Speaker 1: Chapter eleven of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir
Speaker 1: Arthur Conan Doyle. This LibriVox according is in the public
Speaker 1: domain Chapter eleven, The Man on the Tour. The extract
Speaker 1: from my private diary which forms the last chapter, has
Speaker 1: brought my narrative up to the eighteenth of October, a
Speaker 1: time when these strange events began to move swiftly towards
Speaker 1: their terrible conclusion. The incidents of the next few days
Speaker 1: are indelibly graven upon my recollection, and I can tell
Speaker 1: them without reference to the notes made at the time
Speaker 1: I start them, from the day which succeeded that upon
Speaker 1: which I had established two facts of great importance, the
Speaker 1: one that Missus Laura Lyons of Coombe Tracy had written
Speaker 1: to Sir Charles Baskerville and made an appointment with him
Speaker 1: at the very place and hour that he met his death.
Speaker 1: The other that the lurking man upon the moor was
Speaker 1: to be found among the stone huts upon the hillside.
Speaker 1: With the use these two facts in my possession, I
Speaker 1: felt that either my intelligence or my courage must be
Speaker 1: deficient if I could not throw some further light upon
Speaker 1: these dark places. I had no opportunity to tell the
Speaker 1: Baronet what I had learned about Missus Lyons. Upon the
Speaker 1: evening before for doctor Mortimer remained with him at cards
Speaker 1: until it was very late at breakfast. However, I informed
Speaker 1: him about my discovery and asked him whether he would
Speaker 1: care to accompany me to Coombe Tracy. At first he
Speaker 1: was very eager to come, but on second thoughts, it
Speaker 1: seemed to both of us that if I went alone,
Speaker 1: the results might be better. The more formal we made the visit,
Speaker 1: the less information we might obtain. I left Sir Henry
Speaker 1: behind therefore, not without some prickings of conscience, and drove
Speaker 1: off upon my new quest. When I reached Coombe Tracy,
Speaker 1: I told Perkins to put up the horses, and I
Speaker 1: made inquiries for the lady whom I had come to interrogate.
Speaker 1: I had no difficulty in finding her rooms, which were
Speaker 1: central and well appointed. A maid showed me in without ceremony,
Speaker 1: and as I entered the sitting room, a lady who
Speaker 1: was sitting before a Remington typewriter sprang up with a
Speaker 1: pleasant smile of welcome. Her face fell, however, when she
Speaker 1: saw that I was a stranger, and she sat down
Speaker 1: again and asked me the object of my visit. The
Speaker 1: first impression left by missus Lyons was one of extreme beauty.
Speaker 1: Her eyes and hair were of the same rich hazel color,
Speaker 1: and her cheeks, though considerably freckled, were flushed with the
Speaker 1: exquisite bloom of the brunette. The dainty pink which lurks
Speaker 1: at the heart of the sulf arose admiration was I
Speaker 1: repeat the first impression, but the second was criticism. There
Speaker 1: was something subtly wrong with the face, some coarseness of expression,
Speaker 1: some hardness perhaps of eye, some looseness of lip, which
Speaker 1: marred its perfect beauty. But these, of course are after thoughts.
Speaker 1: At the moment, I was simply conscious that I was
Speaker 1: in the presence of a very handsome woman, and that
Speaker 1: she was asking me the reasons for my visit. I
Speaker 1: had not quite understood until that instant how delicate my
Speaker 1: mission was. I have the pleasure, said I of knowing
Speaker 1: your father. It was a clumsy introduction, and the lady
Speaker 1: made me feel it. There is nothing in common between
Speaker 1: my father and me, she said, I owe him nothing,
Speaker 1: and his friends are not mine. If it were not
Speaker 1: for the late Sir Charles Baskerville and some other kind hearts.
Speaker 1: I might have starved for all that my father cared.
Speaker 1: It was about the late Sir Charles Baskerville that I
Speaker 1: have come here to see you. The freckles started out
Speaker 1: on the lady's face. What can I tell you about him?
Speaker 1: She asked, and her fingers played nervously over the stops
Speaker 1: of her typewriter. You knew him, did you not? I
Speaker 1: have already said that I owe a great deal to
Speaker 1: his kindness. If I am able to support myself, it
Speaker 1: is largely due to the interest which he took in
Speaker 1: my unhappy situation. Did you correspond with him? The lady
Speaker 1: looked quickly up with an angry gleam in her hazel eyes.
Speaker 1: What is the object of these questions, she asked sharply.
Speaker 1: The object is to avoid a public scandal. It is
Speaker 1: better that I should ask them here than that the
Speaker 1: matter should pass outside our control. She was silent, and
Speaker 1: her face was still very pale. At last, she looked
Speaker 1: up with something reckless and defiant in her manner. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll answer, she said. What are your questions? Did you
Speaker 1: correspond with Sir Charles? I certainly wrote to him once
Speaker 1: or twice to acknowledge his delicacy and his generosity. Have
Speaker 1: you the dates of these letters? No? Have you ever
Speaker 1: met him? Yes, once or twice when he came into combtracy.
Speaker 1: He was a very retiring man, and he preferred to
Speaker 1: do good by stealth. But if you saw him so
Speaker 1: seldom and wrote so seldom, how did he know enough
Speaker 1: about your affairs to be able to help you as
Speaker 1: you say that he has done. She met my difficulty
Speaker 1: with the utmost readiness. There were several gentlemen who knew
Speaker 1: my sad history and united to help me. One was
Speaker 1: mister Stapleton, a neighbor and intimate friend of Sir Charles's.
Speaker 1: He was exceedingly kind, and it was through him that
Speaker 1: Sir Charles learned about my affairs. I knew already that
Speaker 1: Sir Charles Baskerville had made Stapleton his almoner upon several occasions,
Speaker 1: so the lady's statement bore the impress of truth upon it.
Speaker 1: Did you ever write to Sir Charles asking him to
Speaker 1: meet you? I continued Missus Lyons, flushed with anger. Again, Really, sir,
Speaker 1: this is very extra ordinary question. I am sorry, madam,
Speaker 1: but I must repeat it. Then I answer certainly not not.
Speaker 1: On the very day of Sir Charles's death, the flush
Speaker 1: had faded in an instant, and a deathly face was
Speaker 1: before me. Her dry lips could not speak the no
Speaker 1: which I saw rather than heard. Surely your memory deceives,
Speaker 1: you said I. I could even quote a passage of
Speaker 1: your letter. It ran. Please, please, as you are a gentleman,
Speaker 1: burn this letter and be at the gate by ten o'clock.
Speaker 1: I thought that she had fainted, but she recovered herself
Speaker 1: by a supreme effort. Is there no such thing as
Speaker 1: a gentleman? She gasped, You do, Sir Charles an injustice.
Speaker 1: He did burn the letter, but sometimes a letter may
Speaker 1: be legible even when burned. You acknowledge now that you
Speaker 1: wrote it? Yes, I did write it, she cried, pouring
Speaker 1: out her soul in a torrent of words. I did
Speaker 1: write it. Why should I deny it? I have no
Speaker 1: reason to be ashamed of it. I wished him to
Speaker 1: help me. I believe that if I had an interview,
Speaker 1: I could gain his help. So I asked him to
Speaker 1: meet me. But why at such an hour? Because I
Speaker 1: had only just learned that he was going to London
Speaker 1: next day and might be away for months. There were
Speaker 1: reasons why I could not get there earlier. But why
Speaker 1: a rendezvous in the garden instead of a visit to
Speaker 1: the house. Do you think a woman could go alone
Speaker 1: at that hour to a bachelor's house. Well, what happened
Speaker 1: when you did get there? I never went, Missus Lyons, No,
Speaker 1: I swear it to you, on all I hold sacred.
Speaker 1: I never went. Something intervened to prevent me going. What
Speaker 1: was that? That is a private matter. I cannot tell it.
Speaker 1: You acknowledged then that you made an appointment with Sir
Speaker 1: Charles at the very hour and place at which he
Speaker 1: met his death. But you deny that you kept the appointment.
Speaker 1: That is the truth. Again and again I cross questioned her,
Speaker 1: but I could never get past that point, Missus Lyons,
Speaker 1: said I as I rose from this long and inconclusive interview,
Speaker 1: you are taking a very great responsibility and putting yourself
Speaker 1: in a very false position by not making an absolute
Speaker 1: clean breast of all that you know. If I have
Speaker 1: to call in the aid of the police, you will
Speaker 1: find how seriously you are compromised. If your position is innocent,
Speaker 1: why did you, in the first instance deny having written
Speaker 1: to Sir Charles upon that date, because I feared that
Speaker 1: some false conclusion might be drawn from it, and that
Speaker 1: I might find myself involved in a scandal. And why
Speaker 1: were you so pressing that Sir Charles should destroy your letter?
Speaker 1: If you had read the letter, you will know I
Speaker 1: did not say that I had read all the letter.
Speaker 1: You quoted some of it. I quoted the PostScript. The
Speaker 1: letter had, as I said, been burned, and it was
Speaker 1: not all legible. I ask you once again why it
Speaker 1: was that you were so pressing that Sir Charles should
Speaker 1: destroy this letter, which he received on the day of
Speaker 1: his death. The matter is a very private one, the
Speaker 1: more reason why you should avoid a public investigation. I
Speaker 1: will tell you then, if you have heard anything of
Speaker 1: my unhappy history, you will know that I made a
Speaker 1: rash marriage and had reason to regret it. I have
Speaker 1: heard so much. My life has been one incessant persecution
Speaker 1: from a husband whom I abhor. The law is upon
Speaker 1: his side, and every day I am faced by the
Speaker 1: possibility that he may force me to live with him.
Speaker 1: At the time that I wrote this letter to Sir Charles,
Speaker 1: I had learned that there was a prospect of my
Speaker 1: regaining my freedom if certain expenses could be met. It
Speaker 1: meant everything to me, peace of mind, happiness, self respect, everything.
Speaker 1: I knew Sir Charles's generosity, and I thought that if
Speaker 1: he heard the story from my own lips, he would
Speaker 1: help me. Then how is it that you did not
Speaker 1: go because I received help in the interval from another source?
Speaker 1: Why then did you not write to Sir Charles and
Speaker 1: explain this so I should have done had I not
Speaker 1: seen his death in the paper next morning. The woman's
Speaker 1: story hung coherently together, and all my questions were unable
Speaker 1: to shake it. I could only check it by finding
Speaker 1: if she had indeed instituted divorce proceedings against her husband
Speaker 1: at or about the time of the tragedy. It was
Speaker 1: unlikely that she would dare to say that she had
Speaker 1: not been to Baskerville Hall. If she really had been,
Speaker 1: for a trap would be necessary to take her there,
Speaker 1: and could not have returned to Coombe Tracy until the
Speaker 1: early hours of the morning. Such an excursion could not
Speaker 1: be kept secret. The probability was, therefore that she was
Speaker 1: telling the truth, or at least a part of the truth.
Speaker 1: I came away baffled and disheartened. Once again I had
Speaker 1: reached that dead wall, which seemed to be built across
Speaker 1: every path by which I tried to get at the
Speaker 1: object of my mission. And yet the more I thought
Speaker 1: of the lady's face and of her manner, the more
Speaker 1: I felt that something was being held back from me.
Speaker 1: Why should she turn so pale, Why should she fight
Speaker 1: against every admission until it was forced from her? Why
Speaker 1: should she have been so reticent at the time of
Speaker 1: the tragedy. Surely the explanation of all this could not
Speaker 1: be as innocent as she would have me believe. For
Speaker 1: the moment, I could proceed no farther in that direction,
Speaker 1: but must turn back to that other clue, which was
Speaker 1: to be sought for among the stone huts upon the moor.
Speaker 1: And that was a most vague direction, I realized it
Speaker 1: as I drove back, and noted how hill after hill
Speaker 1: showed traces of the ancient people. Barrymore's only indication had
Speaker 1: been that the stranger lived in one of those abandoned huts,
Speaker 1: and many hundreds of them are scattered throughout the length
Speaker 1: and breadth of the moor. But I had my own
Speaker 1: experience for a guide, since it had shown me the
Speaker 1: man himself standing upon the summit of the Black tor,
Speaker 1: that then should be the center of my search. From
Speaker 1: there I should explore every hut upon the moor until
Speaker 1: I lighted upon the right one. If this man were
Speaker 1: inside it, I should find out from his own lips
Speaker 1: at the point of my revolver, if necessary, who he was,
Speaker 1: and why he had dogged us so long. He might
Speaker 1: slip away from us in the crowd of Regent Street,
Speaker 1: but it would puzzle him to do so upon the
Speaker 1: lonely moor. On the other hand, if I should find
Speaker 1: the hut and its tenants should not be within it,
Speaker 1: I must remain there, however long the vigil until he returned.
Speaker 1: Holmes had missed him in London. It would indeed be
Speaker 1: a triumph for me if I could run him to
Speaker 1: Earth where my master had failed. Luck had been against
Speaker 1: us again and again in this inquiry, but now at
Speaker 1: last it came to my aid, and the messenger of
Speaker 1: good fortune was none other than mister Frankland, who was
Speaker 1: standing gray, whiskered and red faced outside the gate of
Speaker 1: his garden, which opened on to the high road along
Speaker 1: which I traveled. Good day, doctor Watson, cried he with
Speaker 1: unwonted good humor. You must really give your horses a
Speaker 1: rest and come in to have a glass of wine
Speaker 1: and to congratulate me. My feelings towards him were very
Speaker 1: far from being friendly, after what I had heard of
Speaker 1: his treatment of his daughter. But I was anxious to
Speaker 1: send Perkins and the wagonette home, and the opportunity was
Speaker 1: a good one. I alighted and sent a message to
Speaker 1: Sir Henry that I should walk over in time for dinner.
Speaker 1: Then I followed Franklin into his dining room. It is
Speaker 1: a great day for me, sir, one of the red
Speaker 1: letter days of my life, he cried, with many chuckles.
Speaker 1: I've brought off a double event. I mean to teach
Speaker 1: them in these parts that law is law, and that
Speaker 1: there is a man here who does not fear to
Speaker 1: invoke it. I have established a right of way through
Speaker 1: the center of Old Middleton's Park, slap across it, sir,
Speaker 1: within a hundred yards of his own front door. What
Speaker 1: do you think of that? We'll teach these magnates that
Speaker 1: they cannot ride roughshod over the rights of the commoners
Speaker 1: can found them. And I have closed the wood where
Speaker 1: the Fernworthy folk used to picnic. These infernal people seem
Speaker 1: to think that there are no rights of property, and
Speaker 1: that they can swarm where they like with their papers
Speaker 1: and their bottles. Both cases decided Doctor Watson, and both
Speaker 1: in my favor. I haven't had such a day since
Speaker 1: side Sir John Morland for trespass because he's shut in
Speaker 1: his own warren. How on earth did you do that?
Speaker 1: Look it up in the book, sir. It'll repay reading
Speaker 1: Franklin versus Morland, Court of Queen's Bench. It cost me
Speaker 1: two hundred pounds, but I got my verdict. Did it
Speaker 1: do you any good? None, sir none. I am proud
Speaker 1: to say that I have no interest in the matter.
Speaker 1: I act entirely from a sense of public duty. I
Speaker 1: have no doubt, for example, that the firm worthy people
Speaker 1: will burn me in effigy to night. I told the
Speaker 1: police last time they did it that they should stop
Speaker 1: these disgraceful exhibitions. The County Constabulary is in a scandalous state, sir,
Speaker 1: and it has not afforded me the protection to which
Speaker 1: I am entitled. The case of Franklin versus Forragina will
Speaker 1: bring the matter before the attention of the public. I
Speaker 1: told them that they would have occasion to regret their
Speaker 1: treatment of me, And already my words have come true.
Speaker 1: How so, I asked the old man, put on a
Speaker 1: very knowing expression, because I could tell them what they
Speaker 1: are dying to know. But nothing could induce me to
Speaker 1: help the rascals in any way. I had been casting
Speaker 1: around for some excuse by which I could get away
Speaker 1: from his gossip. But now I began to wish to
Speaker 1: hear more of it. I'd seen enough of the contrary
Speaker 1: nature of the old sinner to understand that any strong
Speaker 1: sign of interest would be the surest way to stop
Speaker 1: his confidences. Some poaching case, no doubt, said I, with
Speaker 1: an indifferent manner. Aha, my boy, A very much more
Speaker 1: important matter than that. What about the convict on the moor,
Speaker 1: I stared, You don't mean that you know where he is?
Speaker 1: Said I. I may not know exactly where he is,
Speaker 1: but I'm quite certain that I could help the police
Speaker 1: to lay their hands on him. As it never struck
Speaker 1: you that the wader catch that man was to find
Speaker 1: out where he got his food and so trace it
Speaker 1: to him. He certainly seemed to be getting uncomfortably near
Speaker 1: the truth, no doubt, said I, But how do you
Speaker 1: know that he is anywhere? Upon the moor. I know
Speaker 1: it because I've seen with my own eyes the messenger
Speaker 1: who takes him his food. My heart sank for Barrymore.
Speaker 1: It was a serious thing to be in the power
Speaker 1: of this spiteful, old, busybody. But his next remark took
Speaker 1: a weight from my mind. You'll be surprised to hear
Speaker 1: that his food is taken to him by a child.
Speaker 1: I see him every day through my telescope upon the roof.
Speaker 1: He passes along the same path at the same hour.
Speaker 1: And to whom should he be going except to the convict.
Speaker 1: Here was luck, indeed, and yet I suppressed all appearance
Speaker 1: of interest a child. Barrymore had said that our unknown
Speaker 1: was supplied by a boy. It was on his track,
Speaker 1: and not upon the convicts that Franklin had stumbled. If
Speaker 1: I could get his knowledge, it might save me a
Speaker 1: long and weary hunt. But incredulity and indifferent were evidently
Speaker 1: my strongest cards. I should say that it was much
Speaker 1: more likely that it was the son of one of
Speaker 1: the Moorland shepherds taking out his father's dinner. The least
Speaker 1: appearance of opposition struck fire out of the old autocrat.
Speaker 1: His eyes looked malignantly at me, and his gray whiskers
Speaker 1: bristled like those of an angry cat. Indeed, Sir, said he,
Speaker 1: pointing out over the wide, stretching moor, Do you see
Speaker 1: that black tour over yonder well? Do you see the
Speaker 1: low hill beyond with the thorn bush upon it? It
Speaker 1: is the stoniest part of the whole moor? Is that
Speaker 1: a place where a shepherd would be likely to take
Speaker 1: his station? Your suggestion, Sir, is a most absurd one.
Speaker 1: I meekly answered that I had spoken without knowing all
Speaker 1: the facts. My submission pleased him and led him to
Speaker 1: further confidences. You may be sure, sir, that I have
Speaker 1: very good grounds before I came to an opinion. I
Speaker 1: have seen the boy again and again with his bundle
Speaker 1: every day, and sometimes twice a day. I've been able
Speaker 1: but white a moment, Doctor Watson. Do my eyes deceive me?
Speaker 1: Or is there at present moment something moving upon that
Speaker 1: ill side? It was several miles off, but I could
Speaker 1: distinctly see a small dark dot against the dull green
Speaker 1: and gray. Come, sir, come, cried Franklin, rushing upstairs. You
Speaker 1: will see with your own eyes and judge for yourself
Speaker 1: the telescope, a formidable instrument mounted upon a tripod, stood
Speaker 1: upon the flat leads of the house. Franklin clapped his
Speaker 1: eye to it and gave a cry of satisfaction. Quick,
Speaker 1: doctor Watson, Quick before he passes over the ill. There
Speaker 1: he was, sure enough, a small urchin with a little
Speaker 1: bundle upon his shoulder, toiling slowly up the hill. When
Speaker 1: he reached the crest, I saw the ragged, uncouth figure
Speaker 1: outlined for an instant against the cold, old blue sky.
Speaker 1: He looked round him with a furtive and stealthy air,
Speaker 1: as one who dreads pursuit. Then he vanished over the hill. Well,
Speaker 1: am I right, certainly there is a boy who seems
Speaker 1: to have some secret errand. And what that errand is
Speaker 1: even a county constable could guess. But not one word
Speaker 1: shall they have from me? And I bind you to secrecy, also,
Speaker 1: doctor Watson, not a word, you understand, just as you wish.
Speaker 1: They have treated me shamefully, shamefully when the facts come
Speaker 1: out in Franklin versus Regina, I venture to think that
Speaker 1: a thrill of indignation will run through the country. Nothing
Speaker 1: would induce me to help the police in any way.
Speaker 1: For all they cared it might have been me instead
Speaker 1: of my effigy, which these rascals burned at the stake.
Speaker 1: Surely you are not going. You will help me to
Speaker 1: empty the decanter in honor of this great occasion. But
Speaker 1: I resisted all his solicitations and succeeded in dis wading
Speaker 1: him from his announced intention of walking home with me.
Speaker 1: I kept the road as long as his eye was
Speaker 1: on me, and then I struck off across the moor
Speaker 1: and made for the stony hill over which the boy
Speaker 1: had disappeared. Everything was working in my favor, and I
Speaker 1: swore that it should not be through lack of energy
Speaker 1: or perseverance, that I should miss the chance which fortune
Speaker 1: had thrown in my way. The sun was already sinking
Speaker 1: when I reached the summit of the hill, and the
Speaker 1: long slopes beneath me were all gold and green on
Speaker 1: one side, and gray shadow on the other. A haze
Speaker 1: lay low upon the farthest sky line, out of which
Speaker 1: jutted the fantastic shapes of Belliver and Vixen tor over
Speaker 1: the wide expanse. There was no sound and no movement.
Speaker 1: One great gray bird, a gull or curlew, soared aloft
Speaker 1: in the blue heaven. He and I seemed to be
Speaker 1: the only living things between the huge arch of the
Speaker 1: sky and the desert beneath it. The barren scene, the
Speaker 1: sense of loneliness, and the mystery and urgency of my
Speaker 1: task all struck a chill into my heart. The boy
Speaker 1: was nowhere to be seen, but down beneath me, in
Speaker 1: a cleft of the hills, there was a circle of
Speaker 1: the old stone huts, and in the middle of them
Speaker 1: there was one which retained sufficient roof to act as
Speaker 1: a screen against the weather. My heart leaped within me
Speaker 1: as I saw it. This must be the burrow where
Speaker 1: the stranger lurked. At last, my foot was on the
Speaker 1: threshold of his hiding place. His secret was within my grasp.
Speaker 1: As I approached the hut, walking as warily as Stapleton
Speaker 1: would do when with poised net he drew near the
Speaker 1: settled butterfly, I satisfied myself that the place had indeed
Speaker 1: been used as a habitation. A vague pathway among the
Speaker 1: boulders led to the dilapidated opening which served as a door.
Speaker 1: All was silent within. The known might be lurking there,
Speaker 1: or he might be prowling on the moor, my nerves
Speaker 1: tingled with the sense of adventure. Throwing aside my cigarette,
Speaker 1: I closed my hand upon the butt of my revolver,
Speaker 1: and walking swiftly up to the door, I looked in.
Speaker 1: The place was empty, but there were ample signs that
Speaker 1: I had not come upon a false scent. This was
Speaker 1: certainly where the man lived. Some blankets, rolled in a
Speaker 1: waterproof lay upon the very stone slab upon which neolithic
Speaker 1: man had once slumbered. The ashes of a fire were
Speaker 1: heaped in a rude grate. Beside it lay some cooking
Speaker 1: utensils and a bucket half full of water. A litter
Speaker 1: of empty tins showed that the place had been occupied
Speaker 1: for some time, and I saw, as my eyes became
Speaker 1: accustomed to the checkered light, a pannikin and a half
Speaker 1: full bottle of spirits standing in the corner. In the
Speaker 1: middle of the hut, a flat stone served the purpose
Speaker 1: of a table, and upon this stood a small cloth bundle,
Speaker 1: the same, no doubt, which I had seen through the
Speaker 1: telescope upon the shoulder of the boy. It contained a
Speaker 1: loaf of bread, a tin tongue, and two tins of
Speaker 1: preserved peaches. As I set it down again, After having
Speaker 1: examined it, my heart leapt to see that beneath it
Speaker 1: there lay a sheet of paper with writing upon it.
Speaker 1: I raised it, and this was what I read, roughly
Speaker 1: scrawled in pencil. Doctor Watson has gone to Coombe Tracy.
Speaker 1: For a minute I stood there with the paper in
Speaker 1: my hands, thinking out the meaning of this curt message.
Speaker 1: It was I, then, and not Sir Henry, who was
Speaker 1: being dogged by this secret man. He had not followed
Speaker 1: me himself, but he had set an agent, the boy,
Speaker 1: perhaps upon my track, and this was his report. Possibly
Speaker 1: I had taken no step, since I had been upon
Speaker 1: the moor which had not been observed and reported. Always
Speaker 1: there was this feeling of an unseen force, a fine
Speaker 1: net drawn round us with infinite skill and delicacy, holding
Speaker 1: us so lightly that it was only at some supreme
Speaker 1: moment that one realized that one was indeed entangled in
Speaker 1: its meshes. If there was one report, there might be others.
Speaker 1: So I looked round the hut in search of them.
Speaker 1: There was no trace, however, of anything of the kind,
Speaker 1: nor could I discover any sign which might indicate the
Speaker 1: character or intentions of the man who lived in this
Speaker 1: singular place, save that he must be of spartan habits,
Speaker 1: and cared little for the comforts of life. When I
Speaker 1: thought of the heavy rains and looked at the gaping roof,
Speaker 1: I understood how strong and immutable must be the purpose
Speaker 1: which had kept him in that inhospitable abode. Was he
Speaker 1: our malignant enemy? Or was he, by chance our guardian Angel.
Speaker 1: I swore that I would not leave the hut until
Speaker 1: I knew outside. The sun was sinking low, and the
Speaker 1: west was blazing with scarlet and gold. Its reflection was
Speaker 1: shot back in ruddy patches by the distant pools which
Speaker 1: lay amid the great Grimpen Maire. There were the two
Speaker 1: towers of Baskerville Hall, and there a distant blur of
Speaker 1: smoke which marked the village of Grimpen. Between the two,
Speaker 1: behind the hill was the house of the Stapletons. All
Speaker 1: was sweet and mellow and peaceful in the golden evening light.
Speaker 1: And yet as I looked at them, my soul shared
Speaker 1: none of the peace of nature, but quivered at the
Speaker 1: vagueness and the terror of that interview which every instant
Speaker 1: was bringing nearer. With tingling nerves but a fixed purpose,
Speaker 1: I sat in a dark recess of the hut, and
Speaker 1: waited with somber patience for the coming of its tenant.
Speaker 1: And then at last I heard him. Far away. Came
Speaker 1: the sharp clink of a boot striking upon a stone,
Speaker 1: then another, and yet another, coming nearer and nearer. I
Speaker 1: shrank back into the darkest corner and cocked the pistol
Speaker 1: in my pocket, determined not to discover myself until I
Speaker 1: had an opportunity of seeing something of the stranger. There
Speaker 1: was a long pause which showed that he had stopped.
Speaker 1: Then once more the footsteps approached, and a shadow fell
Speaker 1: across the opening of the hut. It is a lovely evening,
Speaker 1: my dear Watson, said a well known voice. I really
Speaker 1: think that you will be more comfortable outside than in
Speaker 1: end of chapter eleven.