
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  for rushing down the stairs into the dining hall, he sprang upon the great
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  table, flagons and trenchers flying before him, and he cried aloud before all
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  the company, that he would that very night render his body and soul to
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  the powers of evil, if he might but overtake the wench. And while
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  the revelers stood aghast at the fury of the man, one more wicked,
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  or it may be more drunken than the rest, cried out that they should
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  put the hounds upon her whereat. Hugo ran from the house, crying to
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  his grooms that they should saddle his mare and unkinnel the pack, And giving
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  the hounds a kerchief of the maids, he swung them to the line,
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  and so off full cry in the moonlight over the moor. Now for some
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  space the revelers stood agape, unable to understand all that had been done in
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  such haste, But anon their bemused wits awoke to the nature of the deed
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  which was like to be done. Upon the moorlands. Every thing was now
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  in an uproar, some calling for their pistols, some for their horses,
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  and some for another flask of wine. But at length some sense came back
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  to their crazed mines, and the whole of them, thirteen in number,
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  took horse and started in pursuit. The moon shone clear above them, and
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  they rode swiftly abreast, taking that course which the maid must needs have taken
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  if she were to reach her own home. They had gone a mile or
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  two when they passed one of the night shepherds upon the moorlands, and they
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  cried to him to know if he had seen the hunt. And the man,
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  as the story goes, was so crazed with fear that he could scarce
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  speak. But at last he said that he had indeed seen the unhappy maiden
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  with the hounds upon her track. But I have seen more than that,
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  said he. For Hugo Baskerville passed me upon his black mare, and there
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  ran mute behind him, Such a hound of hell, as God forbid,
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  should ever be at my heels. So the drunken squires cursed the shepherd and
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  rode onward. But soon their skins turned cold, for there came a galloping
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  across the moor, and the black mare, dabbled with white froth, went
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  past with trailing bridle and empty saddle. Then the revelers rode close together,
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  for a great fear was on them, but they still followed over the moor,
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  though each, had he been alone, would have been right glad to
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  have turned his horse's head. Riding slowly in this fashion, they came at
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  last upon the hounds. These, though known for their valor and their breed,
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  were whimpering in a cluster at the head of a deep dip or goyle
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  as we call it, upon the moor, some slinking away, and some
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  with starting hackles and staring eyes, gazing down the narrow valley before them.
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  The company had come to a halt, more sober men, as you may
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  guess, than when they started. The most of them would by no means
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  advance, But three of them, the boldest, or it may be,
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  the most drunken, rode forward down the goil. Now it opened into a
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  broad space, in which stood two of those great stones still to be seen
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  there, which were set by certain forgotten peoples in the days of old.
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  The moon was shining bright upon the clearing, and there in the center lay
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  the unhappy maid, where she had fallen, dead of fear and of fatigue.
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  But it was not the sight of her body, nor yet was it
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  that of the body of Hugo Baskerville lying near her, which raised the hair
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  upon the heads of these three dare devil roisterers. But it was that,
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  standing over Hugo and plucking at his throat, there stood a foul thing,
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  a great black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound
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  that ever mortal eye has rested upon. And even as they looked, the
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  thing tore the throat out of Hugo Baskerville, on which, as it turned
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  its blazing eyes and dripping jaws upon them, the three shrieked with fear and
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  rode for dear life, still screaming across the moor. One, it is
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  said, died that very night of what he had seen, and the other
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  twain were but broken men for the rest of their days. Such is the
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  tale, my sons, of the coming of the Hound, which is said
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  to have plagued the family so sorely ever since. If I have set it
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  down. It is because that which is clearly known hath less terror than that
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  which is but hinted at and guessed. Nor can it be denied that many
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  of the family have been unhappy in their deaths, which have been sudden,
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  bloody, and mysterious. Yet may we shelter ourselves in the infinite goodness of
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  Providence, which would not forever punish the innocent beyond that third or fourth generation
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  which is threatened in holy writ to that Providence. My sons, I hereby
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  commend you, and I counsel you by way of caution, to forbear from
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  crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted.
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  This from Hugo Baskerville to his sons Roger and John, with instructions that they
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  say nothing thereof to their sister Elizabeth. When doctor Mortimer had finished reading this
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  singular narrative, he pushed his spectacles up on his forehead and stared a cross
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  at mister Sherlock Holmes. The latter yawned and tossed the end of his cigarette
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  into the fire. Well, said he, do you not find it interesting
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  to a collector of fairy tales? Doctor Mortimer drew a folded newspaper out of
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  his pocket. Now, mister Holmes, we will give you something a little
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  more recent. This is the Devon County Chronicle of May fourteenth of this year.
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  It is a short account of the facts elicited at the death of Sir
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  Charles Baskerville, which occurred a few days before that date. My friend leaned
• 24:37
  a little forward, and his expression became intent. Our visitor readjusted his glasses
• 24:41
  and began. The recent death of Sir Charles Baskerville, whose name has been
• 24:48
  mentioned as the probable Liberal candidate for mid Devon at the next election, has
• 24:52
  cast a gloom over the county. Though Sir Charles had resided at Baskerville Hall
• 24:57
  for a comparatively short period, his amiability of character and extreme generosity had won
• 25:03
  the affection and respect of all who had been brought into contact with them.
• 25:07
  In these days of neu vau riche, it is refreshing to find a case
• 25:11
  where the scion of an old county family, which has fallen upon evil days,
• 25:15
  is able to make his own fortune and to bring it back with him
• 25:18
  to restore the fallen grandeur of his line. Sir Charles, as is well
• 25:22
  known, made large sums of money in South African speculation, more wise than
• 25:29
  those who go on until the wheel turns against them. He realized his gains
• 25:33
  and returned to England with them. It is only two years since he took
• 25:37
  up his residence at Baskerville Hall, and it is common talk how large were
• 25:41
  those schemes of reconstruction and improvement which have been interrupted by his death. Being
• 25:45
  himself childless, it was his openly expressed desire that the whole countryside should within
• 25:51
  his own lifetime profit by his good fortune, and many will have personal reasons
• 25:56
  for bewailing his untimely end. His general donations to local and county charities have
• 26:02
  been frequently chronicled in these columns. The circumstances connected with the death of Sir
• 26:07
  Charles cannot be said to have been entirely cleared up by the inquest, but
• 26:11
  at least enough has been done to dispose of those rumors to which local superstition
• 26:15
  has given rise. There is no reason whatever to suspect foul play, or
• 26:21
  to imagine that death could be from any but natural causes. Sir Charles was
• 26:26
  a widower and a man who may be said to have been in some ways
• 26:30
  of an eccentric habit of mind. In spite of his considerable wealth, he
• 26:33
  was simple in his personal tastes, and his indoor servants at Baskerville Hall consisted
• 26:38
  of a married couple named Barrymore, the husband acting as butler and the wife
• 26:42
  as housekeeper. Their evidence, corroborated by that of several friends, tends to
• 26:48
  show that Sir Charles's help has for some time been impaired, and points especially
• 26:53
  to some affection of the heart, manifesting itself in changes of color, breathlessness,
• 27:00
  and acute attacks of nervous depression. Doctor James Mortimer, the friend and
• 27:04
  medical attendant of the deceased, has given evidence to the same effect. The
• 27:11
  facts of the case are simple. Sir Charles Baskerville was in the habit every
• 27:15
  night before going to bed, of walking down the famous yew alley of Baskerville
• 27:18
  Hall. The evidence of the Barymoors shows that this had been his custom.
• 27:25
  On the fourth of May, Sir Charles had declared his intention of starting next
• 27:29
  day for London, and had ordered Barymore to prepare his luggage. That night,
• 27:33
  he went out as usual for his nocturnal walk, in the course of
• 27:37
  which he was in the habit of smoking a cigar. He never returned.
• 27:41
  At twelve o'clock, Barrymore, finding the hall door still open, became alarmed,
• 27:48
  and, lighting a lantern, went in search of his master. The
• 27:51
  day had been wet, and Sir Charles's footmarks were easily traced down the alley.
• 27:56
  Half Way down this walk there is a gate which leads out on to
• 28:00
  the moor. There were indications that Sir Charles had stood for some little time
• 28:04
  here. He then proceeded down the alley, and it was at the far
• 28:08
  end of it that his body was discovered. One fact which has not been
• 28:12
  explained is the statement of Barrymore that his master's footprints altered their character from the
• 28:18
  time that he passed the moor gate, and that he appeared from thence onward
• 28:21
  to have been walking upon his toes. One Murphy, a gipsy horse dealer,
• 28:26
  was on the moor at no great distance at the time, but he
• 28:29
  appears, by his own confession, to have been the worse for drink.
• 28:33
  He declares that he heard cries, but is unable to state from what direction
• 28:37
  they came. No signs of violence were to be discovered upon Sir Charles's person,
• 28:41
  and though the doctor's evidence pointed to an almost incredible facial distortion, so
• 28:47
  great that doctor Mortimer refused at first to believe that it was indeed his friend
• 28:51
  and patient who lay before him, it was explained that that is a symptom
• 28:55
  which is not unusual in cases of dysnia and death from cardiac exhaustion. This
• 29:00
  explanation was borne out by the post mortem examination, which showed long standing organic
• 29:06
  disease, and the coroner's jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.
• 29:11
  It is well that this is so, for it is obviously of the
• 29:15
  utmost importance that Sir Charles's heir should settle at the hall and continue the good
• 29:19
  work which has spent so sadly interrupted. Had the prosaic finding of the coroner
• 29:25
  not finally put an end to the romantic stories which have been whispered in connection
• 29:29
  with the affair, it might have been difficult to find a tenant for Baskerville
• 29:33
  Hall. It is understood that the next of ken is mister Henry Baskerville,
• 29:37
  if he be still alive, the son of Sir Charles Baskerville's younger brother.
• 29:42
  The young man, when last heard of, was in America, and inquiries
• 29:45
  are being instituted with a view to informing him of his good fortune. Doctor
• 29:52
  Mortimer refolded his paper and replaced it in his pocket. Those are the public
• 29:56
  facts, mister Holmes, in connection with the death of Sir Charles R.
• 30:00
  Baskerville. I must thank you, said Sherlock Holmes, for calling my attention
• 30:04
  to a case which certainly presents some features of interest. I had observed some
• 30:08
  newspaper comment at the time, but I was exceedingly preoccupied by that little affair
• 30:14
  of the Vatican cameos, and in my anxiety to oblige the Pope, I
• 30:18
  lost touch with several interesting English cases. This article, you say, contains
• 30:22
  all the public facts it does, then let me have the private ones.
• 30:29
  He leaned back, put his finger tips together, and assumed his most impassive
• 30:33
  and judicial expression. In doing so, said doctor Mortimer, who had begun
• 30:38
  to show signs of some strong emotion. I am telling that which I have
• 30:42
  not confided to any one. My motive for withholding it from the coroner's inquiry
• 30:48
  is that a man of science shrinks from placing himself in the public position of
• 30:52
  seeming to endorse a popular superstition. I had the further motive that Baskerville Hall,
• 30:57
  as the paper says, would certainly remain untenanted if anything were done to
• 31:02
  increase its already rather grim reputation. For both these reasons, I thought that
• 31:07
  I was justified in telling rather less than I knew, since no practical good
• 31:11
  could result from it. But with you there is no reason why I should
• 31:14
  not be perfectly frank The moor is very sparsely inhabited, and those who lived
• 31:19
  near each other are thrown very much together. For this reason I saw a
• 31:23
  good deal of Sir Charles Baskerville. With the exception of mister Franklin of Laughter
• 31:29
  Hall and mister Stapleton the Naturalist, there are no other men of education within
• 31:33
  many miles. Sir Charles was a retiring man, but the chance of his
• 31:37
  illness brought us together, and a community of interests in science kept us.
• 31:41
  So. He had brought back much scientific information from South Africa, and many
• 31:48
  a charming evening we have spent together discussing the comparative anatomy of the bushmen and
• 31:52
  the Hottentot. Within the last few months it became increasingly plain to me that
• 31:56
  Sir Charles's nervous system was strained to the breaking point. He had taken this
• 32:00
  legend, which I have read you exceedingly to heart, so much so that
• 32:06
  although he would walk in his own grounds, nothing would induce him to go
• 32:08
  out upon the moor at night. Incredible as it may appear to you,
• 32:13
  mister Holmes, he was honestly convinced that a dreadful fate overhung his family,
• 32:17
  and certainly the records which he was able to give if his ancestors were not
• 32:22
  encouraging, the idea of some ghastly presence constantly haunted him, and on more
• 32:27
  than one occasion he had asked me whether I had, on my medical journeys
• 32:30
  at night, ever seen any strange creature or heard the baying of a hound.
• 32:36
  The latter question he put to me several times, and always with a
• 32:38
  voice which vibrated with excitement. I can well remember driving up to his house
• 32:44
  in the evening, some three weeks before the fatal event. He chanced to
• 32:47
  be at his hall door. I had descended from my gig and was standing
• 32:52
  in front of him when I saw his eyes fixed themselves over my shoulder and
• 32:55
  stare past me with an expression of them most dreadful horror. I whisked round
• 33:00
  and had just time to catch a glimpse of something which I took to be
• 33:04
  a large black calf passing at the head of the drive. So excited and
• 33:09
  alarmed was he that I was compelled to go down to the spot where the
• 33:13
  animal had been and look around for it. It was gone, however,
• 33:16
  and the incident appeared to make the worst impression upon his mind. I stayed
• 33:21
  with him all the evening, and it was on that occasion to explain the
• 33:24
  emotion which he had shown, that he confided to my keeping that narrative which
• 33:29
  I read to you when first I came. I mentioned this small episode because
• 33:32
  it assumed some importance in view of the tragedy which followed. But I was
• 33:37
  convinced at the time that the matter was entirely trivial, and that his excitement
• 33:40
  had no justification. It was at my advice that Sir Charles was about to
• 33:45
  go to London. His heart was I knew, affected, and the constant
• 33:50
  anxiety in which he lived, however chimerical the cause of it might be,
• 33:54
  was evidently having a serious effect upon his health. I thought that a few
• 33:59
  months among the distractions of town would send him back. A new man,
• 34:04
  mister Stapleton, a mutual friend who was much concerned at his state of health,
• 34:07
  was of the same opinion. At the last instant came this terrible catastrophe.
• 34:14
  On the night of Sir Charles's death. Barrymore, the butler who made
• 34:16
  a discovery, sent Perkins the groom on horseback to me, and as I
• 34:22
  was sitting up late, I was able to reach Baskerville Hall within an hour
• 34:24
  of the event. I checked and corroborated all the facts which were mentioned at
• 34:30
  the inquest. I followed the footsteps down the yew alley. I saw the
• 34:35
  spot at the moor gate where he seemed to have waited. I remarked the
• 34:37
  change in the shape of the prince after that point. I noted that there
• 34:40
  were no other footsteps save those of Barrymore on the soft gravel. And finally
• 34:45
  I carefully examined the body, which had not been touched until my arrival.
• 34:51
  Sir Charles lay on his face, his arms out, his fingers dug into
• 34:55
  the ground, and his features convulsed with some strong emotion, to such an
• 35:00
  extent that I could hardly have sworn to his identity. There was certainly no
• 35:05
  physical injury of any kind. But one false statement was made by Barrymore at
• 35:09
  the inquest. He said that there were no traces upon the ground round the
• 35:14
  body. He did not observe any, but I did some little distance off,
• 35:19
  but fresh and clear footprints, footprints a man's or a woman's. Doctor
• 35:29
  Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to
• 35:31
  a whisper as he answered, mister Holmes, they were the footprints of a
• 35:37
  gigantic hound. End of Chapter two, Chapter three, The Problem. I
• 35:45
  confess that at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill
• 35:50
  in the doctor's voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which
• 35:53
  he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement, and his eyes had
• 35:58
  the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested.
• 36:01
  You saw this as clearly as I see you, and you said nothing.
• 36:08
  What was the use? How was it that no one else saw it?
• 36:14
  The marks were some twenty yards from the body, and no one gave them
• 36:16
  a thought. I don't suppose I should have done so had I not known
• 36:20
  this legend. There are many sheep dogs on the moor, no doubt.
• 36:25
  But this was no sheep dog. You say it was large, enormous,
• 36:31
  but it had not approached the body. No. What sort of night was
• 36:37
  it? Damp and raw but not actually raining? No? What is the
• 36:44
  alley like? There are two lines of old ye hedge, twelve feet high
• 36:49
  and impenetrable. The walk in the center is about eight feet across. Is
• 36:54
  there anything between the hedges and the walk? Yes, there is a strip
• 36:59
  of grass about six feet broad on either side. I understand that the Ue
• 37:04
  hedge is penetrated at one point by a gate. Yes, the wicket gate
• 37:08
  which leads on to the moor. Is there any other opening? None,
• 37:15
  So that to reach the U alley one either has to come down it from
• 37:17
  the house, or else to enter it by the moor gate. There is
• 37:22
  an exit through a summer house at the far end. Had Sir Charles reached
• 37:27
  this No, he lay about fifty yards from it. Now tell me,
• 37:32
  doctor Mortimer, and this is important. The marks which you saw were on
• 37:37
  the path and not on the grass. No marks could show on the grass.
• 37:42
  Were they on the same side of the path as the moor gate.
• 37:45
  Yes, they were on the edge of the path on the same side as
• 37:49
  the moorgate. You interest me exceedingly. Another point was the wicket gate closed,
• 37:55
  closed and padlocked? How high was it? About four feet high?
• 38:02
  Then any one could have got over it? Yes? And what marks did
• 38:07
  you see by the wicket gate? None in particular? Good heaven did no
• 38:12
  one examine? Yes? I examined myself and found nothing. It was all
• 38:19
  very confused. Sir Charles had evidently stood there for five or ten minutes.
• 38:23
  How do you know that? Because the ash had twice dropped from his cigar?
• 38:29
  Excellent, This is a colleague Watson after our own heart. But the
• 38:32
  marks he had left his own marks all over that small patch of gravel,
• 38:37
  I could discern no others. Sherlock Holmes struck his hand against his knee with
• 38:43
  an impatient gesture. If I had only been there, he cried. It
• 38:46
  is evidently a case of extraordinary interest, in one which presented immense opportunities to
• 38:52
  the scientific expert. That gravel page upon which I might have read so much,
• 38:55
  has been long ere, this smudged by the rain and defaced by the
• 39:00
  clogs of curious peasants. Oh, doctor Mortimer, Doctor Mortimer, to think
• 39:04
  that you should not have called me in. You have indeed much to answer
• 39:07
  for. I could not call you in, mister Holmes, without disclosing these
• 39:12
  facts to the world, and I have already given my reasons for not wishing
• 39:15
  to do so. Besides, besides, why do you hesitate? There is
• 39:21
  a realm in which the most acute and most experienced of detectives is helpless.
• 39:27
  You mean that the thing is supernatural? I did not positively say so,
• 39:32
  no, but you evidently think it. Since the tragedy, mister Holmes,
• 39:37
  there have come to my ears several incidents which are hard to reconcile with the
• 39:40
  settled order of nature. For example, I find that before the terrible event
• 39:46
  occurred, several people had seen a creature upon the moor which corresponds with this
• 39:51
  Baskerville demon, and which could not possibly be any animal known to science.
• 39:55
  They all agreed that it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and
• 39:59
  spec I have cross examined these men, one of them a hard headed countryman,
• 40:04
  one a farrier, and one a Moorland farmer, who all tell the
• 40:07
  same story of this dreadful apparition, exactly corresponding to the hell hound of the
• 40:13
  legend. I assure you that there is a reign of terror in the district,
• 40:16
  and that it is a hardy man who will cross the moor at night,
• 40:21
  and you, a trained man of science, believe it to be supernatural.
• 40:24
  I do not know what to believe. Holmes shrugged his shoulders. I
• 40:30
  have hitherto confined my investigations to this world, said he in a modest way.
• 40:36
  I have combated evil, but to take on the father of evil himself
• 40:38
  would perhaps be too ambitious a task. Yet you must admit that the footmark
• 40:43
  is material. The original hound was material enough to tug a man's throat out,
• 40:49
  and yet he was diabolical as well. I see that you have quite
• 40:52
  gone over to the supernaturalists. But now, doctor Mortimer, tell me this.
• 40:58
  If you hold these views, why have you come to consult me at
• 41:00
  all? You tell me in the same breath that it is useless to investigate
• 41:04
  Sir Charles's death, and that you desire me to do it. I did
• 41:07
  not say that I desired you to do it. Then how can I assist
• 41:12
  you by advising me as to what I should do with Sir Henry Baskerville,
• 41:15
  who arrives at Waterloo Station. Doctor Mortimer looked at his watch in exactly one
• 41:21
  hour and a quarter. He being the heir yes on the death of Sir
• 41:27
  Charles, we inquired for this young gentleman and found that he had been farming
• 41:30
  in Canada. From the accounts which have reached us, he is an excellent
• 41:34
  fellow in every way. I speak now not as a medical man, but
• 41:37
  as a trustee and executor of Sir Charles's will. There is no other claimant,
• 41:43
  I presume none. The only other kinsman whom we have been able to
• 41:47
  trace was Roger Baskerville, the youngest of three brothers, of whom poor Sir
• 41:52
  Charles was the elder. The second brother, who died young, is the
• 41:55
  father of this lad Henry. The third Roger was the black sheep of the
• 42:00
  family. He came of the old masterful Baskerville strain and was the very image
• 42:06
  they tell me of the family picture of old Hugo. He made England too
• 42:09
  hot to hold him, fled to Central America and died there in eighteen seventy
• 42:14
  six of yellow fever. Henry is the last of the Baskervilles. In one
• 42:19
  hour and five minutes I meet him at Waterloo Station. I have had a
• 42:22
  wire that he arrived at Southampton this morning. Now, mister Holmes, what
• 42:25
  would you advise me to do with him? Why should he not go to
• 42:30
  the home of his father's It seems natural, does it not? And yet
• 42:36
  consider that every Baskerville who goes there meets with an evil fate. I feel
• 42:39
  sure that if Sir Charles could have spoken with me before his death, he
• 42:44
  would have warned me against bringing this, the last of the old race and
• 42:46
  the heir to great wealth, to that deadly place. And yet it cannot
• 42:52
  be denied that the prosperity of the whole poor bleak countryside depends upon his presence.
• 42:57
  All the good work which has been done by Sir Charles will crash to
• 43:00
  the ground if there is no tenant of the hall. I fear lest I
• 43:04
  should be swayed too much by my own obvious interest in the matter. And
• 43:07
  that is why I bring the case before you and ask for your advice.
• 43:12
  Holmes, considered for a little time put into plain words the matter is this,
• 43:17
  said he In your opinion, there is a diabolical agency which makes Dartmore
• 43:22
  an unsafe abode for a Baskerville. That is your opinion. At least I
• 43:27
  might go the length of saying that there is some evidence that this may be
• 43:30
  so exactly, but surely if your supernatural theory be correct, it could work
• 43:36
  the young man evil in London as easily as in Devonshire. A devil with
• 43:39
  merely local powers like a parish vestry would be too inconceivable a thing. You
• 43:45
  put the matter more flippantly, mister Holmes, than you would probably do if
• 43:49
  you were brought into personal contact with these things. Your advice, then,
• 43:52
  as I understand it is that the young man will be as safe in Devonshire
• 43:55
  as in London. He comes in fifty minutes, what would you recommend?
• 44:01
  I recommend, sir, that you take a cab, call off your spaniel
• 44:05
  who is scratching at my front door, and proceed to Waterloo to meet Sir
• 44:08
  Henry Baskerville. And then and then you will say nothing to him at all
• 44:14
  until I have made up my mind about the matter. How long will it
• 44:19
  take you to make up your mind? Twenty four hours at ten o'clock tomorrow,
• 44:23
  doctor Mortimer. I will be much obliged to you if you will call
• 44:25
  upon me here, and it will be of help to me in my plans
• 44:29
  for the future. If you will bring Sir Henry Baskerville with you. I
• 44:32
  will do so, mister Holmes. He scribbled the appointment on his shirt cuff
• 44:37
  and hurried off in his strange, peering, absent minded fashion. Holmes stopped
• 44:43
  him at the head of the stair. Only one more question, doctor Mortimer.
• 44:47
  You say that before Sir Charles Baskerville's death several people saw this apparition upon
• 44:52
  the moor? Three people? Did? Did any see it after? I
• 44:57
  have not heard of any? Thank you, good morning. Holmes returned to
• 45:02
  his seat with that quiet look of inward satisfaction, which meant that he had
• 45:06
  a congenial task before him going out. Watson, unless I can help you,
• 45:14
  no, my dear fellow. It is at the hour of action that
• 45:15
  I turned to you for aid. But this is splendid, really unique from
• 45:20
  some points of view. When you passed Bradley's, would you ask him to
• 45:22
  send up a pound of the strongest shag tobacco? Thank you. It would
• 45:27
  be as well if you could make it convenient not to return before evening.
• 45:30
  Then I should be very glad to compare impressions as to this most interesting problem
• 45:35
  which has been submitted to us this morning. I knew that seclusion and solitude
• 45:39
  were very necessary for my friend in those hours of intense mental concentration, during
• 45:45
  which he weighed every particle of evidence, constructed alternative theories, balanced one against
• 45:51
  the other, and made up his mind as to which points were essential and
• 45:54
  which immaterial. I therefore spent the day at my club and did not return
• 46:00
  to Baker Street until evening. It was nearly nine o'clock when I found myself
• 46:04
  in the sitting room once more. My first impression as I opened the door
• 46:08
  was that a fire had broken out, for the room was so filled with
• 46:12
  smoke that the light of the lamp upon the table was blurred by it.
• 46:15
  As I entered, however, my fears were set at rest, for it
• 46:19
  was the acrid fumes of strong, coarse tobacco which took me by the throat
• 46:22
  and set me coughing through the haze. I had a vague vision of Holmes
• 46:27
  in his dressing gown, coiled up in an arm chair with his black clay
• 46:30
  pipe between his lips. Several rolls of paper lay around him. Calk cold
• 46:36
  Watson said, he no, it's this poisonous atmosphere. I suppose it is
• 46:42
  pretty thick now, that you mention it thick, it's intolerable. Open the
• 46:46
  window. Then you have been at your club all day, I perceive,
• 46:52
  my dear Holmes, am I right, certainly? But how he laughed at
• 46:58
  my bewildered expression. There is a delightful freshness about you, Watson, which
• 47:02
  makes it a pleasure to exercise any small powers which I possess at your expense.
• 47:07
  A gentleman goes forth on a showery and miry day, he returns immaculate
• 47:13
  in the evening, with the gloss still on his hat and his boots.
• 47:15
  He has been a fixture therefore all day he is not a man with intimate
• 47:21
  friends. Where then could he have been? Is it not obvious? Well,
• 47:25
  it is rather obvious. The world is full of obvious things which nobody,
• 47:30
  by any chance ever observes. Where do you think that I have been
• 47:35
  a fixture? Also, on the contrary, I have been to Devonshire and
• 47:39
  spirit exactly. My body has remained in this arm chair, and has I
• 47:45
  regret to observe consumed in my absence two large pots of coffee and an incredible
• 47:51
  amount of tobacco. After you left, I sent down to Stamford's for the
• 47:54
  Ordnance Map of this portion of the moor, and my spirit has hovered over
• 47:59
  it all day. I flatter myself that I could find my way about a
• 48:04
  large scale map, I presume very large. He unrolled one section and held
• 48:08
  it over his knee. Here you have the particular district which concerns us.
• 48:14
  That is Baskerville Hall in the middle, with a wood round it. Exactly
• 48:21
  I fancy the yew Alley, though not marked under that name, must stretch
• 48:24
  along this line with the moor as you perceive upon the right of it.
• 48:30
  This small clump of buildings here is the hamlet of Grimpen, where our friend
• 48:32
  doctor Mortimer has his headquarters. Within a radius of five miles, there are,
• 48:37
  as you see, only a very few scattered dwellings. Here is Laughter
• 48:44
  Hall, which was mentioned in the narrative. There is a house indicated here
• 48:47
  which may be the residence of the naturalist Stapleton, if I remember right was
• 48:52
  his name. Here are two moorland farm houses, High Tor and fowl Mire.
• 48:58
  Then, fourteen miles away the great convict prison of Princetown. Between and
• 49:02
  around these scattered points extends the desolate, lifeless moor. This, then,
• 49:07
  is the stage upon which tragedy has been played, and upon which we may
• 49:12
  help to play it again. It must be a wild place. Yes,
• 49:17
  the setting is a worthy one. If the devil did desire to have a
• 49:21
  hand in the affairs of men, then you are yourself inclining to the supernatural
• 49:25
  explanation. The devil's agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not.
• 49:31
  There are two questions waiting for us at the outset. The one is
• 49:35
  whether any crime has been committed at all. The second is what is the
• 49:38
  crime and how is it committed? Of course, if doctor Mortimer's surmise should
• 49:44
  be correct, and we are dealing with forces outside the ordinary laws of nature,
• 49:47
  there is an end of our investigation, but we are bound to exhaust
• 49:52
  all other hypotheses before falling back upon this one. I think we'll shut that
• 49:57
  window again if you don't mind. It is a singular thing, But I
• 50:00
  find that a concentrated atmosphere helps a concentration of thought. I have not pushed
• 50:06
  it to the length of getting into a box to think, but that is
• 50:07
  the logical outcome of my convictions. Have you turned the case over in your
• 50:13
  mind? Yes, I have thought a good deal of it in the course
• 50:15
  of the day. What do you make of it? It is very bewildering.
• 50:22
  It has certainly a character of its own. There are points of distinction
• 50:27
  about it that change in the footprints. For example, what do you make
• 50:30
  of that? Mortimer said that the man had walked on tiptoe down that portion
• 50:35
  of the alley. He only repeated what some fool had said at the inquest
• 50:39
  why should a man walk on tiptoe down the alley? What? Then?
• 50:45
  He was running, Watson, running, desperately, running for his life,
• 50:49
  running until he burst his heart and fell dead upon his face, running from
• 50:53
  what? There lies our problem. There are indications that the man would crazed
• 51:00
  with fear before ever he began to run. How can you say that?
• 51:06
  I am presuming that the cause of his fears came to him across the moor.
• 51:09
  If that were so, and it seems most probable only a man who
• 51:15
  had lost his wits would have run from the house instead of towards it.
• 51:19
  If the Gipsy's evidence may be taken as true, he ran with cries for
• 51:22
  help in the direction where help was least likely to be. Then again,
• 51:28
  whom was he waiting for that night? And why was he waiting for?
• 51:30
  Him in the u alley rather than in his own house. You think that
• 51:35
  he was waiting for some one. The man was elderly and infirm. We
• 51:40
  can understand his taking an evening stroll. But the ground was damp and the
• 51:45
  night inclement. Is it natural that he should stand for five or ten minutes?
• 51:49
  As Doctor Mortimer, with more practical sense than I should have given him
• 51:52
  credit for deduced from the cigar ash. But he went out every evening.
• 51:59
  I think think it unlikely that he waited at the moor Gate every evening.
• 52:02
  On the contrary, the evidence is that he avoided the moor that night he
• 52:07
  waited there. It was the night before he made his departure for London.
• 52:12
  The thing takes shape, Watson, it becomes coherent. Might I ask you
• 52:15
  to hand me my violin and we will postpone all further thought upon this business
• 52:21
  until we have had the advantage of meeting Doctor Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville in
• 52:24
  the morning end of chapter three, Chapter four, Sir Henry Baskerville, our
• 52:35
  breakfast table was cleared early, and Holmes waited in his dressing gown for the
• 52:38
  promised interview. Our clients were punctual to their appointment for the clock had just
• 52:45
  struck ten when Doctor Mortimer was shown up, followed by the young baronet.
• 52:50
  The latter was a small, alert, dark eyed man about thirty years of
• 52:53
  age, very sturdily built, with thick black eyebrows and a strong, pugnacious
• 52:59
  face. He wore a ruddy tinted tweed suit and had the weather beaten appearance
• 53:05
  of one who has spent most of his time in the open air. And
• 53:08
  yet there was something in his steady eye and the quiet assurance of his bearing,
• 53:12
  which indicated the gentleman. This is sir Henry Baskerville, said doctor Mortimer.
• 53:20
  Why yes, said he. And the strange thing is, mister Sherlock
• 53:23
  Holmes, that if my friend here had not proposed coming around to you this
• 53:27
  morning, I should have come on my own account. I understand that you
• 53:30
  think out little puzzles, and I've had one this morning which wants more thinking
• 53:35
  out than I am able to give it. Pray, take a seat,
• 53:37
  sir Henry. Do I understand you to say that you have yourself had some
• 53:42
  remarkable experience since you arrived in London. Nothing of much importance, mister Holmes.
• 53:49
  Only a joke is like as not. It was this letter, if
• 53:52
  you can call it a letter, which reached me this morning. He laid
• 53:55
  an envelope upon the table, and we all bent over it. It was
• 54:00
  of common quality, grayish in color. The address Sir Henry Baskerville, Northumberland
• 54:07
  Hotel was printed in rough characters, the postmark Charing Cross and a date of
• 54:12
  posting the preceding evening. Who knew that you were going to the Northumberland Hotel,
• 54:17
  asked Holmes, glancing keenly across at our visitor. No one could have
• 54:22
  known. We only decided after I met doctor Mortimer. But doctor Mortimer was
• 54:28
  no doubt already stopping there. No, I had been staying with a friend,
• 54:32
  said the doctor. There was no possible indication that we intended to go
• 54:37
  to this hotel. Hum some one seems to be very deeply interested in your
• 54:42
  movements. Out of the envelope, he took a half sheet of fool's cap
• 54:45
  paper, folded into four This he opened and spread flat upon the table.
• 54:52
  Across the middle of it a single sentence had been formed by the expedient of
• 54:55
  pasting printed words upon it. It ran, as you value your life or
• 55:00
  your reason, keep away from the moor, the word more only was printed
• 55:06
  in ink. Now, said Sir Henry Baskerville. Perhaps you will tell me,
• 55:10
  mister Holmes, what in thunder is the meaning of that? And who
• 55:15
  it is that takes so much interest in my affairs? What do you make
• 55:19
  of it? Doctor Mortimer? You must allow that there is nothing supernatural about
• 55:22
  this at any rate, No, sir, but it might very well come
• 55:28
  from some one who was convinced that the business is supernatural? What business?
• 55:32
  Asked Sir Henry, Sharply. It seems to me that all you gentlemen know
• 55:37
  a great deal more than I do about my own affairs. You shall share
• 55:42
  our knowledge before you leave this room, Sir Henry, I promise you that,
• 55:45
  said Sherlock Holmes. We will confine ourselves for the present, with your
• 55:49
  permission, to this very interesting document, which must have been put together and
• 55:53
  posted yesterday evening. Have you Yesterday's Times, Watson? It is here in
• 55:59
  the Might I trouble you for it? The inside page? Please with the
• 56:04
  leading articles. He glanced swiftly over it, running his eyes up and down
• 56:08
  the columns capital article this on free trade. Permit me to give you an
• 56:14
  extract from it? You may be cajoled into imagining that your own special trade
• 56:20
  or your own industry will be encouraged by a protective tariff. But it stands
• 56:24
  to reason that such legislation must, in the long run, keep away wealth
• 56:29
  from the country, diminish the value of our imports, and lower the general
• 56:32
  conditions of life in this island. What do you think of that, Watson,
• 56:37
  cried Holmes in high glee, rubbing his hands together with satisfaction. Don't
• 56:42
  you think that is an admirable sentiment? Doctor Mortimer looked at Holmes with an
• 56:46
  air of professional interest, and Sir Henry Baskerville turned a pair of puzzled dark
• 56:51
  eyes upon me. I don't know much about the tariff and things of that
• 56:55
  kind, said he, but it seems to me we've got a bit off
• 56:59
  the trail, so as that note is concerned. On the contrary, I
• 57:04
  think we are particularly hot upon the trail. Sir Henry Watson here knows more
• 57:07
  about my methods than you do. But I fear that even he has not
• 57:12
  quite grasped the significance of this sentence. No, I confess that I see
• 57:16
  no connection. And yet, my dear Watson, there is so very close
• 57:22
  a connection that the one is extracted out of the other. You your your
• 57:27
  life, reason value, keep away from thee? Don't you see now,
• 57:31
  whence these words have been taken by thunder? You're right? Well, if
• 57:37
  that isn't smart, cried Sir Henry. If any possible doubt remained, it
• 57:42
  is settled by the fact that keep away and from thee are cut out in
• 57:45
  one piece. Well, now so it is, really, mister Holmes,
• 57:52
  this exceeds anything which I could have imagined, said doctor Mortimer, gazing at
• 57:55
  my friend in amazement. I could understand anyone saying that the words words were
• 58:00
  from a newspaper, but that you should name which and add that it came
• 58:04
  from the leading article. Is really one of the most remarkable things which I
• 58:07
  have ever known. How did you do it? I presume, doctor,
• 58:12
  that you could tell the skull of a negro from that of an Eskimo,
• 58:15
  most certainly. But how because that is my special hobby. The differences are
• 58:22
  obvious, the supra orbital crest, the facial angle, the maxillary curve,
• 58:25
  the But this is my special hobby, and the differences are equally obvious.
• 58:30
  There is as much difference to my eyes between the leaded bourgeois type of a
• 58:35
  Times article and the slovenly print of an evening half tinny paper, as there
• 58:38
  could be between your Negro and your Eskimo. The detection of types is one
• 58:43
  of the most elementary branches of knowledge to the special expert in crime. Though
• 58:47
  I confess that once, when I was very young, I confused the Leeds
• 58:51
  Mercury with the Western Morning News. But a Times Leader is entirely distinctive,
• 58:58
  and these words could have been taken from nothing else as it was done yesterday.
• 59:01
  The strong probability was that we should find the words in yesterday's issue.
• 59:07
  So far as I can follow you, then, mister Holmes, said Sir
• 59:10
  Henry Baskerville. Someone cut out this message with the scissors nail scissors, said
• 59:15
  Holmes. You can see that it was a very short bladed scissors, since
• 59:20
  the cutter had to take two snips over keep away. That is so.
• 59:24
  Someone then cut out the message with a pair of short bladed scissors pasted it
• 59:29
  with paste gum, said Holmes, with gum on to the paper. But
• 59:34
  I want to know why the word more should have been written, because he
• 59:37
  could not find it in print. The other words were all simple and might
• 59:42
  be found in any issue, but more would be less common. Why,
• 59:46
  of course, that would explain it. Have you read anything else in this
• 59:50
  message, mister Holmes, There are one or two indications, and yet the
• 59:54
  utmost pains have been taken to remove all clues. The address you observe is
• 1:00:00
  printed in rough characters, but the Times is a paper which is seldom found
• 1:00:05
  in any hands but those of the highly educated. We may take it therefore,
• 1:00:08
  that the letter was composed by an educated man who wished to pose as
• 1:00:13
  an uneducated one, and his effort to conceal his own writing suggests that that
• 1:00:19
  writing might be known, or come to be known by you. Again,
• 1:00:22
  you will observe that the words are not gummed on in an accurate line,
• 1:00:27
  but that some are much higher than others. Life, for example, is
• 1:00:30
  quite out of its proper place. That may point to carelessness, or it
• 1:00:36
  may point to agitation and hurry upon the part of the cutter. On the
• 1:00:39
  whole, I inclined to the latter view. Since the matter was evidently important,
• 1:00:45
  and it is unlikely that the composer of such a letter would be careless
• 1:00:49
  if he were in a hurry. It opens up the interesting question why he
• 1:00:52
  should be in a hurry, since any letter posted up to early morning would
• 1:00:57
  reach Sir Henry before he would leave his hotel. Did the composer fear an
• 1:01:01
  interruption? And from whom we are coming now? Rather into the region of
• 1:01:07
  guesswork, said Doctor Mortimer. Say, rather into the region where we balance
• 1:01:12
  probabilities and choose the most likely It is the scientific use of the imagination.
• 1:01:17
  But we have always some material basis on which to start our speculation. Now
• 1:01:23
  you would call it a guest, no doubt. But I am almost certain
• 1:01:27
  that this address has been written in a hotel. How in the world can
• 1:01:31
  you say that? If you examine it carefully, you will see that both
• 1:01:36
  the pen and the ink have given the writer trouble. The pen has spluttered
• 1:01:40
  twice in a single word, and has run dry three times in a short
• 1:01:44
  address, showing that there was very little ink in the bottle. Now,
• 1:01:49
  a private pen or ink bottle is seldom allowed to be in such a state,
• 1:01:52
  and the combination of the two must be quite rare. But you know
• 1:01:57
  the hotel ink and the hotel pen, where it is rare to get anything
• 1:02:00
  else. Yes, I have very little hesitation in saying that, could we
• 1:02:05
  examine the waste paper baskets of the hotels around Charing Cross, until we found
• 1:02:09
  the remains of the mutilated Times Leader, we could lay our hands straight upon
• 1:02:14
  the person who sent the singular message Hello, Hello. What's this? He
• 1:02:20
  was carefully examining the fool's cap upon which the words were pasted, holding it
• 1:02:23
  only an inch or two from his eyes. Well, nothing, said he
• 1:02:29
  throwing it down. It is a blank half sheet of paper, without even
• 1:02:32
  a water mark upon it. I think we have drawn as much as we
• 1:02:36
  can from this curious letter. And now, Sir Henry, has anything else
• 1:02:40
  of interest happened to you since you have been in London? Why no,
• 1:02:45
  mister Holmes, I think not. You have not observed any one follow or
• 1:02:50
  watch you. I seem to have walked right into the thick of a dime
• 1:02:53
  novel, said our visitor. Why in thunder should any one follow or watch
• 1:02:58
  me? We are coming to that you have nothing else to report to us
• 1:03:02
  before we go into this matter. Well, it depends on what you think
• 1:03:07
  worth reporting. I think anything out of the ordinary routine of life well worth
• 1:03:12
  reporting, Sir Henry smiled. I don't know much of British life yet,
• 1:03:17
  for I have spent nearly all my time in the States and in Canada.
• 1:03:21
  But I hope that to lose one of your boots is not part of the
• 1:03:23
  ordinary routine of life over here. You have lost one of your boots,
• 1:03:30
  my dear sir, cried doctor Mortimer. It is only mislaid. You will
• 1:03:34
  find it when you returned to the hotel. What is the use of troubling
• 1:03:37
  mister Holmes with trifles of this kind? Well, he asked me for anything
• 1:03:42
  outside the ordinary routine, exactly, said Holmes. However foolish the incident may
• 1:03:47
  seem. You have lost one of your boots, you say, well,
• 1:03:52
  mislaidd anyhow, I put them both outside my door last night, and there
• 1:03:57
  was only one in the morning. I could get no sense out of the
• 1:04:00
  chap who cleans them. The worst of it is that I only bought the
• 1:04:03
  pair last night in the strand, and I have never had them own.
• 1:04:08
  If you have never worn them, why did you put them out to be
• 1:04:11
  cleaned. They were tan boots and had never been varnished. That was why
• 1:04:15
  I put them out. Then, I understand that on your arrival in London
• 1:04:19
  yesterday you went out at once and bought a pair of boots. I did
• 1:04:25
  a good deal of shopping. Doctor Mortimer here went round with me. You
• 1:04:29
  see, if I am to be squire down there, I must dress the
• 1:04:30
  part. And it may be that I have got a little careless in my
• 1:04:33
  ways out west. Among other things, I bought these brown boots, gave
• 1:04:38
  six dollars for them, and had one stolen before ever I had them on
• 1:04:42
  my feet. It seems a singularly useless thing to steal, said Sherlock Holmes.
• 1:04:47
  I confess that I share Doctor Mortimer's belief that it will not be long
• 1:04:51
  before the missing boot is found. And now, gentlemen, said the baronet
• 1:04:57
  with decision. It seems to me that I have spoken quite enough about the
• 1:05:00
  little that I know. It is time that you kept your promise and gave
• 1:05:03
  me a full account of what we are all driving. At Your request is
• 1:05:09
  a very reasonable one, Holmes answered doctor Mortimer. I think you could not
• 1:05:13
  do better than to tell your story as you told it to us. Thus,
• 1:05:17
  encouraged, our scientific friend, drew his papers from his pocket and presented
• 1:05:21
  the whole case as he had done upon the morning before. Sir Henry Baskerville
• 1:05:26
  listened with the deepest attention and with an occasional exclamation of surprise. Well,
• 1:05:31
  I seem to have come into an inheritance with a vengeance, said he,
• 1:05:35
  when the long narrative was finished. Of course, I've heard of the hound
• 1:05:40
  ever since I was in the nursery. It's the pet story of the family,
• 1:05:44
  though I never thought of taking it seriously before. But as to my
• 1:05:47
  uncle's death, well, it all seems boiling up in my head and I
• 1:05:50
  can't get it clear yet. You don't seem quite to have made up your
• 1:05:55
  mind whether it's a case for a policeman or a clergyman precisely. And now
• 1:06:00
  there's this affair of the letter to me at the hotel. I suppose that
• 1:06:04
  fits into its place. It seems to show that someone knows more than we
• 1:06:10
  do about what goes on upon the moor, said doctor Mortimer, and also
• 1:06:15
  said Holmes, that someone is not ill disposed towards you, since they warn
• 1:06:18
  you of danger, or it may be that they wish, for their own
• 1:06:23
  purposes to scare me away. Well, of course that is possible. Also,
• 1:06:29
  I am very much indebted to you, doctor Mortimer, for introducing me
• 1:06:32
  to a problem which presents several interesting alternatives. But the practical point which we
• 1:06:38
  now have to decide, sir Henry, is whether it is or is not
• 1:06:42
  advisable for you to go to Baskerville Hall. Why should I not go there?
• 1:06:47
  Seems to be danger. Do you mean danger from this family fiend?
• 1:06:51
  Or do you mean danger from human beings? Well, that is what we
• 1:06:56
  have to find out. Whichever it is. My answer is fixed. There
• 1:07:00
  is no devil in hell, mister Holmes, and there is no man upon
• 1:07:03
  earth who can prevent me from going to the home of my own people.
• 1:07:08
  And you may take that to be my final answer. His dark brows knitted
• 1:07:13
  and his face flushed to a dusky red as he spoke. It was evident
• 1:07:16
  that the fiery temper of the Baskervilles was not extinct in this Their last representative,
• 1:07:23
  meanwhile, said he I have hardly had time to think over all that
• 1:07:26
  you have told me. It's a big thing for a man to have to
• 1:07:30
  understand and to decide at one sitting. I should like to have a quiet
• 1:07:33
  hour by myself to make up my mind. Now, look here, mister
• 1:07:38
  Holmes, it's half past eleven now, and I am going back right away
• 1:07:41
  to my hotel. Suppose you and your friend doctor Watson come round and lunch
• 1:07:45
  with us at two. I'll be able to tell you more clearly then how
• 1:07:49
  this thing strikes me? Is that convenient to you? Watson perfectly? Then
• 1:07:56
  you may expect us. Shall I have a cab called? I prefer to
• 1:08:00
  walk, for this affair has flurried me. Rather, I'll join you in
• 1:08:04
  a walk with pleasure, said his companion. Then we meet again at two
• 1:08:10
  o'clock au Revoir, and good morning. We heard the steps of our visitors
• 1:08:15
  descend the stair and the bang of the front door. In an instant,
• 1:08:18
  Holmes had changed from the languid dreamer to the man of action. Your hat
• 1:08:24
  and boots, Watson quick, not a moment to lose. He rushed into
• 1:08:28
  his room in his dressing gown and was back again in a few seconds in
• 1:08:30
  a frock coat. We hurried together down the stairs and into the street.
• 1:08:35
  Doctor Mortimer and Baskerville were still visible about two hundred yards ahead of us,
• 1:08:40
  in the direction of Oxford Street. Shall I run on and stop them?
• 1:08:45
  Not for the world, my dear Watson, I am perfectly satisfied with your
• 1:08:49
  company, if you will tolerate mine. Our friends are wise, for it
• 1:08:53
  is certainly a very fine morning for a walk. He quickened his pace until
• 1:08:58
  we had decreased the distance, which divided us by about half. Then,
• 1:09:02
  still keeping a hundred yards behind, we followed into Oxford Street, and so
• 1:09:06
  down Regent Street. Once our friend stopped and stared into a shop window,
• 1:09:12
  upon which Holmes did the same. An instant afterwards, he gave a little
• 1:09:15
  cry of satisfaction, and following the direction of his eager eyes, I saw
• 1:09:20
  that a handsome cab with a man inside, which had halted on the other
• 1:09:25
  side of the street, was now proceeding slowly onward. Again, there's our
• 1:09:30
  man Watson, come along. We'll have a good look at him if we
• 1:09:32
  can do no more. At that instant I was aware of a bushy black
• 1:09:36
  beard, and a pair of piercing eyes turned upon us through the side window
• 1:09:41
  of the cab. Instantly, the trap door at the top flew up.
• 1:09:44
  Something was screamed to the driver, and the cab flew madly off down Regent
• 1:09:47
  Street. Holmes looked eagerly around for another but no empty one was in sight.
• 1:09:54
  Then he dashed in wild pursuit amid the stream of the traffic. But
• 1:09:57
  the start was too great, and already the case was out of sight.
• 1:10:01
  There now, said Holmes bitterly, as he emerged, panting in white with
• 1:10:04
  vexation from the tide of vehicles. Was ever such bad luck and such bad
• 1:10:10
  management too? Watson? Watson, if you are an honest man, you
• 1:10:14
  will record this also, and said it against my successes. Who was the
• 1:10:18
  man? I have not an idea a spy? Well, it was evident
• 1:10:26
  from what we have heard that Baskerville has been very closely shadowed by some one
• 1:10:29
  since he has been in town. How else could it be known so quickly
• 1:10:32
  that it was the Northumberland Hotel which he had chosen. If they had followed
• 1:10:38
  him the first day, I argued that they would follow him also the second.
• 1:10:42
  You may have observed that I twice strolled over to the window while doctor
• 1:10:45
  Mortimer was reading his legend. Yes, I remember I was looking out for
• 1:10:50
  loiterers in the street, but I saw none. We are dealing with a
• 1:10:55
  clever man, Watson. This matter cuts very deep, and though I have
• 1:10:59
  not final made up my mind whether it is a benevolent or a malevolent agency
• 1:11:03
  which is in touch with us, I am conscious always of power and design.
• 1:11:09
  When our friends left, I at once followed them in the hopes of
• 1:11:12
  marking down their invisible attendant. So wily was he that he had not trusted
• 1:11:16
  himself upon foot, but he had availed himself of a cab, so that
• 1:11:20
  he could loiter behind or dash past them, and so escape their notice.
• 1:11:26
  His method had the additional advantage that if they were to take a cab,
• 1:11:30
  he was all ready to follow them. It has, however, one obvious
• 1:11:33
  disadvantage. It puts him in the power of the cabman. Exactly what a
• 1:11:41
  pity we did not get the number, my dear Watson. Clumsy as I
• 1:11:45
  have been, you surely do not seriously imagine that I neglected to get the
• 1:11:48
  number. Number two seven o four is our man. But that is no
• 1:11:54
  use to us for the moment. I fail to see how you could have
• 1:11:58
  done more. On observing the cab, I should have instantly turned and walked
• 1:12:03
  in the other direction. I should, then, at my leisure, have
• 1:12:06
  hired a second cab and followed the first at a respectful distance, or better
• 1:12:12
  still, have driven to the Northumberland Hotel and waited there. When our unknown
• 1:12:16
  had followed Baskerville home. We should have had the opportunity of playing his own
• 1:12:20
  game upon himself and seeing where he made for as it is, by an
• 1:12:26
  indiscreet eagerness, which was taken advantage of with extraordinary quickness and energy by our
• 1:12:30
  opponent. We have betrayed ourselves and lost our man. We had been sauntering
• 1:12:36
  slowly down Regent Street during this conversation, and doctor Mortimer with his companion,
• 1:12:42
  had long vanished in front of us. There is no object in our following
• 1:12:46
  them, said Holmes. The shadow has departed and will not return. We
• 1:12:51
  must see what further cards we have in our hands and play them with decision.
• 1:12:57
  Could you swear to that man's face within the cab? I could swear
• 1:13:00
  only to the beard, and so could I, from which I gather that
• 1:13:04
  in all probability it was a false one. A clever man upon so delicate
• 1:13:10
  an errand has no use for a beard save to conceal his features. Come
• 1:13:15
  in here, Watson. He turned into one of the District messenger offices,
• 1:13:19
  where he was warmly greeted by the manager. Ah Wilson, I see you
• 1:13:24
  have not forgotten the little case in which I had the good fortune to help
• 1:13:28
  you. No, sir, indeed I have not. You saved my good
• 1:13:31
  name and perhaps my life. My dear fellow, you exaggerate. I have
• 1:13:36
  some recollection, Wilson, that you had among your boys, a lad named
• 1:13:40
  Cartwright, who showed some ability during the investigation. Yes, sir, he
• 1:13:45
  is still with us. Could you ring him up? Thank you, and
• 1:13:50
  I should be glad to have change of this five pound note. A lad
• 1:13:55
  of fourteen, with a bright, keen face had obeyed the summons of the
• 1:14:00
  manager. He stood now gazing with great reverence at the famous detective. Let
• 1:14:05
  me have the hotel directory, said Holmes. Thank you now, Cartwright.
• 1:14:11
  There are the names of twenty three hotels here, all in the immediate neighborhood
• 1:14:15
  of Charing Cross, do you see, Yes, sir, you will visit
• 1:14:19
  each of these in turn. Yes, sir, you will begin in each
• 1:14:24
  case by giving the outside porter one shilling. Here are twenty three shillings.
• 1:14:30
  Yes, sir, You will tell him that you want to see the waste
• 1:14:33
  paper of yesterday. You will say that an important telegram has miscarried and that
• 1:14:39
  you are looking for it. You understand, yes, sir, But what
• 1:14:44
  you are really looking for is the center page of the Times with some holes
• 1:14:46
  cut in it with scissors. Here is a copy of the Times. It
• 1:14:50
  is this page you could easily recognize it, could you not, Yes,
• 1:14:55
  sir. In each case the outside porter will send for the to whom also
• 1:15:00
  you will give a shilling. Here are twenty three shillings. You will then
• 1:15:04
  learn, in possibly twenty cases out of the twenty three, that the waste
• 1:15:09
  of the day before has been burned or removed. In the three other cases,
• 1:15:14
  you will be shown a heap of paper, and you will look for
• 1:15:15
  this page of the Times among it. The odds are enormously against your finding
• 1:15:20
  it. There are ten shillings over. In case of emergencies, let me
• 1:15:26
  have a report by wire at Baker Street before evening. And now, Watson,
• 1:15:30
  it only remains for us to find out by wire the identity of the
• 1:15:33
  cabin number two seven O four, and then we will drop into one of
• 1:15:38
  the Bond Street picture galleries and fill in the time until we are due at
• 1:15:41
  the hotel. End of Chapter four, Chapter five, three Broken Threads.
• 1:15:51
  Sherlock Holmes had in a very remarkable degree the power of detaching his mind at
• 1:15:57
  will. For two hours, the strange business in which we had been involved
• 1:16:00
  appeared to be forgotten, and he was entirely absorbed in the pictures of the
• 1:16:05
  modern Belgian masters. He would talk of nothing but art, of which he
• 1:16:10
  had the crudest ideas. From our leaving the gallery until we found ourselves at
• 1:16:15
  the Northumberland Hotel. Sir, Henry Baskerville is upstairs expecting you, said the
• 1:16:19
  clerk. He asked me to show you up at once when you came.
• 1:16:25
  Have you any objection to my looking at your register? Said Holmes, not
• 1:16:30
  in the least. The book showed that two names had been added after that
• 1:16:34
  of Baskerville. One was Theophilus Johnson and family of Newcastle, and the other
• 1:16:41
  Missus Oldmore and maid of High Lodge, Alton. Surely that must be the
• 1:16:46
  same Johnson whom I used to know, said Holmes to the porter. A
• 1:16:50
  lawyer. Is he not gray headed and walks with a limp? No,
• 1:16:55
  sir, this is mister Johnson, the coal owner, a very active gentleman.
• 1:16:59
  Not yourself. Surely you are mistaken about his trade, No, sir,
• 1:17:05
  he has used this hotel for many years and he is very well known
• 1:17:10
  to us. Ah, that settles it. Missus Oldmore too, I seem
• 1:17:15
  to remember the name. Excuse my curiosity. But often in calling upon one
• 1:17:18
  friend one finds another. She is an invalid. Lady Sir, her husband
• 1:17:25
  was once mayor of Gloucester. She always comes to us when she is in
• 1:17:28
  town. Thank you. I am afraid I cannot claim her acquaintance. We
• 1:17:33
  have established a most important fact by these questions, Watson, he continued in
• 1:17:39
  a low voice, as we went upstairs together. We now know that the
• 1:17:43
  people who are so interested in our friend have not settled down in his own
• 1:17:45
  hotel. That means that while they are, as we have seen, very
• 1:17:50
  anxious to watch him, they are equally anxious that he should not see them.
• 1:17:56
  Now this is a most suggestive fact. What does it suggest? This
• 1:18:00
  suggests hullo, my dear fellow, What on earth is the matter? As
• 1:18:06
  we came round the top of the stairs, we had run up against Sir
• 1:18:10
  Henry Baskerville himself. His face was flushed with anger, and he held an
• 1:18:14
  old and dusty boot in one of his hands. So furious was he that
• 1:18:18
  he was hardly articulate, and when he did speak, it was in a
• 1:18:21
  much broader and more western dialect than any which we had heard from him in
• 1:18:26
  the morning. Seems to me they're playing me for a sucker in this hotel,
• 1:18:30
  he cried, they'll find they've started in a monkey with the wrong man
• 1:18:33
  unless they're careful. By thunder. If that chap can't find my missing boot,
• 1:18:38
  there will be trouble. I could take a joke with the best,
• 1:18:41
  mister Holmes, but they've got a bit over the mark this time. Still
• 1:18:45
  looking for your boot, yes, sir, and mean to find it.
• 1:18:49
  But surely you said that it was a new brown boot. So it was,
• 1:18:54
  sir, And now it's an old black one. What you don't mean
• 1:18:58
  to say, that's just what I do mean to say. I only had
• 1:19:01
  three pairs in the world, the new brown, the old black and the
• 1:19:04
  patent leathers which I am wearing. Last night they took one of my brown
• 1:19:09
  ones, and to day they've sneaked one of the black. Well have you
• 1:19:12
  got it? Speak out, man, and don't stand staring. An agitated
• 1:19:16
  German waiter had appeared upon the scene. No, sir, I have made
• 1:19:20
  inquiry all over the hotel, but I can hear no word of it.
• 1:19:25
  Well, either that boot comes back before sundown, or I'll see the manager
• 1:19:29
  and tell him that I go right straight out of this hotel. It shall
• 1:19:33
  be found, Sir. I promise you that if you will have a little
• 1:19:36
  patience, it will be found. Mind it is, for it's the last
• 1:19:41
  thing of mine that I'll lose in this den of thieves. Well, well,
• 1:19:45
  mister Holmes, you'll excuse my troubling you about such a trifle. I
• 1:19:49
  think it's well worth troubling about. Why you look very serious over it?
• 1:19:56
  How do you explain it? I don't attempt to explain it. It's Sims,
• 1:20:00
  the very maddest, queerest thing that ever happened to me. The queerest,
• 1:20:03
  perhaps, said Holmes thoughtfully. What do you make of it yourself?
• 1:20:11
  Well, I don't profess to understand it. Yet. This case of yours
• 1:20:14
  is very complex, Sir Henry, when taken in conjunction with your uncle's death.
• 1:20:18
  I am not sure that of all the five hundred cases of capital importance
• 1:20:23
  which I have handled, there is one which cuts so deep. But we
• 1:20:26
  hold several threads in our hands, and the odds are that one or other
• 1:20:30
  of them guides us to the truth. We may waste time in following the
• 1:20:33
  wrong one, but sooner or later we must come upon the right. We
• 1:20:38
  had a pleasant luncheon in which little was said of the business which had brought
• 1:20:41
  us together. It was in the private sitting room, to which we afterwards
• 1:20:45
  repaired that. Holmes asked Baskerville what were his intentions to go to Baskerville Hall
• 1:20:51
  and when at the end of the week on the whole, said Holmes,
• 1:20:57
  I think that your decision is a wise one. I have ample evidence that
• 1:21:00
  you are being dogged in London, and amid the millions of this great city.
• 1:21:04
  It is difficult to discover who these people are or what their object can
• 1:21:09
  be. If their intentions are evil, they might do you a mischief and
• 1:21:13
  we should be powerless to prevent it. You did not know, doctor Mortimer,
• 1:21:16
  that you were followed this morning from my house. Doctor Mortimer started violently,
• 1:21:23
  followed by whom That, unfortunately, is what I cannot tell you.
• 1:21:29
  Have you among your neighbors or acquaintances on Dartmoor any man with a black full
• 1:21:32
  beard? No? Or let me see why? Yes, Barrymore, Sir
• 1:21:40
  Charles's butler is a man with a full black beard. Ha. Where is
• 1:21:45
  Barymore? He is in charge of the hall. We had best ascertain if
• 1:21:50
  he is really there, or if by any possibility he might be in London.
• 1:21:56
  How can you do that? Give me a telegraph form is all ready
• 1:22:00
  for Sir Henry. That will do. Addressed to mister Barymore, Baskerville Hall.
• 1:22:06
  What is the nearest telegraph office grimpin very good? We will send the
• 1:22:12
  second wire to the postmaster Grimpen telegram to mister Barymore, to be delivered into
• 1:22:16
  his own hand. If absent, please return wire to Sir Henry Baskerville,
• 1:22:21
  Northumberland Hotel. That should let us know before evening whether Barramore is at his
• 1:22:28
  post in Devonshire or not. That's so, said Baskerville. By the way,
• 1:22:32
  doctor Mortimer, who is this Barrimore? Anyhow? He is the son
• 1:22:38
  of the old caretaker who is dead. They have looked after the hall for
• 1:22:42
  four generations now, so far as I know, he and his wife are
• 1:22:45
  as respectable a couple as any in the county. At the same time,
• 1:22:50
  said Baskerville, it's clear enough that so long as there are none of the
• 1:22:55
  family at the hall, these people have a mighty fine home and nothing to
• 1:22:58
  do. That is true. Did bear Moore profit at all by Sir Charles's
• 1:23:03
  will, asked Holmes. He and his wife had five hundred pounds each.
• 1:23:10
  Ah, did they know that they would receive this? Yes, Sir Charles
• 1:23:14
  was very fond of talking about the provisions of his will. That is very
• 1:23:18
  interesting, I hope, said Doctor Mortimer, that you do not look with
• 1:23:24
  suspicious eyes upon every one who received a legacy from Sir Charles. For I
• 1:23:28
  also had a thousand pounds left to me. Indeed, and any one else.
• 1:23:34
  There were many insignificant sums to individuals, and a large number of public
• 1:23:39
  charities. The residue all went to Sir Henry. And how much was the
• 1:23:44
  residue seven hundred and forty thousand pounds. Holmes raised his eyebrows in surprise.
• 1:23:51
  I had no idea that so gigantic a sum was involved, said he.
• 1:23:58
  Sir Charles had the reputation of being rich, but we did not know how
• 1:24:00
  very rich he was until we came to examine his securities. The total value
• 1:24:05
  of the estate was close on to a million. Dear me, it is
• 1:24:11
  a stake for which a man might well play a desperate game. And one
• 1:24:15
  more question, Doctor Mortimer, supposing that anything happened to our young friend here,
• 1:24:19
  you will forgive the unpleasant hypothesis, who would inherit the estate? Since
• 1:24:25
  Roger Baskerville, Sir Charles's younger brother, died unmarried, the estate would descend
• 1:24:30
  to the Desmonds, who are distant cousins. James Desmond is an elderly clergyman
• 1:24:34
  in Westmoreland. Thank you. These details are all of great interest. Have
• 1:24:41
  you met mister James Desmond. Yes, he once came down to visit Sir
• 1:24:45
  Charles. He is a man of venerable appearance and of saintly life. I
• 1:24:50
  remember that he refused to accept any settlement from Sir Charles, though he pressed
• 1:24:55
  it upon him. And this man of simple tastes would be the to Sir
• 1:25:00
  Charles's thousands. He would be the heir to the estate, because that is
• 1:25:05
  entailed. He would also be the heir to the money, unless it were
• 1:25:09
  willed otherwise by the present owner, who can, of course do what he
• 1:25:13
  likes with it. And have you made your will, Sir Henry, No,
• 1:25:17
  mister Holmes, I have not. I've had no time, for it
• 1:25:20
  was only yesterday that I learned how matters stood. But in any case I
• 1:25:26
  feel that the money should go with the title and estate. That was my
• 1:25:29
  poor uncle's idea. How is the owner going to restore the glories of the
• 1:25:33
  Baskervilles if he has not money enough to keep up the property, house,
• 1:25:38
  land and dollars must go together quite so well, Sir Henry, I am
• 1:25:44
  of one mind with you as to the advisability of your going down to Devonshire
• 1:25:47
  without delay. There is only one provision which I must make. You certainly
• 1:25:53
  must not go alone. Doctor Mortimer returns with me. But doctor Mortimer has
• 1:26:00
  his practice to attend to, and his house is miles away from yours.
• 1:26:03
  With all the good will in the world, he may be unable to help
• 1:26:06
  you. No, Sir Henry, you must take with you someone, a
• 1:26:10
  trusty man, who will be always by your side. Is it possible that
• 1:26:15
  you could come yourself, mister Holmes, if matters came to a crisis,
• 1:26:20
  I should endeavor to be present in person. But you can understand that with
• 1:26:25
  my extensive consulting practice, and with the constant appeals which reach me from many
• 1:26:29
  quarters, it is impossible for me to be absent from London for an indefinite
• 1:26:32
  time. At the present instant, one of the most revered names in England
• 1:26:36
  is being besmirched by a blackmailer, and only I can stop a disastrous scandal.
• 1:26:42
  You will see how impossible it is for me to go to Dartmoor whom
• 1:26:46
  would you recommend? Then, Holmes laid his hand upon my arm. If
• 1:26:51
  my friend would undertake it. There is no man who is better worth having
• 1:26:56
  at your side when you are in a tight place. No one can say
• 1:26:59
  so more more confidently than I. The proposition took me completely by surprise.
• 1:27:04
  But before I had time to answer, Baskerville seized me by the hand and
• 1:27:09
  wrung it heartily. Well, now that is real kind of you, doctor
• 1:27:13
  Watson, said. He you see how it is with me, and you
• 1:27:16
  know just as much about the matter as I do. If you'll come down
• 1:27:20
  to Baskerville Hall and see me through, I'll never forget it. The promise
• 1:27:26
  of adventure had always a fascination for me, and I was complimented by the
• 1:27:30
  words of Holmes, and by the eagerness with which the baronet hailed me as
• 1:27:33
  a companion. I will come with pleasure, said I. I do not
• 1:27:39
  know how I could employ my time better. And you will report very carefully
• 1:27:44
  to me, said Holmes. When a crisis comes, as it will do,
• 1:27:47
  I will direct how you shall act. I suppose that by Saturday all
• 1:27:51
  might be ready. Would that suit doctor Watson perfectly? Then on Saturday,
• 1:28:00
  unless you hear to the contrary, we shall meet at the ten thirty train
• 1:28:02
  from Paddington. We had risen to depart when Baskerville gave a cry of triumph,
• 1:28:09
  and, diving into one of the corners of the room, he drew
• 1:28:12
  a brown boot from under a cabinet. My missing boot, he cried.
• 1:28:16
  May all our difficulties vanish as easily, said Sherlock Holmes. But it is
• 1:28:23
  a very singular thing. Doctor Mortimer remarked, I searched this room carefully before
• 1:28:28
  lunch, and so did I, said Baskerville, every inch of it.
• 1:28:33
  There was certainly no boot in it. Then, in that case the waiter
• 1:28:39
  must have placed it there while we were lunching. The German was sent for,
• 1:28:43
  but professed to know nothing of the matter, nor could any inquiry clear
• 1:28:46
  it up. Another item had been added to that constant and apparently purposeless series
• 1:28:53
  of small mysteries which had succeeded each other so rapidly. Setting aside the whole
• 1:28:59
  grim store of Sir Charles's death, we had a line of inexplicable incidents,
• 1:29:03
  all within the limits of two days, which included the receipt of the printed
• 1:29:08
  letter the black Bearded Spy in the hansom, the loss of the new brown
• 1:29:12
  boot, the loss of the old black boot, and now the return of
• 1:29:16
  the new brown boot. Holmes sat in silence in the cab as we drove
• 1:29:20
  back to Baker Street, and I knew from his drawn brows and keen face
• 1:29:25
  that his mind, like my own, was busy in endeavoring to frame some
• 1:29:29
  scheme into which all these strange and apparently disconnected episodes could be fitted. All
• 1:29:34
  afternoon and late into the evening, he sat lost in tobacco and thought,
• 1:29:40
  just before dinner, two telegrams were handed in. The first ran have just
• 1:29:45
  heard that Barrymore is at the Hall Baskerville. The second visited twenty three hotels
• 1:29:53
  as directed, but sorry to report unable to trace cut sheet of Times Cartwright.
• 1:30:00
  There go two of my threads, Watson. There is nothing more stimulating
• 1:30:03
  than a case where everything goes against you. We must cast round for another
• 1:30:09
  cent. We still have the cabin who drove the spy exactly. I have
• 1:30:15
  wired to get his name and address from the official registry. I should not
• 1:30:18
  be surprised if this were an answer to my question. The ring at the
• 1:30:24
  bell proved to be something even more satisfactory than an answer however, for the
• 1:30:28
  door opened and a rough looking fellow entered, who was evidently the man himself.
• 1:30:33
  I got a message from the head office that a gent at this address
• 1:30:36
  had been inquiring for number two seven o four, said he. I've driven
• 1:30:41
  my cab this seven years and never a word of complaint. I came here
• 1:30:45
  straight from the yard to ask you to your face what you had against me.
• 1:30:49
  I have nothing in the world against you, my good man, said
• 1:30:53
  Holmes. On the contrary, I have half a sovereign for you, if
• 1:30:57
  you will give me a clear answer to my questions. Well, I've had
• 1:31:00
  a good day and no mistake, said the cabman, with a grin.
• 1:31:04
  What was it you wanted to ask? Sir? First of all your name
• 1:31:09
  and address in case I want you again, John Clayton, three Turpey Street,
• 1:31:15
  the borough. My cab is out of Shipley's Yard, near Waterloo Station,
• 1:31:20
  Sherlock Holmes made a note of it. Now, Clayton, tell me
• 1:31:25
  all about the fair who came and watched this house at ten o'clock this morning,
• 1:31:29
  and afterwards followed the two gentlemen down Regent Street. The man looked surprised
• 1:31:33
  and a little embarrassed. Why there's no good my telling you things for you
• 1:31:39
  seem to know as much as I do already, said he. The truth
• 1:31:43
  is that the gentleman told me that he was a detective, and that I
• 1:31:45
  was to say nothing about him to any one. My good fellow, this
• 1:31:49
  is a very serious business, and you may find yourself in a pretty bad
• 1:31:54
  position if you try to hide anything from me. You say that your fare
• 1:31:58
  told you that he was a detective. Yes he did. When did he
• 1:32:02
  say this? When he left me? Did he say anything more? He
• 1:32:09
  mentioned his name? Holmes cast a swift glance of triumph at me. Oh,
• 1:32:15
  he mentioned his name? Did he? That was imprudent? What was
• 1:32:17
  the name that he mentioned? His name? Said the cabman was mister Sherlock
• 1:32:24
  Holmes. Never have I seen my friend more completely taken aback than by the
• 1:32:29
  cabman's reply. For an instant he sat in silent amazement. Then he burst
• 1:32:34
  into a hearty laugh. A touch, Watson, an undeniable touch, said
• 1:32:39
  he, I feel a foil as quick and supple as my own. He
• 1:32:43
  got home upon me very prettily that time. So his name was Sherlock Holmes?
• 1:32:46
  Was it? Yes, sir? That was the gentleman's name excellent,
• 1:32:51
  tell me where you picked him up and all that occurred. He hailed me
• 1:32:56
  at half past nine in trifog Or Square. He said that he was a
• 1:33:00
  detective and he offered me two guineas if I would do exactly what he wanted
• 1:33:03
  all day and asked no questions. I was glad enough to agree. First,
• 1:33:10
  we drove down to the Northumberland Hotel and waited there until two gentlemen came
• 1:33:14
  out and took a cab from the rank. We followed their cab until it
• 1:33:17
  pulled up somewhere near here this very door, said Holmes. Well I couldn't
• 1:33:24
  be sure of that, but I dare say my fair knew all about it.
• 1:33:28
  We pulled up half way down the street and waited an hour and a
• 1:33:30
  half. Then the two gentlemen passed us walking, and we followed down Baker
• 1:33:34
  Street and along I know, said Holmes, until we got three quarters down
• 1:33:41
  Regent Street. Then my gentleman threw up the trap and he cried that I
• 1:33:45
  should drive right away to Waterloo Station as hard as I could go. I
• 1:33:49
  whipped up the mare and we were there under the ten minutes. Then he
• 1:33:54
  paid up his two guineas like a good one, and away he went into
• 1:33:58
  the station. Only just as he was leaving he turned round and he said,
• 1:34:02
  it might interest you to know that you have been driving mister Sherlock Holmes.
• 1:34:05
  That's how I come to know the name I see. And you saw
• 1:34:11
  no more of him, not after he went into the station. And how
• 1:34:15
  would you describe mister Sherlock Holmes. The cabman scratched his head. Well,
• 1:34:21
  he wasn't altogether such an easy gentleman to describe. I put him at forty
• 1:34:27
  years of age, and he was of a middle height, two or three
• 1:34:30
  inches shorter than you, sir. He was dressed like a tough and he
• 1:34:32
  had a black beard cut square at the end, and a pale face.
• 1:34:38
  I don't know as I could say more than that color of his eyes.
• 1:34:44
  No, I can't say that. Nothing more that you can remember, No,
• 1:34:48
  sir, nothing. Well, then here is your half sovereign. There's
• 1:34:54
  another one waiting for you if you can bring any more information. Good night,
• 1:34:59
  good night, sir, and thank you. John Clayton departed chuckling,
• 1:35:03
  and Holmes turned to me with a shrug of his shoulders and a rueful smile.
• 1:35:09
  Snap goes our third thread, and we end where we began, said
• 1:35:12
  he, the cunning rascal. He knew our number, knew that Sir Henry
• 1:35:15
  Baskerville had consulted me, spotted who I was in Regent Street, conjectured that
• 1:35:20
  I had got the number of the cab and would lay my hands on the
• 1:35:24
  driver, and so sent back this audacious message. I tell you, Watson,
• 1:35:29
  this time we have got a faux man who is worthy of our steel.
• 1:35:31
  I've been checkmated in London. I can only wish you better luck in
• 1:35:35
  Devonshire. But I'm not easy in my mind about it, about what about
• 1:35:43
  sending you. It's an ugly business, Watson, an ugly, dangerous business,
• 1:35:46
  and the more I see of it, the less I like it.
• 1:35:49
  Yes, my dear fellow, you may laugh, but I give you my
• 1:35:53
  word that I shall be very glad to have you back safe and sound in
• 1:35:56
  Baker Street once more. End of Chapter five, Chapter six Baskerville Hall,
• 1:36:05
  Sir Henry Baskerville and Doctor Mortimer were ready upon the appointed day, and we
• 1:36:11
  started as arranged for Devonshire. Mister Sherlock Holmes drove with me to the station
• 1:36:15
  and gave me his last parting injunctions and advice. I will not bias your
• 1:36:20
  mind by suggesting theories or suspicions, Watson said, he I wish you simply
• 1:36:26
  to report facts in the fullest possible manner to me, and you can leave
• 1:36:30
  me to do the theorizing. What sort of facts I asked, anything which
• 1:36:35
  may seem to have a bearing, however indirect upon the case, and especially
• 1:36:40
  the relations between young Baskerville and his neighbors, or any fresh particulars concerning the
• 1:36:45
  death of Sir Charles. I have made some inquiries myself in the last few
• 1:36:49
  days, but the results have I fear been negative. One thing only appears
• 1:36:56
  to be certain, and that is that mister James Desmond, who is the
• 1:37:00
  next heir, is an elderly gentleman of a very amiable disposition, so that
• 1:37:04
  this persecution does not arise from him. I really think that we may eliminate
• 1:37:10
  him entirely. From our calculations. There remain the people who will actually surround
• 1:37:15
  Sir Henry Baskerville upon the moor. Would it not be well in the first
• 1:37:19
  place to get rid of this barrymore couple By no means you could not make
• 1:37:26
  a greater mistake if they are innocent, it would be a cruel injustice.
• 1:37:30
  And if they are guilty, we should be giving up all chance of bringing
• 1:37:33
  it home to them. No, no, we will preserve them upon our
• 1:37:36
  list of suspects. Then there is a groom at the hall. If I
• 1:37:41
  remember right, there are two Moorland farmers. There is our friend, doctor
• 1:37:45
  Mortimer, whom I believe to be entirely honest, and there is his wife,
• 1:37:49
  of whom we know nothing. There is this naturalist Stapleton, and there
• 1:37:55
  is his sister, who is said to be a young lady of attractions.
• 1:37:59
  There is mister Frankland of Laughter Hall, who is also an unknown factor.
• 1:38:03
  And there are one or two other neighbors. These are the folk who must
• 1:38:06
  be your very special study. I will do my best. You have arms,
• 1:38:13
  I suppose yes, I thought it as well to take them. Most
• 1:38:17
  certainly, keep your revolver near you night and day, and never relax your
• 1:38:21
  precautions. Our friends had already secured a first class carriage and were waiting for
• 1:38:28
  us upon the platform. No, we have no news of any kind,
• 1:38:32
  said doctor Mortimer, in answer to my friend's questions. I can swear to
• 1:38:36
  one thing, and that is that we have not been shadowed. During the
• 1:38:40
  last two days. We have never gone out without keeping a sharp watch,
• 1:38:45
  and no one could have escaped our notice. You have always kept together,
• 1:38:49
  I presume, except yesterday afternoon. I usually give up one day to pure
• 1:38:56
  amusement when I come to town. So I spent it at the museum of
• 1:38:59
  the College of Surgeons, and I went to look at the fulk in the
• 1:39:02
  park, said Baskerville. But we had no trouble of any kind. It
• 1:39:08
  was imprudent all the same, said Holmes, shaking his head and looking very
• 1:39:12
  grave. I beg, sir Henry, that you will not go about alone.
• 1:39:16
  Some great misfortune will befall you if you do. Did you get your
• 1:39:19
  other boot? No, sir, it is gone forever. Indeed that is
• 1:39:27
  very interesting. Well good bye, he added, as the train began to
• 1:39:30
  glide down the platform. There in mine, Sir Henry, one of the
• 1:39:33
  phrases in that queer old legend which doctor Mortimer has read to us, And
• 1:39:38
  avoid the moor in those hours of darkness, when the powers of evil are
• 1:39:42
  exalted. I looked back at the platform when we had left it far behind,
• 1:39:46
  and saw the tall, austere figure of Holmes standing motionless, and gazing
• 1:39:50
  after us. The journey was a swift and pleasant one, and I spent
• 1:39:56
  it in making the more intimate acquaintance of my two companions, and in playing
• 1:40:00
  with Doctor Mortimer's spaniel. In a very few hours, the brown earth had
• 1:40:04
  become ruddy, the brick had changed to granite, and red cows grazed in
• 1:40:10
  well hedged fields, where the lush grasses and more luxuriant vegetation spoke of a
• 1:40:15
  richer if a damper climate. Young Baskerville stared eagerly out of the window and
• 1:40:20
  cried aloud with delight as he recognized the familiar features of the Devon scenery.
• 1:40:28
  I've been over a good part of the world since I left it, doctor
• 1:40:30
  Watson, said he, But I have never seen a place to compare with
• 1:40:33
  it. I never saw a Devonshire man who did not swear by his county.
• 1:40:40
  I remarked. It depends upon the breed of men, quite as much
• 1:40:44
  as on the county, said doctor Mortimer. A glance at our friend here
• 1:40:47
  reveals the rounded head of the celt which carries inside it the Celtic enthusiasm and
• 1:40:53
  power of attachment. Poor Sir Charles's head was of a very rare type,
• 1:40:58
  half Gallic, half Ivernian in its characteristics. But you were very young when
• 1:41:03
  you last saw Baskerville Hall, were you not. I was a boy in
• 1:41:08
  my teens at the time of my father's death, and I had never seen
• 1:41:11
  the hall, for he lived in a little cottage on the south coast.
• 1:41:15
  Thence I went straight to a friend in America. I tell you it is
• 1:41:18
  all as new to me as it is to doctor Watson, and I am
• 1:41:21
  as keen as possible to see the more are you, Then your wish is
• 1:41:27
  easily granted. For there is your first sight of the moor, said doctor
• 1:41:30
  Mortimer, pointing out of the carriage window, over the green squares of the
• 1:41:35
  fields and the low curve of a wood. There arose in the distance,
• 1:41:40
  a gray, melancholy hill with a strange, jagged summit, dim and vague
• 1:41:45
  in the distance, like some fantastic landscape in a dream. Baskerville sat for
• 1:41:50
  a long time, his eyes fixed upon it, and I read upon his
• 1:41:55
  eager face how much it meant to him, this first sight of that strange
• 1:41:59
  spot where the men of his blood had held sway so long and left their
• 1:42:02
  marks so deep. There he sat with his tweed suit and his American accent
• 1:42:09
  in the corner of a prosaic railway carriage. And yet as I looked at
• 1:42:13
  his dark and expressive face, I felt more than ever how true a descendant
• 1:42:16
  he was of that long line of high blooded, fiery and masterful men.
• 1:42:21
  There were pride, valor and strength in his thick brows, his sensitive nostrils,
• 1:42:27
  and his large hazel eyes. If on that forbidding more a difficult and
• 1:42:31
  dangerous quest should lie before us, this was at least a comrade for whom
• 1:42:35
  one might venture to take a risk, with the certainty that he would bravely
• 1:42:40
  share it. The train pulled up at a small wayside station, and we
• 1:42:44
  all descended outside. Beyond the low white fence, a wagonette with a pair
• 1:42:49
  of cobs was waiting. Our coming was evidently a great event for station master,
• 1:42:55
  and porters clustered round us to carry out our luggage. It was a
• 1:42:59
  sweet, simple country spot, But I was surprised to observe that by the
• 1:43:02
  gate there stood two soldierly men in dark uniforms, who leaned upon their short
• 1:43:08
  rifles and glanced keenly at us as we passed. The coachman, a hard
• 1:43:13
  faced gnarled little fellow, saluted Sir Henry Baskerville, and in a few minutes
• 1:43:18
  we were flying swiftly down the broad white road, Rolling pasture lands curved upward
• 1:43:24
  on either side of us, and old gabled houses peeped out from amid the
• 1:43:28
  thick green foliage. But behind the peaceful and sunlit countryside there rose, ever
• 1:43:33
  dark against the evening sky, the long, gloomy curve of the moor broken
• 1:43:38
  by the jagged and sinister hills. The wagonette swung round into a side road,
• 1:43:45
  and we curved upward through deep lanes worn by centuries of wheels. High
• 1:43:48
  banks on either side, heavy with stripping moss and fleshy heart's tongue, ferns,
• 1:43:55
  bronzing bracken, and mottled bramble gleamed in the light of the sinking sun,
• 1:44:00
  still steadily rising. We passed over a narrow granite bridge and skirted a
• 1:44:03
  noisy stream, which gushed swiftly down, foaming and roaring amid the gray boulders.
• 1:44:10
  Both road and stream wound up through a valley dense with scrub, oak
• 1:44:14
  and fur. At every turn, Baskerville gave an exclamation of delight, looking
• 1:44:18
  eagerly about him and asking countless questions. To his eyes, all seemed beautiful.
• 1:44:25
  But to me a tinge of melancholy lay upon the countryside, which bore
• 1:44:29
  so clearly the mark of the waning year. Yellow leaves carpeted the lanes and
• 1:44:34
  fluttered down upon us as we passed. The rattle of our wheels died away
• 1:44:39
  as we drove through drifts of rotting vegetation, sad gifts, as it seemed
• 1:44:44
  to me for nature to throw before the carriage of the returning Air of the
• 1:44:46
  Baskervilles. Hello, cried doctor Mortimer, What is this? A steep curve
• 1:44:55
  of heath clad land, an outlying spur of the moor, lay in front
• 1:44:59
  of us on the summit, hard and clear, like an equestrian statue.
• 1:45:03
  Upon its pedestal was a mounted soldier, dark and stern, his rifle poised
• 1:45:09
  ready over his forearm. He was watching the road along which we traveled.
• 1:45:15
  What is this, Perkins, asked Doctor Mortimer. Our driver half turned in
• 1:45:19
  his seat. There's a convict escaped from Princetown, Sir. He's been out
• 1:45:26
  three days now, and the warders watch every road and every station, but
• 1:45:30
  they've had no sight of him yet. The farmers about here don't like it,
• 1:45:33
  sir. And that's a fact. Well. I understand that they get
• 1:45:38
  five pounds if they can give information, yes, sir, But the chance
• 1:45:42
  of five pounds is but a poor thing compared to the chance of having your
• 1:45:45
  throat cut. You see, it isn't like any ordinary conflict. This is
• 1:45:49
  a man who would stick at nothing. Who is he? Then? It
• 1:45:55
  is Selden, the notting Hill murderer. I remembered the case well, for
• 1:46:00
  it was one in which Holmes had taken an interest on account of the peculiar
• 1:46:03
  ferocity of the crime and the wanton brutality which had marked all the actions of
• 1:46:08
  the assassin. The commutation of his death sentence had been due to some doubts
• 1:46:13
  as to his complete sanity, so atrocious was his conduct. Our wagonette had
• 1:46:18
  topped a rise, and in front of us rose the huge expanse of the
• 1:46:23
  moor, modeled with gnarled and craggy cairns and tours. A cold wind swept
• 1:46:29
  down from it and set us shivering. Somewhere there on that desolate plain was
• 1:46:32
  lurking, this fiendish man, hiding in a burrow like a wild beast,
• 1:46:36
  his heart full of malignancy against the whole race which had cast him out.
• 1:46:42
  It needed but this to complete the grim suggestiveness of the barren waste, the
• 1:46:45
  chilling wind, and the darkling sky. Even Baskerville fell silent and pulled his
• 1:46:51
  overcoat more closely around him. We had left the fertile country behind, and
• 1:46:57
  beneath us. We looked back on it now, the slanting rays of a
• 1:47:00
  low sun turning the streams to threads of gold, and glowing on the red
• 1:47:04
  earth new turned by the plow, and the broad tangle of the woodlands.
• 1:47:10
  The road in front of us grew bleaker and wilder, over huge russet and
• 1:47:14
  olive slopes sprinkled with giant boulders. Now and then we passed a moorland cottage,
• 1:47:19
  walled and roofed with stone, with no creeper to break its harsh outline.
• 1:47:25
  Suddenly we looked down into a cuplike depression, patched with stunted oaks and
• 1:47:29
  furs which had been twisted and bent by the fury of years of storm.
• 1:47:33
  Two high, narrow towers rose over the trees. The driver pointed with its
• 1:47:39
  whip. Baskerville Hall said he its master had risen and was staring with flushed
• 1:47:45
  cheeks and shining eyes. A few minutes later we had reached the lodge gates,
• 1:47:50
  a maze of fantastic tracery and wrought iron, with weather bitten pillars on
• 1:47:55
  each side, blotched with lichens and surmounted by the boar's heads of the back
• 1:48:00
  Baskerville's the lodge was a ruin of black granite and bared ribs of rafters,
• 1:48:04
  but facing it was a new building, half constructed, the first fruit of
• 1:48:09
  Sir Charles's South African gold. Through the gateway we passed into the avenue,
• 1:48:15
  where the wheels were again hushed amid the leaves, and the old trees shot
• 1:48:18
  their branches in a somber tunnel over our heads. Baskerville shuddered as he looked
• 1:48:25
  up the long dark drive to where the house glimmered like a ghost at the
• 1:48:28
  farther end. Was it here, he asked in a low voice. No,
• 1:48:34
  No, the yew alley is on the other side. The young air
• 1:48:39
  glanced round with a gloomy face. It's no wonder my uncle felt as if
• 1:48:44
  trouble were coming on him in such a place as this, said he.
• 1:48:47
  It's enough to scare any man. I'll have a row of electric lamps up
• 1:48:51
  here inside of six months, and you won't know it again with a thousand
• 1:48:55
  candle power Swan and Edison right here in front of the hall door. The
• 1:49:00
  avenue opened into a broad expanse of turf, and the house lay before us.
• 1:49:04
  In the fading light, I could see that the center was a heavy
• 1:49:06
  block of building from which a porch projected. The whole front was draped in
• 1:49:12
  ivy, with a patch clipped bare. Here and there where a window or
• 1:49:15
  a coat of arms broke through the dark veil. From this central block rose
• 1:49:19
  the twin towers, ancient crenelated and pierced with many loopholes. To the right
• 1:49:26
  and left of the turrets were more modern wings of black granite. A dull
• 1:49:30
  light shone through heavy mullioned windows, and from the high chimneys which rose from
• 1:49:35
  the steep, high angled roof. There sprang a single black column of smoke.
• 1:49:42
  Welcome, Sir Henry, Welcome to Baskerville Hall. A tall man had
• 1:49:47
  stepped from the shadow of the porch to open the door of the wagonette.
• 1:49:51
  The figure of a woman was silhouetted against the yellow light of the hall.
• 1:49:56
  She came out and helped the man to hand down our bags. You don't
• 1:50:00
  mind my driving straight home, Sir Henry, said Doctor Mortimer. My wife
• 1:50:04
  is expecting me. Surely you will stay and have some dinner. No,
• 1:50:11
  I must go. I shall probably find some work awaiting me. I would
• 1:50:15
  stay to show you over the house, but Barrymore will be a better guide
• 1:50:18
  than I. Good Bye, and never hesitate night or day to send for
• 1:50:23
  me if I can be of service. The wheels died away down the drive
• 1:50:28
  while Sir Henry and I turned into the hall, and the door clanged heavily
• 1:50:31
  behind us. It was a fine apartment in which we found ourselves large,
• 1:50:38
  lofty and heavily raftered with huge boks of age blackened oak. In the great
• 1:50:43
  old fashioned fireplace behind the high iron dogs, a log fire crackled and snapped.
• 1:50:48
  Sir Henry and I held out our hands to it, for we were
• 1:50:51
  numb from our long drive. Then we gazed round us at the high,
• 1:50:56
  thin window of old stained glass, the oak panel, the stag's heads,
• 1:51:00
  the coats of arms upon the wall, all dim and somber in the subdued
• 1:51:04
  light of the central lamp. It's just as I imagined it, said Sir
• 1:51:10
  Henry. Is it not the very picture of an old family home? To
• 1:51:14
  think that this should be the same hall in which for five hundred years my
• 1:51:17
  people have lived? It strikes me solemn to think of it. I saw
• 1:51:23
  his dark face lit up with a boyish enthusiasm as he gazed about him.
• 1:51:27
  The light beat down upon him where he stood, but long shadows trailed down
• 1:51:30
  the walls and hung like a black canopy above him. Barrymore had returned from
• 1:51:36
  taking our luggage to our rooms. He stood in front of us now with
• 1:51:41
  a subdued manner of a well trained servant. He was a remarkable looking man,
• 1:51:45
  tall handsome, with a square black beard and pale distinguished features. Would
• 1:51:53
  you wish dinner to be served at once? Sir? Is it ready?
• 1:51:57
  In a very few minutes, Sir, you will find hot water in your
• 1:52:00
  rooms. My wife and I will be happy, Sir Henry, to stay
• 1:52:03
  with you until you have made your fresh arrangements. But you will understand that
• 1:52:08
  under the new conditions, this house will require a considerable staff. What new
• 1:52:14
  conditions? I only meant, sir, that Sir Charles led a very retired
• 1:52:18
  life, and we were able to look after his wants. You would naturally
• 1:52:23
  wish to have more company, and so you will need changes in your household.
• 1:52:29
  Do you mean that your wife and you wish to leave only when it
• 1:52:32
  is quite convenient to you, sir? But your family have been with us
• 1:52:38
  for several generations, have they not? I should be sorry to begin my
• 1:52:42
  life here by breaking an old family connection. I seem to discern some signs
• 1:52:46
  of emotion upon the butler's white face. I feel that also, sir,
• 1:52:51
  and so does my wife. But to tell the truth, Sir, we
• 1:52:56
  were both very much attached to Sir Charles, and his death gave us a
• 1:52:59
  shock and made these surroundings very painful to us. I fear that we shall
• 1:53:02
  never again be easy in our minds at Baskerville Hall. But what do you
• 1:53:08
  intend to do? I have no doubt, sir, that we shall succeed
• 1:53:12
  in establishing ourselves in some business. Sir Charles's generosity has given us the means
• 1:53:17
  to do so. And now, Sir, perhaps I had best show you
• 1:53:20
  to your rooms. A square, balustraded gallery ran round the top of the
• 1:53:27
  old hall, approached by a double stare. From this central point, two
• 1:53:31
  long corridors extended the whole length of the building from which all the bedrooms opened.
• 1:53:38
  My own was in the same wing as Baskerville's, and almost next door
• 1:53:42
  to it. These rooms appeared to be much more modern than the central part
• 1:53:45
  of the house, and the bright paper and numerous candles did something to remove
• 1:53:50
  the somber impression which our arrival had left upon my mind. But the dining
• 1:53:56
  room, which opened out of the hall, was a place of shadow and
• 1:53:59
  gloom. It was a long chamber with a step separating the dais where the
• 1:54:02
  family sat, from the lower portion, reserved for their dependence. At one
• 1:54:08
  end, a minstrel's gallery overlooked it. Black beams shot across above our heads,
• 1:54:14
  with a smoke darkened ceiling beyond them, with rows of flaring torches to
• 1:54:17
  light it up, and the color and rude hilarity of an old time banquet.
• 1:54:23
  It might have softened. But now, when two black clothed gentlemen sat
• 1:54:27
  in the little circle of light thrown by a shaded lamp, one's voice became
• 1:54:31
  hushed, and one's spirit subdued. A dim line of ancestors in every variety
• 1:54:38
  of dress, from the elizabetha Knight to the Buck of the Regency, stared
• 1:54:42
  down upon us and daunted us by their silent company. We talked little,
• 1:54:46
  and I for one, was glad when the meal was over and we were
• 1:54:50
  able to retire into the modern billiard room and smoke a cigarette. My word,
• 1:54:56
  it isn't a very cheerful place, said Sir Henry. I suppose one
• 1:55:00
  can tone down to it. But I feel a bit out of the picture
• 1:55:03
  at present. I don't wonder that my uncle got a little jumpy if he
• 1:55:08
  lived all alone in such a house as this. However, if it suits
• 1:55:12
  you, we will retire early to night, and perhaps things may seem more
• 1:55:15
  cheerful in the morning. I drew aside my curtains before I went to bed,
• 1:55:20
  and looked out from my window. It opened upon the grassy space which
• 1:55:25
  lay in front of the hall door. Beyond two copses of trees moaned and
• 1:55:29
  swung in a rising wind. A half moon broke through the rifts of racing
• 1:55:33
  clouds. In its cold light, I saw beyond the trees a broken fringe
• 1:55:39
  of rocks, and the long, low curve of the melancholy more. I
• 1:55:44
  closed the curtain, feeling that my last impression was in keeping with the rest,
• 1:55:48
  And yet it was not quite the last. I found myself weary and
• 1:55:53
  yet wakeful, tossing restlessly from side to side, seeking for the sleep which
• 1:55:58
  would not come far away. A chiming clock struck out the quarters of the
• 1:56:02
  hours, but otherwise a deathly silence lay upon the old house. And then
• 1:56:09
  suddenly, in the very dead of the night, there came a sound to
• 1:56:12
  my ears, clear, resonant, and unmistakable. It was the sob of
• 1:56:16
  a woman, the muffled, strangling gasp of one who is torn by an
• 1:56:21
  uncontrollable sorrow. I sat up in bed and listened intently. The noise could
• 1:56:28
  not have been far away, and was certainly in the house. For half
• 1:56:31
  an hour, I waited, with every nerve on the alert, but there
• 1:56:35
  came no other sound save the chiming clock and the rustle of the ivy on
• 1:56:40
  the wall. End of Chapter six, Chapter seven, the stapletons of Merripit
• 1:56:47
  House. The fresh beauty of the following morning did something to efface from our
• 1:56:54
  minds the grim and gray impression which had been left upon both of us by
• 1:56:59
  our first experiences of Baskerville Hall. As Sir Henry and I sat at breakfast,
• 1:57:03
  the sunlight flooded in through the high mullioned windows, throwing watery patches of
• 1:57:09
  color from the coats of arms which covered them. The dark paneling glowed like
• 1:57:14
  bronze in the golden rays, and it was hard to realize that this was
• 1:57:17
  indeed the chamber which had struck such a gloom into our souls the evening before.
• 1:57:24
  I guess it is ourselves and not the house, that we have to
• 1:57:27
  blame, said the baronet. We were tired with our journey and chilled by
• 1:57:31
  our drive, so we took a gray view of the place. Now we
• 1:57:35
  are fresh and well, so it is all cheerful once more. And yet
• 1:57:41
  it was not entirely a question of imagination, I answered, did you,
• 1:57:45
  for example, happen to hear some one a woman I think, sobbing in
• 1:57:48
  the night? That is curious, for I did, when I was half
• 1:57:54
  asleep, fancy that I heard something of the sort. I waited quite a
• 1:57:58
  time, but there was no more of it, so I concluded that it
• 1:58:00
  was all a dream. I heard it distinctly, and I am sure that
• 1:58:05
  it was really the sob of a woman. We must ask about this right
• 1:58:10
  away. He rang the bell and asked Barimore whether he could account for our
• 1:58:15
  experience. It seemed to me that the pallid features of the butler turned a
• 1:58:19
  shade paler still as he listened to his master's question. There are only two
• 1:58:26
  women in the house, Sir Henry, he answered, One is the scullery
• 1:58:30
  maid, who sleeps in the other wing. The other is my wife.
• 1:58:33
  And I can answer for it that the sound could not have come from her.
• 1:58:39
  And yet he lied as he said it, For it chanced that after
• 1:58:42
  breakfast I met Missus Barymore in the long corridor, with the sun full upon
• 1:58:46
  her face. She was a large, impassive, heavy featured woman, with
• 1:58:50
  a stern set expression of mouth. But her tell tale eyes were red and
• 1:58:57
  glanced at me from between swollen lids. It was she, then, who
• 1:59:00
  wept in the night, and if she did so, her husband must know
• 1:59:04
  it. Yet he had taken the obvious risk of discovery in declaring that it
• 1:59:10
  was not so. Why had he done this? And why did she weep
• 1:59:15
  so bitterly? Already round this pale faced, handsome, black bearded man there
• 1:59:20
  was gathering an atmosphere of mystery and of gloom. It was he who had
• 1:59:26
  been the first to discover the body of Sir Charles, and we had only
• 1:59:30
  his word, for all the circumstances which led up to the old man's death.
• 1:59:34
  Was it possible that it was Barrymore? After all, whom we had
• 1:59:38
  seen in the cab in Regent Street. The beard might well have been the
• 1:59:42
  same the cabman had described a somewhat shorter man. But such an impression might
• 1:59:47
  easily have been erroneous. How could I settle the point forever? Obviously the
• 1:59:55
  first thing to do was to see the grimp and postmaster and find whether the
• 1:59:59
  test telegram had really been placed in Barymore's own hands. Be the answer,
• 2:00:03
  what it might? I should at least have something to report to Sherlock Holmes.
• 2:00:10
  Sir Henry had numerous papers to examine after breakfast, so that the time
• 2:00:14
  was propitious. From my excursion, it was a pleasant walk of four miles
• 2:00:18
  along the edge of the moor, leading me at last to a small gray
• 2:00:23
  hamlet, in which two larger buildings, which proved to be the Inn and
• 2:00:27
  the house of Doctor Mortimer, stood high above the rest. The postmaster,
• 2:00:32
  who was also the village grocer, had a clear recollection of the telegram.
• 2:00:39
  Certainly, Sir said he I had the telegram delivered to mister Barramore exactly as
• 2:00:44
  directed. Who delivered it? My boy, here, James, you delivered
• 2:00:49
  that telegram to mister Barrmore at the hall last week, did you not?
• 2:00:55
  Yes, Father, I delivered it into his own hands, I asked,
• 2:01:00
  Well, he was up in the loft at the time, so that I
• 2:01:03
  could not put it into his own hands. But I gave it into missus
• 2:01:06
  Barymore's hands, and she promised to deliver it at once. Did you see
• 2:01:12
  mister Barrmore, No, sir, I tell you he was in the loft.
• 2:01:17
  If you didn't see him, how do you know he was in the
• 2:01:20
  loft? Well, surely his own wife ought to know where he is,
• 2:01:26
  said the postmaster testily. Didn't he get the telegram? If there is any
• 2:01:30
  mistake, it is for mister Barrimore himself to complain. It seemed hopeless to
• 2:01:35
  pursue the inquiry any farther, but it was clear that, in spite of
• 2:01:40
  Holmes's ruse, we had no proof that Barmore had not been in London all
• 2:01:44
  the time. Suppose that it were so, Suppose that the same man had
• 2:01:48
  been the last who had seen Sir Charles alive, and the first to dog
• 2:01:53
  the new heir when he returned to England. What then, was he the
• 2:01:58
  agent of others? Or had he some sinister design of his own? What
• 2:02:01
  interest could he have in persecuting the Baskerville family? I thought of the strange
• 2:02:08
  warning clipped out of the leading article of the Times. Was that his work?
• 2:02:13
  Or was it possibly the doing of some one who was bent upon counteracting
• 2:02:15
  his schemes? The only conceivable motive was that which had been suggested by Sir
• 2:02:21
  Henry, that if the family could be scared away, a comfortable and permanent
• 2:02:26
  home would be secured for the Barrymoors. But surely such an explanation as that
• 2:02:31
  would be quite inadequate to account for the deep and subtle scheming which seemed to
• 2:02:35
  be weaving an invisible net round the young baronet. Holmes himself had said that
• 2:02:42
  no more complex case had come to him in all the long series of his
• 2:02:45
  sensational investigations. I prayed, as I walked back along the gray, lonely
• 2:02:51
  road, that my friend might soon be freed from his preoccupations and able to
• 2:02:57
  come down to take this heavy burden of responsibility from my shoulders. Suddenly my
• 2:03:02
  thoughts were interrupted by the sound of running feet behind me, and by a
• 2:03:05
  voice which called me by name. I turned, expecting to see doctor Mortimer,
• 2:03:11
  but to my surprise, it was a stranger who was pursuing me.
• 2:03:15
  He was a small, slim, clean shaven, prim faced man, flaxen
• 2:03:21
  haired and lean jawed, between thirty and forty years of age, dressed in
• 2:03:27
  a gray suit and wearing a straw hat. A tin box for botanical specimens
• 2:03:31
  hung over his shoulder, and he carried a green butterfly net in one of
• 2:03:35
  his hands. You will, I am sure. Excuse my presumption, doctor
• 2:03:41
  Watson, said he as he came panting up to where I stood here on
• 2:03:45
  the moor. We are humely folk, and do not wait for formal introductions.
• 2:03:49
  You may possibly have heard my name from our mutual friend Mortimer. I
• 2:03:54
  am Stapleton of Merripit House. Your net and box would have told me as
• 2:03:59
  much, said I, for I knew that mister Stapleton was a naturalist.
• 2:04:03
  But how did you know me? I have been calling on Mortimer, and
• 2:04:08
  he pointed you out to me from the window of his surgery as you passed.
• 2:04:12
  As our road lay the same way, I thought that I would overtake
• 2:04:15
  you and introduce myself. I trust that Sir Henry is none the worse for
• 2:04:19
  his journey. He is very well, thank you. We were all rather
• 2:04:26
  afraid that, after the sad death of Sir Charles, the new baronet might
• 2:04:30
  refuse to live here. It is asking much of a wealthy man to come
• 2:04:33
  down and bury himself in a place of this kind. But I need not
• 2:04:38
  tell you that it means a very great deal to the countryside. Sir Henry
• 2:04:42
  has, I suppose, no superstitious fears in the matter. I do not
• 2:04:46
  think that it is likely. Of course, you know the legend of the
• 2:04:50
  fiend dog which haunts the family. I have heard it. It is extraordinary
• 2:04:58
  how credulous the peasants are about here. Any number of them are ready to
• 2:05:01
  swear that they have seen such a creature upon the moor. He spoke with
• 2:05:05
  a smile, but I seemed to read in his eyes that he took the
• 2:05:09
  matter more seriously. The story took a great hold upon the imagination of Sir
• 2:05:15
  Charles, and I have no doubt that it led to his tragic end.
• 2:05:19
  But how his nerves were so worked up that the appearance of any dog might
• 2:05:25
  have had a fatal effect upon his diseased heart. I fancy that he really
• 2:05:29
  did see something of the kind. Upon that last night in the yew alley,
• 2:05:33
  I feared that some disaster might occur, for I was very fond of
• 2:05:36
  the old man, and I knew that his heart was weak. How did
• 2:05:42
  you know that, my friend Mortimer told me. You think then that some
• 2:05:47
  dog pursued Sir Charles, and that he died of fright and consequence? Have
• 2:05:53
  you any better explanation? I have not come to any conclusion, mister Sherlock
• 2:06:00
  Holmes. The words took away my breath for an instant, but a glance
• 2:06:05
  at the placid face and steadfast eyes of my companion showed that no surprise was
• 2:06:11
  intended. It is useless for us to pretend that we do not know you,
• 2:06:15
  doctor Watson, said he The records of your detective have reached us here,
• 2:06:19
  and you could not celebrate him without being known yourself. When Mortimer told
• 2:06:25
  me your name, he could not deny your identity. If you were here,
• 2:06:30
  then it follows that mister Sherlock Holmes is interesting himself in the matter,
• 2:06:33
  and I am naturally curious to know what view he may take. I am
• 2:06:38
  afraid that I cannot answer that question. May I ask if he is going
• 2:06:44
  to honor us with a visit himself. He cannot leave town at present.
• 2:06:47
  He has other cases which engage his attention. What a pity he might throw
• 2:06:54
  some light on that which is so dark to us. But as to your
• 2:06:58
  own researches, if there is any possible way in which I can be of
• 2:07:00
  service to you, I trust that you will command me. If I had
• 2:07:04
  any indication of the nature of your suspicions, or how you propose to investigate
• 2:07:10
  the case, I might perhaps even now give you some aid or advice.
• 2:07:15
  I assure you that I am simply here upon a visit to my friend,
• 2:07:17
  Sir Henry, and that I need no help of any kind. Excellent,
• 2:07:23
  said Stapleton. You are perfectly right to be wary and discreet. I am
• 2:07:28
  justly reproved for what I feel was an unjustifiable intrusion, and I promise you
• 2:07:32
  that I will not mention the matter again. We had come to a point
• 2:07:36
  where a narrow, grassy path struck off from the road and wound away across
• 2:07:42
  the moor. A steep, bolder sprinkled hill lay upon the right, which
• 2:07:46
  had in by gone days been cut into a granite quarry. The face which
• 2:07:51
  was turned toward us formed a dark cliff, with ferns and brambles growing in
• 2:07:56
  its niches. From over a distant rise there floated a gray plume of smoke.
• 2:08:01
  A moderate walk along this moor path brings us to Merripeth House, said
• 2:08:05
  he, perhaps you will spare an hour that I may have the pleasure of
• 2:08:09
  introducing you to my sister. My first thought was that I should be by
• 2:08:15
  Sir Henry's side, but then I remembered the pile of papers and bills with
• 2:08:18
  which his study table was littered. It was certain that I could not help
• 2:08:22
  with those, and Holmes had expressly said that I should study the neighbors upon
• 2:08:28
  the moor. I accepted Stapleton's invitation, and we turned together down the path.
• 2:08:35
  It is a wonderful place the moor, said he, looking round over
• 2:08:39
  the undulating downs, long green rollers with crests of jagged granite foaming up into
• 2:08:46
  fantastic surges. You never tire of the moor. You cannot think the wonderful
• 2:08:52
  secrets which it contains. It is so vast and so barren, and so
• 2:08:56
  mysterious. You know it well, then I have only been here two years.
• 2:09:03
  The residence would call me a newcomer. We came shortly after Sir Charles
• 2:09:07
  settled. But my tastes led me to explore every part of the country round.
• 2:09:13
  And I should think that there are few men who know it better than
• 2:09:16
  I do? Is it hard to know? Very hard? You see,
• 2:09:22
  for example, this great plain to the north here, with the Queer Hills
• 2:09:26
  breaking out of it. Do you observe anything remarkable about that? It would
• 2:09:31
  be a rare place for a gallop, You would naturally think so, and
• 2:09:37
  the thought has cost several their lives before. Now you notice those bright green
• 2:09:41
  spots scattered thickly over it. Yes, they seem more fertile than the rest.
• 2:09:48
  Stapleton laughed, That is the great grimpen Meyer said he A false step
• 2:09:54
  yonder means death to man or beast. Only yesterday I saw one of the
• 2:09:58
  more ponies wander into it. He never came out. I saw his head
• 2:10:03
  for quite a long time craning out of the bog hole, but it sucked
• 2:10:07
  him down at last. Even in dry seasons it is a danger to cross
• 2:10:11
  it. But after these autumn rains it is an awful place. And yet
• 2:10:16
  I can find my way to the very heart of it, and return alive.
• 2:10:20
  By George, there is another of those miserable ponies. Something brown was
• 2:10:26
  rolling and tossing among the green sedges. Then a long, agonized, writhing
• 2:10:31
  neck shot upward, and a dreadful cry echoed over the moor. It turned
• 2:10:35
  me cold with horror. But my companion's nerves seemed to be stronger than mine.
• 2:10:41
  It's gone, said he. The mire has him two in two days,
• 2:10:46
  and many more perhaps, for they get in the way of going there
• 2:10:50
  in the dry weather and never know the difference until the mere has them in
• 2:10:52
  its clutches. It's a bad place, the great grimpen Meyer. And you
• 2:10:58
  say you can penetrate it. Yes, there are one or two paths which
• 2:11:03
  a very active man can take. I have found them out. But why
• 2:11:09
  should you wish to go into so horrible a place. Well, you see
• 2:11:13
  the hills beyond. They are really islands, cut off on all sides by
• 2:11:18
  the impassable mire, which has crawled round them in the course of years.
• 2:11:22
  That is where the rare plants and the butterflies are. If you have the
• 2:11:26
  wit to reach them, I shall try my luck some day. He looked
• 2:11:31
  at me with a surprised face. For God's sake, put such an idea
• 2:11:35
  out of your mind, said he, Your blood would be upon my head.
• 2:11:39
  I assure you that there would not be the least chance of your coming
• 2:11:43
  back alive. It is only by remembering certain complex landmarks that I am able
• 2:11:46
  to do it. Hello, I cried, what is that? A long,
• 2:11:54
  low moan, indescribably sad, swept over the moor. It filled the
• 2:11:58
  whole, and yet it was impossible to say whence it came? From a
• 2:12:03
  dull murmur, It swelled into a deep roar, and then sank back into
• 2:12:09
  a melancholy, throbbing murmur. Once again, Stapleton looked at me with a
• 2:12:13
  curious expression in his face. Queer place the more, said he, But
• 2:12:20
  what is it? The peasants say it is the hound of the Baskervilles calling
• 2:12:24
  for its prey. I've heard it once or twice before, but never quite
• 2:12:28
  so loud. I looked round, with a chill of fear in my heart
• 2:12:33
  at the huge swelling plain, modeled with the green patches of rushes. Nothing
• 2:12:39
  stirred over the vast expanse, save a pair of ravens, which croaked loudly
• 2:12:43
  from a tour behind us. You are an educated man. You don't believe
• 2:12:48
  such nonsense as that said. I what do you think is the cause of
• 2:12:54
  so strange a sound? Bogs make queer noises. Sometimes it's the mud settling,
• 2:13:01
  or the water rising or something. No, No, that was a
• 2:13:05
  living voice. Well perhaps it was. Did you ever hear a bittern booming?
• 2:13:11
  No? I never did. It's a very rare bird, practically extinct
• 2:13:18
  in England now. But all things are possible upon the moor. Yes,
• 2:13:22
  I should not be surprised to learn that what we have heard is the cry
• 2:13:26
  of the last of the bitterns. It's the weirdest, strangest thing that ever
• 2:13:31
  I heard in my life. Yes, it's rather an uncanny place altogether.
• 2:13:37
  Look at the hill side yonder, What do you make of those? The
• 2:13:41
  whole steep slope was covered with gray circular rings of stone, a score of
• 2:13:46
  them at least. What are they sheep pins? No, they are the
• 2:13:52
  homes of our worthy ancestors. Prehistoric man lived thickly on the moor, and
• 2:13:58
  as no one in particular has lived there since, we find all his little
• 2:14:01
  arrangements exactly as he left them. These are his wigwams with the roofs off.
• 2:14:07
  You can even see his hearth and his couch if you have the curiosity
• 2:14:09
  to go inside. But it is quite a town. When was it inhabited?
• 2:14:16
  Neolithic man? No date? What did he do? He grazed his
• 2:14:22
  cattle on these slopes, and he learned to dig for ten when the Bronz's
• 2:14:26
  sword began to supersede the stone axe. Look at the great trench in the
• 2:14:31
  opposite hill. That is his mark. Yes, you will find some very
• 2:14:35
  singular points about the moor, doctor Watson, Oh, excuse me. An
• 2:14:39
  instant, it is surely Cyclopades. A small fly or moth had fluttered across
• 2:14:46
  our path, and in an instant Stapleton was rushing with extraordinary energy and speed
• 2:14:50
  in pursuit of it. To my dismay, the creature flew straight for the
• 2:14:54
  great mire, and my acquaintance never paused for an instant, bounding from tuft
• 2:15:00
  to tuft behind it, his green net waving in the air, his gray
• 2:15:05
  clothes and jerky zigzag irregular progress made him not unlike some huge moth himself.
• 2:15:13
  I was standing watching his pursuit with a mixture of admiration for his extraordinary activity
• 2:15:18
  and fear lest he should lose his footing in the treacherous mire. When I
• 2:15:24
  heard the sound of steps, and turning round, found a woman near me
• 2:15:28
  upon the path. She had come from the direction in which the plume of
• 2:15:31
  smoke indicated the position of Merripet House, but the dip of the moor had
• 2:15:37
  hit her until she was quite close. I could not doubt that this was
• 2:15:41
  the miss Stapleton of whom I had been told, since ladies of any sort
• 2:15:46
  must be few upon the moor, and I remembered that I had heard some
• 2:15:48
  one describe her as being a beauty. The woman who approached me was certainly
• 2:15:54
  that, and of a most uncommon type. There could not have been a
• 2:15:58
  greater contrast between brother and sister, for Stapleton was neutral tinted, with light
• 2:16:05
  hair and gray eyes. While she was darker than any brunette whom I have
• 2:16:09
  seen in England, Slim, elegant and tall. She had a proud,
• 2:16:13
  finely cut face, so regular that it might have seemed impassive were it not
• 2:16:18
  for the sensitive mouth and the beautiful, dark, eager eyes. With her
• 2:16:24
  perfect figure and elegant dress, she was indeed a strange apparition upon a lonely
• 2:16:30
  moorland path. Her eyes were on her brother as I turned, and then
• 2:16:35
  she quickened her pace towards me. I had raised my hat and was about
• 2:16:39
  to make some explanatory remark when her own words turned all my thoughts into a
• 2:16:43
  new channel. Go back, she said, go straight back to London.
• 2:16:48
  Instantly, I could only stare at her in stupid surprise. Her eyes blazed
• 2:16:56
  at me, and she tapped the ground impatiently with her foot. Why should
• 2:17:01
  I go back, I asked, I cannot explain, she spoke in a
• 2:17:05
  low, eager voice, with a curious lisp in her utterance. But for
• 2:17:11
  God's sake, do what I ask you. Go back and never set foot
• 2:17:13
  upon the moor again. But I have only just come, man, man,
• 2:17:20
  she cried, Can you not tell when a warning is for your own
• 2:17:24
  good? Go back to London, start to night, get away from this
• 2:17:26
  place at all costs. Hush, my brother is coming. Not a word
• 2:17:31
  of what I have said? Would you mind getting that orchid for me?
• 2:17:35
  Among the Mayor's tales yonder, we are very rich in orchids on the moor,
• 2:17:39
  though, of course you are rather late to see the beauties of the
• 2:17:41
  place. Stapleton had abandoned the chase and came back to us, breathing hard
• 2:17:48
  and flushed with his exertions. Hullo, Beryl, said he, and it
• 2:17:54
  seemed to me that the tone of his greeting was not altogether a cordial one.
• 2:17:58
  Well, Jack, you are very hot. Yes, I was chasing
• 2:18:03
  as Cyclopades. He is very rare and seldom found in the late autumn.
• 2:18:07
  What a pity that I should have missed him, He spoke unconcernedly, but
• 2:18:13
  his small light eyes glanced incessantly from the girl to me. You have introduced
• 2:18:18
  yourselves, I can see. Yes, I was telling Sir Henry that it
• 2:18:22
  was rather late for him to see the true beauties of the moor. Why
• 2:18:28
  who do you think this is? I imagined that it must be Sir Henry
• 2:18:31
  Baskerville. No, no, said I, only a humble commoner. But
• 2:18:37
  his friend my name is doctor Watson. A flush of vexation passed over her
• 2:18:43
  expressive face. We have been talking at cross purposes, said she. Why
• 2:18:50
  you had not very much time for talk? Her brother remarked, with the
• 2:18:54
  same questioning eyes. I talked as if doctor Watson were a resident in stance
• 2:19:00
  that of being merely a visitor, said she It cannot much matter to him
• 2:19:03
  whether it is early or late for the orchids. But you will come on,
• 2:19:07
  will you not, and see Merripet House. A short walk brought us
• 2:19:13
  to it, a bleak moorland house, once the farm of some grazier in
• 2:19:18
  the old prosperous days, but now put into repair and turned into a modern
• 2:19:22
  dwelling. An orchard surrounded it, but the trees, as is usual upon
• 2:19:28
  the moor, were stunted and nipped, and the effect of the whole place
• 2:19:31
  was mean and melancholy. We were admitted by a strange, wizened, rusty
• 2:19:37
  coated old man servant, who seemed in keeping with the house. Inside,
• 2:19:43
  however, there were large rooms furnished with an elegance in which I seemed to
• 2:19:46
  recognize the taste of the lady. As I looked from their windows at the
• 2:19:52
  interminable granite flecked moor, rolling unbroken to the farthest horizon, I could not
• 2:19:56
  but marvel at what could have brought this highly educated man and this beautiful woman
• 2:20:01
  to live in such a place. Queer spot to choose, is it not,
• 2:20:07
  said he as if in answer to my thought? And yet we manage
• 2:20:11
  to make ourselves fairly happy, do we not? Beryl quite happy, said
• 2:20:16
  she, but there was no ring of conviction in her words. I had
• 2:20:22
  a school, said Stapleton. It was in the north Country. The work,
• 2:20:26
  to a man of my temperament, was mechanical and uninteresting, But the
• 2:20:31
  privilege of living with youth, of helping to mold those young minds, and
• 2:20:35
  of impressing them with one's own character and ideals, was very dear to me.
• 2:20:41
  However, the fates were against us. A serious epidemic broke out in
• 2:20:45
  the school, and three of the boys died. It never recovered from the
• 2:20:48
  blow, and much of my capital was irretrievably swallowed up. And yet,
• 2:20:54
  if it were not for the loss of the charming companionship of the boys,
• 2:20:58
  I could rejoice over my own misfle fortune. For with my strong tastes for
• 2:21:01
  botany and zoology, I find an unlimited field of work here, and my
• 2:21:07
  sister is as devoted to nature as I am. All this, doctor Watson,
• 2:21:11
  has been brought upon your head by your expression as you surveyed the moor
• 2:21:16
  out of our window. It certainly did cross my mind that it might be
• 2:21:20
  a little dull less for you, perhaps than for your sister. No,
• 2:21:26
  no, I am never dull, said she quickly. We have books,
• 2:21:31
  we have our studies, and we have interesting neighbors. Doctor Mortimer is a
• 2:21:35
  most learned man in his own line. Poor Sir Charles was also an admirable
• 2:21:41
  companion. We knew him well and miss him more than I can tell.
• 2:21:46
  Do you think that I should intrude if I were to call this afternoon and
• 2:21:48
  make the acquaintance of Sir Henry. I am sure that he would be delighted.
• 2:21:54
  Then perhaps you would mention that I propose to do so. We may,
• 2:21:58
  in our humble away do something to make things more easy for him until
• 2:22:03
  he becomes accustomed to his new surroundings. Will you come upstairs, doctor Watson
• 2:22:09
  and inspect my collection of lepidoptera. I think it is the most complete one
• 2:22:13
  in the southwest of England. By the time that you have looked through them,
• 2:22:16
  lunch will be almost ready. But I was eager to get back to
• 2:22:22
  my charge. The melancholy of the moor, the death of the unfortunate pony,
• 2:22:26
  the weird sound which had been associated with the grim legend of the Baskervilles.
• 2:22:31
  All these things tinged my thoughts with sadness. Then, on the top
• 2:22:37
  of these more or less vague impressions, there had come the definite and distinct
• 2:22:41
  warning of Miss Stapleton, delivered with such intense earnestness that I could not doubt
• 2:22:46
  that some grave and deep reason lay behind it. I resisted all pressure to
• 2:22:50
  stay for lunch, and I set off at once upon my return journey,
• 2:22:54
  taking the grass grown path by which we had come. It seems, however,
• 2:23:00
  that there must have been some short cut for those who knew it,
• 2:23:03
  for before I had reached the road, I was astounded to see Miss Stapleton
• 2:23:07
  sitting upon a rock by the side of the track. Her face was beautifully
• 2:23:11
  flushed with her exertions, and she held her hand to her side. I
• 2:23:16
  have run all the way in order to cut you off, doctor Watson,
• 2:23:20
  said she. I had not even time to put on my hat. I
• 2:23:24
  must not stop, or my brother may miss me. I wanted to say
• 2:23:26
  to you how sorry I am about the stupid mistake I made in thinking that
• 2:23:30
  you were Sir Henry. Please forget the words I said, which have no
• 2:23:33
  application whatever to you. But I can't forget them, Miss Stapleton said,
• 2:23:39
  I I am sir Henry's friend, and his welfare is a very close concern
• 2:23:45
  of mine. Tell me why it was that you were so eager that Sir
• 2:23:48
  Henry should return to London. A woman swim, Doctor Watson. When you
• 2:23:54
  know me better, you will understand that I cannot always give reasons for what
• 2:23:56
  I say or do. No, No, I remember the thrill in your
• 2:24:03
  voice, I remember the look in your eyes. Please please be frank with
• 2:24:07
  me, Miss Stapleton, For ever since I have been here, I have
• 2:24:09
  been conscious of shadows all round me. Life has become like that great grimpen
• 2:24:15
  mire, with little green patches everywhere into which one may sink, and with
• 2:24:18
  no guide to point the track. Tell me then what it was that you
• 2:24:22
  meant, and I will promise to convey your warning to Sir Henry. An
• 2:24:28
  expression of irresolution passed for an instant over her face, but her eyes had
• 2:24:33
  hardened again when she answered me, you make too much of it, Doctor
• 2:24:39
  Watson, said she, my brother and I were very much shocked by the
• 2:24:43
  death of Sir Charles. We knew him very intimately, for his favorite walk
• 2:24:48
  was over the moor to our house. He was deeply impressed with the curse
• 2:24:52
  which hung over his family, and when this tragedy came, I naturally felt
• 2:24:56
  that there must be some grounds for the fears which he had expressed. I
• 2:25:01
  was distressed therefore, when another member of the family came down to live here,
• 2:25:05
  and I felt that he should be warned of the danger which he will
• 2:25:07
  run. That was all which I intended to convey. But what is the
• 2:25:13
  danger? You know the story of the hound. I do not believe in
• 2:25:18
  such nonsense, but I do if you have any influence with Sir Henry,
• 2:25:24
  take him away from a place which has always been fatal to his family.
• 2:25:28
  The world is wide. Why should he wish to live at the place of
• 2:25:31
  danger? Because it is the place of danger that is Sir Henry's nature.
• 2:25:37
  I fear that unless you can give me some more definite information than this,
• 2:25:43
  it would be impossible to get him to move. I cannot say anything definite,
• 2:25:48
  for I do not know anything definite. I would ask you one more
• 2:25:52
  question, Miss Stapleton. If you meant no more than this when you first
• 2:25:56
  spoke to me, why should you not wish your brother to overhear what you
• 2:26:01
  said? There is nothing to which he or any one else could object.
• 2:26:07
  My brother is very anxious to have the hall inhabited, for he thinks that
• 2:26:11
  it is for the good of the poor folk upon the moor. He would
• 2:26:15
  be very angry if he knew that I had said anything which might induce Sir
• 2:26:18
  Henry to go away. But I have done my duty now, and I
• 2:26:22
  will say no more. I must get back, or he will miss me
• 2:26:26
  and suspect that I have seen you. Good Bye. She turned and had
• 2:26:31
  disappeared in a few minutes among the scattered bowlders, while I, with my
• 2:26:35
  soul full of vague fears, pursued my way to Baskerville Hall. End of
• 2:26:41
  Chapter seven. Chapter eight, first report of Doctor Watson. From this point
• 2:26:50
  onward, I will follow the course of events by transcribing my own letters to
• 2:26:54
  mister Sherlock Holmes, which lie before me on the table. One page is
• 2:26:58
  missing, but otherwise they are exactly as written, and show my feelings and
• 2:27:03
  suspicions of the moment more accurately than my memory, clear as it is upon
• 2:27:07
  these tragic events, can possibly do Baskerville Hall, October thirteenth, My dear
• 2:27:16
  Holmes, my previous letters and telegrams have kept you pretty well up to date
• 2:27:22
  as to all that has occurred in this most god forsaken corner of the world.
• 2:27:26
  The longer one stays here, the more does the spirit of the More
• 2:27:30
  sink into one's soul, its vastness and also its grim charm. When you
• 2:27:35
  are once out upon its bosom, you have left all traces of modern England
• 2:27:39
  behind you. But on the other hand, you are conscious everywhere of the
• 2:27:43
  homes and the work of the prehistoric people. On all sides of you as
• 2:27:48
  you walk are the houses of these forgotten folk, with their graves, and
• 2:27:52
  the huge monoliths which are supposed to have marked their temples. As you look
• 2:27:56
  at their graystone huts against the scarred hillside, as you leave your own age
• 2:28:01
  behind you, and if you were to see a skin clad hairy man crawl
• 2:28:05
  out from the low door, fitting a flint tipped arrow on to the string
• 2:28:09
  of his bow, you would feel that his presence there was more natural than
• 2:28:13
  your own. The strange thing is that they should have lived so thickly on
• 2:28:16
  what must always have been most unfruitful soil. I am no antiquarian, but
• 2:28:22
  I could imagine that they were some unwarlike and harried race who were forced to
• 2:28:28
  accept that which none other would occupy all This, however, is foreign to
• 2:28:33
  the mission on which you sent me, and will probably be very uninteresting to
• 2:28:37
  your severely practical mind. I can still remember your complete indifference as to whether
• 2:28:43
  the Sun moved round the Earth or the Earth round the Sun. Let me,
• 2:28:48
  therefore, return to the facts concerning Sir Henry Baskerville. If you have
• 2:28:52
  not had any report within the last few days, it is because up to
• 2:28:56
  to day there was nothing of importance to relate. Then a very surprising circumstance
• 2:29:01
  occurred, which I shall tell you in due course. But first of all
• 2:29:05
  I must keep you in touch with some of the other factors in the situation.
• 2:29:11
  One of these, concerning which I have said little is the escaped convict
• 2:29:15
  upon the More. There is strong reason now to believe that he has got
• 2:29:18
  right away, which is a considerable relief to the lonely householders of this district.
• 2:29:24
  A fortnight has passed since his flight, during which he has not been
• 2:29:28
  seen, and nothing has been heard of him. It is surely inconceivable that
• 2:29:33
  he could have held out upon the More during all that time. Of course,
• 2:29:37
  so far as his concealment goes, there is no difficulty at all any
• 2:29:41
  one of these Stone huts would give him a hiding place, but there is
• 2:29:46
  nothing to eat unless he were to catch and slaughter one of the moor sheep.
• 2:29:50
  We think, therefore, that he is gone, and the outlying farmers
• 2:29:54
  sleep the better. In consequence, we are four able bodied men in this
• 2:29:58
  household, so that we could take good care of ourselves. But I confess
• 2:30:03
  that I have had uneasy moments when I have thought of the Stapletons. They
• 2:30:07
  live miles from any help. They are one maid, an old man,
• 2:30:11
  servant the sister, and the brother, the latter not a very strong man.
• 2:30:18
  They would be helpless in the hands of a desperate fellow like this nodding
• 2:30:20
  hill criminal, if he could once effect an entrance. Both Sir Henry and
• 2:30:26
  I were concerned at their situation, and it was suggested that Perkins the groom
• 2:30:31
  should go over to sleep there, but Stapleton would not hear of it.
• 2:30:35
  The fact is that our friend the Baronet begins to display a considerable interest in
• 2:30:41
  our fair neighbor. It is not to be wondered at, for time hangs
• 2:30:46
  heavily in this lonely spot to an active man like him, and she is
• 2:30:50
  a very fascinating and beautiful woman. There is something tropical and exotic about her
• 2:30:56
  which forms a singular contrast to her cool and unemotional brother. Yet he also
• 2:31:01
  gives the idea of hidden fires. He has certainly a very marked influence over
• 2:31:05
  her, for I have seen her continually glance at him as she talked,
• 2:31:09
  as if seeking approbation for what she said. I trust that he is kind
• 2:31:15
  to her. There is a dry glitter in his eyes and a firm set
• 2:31:18
  of his thin lips, which goes with a positive and possibly a harsh nature.
• 2:31:24
  You would find him an interesting study. He came over to call upon
• 2:31:28
  Baskerville on that first day, and the very next morning he took us both
• 2:31:33
  to show us the spot where the legend of the Wicked Hugo is supposed to
• 2:31:35
  have had its origin. It was an excursion of some miles across the moor
• 2:31:41
  to a place which is so dismal that it might have suggested the story.
• 2:31:46
  We found a short valley between rugged tors, which led to an open grassy
• 2:31:50
  space flecked over with the white cotton grass. In the middle of it rose
• 2:31:56
  two great stones, worn and sharpened at the upper end until they looked like
• 2:32:01
  the huge corroding fangs of some monstrous beast. In every way it corresponded with
• 2:32:07
  the scene of the old tragedy. Sir Henry was much interested and asked Stapleton
• 2:32:11
  more than once whether he really did believe in the possibility of the interference of
• 2:32:16
  the supernatural in the affairs of men. He spoke lightly, but it was
• 2:32:22
  evident that he was very much in earnest. Stapleton was guarded in his replies,
• 2:32:28
  but it was easy to see that he said less than he might,
• 2:32:31
  and that he would not express his whole opinion out of consideration for the feelings
• 2:32:35
  of the Baronet. He told us of similar cases where families had suffered from
• 2:32:39
  some evil influence, and he left us with the impression that he shared the
• 2:32:43
  popular view upon the matter. On our way back, we stayed for lunch
• 2:32:48
  at Merripit House, and it was there that Sir Henry made the acquaintance of
• 2:32:52
  Miss Stapleton. From the first moment that he saw her, he appeared to
• 2:32:58
  be strongly attracted by her, and I am much mistaken if the feeling was
• 2:33:01
  not mutual. He referred to her again and again on our walk home,
• 2:33:07
  and since then hardly a day has passed that we have not seen something of
• 2:33:11
  the brother and sister. They dine here to night, and there is some
• 2:33:16
  talk of our going to them next week. One would imagine that such a
• 2:33:20
  match would be very welcome to Stapleton. And yet I have more than once
• 2:33:24
  caught a look of the strongest disapprobation in his face when Sir Henry has been
• 2:33:28
  paying some attention to his sister. He is much attached to her, no
• 2:33:33
  doubt, and would lead a lonely life without her. But it would seem
• 2:33:37
  the height of selfishness if he were to stand in the way of her making
• 2:33:41
  so brilliant a marriage. Yet I am certain that he does not wish their
• 2:33:45
  intimacy to ripen into love, and I have several times observed that he has
• 2:33:50
  taken pains to prevent them from being tete a tete. By the way,
• 2:33:54
  your instructions to me never to allow Sir Henry to go out alone, will
• 2:33:58
  become very much more onerous if a love affair were to be added to our
• 2:34:03
  other difficulties. My popularity would soon suffer if I were to carry out your
• 2:34:07
  orders to the latter. The other day, Thursday, to be more exact,
• 2:34:13
  Doctor Mortimer lunched with us. He has been excavating a barrow at long
• 2:34:18
  Down and has got a prehistoric skull, which fills him with great joy.
• 2:34:22
  Never was there such a single minded enthusiast as he. The Stapletons came in
• 2:34:28
  afterwards, and the Good Doctor took us all to the u Alley at Sir
• 2:34:31
  Henry's request, to show us exactly how everything occurred upon that fatal night.
• 2:34:37
  It is a long, dismal walk the U Alley, between two high walls
• 2:34:41
  of clipped hedge, with a narrow band of grass upon either side. At
• 2:34:46
  the far end is an old tumble down summer house. Half Way down is
• 2:34:50
  the moor gate where the old gentleman left his cigar ash. It is a
• 2:34:56
  white wooden gate with a latch. Beyond it lies the wide I remembered your
• 2:35:01
  theory of the affair and tried to picture all that had occurred. As the
• 2:35:05
  old man stood there, he saw something coming across the moor, something which
• 2:35:11
  terrified him so that he lost his wits and ran and ran until he died
• 2:35:15
  of sheer horror and exhaustion. There was the long, gloomy tunnel down which
• 2:35:20
  he fled, and from what a sheep dog of the moor or a spectral
• 2:35:26
  hound, black, silent and monstrous. Was there a human agency in the
• 2:35:31
  matter? Did the pale, watchful barrymore? No more than he cared to
• 2:35:35
  say? It was all dim and vague, But always there is the dark
• 2:35:39
  shadow of crime behind it. One other neighbor I have met since I wrote
• 2:35:46
  last. This is mister Franklin of Laughter Hall, who lived some four miles
• 2:35:50
  to the south of us. He is an elderly man, red faced,
• 2:35:54
  white haired, and choleric. His passion is for the British law, and
• 2:36:00
  he has spent a large fortune in litigation. He fights for the mere pleasure
• 2:36:05
  of fighting, and is equally ready to take up either side of a question,
• 2:36:09
  so that it is no wonder that he has found it a costly amusement.
• 2:36:13
  Sometimes he will shut up a right of way and defy the parish to
• 2:36:16
  make him open it. At others he will with his own hands tear down
• 2:36:20
  some other man's gait and declare that a path has existed there from time immemorial,
• 2:36:26
  defying the owner to prosecute him for trespass. He is learned in old
• 2:36:31
  manorial and communal rights, and he applies his knowledge, sometimes in favor of
• 2:36:35
  the villagers of Fernworthy, and sometimes against them, so that he is periodically
• 2:36:41
  either carried in triumph down the village street, or else burned in effigy.
• 2:36:46
  According to his latest exploit, he is said to have about seven lawsuits upon
• 2:36:50
  his hands at present, which will probably swallow up the remainder of his fortune,
• 2:36:56
  and so draw his sting and leave him harmless for the future. Apart
• 2:37:00
  from the law he seems a kindly good natured person, and I only mention
• 2:37:05
  him because you are particular that I should send some description of the people who
• 2:37:09
  surround us. He is curiously employed at present for being an amateur astronomer.
• 2:37:16
  He has an excellent telescope with which he lies upon the roof of his own
• 2:37:20
  house and sweeps the moor all day in the hope of catching a glimpse of
• 2:37:22
  the escaped convict. If he would confine his energies to this, all would
• 2:37:28
  be well. But there are rumors that he intends to prosecute doctor Mortimer for
• 2:37:33
  opening a grave without the consent of the next of ken, because he dug
• 2:37:35
  up the neolithic skull in the barrow on long Down. He helps to keep
• 2:37:41
  our lives from being monotonous and gives a little comic relief where it is badly
• 2:37:46
  needed. And now, having brought you up to date in the Escaped Convict,
• 2:37:50
  the Stapletons, Doctor Mortimer, and Frankland of laughter Hall, let me
• 2:37:56
  end on that which is most important, and tell you more about the barril,
• 2:38:00
  and especially about the surprising development of last night. First of all,
• 2:38:05
  about the test telegram which you sent from London in order to make sure that
• 2:38:09
  Barramore was really here. I have already explained that the testimony of the postmaster
• 2:38:15
  shows that the test was worthless, and that we have no proof one way
• 2:38:18
  or the other. I told Sir Henry how the matter stood, and he,
• 2:38:22
  at once, in his downright fashion, had Barrimore up and asked him
• 2:38:26
  whether he had received the telegram himself. Barymore said that he had. Did
• 2:38:33
  the boy deliver it into your own hands, asked Sir Henry. Barrymore looked
• 2:38:39
  surprised and considered for a little time. No, said he. I was
• 2:38:43
  in the box room at the time, and my wife brought it up to
• 2:38:46
  me. Did you answer it yourself? No? I told my wife what
• 2:38:54
  to answer, and she went down to write it in the evening. He
• 2:38:58
  recurred to the subject of his own accord. I could not quite understand the
• 2:39:03
  object of your questions this morning, Sir Henry said he. I trust that
• 2:39:07
  they do not mean that I have done anything to forfeit your confidence. Sir
• 2:39:13
  Henry had to assure him that it was not so, and pacify him by
• 2:39:16
  giving him a considerable part of his old wardrobe, the London outfit having now
• 2:39:20
  all arrived, Missus Barrymore is of interest to me. She is a heavy,
• 2:39:26
  solid person, very limited, intensely respectable, and inclined to be puritanical.
• 2:39:35
  You could hardly conceive a less emotional subject. Yet I have told you
• 2:39:39
  how on the first night here I heard her sobbing bitterly, and since then
• 2:39:43
  I have more than once observed traces of tears upon her face. Some deep
• 2:39:48
  sorrow gnaws ever at her heart. Sometimes I wonder if she has a guilty
• 2:39:52
  memory which haunts her. And sometimes I suspect Barymore of being a domestic tyrant.
• 2:39:58
  I have I always felt that there was something singular and questionable in this
• 2:40:03
  man's character. But the adventure of last night brings all my suspicions to a
• 2:40:07
  head. And yet it may seem a small matter in itself. You are
• 2:40:13
  aware that I am not a very sound sleeper, and since I have been
• 2:40:16
  on my guard in this house, my slumbers have been lighter than ever.
• 2:40:22
  Last night, about two in the morning, I was aroused by a stealthy
• 2:40:26
  step passing my room. I rose opened my door and peeped out. A
• 2:40:31
  long black shadow was trailing down the corridor. It was thrown by a man
• 2:40:37
  who walked softly down the passage with a candle held in his hand. He
• 2:40:41
  was in shirt and trousers, with no covering to his feet. I could
• 2:40:46
  merely see the outline, but his height told me that it was Barrymore.
• 2:40:50
  He walked very slowly and circumspectly, and there was something indescribably guilty and furtive
• 2:40:56
  in his whole appearance. I have told you that the corridor is broken by
• 2:41:01
  the balcony which runs round the hall, but that it is resumed upon the
• 2:41:05
  farther side. I waited until he had passed out of sight, and then
• 2:41:09
  I followed him. When I came round the balcony, he had reached the
• 2:41:13
  end of the farther corridor, and I could see from the glimmer of light
• 2:41:16
  through an open door that he had entered one of the rooms. Now,
• 2:41:20
  all these rooms are unfurnished and unoccupied, so that his expedition became more mysterious
• 2:41:26
  than ever. The light shone steadily, as if he were standing motionless.
• 2:41:31
  I crept down the passage as noiselessly as I could, and peeped round the
• 2:41:35
  corner of the door. Barrymore was crouching at the window, with the candle
• 2:41:41
  held against the glass. His profile was half turned towards me, and his
• 2:41:46
  face seemed to be rigid with expectation as he stared out into the blackness of
• 2:41:50
  the moor. For some minutes, he stood watching intently. Then he gave
• 2:41:56
  a deep groan, and with an impatient gesture, he put out the light.
• 2:42:01
  Instantly. I made my way back to my room, and very shortly
• 2:42:05
  came the stealthy steps, passing once more upon their return journey. Long afterwards,
• 2:42:11
  when I had fallen into a light sleep, I heard a key turn
• 2:42:13
  somewhere in a lock, but I could not tell whence the sound came.
• 2:42:18
  What it all means I cannot guess. But there is some secret business going
• 2:42:22
  on in this house of Gloom, which, sooner or later we shall get
• 2:42:26
  to the bottom of I do not trouble you with my theories, for you
• 2:42:30
  ask me to furnish you only with facts. I have had a long talk
• 2:42:35
  with Sir Henry this morning, and we have made a plan of campaign founded
• 2:42:37
  upon my observations of last night. I will not speak about it just now,
• 2:42:43
  but it should make my next report interesting reading. End of chapter eight,
• 2:42:50
  Chapter nine, Second Report of Doctor Watson, The Light upon the Moor,
• 2:42:58
  Baskerville Hall, October fifteenth. My dear holmes, if I was compelled
• 2:43:05
  to leave you without much news during the early days of my mission, you
• 2:43:09
  must acknowledge that I am making up for lost time, and at events are
• 2:43:13
  now crowding thick and fast upon us. In my last report I ended upon
• 2:43:18
  my top note with Barymore at the window. And now I have quite a
• 2:43:22
  budget already which will, unless I am much mistaken, considerably surprise you.
• 2:43:30
  Things have taken a turn which I could not have anticipated. In some ways
• 2:43:35
  they have within the last forty eight hours become much clearer, and in some
• 2:43:39
  ways they have become more complicated. But I will tell you all and you
• 2:43:45
  shall judge for yourself. Before breakfast on the morning following my adventure, I
• 2:43:50
  went down the corridor and examined the room in which Barimore had been on the
• 2:43:54
  night before. The western window through which he had stared so intently, has
• 2:44:01
  I noticed one peculiarity Above all other windows in the house. It commands the
• 2:44:07
  nearest outlook onto the boor. There is an opening between two trees which enables
• 2:44:11
  one, from this point of view to look right down upon it, while
• 2:44:16
  from all the other windows it is only a distant glimpse which can be obtained.
• 2:44:20
  It follows therefore that barrymore, since only this window would serve the purpose,
• 2:44:26
  must have been looking out for something or some body upon the moor.
• 2:44:31
  The night was very dark, so that I can hardly imagine how he could
• 2:44:35
  have hoped to see any one. It had struck me that it was possible
• 2:44:39
  that some love intrigue was on foot. That would have accounted for his stealthy
• 2:44:45
  movements, and also for the uneasiness of his wife. The man is a
• 2:44:50
  striking looking fellow, very well equipped to steal the heart of a country girl,
• 2:44:56
  so that this theory seemed to have something to support it. That opening
• 2:45:01
  of the door, which I had heard after I had returned to my room,
• 2:45:03
  might mean that he had gone out to keep some clandestine appointment. So
• 2:45:09
  I reasoned with myself in the morning, and I tell you the direction of
• 2:45:13
  my suspicions. However much the result may have shown that they were unfounded.
• 2:45:20
  But whatever the true explanation of Barmore's movements might be, I felt that the
• 2:45:24
  responsibility of keeping them to myself until I could explain them was more than I
• 2:45:30
  could bear. I had an interview with the Baronet in his study after breakfast,
• 2:45:35
  and I told him all that I had seen. He was less surprised
• 2:45:39
  than I had expected. I knew that Barnmore walked about nights, and I
• 2:45:45
  had a mind to speak to him about it. Said he, two or
• 2:45:48
  three times I have heard his steps in the passage, coming and going just
• 2:45:52
  about the hour you name. Perhaps then he pays a visit every night to
• 2:45:58
  that particular window, I suggested, Perhaps he does. If so, we
• 2:46:05
  should be able to shadow him and see what it is that he is after.
• 2:46:09
  I wonder what your friend Holmes would do if he were here. I
• 2:46:15
  believe that he would do exactly what you now suggest, said I. He
• 2:46:18
  would follow Barrymore and see what he did. Then we shall do it together.
• 2:46:26
  But surely he would hear us the man is rather deaf, and in
• 2:46:31
  any case we must take our chance of that. We'll sit up in my
• 2:46:35
  room to night and wait until he passes. Sir Henry rubbed his hands with
• 2:46:39
  pleasure, and it was evident that he hailed the adventure as a relief to
• 2:46:45
  his somewhat quiet life upon the moor. The Baronet has been in communication with
• 2:46:50
  the architect who prepared the plans for Sir Charles, and with a contractor from
• 2:46:54
  London, so that we may expect great changes to begin here so soon.
• 2:47:01
  There have been decorators and furnishers up from Plymouth, and it is evident that
• 2:47:05
  our friend has large ideas and means to spare no pains or expense to restore
• 2:47:11
  the grandeur of his family. When the house is renovated and refurnished, all
• 2:47:16
  that he will need will be a wife to make it complete. Between ourselves
• 2:47:22
  there are pretty clear signs that this will not be wanting if the lady is
• 2:47:24
  willing. For I have seldom seen a man more infatuated with a woman than
• 2:47:30
  he is with our beautiful neighbor, Miss Stapleton. And yet the course of
• 2:47:33
  true love does not run quite as smoothly as one would under the circumstances expect
• 2:47:41
  today. For example, its surface was broken by a very unexpected ripple,
• 2:47:45
  which has caused our friend considerable perplexity and annoyance. After the conversation which I
• 2:47:52
  have quoted about Barrymore, Sir Henry put on his hat and prepared to go
• 2:47:56
  out. As a matter of course, I did the same. What are
• 2:48:01
  you coming, Watson, he asked, looking at me in a curious way.
• 2:48:07
  That depends on whether you are going out on the moor, said I
• 2:48:13
  yes, I am well, you know what my instructions are. I am
• 2:48:18
  sorry to intrude, but you heard how earnestly Holmes insisted that I should not
• 2:48:22
  leave you, and especially that you should not go alone upon the moor.
• 2:48:28
  Sir Henry put his hand upon my shoulder with a pleasant smile. My dear
• 2:48:33
  fellow, said he Holmes, with all his wisdom, did not foresee some
• 2:48:37
  things which have happened since I have been on the moor. You understand me.
• 2:48:43
  I am sure that you are the last man in the world who would
• 2:48:45
  wish to be a spoil sport. I must go out alone. It put
• 2:48:50
  me in a most awkward position. I was at a loss what to say
• 2:48:56
  or what to do. And before I had made up my mind, he
• 2:48:58
  picked up his can and was gone. But when I came to think the
• 2:49:03
  matter over, my conscience reproached me bitterly for having, on any pretext allowed
• 2:49:07
  him to go out of my sight. I imagined what my feelings would be
• 2:49:13
  if I had to return to you and to confess that some misfortune had occurred
• 2:49:16
  through my disregard for your instructions. I assure you my cheeks flushed at the
• 2:49:22
  very thought. It might not even now be too late to overtake him.
• 2:49:28
  So I set off at once in the direction of Merripit House. I hurried
• 2:49:33
  along the road at the top of my speed, without seeing anything of Sir
• 2:49:35
  Henry, until I came to the point where the moor path branches off.
• 2:49:41
  There, fearing that perhaps I had come in the wrong direction after all,
• 2:49:46
  I mounted a hill from which I could command a view the same hill which
• 2:49:50
  is cut into the dark quarry. Thence I saw him at once. He
• 2:49:54
  was on the moor path, about a quarter of a mile off, and
• 2:49:58
  a late was by his side, who could only be miss Stapleton. It
• 2:50:03
  was clear that there was already an understanding between them, and that they had
• 2:50:07
  met by appointment. They were walking slowly along in deep conversation, and I
• 2:50:13
  saw her making quick little movements of her hands, as if she were very
• 2:50:18
  earnest in what she was saying, while he listened intently, and once or
• 2:50:22
  twice shook his head in strong descent. I stood among the rocks, watching
• 2:50:26
  them, very much puzzled as to what I should do next. To follow
• 2:50:31
  them and break into their intimate conversation seemed to be an outrage, and yet
• 2:50:37
  my clear duty was never for an instant to let him out of my sight.
• 2:50:41
  To act the spy upon a friend was a hateful task. Still I
• 2:50:46
  could see no better course than to observe him from the hill, and to
• 2:50:50
  clear my conscience by confessing to him afterwards what I had done. It is
• 2:50:54
  true that if any sudden danger had threatened him, I was too far away
• 2:50:58
  to be of use. And yet I am sure that you will agree with
• 2:51:01
  me that the position was very difficult, and that there was nothing more which
• 2:51:05
  I could do. Our friend, Sir Henry, and the lady had halted
• 2:51:11
  on the path and were standing deeply absorbed in their conversation when I was suddenly
• 2:51:16
  aware that I was not the only witness of their interview. A wisp of
• 2:51:20
  green floating in the air caught my eye, and another glance showed me that
• 2:51:24
  it was carried on a stick by a man who was moving among the broken
• 2:51:28
  ground. It was Stapleton with his butterfly net. He was very much closer
• 2:51:35
  to the pear than I was, and he appeared to be moving in their
• 2:51:37
  direction. At this instant, Sir Henry suddenly drew Miss Stapleton to his side.
• 2:51:45
  His arm was round her, but it seemed to me that she was
• 2:51:48
  straining away from him, with her face averted. He stooped his head to
• 2:51:52
  hers as she raised one hand as if in protest. Next moment I saw
• 2:51:58
  them spring apart and turn hurriedly round. Stapleton was the cause of the interruption.
• 2:52:03
  He was running wildly toward them, his absurd net dangling behind him.
• 2:52:09
  He gesticulated and almost danced with excitement in front of the lovers. What the
• 2:52:13
  scene meant I could not imagine, but it seemed to me that Stapleton was
• 2:52:18
  abusing Sir Henry, who offered explanations, which became more angry as the other
• 2:52:24
  refused to accept them. The lady stood by in haughty silence. Finally,
• 2:52:30
  Stapleton turned upon his heel and beckoned in a peremptory way to his sister,
• 2:52:35
  who, after an irresolute glance at Sir Henry, walked off by the side
• 2:52:39
  of her brother. The naturalist's angry gestures showed that the lady was included in
• 2:52:45
  his displeasure. The baronet stood for a minute looking after them, and then
• 2:52:50
  he walked slowly back the way that he had come, his head hanging the
• 2:52:54
  very picture of dejection. What all this meant I could not imagine, but
• 2:53:01
  I was deeply ashamed to have witnessed so intimate a scene without my friend's knowledge.
• 2:53:05
  I ran down the hill therefore, and met the baronet at the bottom.
• 2:53:11
  His face was flushed with anger, and his brows were wrinkled, like
• 2:53:15
  one who was at his WIT's end. What to do? Hullo, Watson,
• 2:53:20
  where have you dropped from? Said he. You don't mean to say
• 2:53:24
  that you came after me in spite of all. I explained everything to him,
• 2:53:28
  how I had found it impossible to remain behind, how I had followed
• 2:53:33
  him, and how I had witnessed all that had occurred. For an instant,
• 2:53:37
  his eyes blazed at me, But my frankness disarmed his anger, and
• 2:53:43
  he broke at last into a rather rueful laugh. You would have thought the
• 2:53:48
  middle of that prairie a fairly safe place for a man to be private,
• 2:53:52
  said he. But by thunder the whole countryside seems to have been out to
• 2:53:56
  see me do my wooing, and a mighty poor wooing at that. Where
• 2:54:00
  had you engaged a seat? I was on that hill quite in the back
• 2:54:05
  row, eh, But her brother was well up to the front. Did
• 2:54:09
  you see him come out on us? Yes? I did. Did he
• 2:54:15
  ever strike you as being crazy? This brother of hers? I can't say
• 2:54:20
  that he ever did. I dare say not. I always thought him sane
• 2:54:24
  enough until to day. But you can take it from me that either he
• 2:54:28
  or I ought to be in a strait jacket. What's the matter with me
• 2:54:33
  anyhow? You've lived near me for some weeks, Watson? Tell me straight
• 2:54:37
  now? Is there anything that would prevent me from making a good husband to
• 2:54:41
  a woman that I loved? I should say not. He can't object to
• 2:54:46
  my worldly position, so it must be myself that he has this down on.
• 2:54:52
  What has he against me? I never hurt nan or woman in my
• 2:54:56
  life that I know of, And yet he would not so much as let
• 2:54:58
  me touch the tips of her fingers? Did he say? So? That
• 2:55:05
  and a deal more, I tell you, Watson, I've only known her
• 2:55:09
  these few weeks, for from the first I just felt that she was made
• 2:55:13
  for me, and she too. She was happy when she was with me,
• 2:55:18
  and that I'll swear there's a light in a woman's eyes that speaks louder
• 2:55:22
  than words. But he has never let us get together. And it was
• 2:55:26
  only to day, for the first time that I saw a chance of having
• 2:55:28
  a few words with her alone. She was glad to meet me, but
• 2:55:33
  when she did, it was not love that she would talk about, and
• 2:55:37
  she wouldn't have let me talk about it either, if she could have stopped
• 2:55:39
  it. She kept coming back to it, that this was a place of
• 2:55:43
  danger and that she would never be happy until I had left it. I
• 2:55:48
  told her that since I had seen her, I was in no hurry to
• 2:55:50
  leave it, and that if she really wanted me to go, the only
• 2:55:54
  way to work it was for her to arrange to go with me. With
• 2:55:58
  that, I offered, in as many one words, to marry her,
• 2:56:01
  But before she could answer down came this brother of hers, running at us
• 2:56:05
  with a face on him like a madman. He was just white with rage,
• 2:56:09
  and those light eyes of his were blazing with fury. What was I
• 2:56:13
  doing with the lady? How dared I offer her attentions which were distasteful to
• 2:56:18
  her? Did I think that because I was a baronet I could do what
• 2:56:20
  I liked? If he had not been her brother, I should have known
• 2:56:24
  better how to answer him. As it was. I told him that my
• 2:56:28
  feelings towards his sister were such as I was not ashamed of, and that
• 2:56:33
  I hoped that she might honor me by becoming my wife. That seemed to
• 2:56:37
  make the matter no better. So then I lost my temper too, and
• 2:56:41
  I answered him rather more hotly than I should, perhaps considering that she was
• 2:56:45
  standing by. So it ended by his going off with her, as you
• 2:56:50
  saw, And here I am as badly puzzled a man as any in this
• 2:56:54
  county. Just tell me what it all means, Watson, and I'll owe
• 2:56:58
  you more than ever I can hope to pay. I tried one or two
• 2:57:03
  explanations, but indeed I was completely puzzled myself. Our friend's title, his
• 2:57:09
  fortune, his age, his character, and his appearance are all in his
• 2:57:13
  favor, and I know nothing against him, unless it be this dark fate
• 2:57:18
  which runs in his family. That his advances should be rejected so brusquely without
• 2:57:24
  any reference to the lady's own wishes, and that the lady should accept the
• 2:57:28
  situation without protest is very amazing. However, our conjectures were set at rest
• 2:57:35
  by a visit from Stapleton himself that very afternoon. He had come to offer
• 2:57:39
  apologies for his rudeness of the morning, and after a long private interview with
• 2:57:45
  Sir Henry in his study, the upshot of their conversation was that the breach
• 2:57:48
  is quite healed, and that we are to dine at Merripeth House next Friday
• 2:57:52
  as a sign of it. I don't say now that he isn't a crazy
• 2:57:58
  man, said Sir Henry. I can't forget the look in his eyes when
• 2:58:01
  he ran at me this morning. But I must allow that no man could
• 2:58:05
  make a more handsome apology than he has done. Did he give any explanation
• 2:58:11
  of his conduct. His sister is everything in his life, he says.
• 2:58:16
  That is natural enough, and I am glad that he should understand her value.
• 2:58:22
  They have always been together and according to his account, he has been
• 2:58:26
  a very lonely man with only her as a companion, so that the thought
• 2:58:30
  of losing her was really terrible to him. He had not understood, he
• 2:58:35
  said that I was becoming attached to her, But when he saw with his
• 2:58:39
  own eyes that it was really so, and that she might be taken away
• 2:58:41
  from him, it gave him such a shock that for a time he was
• 2:58:46
  not responsible for what he said or did. He was very sorry for all
• 2:58:50
  that had passed, and he recognized how foolish and how selfish it was that
• 2:58:54
  he should imagine that he could hold a beautiful woman like his sister to himself
• 2:58:58
  for her whole life. If she had to leave him, he had rather
• 2:59:03
  it was to a neighbor like myself than to any one else. But in
• 2:59:07
  any case, it was a blow to him, and it would take him
• 2:59:11
  some time before he could prepare himself to meet it. He would withdraw all
• 2:59:16
  opposition upon his part if I would promise for three months to let the matter
• 2:59:20
  rest, and to be content with cultivating the lady's friendship during that time without
• 2:59:24
  claiming her love. This I promised, and so the matter rests. So
• 2:59:31
  there is one of our small mysteries cleared up. It is something to have
• 2:59:35
  touched bottom anywhere in this bog in which we are floundering. We know now
• 2:59:41
  why Stapleton looked with disfavor upon his sister's suitor, even when that suitor was
• 2:59:46
  so eligible a one as Sir Henry. And now I pass on to another
• 2:59:50
  thread which I have extricated out of the tangled's gain, the mystery of the
• 2:59:56
  sobs in the night of the tear stained face of missus barrymore of the secret
• 3:00:01
  journey of the butler to the western lattice window. Congratulate me, my dear
• 3:00:05
  Holmes, and tell me that I have not disappointed you as an agent,
• 3:00:09
  that you do not regret the confidence which you showed in me when you sent
• 3:00:13
  me down. All these things have by one night's work been thoroughly cleared.
• 3:00:20
  I have said by one night's work, but in truth it was by two
• 3:00:24
  nights work. For on the first we drew entirely blank. I sat up
• 3:00:28
  with Sir Henry in his rooms until nearly three o'clock in the morning, but
• 3:00:33
  no sound of any sort did we hear, except the chiming clock upon the
• 3:00:37
  stairs. It was a most melancholy vigil and ended by each of us falling
• 3:00:41
  asleep in our chairs. Fortunately we were not discouraged, and we determined to
• 3:00:46
  try again The next night. We lowered the lamp and sat smoking cigarettes without
• 3:00:52
  making the least sound. It was incredible how slowly the hours crawled by,
• 3:00:58
  and yet we were helped through it by the same sort of patient interest which
• 3:01:01
  the hunter must feel as he watches the trap into which he hopes the game
• 3:01:05
  may wander. One struck and two, and we had almost for the second
• 3:01:11
  time given it up in despair, when in an instant we both sat bolt
• 3:01:16
  upright in our chairs, with all our weary senses keenly on the alert.
• 3:01:20
  Once more, we had heard the creak of a step in the passage.
• 3:01:26
  Very stealthily, we heard it pass along until it died away in the distance.
• 3:01:31
  Then the baronet gently opened his door and we set out in pursuit.
• 3:01:35
  Already our man had gone round the gallery and the corridor was all in darkness.
• 3:01:41
  Softly, we stole along until we had come into the other wing.
• 3:01:46
  We were just in time to catch a glimpse of the tall, black bearded
• 3:01:50
  figure, his shoulders rounded as he tiptoed down the passage. Then he passed
• 3:01:56
  through the same door as before, and the light of the candle framed it
• 3:02:00
  in the darkness, and shot one single yellow beam across the gloom of the
• 3:02:03
  corridor. We shuffled cautiously towards it, trying every plank before we dared to
• 3:02:09
  put our whole weight upon it. We had taken the precaution of leaving our
• 3:02:13
  boots behind us, but even so the old boards snapped and creaked beneath our
• 3:02:18
  tread. Sometimes it seemed impossible that he should fail to hear our approach.
• 3:02:26
  However, the man is fortunately rather deaf, and he was entirely preoccupied in
• 3:02:31
  that which he was doing. When at last we reached the door and peeped
• 3:02:35
  through, we found him crouching at the window, candle in hand, his
• 3:02:39
  white, intent face pressed against the pane, exactly as I had seen him
• 3:02:43
  two nights before. We had arranged no plan of campaign, But the Baronet
• 3:02:50
  is a man to whom the most direct way is always the most natural.
• 3:02:54
  He walked into the room, and as he did so, Barymore sprang up
• 3:02:58
  from the window with a sharp hiss of his breath, and stood livid and
• 3:03:03
  trembling before us. His dark eyes glaring out of the white mask of his
• 3:03:07
  face, were full of horror and astonishment as he gazed from Sir Henry to
• 3:03:11
  me. What are you doing here, barrimore? Nothing, sir. His
• 3:03:18
  agitation was so great that he could hardly speak, and the shadows sprang up
• 3:03:22
  and down from the shaking of his candle. It was the window, sir.
• 3:03:28
  I go round at night to see that they are fastened on the second
• 3:03:31
  floor. Yes, sir, all the windows. Look here, barymore,
• 3:03:37
  said Sir Henry sternly. We have made up our minds to have the truth
• 3:03:41
  out of you, so it will save you trouble to tell it sooner rather
• 3:03:45
  than later. Come now, no lies, What were you doing at that
• 3:03:48
  window? The fellow looked at us in a helpless way, and he wrung
• 3:03:54
  his hands together, like one who was in the last extremity of doubt and
• 3:03:58
  misery. I was doing no harm, sir. I was holding a candle
• 3:04:03
  to the window. And why were you holding a candle to the window.
• 3:04:11
  Don't ask me, Sir, Henry, don't ask me. I give you
• 3:04:13
  my word, sir, that it is not my secret, and that I
• 3:04:16
  cannot tell it if it concerned no one but myself, I would not try
• 3:04:20
  to keep it from you. A sudden idea occurred to me, and I
• 3:04:26
  took the candle from the trembling hand of the butler. He must have been
• 3:04:30
  holding it as a signal, said I let us see if there is any
• 3:04:33
  answer. I held it as he had done, and stared out into the
• 3:04:39
  darkness of the night. Vaguely I could discern the black bank of the trees,
• 3:04:43
  and a lighter expanse of the moor, for the moon was behind the
• 3:04:46
  clouds. And then I gave a cry of exultation, for a tiny pin
• 3:04:52
  point of yellow light had suddenly transfixed the dark veil and glowed steadily in the
• 3:04:56
  center of the black square framed by the window. There it is, I
• 3:05:01
  cried, no, no, sir, it is nothing, nothing at all.
• 3:05:07
  The butler broke in. I assure you, sir, move your light
• 3:05:11
  across the window. Watson cried, the baronet see the other moves also.
• 3:05:16
  Now, you rascal, do you deny that it is a signal? Come
• 3:05:20
  speak up? Who is your confederate out yonder? And what is this conspiracy
• 3:05:24
  that is going on? The man's face became openly defiant. It is my
• 3:05:31
  business and not yours. I will not tell. Then you leave my employment
• 3:05:37
  right away, very good, sir. If I must, I must,
• 3:05:43
  and you go in disgrace by thunder. You may well be ashamed of yourself.
• 3:05:46
  Your family has lived with mine for over a hundred years under this roof,
• 3:05:50
  and here I find you deep in some dark plot against me. No,
• 3:05:56
  no, sir, no, not against you. It was a woman's
• 3:05:58
  voice, and missus barrymore paler and more horror struck than her husband, was
• 3:06:03
  standing at the door. Her bulky figure in a shawl and skirt might have
• 3:06:09
  been comic, were it not for the intensity of feeling upon her face.
• 3:06:15
  We have to go, Eliza, this is the end of it. You
• 3:06:18
  can pack our things, said the butler. Oh John, John, have
• 3:06:22
  I brought you to this? It is my doing, sir, Henry all
• 3:06:26
  mine. He has done nothing except for my sake, and because I asked
• 3:06:30
  him speak out? Then what does it mean? My unhappy brother is starving
• 3:06:37
  on the moor. We cannot let him perish at our very gates. The
• 3:06:41
  light is a signal to him that food is ready for him, and his
• 3:06:45
  light out yonder is to show the spot to which to bring it. Then
• 3:06:50
  your brother is the escaped convict. Sir Selden the criminal. That's the truth,
• 3:06:56
  sir, said Barymore. I said that it was not my secret and
• 3:07:01
  that I could not tell it to you. But now you have heard it
• 3:07:03
  and you will see that if there was a plot, it was not against
• 3:07:07
  you. This, then, was the explanation of the stealthy expeditions at night
• 3:07:13
  and the light at the window. Sir Henry and I both stared at the
• 3:07:16
  woman in amazement. Was it possible that this stolidly respectable person was of the
• 3:07:22
  same blood as one of the most notorious criminals in the country. Yes,
• 3:07:28
  sir, my name was Selden, and he is my younger brother. We
• 3:07:31
  humored him too much when he was a lad, and gave him his own
• 3:07:35
  way in everything, until he came to think that the world was made for
• 3:07:39
  his pleasure and that he could do what he liked in it. Then,
• 3:07:43
  as he grew older, he met wicked companions, and the devil entered into
• 3:07:46
  him, until he broke my mother's heart and dragged our name in the dirt.
• 3:07:50
  From crime to crime he sank lower and lower, until it is only
• 3:07:54
  the mercy of God which had snatched him from the scaffold But to me,
• 3:07:58
  Sir, he was always the little curly headed boy that I had nursed and
• 3:08:03
  played with as an elder sister would. That was why he broke prison,
• 3:08:07
  Sir. He knew that I was here and that we could not refuse to
• 3:08:11
  help him. When he dragged himself here one night, weary and starving,
• 3:08:16
  with the warders hard at his heels, what could we do. We took
• 3:08:20
  him in and fed him and cared for him. Then you returned, Sir,
• 3:08:24
  and my brother thought he would be safer on the more than anywhere else
• 3:08:28
  until the hue and cry was over. So he lay in hiding there.
• 3:08:33
  But every second night we made sure if he was still there by putting a
• 3:08:35
  light in the window, and if there was an answer, my husband took
• 3:08:39
  out some bread and meat to him. Every day we hoped that he was
• 3:08:43
  gone, But as long as he was there, we could not desert him.
• 3:08:48
  That is the whole truth. As I am an honest Christian woman,
• 3:08:52
  and you will see that if there is blame in the matter, it does
• 3:08:54
  not lie with my husband, but with me, for whose sake he has
• 3:08:58
  done all that he had. The woman's words came with an intense earnestness,
• 3:09:03
  which carried conviction with them. Is this true, Barrymore, Yes, sir
• 3:09:09
  Henry, every word of it. Well, I cannot blame you for standing
• 3:09:13
  by your own wife. Forget what I have said. Go to your room,
• 3:09:18
  you two, and we shall talk further about this matter. In the
• 3:09:20
  morning, when they were gone, we looked out of the window again.
• 3:09:26
  Sir Henry had flung it open, and the cold night wind beat in upon
• 3:09:31
  our faces. Far away, in the black distance, there still glowed that
• 3:09:35
  one tiny point of yellow light. I wonder, he dares, said,
• 3:09:41
  Sir Henry, it may be so placed as to be only visible from here.
• 3:09:48
  Very likely. How far do you think it is out by the cleft
• 3:09:52
  tor I think not more than a mile or two off, hardly that well,
• 3:10:00
  it cannot be far if Barymore had to carry out the food to it,
• 3:10:03
  and he is waiting this villain beside that candle by thunder, Watson,
• 3:10:09
  I am going out to take that man. The same thought had crossed my
• 3:10:13
  own mind. It was not as if the Barymours had taken us into their
• 3:10:16
  confidence. Their secret had been forced from them. The man was a danger
• 3:10:22
  to the community, an unmitigated scoundrel for whom there was neither pity nor excuse.
• 3:10:28
  We were only doing our duty and taking this chance of putting him back
• 3:10:31
  where he could do no harm. With his brutal and violent nature. Others
• 3:10:35
  would have to pay the price if we held our hands any night, For
• 3:10:39
  example, our neighbors, the Stapletons, might be attacked by him. And
• 3:10:43
  it may have been the thought of this which made Sir Henry so keen upon
• 3:10:48
  the adventure. I will come, said I. Then get your revolver and
• 3:10:54
  put on your boots. The sooner we start, the better, as the
• 3:10:56
  fellow may put out his light and be off. In five minutes we were
• 3:11:01
  outside the door starting upon our expedition. We hurried through the dark shrubbery,
• 3:11:07
  amid the dull moaning of the autumn wind and the rustle of the falling leaves.
• 3:11:11
  The night air was heavy with the smell of damp and decay. Now
• 3:11:16
  and again, the moon peeped out for an instant, but clouds were driving
• 3:11:20
  over the face of the sky, and just as we came out on the
• 3:11:24
  moor, a thin rain began to fall. The light still burned steadily in
• 3:11:28
  front. Are you armed, i asked? I have a hunting crop.
• 3:11:35
  We must close in on him rapidly. For he is said to be a
• 3:11:39
  desperate fellow. We shall take him by surprise and have him at our mercy
• 3:11:43
  before he can resist, I say, Watson, said the baronet. What
• 3:11:50
  would Holmes say to this? How about that hour of darkness in which the
• 3:11:52
  power of evil is exalted? As if in answer to his words, there
• 3:11:58
  rose suddenly out of the vast gloom of the moor that strange cry which I
• 3:12:03
  had already heard upon the borders of the great grimpen mire. It came with
• 3:12:07
  the wind through the silence of the night, a long, deep mutter,
• 3:12:11
  then a rising howl, and then the sad moan, in which it died
• 3:12:16
  away. Again and again it sounded, the whole air throbbing with it,
• 3:12:22
  strident, wild and menacing. The baronet caught my sleeve, and his face
• 3:12:28
  glimmered white through the darkness. My god, what's that, Watson, I
• 3:12:33
  don't know. It's a sound they have on the moor. I heard it
• 3:12:37
  once before It died away, and an absolute silence closed in upon us.
• 3:12:43
  We stood, straining our ears, but nothing came, Watson, said the
• 3:12:50
  baronet. It was the cry of a hound. My blood ran cold in
• 3:12:56
  my veins, for there was a break in his voice, which told of
• 3:12:58
  the son sudden horror which had seized him. What do they call this sound?
• 3:13:05
  He asked? Who? The folk on the country side. Oh,
• 3:13:11
  they are ignorant people. Why should you mind what they call it? Tell
• 3:13:16
  me, Watson, what do they say of it? I hesitated, but
• 3:13:22
  could not escape the question. They say it is the cry of the hound
• 3:13:26
  of the Baskervilles. He groaned and was silent for a few moments. A
• 3:13:33
  hound, it was, he said at last. But it seemed to come
• 3:13:37
  from miles away, over yonder. I think it was hard to say whence
• 3:13:43
  it came? It rose and fell with the wind. Isn't that the direction
• 3:13:48
  of the great Grimpenmeyer? Yes, it is, well, it was up
• 3:13:54
  there. Come now, Watson. Didn't you think yourself that it was the
• 3:13:58
  cry of aund I am not a child. You need not fear to speak
• 3:14:03
  the truth. Stapleton was with me when I heard it last. He said
• 3:14:09
  that it might be the calling of a strange bird. No, no,
• 3:14:13
  it was a hound? My God? Can there be some truth in all
• 3:14:18
  these stories? Is it possible that I am really in danger from so dark
• 3:14:22
  a cause? You don't believe in it, do you, Watson? No?
• 3:14:28
  No? And yet it was one thing to laugh about it in London,
• 3:14:31
  and it is another to stand out here in the darkness of the moor
• 3:14:35
  and to hear such a cry as that, And my uncle there was the
• 3:14:41
  footprint of the hound beside him as he lay. It all fits together.
• 3:14:46
  I don't think that I am a coward, Watson, but that sound seemed
• 3:14:48
  to freeze my very blood. Feel my hand, it was as cold as
• 3:14:54
  a block of marble. You'll be all right tomorrow. I don't think i'll
• 3:15:00
  get that cry out of my head. What do you advise that we do?
• 3:15:03
  Now? Shall we turn back? No? By thunder. We have
• 3:15:09
  come out to get our man, and we will do it. We after
• 3:15:13
  the convict, and a hell hound as likely as not after us. Come
• 3:15:16
  on, we'll see it through. If all the fiends of the pit were
• 3:15:20
  loose upon the more. We stumbled slowly along in the darkness, with the
• 3:15:24
  black loom of the craggy hills around us, and the yellow speck of light
• 3:15:30
  burning steadily in front. There is nothing so deceptive as the distance of a
• 3:15:35
  light upon a pitch dark night, And sometimes the glimmer seemed to be far
• 3:15:39
  away upon the horizon, and sometimes it might have been within a few yards
• 3:15:43
  of us. But at last we could see whence it came, and then
• 3:15:48
  we knew that we were indeed very close. A guttering candle was stuck in
• 3:15:52
  a crevice of the rocks which flanked it on each side, so as to
• 3:15:56
  keep the wind from it, and also to prevent it from being visible save
• 3:16:01
  in the direction of Baskerville Hall. A boulder of granite concealed our approach,
• 3:16:07
  and crouching behind it, we gazed over it at the signal light. It
• 3:16:11
  was strange to see this single candle burning there in the middle of the moor,
• 3:16:15
  with no sign of life near it, just the one straight yellow flame
• 3:16:20
  and the gleam of the rock on each side of it. What shall we
• 3:16:24
  do now, whispered Sir Henry. Wait here, he must be near his
• 3:16:30
  light. Let us see if we can get a glimpse of him. The
• 3:16:33
  words were hardly out of my mouth when we both saw him. Over the
• 3:16:37
  rocks. In the crevice of which the candle burned, there was thrust out
• 3:16:41
  an evil yellow face, a terrible animal face, all seamed and scored with
• 3:16:48
  vile passions, foul with mire, with a bristling beard and hung with matted
• 3:16:52
  hair. It might well have belonged to one of those old savages who dwelt
• 3:16:56
  in the burrows on the hillsides. The light beneath him was reflected in his
• 3:17:03
  small, cunning eyes, which peered fiercely to right and left through the darkness,
• 3:17:07
  like a crafty and savage animal who has heard the steps of the hunters.
• 3:17:11
  Something had evidently aroused his suspicions. It may have been that Barrymore had
• 3:17:16
  some private signal which we had neglected to give, or the fellow may have
• 3:17:22
  had some other reason for thinking that all was not well. But I could
• 3:17:26
  read his fears upon his wicked face. Any instant he might dash out the
• 3:17:31
  light and vanish in the darkness. I sprang forward therefore, and Sir Henry
• 3:17:35
  did the same. At the same moment, the convict screamed out a curse
• 3:17:41
  at us, and hurled a rock, which splintered up against the boulder which
• 3:17:45
  had sheltered us. I caught one glimpse of his short, squat, strongly
• 3:17:50
  built figure as he sprang to his feet and turned to run. At the
• 3:17:54
  same moment, by a lucky chance, the moon broke through the clouds.
• 3:17:58
  We rushed over the brow of the hill, and there was our man running
• 3:18:03
  with great speed down the other side, springing over the stones in his way
• 3:18:07
  with the activity of a mountain goat. A lucky long shot of my revolver
• 3:18:11
  might have crippled him, but I had brought it only to defend myself if
• 3:18:16
  attacked, and not to shoot an unarmed man who was running away. We
• 3:18:20
  were both swift runners and in fairly good training, but we soon found that
• 3:18:26
  we had no chance of overtaking him. We saw him for a long time
• 3:18:30
  in the moonlight, until he was only a small speck moving swiftly among the
• 3:18:35
  boulders upon the side of a distant hill. We ran and ran until we
• 3:18:39
  were completely blown, but the space between us grew ever wider. Finally we
• 3:18:46
  stopped and sat, panting on two rocks while we watched him disappearing in the
• 3:18:50
  distance. And it was at this moment that there occurred a most strange and
• 3:18:56
  unexpected thing. We had risen from ours and were turning to go home,
• 3:19:01
  having abandoned the hopeless chase. The moon was low upon the right, and
• 3:19:07
  the jagged pinnacle of a granite tor stood up against the lower curve of its
• 3:19:11
  silver disc. There outlined as black as an ebony statue. On that shining
• 3:19:16
  background, I saw the figure of a man upon the tor Do not think
• 3:19:22
  that it was a delusion, Holmes, I assure you that I have never
• 3:19:24
  in my life seen anything more. Clearly, as far as I could judge,
• 3:19:30
  the figure was that of a tall, thin man. He stood with
• 3:19:33
  his legs a little separated, his arms folded, his head bowed, as
• 3:19:39
  if he were brooding over that enormous wilderness of peat and granite which lay before
• 3:19:43
  him. He might have been the very spirit of that terrible place. It
• 3:19:48
  was not the convict. This man was far from the place where the latter
• 3:19:52
  had disappeared. Besides, he was a much taller man. With a cry
• 3:19:58
  of surprise, I pointed him out to the baronet, But in the instant
• 3:20:03
  during which I had turned to grasp his arm, the man was gone.
• 3:20:07
  There was the sharp pinnacle of granite still cutting the lower edge of the moon,
• 3:20:11
  but its peak bore no trace of that silent and motionless figure. I
• 3:20:16
  wished to go in that direction and to search the tour, but it was
• 3:20:20
  some distance away. The baronet's nerves were still quivering from that cry which recalled
• 3:20:26
  the dark story of his family, and he was not in the mood for
• 3:20:28
  fresh adventures. He had not seen this lonely man upon the tour, and
• 3:20:35
  could not feel the thrill which his strange presence and his commanding attitude had given
• 3:20:39
  to me. A warder, no doubt, said he, The moor has
• 3:20:43
  been thick with them since this fellow escaped. Well, perhaps his explanation may
• 3:20:50
  be the right one, but I should like to have some further proof of
• 3:20:52
  it. To day we mean to communicate to the Princetown people where they should
• 3:20:58
  look for their missing man. But it is hard lines that we have not
• 3:21:01
  actually had the triumph of bringing him back as our own prisoner. Such are
• 3:21:07
  the adventures of last night. And you must acknowledge, my dear Holmes,
• 3:21:11
  that I have done you very well in the matter of a report. Much
• 3:21:16
  of what I tell you is no doubt quite irrelevant. But still I feel
• 3:21:20
  that it is best that I should let you have all the facts and leave
• 3:21:22
  you to select for yourself those which will be of most service to you in
• 3:21:26
  helping you to your conclusions. We are certainly making some progress so far as
• 3:21:33
  the Barymoores go. We have found the motive of their actions, and that
• 3:21:37
  has cleared up the situation very much. But the more, with its mysteries
• 3:21:43
  and its strange inhabitants, remains as inscrutable as ever. Perhaps in my next
• 3:21:48
  I may be able to throw some light upon this also. Best of all,
• 3:21:52
  would it be if you could come down to us. In any case,
• 3:21:56
  you will hear from me again in the course of the next few days.
• 3:22:03
  End of Chapter nine, Chapter ten, extract from the Diary of Doctor
• 3:22:09
  Watson. So far I have been able to quote from the reports which I
• 3:22:15
  have forwarded during these early days to Sherlock Holmes. Now, however, I
• 3:22:20
  have arrived at a point in my narrative where I am compelled to abandon this
• 3:22:24
  method and to trust once more to my recollections, aided by the diary which
• 3:22:28
  I kept at the time. A few extracts from the latter will carry me
• 3:22:33
  on to those scenes which are indelibly fixed in every detail upon my memory.
• 3:22:39
  I proceed then, from the morning which followed our abortive chase of the convict,
• 3:22:43
  and our other strange experiences upon the moor. October sixteenth, a dull
• 3:22:50
  and foggy day with a drizzle of rain. The house is banked in with
• 3:22:56
  rolling clouds, which rise now and then to show the dreary curve of the
• 3:23:00
  moor, with thin silver veins upon the sides of the hills, and a
• 3:23:05
  distant boulder's gleaming where the light strikes upon their wet faces. It is melancholy
• 3:23:09
  outside and in. The baronet is in a black reaction. After the excitements
• 3:23:16
  of the night. I am conscious myself of a weight at my heart and
• 3:23:20
  a feeling of impending danger, ever present, danger which is the more terrible
• 3:23:24
  because I am unable to define it, and have I not calls for such
• 3:23:28
  a feeling. Consider the long sequence of incidents which have all pointed to some
• 3:23:33
  sinister influence which is at work around us. There is the death of the
• 3:23:39
  last occupant of the hall, fulfilling so exactly the conditions of the family legend.
• 3:23:45
  And there are the repeated reports from peasants of the appearance of a strange
• 3:23:48
  creature upon the moor. Twice I have with my own ears heard the sound
• 3:23:54
  which resembled the distant baying of a hound. It is incredible and possible that
• 3:24:00
  it should really be outside the ordinary laws of nature, a spectral hound,
• 3:24:05
  which leaves material footmarks, and fills the air with its howling, is surely
• 3:24:09
  not to be thought of. Stapleton may fall in with such a superstition,
• 3:24:15
  and Mortimer also, But if I have one quality upon Earth, it is
• 3:24:20
  common sense, and nothing will persuade me to believe in such a thing.
• 3:24:24
  To do so would be to descend to the level of these poor peasants,
• 3:24:28
  who are not content with a mere fiend dog, but must needs describe him
• 3:24:33
  with hell fire shooting from his mouth and eyes. Holmes would not listen to
• 3:24:37
  such fancies, and I am his agent. But facts are facts, and
• 3:24:41
  I have twice heard this crying upon the moor. Suppose that there were really
• 3:24:46
  some huge hound loose upon it, that would go far to explain everything.
• 3:24:52
  But where could such a hound lie concealed? Where did it get its food?
• 3:24:56
  Where did it come from? How was it that no no one saw
• 3:25:00
  it by day? It must be confessed that the natural explanation offers almost as
• 3:25:05
  many difficulties as the other. And always apart from the hound, there is
• 3:25:11
  the fact of the human agency in London, the man in the cab,
• 3:25:15
  and the letter which warned Sir Henry against the moor. This at least was
• 3:25:20
  real, but it might have been the work of a protecting friend as easily
• 3:25:24
  as of an enemy. Where is that friend or enemy? Now? Has
• 3:25:28
  he remained in London? Or has he followed us down here? Could he?
• 3:25:33
  Could he be the stranger whom I saw upon the tour? It is
• 3:25:37
  true that I have had only the one glance at him, and yet there
• 3:25:41
  are some things to which I am ready to swear. He is no one
• 3:25:46
  whom I have seen down here, and I have now met all the neighbors.
• 3:25:50
  The figure was far taller than that of Stapleton, far thinner than that
• 3:25:54
  of Franklin. Theremore it might possibly have been, but we had left him
• 3:25:58
  behind us, and I am certain that he could not have followed us.
• 3:26:03
  A stranger, then, is still dogging us, just as a stranger dogged
• 3:26:07
  us in London. We have never shaken him off. If I could lay
• 3:26:11
  my hands upon that man, then at last we might find ourselves at the
• 3:26:16
  end of all our difficulties. To this one purpose. I must now devote
• 3:26:20
  all my energies. My first impulse was to tell Sir Henry all my plans.
• 3:26:26
  My second and wisest one is to play my own game and speak as
• 3:26:31
  little as possible to any one. He is silent and distray. His nerves
• 3:26:37
  have been strangely shaken by that sound upon the moor. I will say nothing
• 3:26:41
  to add to his anxieties, but I will take my own steps to attain
• 3:26:46
  my own end. We had a small scene this morning. After breakfast.
• 3:26:50
  Barrymore asked leave to speak with Sir Henry, and they were closeted in his
• 3:26:54
  study some little time. Sitting in the billiard room, I more than once
• 3:27:00
  heard the sound of voices raised, and I had a pretty good idea what
• 3:27:03
  the point was, which was under discussion. After a time, the baronet
• 3:27:07
  opened his door and called for me. Barrimore considers that he has a grievance,
• 3:27:13
  he said. He thinks that it was unfair on our part to hunt
• 3:27:18
  his brother in law down when he, of his own free will, had
• 3:27:20
  told us the secret. The butler was standing very pale, but very collected
• 3:27:26
  before us. I may have spoken too warmly, sir, said he,
• 3:27:31
  And if I have, I am sure that I beg your pardon. At
• 3:27:35
  the same time, I was very much surprised when I heard you two gentlemen
• 3:27:39
  come back this morning, and learned that you had been chasing Selden. The
• 3:27:43
  poor fellow has enough to fight against without my putting more upon his track.
• 3:27:50
  If you had told us of your own free will, it would have been
• 3:27:52
  a different thing, said the Baronet. You only told us, or rather
• 3:27:56
  your wife only told us, when it was forced from you and you could
• 3:28:00
  not help yourself. I didn't think you would have taken advantage of it,
• 3:28:05
  Sir Henry. Indeed I didn't. The man is a public danger. There
• 3:28:11
  are lonely houses scattered over the moor, and he is a fellow who would
• 3:28:13
  stick at nothing. You only want to get a glimpse of his face to
• 3:28:18
  see that. Look at mister Stapleton's house, for example, with no one
• 3:28:22
  but himself to defend it. There's no safety for any one. Until he's
• 3:28:26
  under lock and key. He'll break into no house. Sir. I give
• 3:28:31
  you my solemn word upon that. But he will never trouble any one in
• 3:28:35
  this country again. I assure you, Sir Henry, that in a very
• 3:28:39
  few days, the necessary arrangements will have been made and he will be on
• 3:28:43
  his way to South America. For God's sake, sir, I beg of
• 3:28:46
  you not to let the police know that he is still upon the moor.
• 3:28:50
  They have given up the chase there, and he can lie quiet until the
• 3:28:54
  ship is ready for him. You can't tell on him without getting my wife
• 3:28:58
  and me into trouble. I beg you, sir, to say nothing to
• 3:29:01
  the police. What do you say, Watson? I shrugged my shoulders.
• 3:29:09
  If he were safely out of the country, it would relieve the taxpayer of
• 3:29:11
  a burden. But how about the chance of his holding some one up before
• 3:29:16
  he goes. He would not do anything, so mad, sir. We
• 3:29:20
  have provided him with all that he can want to commit. A crime would
• 3:29:24
  be to show where he was hiding. That is true, said Sir Henry
• 3:29:30
  Well Barrimore. God bless you, sir, and thank you from my heart.
• 3:29:35
  It would have killed my poor wife had he been taken again. I
• 3:29:39
  guess we are aiding and a betting a felony, Watson. But after what
• 3:29:43
  we have heard, I don't feel as if I could give the man up.
• 3:29:46
  So there is an end of it, all right, Barimore. You
• 3:29:48
  can go with a few broken words of gratitude. The man turned, but
• 3:29:54
  he hesitated and then came back. You've been so kind to us, sir,
• 3:29:58
  that I shall like to do the best I can for you. In
• 3:30:01
  return. I know something, Sir Henry, and perhaps I should have said
• 3:30:05
  it before, but it was long after the inquest that I found it out.
• 3:30:11
  I've never breathed a word about it yet to mortal man. It's about
• 3:30:13
  poor Sir Charles's death. The baronet and I were both upon our feet.
• 3:30:20
  Do you know how he died? No, Sir, I don't know that.
• 3:30:26
  What then, I know why he was at the gate at that hour.
• 3:30:30
  It was to meet a woman. To meet a woman, he yes,
• 3:30:35
  sir. And the woman's name. I can't give you the name,
• 3:30:39
  sir, but I can give you the initials. Her initials were L L.
• 3:30:46
  How do you know this Barrymore? Well, Sir Henry, your uncle
• 3:30:50
  had a letter that morning. He had usually a great many letters, for
• 3:30:54
  he was a public man and well known for his kind heart, so that
• 3:30:58
  every one who was in trouble was glad to turn to him. But that
• 3:31:01
  morning, as it chanced, there was only this one letter, so I
• 3:31:05
  took the more notice of it. It was from Coombe Tracy, and it
• 3:31:09
  was addressed in a woman's hand. Well, well, Sir, I thought
• 3:31:15
  no more of the matter, and never would have done had it not been
• 3:31:18
  for my wife. Only a few weeks ago, she was cleaning out Sir
• 3:31:22
  Charles's study. It had never been touched since his death, and she found
• 3:31:26
  the ashes of a burned letter in the back of the grate. The greater
• 3:31:30
  part of it was charred to pieces, but one little slip the end of
• 3:31:33
  a page hung together and the writing could still be read, though it was
• 3:31:37
  gray on a black ground. It seemed to us to be a PostScript at
• 3:31:41
  the end of the letter, and it said, please, please, as
• 3:31:46
  you are a gentleman, burn this letter and be at the gate by ten
• 3:31:50
  o'clock. Beneath it were signed the initials l L. Have you got that
• 3:31:56
  slip? No, sir, it crumbled all to bits after we moved it.
• 3:32:01
  Had Sir Charles received any other letters in the same writing, Well,
• 3:32:07
  Sir, I took no particular notice of his letters. I should not have
• 3:32:11
  noticed this one. Only it happened to come alone. And you have no
• 3:32:15
  idea who ll L is no, sir, no more than you have.
• 3:32:22
  But I expect if we could lay our hands upon that lady, we should
• 3:32:24
  know more about Sir Charles's death. I cannot understand barymore. How you came
• 3:32:30
  to conceal this important information. Well, sir, it was immediately after that
• 3:32:35
  our own trouble came to us. And then again, sir, we were
• 3:32:39
  both of us very fond of Sir Charles, as we well might be,
• 3:32:43
  considering all that he has done for us. To rake this up couldn't help
• 3:32:46
  our poor master. And it's well to go carefully when there's a lady in
• 3:32:50
  the case. Even the best of us, you thought it might injure his
• 3:32:54
  reputation. Well, sir, I thought no good could come up. But
• 3:33:01
  now you have been kind to us, and I feel as if it would
• 3:33:03
  be treating you unfairly not to tell you all that I know about the matter.
• 3:33:09
  Very good, barymore you can go. When the butler had left us,
• 3:33:13
  Sir Henry turned to me, Well, Watson, what do you think
• 3:33:18
  of this new light? It seems to leave the darkness rather blacker than before,
• 3:33:24
  so I think. But if we can only trace l L it should
• 3:33:28
  clear up the whole business. We have gained that much. We know that
• 3:33:33
  there is some one who has the facts. If we can only find her,
• 3:33:37
  what do you think we should do? Let Holmes know all about it
• 3:33:41
  at once. It will give him the clue for which he has been seeking,
• 3:33:46
  I am much mistaken if it does not bring him down. I went
• 3:33:50
  at once to my room and drew up my report of the morning's conversation for
• 3:33:54
  Holmes. It was evident to me that he had been very busy of late,
• 3:33:58
  for the notes which I had from Baker Street were few and short,
• 3:34:01
  with no comments upon the information which I had supplied, and hardly any reference
• 3:34:07
  to my mission. No doubt, his blackmailing case is absorbing all his faculties.
• 3:34:13
  And yet this new factor must surely arrest his attention and renew his interest.
• 3:34:18
  I wish that he were here. October seventeenth, All day to day
• 3:34:24
  the rain poured down, rustling on the ivy and dripping from the eaves.
• 3:34:30
  I thought of the convict out upon the bleak, cold shelterless more, poor
• 3:34:35
  devil, whatever his crimes, he has suffered something to atone for them.
• 3:34:39
  And then I thought of that other one, the face and the cab,
• 3:34:43
  the figure against the moon. Was he also out in that deluge, the
• 3:34:50
  unseen watcher, the man of darkness. In the evening, I put on
• 3:34:54
  my waterproof and I walked far upon the sodden moor, full of dark imaginings,
• 3:34:58
  the rain beating upon my face, and the wind whistling about my ears.
• 3:35:05
  God help those who wander into the great mire now, for even the
• 3:35:07
  firm uplands are becoming a morass. I found the black tor upon which I
• 3:35:13
  had seen the solitary Watcher, and from its craggy summit I looked out myself
• 3:35:18
  across the melancholy downs. Rain squalls drifted across their russet face, and the
• 3:35:24
  heavy slate colored clouds hung low over the landscape, trailing in gray wreaths down
• 3:35:30
  the sides of the fantastic hills. In the distant hollow on the left,
• 3:35:35
  half hidden by the mist, the two thin towers of Baskerville Hall rose above
• 3:35:39
  the trees. They were the only signs of human life which I could see,
• 3:35:43
  save only those prehistoric huts which lay thickly upon the slopes of the hills.
• 3:35:50
  Nowhere was there any trace of that lonely man whom I had seen on
• 3:35:52
  the same spot two nights before. As I walked back, I was overtaken
• 3:35:58
  by doctor Moore Mortimer, driving in his dog cart over a rough moorland track
• 3:36:03
  which led from the outlying farmhouse of fowl Meyer he has been very attentive to
• 3:36:09
  us, and hardly a day has passed that he has not called at the
• 3:36:11
  hall to see how we were getting on. He insisted upon my climbing into
• 3:36:16
  his dog cart, and he gave me a lift homeward. I found him
• 3:36:20
  much troubled over the disappearance of his little spaniel. It had wandered on to
• 3:36:26
  the moor and had never come back. I gave him such consolation as I
• 3:36:31
  might, but I thought of the pony on the grimpen Meyer, and I
• 3:36:35
  do not fancy that he will see his little dog again. By the way,
• 3:36:39
  Mortimer said I, as we jolted along the rough road. I suppose
• 3:36:43
  there are few people living within driving distance of this whom you do not know,
• 3:36:48
  hardly any I think. Can you then tell me the name of any
• 3:36:54
  woman whose initials are L L? He thought for a few minutes. No,
• 3:37:01
  said he. There are a few gypsies and laboring folk for whom I
• 3:37:05
  can't answer. But among the farmers or gentry, there is no one whose
• 3:37:09
  initials are those. Wait a bit, though, he added, after a
• 3:37:13
  pause, there is Laura Lyons. Her initials are l L, but she
• 3:37:18
  lives in Combe. Tracy, who is she I asked, she is Franklin's
• 3:37:24
  daughter? What old Franklin the crank? Exactly? She married an artist named
• 3:37:31
  Lyons who came sketching on the moor. He proved to be a blackguard and
• 3:37:35
  deserted her. The fault, from what I hear, may not have been
• 3:37:39
  entirely on one side. Her father refused to have anything to do with her
• 3:37:45
  because she had married without his consent, and perhaps for one or two other
• 3:37:48
  reasons as well. So between the old sinner and the young one, the
• 3:37:52
  girl has had a pretty bad time. How does she live? I fancy
• 3:38:00
  the old Franklin allows her a pitance, but it cannot be more, for
• 3:38:03
  his own affairs are considerably involved. Whatever she may have deserved, one could
• 3:38:07
  not allow her to go hopelessly to the bad Her story got about, and
• 3:38:13
  several of the people here did something to enable her to earn an honest living.
• 3:38:16
  Stapleton did for one, and Sir Charles for another. I gave a
• 3:38:22
  trifle myself. It was to set her up in a typewriting business. He
• 3:38:28
  wanted to know the object of my inquiries, but I managed to satisfy his
• 3:38:31
  curiosity without telling him too much. For there is no reason why we should
• 3:38:37
  take any one into our confidence. Tomorrow morning I shall find my way to
• 3:38:41
  Coombe Tracy. And if I can see this missus Laura Lyons of equivocal reputation,
• 3:38:46
  a long step will have been made towards clearing one incident in this chain
• 3:38:50
  of mysteries. I am certainly developing the wisdom of the serpent. For when
• 3:38:56
  Mortimer pressed his questions to an inconvenient extent, iked him casually to what type
• 3:39:01
  Franklin's skull belonged, and so heard nothing but craniology. For the rest of
• 3:39:05
  our drive. I have not lived for years with Sherlock Holmes for nothing.
• 3:39:11
  I have only one other incident to record upon this tempestuous and melancholy day.
• 3:39:16
  This was my conversation with Barrmore just now, which gives me one more strong
• 3:39:22
  card which I can play in due time. Mortimer had stayed to dinner,
• 3:39:28
  and he and the Baronet played ecartay. Afterwards, the butler brought me my
• 3:39:33
  coffee into the library, and I took the chance to ask him a few
• 3:39:37
  questions. Well said, I, has this precious relation of yours departed?
• 3:39:43
  Or is he still lurking out yonder I don't know, sir. I hope
• 3:39:48
  to Heaven that he is gone, for he has brought nothing but trouble here.
• 3:39:52
  I have not heard of him since I left out food for him last,
• 3:39:56
  and that was three days ago. Did you see him then? No,
• 3:40:01
  sir, But the food was gone when next I went that way,
• 3:40:05
  then he was certainly there, so you would think, sir, unless it
• 3:40:11
  was the other man who took it. I sat with my coffee cup half
• 3:40:15
  way to my lips and stared at Barrmore. You know that there is another
• 3:40:20
  man, then, yes, sir, there is another man upon the moor.
• 3:40:26
  Have you seen him? No, sir, How do you know of
• 3:40:31
  him? Then? Selden told me of him, Sir, a week ago
• 3:40:35
  or more. He's in hiding too, but he's not a convict, as
• 3:40:39
  far as I can make out. I don't like it, Doctor Watson.
• 3:40:43
  I tell you straight, sir, that I don't like it. He spoke
• 3:40:46
  with a sudden passion of earnestness. Now listen to me, Barrimore. I
• 3:40:52
  have no interest in this matter but that of your master. I have come
• 3:40:56
  here with no object except to help him. Tell me, Frank, what
• 3:41:00
  it is that you don't like Farrmore hesitated for a moment, as if he
• 3:41:05
  regretted his outburst or found it difficult to express his own feelings in words.
• 3:41:11
  It's all these goings on, sir, he cried at last, waving his
• 3:41:15
  hand towards the rain lashed window which faced the moor. There's foul play somewhere,
• 3:41:20
  and there's black villainy brewing to that. I'll swear very glad I should
• 3:41:26
  be, sir, to see Sir Henry on his way back to London again.
• 3:41:31
  But what is it that alarms you? Look at Sir Charles's death,
• 3:41:35
  that was bad enough for all that, the coroner said. Look at the
• 3:41:39
  noises on the moor at night. There's not a man would cross it after
• 3:41:43
  sundown if he was paid for it. Look at this stranger hiding out yonder
• 3:41:48
  and watching and waiting. What's he waiting for? What does it mean?
• 3:41:52
  It means no good to any one of the name of Baskerville, And very
• 3:41:56
  glad I shall be to be quit of it all On the day that Sir
• 3:41:58
  Henry's knew, Sir are ready to take over the hall. But about this
• 3:42:03
  stranger, said, I can you tell me anything about him? What did
• 3:42:07
  Selden say? Did he find out where he hid or what he was doing.
• 3:42:13
  He saw him once or twice, but he is a deep one and
• 3:42:16
  gives nothing away. At first he thought that he was the police, but
• 3:42:22
  soon he found that he had some lay of his own. A kind of
• 3:42:26
  gentleman. He was, as far as he could see. But what he
• 3:42:30
  was doing he could not make out. And where did he say? That?
• 3:42:35
  He lived? Among the old houses on the hillside, the stone huts
• 3:42:39
  where the old folk used to live. But how about his food? Selden
• 3:42:46
  found out that he has got a lad who works for him and brings all
• 3:42:50
  he needs. I dare say he goes to comb Tracy for what he wants.
• 3:42:56
  Very good, barrymore. We may talk further of this some other time.
• 3:43:01
  When the butler had gone, I walked over to the black window,
• 3:43:03
  and I looked through a blurred pane at the driving clouds and at the tossing
• 3:43:07
  outline of the windswept trees. It is a wild night indoors. And what
• 3:43:13
  must it be in a stone hut upon the moor? What passion of hatred
• 3:43:18
  can it be which leads a man to lurk in such a place at such
• 3:43:22
  a time, And what deep and earnest purpose can he have which calls for
• 3:43:26
  such a trial. There In that hut upon the moor seems to lie the
• 3:43:31
  very center of that problem which has vexed me so sorely. I swear that
• 3:43:35
  another day shall not have passed before I have done all that man can do
• 3:43:39
  to reach the heart of the mystery. End of Chapter ten, Chapter eleven,
• 3:43:46
  The Man on the tor The extract from my private diary which forms the
• 3:43:52
  last chapter, has brought my narrative up to the eighteenth of October, a
• 3:43:56
  time when these strange events began to move swiftly towards their terrible conclusion. The
• 3:44:01
  incidents of the next few days are indelibly graven upon my recollection, and I
• 3:44:07
  can tell them without reference to the notes made at the time I start them,
• 3:44:11
  from the day which succeeded that upon which I had established. Two facts
• 3:44:16
  of great importance, the one that Missus Laura Lyons of Coomb Tracy had written
• 3:44:20
  to Sir Charles Baskerville and made an appointment with him at the very place and
• 3:44:24
  hour that he met his death. The other that the lurking Man upon the
• 3:44:30
  Moor was to be found among the stone huts upon the hillside. With these
• 3:44:33
  two facts in my possession, I felt that either my intelligence or my courage
• 3:44:39
  must be deficient if I could not throw some further light upon these dark places.
• 3:44:45
  I had no opportunity to tell the Baronet what I had learned about Missus
• 3:44:48
  Lyons upon the evening before, for Doctor Mortimer remained with him at cards until
• 3:44:54
  it was very late at breakfast. However, I informed him about my discovery
• 3:44:58
  and asked to and whether he would care to accompany me to Coon Tracy.
• 3:45:03
  At first he was very eager to come, but on second Doults, it
• 3:45:07
  seemed to both of us that if I went alone, the results might be
• 3:45:09
  better. The more formal we made the visit, the less information we might
• 3:45:15
  obtain. I left Sir Henry behind, therefore, not without some prickings of
• 3:45:20
  conscience, and drove off upon my new quest. When I reached Coombe Tracy,
• 3:45:26
  I told Perkins to put up the horses, and I made inquiries for
• 3:45:28
  the lady whom I had come to interrogate. I had no difficulty in finding
• 3:45:33
  her rooms, which were central and well appointed. A maid showed me in
• 3:45:39
  without ceremony, and as I entered the sitting room, a lady, who
• 3:45:43
  was sitting before a Remington typewriter, sprang up with a pleasant smile of welcome.
• 3:45:48
  Her face fell, however, when she saw that I was a stranger,
• 3:45:52
  and she sat down again and asked me the object of my visit.
• 3:45:56
  The first impression left by missus Lyons was one of extreme beauty. Her eyes
• 3:46:01
  and hair were of the same rich hazel color, and her cheeks, though
• 3:46:05
  considerably freckled, were flushed with the exquisite bloom of the brunette, the dainty
• 3:46:11
  pink which lurks at the heart of the sulfur rose. Admiration was I repeat
• 3:46:16
  the first impression, but the second was criticism. There was something subtly wrong
• 3:46:22
  with the face, some coarseness of expression, some hardness perhaps of eye,
• 3:46:26
  some looseness of lip, which marred its perfect beauty. But these, of
• 3:46:31
  course are afterthoughts. At the moment, I was simply canscious that I was
• 3:46:35
  in the presence of a very handsome woman, and that she was asking me
• 3:46:39
  the reasons for my visit. I had not quite understood until that instant how
• 3:46:43
  delicate my mission was. I have the pleasure, said I of knowing your
• 3:46:48
  father. It was a clumsy introduction, and the lady made me feel it.
• 3:46:54
  There is nothing in common between my father and me, she said,
• 3:46:58
  I owe nothing, and his friends are not mine. If it were not
• 3:47:03
  for the late Sir Charles Baskerville and some other kind hearts, I might have
• 3:47:07
  starved for all that my father cared. It was about the late Sir Charles
• 3:47:13
  Baskerville that I have come here to see you. The freckles started out on
• 3:47:18
  the lady's face. What can I tell you about him? She asked,
• 3:47:22
  and her fingers played nervously over the stops of her typewriter. You knew him,
• 3:47:28
  did you not. I have already said that I owe a great deal
• 3:47:33
  to his kindness. If I am able to support myself, it is largely
• 3:47:37
  due to the interest which he took in my unhappy situation. Did you correspond
• 3:47:43
  with him? The lady looked quickly up with an angry gleam in her hazel
• 3:47:46
  eyes. What is the object of these questions, she asked sharply. The
• 3:47:52
  object is to avoid a public scandal. It is better that I should ask
• 3:47:58
  them here than that the matter should pass outside our control. She was silent,
• 3:48:03
  and her face was still very pale. At last, she looked up
• 3:48:07
  with something reckless and defiant in her manner. Well, I'll answer, she
• 3:48:13
  said, what are your questions? Did you correspond with Sir Charles? I
• 3:48:20
  certainly wrote to him once or twice to acknowledge his delicacy and his generosity.
• 3:48:26
  Have you the dates of those letters? No? Have you ever met him?
• 3:48:31
  Yes, once or twice when he came into Combe Tracy. He was
• 3:48:35
  a very retiring man, and he preferred to do good by stealth. But
• 3:48:41
  if you saw him so seldom and wrote so seldom, how did he know
• 3:48:45
  enough about your affairs to be able to help you as you say that he
• 3:48:48
  has done? She met my difficulty with the utmost readiness. There were several
• 3:48:54
  gentlemen who knew my sad history and united to help me. One was mister
• 3:48:58
  Stapleton, and intimate friend of Sir Charles's. He was exceedingly kind, and
• 3:49:03
  it was through him that Sir Charles learned about my affairs. I knew already
• 3:49:09
  that Sir Charles Baskerville had made Stapleton his almoner upon several occasions. So the
• 3:49:13
  lady's statement bore the impress of truth upon it. Did you ever write to
• 3:49:20
  Sir Charles asking him to meet you, I continued, missus lyon, flushed
• 3:49:24
  with anger. Again, Really, sir, this is a very extraordinary question.
• 3:49:31
  I am sorry, madam, but I must repeat it. Then I
• 3:49:35
  answer, certainly not. Not. On the very day of Sir Charles's death,
• 3:49:43
  the flush had faded in an instant, and a deathly face was before
• 3:49:46
  me. Her dry lips could not speak the no, which I saw rather
• 3:49:50
  than heard. Surely your memory deceives, you said I. I could even
• 3:49:56
  quote a passage of your letter it. Please please, as you are a
• 3:50:01
  gentleman, burn this letter and be at the gate by ten o'clock. I
• 3:50:07
  felt that she had fainted, but she recovered herself by a supreme effort.
• 3:50:11
  Is there no such thing as a gentleman? She gasped, You do,
• 3:50:16
  Sir Charles an injustice. He did burn the letter, But sometimes a letter
• 3:50:20
  may be legible even when burned. You acknowledge now that you wrote it?
• 3:50:26
  Yes, I did write it, she cried, pouring out her soul in
• 3:50:30
  a torrent of words. I did write it. Why should I deny it?
• 3:50:33
  I have no reason to be ashamed of it. I wished him to
• 3:50:37
  help me. I believed that if I had an interview, I could gain
• 3:50:41
  his help. So I asked him to meet me. But why at such
• 3:50:45
  an hour? Because I had only just learned that he was going to London
• 3:50:50
  next day and might be away for months. There were reasons why I could
• 3:50:54
  not get there earlier. But why are rendezvous in the garden instead of a
• 3:50:58
  visit to the house. Do you think a woman could go alone at that
• 3:51:03
  hour to a bachelor's house? Well, what happened when you did get there?
• 3:51:09
  I never went, Missus Lyons, No, I swear it to you,
• 3:51:16
  on all I hold sacred. I never went. Something intervened to prevent
• 3:51:20
  my going. What was that? That is a private matter. I cannot
• 3:51:26
  tell it. You acknowledge then that you made an appointment with Sir Charles at
• 3:51:31
  the very hour and place at which he met his death, But you deny
• 3:51:33
  that you kept the appointment. That is the truth. Again and again I
• 3:51:39
  cross questioned her, but I could never get past that point, Missus Lyons,
• 3:51:46
  said I as I rose from this long and inconclusive interview, you are
• 3:51:50
  taking a very great responsibility and putting yourself in a very false position by not
• 3:51:56
  making an absolutely clean breast of all that you know. If I have to
• 3:52:00
  call in the aid of the police, you will find how seriously you are
• 3:52:03
  compromised. If your position is innocent, why did you, in the first
• 3:52:07
  instance deny having written to Sir Charles upon that date? Because I feared that
• 3:52:13
  some false conclusion might be drawn from it, and that I might find myself
• 3:52:16
  involved in a scandal. And why were you so pressing that Sir Charles should
• 3:52:22
  destroy your letter? If you have read the letter, you will know I
• 3:52:28
  did not say that I had read all the letter. You quoted some of
• 3:52:31
  it. I quoted the PostScript. The letter had, as I said,
• 3:52:37
  been burned, and it was not all legible. I ask you once again
• 3:52:41
  why it was that you were so pressing that Sir Charles should destroy this letter,
• 3:52:46
  which he received on the day of his death. The matter is a
• 3:52:50
  very private one, the more reason why you should avoid a public investigation.
• 3:52:56
  I will tell you. Then, if you have heard any anything of my
• 3:53:00
  unhappy history, you will know that I made a rash marriage and had reason
• 3:53:03
  to regret it. I have heard so much. My life has been one
• 3:53:09
  incessant persecution from a husband whom I abhor. The law is upon his side,
• 3:53:16
  and every day I am faced by the possibility that he may force me
• 3:53:18
  to live with him. At the time that I wrote this letter to Sir
• 3:53:22
  Charles, I had learned that there was a prospect of my regaining my freedom
• 3:53:26
  if certain expenses could be met. It meant everything to me, peace of
• 3:53:31
  mind, happiness, self respect, everything. I knew Sir Charles's generosity,
• 3:53:37
  and I thought that if he heard the story from my own lips, he
• 3:53:41
  would help me. Then how is it that you did not go because I
• 3:53:46
  received help in the interval from another source. Why then did you not write
• 3:53:52
  to Sir Charles and explain this so I should have done had I not seen
• 3:53:58
  his death in the paper next morning. The woman's story hung coherently together,
• 3:54:03
  and all my questions were unable to shake it. I could only check it
• 3:54:09
  by finding if she had indeed instituted divorce proceedings against her husband at or about
• 3:54:13
  the time of the tragedy. It was unlikely that she would dare to say
• 3:54:18
  that she had not been to Baskerville Hall if she really had been, for
• 3:54:22
  a trap would be necessary to take her there, and could not have returned
• 3:54:26
  to Coombe Tracy until the early hours of the morning. Such an excursion could
• 3:54:31
  not be kept secret. The probability was, therefore that she was telling the
• 3:54:35
  truth, or at least a part of the truth. I came away baffled
• 3:54:41
  and disheartened. Once again I had reached that dead wall which seemed to be
• 3:54:46
  built across every path by which I tried to get at the object of my
• 3:54:48
  mission. And yet the more I thought of the lady's face and of her
• 3:54:52
  manner, the more I felt that something was being held back from me.
• 3:54:58
  Why should she turn so pale, Why should she fight against every admission until
• 3:55:03
  it was forced from her? Why should she have been so reticent at the
• 3:55:05
  time of the tragedy. Surely the explanation of all this could not be as
• 3:55:11
  innocent as she would have me believe. For the moment, I could proceed
• 3:55:16
  no farther in that direction, but must turn back to that other clue,
• 3:55:20
  which was to be salt for among the stone huts upon the moor. And
• 3:55:24
  that was a most vague direction. I realized it as I drove back,
• 3:55:28
  and noted how hill after hill showed traces of the ancient people. Barymore's only
• 3:55:33
  indication had been that the stranger lived in one of these abandoned huts, and
• 3:55:37
  many hundreds of them are scattered throughout the length and breadth of the moor.
• 3:55:43
  But I had my own experience for a guide, since it had shown me
• 3:55:46
  the man himself standing upon the summit of the Black tor. That then should
• 3:55:50
  be the center of my search. From there I should explore every hut upon
• 3:55:54
  the moor until I lighted upon the right one. If this man were in
• 3:55:58
  so, I should find out from his own lips at the point of my
• 3:56:03
  revolver, if necessary, who he was and why he had dogged us so
• 3:56:07
  long. He might slip away from us in the crowd of Regent Street,
• 3:56:11
  but it would puzzle him to do so upon the lonely more. On the
• 3:56:15
  other hand, if I should find the hut, and its tenant should not
• 3:56:18
  be within it, I must remain there, however long the vigil until he
• 3:56:22
  returned Holmes had missed him in London. It would indeed be a triumph for
• 3:56:28
  me if I could run him to Earth where my master had failed. Luck
• 3:56:33
  had been against us again and again in this inquiry, but now at last
• 3:56:37
  it came to my aid, and the messenger of good fortune was none other
• 3:56:41
  than mister Franklin, who was standing gray, whiskered and red faced outside the
• 3:56:46
  gate of his garden, which opened onto the high road along which I traveled.
• 3:56:52
  Good day, doctor Watson, cried he with unwonted good humor. You
• 3:56:56
  must really give your horses a rest and come in to have a glass of
• 3:57:00
  wine and to congratulate me. My feelings toward him were very far from being
• 3:57:05
  friendly, after what I had heard of his treatment of his daughter. But
• 3:57:09
  I was anxious to send Perkins and the wagonette home, and the opportunity was
• 3:57:13
  a good one. I alighted and sent a message to Sir Henry that I
• 3:57:16
  should walk over in time for dinner. Then I followed Franklin into his dining
• 3:57:22
  room. It is a great day for me, sir, one of the
• 3:57:26
  red letter days of my life, he cried, with many chuckles. I
• 3:57:30
  have brought off a double event. I mean to teach them in these parts
• 3:57:33
  that law is law, and that there is a man here who does not
• 3:57:37
  fear to invoke it. I have established a right of way through the center
• 3:57:41
  of Old Middleton's Park, slap across it, sir, within a hundred yards
• 3:57:46
  of his own front door. What do you think of that? We'll teach
• 3:57:50
  these magnets that they cannot ride roughshod over the rights of the commoners. Confound
• 3:57:54
  them, and I've closed the wood where the Fernworthy folk used to picnic.
• 3:57:58
  These infernal people seem to think that there are no rights of property and that
• 3:58:01
  they can swarm where they like with their papers and their bottles. Both cases
• 3:58:07
  decided, Doctor Watson, and both in my favor. I haven't had such
• 3:58:11
  a day since I had Sir John Morland for trespass because he shot in his
• 3:58:16
  own warren. How on earth did you do that? Look it up in
• 3:58:22
  the books, sir. It will repay reading Franklin versus Morland, Court of
• 3:58:26
  Queen's Minch. It cost me two hundred pounds, but I got my verdict.
• 3:58:33
  Did it do you any good? None, sir none. I am
• 3:58:37
  proud to say that I had no interest in the matter. I act entirely
• 3:58:41
  from a sense of public duty. I have no doubt, for example,
• 3:58:45
  that the Fernworthy people will burn me in effigy to night. I told the
• 3:58:48
  police last time they did it that they should stop these disgraceful exhibitions. The
• 3:58:54
  County Constabulary is in a scandalous state, sir, and it has not afforded
• 3:58:58
  me the protection to which I am entitled the case of Franklin versus Regina will
• 3:59:03
  bring the matter before the attention of the public. I told them that they
• 3:59:07
  would have occasion to regret their treatment of me. And already my words have
• 3:59:11
  come true. How so, I asked the old man, put on a
• 3:59:18
  very knowing expression, because I could tell them what they are dying to know.
• 3:59:24
  But nothing would induce me to help the rascals in any way. I
• 3:59:28
  had been casting round for some excuse by which I could get away from his
• 3:59:31
  gossip. But now I began to wish to hear more of it. I
• 3:59:35
  had seen enough of the contrary nature of the old sinner to understand that any
• 3:59:39
  strong sign of interest would be the surest way to stop his confidences. Some
• 3:59:46
  poaching case, no doubt, said I, with an indifferent manner. Hah,
• 3:59:50
  my boy, A very much more important matter than that. What about
• 3:59:54
  the convict on the moor, I started, You don't mean that know where
• 4:00:00
  he is? Said I. I may not know exactly where he is,
• 4:00:05
  but I am quite sure that I could help the police to lay their hands
• 4:00:07
  on him. Has it never struck you that the way to catch that man
• 4:00:11
  was to find out where he got his food and so trace it to him.
• 4:00:16
  He certainly seemed to be getting uncomfortably near the truth, no doubt,
• 4:00:20
  said I, But how do you know that he is anywhere upon the moor?
• 4:00:26
  I know it because I have seen with my own eyes the messenger who
• 4:00:28
  takes him his food. My heart sank for Barrmore. It was a serious
• 4:00:35
  thing to be in the power of this spiteful, old, busy body.
• 4:00:37
  But his next remark took a weight from my mind. He'll be surprised to
• 4:00:43
  hear that his food is taken to him by a child. I see him
• 4:00:46
  every day through my telescope upon the roof. He passes along the same path
• 4:00:52
  at the same hour. And to whom should he be going except to the
• 4:00:54
  convict. Here was luck, indeed, and yet I suppressed all appearance of
• 4:01:01
  interest. A child. Darrenmore had said that our unknown was supplied by a
• 4:01:07
  boy. It was on his track, and not upon the convicts that Franklin
• 4:01:11
  had stumbled. If I could get his knowledge, it might save me a
• 4:01:15
  long and weary hunt. But incredulity and indifference were evidently my strongest cards.
• 4:01:22
  I should say that it was much more likely that it was the son of
• 4:01:24
  one of the Moreland shepherds taking out his father's dinner. The least appearance of
• 4:01:31
  opposition struck fire out of the old autocrat. His eyes looked malignantly at me,
• 4:01:35
  and his gray whiskers bristled like those of an angry cat. Indeed,
• 4:01:41
  Sir, said he, pointing out over the wide stretching moor, do you
• 4:01:46
  see that black tor over yonder? Well? Do you see the low hill
• 4:01:50
  beyond with the thorn bush upon it? It is the stoniest part of the
• 4:01:54
  whole moor. Is that a place where a shepherd would be likely to take
• 4:01:58
  his station? Your suggestion, Sir, is a most absurd one. I
• 4:02:03
  meekly answered that I had spoken without knowing all the facts. My submission pleased
• 4:02:09
  him and led him to further confidences. You may be sure, Sir,
• 4:02:13
  that I have very good grounds before I come to an opinion. I have
• 4:02:18
  seen the boy again and again with his bundle, every day, and sometimes
• 4:02:22
  twice a day. I have been able. But wait a moment, doctor
• 4:02:26
  Watson. Do my eyes deceive me? Or is there, at the present
• 4:02:31
  moment something moving upon that hillside? It was several miles off, but I
• 4:02:37
  could distinctly see a small dark dot against the dull, green and gray.
• 4:02:41
  Come, sir, come, cried Franklin, rushing upstairs. You will see
• 4:02:46
  with your own eyes and judge for yourself. The telescope, a formidable instrument
• 4:02:52
  mounted upon a tripod, stood upon the flat LEDs of the house. Franklin
• 4:02:56
  clapped his eye to it and gave a cry of satisfaction. Quick, doctor
• 4:03:01
  Watson, Quick before he passes over the hill. There he was, sure
• 4:03:07
  enough, a small urchin with a little bundle upon his shoulder, toiling slowly
• 4:03:11
  up the hill. When he reached the crest, I saw the ragged,
• 4:03:13
  uncouth figure outlined for an instant against the cold blue sky. He looked round
• 4:03:20
  him with a furtive and stealthy air, as one who dreads pursuit. Then
• 4:03:24
  he vanished over the hill. Well, am I right? Certainly there is
• 4:03:31
  a boy who seems to have some secret errand. And what the errand is
• 4:03:35
  even a county constable could guess. But not one word shall they have from
• 4:03:39
  me, And I bind you to secrecy, also, doctor Watson, not
• 4:03:43
  a word, you understand, just as you wish. They have treated me
• 4:03:50
  shamefully, shamefully When the facts come out in Franklin Versus Vagina I venture to
• 4:03:56
  think that a thrill of indignation will run through the country. Nothing would induce
• 4:04:01
  me to help the police in any way, For all they cared it might
• 4:04:03
  have been me instead of my effigy, which these rascals burned at the stake.
• 4:04:09
  Surely you are not going. You will help me to empty the decanter
• 4:04:11
  in honor of this great occasion. But I resisted all his solicitations and succeeded
• 4:04:18
  in dissuading him from his announced intention of walking home with me. I kept
• 4:04:24
  the road as long as his eye was on me, and then I struck
• 4:04:26
  off across the moor and made for the stony hill over which the boy had
• 4:04:31
  disappeared. Everything was working in my favor, and I swore that it should
• 4:04:35
  not be through lack of energy or perseverance that I should miss the chance which
• 4:04:39
  fortune had thrown in my way. The sun was already sinking when I reached
• 4:04:45
  the summit of the hill, and the long slopes beneath me were all golden
• 4:04:48
  green on one side and gray shadow on the other. A haze lay low
• 4:04:54
  upon the farthest sky line, out of which jutted the fantastic shapes of Bellevr
• 4:04:58
  and vixen. Over the wide expanse, there was no sound and no movement.
• 4:05:05
  One great gray bird, a gull or curlew, soared aloft in the
• 4:05:09
  blue heaven. He and I seemed to be the only living things between the
• 4:05:13
  huge arch of the sky and the desert beneath it. The barren scene,
• 4:05:18
  the sense of loneliness, and the mystery and urgency of my task all struck
• 4:05:24
  a chill into my heart. The boy was nowhere to be seen, but
• 4:05:28
  down beneath me, in a cleft of the hills, there was a circle
• 4:05:31
  of the old stone huts, and in the middle of them there was one
• 4:05:35
  which retained sufficient roof to act as a screen against the weather. My heart
• 4:05:41
  leapt within me as I saw it. This must be the burrow where the
• 4:05:43
  stranger lurked. At last, my foot was on the threshold of his hiding
• 4:05:48
  place. His secret was within my grasp. As I approached the hut,
• 4:05:54
  walking as wearily as Stapleton would do when with poised net he drew near the
• 4:05:58
  settled butterfly, I satisfied myself that the place had indeed been used as a
• 4:06:03
  habitation. A vague pathway among the boulders led to the dilapidated opening which served
• 4:06:09
  as a door. All was silent within. The unknown might be lurking there,
• 4:06:16
  or he might be prowling on the moor. My nerves tingled with the
• 4:06:20
  sense of adventure. Throwing aside my cigarette, I closed my hand upon the
• 4:06:24
  butt of my revolver, and walking swiftly up to the door, I looked
• 4:06:28
  in. The place was empty, but there were ample signs that I had
• 4:06:35
  not come upon a false scent. This was certainly where the man lived.
• 4:06:39
  Some blankets, rolled in a waterproof lay upon that very stone slab upon which
• 4:06:43
  neolithic man had once slumbered. The ashes of a fire were heaped in a
• 4:06:48
  rude grate. Beside it lay some cooking utensils and a bucket half full of
• 4:06:54
  water. A litter of empty tins showed that the place had been occupied for
• 4:06:58
  some time, and I saw, as my eyes became accustomed to the checkered
• 4:07:03
  light, a pannikin and a half full bottle of spirits standing in the corner.
• 4:07:09
  In the middle of the hut, a flat stone served the purpose of
• 4:07:11
  a table, and upon this stood a small cloth bundle, the same,
• 4:07:16
  no doubt, which I had seen through the telescope upon the shoulder of the
• 4:07:20
  boy. It contained a loaf of bread, a tin tongue, and two
• 4:07:24
  tins of preserved peaches. As I set it down again after having examined it,
• 4:07:30
  my heart leapt to see that beneath it there lay a sheet of paper
• 4:07:33
  with writing upon it. I raised it, and this was what I read,
• 4:07:37
  roughly scrawled in pencil, Doctor Watson has gone to coomb Tracy. For
• 4:07:43
  a minute, I stood there with the paper in my hands, thinking out
• 4:07:46
  the meaning of this curt message. It was I, then, and not
• 4:07:50
  Sir Henry, who was being dogged by this secret man. He had not
• 4:07:56
  followed me himself, but he had set an agent, the boy, perhaps
• 4:08:00
  upon my track, and this was his report. Possibly I had taken no
• 4:08:05
  step, since I had been upon the moor which had not been observed and
• 4:08:09
  reported. Always there was this feeling of an unseen force, a fine net
• 4:08:15
  drawn round us, with infinite skill and delicacy, holding us so lightly that
• 4:08:18
  it was only at some supreme moment that one realized that one was indeed entangled
• 4:08:24
  in its meshes. If there was one report, there might be others.
• 4:08:28
  So I looked round the hut in search of them. There was no trace
• 4:08:31
  however, of anything of the kind. Nor could I discover any sign which
• 4:08:37
  might indicate the character or intentions of the man who lived in this singular place,
• 4:08:41
  save that he must be of spartan habits and care little for the comforts
• 4:08:45
  of life. When I thought of the heavy rains and looked at the gaping
• 4:08:50
  roof, I understood how strong and immutable must be the purpose which had kept
• 4:08:54
  him in that inhospitable abode. Was he our malignant enemy, or was he,
• 4:09:00
  by chance our guardian angel. I swore that I would not leave the
• 4:09:03
  hut until I knew outside. The sun was sinking low, and the west
• 4:09:09
  was blazing with scarlet and gold. Its reflection was shot back in ruddy patches
• 4:09:15
  by the distant pools which lay amid the great Grimpen Mire. There were the
• 4:09:20
  two towers of Baskerville Hall, and there a distant blur of smoke which marked
• 4:09:24
  the village of Grimpen. Between the two, behind the hill was the house
• 4:09:30
  of the Stapletons. All was sweet and mellow and peaceful in the golden evening
• 4:09:35
  light. And yet as I looked at them, my soul shared none of
• 4:09:39
  the peace of nature, but quivered at the vagueness and the terror of that
• 4:09:43
  interview, which every instant was bringing nearer. With tingling nerves but a fixed
• 4:09:48
  purpose. I sat in the dark recess of the hut and waited with somber
• 4:09:52
  patience for the coming of his tenant. And then at last I heard him.
• 4:09:58
  Far away. Came the sharp clink of a boots striking upon a stone,
• 4:10:01
  then another, and yet another, coming nearer and nearer. I shrank
• 4:10:07
  back into the darkest corner and cocked the pistol in my pocket, determined not
• 4:10:11
  to discover myself until I had an opportunity of seeing something of the stranger.
• 4:10:18
  There was a long pause which showed that he had stopped. Then once more
• 4:10:22
  the footsteps approached, and a shadow fell across the opening of the hut.
• 4:10:28
  It is a lovely evening, my dear Watson, said a well known voice.
• 4:10:33
  I really think that you will be more comfortable outside than in end of
• 4:10:39
  chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, Death on the Moor. For a moment or
• 4:10:46
  two I sat breathless, hardly able to believe my ears. Then my senses
• 4:10:50
  and my voice came back to me, while a crushing weight of responsibility seemed
• 4:10:54
  in an instant to be lifted from my soul. That cold, incisive,
• 4:10:58
  i ronical voice could belong to but one man in all the world. Holmes,
• 4:11:05
  I cried, Holmes, come out, said he, and please be
• 4:11:09
  careful with the revolver. I stooped under the rude lntel, and there he
• 4:11:15
  sat upon a stone outside, his gray eyes dancing with amusement as they fell
• 4:11:20
  upon my astonished features. He was thin and worn, but clear and alert,
• 4:11:24
  his keen face bronzed by the sun and roughened by the wind. In
• 4:11:30
  his tweed suit and cloth cap, he looked like any other tourist upon the
• 4:11:33
  moor. And he had contrived, with that catlike love of personal cleanliness,
• 4:11:37
  which was one of his characteristics, that his chin should be as smooth and
• 4:11:41
  his linen as perfect as if he were in Baker Street. I never was
• 4:11:46
  more glad to see any one in my life, said I, as I
• 4:11:50
  wrung him by the hand, or more astonished. Eh, well, I
• 4:11:54
  must confess to it. The surprise was not all on one side. I
• 4:11:58
  ashus assure you. I had no idea that you had found my occasional retreat,
• 4:12:03
  still less that you were inside it. Until I was within twenty paces
• 4:12:07
  of the door. My footprint. I presume no, Watson, I fear
• 4:12:11
  that I could not undertake to recognize your footprint amid all the footprints of the
• 4:12:16
  world. If you seriously desire to deceive me, you must change your tobacconist.
• 4:12:20
  For when I see the stub of a cigarette marked Bradley Oxford Street,
• 4:12:24
  I know that my friend Watson is in the neighborhood. You will see it
• 4:12:28
  there beside the path. You threw it down, no doubt at that supreme
• 4:12:33
  moment when you charged into the empty hut, exactly I thought as much,
• 4:12:39
  and, knowing your admirable tenacity, I was convinced that you were sitting in
• 4:12:41
  ambush, a weapon within reach, waiting for the tenant to return. So
• 4:12:46
  you actually thought that I was the criminal. I did not know who you
• 4:12:50
  were, but I was determined to find out, excellent Watson, And how
• 4:12:56
  did you localize me? You saw me, perhaps on the night of the
• 4:13:00
  convict hunt, when I was so imprudent as to allow the moon to rise
• 4:13:03
  behind me. Yes, I saw you then, and have no doubt searched
• 4:13:09
  all the huts until you came to this one. No, your boy had
• 4:13:13
  been observed, and that gave me a guide where to look the old gentleman
• 4:13:18
  with a telescope, No doubt, I could not make it out when first
• 4:13:20
  I saw the light flashing upon the lins. He rose and peeped into the
• 4:13:26
  hut. Ha, I see that Cartwright has brought up some supplies. What's
• 4:13:30
  this paper? So you have been to Coombe Tracy? Have you yes to
• 4:13:35
  see missus Laura Lyons? Exactly well done. Our researches have evidently been running
• 4:13:43
  on parallel lines, and when we unite our results, I expect we shall
• 4:13:46
  have a fairly full knowledge of the case. Well, I am glad from
• 4:13:50
  my heart that you are here, for indeed, the responsibility and the mystery
• 4:13:54
  were both becoming too much for my nerves. But how in the name of
• 4:13:58
  wonder did you come here? And what have you been doing? I thought
• 4:14:01
  that you were in Baker Street working out that case of blackmailing. That was
• 4:14:07
  what I wished you to think. Then you use me and yet do not
• 4:14:11
  trust me, I cried with some bitterness. I think that I have deserved
• 4:14:16
  better at your hands. Holmes, my dear fellow. You have been invaluable
• 4:14:20
  to me in this as in many other cases, and I beg that you
• 4:14:24
  will forgive me if I have seemed to play a trick upon you. In
• 4:14:28
  truth, it was partly for your own sake that I did it, and
• 4:14:31
  it was my appreciation of the danger which you ran which led me to come
• 4:14:33
  down and examine the matter for myself. Had I been with Sir Henry and
• 4:14:39
  you, it is confident that my point of view would have been the same
• 4:14:41
  as yours, and my presence would have warned our very formidable opponents to be
• 4:14:46
  on their guard. As it is, I have been able to get about
• 4:14:50
  as I could not possibly have done had I been living in the hall.
• 4:14:52
  And I remain an unknown factor in the business, ready to throw in all
• 4:14:56
  my weight at a critical moment. But why keep me in the dark?
• 4:15:03
  For you to know could not have helped us and might possibly have led to
• 4:15:07
  my discovery. You would have wished to tell me something, or in your
• 4:15:11
  kindness, you would have brought me out some comfort or other, and so
• 4:15:15
  an unnecessary risk would be run. I brought Cartwright down with me. You
• 4:15:18
  remember the little chap at the express office, and he has seen after my
• 4:15:22
  simple wants a loaf of bread and a clean collar, what does man want
• 4:15:28
  more? He has given me an extra pair of eyes upon a very active
• 4:15:31
  pair of feet, and both have been invaluable. Then my reports have all
• 4:15:37
  been wasted. My voice trembled as I recalled the pains and the pride with
• 4:15:41
  which I had composed them. Holmes took a bundle of papers from his pocket.
• 4:15:48
  Here are your reports, my dear fellow, and very well thumbed.
• 4:15:50
  I assure you I made excellent arrangements, and they are only delayed one day
• 4:15:56
  upon their way. I must compliment you exceedingly upon the zeal and the intelligence
• 4:16:00
  which you have shown over an extraordinarily difficult case. I was still rather raw
• 4:16:07
  over the deception which had been practiced upon me, but the warmth of Holmes's
• 4:16:11
  praise drove my anger from my mind. I felt also in my heart that
• 4:16:15
  he was right in what he said, and that it was really best for
• 4:16:18
  our purpose that I should not have known that he was upon the moor.
• 4:16:22
  That's better, said he seeing the shadow rise from my face. And now
• 4:16:27
  tell me the result of your visit to missus Laura Lyons. It was not
• 4:16:30
  difficult for me to guess that it was to see her that you had gone,
• 4:16:34
  for I am already aware that she is the one person in Coombe,
• 4:16:37
  Tracy, who might be of service to us in the matter. In fact,
• 4:16:41
  if you had not gone to day, it is exceedingly probable that I
• 4:16:45
  should have gone tomorrow. The sun had set and dusk was settling over the
• 4:16:51
  moor. The air had turned chill, and we withdrew into the hut for
• 4:16:55
  warmth. There, sitting together in the twilight, I told Holmes of my
• 4:16:59
  conversation with the lady. So interested was he that I had to repeat some
• 4:17:03
  of it twice before he was satisfied. This is most important, said he,
• 4:17:08
  when I had concluded. It fills up a gap which I had been
• 4:17:12
  unable to bridge in this most complex affair. You are aware, perhaps that
• 4:17:17
  a close intimacy exists between this lady and the man Stapleton. I did not
• 4:17:22
  know of a close intimacy. There can be no doubt about the matter.
• 4:17:27
  They meet, they write, there is a complete understanding between them. Now
• 4:17:32
  this puts a very powerful weapon into our hands, if I could only use
• 4:17:36
  it to detach his wife. His wife, I am giving you some information
• 4:17:41
  now in return for all that you have given me. The lady who has
• 4:17:45
  passed here as Miss Stapleton, is in reality his wife. Good heavens,
• 4:17:51
  Holmes, are you sure of what you say? How could he have permitted
• 4:17:55
  Sir Henry to fall in love with her? Sir Henry's falling in love could
• 4:18:00
  do no harm to any one except Sir Henry. He took particular care that
• 4:18:03
  Sir Henry did not make love to her, As you have yourself observed,
• 4:18:07
  I repeat that the lady is his wife and not his sister. But why
• 4:18:14
  this elaborate deception? Because he foresaw that she would be very much more useful
• 4:18:18
  to him in the character of a free woman. All my unspoken instincts,
• 4:18:25
  my vague suspicions, suddenly took shape and centered upon the naturalist. In that
• 4:18:30
  impassive, colorless man with his straw hat in his butterfly net, I seemed
• 4:18:34
  to see something terrible, a creature of infinite patience in craft, with a
• 4:18:38
  smiling face and a murderous heart. It is he, then, who is
• 4:18:42
  our enemy. It is he who doggedness in London. So I read the
• 4:18:48
  victual and the warning. It must have come from her, exactly the shape
• 4:18:55
  of some monstrous villainy, half seen, half guessed, loomed through the darkness
• 4:19:00
  which had girt me so long. But are you sure of this, Holmes,
• 4:19:03
  How do you know that the woman is his wife? Because he so
• 4:19:08
  far forgot himself as to tell you a true piece of autobiography upon the occasion
• 4:19:12
  when he first met you, and I dare say he has many a time
• 4:19:15
  regretted it. Since he was once a schoolmaster in the north of England.
• 4:19:22
  Now there is no one more easy to trace than a schoolmaster. There are
• 4:19:26
  scholastic agencies by which one may identify any man who has been in the profession.
• 4:19:30
  A little investigation showed me that a school had come to grief under atrocious
• 4:19:34
  circumstances, and that the man who had owned it the name was different,
• 4:19:40
  had disappeared with his wife. The descriptions agreed. When I learned that the
• 4:19:45
  missing man was devoted to entomology, the identification was complete. The darkness was
• 4:19:51
  rising, but much was still hidden by the shadows. If this woman is,
• 4:19:56
  in truth his wife, where does missus Laura Lyons come in? I
• 4:20:00
  asked. That is one of the points upon which your own researches have shed
• 4:20:04
  a light. Your interview with the lady has cleared the situation very much.
• 4:20:10
  I did not know about a projected divorce between herself and her husband, and
• 4:20:15
  that case, regarding Stapleton as an unmarried man, she counted no doubt upon
• 4:20:19
  becoming his wife. And when she is undeceived, why then we may find
• 4:20:26
  the lady of service. It must be our first duty to see her,
• 4:20:30
  both of us tomorrow. Don't you think, Watson, that you are away
• 4:20:33
  from your charge rather long? Your place should be at Baskerville Hall. The
• 4:20:40
  last red streaks had faded away in the west, and night had settled upon
• 4:20:42
  the moor. A few faint stars were gleaming in a violet sky. One
• 4:20:48
  last question, Holmes, I said, as I rose, surely there is
• 4:20:52
  no need of secrecy between you and me. What is the meaning of it
• 4:20:56
  all? What is he? After? Holmes's voice sank as he answered,
• 4:21:03
  It is murder, Watson refined, cold blooded, deliberate murder. Do not
• 4:21:07
  ask me for particulars. My nets are closing upon him, even as his
• 4:21:11
  are upon Sir Henry, and with your help, he is already almost at
• 4:21:15
  my mercy. There is but one danger which can threaten us. It is
• 4:21:19
  that he should strike before we are ready to do so. Another day too,
• 4:21:25
  at the most, and I have my case complete. But until then,
• 4:21:29
  guard your charge as closely as ever a fond mother watched her ailing child.
• 4:21:33
  Your mission to day has justified itself, And yet I could almost wish
• 4:21:37
  that you had not left his side. Hark. A terrible scream, a
• 4:21:44
  prolonged yell of horror and anguish, burst out of the silence of the moor.
• 4:21:48
  That frightful cry turned the blood to ice in my veins. Oh,
• 4:21:52
  my God, I gasped, what is it? What does it mean?
• 4:21:57
  Holmes had sprung to his feet, and I saw his dark athletic outline at
• 4:22:02
  the door of the hut, his shoulders stooping, his head thrust forward,
• 4:22:07
  his face peering into the darkness. Hush, he whispered, Hush. The
• 4:22:12
  cry had been loud on account of his vehemence, but it had peeled out
• 4:22:17
  from somewhere far off on the shadowy plain. Now it burst upon our ears,
• 4:22:22
  nearer, louder, more urgent than before. Where is it? Holmes
• 4:22:26
  whispered? And I knew from the thrill of his voice that he, the
• 4:22:30
  man of Iron, was shaken to the soul. Where is it, Watson?
• 4:22:36
  There, I think, I pointed into the darkness. No, there
• 4:22:41
  again, the agonized cry swept through the silent night louder and much nearer than
• 4:22:45
  ever, and a new sound mingled with it, a deep, muttered rumble,
• 4:22:51
  musical and yet menacing, rising and falling like the low, constant murmur
• 4:22:56
  of the sea. The hound cried, Holmes, come, Watson, Come,
• 4:23:00
  Great heavens, if we are too late. He had started running swiftly
• 4:23:04
  over the moor, and I had followed at his heels. But now,
• 4:23:08
  from somewhere among the broken ground, immediately in front of us, there came
• 4:23:11
  one last, despairing yell, and then a dull, heavy thud. We
• 4:23:17
  halted and listened. Not another sound broke the heavy silence of the windless night.
• 4:23:23
  I saw Holmes put his hand to his forehead, like a man distracted.
• 4:23:26
  He stamped his feet upon the ground. He has beaten us, Watson,
• 4:23:32
  we are too late. No, no, surely, not fool that
• 4:23:37
  I was to hold my hand. And you, Watson, see what comes
• 4:23:40
  of abandoning your charge. But by Heaven, if the worst has happened,
• 4:23:42
  we'll avenge him. Blindly we ran through the gloom, blundering against bowlders,
• 4:23:48
  forcing our way through gorse bushes, panting up hills and rushing down slopes,
• 4:23:53
  heading always in the direction, whence those dreadful sounds had come at every rise.
• 4:23:59
  Holmes looked eagerly round him, But the shadows were thick upon the moor,
• 4:24:03
  and nothing moved upon its dreary face. Can you see anything, nothing
• 4:24:08
  but hark? What is that? A low moan had fallen upon our ears?
• 4:24:15
  There it was again upon our left. On that side a ridge of
• 4:24:18
  rocks ended in a sheer cliff, which overlooked a stone strewn slope. On
• 4:24:22
  its jagged face was spread eagled some dark, irregular object. As we ran
• 4:24:27
  towards it, the vague outline hardened into a definite shape. It was a
• 4:24:32
  prostrate man, face downward upon the ground, the head doubled under him at
• 4:24:37
  a horrible angle, the shoulders rounded, and the body hunched together, as
• 4:24:41
  if in the act of throwing a somersault. So grotesque was the attitude that
• 4:24:45
  I could not, for the instant realize that that moan had been the passing
• 4:24:48
  of his soul. Not a whisper, not a rustle, rose now from
• 4:24:53
  the dark figure over which we stooped. Holmes laid his hand upon him,
• 4:24:57
  and held it up again with an ac exclamation of horror. The gleam of
• 4:25:02
  the match which he struck, shone upon his clotted fingers, and upon the
• 4:25:06
  ghastly pool which widened slowly from the crushed skull of the victim. And it
• 4:25:11
  shone upon something else which turned our hearts sick and faint within us, the
• 4:25:15
  body of Sir Henry Baskerville. There was no chance of either of us forgetting
• 4:25:21
  that peculiar ruddy tweed suit, the very one which he had worn on the
• 4:25:25
  first morning that we had seen him in Baker Street. We caught the one
• 4:25:29
  clear glimpse of it, and then the match flickered and went out, even
• 4:25:33
  as the hope had gone out of our souls. Holmes groaned, and his
• 4:25:37
  face glimmered white through the darkness. The brute, The brute, I cried
• 4:25:41
  with clenched hands, Oh Holmes, I shall never forgive myself for having left
• 4:25:45
  him to his fate. I am more to blame than you, Watson.
• 4:25:51
  In order to have my case well rounded and complete, I have thrown away
• 4:25:53
  the life of my client. It is the greatest blow which has befallen me
• 4:25:57
  in my career. But how could I know? How could I know that
• 4:26:02
  he would risk his life alone upon the moor in the face of all my
• 4:26:04
  warnings, that we should have heard his screams, My God, those screams,
• 4:26:11
  and yet have been unable to save him. Where is this brute of
• 4:26:14
  a hound which drove him to his death? It may be lurking among these
• 4:26:18
  rocks at this instant, and Stapleton, where is he? He shall answer
• 4:26:22
  for this deed, he shall. I will see to that uncle and nephew
• 4:26:29
  have been murdered, the one frightened to death by the very sight of a
• 4:26:32
  beast which he thought to be supernatural, the other driven to his end in
• 4:26:36
  his wild flight to escape from it. But now we have to prove the
• 4:26:40
  connection between the man and the beast. Save from what we heard, we
• 4:26:45
  cannot even swear to the existence of the latter, since Sir Henry has evidently
• 4:26:48
  died from the fall. But by Heavens, cunning as he is, the
• 4:26:52
  fellow shall be in my power before another day is passed. We stood with
• 4:26:57
  bitter hearts on either side of the mangled body, overwhelmed by this sudden and
• 4:27:03
  irrevocable disaster, which had brought all our long and weary labors to so piteous
• 4:27:07
  an end. Then as the moon rose, we climbed to the top of
• 4:27:11
  the rocks over which our poor friend had fallen, And from the summit we
• 4:27:15
  gazed out over the shadowy moor, half silver and half gloom. Far away,
• 4:27:21
  miles off in the direction of Grimpen, a single, steady yellow light
• 4:27:26
  was shining. It could only come from the lonely abode of the Stapletons.
• 4:27:30
  With a bitter curse, I shook my fist at it as I gazed.
• 4:27:34
  Why should we not seize him at once? Our case is not complete.
• 4:27:40
  The fellow is wary and cunning to the last degree. It is not what
• 4:27:44
  we know, but what we can prove. If we make one false move,
• 4:27:48
  the villain may escape us. Yet what can we do? There will
• 4:27:52
  be plenty for us to do tomorrow to night. We can only perform the
• 4:27:56
  last offices to our poor friend. Together we made our way down the precipitous
• 4:28:02
  slope and approached the body, black and clear against the silvered stones. The
• 4:28:07
  agony of those contorted limbs struck me with a spasm of pain and blurred my
• 4:28:11
  eyes with tears. We must send for help, Holmes. We cannot carry
• 4:28:15
  him all the way to the hall. Good heavens, are you mad?
• 4:28:19
  He had uttered a cry and bent over the body. Now he was dancing
• 4:28:23
  and laughing and wringing my hand. Could this be my stern self contained friend?
• 4:28:29
  These were hidden fires? Indeed a beard, a beard, The man
• 4:28:33
  has a beard. A beard. It is not the baronet, it is
• 4:28:37
  why it is my neighbor, the convict. With feverish haste. We had
• 4:28:42
  turned the body over, and that dripping beard was pointing up to the cold,
• 4:28:47
  clear moon. There could be no doubt about the beadling forehead, the
• 4:28:51
  sunken animal eyes. It was indeed the same face which had glared upon me
• 4:28:56
  in the light of the candle from over the rock, the face of Selden,
• 4:28:59
  the criminal. Then, in an instant it was all clear to me.
• 4:29:03
  I remembered how the baronet had told me that he had handed his old
• 4:29:07
  wardrobe to Barrymore. Barymore had passed it on in order to help Selden in
• 4:29:11
  his escape. Boots, shirt cap It was all Sir Henry's. The tragedy
• 4:29:18
  was still black enough, but this man had at least deserved death by the
• 4:29:22
  laws of his country. I told Holmes how the matter stood, my heart
• 4:29:26
  bubbling over with thankfulness and joy. Then the clothes have been the poor devil's
• 4:29:32
  death, said he. It is clear enough that the hound has been laid
• 4:29:36
  on from some article of Sir Henry's, the boot which was abstracted in the
• 4:29:38
  hotel in all probability, and so ran this man down. There is one
• 4:29:45
  very singular thing, however, how came Selden, in the darkness to know
• 4:29:48
  that the hound was on his trail? He heard him to hear a hound
• 4:29:55
  upon the moor would not work a hard man like this convict into such a
• 4:29:57
  paroxysm of terror that he would risk recapture by screaming wildly for help. By
• 4:30:03
  his cries. He must have run a long way after he knew the animal
• 4:30:07
  was on his track? How did he know? A greater mystery to me
• 4:30:11
  is why this hound? Presuming that all our conjectures are correct, I presume
• 4:30:17
  nothing. Well, then why this hound should be loose tonight? I suppose
• 4:30:22
  that it does not always run loose upon the moor. Stapleton would not let
• 4:30:26
  it go unless he had reason to think that Sir Henry would be there.
• 4:30:30
  My difficulty is the more formidable of the two, for I think that we
• 4:30:33
  shall very shortly get an explanation of yours, while mine may remain forever a
• 4:30:37
  mystery. The question now is what shall we do with this poor wretch's body.
• 4:30:44
  We cannot leave it here to the foxes and the ravens. I suggest
• 4:30:48
  that we put it in one of the huts until we can communicate with the
• 4:30:51
  police. Exactly, I have no doubt that you and I could carry it
• 4:30:56
  so far. Hallo, Watson, what's this? It's the man himself,
• 4:31:00
  by all, that's wonderful and audacious. Not a word to show your suspicions,
• 4:31:04
  Not a word, or my plans crumbled to the ground. A figure
• 4:31:10
  was approaching us over the moor, and I saw the dull red glow of
• 4:31:14
  the cigar. The moon shone upon him, and I could distinguish the dapper
• 4:31:18
  shape and jaunty walk of the naturalist. He stopped when he saw us,
• 4:31:22
  and then came on again. Why, doctor Watson, that's not you,
• 4:31:26
  is it. You are the last man that I should have expected to see
• 4:31:30
  out on the moor at this time of night. But dear me, what's
• 4:31:33
  this? Somebody hurt? Not? Don't tell me that it is our friend,
• 4:31:37
  Sir Henry. He hurried past me and stooped over the dead man.
• 4:31:42
  I heard a sharp intake of his breath, and the cigar fell from his
• 4:31:45
  fingers. Who Who's this? He stammered, It is seldom the man who
• 4:31:52
  escaped from Princetown. Stapleton turned a ghastly face upon us, But by a
• 4:31:57
  supreme effort he had overcome his amazement and his disappointment. He looked sharply from
• 4:32:03
  Holmes to me. Dear me, what a very shocking affair. How did
• 4:32:07
  he die? He appears to have broken his neck by falling over these rocks.
• 4:32:14
  My friend and I were strolling on the moor when we heard a cry.
• 4:32:18
  I heard a cry also. That was what brought me out. I
• 4:32:22
  was uneasy about Sir Henry. Why about Sir Henry in particular? I could
• 4:32:27
  not help asking because I had suggested that he should come over. When he
• 4:32:33
  did not come, I was surprised, and I naturally became alarmed for his
• 4:32:37
  safety. When I heard cries upon the moor by the way, his eyes
• 4:32:41
  darted again from my face to Holmes's. Did you hear anything else besides a
• 4:32:45
  cry? No, said Holmes. Did you no? What do you mean?
• 4:32:52
  Then? Oh? You know the stories that the peasants tell about a
• 4:32:56
  phantom hound and so on? It is said to be heard at night upon
• 4:33:00
  the moor. I was wondering if there were any evidence of such a sound.
• 4:33:03
  To night we heard nothing of the kind, said I. And what
• 4:33:10
  is your theory of this poor fellow's death? I have no doubt that anxiety
• 4:33:15
  and exposure have driven him off his head. He has rushed about the moor
• 4:33:18
  in a crazy state, and eventually fallen over here and broken his neck.
• 4:33:23
  That seems the most reasonable theory, said Stapleton, and he gave a sigh,
• 4:33:29
  which I took to indicate his relief. What do you think about it,
• 4:33:32
  mister Sherlock Holmes? My friend bowed his compliments. You are quick at
• 4:33:37
  identification, said he. We have been expecting you in these parts since doctor
• 4:33:44
  Watson came down. You are in time to see a tragedy. Yes,
• 4:33:48
  indeed, I have no doubt that my friend's explanation will cover the facts.
• 4:33:53
  I will take an unpleasant remembrance back to London with me tomorrow. Oh you
• 4:33:59
  return to Marrow r ro oh, that is my intention. I hope your
• 4:34:03
  visit has cast some light upon those occurrences which have puzzled us. Holmes shrugged
• 4:34:10
  his shoulders. One cannot always have the success for which one hopes an investigator
• 4:34:15
  needs facts and not legends or rumors. It has not been a satisfactory case,
• 4:34:22
  my friend spoke in his frankest and most unconcerned manner. Stapleton still looked
• 4:34:26
  hard at him. Then he turned to me. I would suggest carrying this
• 4:34:32
  poor fellow to my house, but it would give my sister such a fright
• 4:34:36
  that I do not feel justified in doing it. I think that if we
• 4:34:38
  put something over his face, he will be safe until morning, and so
• 4:34:42
  it was arranged. Resisting Stapleton's offer of hospitality, Holmes and I set off
• 4:34:48
  to Baskerville Hall, leaving the naturalist to return alone. Looking back, we
• 4:34:53
  saw the figure moving slowly away over the broad moor, and behind him that
• 4:34:57
  one black smudge on the silvered slope, which showed where the man was lying
• 4:35:02
  who had come so horribly to his end. End of Chapter twelve, Chapter
• 4:35:07
  thirteen, fixing the nets. We're at close grips at last, said Holmes,
• 4:35:15
  as we walked together across the moor. What unnerved the fellow has how
• 4:35:18
  he pulled himself together in the face of what must have been a paralyzing shock
• 4:35:22
  when he found that the wrong man had fallen a victim to his plot.
• 4:35:26
  I told you in London, Watson, and I tell you now again that
• 4:35:30
  we have never had a fau man more worthy of our steel. I am
• 4:35:34
  sorry that he has seen you, and so was I at first, but
• 4:35:38
  there was no getting out of it. What effect do you think it will
• 4:35:42
  have upon his plans now that he knows you are here. It may cause
• 4:35:48
  him to be more cautious, or it may drive him to desperate measures at
• 4:35:52
  once. Like most clever criminals, he may be too confident in his own
• 4:35:56
  cleverness, and imagine that he has completely deceived us. Why should we not
• 4:36:02
  arrest him at once? My dear Watson, you were born to be a
• 4:36:06
  man of action. Your instinct is always to do something energetic. But supposing,
• 4:36:11
  for argument's sake, that we had him arrested tonight, what on earth
• 4:36:15
  the better off should we be? For that we could prove nothing against him.
• 4:36:21
  There's the devilish cunning of it. If he were acting through a human
• 4:36:25
  agent, we could get some evidence. But if we were to drag this
• 4:36:27
  great dog to the light of day, it would not help us in putting
• 4:36:30
  a rope round the neck of its master. Surely we have a case,
• 4:36:37
  not a shadow of one, only surmise and conjecture. We should be laughed
• 4:36:41
  out of court if we came with such a story and such evidence. There
• 4:36:45
  is Sir Charles's death, found dead without a mark upon him. You and
• 4:36:51
  I know that he died of sheer fright, and we know also what frightened
• 4:36:55
  him. But how are we to get twelve stolid jurymen to know it?
• 4:37:00
  What signs are there of a hound? Where are the marks of its fangs?
• 4:37:03
  Of course we know that a hound does not bite a dead body,
• 4:37:07
  and that Sir Charles was dead before ever the brute overtook him. But we
• 4:37:11
  have to prove all this, and we are not in a position to do
• 4:37:14
  it. Well. Then to night we are not much better off to night
• 4:37:21
  again, there was no direct connection between the hound and the man's death.
• 4:37:26
  We never saw the hound. We heard it, but we could not prove
• 4:37:30
  that it was running upon this man's trail. There is a complete absence of
• 4:37:33
  motive. No, my dear fellow, we must reconcile ourselves to the fact
• 4:37:37
  that we have no case at present, and that it is worth our while
• 4:37:41
  to run any risk in order to establish one, and how do you propose
• 4:37:47
  to do so? I have great hopes of what missus Laura Lyons may do
• 4:37:52
  for us when the position of affairs is made clear to her, and I
• 4:37:56
  have my own plan as well. Sufficient for tomorrow is the evil thereof,
• 4:38:00
  But I hope before the day is passed, to have the upper hand.
• 4:38:03
  At last I could draw nothing further from him, and he walked lost in
• 4:38:08
  thought. As far as the Baskerville gates, are you coming up? Yes?
• 4:38:15
  I see no reason for further concealment. But one last word, Watson,
• 4:38:18
  say nothing of the hound to Sir Henry. Let him think that Selden's
• 4:38:22
  death was as Stapleton would have us. Believe he will have a better nerve
• 4:38:26
  for the ordeal which he will have to undergo tomorrow when he is engaged.
• 4:38:30
  If I remember your report aright to dine with these people, and so am
• 4:38:36
  I, then you must excuse yourself and he must go alone. That will
• 4:38:41
  be easily arranged. And now, if we are too late for dinner,
• 4:38:45
  I think that we are both ready for our suppers. Sir Henry was more
• 4:38:49
  pleased than surprised to see Sherlock Holmes, for he had for some days been
• 4:38:55
  expecting that recent events would bring him down from London. He did raise his
• 4:38:59
  eyebrows, however, when he found that my friend had neither any luggage nor
• 4:39:03
  any explanations for its absence. Between us, we soon supplied his wants,
• 4:39:07
  and then, over a belated supper, we explained to the Baronet as much
• 4:39:12
  of our experience as it seemed desirable that he should know. But first I
• 4:39:18
  had the unpleasant duty of breaking the news to Barrymore and his wife. To
• 4:39:22
  him, it may have been an unmitigated relief, but she wept bitterly in
• 4:39:26
  her apron To all the world he was the man of violence, half animal
• 4:39:32
  and half demon. But to her he always remained the little wilful boy of
• 4:39:36
  her own girlhood, the child who had clung to her hand. Evil indeed,
• 4:39:41
  is the man who has not one woman to mourn him. I've been
• 4:39:45
  moping in the house all day since Watson went off in the morning, said
• 4:39:48
  the Baronet. I guess I should have some credit, for I have kept
• 4:39:52
  my promise. If I hadn't sworn not to go about alone, I might
• 4:39:56
  have had a more lively evening, for I had a message from Stable and
• 4:40:00
  asking me over there. I have no doubt that you would have had a
• 4:40:03
  more lively evening, said Holmes dryly. By the way, I don't suppose
• 4:40:08
  you appreciate that we have been mourning over you as having broken your neck.
• 4:40:12
  Sir Henry opened his eyes. How was that this poor wretch was dressed in
• 4:40:18
  your clothes? I fear your servant who gave them to him may get into
• 4:40:22
  trouble with the police. That is unlikely. There was no mark on any
• 4:40:27
  of them, as far as I know. That's lucky for him. In
• 4:40:33
  fact, is lucky for all of you, since you are all on the
• 4:40:34
  wrong side of the law in this matter. I am not sure that as
• 4:40:38
  a conscientious detective my first duty is not to arrest the whole household. Watson's
• 4:40:44
  reports are most incriminating documents. But how about the case, asked the baronet?
• 4:40:49
  Have you made anything out of the tangle? I don't know that Watson
• 4:40:53
  and I are much the wiser since we came down. I think that I
• 4:40:57
  shall be in a position to make the situation rather more clear to you before
• 4:41:02
  long. It has been an exceedingly difficult and most complicated business. There are
• 4:41:07
  several points upon which we still won't light, but it is coming all the
• 4:41:11
  same. We've had one experience, as Watson has no doubt told you we
• 4:41:17
  heard the hound on the moor, so I can swear that it is not
• 4:41:19
  all empty superstition. I had something to do with dogs when I was out
• 4:41:23
  west, and I know one when I hear one. If you can muzzle
• 4:41:26
  that one and put him on a chain, I'll be ready to swear you
• 4:41:30
  are the greatest detective of all time. I think I will muzzle him and
• 4:41:34
  chain him all right. If you will give me your help. Whatever you
• 4:41:38
  tell me to do, I will do very good. And I will ask
• 4:41:42
  you also to do it blindly, without always asking the reason, just as
• 4:41:48
  you like. If you will do this, I think the chances are that
• 4:41:52
  our little problem will soon be solved. I have no doubt. He stopped
• 4:41:56
  suddenly and stared fixedly up over my head into the air. The lamp beat
• 4:42:00
  upon his face, and so intent was it, and so still that it
• 4:42:04
  might have been that of a clear cut classical statue, a personification of alertness
• 4:42:10
  and expectation. What is it? We both cried. I could see,
• 4:42:15
  as he looked down that he was repressing some internal emotion. His features were
• 4:42:19
  still composed but his eyes shone with amused exultation. Excuse the admiration of a
• 4:42:26
  connoisseur, said he as he waved his hand towards the line of portraits which
• 4:42:30
  covered the opposite wall. Watson won't allow that I know anything of art,
• 4:42:34
  but that is mere jealousy, because our views upon the subject differ. Now,
• 4:42:40
  these are a really very fine series of portraits. Well, I'm glad
• 4:42:44
  to hear you say so, said Sir Henry, glancing with some surprise at
• 4:42:48
  my friend. I don't pretend to know much about these things, and I'd
• 4:42:52
  be a better judge of a horse or a steer than of a picture.
• 4:42:56
  I didn't know that you've found time for such things. I know what is
• 4:43:00
  good when I see it, and I see it now that's a Kneller.
• 4:43:03
  I'll swear that lady in the blue silk over Yonder, and the stout gentleman
• 4:43:07
  with the wig ought to be a Reynolds. They are all family portraits,
• 4:43:11
  I presume, every one. Do you know the names? Barrymore has been
• 4:43:18
  coaching me in them, and I think I can say my lessons fairly well.
• 4:43:22
  Who is the gentleman with the telescope? That is rear Admiral Baskerville,
• 4:43:27
  who served under Rodney in the West Indies. The man with the blue coat
• 4:43:32
  and the roll of paper is Sir William Baskerville, who was Chairman of Committees
• 4:43:36
  of the House of Commons under Pitt. And this cavalier opposite to me,
• 4:43:41
  the one with the black velvet and the lace, ah, you have a
• 4:43:45
  right to know about him. That is the cause of all the mischief.
• 4:43:48
  The wicked Hugo who started the hound of the Baskervilles were not likely to forget
• 4:43:52
  him. I gazed with interest and some surprise upon the portrait, dear me,
• 4:44:00
  said Holmes. He seems a quiet, meek mannered man enough, but
• 4:44:03
  I dare say that there was a lurking devil in his eyes. I had
• 4:44:07
  pictured him as a more robust and ruffianly person. There's no doubt about the
• 4:44:11
  authenticity, for the name and the date sixteen forty seven are on the back
• 4:44:17
  of the canvas. Holmes said little more, but the picture of the old
• 4:44:21
  roisterer seemed to have a fascination for him, and his eyes were continually fixed
• 4:44:26
  upon it during supper. It was not until later, when Sir Henry had
• 4:44:30
  gone to his room, that I was able to follow the trend of his
• 4:44:33
  thoughts. He led me back into the banqueting hall, his bedroom candle in
• 4:44:37
  his hand, and he held it up against the time stained portrait on the
• 4:44:41
  wall. Do you see anything there? I looked at the broad plumed hat,
• 4:44:47
  the curling love locks, the white lace collar, and the straight,
• 4:44:51
  severe face which was framed between them. It was not a brutal countenance,
• 4:44:56
  but it was prim hard and stern, with a firm that thin lipped mouth,
• 4:45:00
  and a coldly intolerant eye. Is it like any one? You know?
• 4:45:07
  There is something of Sir Henry about the jaw, just a suggestion,
• 4:45:11
  perhaps, But wait an instant. He stood upon a chair, and,
• 4:45:15
  holding up the light in his left hand, he curved his right arm over
• 4:45:19
  the broad hat and round the long ringlets. Good heavens, I cried in
• 4:45:25
  amazement. The face of Stapleton had sprung out of the canvas. Ha you
• 4:45:30
  see it now. My eyes have been trained to examine faces and not their
• 4:45:33
  trimmings. It is the first quality of a criminal investigator that he should see
• 4:45:38
  through a disguise. But this is marvelous. It might be his portrait.
• 4:45:45
  Yes, it is an interesting instance of a throwback which appears to be both
• 4:45:48
  physical and spiritual. A study of family portraits is enough to convert a man
• 4:45:53
  to the doctrine of reincarnation. The fellow is a Baskerville that is evident designs
• 4:46:00
  upon the succession exactly. This chance of the picture has supplied us with one
• 4:46:06
  of our most obvious missing links. We have him, Watson, We have
• 4:46:10
  him, and I dare swear that before tomorrow night he will be fluttering in
• 4:46:14
  our net, as helpless as one of his own butterflies. A pin,
• 4:46:18
  a cork and a card, and we add him to the Baker Street collection.
• 4:46:22
  He burst into one of his rare fits of laughter as he turned away
• 4:46:26
  from the picture. I have not heard him laugh often, and it has
• 4:46:30
  always boded ill to somebody. I was up betimes in the morning, but
• 4:46:34
  Holmes was afoot earlier still, for I saw him as I dressed, coming
• 4:46:38
  up the drive. Yes, we should have a full day to day,
• 4:46:42
  he remarked, and he rubbed his hands with a joy of action. The
• 4:46:47
  nets are all in place and the drag is about to begin. We'll know
• 4:46:51
  before the day is out whether we have caught our big, lean jawed pike,
• 4:46:55
  or whether he has got through the Meshes, have you been on the
• 4:46:59
  moor already? I have sent a report from Griffin to Princetown as to the
• 4:47:03
  death of Selden. I think I can promise that none of you will be
• 4:47:07
  troubled in the matter. And I have also communicated with my faithful Cartwright,
• 4:47:11
  who would certainly have pined away at the door of my hut as a dog
• 4:47:15
  does at his master's grave, if I had not set his mind at rest
• 4:47:19
  about my safety. What is the next move? To see Sir Henry?
• 4:47:25
  Ah here he is. Good morning, Holmes, said the baronet. You
• 4:47:30
  look like a general who is planning a battle with his chief of the staff.
• 4:47:34
  That is the exact situation. Watson was asking for orders, and so
• 4:47:40
  do. I very good you are engaged, as I understand, to dine
• 4:47:45
  with our friends, the Stapletons to night. I hope that you will come
• 4:47:49
  also. They are very hospitable people, and I am sure that they would
• 4:47:52
  be very glad to see you. I fear that Watson and I must go
• 4:47:57
  to London. To London, yes, I think that we should be more
• 4:48:03
  useful there at the present juncture. The Baronet's face perceptibly lengthened. I hoped
• 4:48:10
  that you were going to see me through this business. The hall and the
• 4:48:12
  moor are not very pleasant places when one is alone. My dear fellow,
• 4:48:18
  you must trust me implicitly and do exactly what I tell you. You can
• 4:48:22
  tell your friends that we should have been happy to have come with you,
• 4:48:25
  but that urgent business required us to be in town. We hope very soon
• 4:48:29
  to return to Devonshire. Will you remember to give them that message if you
• 4:48:34
  insist upon it. There is no alternative, I assure you. I saw
• 4:48:40
  by the baronet's clouded brow that he was deeply hurt by what he regarded as
• 4:48:44
  our desertion. When do you desire to go, he asked coldly. Immediately
• 4:48:51
  after breakfast, we will drive in to Coombe Tracy, but Watson will leave
• 4:48:55
  his things as a pledge that he will come back to you. Watson,
• 4:48:59
  you will send a notice to to tell him that you regret that you cannot
• 4:49:02
  come. I have a good mind to go to London with you, said
• 4:49:06
  the baronet. Why should I stay here alone? Because it is your post
• 4:49:11
  of duty, Because you gave me your word that you would do as you
• 4:49:15
  were told. And I tell you to stay all right, then I'll stay
• 4:49:19
  one more direction. I wish you to drive to Merripit House. Send back
• 4:49:25
  your trap, however, and let them know that you intend to walk home,
• 4:49:30
  to walk across the moor. Yes, but that is the very thing
• 4:49:34
  which you have so often cautioned me not to do. This time you may
• 4:49:38
  do it with safety. If I had not every confidence in your nerve and
• 4:49:42
  courage, I would not suggest it. But it is essential that you should
• 4:49:45
  do it, then I will do it. And as you value your life,
• 4:49:52
  do not go across the moor in any direction save along the straight path
• 4:49:56
  which leads from Marripit House to the Grippin Road and is your natural way home.
• 4:50:02
  I will do just what you say. Very good. I should be
• 4:50:04
  glad to get away as soon after breakfast as possible, so as to reach
• 4:50:08
  London in the afternoon. I was much astounded by this programme. Though I
• 4:50:14
  remembered that Holmes had said to Stapleton on the night before that his visit would
• 4:50:18
  terminate next day. It had not crossed my mind, however, that he
• 4:50:22
  would wish me to go with him, Nor could I understand how we could
• 4:50:26
  both be absent at a moment which he himself declared to be critical. There
• 4:50:30
  was nothing for it, however, but implicit obedience. So we bade good
• 4:50:34
  bye to our rueful friend, and a couple of hours afterwards we were at
• 4:50:38
  the station of Coombe Tracy, and had dispatched the trap. Upon its return
• 4:50:42
  journey, a small boy was waiting upon the platform. Any orders, sir,
• 4:50:49
  you will take this train to town Cartwright. The moment you arrive,
• 4:50:52
  you will send a wire to Sir Henry Baskerville in my name, to say
• 4:50:56
  that if he finds the pocket book which I have dropped, he is to
• 4:51:00
  send it by registered posts to Baker Street. Yes, sir, and ask
• 4:51:04
  at the station office if there is a message for me. The boy returned
• 4:51:08
  with a telegram which Holmes handed to me. It ran wire received coming down
• 4:51:15
  with unsigned warrant arrive five forty lestrade. That is in answer to mine of
• 4:51:22
  this morning. He is the best of the professionals, I think, and
• 4:51:25
  we may need his assistance now, Watson. I think that we cannot employ
• 4:51:29
  our time better than by calling upon your acquaintance, missus Laura Lyons. His
• 4:51:34
  plan of campaign was beginning to be evident. He would use the baronet in
• 4:51:38
  order to convince the Stapletons that we were really gone, while we should actually
• 4:51:42
  return at the instant when we were likely to be needed. That telegram from
• 4:51:47
  London, if mentioned by Sir Henry to the Stapletons, must remove the last
• 4:51:52
  suspicions from their minds. Already I seem to see our nets drawing closer around
• 4:51:56
  that lean jawed pike. Missus Laura Lyons was in her office, and Sherlock
• 4:52:03
  Holmes opened his interview with a frankness and directness which considerably amazed her. I
• 4:52:08
  am investigating the circumstances which attended the death of the late Sir Charles Baskerville,
• 4:52:14
  said he. My friend here, Doctor Watson, has informed me of what
• 4:52:18
  you have communicated, and also of what you have withheld in connection with that
• 4:52:22
  matter. What have I withheld? She asked defiantly. You have confessed that
• 4:52:29
  you asked Sir Charles to be at the gate at ten o'clock. We know
• 4:52:33
  that that was the place and hour of his death. You have withheld what
• 4:52:36
  the connection is between these events? There is no connection in that case.
• 4:52:42
  The coincidence must indeed be an extraordinary one. But I think that we shall
• 4:52:48
  succeed in establishing a connection. After all, I wish to be perfectly frank
• 4:52:52
  with you, Missus Lyons. We regard this case as one of murder,
• 4:52:56
  and the evidence may implicate not only your friend mister Stadeon, but his wife
• 4:53:00
  is well. The lady sprang from her chair. His wife, she cried,
• 4:53:07
  The fact is no longer a secret. The person who has passed for
• 4:53:11
  his sister is really his wife. Missus Lyons had resumed her seat. Her
• 4:53:17
  hands were grasping the arms of her chair, and I saw that the pink
• 4:53:19
  nails had turned white with the pressure of her grip. His wife, she
• 4:53:25
  said again, his wife. He is not a married man. Sherlock Holmes
• 4:53:30
  shrugged his shoulders. Prove it to me, prove it to me, and
• 4:53:34
  if you can do so, the fierce flash of her eyes said more than
• 4:53:38
  any words, I have come prepared to do so, said Holmes, drawing
• 4:53:44
  several papers from his pocket. Here is a photograph of the couple, taken
• 4:53:48
  in York four years ago. It is indorsed mister and Missus van Deleur,
• 4:53:53
  but you will have no difficulty in recognizing him and her also if you know
• 4:53:57
  her by sight. Here are three written descriptions by trustworthy witnesses of mister and
• 4:54:03
  missus van Deluur, who at that time kept Saint Oliver's private school. Read
• 4:54:07
  them and see if you can doubt the identity of these people. She glanced
• 4:54:12
  at them, and then looked up at us with the set, rigid face
• 4:54:15
  of a desperate woman. Mister Holmes, she said, this man had offered
• 4:54:21
  me marriage on condition that I could get a divorce from my husband. He
• 4:54:25
  has lied to me, the villain, in every conceivable way. Not one
• 4:54:29
  word of truth has he ever told me. And why why I imagined that
• 4:54:33
  all was for my own sake? But now I see that I was never
• 4:54:37
  anything but a tool in his hands. Why should I preserve faith with him
• 4:54:41
  who never kept any with me? Why should I try to shield him from
• 4:54:45
  the consequences of his own wicked acts. Ask me what you like, and
• 4:54:49
  there is nothing which I shall hold back. One thing I swear to you,
• 4:54:53
  and that is that when I wrote the letter, I never dreamed of
• 4:54:56
  any harm to the old gentleman who had been my kindest. I entirely believe
• 4:55:03
  you, madam, said Sherlock Holmes. The recital of these events must be
• 4:55:07
  very painful to you, and perhaps it will make it easier if I tell
• 4:55:11
  you what occurred, and you can check me if I make any material mistake.
• 4:55:15
  The sending of this letter was suggested to you by Stapleton, he dictated
• 4:55:19
  it. I presume that the reason he gave was that you would receive help
• 4:55:25
  from Sir Charles for the legal expenses connected with your divorce exactly. And then
• 4:55:32
  after you had sent the letter, he dissuaded you from keeping the appointment.
• 4:55:37
  He told me that it would hurt his self respect that any other man should
• 4:55:40
  find the money for such an object, and that though he was a poor
• 4:55:44
  man himself, he would devote his last penny to removing the obstacles which divided
• 4:55:48
  us. He appears to be a very consistent character. And then you heard
• 4:55:53
  nothing until you read the reports of the death in the paper. No,
• 4:55:57
  and he made you swear to say nothing about your appointment with Sir Charles.
• 4:56:03
  He did. He said that the death was a very mysterious one, and
• 4:56:07
  that I should certainly be suspected if the facts came out. He frightened me
• 4:56:11
  into remaining silent. Quite so, But you had your suspicions. She hesitated
• 4:56:17
  and looked down. I knew him, she said, But if he had
• 4:56:22
  kept faith with me, I should always have done so with him. I
• 4:56:26
  think that on the whole you have had a fortunate escape, said Sherlock Holmes.
• 4:56:30
  You have had him in your power, and he knew it, and
• 4:56:33
  yet you are alive. You have been walking for some months very near to
• 4:56:37
  the edge of a precipice. We must wish you good morning now, missus
• 4:56:41
  Lyons, and it is probable that you will very shortly hear from us again.
• 4:56:48
  Our case becomes rounded off, and difficulty after difficulty finds away in front
• 4:56:52
  of us, said Holmes, as we stood waiting for the arrival of the
• 4:56:55
  express from town. I shall soon be in the position of being able to
• 4:56:59
  put into a single connected narrative one of the most singular and sensational crimes of
• 4:57:03
  modern times. Students of criminology will remember the analogous incidents in god know in
• 4:57:10
  Little Russia in the year sixty six, and of course there are the Andersen
• 4:57:14
  murders in North Carolina. But this case possesses some features which are entirely its
• 4:57:18
  own. Even now we have no clear case against this very wily man.
• 4:57:23
  But I shall be very much surprised if it is not clear enough. Before
• 4:57:27
  we go to bed this night. The London Express came roaring into the station,
• 4:57:33
  and a small, wiry bulldog of a man had sprung from a first
• 4:57:37
  class carriage. We all three shook hands, and I saw at once from
• 4:57:41
  the reverential way in which Lestrade gazed at my companion, that he had learned
• 4:57:45
  a good deal since the days when they had first worked together. I could
• 4:57:49
  well remember the scorn which the theories of the reasoner used then to excite in
• 4:57:53
  the practical man. Anything good, he asked, the biggest thing for years,
• 4:58:00
  said Holmes. We have two hours before we need think of starting.
• 4:58:04
  I think we might employ it in getting some dinner, And then, Lestrade,
• 4:58:07
  we will take the London fog out of your throat by giving you a
• 4:58:11
  breath of the pure night air of Dartmoor. Never been there? Ah well,
• 4:58:15
  I don't suppose you will forget your first visit. End of chapter thirteen,
• 4:58:22
  Chapter fourteen, The Hound of the Baskervilles. One of Sherlock Holmes's defects,
• 4:58:29
  if indeed one may call it a defect, was that he was exceedingly
• 4:58:33
  loath to communicate his full plans to any other person until the instant of their
• 4:58:37
  fulfillment. Partly it came, no doubt, from his own masterful nature,
• 4:58:41
  which loved to dominate and surprise those who were around him, partly also from
• 4:58:47
  his professional caution, which urged him never to take any chances. The result,
• 4:58:52
  however, was very trying for those who were acting as his agents and
• 4:58:56
  assistants. I had often suffered under it, but ever more so than during
• 4:59:00
  that long drive in the darkness. The great ordeal was in front of us.
• 4:59:06
  At last. We were about to make our final effort, and yet
• 4:59:08
  Holmes had said nothing, and I could only surmise what his course of action
• 4:59:12
  would be. My nerves thrilled with anticipation when at last, the cold wind
• 4:59:18
  upon our faces and the dark void spaces on either side of the narrow road
• 4:59:22
  told me that we were back upon the moor once again. Every stride of
• 4:59:27
  the horses and every turn of the wheels was taking us nearer to our supreme
• 4:59:33
  adventure. Our conversation was hampered by the presence of the driver of the hired
• 4:59:37
  Wagonette, so that we were forced to talk of trivial matters when our nerves
• 4:59:41
  were tense with emotion and anticipation. It was a relief to me after that
• 4:59:47
  unnatural restraint when we at last passed Franklin's house and knew that we were drawing
• 4:59:52
  near to the hall and to the scene of action, we did not drive
• 4:59:56
  up to the door, but got down near the gate of the Abbege.
• 5:00:00
  The wagonette was paid off and ordered to return to Coombe Tracy forthwith while we
• 5:00:04
  started to walk to Merripit House. Are you armed, lestrade, a little
• 5:00:11
  detective smiled. As long as I have my trousers, I have a hip
• 5:00:15
  pocket, and as long as I have my hip pocket, I have something
• 5:00:18
  in it. Good. My friend and I are also ready for emergencies.
• 5:00:25
  You're mighty close about this affair, mister Holmes. What's the game now?
• 5:00:30
  A waiting game? My word, it does not seem a very cheerful place,
• 5:00:36
  said the detective, with a shiver, glancing round him at the gloomy
• 5:00:38
  slopes of the hill and at the huge lake of fog which lay over the
• 5:00:41
  grimp and mire. I see the lights of a house ahead of us.
• 5:00:48
  That is Merripit House, and the end of our journey. I must request
• 5:00:52
  you to walk on tiptoe and not to talk above a whisper. We moved
• 5:00:56
  cautiously along the track, as if we were bound for the house, but
• 5:01:00
  Holmes halted us when we were about two hundred yards from it. This will
• 5:01:04
  do, said he. These rocks upon the right make an admirable screen.
• 5:01:10
  We are to wait here. Yes, we shall make our little ambush here.
• 5:01:15
  Get into this hollow lestrade. You have been inside the house, have
• 5:01:18
  you not? Watson? Can you tell the position of the rooms? What
• 5:01:22
  are those latticed windows at this end? I think they are the kitchen windows,
• 5:01:27
  and the one beyond which shine so brightly, that is certainly the dining
• 5:01:33
  room. The blinds are up. You know the lie of the land.
• 5:01:37
  Best creep forward quietly and see what they are doing. But for Heaven's sake,
• 5:01:41
  don't let them know that they are watched. I tiptoed down the path
• 5:01:45
  and stooped behind the low wall which surrounded the stunted orchard, Creeping in its
• 5:01:49
  shadow. I reached a point whence I could look straight through the uncurtained window.
• 5:01:56
  There were only two men in the room, Sir Henry and Stapleton.
• 5:02:00
  They sat with their profiles towards me, on either side of the round table.
• 5:02:03
  Both of them were smoking cigars, and coffee and wine were in front
• 5:02:07
  of them. Stapleton was talking with animation, but the Baronet looked pale and
• 5:02:14
  distray. Perhaps the thought of that lonely walk across the ill omened moor was
• 5:02:18
  weighing heavily upon his mind. As I watched them, Stapleton rose and left
• 5:02:23
  the room, while Sir Henry filled his glass again and leaned back in his
• 5:02:27
  chair, puffing at his cigar. I heard the creak of a door and
• 5:02:32
  the crisp sound of boots upon gravel. The steps passed along the path on
• 5:02:37
  the other side of the wall under which I crouched. Looking over, I
• 5:02:41
  saw the naturalist pause at the door of an outhouse in the corner of the
• 5:02:45
  orchard. A key turned in a lock, and as he passed in there
• 5:02:48
  was a curious scuffling noise from within. He was only a minute or so
• 5:02:52
  inside, and then I heard the key turn once more, and he passed
• 5:02:56
  me and re entered the house. I saw him rejoin his guest, and
• 5:03:00
  I crept quietly back to where my companions were waiting to tell them what I
• 5:03:04
  had seen. You say, Watson, that the lady is not there,
• 5:03:10
  Holmes asked, when I had finished my report. No where can she be,
• 5:03:15
  then, since there is no light in any other room except the kitchen.
• 5:03:19
  I cannot think where she is. I have said that over the great
• 5:03:23
  grimpen mire there hung a dense white fog. It was drifting slowly in our
• 5:03:29
  direction and banked itself up like a wall on that side of us. Low
• 5:03:33
  but thick and well defined. The moon shone on it, and it looked
• 5:03:37
  like a great shimmering ice field, with the heads of the distant tours as
• 5:03:41
  rocks borne upon its surface. Holmes's face was turned towards it, and he
• 5:03:45
  muttered impatiently as he watched its sluggish drift. It's moving towards its Watson.
• 5:03:52
  Is that serious? Very serious? Indeed, the one thing upon earth which
• 5:03:57
  could have disarranged my plan? He can't be very long now. It is
• 5:04:03
  already ten o'clock. Our success and even his life, may depend upon his
• 5:04:07
  coming out before the fog is over the path. The night was clear and
• 5:04:11
  fine above us, The stars shone cold and bright, while a half moon
• 5:04:17
  bathed the whole scene, and a soft, uncertain light. Before us lay
• 5:04:22
  the dark bulk of the house, its serrated roof and bristling chimneys, hard
• 5:04:26
  outlined against the silver spangled sky. Broad bars of golden light from the lower
• 5:04:30
  windows stretched across the orchard and the moor. One of them was suddenly shut
• 5:04:36
  off the servants had left the kitchen. There only remained the lamp in the
• 5:04:41
  dining room, where the two men, the murderous host and the unconscious guest,
• 5:04:45
  still chatted over their cigars. Every minute, that white wooly plain,
• 5:04:49
  which covered one half of the moor, was drifting closer and closer to the
• 5:04:53
  house. Already the first thin wisps of it were curling across the golden square
• 5:04:59
  of the lighted window. The farther wall of the orchard was already invisible,
• 5:05:03
  and the trees were standing out of a swirl of white vapor. As we
• 5:05:08
  watched it, the fog wreaths came crawling round both corners of the house and
• 5:05:12
  rolled slowly into one dense bank, on which the upper floor and the roof
• 5:05:17
  floated like a strange ship upon a shadowy sea. Holmes struck his hand passionately
• 5:05:22
  upon the rock in front of us, and stamped his feet in his impatience.
• 5:05:27
  If he isn't out in a quarter of an hour, the path will
• 5:05:30
  be covered in half an hour. We won't be able to see our hands
• 5:05:33
  in front of us. Shall we move farther back upon higher ground? Yes,
• 5:05:40
  I think it would be as well. So as the fog bank flowed
• 5:05:44
  onward, we fell back before it until we were half a mile from the
• 5:05:47
  house, and still that dense white sea, with the moon silvering its upper
• 5:05:52
  edge, swept slowly and inexorably on. We are going too far, said
• 5:05:57
  Holmes. We dare not take the chance of his being overtaken before he can
• 5:06:02
  reach us. At all costs, we must hold our ground where we are.
• 5:06:07
  He dropped on his knees and clapped his ear to the ground. Thank
• 5:06:11
  God, I think that I hear him coming. A sound of quick steps
• 5:06:15
  broke the silence of the moor. Crouching among the stones, we stared intently
• 5:06:19
  at the silver tipped bank in front of us. The steps grew louder,
• 5:06:25
  and through the fog as through a curtain, there stepped the man whom we
• 5:06:29
  were awaiting. He looked round him in surprise as he emerged into the clear,
• 5:06:33
  starlit night. Then he came swiftly along the path, passed close to
• 5:06:38
  where we lay, and went on up the long slope behind us. As
• 5:06:42
  he walked, he glanced continually over either shoulder, like a man who is
• 5:06:47
  ill at ease. Heist, cried Holmes, and I heard the sharp click
• 5:06:52
  of a cocking pistol. Look out, it's coming. There was a thin,
• 5:06:57
  crisp, continuous patter from somewhere in the heart of that crawling bank.
• 5:07:03
  The cloud was within fifty yards of where we lay, and we glared at
• 5:07:07
  it, all three, uncertain what horror was about to break from the heart
• 5:07:11
  of it. I was at Holmes's elbow, and I glanced for an instant
• 5:07:15
  at his face. It was pale and exultant, his eyes shining brightly in
• 5:07:19
  the moonlight. But suddenly they started forward in a rigid, fixed stare,
• 5:07:25
  and his lips parted in amazement. At the same instant, Lestrade gave a
• 5:07:30
  yell of terror and threw himself face downward upon the ground. I sprang to
• 5:07:34
  my feet, my inert hand grasping my pistol, my mind paralyzed by the
• 5:07:40
  dreadful shape which had sprung out upon us from the shadows of the fog.
• 5:07:45
  A hound. It was an enormous coal black hound, but not such a
• 5:07:49
  hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth,
• 5:07:55
  its eyes glowed with a smoldering glare. Its muzzles and hackles and dewlap were
• 5:07:59
  outlawe in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could
• 5:08:04
  anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form
• 5:08:10
  and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog with long
• 5:08:15
  bounds. The huge black creature was leaping down the track, following hard upon
• 5:08:19
  the footsteps of our friend. So paralyzed were we by the apparition that we
• 5:08:25
  allowed him to pass before we had recovered our nerve. Then Holmes and I
• 5:08:30
  both fired together, and the creature gave a hideous howl, which showed that
• 5:08:33
  one at least had hid him. He did not pause, however, but
• 5:08:37
  bounded onward. Far away on the path, we saw Sir Henry looking back,
• 5:08:42
  his face white in the moonlight, his hand raised in horror, glaring
• 5:08:47
  helplessly at the frightful thing which was hunting him down. But that cry of
• 5:08:52
  pain from the hound had blown all our fears to the winds. If he
• 5:08:56
  was vulnerable, he was mortal, and if we could wound him, we
• 5:09:00
  could kill him. Never have I seen a man run As Holmes ran that
• 5:09:03
  night, I am reckoned fleet of foot, but he outpaced me as much
• 5:09:07
  as I outpaced the little professional in front of us. As we flew up
• 5:09:12
  the track, we heard scream after scream from Sir Henry and the deep roar
• 5:09:17
  of the hound. I was in time to see the beast spring upon its
• 5:09:21
  victim, hurl him to the ground, and worry at his throat. But
• 5:09:25
  the next instant Holmes had emptied five barrels of his revolver into the creature's flank.
• 5:09:30
  With a last howl of agony and a vicious snap in the air,
• 5:09:33
  it rolled upon its back four feet, pawing furiously, and then fell limp
• 5:09:38
  upon its side. I stooped, panting, and pressed my pistol to the
• 5:09:44
  dreadful shimmering head, but it was useless to press the trigger. The giant
• 5:09:48
  hound was dead. Sir Henry lay insensible where he had fallen. We tore
• 5:09:55
  away his collar, and Holmes breathed a prayer of gratitude when we saw that
• 5:09:59
  there was no sign of a wound, and that the rescue had been in
• 5:10:02
  time already, our friend's eyelids shivered, and he made a feeble effort to
• 5:10:07
  move Lestrade thrust his brandy flask between the baronet's teeth, and two frightened eyes
• 5:10:12
  were looking up at us. My God, he whispered, what was it?
• 5:10:18
  What in Heaven's name was it? It's dead, whatever it is,
• 5:10:25
  said Holmes, We've laid the family ghost once and forever in mere size and
• 5:10:30
  strength. It was a terrible creature which was lying stretched before us. It
• 5:10:34
  was not a pure bloodhound, and it was not a pure mastiff. But
• 5:10:38
  it appeared to be a combination of the two, gaunt, savage, and
• 5:10:42
  as large as a small lioness. Even now in the stillness of death,
• 5:10:48
  the huge jaw seemed to be dripping with a bluish flame, and a small,
• 5:10:52
  deep set, cruel eyes were ringed with fire. I placed my hand
• 5:10:56
  upon the glowing muzzle, and as I held them up, my own smoldered
• 5:11:00
  and gleamed in the darkness. Phosphorus, I said. A cunning preparation of
• 5:11:07
  it, said Holmes, sniffing at the dead animal. There is no smell
• 5:11:11
  which might have interfered with his power of scent. We owe you a deep
• 5:11:15
  apology, Sir Henry, for having exposed you to this fright. I was
• 5:11:19
  prepared for a hound, but not for such a creature as this, and
• 5:11:23
  the fog gave us little time to receive him. You have saved my life,
• 5:11:30
  having first endangered it. Are you strong enough to stand? Give me
• 5:11:34
  another mouthful of that brandy, and I shall be ready for anything. So
• 5:11:40
  now, if you will help me up, What do you propose to do
• 5:11:45
  to leave you here? You are not fit for further adventures to night.
• 5:11:48
  If you will wait, one or other of us will go back with you
• 5:11:52
  to the hall. He tried to stagger to his feet, but he was
• 5:11:56
  still ghastly, pale, and trembling in every limb. We helped him to
• 5:12:00
  a rock, where he sat, shivering, with his face buried in his
• 5:12:03
  hands. We must leave you now, said Holmes. The rest of our
• 5:12:08
  work must be done, and every moment is of importance. We have our
• 5:12:12
  case, and now we only want our man. It's a thousand to one
• 5:12:18
  against our finding him at the house, he continued, as we retraced our
• 5:12:22
  steps swiftly down the path. Those shots must have told him that the game
• 5:12:26
  was up. We were some distance off, and this fog may have deadened
• 5:12:32
  them. He followed the hound to call him off. Of that you may
• 5:12:36
  be certain, no, no, he's gone by this time. But we'll
• 5:12:40
  search the house and make sure the front door was open. So we rushed
• 5:12:45
  in and hurried from room to room, to the amazement of a doddering old
• 5:12:48
  man servant, who met us in the passage. There was no light save
• 5:12:52
  in the dining room, but Holmes caught up the lamp and left no corner
• 5:12:56
  of the house unexplored. No sign could we see of the man whom we
• 5:13:00
  were chasing. On the upper floor, however, one of the bedroom doors
• 5:13:06
  was locked. There's some one in here, cried Lestrade, I can hear
• 5:13:11
  A movement opened this door. A faint moaning and rustling came from within.
• 5:13:17
  Holmes struck the door just over the lock with the flat of his foot,
• 5:13:21
  and it flew open. Pistol in hand. We all three rushed into the
• 5:13:25
  room, but there was no sign within it of that desperate and defiant villain
• 5:13:30
  whom we expected to see. Instead, we were faced by an object so
• 5:13:34
  strange and so unexpected that we stood for a moment staring at it in amazement.
• 5:13:41
  The room had been fashioned into a small museum, and the walls were
• 5:13:44
  lined by a number of glass topped cases full of that collection of butterflies and
• 5:13:48
  moths, the formation of which had been the relaxation of this complex and dangerous
• 5:13:52
  man. In the center of this room there was an upright beam, which
• 5:13:57
  had been placed at some period as a sort for the old worm eaten balk
• 5:14:02
  of timber, which spanned the roof to this post. A figure was tied,
• 5:14:07
  so swathed and muffled in the sheets which had been used to secure it,
• 5:14:10
  that one could not for the moment tell whether it was that of a
• 5:14:12
  man or a woman. One towel passed round the throat and was secured at
• 5:14:18
  the back of the pillar. Another covered the lower part of the face,
• 5:14:22
  and over it two dark eyes, eyes full of grief and shame, and
• 5:14:26
  a dreadful questioning stared back at us. In a minute, we had torn
• 5:14:32
  off the gag, unswathed the bonds, and Missus Stapleton sank upon the floor
• 5:14:37
  in front of us. As her beautiful head fell upon her chest, I
• 5:14:41
  saw the clear red wheel of a whiplash across her neck. The brute cried,
• 5:14:45
  Holmes, here, lestrade, your brandy bottle. Put her in the
• 5:14:49
  chair. She has fainted from ill usage and exhaustion. She opened her eyes
• 5:14:55
  again Is he safe, she asked, Has he escaped? He cannot escape
• 5:15:00
  us, Madam, No, no, I did not mean my husband,
• 5:15:04
  Sir Henry. Is he safe? Yes? And the hound, it is
• 5:15:11
  dead. She gave a long sigh of satisfaction. Thank God, thank God,
• 5:15:18
  Oh, this villain. See how he has treated me. She shot
• 5:15:21
  her arms out from her sleeves, and we saw with horror that they were
• 5:15:25
  all modeled with bruises. But this is nothing, nothing. It is my
• 5:15:30
  mind and soul that he has tortured and defiled. I could endure it all
• 5:15:33
  ill, usage, solitude, a life of deception, everything, as long
• 5:15:38
  as I could still cling to the hope that I had his love. But
• 5:15:41
  now I know that in this also I have been his dupe and his tool.
• 5:15:47
  She broke into passionate sobbing as she spoke. You bear him no good
• 5:15:52
  will, madam, said Holmes. Tell us then, where we shall find
• 5:15:55
  him if you have ever aided him an evil Help us now. And so
• 5:16:00
  there is but one place where he can have fled, she answered, There
• 5:16:06
  is an old tin mine on an island in the heart of the mire.
• 5:16:08
  It was there that he kept his hound, and there also he had made
• 5:16:12
  preparations. So that he might have a refuge, that is where he would
• 5:16:15
  fly. The fog bank lay like white wool against the window. Holmes held
• 5:16:22
  the lamp towards it. See said he no one could find his way into
• 5:16:26
  the grimp and Meyre tonight she laughed and clapped her hands. Her eyes and
• 5:16:32
  teeth gleamed with fierce merriment. He may find his way in, but never
• 5:16:37
  out, she cried, How can he see the guiding wands? Tonight we
• 5:16:41
  planted them together, he and I to mark the pathway through the mire.
• 5:16:45
  Oh. If I could only have plucked them out to day, then indeed
• 5:16:48
  you would have had him at your mercy. It was evident to us that
• 5:16:52
  all pursuit was in vain until the fog had lifted. Meanwhile, we left
• 5:16:57
  Lestrade in possession of the house, while Holmes and I went back with the
• 5:17:00
  baronet to Baskerville Hall. The story of the Stapletons could no longer be withheld
• 5:17:06
  from him, But he took the blow bravely when he learned the truth about
• 5:17:10
  the woman whom he had loved. But the shock of the Knight's adventures had
• 5:17:14
  shattered his nerves, and before morning he lay delirious in a high fever under
• 5:17:18
  the care of doctor Mortimer. The two of them were destined to travel together
• 5:17:22
  round the world before Sir Henry had become once more the hale, hearty man
• 5:17:26
  that he had been before he became master of that ill omened estate. And
• 5:17:32
  now I come rapidly to the conclusion of this singular narrative in which I have
• 5:17:37
  tried to make the reader share those dark fears and vague surmises which clouded our
• 5:17:41
  lives so long, and ended in so tragic a manner. On the morning
• 5:17:45
  after the death of the hound, the fog had lifted, and we were
• 5:17:48
  guided by Missus Stapleton to the point where they had found a pathway through the
• 5:17:52
  bog. It helped us to realize the horror of this woman's life when we
• 5:17:56
  saw the eagerness and joy with which she laid us on her husband's track.
• 5:18:02
  We left her standing upon the thin peninsula of firm, peaty soil, which
• 5:18:06
  tapered out into the wide spread bog. From the end of it a small
• 5:18:10
  wand planted here and there showed where the path zigzagged from tuft to tuft of
• 5:18:15
  rushes among those green, scummed pits and foul quagmires which barred the way to
• 5:18:19
  the stranger. Rank reeds and lush, slimy water plants sent an odor of
• 5:18:25
  decay and a heavy miasmatic vapor onto our faces, while a false step plunged
• 5:18:30
  us more than once thigh deep into the dark, quivering mire, which shook
• 5:18:33
  for yards in soft undulations around our feet. Its tenacious grip plucked at our
• 5:18:38
  heels as we walked, and when we sank into it, it was as
• 5:18:42
  if some malignant hand was tugging us down into those obscene depths. So grim
• 5:18:48
  and purposeful was the clutch in which it held us. Once only we saw
• 5:18:52
  a trace that some one had passed that perilous way before us, from amid
• 5:18:56
  a tuft of cotton grass which bore it up out of the slime. Some
• 5:19:00
  dark thing was projecting. Holmes sank to his waist as he stepped from the
• 5:19:04
  path to seize it, and had we not been there to drag him out,
• 5:19:08
  he could never have set his foot upon firm land again. He held
• 5:19:12
  an old black boot in the air. Meyer's toronto was printed on the leather
• 5:19:18
  inside. It is worth a mud bath, said he. It is our
• 5:19:22
  friend, Sir Henry's missing boot thrown there by Stapleton in his flight. Exactly
• 5:19:30
  he retained it in his hand after using it to set the hound upon the
• 5:19:33
  track. He fled when he knew the game was up, still clutching it,
• 5:19:37
  and he hurled it away. At this point of his flight. We
• 5:19:41
  know at least that he came so far in safety. But more than that
• 5:19:45
  we were never destined to know. Though there was much which we might surmise.
• 5:19:51
  There was no chance of finding footsteps in the mire, for the rising
• 5:19:53
  mud oozed swiftly in upon them. But as we at last reached firmer ground
• 5:19:59
  beyond them morass, we all looked eagerly for them, but no slightest sign
• 5:20:03
  of them ever met our eyes. If the earth told a true story,
• 5:20:07
  then Stapleton never reached that island of refuge towards which he struggled through the fog
• 5:20:11
  upon that last night. Somewhere in the heart of the great grimpen mire,
• 5:20:17
  down in the foul slime of the huge morass which had sucked him in,
• 5:20:21
  this cold and cruel hearted man is forever buried. Many traces we found of
• 5:20:26
  him in the bog girt island, where he had hid his savage ally a
• 5:20:30
  huge driving wheel and a shaft half filled with rubbish showed the position of an
• 5:20:34
  abandoned mine. Beside it were the crumbling remains of the cottages of the miners,
• 5:20:40
  driven away, no doubt by the foul reek of the surrounding swamp.
• 5:20:44
  In one of these, a staple and chain with a quantity of gnawed bones
• 5:20:48
  showed where the animal had been confined. A skeleton with a tangle of brown
• 5:20:52
  hair adhering to it lay among the debris. A dog, said Holmes by
• 5:20:59
  Jove, a curly haired spaniel. Poor Mortimer will never see his pet again.
• 5:21:03
  Well, I do not know that this place contains any secret which we
• 5:21:07
  have not already fathomed. He could hide his hound, but he could not
• 5:21:10
  hush its voice, and hence came those cries, which even in daylight were
• 5:21:14
  not pleasant to hear. On an emergency, he could keep the hound in
• 5:21:18
  the outhouse at merripit, but it was always a risk, and it was
• 5:21:22
  only on the Supreme Day, which he regarded as the end of all his
• 5:21:25
  efforts, that he dared do it. This paste in the ten is,
• 5:21:29
  no doubt the luminous mixture with which the creature was daubed. It was suggested,
• 5:21:33
  of course, by the story of the family hell Hound, and by
• 5:21:37
  the desire to frighten old Sir Charles to death. No wonder, the poor
• 5:21:41
  devil of a convict ran and screamed, even as our friend did, and
• 5:21:45
  as we ourselves might have done, when he saw such a creature bounding through
• 5:21:48
  the darkness of the moor upon his track. It was a cunning device,
• 5:21:53
  for apart from the chance of driving your victim to his death, what peasant
• 5:21:57
  would venture to inquire too closely into such a creature should he get sight of
• 5:22:02
  it, as many have done upon the moor. I set it in London.
• 5:22:06
  Watson and I say it now again that never yet have we helped to
• 5:22:08
  hunt down a more dangerous man than he who is lying yonder. He swept
• 5:22:14
  his long arm towards the huge, modeled expanse of green splotched bog, which
• 5:22:18
  stretched away until it merged into the russet slopes of the moor. End of
• 5:22:25
  Chapter fourteen. Chapter fifteen, A retrospection. It was the end of November,
• 5:22:32
  and Holmes and I sat upon a raw and foggy night, on either
• 5:22:36
  side of a blazing fire in our sitting room in Baker Street. Since the
• 5:22:40
  tragic upshot of our visit to Devonshire, he had been engaged in two affairs
• 5:22:44
  of the utmost importance, and the first of which he had exposed the atrocious
• 5:22:48
  conduct of Colonel Upwood in connection with the famous card scandal of the Non Parail
• 5:22:52
  Club, while in the second he had defended the unfortunate Madame Montpensier from the
• 5:22:57
  charge of murder which hung over her in connection with the death of her step
• 5:23:02
  daughter, Mademoiselle Carerie, the young lady who, as it will be remembered,
• 5:23:06
  was found six months later alive and married in New York. My friend
• 5:23:11
  was in excellent spirits over the success which had attended a succession of difficult and
• 5:23:15
  important cases, so that I was able to induce him to discuss the details
• 5:23:19
  of the Baskerville mystery. I had waited patiently for the opportunity, for I
• 5:23:25
  was aware that he would never permit cases to overlap, and that his clear
• 5:23:29
  and logical mind would not be drawn from its present work to dwell upon memories
• 5:23:33
  of the past. Sir Henry and Doctor Mortimer were, however, in London
• 5:23:37
  on their way to that long voyage which had been recommended for the restoration of
• 5:23:41
  his shattered nerves. They had called upon us that very afternoon, so that
• 5:23:47
  it was natural that the subject should come up for discussion. The whole course
• 5:23:51
  of events, said Holmes, from the point of view of the man who
• 5:23:55
  called himself Stapleton, was simple and direct, although to us, who had
• 5:23:59
  no means the beginning of knowing the motives of his actions, and could only
• 5:24:03
  learn part of the facts, it all appeared exceedingly complex. I have had
• 5:24:07
  the advantage of two conversations with missus Stapleton, and a case has now been
• 5:24:11
  so entirely cleared up that I am not aware that there is anything which has
• 5:24:15
  remained a secret to us. You will find a few notes upon the matter
• 5:24:19
  under the heading B in my indexed list of cases. Perhaps you would kindly
• 5:24:25
  give me a sketch of the course of events from memory. Certainly, though
• 5:24:30
  I cannot guarantee that I carry all the facts in my mind, intense mental
• 5:24:34
  concentration has a curious way of blotting out what has passed. The barrister,
• 5:24:40
  who has his case at his fingers ends and is able to argue with an
• 5:24:44
  expert upon his own subject, finds that a week or two of the courts
• 5:24:48
  will drive it all out of his head once more. So each of my
• 5:24:52
  cases displaces the last, and Mademoiselle Carreri has blurred my recollection of Baskerville Hall.
• 5:24:57
  Tomorrow, some other little problem may be submitted to my notice, which
• 5:25:02
  will in turn dispossess the fair French lady and the infamous Upwood. So far
• 5:25:07
  as the case of the hound goes, however, I will give you the
• 5:25:10
  course of events as nearly as I can, and you will suggest anything which
• 5:25:15
  I may have forgotten. My inquiries show beyond all question that the family portrait
• 5:25:19
  did not lie, and that this fellow was indeed a Baskerville. He was
• 5:25:25
  a son of that Roger Baskerville, the younger brother of Sir Charles, who
• 5:25:29
  fled with a sinister reputation to South America, where he was said to have
• 5:25:33
  died unmarried. He did, as a matter of fact, mary, and
• 5:25:37
  had one child. This fellow, whose real name is the same as his
• 5:25:41
  father's, he married Beryl Garcia, one of the beauties of Costa Rica,
• 5:25:47
  and having purloined a considerable sum of public money, he changed his name to
• 5:25:52
  Vanderlure and fled to England, where he established a school in the east of
• 5:25:56
  Yorkshire. His reason for attempting this special line of business was that he had
• 5:26:00
  struck up an acquaintance with a consumptive tutor upon the voyage home, and that
• 5:26:04
  he had used this man's ability to make the undertaking a success. Fraser the
• 5:26:10
  tutor died, however, and a school which had begun well sank from disrepute
• 5:26:15
  into infamy. The vandalres found it convenient to change their name to Stapleton,
• 5:26:21
  and he brought the remains of his fortune, his schemes for the future,
• 5:26:25
  and his taste for entomology to the South of England. I learned at the
• 5:26:29
  British Museum that he was a recognized authority upon the subject, and that the
• 5:26:33
  name of Vanderlure has been permanently attached to a certain moth, which he had,
• 5:26:37
  in his Yorkshire days, been the first to describe. We now come
• 5:26:42
  to that portion of his life which has proved to be of such intense interest
• 5:26:45
  to us. The fellow had evidently made inquiry and found that only two lives
• 5:26:51
  intervened between him and a valuable estate. When he went to Devonshire. His
• 5:26:56
  plans were I believe exceedingly hazy, but that he meant mischief from the first
• 5:27:02
  is evident from the way in which he took his wife with him, and
• 5:27:04
  a character of his sister. The idea of using her as a decoy was
• 5:27:08
  clearly already in his mind, though he may not have been certain how the
• 5:27:12
  details of his plot were to be arranged. He meant in the end to
• 5:27:18
  have the estate, and he was ready to use any tool or run any
• 5:27:22
  risk for that end. His first act was to establish himself as near to
• 5:27:26
  his ancestral home as he could, and his second was to cultivate a friendship
• 5:27:30
  with Sir Charles Baskerville and with the neighbors. The baronet himself told him about
• 5:27:36
  the family hound, and so prepared the way for his own death. Stapleton,
• 5:27:41
  as I will continue to call him, knew that the old man's heart
• 5:27:45
  was weak, and that a shock would kill him, so much he had
• 5:27:48
  learned from Doctor Mortimer. He had heard also that Sir Charles was superstitious,
• 5:27:53
  and had taken this grim legend very seriously. His ingenious mind instantly suggest away
• 5:28:00
  by which the Baronet could be done to death. And yet it would be
• 5:28:03
  hardly possible to bring home the guilt to the real murderer. Having conceived the
• 5:28:08
  idea, he proceeded to carry it out with considerable finesse An ordinary schemer would
• 5:28:15
  have been content to work with a savage hound. The use of artificial means
• 5:28:18
  to make the creature diabolical was a flash of genius upon his part. The
• 5:28:23
  dog he bought in London from Ross and Mangles, the dealers in Fulham Road.
• 5:28:29
  It was the strongest and most savage in their possession. He brought it
• 5:28:33
  down by the North Devon line and walked a great distance over the moor,
• 5:28:37
  so as to get it home without exciting any remarks. He had already on
• 5:28:41
  his insect hunts learned to penetrate the grimpen mire, and so had found a
• 5:28:45
  safe hiding place for the creature. Here he kindled it and waited his chance.
• 5:28:52
  But it was some time coming. The old gentleman could not be decoyed
• 5:28:56
  outside of his grounds at night. Several times Stapleton lurked about with his hound,
• 5:29:00
  but without avail. It was during these fruitless quests that he, or
• 5:29:06
  rather his ally, was seen by peasants, and that the legend of the
• 5:29:10
  demon dog received a new confirmation. He had hoped that his wife might lure
• 5:29:15
  Sir Charles to his ruin. But here she proved unexpectedly independent. She would
• 5:29:19
  not endeavor to entangle the old gentleman in a sentimental attachment which might deliver him
• 5:29:25
  over to his enemy threats. And even I am sorry to say blows refuse
• 5:29:30
  to move her. She would have nothing to do with it. And for
• 5:29:33
  a time Stapleton was at a deadlock. He found a way out of his
• 5:29:38
  difficulties through the chance that Sir Charles, who had conceived a friendship for him,
• 5:29:44
  made him the minister of his charity in the case of this unfortunate woman,
• 5:29:47
  Missus Laura Lyons. By representing himself as a single man, he acquired
• 5:29:52
  complete influence over her, and he gave her to understand that, in the
• 5:29:56
  event of her obtaining a divorce from her husband, he would marry her.
• 5:30:00
  His plans were suddenly brought to a head by his knowledge that Sir Charles was
• 5:30:03
  about to leave the hall on the advice of Doctor Mortimer, with whose opinion
• 5:30:08
  he himself pretended to coincide. He must act at once or his victim might
• 5:30:14
  get beyond his power. He therefore put pressure upon Missus Lyons to write this
• 5:30:18
  letter imploring the old man to give her an interview on the evening before his
• 5:30:22
  departure for London. He then, by a specious argument, prevented her from
• 5:30:27
  going, and so had the chance for which he had waited. Driving back
• 5:30:33
  in the evening from Combe Tracy, he was in time to get his hound,
• 5:30:36
  to treat it with his infernal paint, and to bring the beast round
• 5:30:40
  to the gate at which he had reason to expect that he would find the
• 5:30:42
  old gentleman waiting. The dog, incited by its master, sprang over the
• 5:30:48
  wicket gate and pursued the unfortunate baronet, who fled screaming down the yew alley
• 5:30:53
  in that gloomy tunnel. It must indeed have been a dreadful sight to see
• 5:30:57
  that huge black creature, with its flaming jaws and blazing eyes, bounding after
• 5:31:03
  its victim. He fell dead at the end of the alley from heart disease
• 5:31:07
  and terror. The hound had kept upon the grassy border while the baronet had
• 5:31:11
  run down the path, so that no track but the man's was visible.
• 5:31:15
  On seeing him lying still, the creature had probably approached to sniff at him,
• 5:31:19
  but finding him dead, had turned away again. It was then that
• 5:31:23
  it left the print, which was actually observed by doctor Mortimer. The hound
• 5:31:29
  was called off and hurried away to its lair in the grimpen mire, and
• 5:31:33
  a mystery was left which puzzled the authorities, alarmed the countryside, and finally
• 5:31:37
  brought the case within the scope of our observation. So much for the death
• 5:31:41
  of Sir Charles Baskerville, you perceived the devilish cunning of it, For really
• 5:31:47
  it would be almost impossible to make a case against the real murderer. His
• 5:31:52
  only accomplice was one who could never give him away, and the grotesque,
• 5:31:56
  inconceivable nature of the device only served to make it more of effective. Both
• 5:32:00
  of the women concerned in the case, Missus Stapleton and Missus Laura Lyons,
• 5:32:06
  were left with a strong suspicion against Stapleton. Missus Stapleton knew that he had
• 5:32:11
  designs upon the old man, and also of the existence of the hound.
• 5:32:15
  Missus Lyons knew neither of these things, but had been impressed by the death
• 5:32:19
  occurring at the time of an uncanceled appointment, which was only known to him.
• 5:32:25
  However, both of them were under his influence, and he had nothing
• 5:32:29
  to fear from them. The first half of his task was successfully accomplished,
• 5:32:33
  but the more difficult still remained. It is possible that Stapleton did not know
• 5:32:40
  of the existence of an heir in Canada. In any case, he would
• 5:32:44
  very soon learn it from his friend doctor Mortimer, and he was told by
• 5:32:48
  the latter all details about the arrival of Henry Baskerville. Stapleton's first idea was
• 5:32:52
  that this young stranger from Canada might possibly be done to death in London without
• 5:32:57
  coming down to Devonshire at all. He distrusted his wife ever since she had
• 5:33:03
  refused to help him in laying a trap for the old man, and he
• 5:33:07
  dared not leave her long out of his sight for fear he should lose his
• 5:33:10
  influence over her. It was for this reason that he took her to London
• 5:33:14
  with them. They lodged I find at the Mexborough Private Hotel in Craven Street,
• 5:33:19
  which was actually one of those called upon by my agent in search of
• 5:33:22
  evidence. Here he kept his wife imprisoned in her room, while he,
• 5:33:29
  disguised in a beard, followed Doctor Mortimer to Baker Street and afterwards to the
• 5:33:33
  station and to the Northumberland Hotel. His wife had some inkling of his plans.
• 5:33:38
  But she had such a fear of her husband, a fear founded upon
• 5:33:42
  brutal ill treatment, that she dared not write to warn the man whom she
• 5:33:47
  knew to be in danger. If the letter should fall into Stapleton's hands,
• 5:33:51
  her own life would not be safe. Eventually, as we know, she
• 5:33:55
  adopted the expedient of cutting out the words which would form the message, and
• 5:34:00
  addressing the letter in a disguised hand. It reached the baronet and gave him
• 5:34:03
  the first warning of his danger. It was very essential for Stapleton to get
• 5:34:08
  some article of Sir Henry's attire, so that in case he was driven to
• 5:34:12
  use the dog, he might always have the means of setting him upon his
• 5:34:17
  track. With characteristic promptness and audacity, he set about this at once,
• 5:34:22
  and we cannot doubt that the boots or chambermaid of the hotel was well bribed
• 5:34:26
  to help him in his design. By chance, however, the first boot
• 5:34:30
  which was procured for him was a new one, and therefore useless for his
• 5:34:34
  purpose. He then had it returned and obtained another. A most instructive incident,
• 5:34:41
  since it proved conclusively to my mind that we were dealing with a real
• 5:34:45
  hound, as no other supposition could explain this anxiety to obtain an old boot
• 5:34:49
  and this indifference to a new one. The more utree and grotesque an incident
• 5:34:55
  is, the more carefully it deserves to be examined, And the very point
• 5:34:59
  which appears to come implicate a case is, when duly considered and scientifically handled,
• 5:35:03
  the one which is most likely to elucidate it. Then we had the
• 5:35:07
  visit from our friends next morning, shadowed always by Stapleton in the cab.
• 5:35:14
  From his knowledge of our rooms and of my appearance, as well as from
• 5:35:17
  his general conduct, I am inclined to think that Stapleton's career of crime has
• 5:35:22
  been, by no means limited to this single Baskerville affair. It is suggestive
• 5:35:26
  that during the last three years there have been four considerable burglaries in the West
• 5:35:30
  Country, for none of which was any criminal ever arrested. The last of
• 5:35:36
  these, at Folkestone Court in May, was remarkable for the cold blooded pistoling
• 5:35:41
  of the page who surprised the masked and solitary burglar. I cannot doubt that
• 5:35:45
  Stapleton recruited his waning resources in this fashion, and that for years he has
• 5:35:51
  been a desperate and dangerous man. We had an example of his readiness of
• 5:35:56
  resource that morning when he got away from us so successfully, and also of
• 5:36:00
  his audacity in sending back my own name to me through the cabman. From
• 5:36:04
  that moment he understood that I had taken over the case in London, and
• 5:36:08
  that therefore there was no chance for him there. He returned to Dartmoor and
• 5:36:14
  awaited the arrival of the Baronet. One moment said I you have no doubt
• 5:36:19
  described the sequence of events correctly, but there is one point which you have
• 5:36:23
  left unexplained. What became of the hound when its master was in London.
• 5:36:29
  I have given some attention to this matter, and it is undoubtedly of importance.
• 5:36:33
  There can be no question that Stapleton had a confidant, though it is
• 5:36:37
  unlikely that he ever placed himself in his power by sharing all his plans with
• 5:36:41
  him. There was an old man servant at Merripit House whose name was Anthony.
• 5:36:47
  His connection with the Stapletons can be traced for several years, as far
• 5:36:51
  back as the schoolmastering days, so that he must have been aware that his
• 5:36:55
  master and mistress were really husband and wife. This man has disappeared and has
• 5:37:00
  escaped from the country. It is suggestive that Anthony is not a common name
• 5:37:04
  in England, while Antonio is so in all Spanish or Spanish American countries.
• 5:37:11
  The man, like Missus Stapleton herself, spoke good English, but with a
• 5:37:15
  curious lisping accent. I have myself seen this old man cross the grimp and
• 5:37:19
  Mere by the path which Stapleton had marked out. It is very probable,
• 5:37:23
  therefore, that, in the absence of his master, it was he who
• 5:37:26
  cared for the hound, though he may never have known the purpose for which
• 5:37:30
  the beast was used. The Stapletons then went down to Devonshire, whither they
• 5:37:36
  were soon followed by Sir Henry and you. One word now, as to
• 5:37:40
  how I stood myself at that time. It may possibly recur to your memory
• 5:37:44
  that when I examined the paper upon which the printed words were fastened, I
• 5:37:48
  made a close inspection for the water mark. In doing so, I held
• 5:37:52
  it within a few inches of my eyes, and was conscious of a faint
• 5:37:55
  smell of the scent known as white Jessamine. There are seventy five perfumes which
• 5:38:00
  it is very necessary that a criminal expert should be able to distinguish from each
• 5:38:03
  other, and cases have more than once within my own experience, depended upon
• 5:38:08
  their prompt recognition. The scent suggested the presence of a lady, and already
• 5:38:15
  my thoughts began to turn towards the Stapletons. Thus I had made certain of
• 5:38:19
  the hound and had guessed at the criminal. Before ever we went to the
• 5:38:22
  West Country. It was my game to watch Stapleton. It was evident,
• 5:38:27
  however, that I could not do this if I were with you, since
• 5:38:30
  he would be keenly on his guard. I deceived everybody, therefore yourself included,
• 5:38:37
  and I came down secretly when I was supposed to be in London.
• 5:38:41
  My hardships were not so great as you imagined, though such trifling details must
• 5:38:45
  never interfere with the investigation of the case. I stayed for the most part
• 5:38:49
  at Coombe Tracy, and only used the hut upon the moor when it was
• 5:38:53
  necessary to be near the scene of action. Cartwright had come down with me,
• 5:38:57
  and in his disguise as a country boy, he was of great assistance
• 5:39:02
  to me. I was dependent upon him for food and clean linen when I
• 5:39:07
  was watching Stapleton. Cartwright was frequently watching you, so that I was able
• 5:39:11
  to keep my hand upon all the strings. I have already told you that
• 5:39:15
  your reports reached me rapidly, being forwarded instantly from Baker Street to Coombe Tracy.
• 5:39:22
  They were of great service to me, and especially that one incidentally truthful
• 5:39:26
  piece of biography of Stapleton's. I was able to establish the identity of the
• 5:39:30
  man and the woman, and knew at last exactly how I stood. The
• 5:39:34
  case had been considerably complicated through the incident of the escaped convict and the relations
• 5:39:41
  between him and the Barymoores. This also you cleared up in a very effective
• 5:39:45
  way, though I had already come to the same conclusions from my own observations.
• 5:39:52
  By the time that you discovered me upon the moor, I had a
• 5:39:53
  complete knowledge of the whole business, but I had not a case which could
• 5:39:57
  go to a jury. Even Stapleton's attempt upon Sir Henry that night, which
• 5:40:03
  ended in the death of the unfortunate convict, did not help us much improving
• 5:40:07
  murder against our man. There seemed to be no alternative but to catch him
• 5:40:11
  red handed, and to do so we had to use Sir Henry alone,
• 5:40:15
  and apparently unprotected as a bait. We did so, and at the cost
• 5:40:19
  of a severe shock to our client, we succeeded in completing our case and
• 5:40:25
  driving Stapleton to his destruction. That Sir Henry should have been exposed to this
• 5:40:29
  is I must confess a reproach to my management of the case. But we
• 5:40:33
  had no means of foreseeing the terrible and paralyzing spectacle which the beast presented,
• 5:40:38
  nor could we predict the fog which enabled him to burst upon us at such
• 5:40:42
  short notice. We succeeded in our object at a cost which both the specialist
• 5:40:48
  and Doctor Mortimer assure me will be a temporary one. A long journey may
• 5:40:52
  enable our friend to recover not only from his shattered nerves, but also from
• 5:40:56
  his wounded feelings. His love for the lady deep and sincere, and to
• 5:41:00
  him, the saddest part of all this black business was that he should have
• 5:41:04
  been deceived by her. It only remains to indicate the part which she had
• 5:41:10
  played throughout. There can be no doubt that Stapleton exercised an influence over her,
• 5:41:15
  which may have been love, or may have been fear, or very
• 5:41:18
  possibly both, since they are by no means incompatible emotions it was at least
• 5:41:25
  absolutely effective. At his command. She consented to pass as his sister,
• 5:41:30
  though he found the limits of his power over her when he endeavored to make
• 5:41:33
  her the direct accessory to murder. She was ready to warn Sir Henry so
• 5:41:37
  far as she could without implicating her husband, and again and again she tried
• 5:41:41
  to do so. Stapleton himself seems to have been capable of jealousy, and
• 5:41:48
  when he saw the baronet paying court to the lady, even though it was
• 5:41:51
  part of his own plan, still he could not help interrupting with a passionate
• 5:41:55
  outburst, which revealed the fiery soul which his self contained manner sold leverly concealed.
• 5:42:00
  By encouraging the intimacy, he made it certain that Sir Henry would frequently
• 5:42:04
  come to Merripit House, and that he would sooner or later get the opportunity
• 5:42:08
  which he desired. On the day of the crisis, however, his wife
• 5:42:14
  turned suddenly against him. She had learned something of the death of the convict,
• 5:42:18
  and she knew that the hound was being kept in the outhouse. On
• 5:42:21
  the evening that Sir Henry was coming to dinner, she taxed her husband with
• 5:42:25
  his intended crime, and a furious scene followed, in which he showed her
• 5:42:29
  for the first time that she had a rival in his love. Her fidelity
• 5:42:33
  turned in an instant to bitter hatred, and he saw that she would betray
• 5:42:37
  him. He tied her up therefore, that she might have no chance of
• 5:42:41
  warning Sir Henry, and he hoped no doubt that when the whole countryside put
• 5:42:47
  down the baronet's death to the curse of his family, as they certainly would
• 5:42:49
  do, he could win his wife back to accept an accomplished fact and to
• 5:42:53
  keep silent upon what she knew. In this I fancy that in any case
• 5:42:59
  he made a miscoup, and that if we had not been there, his
• 5:43:03
  doom would none the less have been sealed. A woman of Spanish blood does
• 5:43:07
  not condone such an injury so lightly. And now, my dear Watson,
• 5:43:11
  without referring to my notes, I cannot give you a more detailed account of
• 5:43:15
  this curious case. I do not know that anything essential has been left unexplained.
• 5:43:22
  He could not hope to frighten Sir Henry to death as he had done
• 5:43:25
  the old uncle with his bogey hound. The beast was savage and half starved
• 5:43:30
  if its appearance did not frighten its victim to death. At least it would
• 5:43:33
  paralyze the resistance which might be offered. No doubt, there only remains one
• 5:43:40
  difficulty. If Stapleton came into this succession, how could he explain the fact
• 5:43:45
  that he the heir, had been living unannounced under another name, so close
• 5:43:48
  to the property. How could he claim it without causing suspicion and inquiry.
• 5:43:55
  It is a formidable difficulty, and I fear that you ask too much when
• 5:43:59
  you expect me to solve it. The past and the present are within the
• 5:44:03
  field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in the future is
• 5:44:06
  a hard question to answer. Missus Stapleton has heard her husband discuss the problem
• 5:44:11
  on several occasions. There were three possible courses. He might claim the property
• 5:44:17
  from South America, establish his identity before the British authorities there, and so
• 5:44:22
  obtain the fortune without ever coming to England at all. Or he might adopt
• 5:44:26
  an elaborate disguise during the short time that he need be in London. Or
• 5:44:30
  again, he might furnish an accomplice with the proofs and papers, putting him
• 5:44:34
  in as air and retaining a claim upon some proportion of his income. We
• 5:44:40
  cannot doubt, from what we know of him, that he would have found
• 5:44:42
  some way out of the difficulty. And now, my dear Watson, we
• 5:44:47
  have had some weeks of severe work, and for one evening I think we
• 5:44:51
  may turn our thoughts into more pleasant channels. I have a box for less
• 5:44:55
  huguenots. Have you heard the de resquis? Might I trouble you? Then?
• 5:44:59
  To be ready and have an hour, and we can stop at Marsini's
• 5:45:02
  for a little dinner on the way. End of chapter fifteen. This concludes
• 5:45:07
  The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle