Speaker 1: Chapter six of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir
Speaker 1: Arthur Conan Doyle. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Speaker 1: Chapter six Baskerville Hall, Sir Henry Baskerville and Doctor Mortimer
Speaker 1: were ready upon the appointed day, and we started as
Speaker 1: arranged for Devonshire. Mister Sherlock Holmes drove with me to
Speaker 1: the station and gave me his last parting injunctions and advice.
Speaker 1: I will not bias your mind by suggesting theories or suspicions,
Speaker 1: Watson said, he. I wish you simply to report facts
Speaker 1: in the fullest possible manner to me, and you can
Speaker 1: leave me to do the theorizing. What sort of facts
Speaker 1: I asked, anything which may seem to have a bearing,
Speaker 1: however indirect, upon the case, and especially the relations between
Speaker 1: young Baskerville and his neighbors, or any fresh particulars concerning
Speaker 1: the death of Sir Charles. I have made some inquiries
Speaker 1: myself in the life last few days, but the results
Speaker 1: have I fear been negative. One thing only appears to
Speaker 1: be certain, and that is that mister James Desmond, who
Speaker 1: is the next heir, is an elderly gentleman of a
Speaker 1: very amiable disposition, so that this persecution does not arise
Speaker 1: from him. I really think that we may eliminate him entirely.
Speaker 1: From our calculations. There remain the people who will actually
Speaker 1: surround Sir Henry Baskerville upon the moor. Would it not
Speaker 1: be well in the first place to get rid of
Speaker 1: this barrymore couple by no means you could not make
Speaker 1: a great mistake. If they are innocent, it will be
Speaker 1: a cruel injustice. And if they are guilty, we should
Speaker 1: be giving up all chance of bringing it home to them. No, no,
Speaker 1: we will preserve them upon our list of suspects. Then
Speaker 1: there is a groom at the hall. If I remember right,
Speaker 1: there are two Moreland farmers. There is our friend Dr Mortimer,
Speaker 1: whom I believe to be entirely honest, and there is
Speaker 1: his wife, of whom we know nothing. There is this
Speaker 1: naturalist Stapleton, and there is his sister, who is said
Speaker 1: to be a young lady of attractions. There is mister
Speaker 1: Franklin of Laughter Hall, who is also an unknown factor.
Speaker 1: And there are one or two other neighbors. These are
Speaker 1: the folk who must be your very special study. I'll
Speaker 1: do my best. You have arms. I suppose yes, I
Speaker 1: thought it as well to take them. Most certainly, keep
Speaker 1: your revolver near you night and day, and never relax
Speaker 1: your precautions. Our friends had already secured a first class
Speaker 1: carriage and were waiting for us upon the platform. No,
Speaker 1: we have no news of any kind, said doctor Mortimer,
Speaker 1: in answer to my friend's questions. I can swear to
Speaker 1: one thing, and that is that we have not been
Speaker 1: shadowed during the last two days. We have never gone
Speaker 1: out without keeping a sharp watch, and no one could
Speaker 1: have escaped our notice. You have always kept together, I presume,
Speaker 1: except yesterday afternoon. I usually give up one day to
Speaker 1: pure amusement when I come to town. So I spent
Speaker 1: it at the museum of the College of Surgeons, and
Speaker 1: I went to look at the folk in the park,
Speaker 1: said Baskerville. But we had no trouble of any kind.
Speaker 1: It was imprudent. All the same, said Holmes, shaking his
Speaker 1: head and looking very grave. I beg, sir Henry, that
Speaker 1: you will not go about alone. Some great misfortune will
Speaker 1: befall you if you do. Did you get your other boot, No, sir,
Speaker 1: it is gone forever. Indeed, that is very interesting. Well,
Speaker 1: good bye, he added, as the train began to glide
Speaker 1: down the platform, bear in mind, Sir Henry, one of
Speaker 1: the phrases in that queer old legend which Doctor Mortimer
Speaker 1: has read to us, and avoid the more in those
Speaker 1: hours of darkness, when the powers of evil are exalted.
Speaker 1: I looked back at the platform when we had left
Speaker 1: it far behind, and saw the tall, austere figure of
Speaker 1: Homes standing motionless and gazing after us. The journey was
Speaker 1: a swift and pleasant one, and I spent it in
Speaker 1: making the more intimate acquaintance of my two companions, and
Speaker 1: in playing with Doctor Mortimer's spaniel. In a very few hours,
Speaker 1: the brown earth had become ruddy, the brick had changed
Speaker 1: to granite, and red cows grazed in well hedged fields,
Speaker 1: where the lush grasses and more luxuriant vegetation spoke of
Speaker 1: a richer if a damper climate. Young Baskerville stared eagerly
Speaker 1: out of the window and cried aloud with delight as
Speaker 1: he recognized the familiar features of the devon scenery. I've
Speaker 1: been over a good part of the world since I
Speaker 1: left it, Dr Watson, said he, but I've never seen
Speaker 1: a place to compare with it. I never saw a
Speaker 1: Devonshire man who did not swear by his county. I remarked.
Speaker 1: It depends upon the breed of men, quite as much
Speaker 1: as on the county, said doctor Mortimer. A glance at
Speaker 1: our friend here reveals the rounded head of the celt
Speaker 1: which carries inside it the Celtic enthusiasm and power of attachment.
Speaker 1: Poor Sir Charles's head was of a very rare type,
Speaker 1: half Gallic, half Ivernian in its characteristics. But you are
Speaker 1: very young when you last saw Baskerville Hall, were you not?
Speaker 1: I was a boy in my teens at the time
Speaker 1: of my father's death and had never seen the hall,
Speaker 1: for he lived in a little cottage on the south coast.
Speaker 1: Thence I went straight to a friend in America. I
Speaker 1: tell you it is all as new to me as
Speaker 1: it is to doctor Watson, and I am as keen
Speaker 1: as possible to see the more are you? Then your
Speaker 1: wish is easily granted. For there is your first sight
Speaker 1: of the moor, said doctor Mortimer, pointing out of the
Speaker 1: carriage window, over the green squares of the fields and
Speaker 1: the low curve of a wood. There rose in the distance,
Speaker 1: a gray, melancholy hill with a strange, jagged summit, dim
Speaker 1: and vague in the distance, like some fantastic landscape in
Speaker 1: a dream. Baskerville sat for a long time, his eyes
Speaker 1: fixed upon it, and I read upon his eager face
Speaker 1: how much it meant to him, this first sight of
Speaker 1: that strange spot where the men of his blood had
Speaker 1: held sway so long and left their mark so deep.
Speaker 1: There he sat with his tweed suit, in the corner
Speaker 1: of a prosaic railway carriage. And yet as I looked
Speaker 1: at his dark and expressive face, I felt more than
Speaker 1: ever how true a descendant he was of that long
Speaker 1: line of high blooded, fiery and masterful men. There were pride, valor,
Speaker 1: and strength in his thick brows, his sensitive nostrils, and
Speaker 1: his large hazel eyes. If on that forbidding more a
Speaker 1: difficult and dangerous quest should lie before us, this was
Speaker 1: at least a comrade for whom one might venture to
Speaker 1: take a risk, with the certainty that he would bravely
Speaker 1: share it. The train pulled up at a small wayside station,
Speaker 1: and we all descended outside. Beyond the low white fence,
Speaker 1: a wagonette with a pair of cobs was waiting. Our
Speaker 1: coming was evidently a great event for station master and
Speaker 1: porters clustered round us to carry out our luggage. It
Speaker 1: was a sweet, simple country spot, but I was surprised
Speaker 1: to observe that by the gate there stood two soldierly
Speaker 1: men in dark uniforms, who leaned upon their short rifles
Speaker 1: and glanced keenly at us. As we passed the coachman,
Speaker 1: a hard faced, gnarled little fellow saluted Sir Henry Baskerville,
Speaker 1: and in a few minutes we were flying swiftly down
Speaker 1: the broad white road, rolling pasture lands curved upward on
Speaker 1: either side of us, and old gabled houses peeped out
Speaker 1: from amid the thick green foliage. But behind the peaceful
Speaker 1: and sunlit country side there rose, ever dark against the
Speaker 1: evening sky, the long, long, gloomy curve of the moor,
Speaker 1: broken by the jagged and sinister hills. The wagonette swung
Speaker 1: round into a side road, and we curved upward through
Speaker 1: deep lanes worn by centuries of wheels. High banks on
Speaker 1: either side, heavy with dripping moss and fleshy heart's tongue ferns,
Speaker 1: bronzing bracken and mottled bramble, gleamed in the light of
Speaker 1: the sinking sun. Still steadily rising. We passed over a
Speaker 1: narrow granite bridge and skirted a noisy stream which gushed
Speaker 1: swiftly down, foaming and roaring amid the gray boulders. Both
Speaker 1: road and stream wound up through a valley dense with scrub,
Speaker 1: oak and fir. At every turn Baskerville gave an exclamation
Speaker 1: of delight, looking eagerly about him and asking countless questions.
Speaker 1: To his eyes, all seemed beautiful, But to me a
Speaker 1: tinge of melancholy lay upon the countryside, which bore so
Speaker 1: clearly the mark of the waning year. Yellow leaves carpeted
Speaker 1: the lanes and fluttered down upon us as we passed.
Speaker 1: The rattle of our wheels died away as we drove
Speaker 1: through drifts of rotting vegetation, sad gifts, as it seemed
Speaker 1: to me for nature to throw before the carriage of
Speaker 1: the returning air of the Baskervilles. Hullo, cried doctor Mortimer,
Speaker 1: What is this? A steep curve of heath clad land,
Speaker 1: an outlying spur of the moor lay in front of
Speaker 1: us on the summit, hard and clear, like an equestrian statue.
Speaker 1: Upon its pedestal was a mounted soldier, dark and stern,
Speaker 1: his rifle poised ready over his forearm. He was watching
Speaker 1: the road along which we traveled. What is this, Perkins
Speaker 1: asked Doctor Mortimer, our driver half turned in his seat.
Speaker 1: Here's a convict escape from Princetown, Sir. He's been out
Speaker 1: here three days now, and the warders watch every road
Speaker 1: and every station, but they've had no soft of him yet.
Speaker 1: The farmers about here don't like you, sir. And that's
Speaker 1: a fact. Well. I understand that they get five pounds
Speaker 1: if they can give information, yes, sir, But the chance
Speaker 1: of five pounds is but a poor thing compared to
Speaker 1: the chance of having your throat cut. You see, it
Speaker 1: isn't like any ordinary convict. This is a man who
Speaker 1: would stick at nothing. Who is he? Then? It is
Speaker 1: seldom the not an ill murderer. I remembered the case well,
Speaker 1: for it was one in which Holmes had taken an interest.
Speaker 1: On account of the peculiar ferocity of the crime and
Speaker 1: the wanton brutality which had marked all the actions of
Speaker 1: the assassin. The commutation of his death sentence had been
Speaker 1: due to some doubts as to his complete sanity, So
Speaker 1: atrocious was his conduct. Our wagonette had topped a rise,
Speaker 1: and in front of us rose the huge expanse of
Speaker 1: the moor, mottled with gnarled and craggy cairns and tours.
Speaker 1: A cold wind swept down from it and set a shiver.
Speaker 1: Somewhere there on that desolate plain was lurking, this fiendish man,
Speaker 1: hiding in a burrow like a wild beast, his heart
Speaker 1: full of malignancy against the whole race which had cast
Speaker 1: him out. It needed but this to complete the grim
Speaker 1: suggestiveness of the barren waste, the chilling wind, and the
Speaker 1: darkling sky. Even Baskerville fell silent and pulled his overcoat
Speaker 1: more closely around him. We had left the fertile country behind,
Speaker 1: and beneath us we looked back on it now, the
Speaker 1: slanting rays of a low sun turning the streams to
Speaker 1: threads of gold, and glowing on the red earth new
Speaker 1: turned by the plow, and the broad tangle of the woodlands.
Speaker 1: The road in front of us screw bleaker and wilder,
Speaker 1: over huge russet and olive slopes sprinkled with giant boulders.
Speaker 1: Now and then we passed to Moorland cottage, walled and
Speaker 1: roofed with stone, with no creeper to break its harsh outline.
Speaker 1: Suddenly we looked down into a cuplike depression, patched with
Speaker 1: stunted oaks and firs which had been twisted and bent
Speaker 1: by the fury of years of storm. Two high, narrow
Speaker 1: towers rose over the trees. The driver pointed with his whip.
Speaker 1: Baskerville Hall said he Its master had risen and was
Speaker 1: staring with flushed cheeks and shining eyes. A few minutes
Speaker 1: later we had reached the lodge gates, a maze of
Speaker 1: fantastic tracery in wrought iron, with weather bitten pillars on
Speaker 1: either side, blotched with lichens, and surmounted by the boars
Speaker 1: heads of the Baskervilles. The lodge was a ruin of
Speaker 1: black granite and bared ribs of rafters, but facing it
Speaker 1: was a new building, half constructed, the first fruit of
Speaker 1: Sir Charles's South African gold. Through the gateway we passed
Speaker 1: into the avenue, where the wheels were again hushed amid
Speaker 1: the leaves, and the old trees shot their branches in
Speaker 1: a somber tunnel over our heads. Baskerville shuddered as we
Speaker 1: looked up the long dark drive to where the house
Speaker 1: glimmered like a ghost at the farther end. Was it here,
Speaker 1: he asked in a low voice. No, No, the yew
Speaker 1: alleys on the other side. The young air glanced round
Speaker 1: with a gloomy face. It's no wonder my uncle felt
Speaker 1: as if trouble were coming on him in such a
Speaker 1: place as this, said he. It's enough to scare any man.
Speaker 1: I'll have a row of electric lamps up here inside
Speaker 1: of six months, and you won't know it again. With
Speaker 1: a thousand candle power Swan and Edison right here in
Speaker 1: front of the hall door. The avenue opened into a
Speaker 1: broad expanse of turf, and the house lay before us.
Speaker 1: In the fading light, I could see that the center
Speaker 1: was a heavy block of building from which a porch projected.
Speaker 1: The whole front was draped in ivy, with a patch
Speaker 1: slipped bare here and there where a window or a
Speaker 1: coat of arms broke through the dark veil. From this
Speaker 1: central block rose the twin towers, ancient crenelated and pierced
Speaker 1: with many loopholes. To right and left of the turrets
Speaker 1: were more modern wings of black granite. A dull light
Speaker 1: shone through heavy mullioned windows, and from the high chimneys
Speaker 1: which rose from the steep, high angled roof. There sprang
Speaker 1: a single black column of smoke. Welcome, Sir Henry, Welcome
Speaker 1: to Baskerville Hall. A tall man had stepped from the
Speaker 1: shadow of the porch to open the door of the wagonette.
Speaker 1: The figure of a woman was silhouetted against the yellow
Speaker 1: light of the hall. She came out and helped the
Speaker 1: man to hand down our bags. You don't mind my
Speaker 1: driving straight home, Sir Henry, said Doctor Mortimer. My wife
Speaker 1: is expecting me. Surely you'll stay and have some dinner. No,
Speaker 1: I must go. I shall probably find some work awaiting me.
Speaker 1: I would stay to show you over the house, but
Speaker 1: Barrymore would be a better guide than I. Good Bye,
Speaker 1: and never hesitate night or day to send for me
Speaker 1: if I can be of service. The wheels died away
Speaker 1: down the drive while Sir Henry and I turned into
Speaker 1: the hall, and the door clanged heavily behind us. It
Speaker 1: was a fine apartment in which we found ourselves, large,
Speaker 1: lofty and heavily rafted with huge walks of age blackened oak.
Speaker 1: In the great old fashioned fireplace behind the high iron dogs,
Speaker 1: a log fire crackled and snapped. Sir Henry and I
Speaker 1: held out our hands to it, for we were numb
Speaker 1: from our long drive. Then we gazed round us at
Speaker 1: the high, thin window of old stained glass, the oak paneling,
Speaker 1: the stag's heads, the coats of arms upon the walls,
Speaker 1: all dim and somber in the subdued light of the
Speaker 1: central lamp. It's just as I imagined it, said, Sir Henry.
Speaker 1: Is it not the very picture of an old family home?
Speaker 1: To think that this shall be the same hall in
Speaker 1: which for five hundred years my people have lived? It
Speaker 1: strikes me solemn to think of it. I saw his
Speaker 1: dark face lit up with a boyish enthusiasm as he
Speaker 1: gazed about him. The light beat upon him where he stood,
Speaker 1: but long shadows trailed down the walls and hung like
Speaker 1: a black canopy above him. Barrymore had returned from taking
Speaker 1: our luggage to our rooms. He stood in front of
Speaker 1: us now with the subdued manner of a well trained servant.
Speaker 1: He was a remarkable looking man, tall handsome, with a
Speaker 1: square black beard and pale distinguished features. Would you wish
Speaker 1: dinner to be served at once? Sir? Is it ready?
Speaker 1: In a few minutes, sir, you will find out water
Speaker 1: in your rooms. My wife, and I will be happy,
Speaker 1: Sir Henry, to stay with you until you've made your
Speaker 1: fresh arrangements. But you will understand, under the new conditions
Speaker 1: this house will require a considerable staff. What new conditions.
Speaker 1: I only meant it, sir, that Sir Charles led a
Speaker 1: very retired life, and we were able to look after
Speaker 1: his wants. You would naturally wish to have more company,
Speaker 1: and so you will need changes in your household. Do
Speaker 1: you mean that your wife and you wish to leave
Speaker 1: only when it's quite convenient to you, sir? But your
Speaker 1: family have been with us for several generations, have they not?
Speaker 1: I should be sorry to begin my life here by
Speaker 1: breaking an old family connection. I seem to discern some
Speaker 1: signs of emotion upon the butler's white face. I feel
Speaker 1: that also, sir, and so does my wife. But to
Speaker 1: tell the truth, Sir, we were both very much attached
Speaker 1: to Sir Charles, and his death gave us a shock
Speaker 1: and made these surroundings very painful to us. I fear
Speaker 1: that we shall never again be easy in our minds
Speaker 1: at Baskerville all. But what do you intend to do?
Speaker 1: I have no doubt, sir, that we shall succeed in
Speaker 1: establishing ourselves in some business. Sir Charles's generosity has given
Speaker 1: us the means to do so. And now, sir, perhaps
Speaker 1: i'd best show you to your rooms. A square, balustraded
Speaker 1: gallery ran round the top of the old hall, approached
Speaker 1: by a double stair. From this central point, two long
Speaker 1: corridors extended the whole length of the building, from which
Speaker 1: all the bedrooms opened. My own was in the same
Speaker 1: wing as Baskerville's, and almost next door to it. These
Speaker 1: rooms appeared to be much more modern than the central
Speaker 1: part of the house, and the bright paper and numerous
Speaker 1: candles did something to remove the somber impression which our
Speaker 1: arrival had left upon my mind. But the dining room,
Speaker 1: which opened out of the hall, was a place of
Speaker 1: shadow and gloom. It was a long chamber with a
Speaker 1: step separating the dace where the family sat, from the
Speaker 1: lower portion reserved for their dependants. At one end, a
Speaker 1: minstrel's gallery overlooked it. Black beams shot across above our heads,
Speaker 1: with a smoke darkened ceiling beyond them, with rows of
Speaker 1: flaring torches to light it up, and the color and
Speaker 1: rude hilarity of an old time banquet. It might have softened.
Speaker 1: But now, when two black clothed gentlemen sat in the
Speaker 1: little circle of light thrown by a shaded lamp, one's
Speaker 1: voice became hushed and one's spirit subdued. A dim line
Speaker 1: of ancestors in every variety of dress, from the Elizabethan
Speaker 1: Knight to the buck of the Regency, stared down upon
Speaker 1: us and daunted us by their silent company. We talked little,
Speaker 1: and I, for one, was glad when the meal was
Speaker 1: over and we were able to retire into the modern
Speaker 1: billiard room and smoke a cigarette. My word, it isn't
Speaker 1: a very cheerful place, said Sir Henry. I suppose one
Speaker 1: can tone down to it, but I feel a bit
Speaker 1: out of the picture at present. I don't mind that
Speaker 1: my uncle got a little jumpy if he lived all
Speaker 1: alone in such a house as this. However, if it
Speaker 1: suits you, we will retire early to night, and perhaps
Speaker 1: things may seem more cheerful in the morning. I drew
Speaker 1: aside my curtains before I went to bed, and looked
Speaker 1: out from my window. It opened up upon the grassy
Speaker 1: space which lay in front of the hall door. Beyond
Speaker 1: two copses of trees moaned and swung in a rising wind,
Speaker 1: A half moon broke through the rifts of racing clouds.
Speaker 1: In its cold light, I saw beyond the trees a
Speaker 1: broken fringe of rocks, and the long, low curve of
Speaker 1: the melancholy more. I closed the curtain, feeling that my
Speaker 1: last impression was in keeping with the rest. And yet
Speaker 1: it was not quite the last. I found myself weary
Speaker 1: and yet wakeful, tossing restlessly from side to side, seeking
Speaker 1: for the sleep which would not come far away. A
Speaker 1: chiming clock struck out the quarters of the hours, but
Speaker 1: otherwise a deathly silence lay upon the old house. And
Speaker 1: then suddenly, in the very dead of night, there came
Speaker 1: a sound to my ears, clear, resonant, and unmistakable. It
Speaker 1: was the sob of a woman, the muffled, strangling gasp
Speaker 1: of one who is torn by an uncontrollable sorrow. I
Speaker 1: sat up in bed and listened intently. The noise could
Speaker 1: not have been far away, and was certainly in the house.
Speaker 1: For half an hour, I waited, with every nerve on
Speaker 1: the alert, but there came no other sound save the
Speaker 1: chiming clock and the rustle of the ivy on the wall.
Speaker 1: End of Chapter six