CHAPTER TEN

The Letter

The following day was dark, and there was a thick mist in the air. The Hall was surrounded by heavy, low clouds. The weather made us all feel very unhappy. It was difficult to be cheerful when everything seemed so dangerous. I thought of Sir Charles' death, and the awful sound of the hound. I had now heard the thing twice, whatever it was. Holmes did not believe that there was a supernatural hound. At first, I had not believed it either. But I had heard a hound two times by now. Was there a huge hound living on the moor? If so, where did it get its food? Why was it never seen by day? It all seemed terribly strange to me.

That morning Sir Henry and Barrymore argued about Selden, the escaped prisoner. Barrymore begged Sir Henry not to try and catch Selden.

"Barrymore, the man is dangerous," said Sir Henry. "He'll do anything. With him here, we are all in danger! Nobody is safe until he is in prison again. We must tell the police."

"Sir, I promise you he won't enter into any houses," said Barrymore, "and he won't cause any trouble. He has told us that in a few days he will catch a boat for South America. Please don't tell the police about him. If you do, my wife and I will be in serious trouble, and we only wanted to help him."

"What do you think, Watson?" Sir Henry asked me.

"I don't think he will break into houses, or cause trouble. If he did, then the police would know where to find him. He's probably not a stupid man."

"I hope you're right," said Sir Henry. "I'm sure we're breaking the law by not telling the police about him. But I don't want to get Barrymore and his wife into trouble, so I shall leave Selden alone for now. But at the first sign of trouble, I will tell the police about him."

Barrymore could not find the words to thank Sir Henry enough. Then he said: "Sir Henry, you have been so kind to us that I want to do something for you in return. I have never told anyone else about this. I know something more about poor Sir Charles' death." Sir Henry and I jumped up at once and stared at him. "What do you know?" I asked.

"I know why he was waiting at the moor gate on the night he died. He was going to meet a woman."

"Sir Charles was meeting a woman? Who was the woman?"

"I don't know her name," Barrymore said, "but I know the initials of her name. They are L. L."

"How do you know all this, Barrymore?" I asked.

"Well, on the day of his death Sir Charles got a letter. It was from Newtown, and the address on it was written in a woman's handwriting. I was busy that day and forgot all about it. However, some time after Sir Charles died, my wife was cleaning the fireplace in his room. In the fireplace she found a letter. Most of it was burned, but the bottom of one page was not burned. On it was written: 'Please, please, burn this letter, and be at the gate by ten o'clock. L. L.' We don't know who L. L. is,but if you could find out, you might learn more about Sir Charles' death. We haven't told anyone else about this. It would not be good if the town thought strange things about poor, kind Sir Charles! But we thought we should tell you, Sir Henry."

When the Barrymores had left us, Sir Henry turned to me. "If we can find L. L., we may be able to solve the mystery," he said. "What should we do,

Watson?"

"I must write to Holmes at once," I said. I went to my room and wrote a letter to Holmes, telling him all the details of Barrymore's story.

The next day it rained heavily. I put on my coat and went out for a walk on the wild, cold moor. As I walked, I thought of Selden wandering around the moor in this weather. Who knew what he was doing now? I also thought of the other man, the mysterious person who had been watching us.

Suddenly I saw Dr Mortimer's carriage drive by.

I waved to him and he stopped. He seemed happy to see me and said he would take me back to the Hall.

While we were traveling, I said, "Dr Mortimer, you must know everyone that lives in this area. Do you know a woman whose first and last names begin with the letters L. L.?"

Dr Mortimer thought for a minute, and then said: "Yes, I do. There is a Mrs Laura Lyons. She lives in Newtown."

"Who is she?" I asked.

"She's Mr Frankland's daughter.

"What? Angry old Mr Frankland who likes to watch the stars?"

"Yes," said Dr Mortimer. "You see, Laura married a man named Lyons who came here to paint pictures of the moor. But he was cruel to her, and after a while he left her. Her father will not speak to her, because she married a man he did not like. So, now both her husband and her father have left her alone. She is very unhappy."

"How does she live? Does she have any money?" I asked.

"Well, there are some people who know her sad story, and who have helped her. Mr Stapleton and Sir Charles have given her some money. I gave her a little also. She used the money to start a typewriting business."

Dr Mortimer wanted to know why I was asking about Mrs Lyons. I told him I wanted to keep the reason a secret, so we talked about other things for the rest of the journey back to Baskerville Hall.

Another interesting thing happened that day. That evening after dinner I decided to speak with Barrymore alone. I asked him whether Mrs Barrymore's brother Selden had left for South America yet.

"I don't know, sir," Barrymore said. "I hope he has gone, for his own good. My wife and I have not heard from him since we last left him some food and clothes. That was three days ago."

"Did you see or speak to him when you left him the food and clothes?"

"No, sir, but when I went to that place yesterday, the food and clothes were gone," Barrymore told me.

"Then probably Selden had been there," I said.

"I think so, sir. Well, unless that other man took everything."

I looked hard at Barrymore. "You know there is another man, then? Have you seen him?"

"No, sir, but Selden told me about him a week or more ago. He is hiding from someone, too, but he is not a criminal. I don't like it, sir. I feel that something terrible is going to happen. Sir Henry would be much safer in London, I think!"

"Did Selden tell you anything else about this other man?" I asked.

"Well, Selden said he looked like a gentleman, but he was living in one of those little old stone houses on the moor! A boy works for him and brings him all the food and things he needs. That's all Selden told me. Sir, why would a gentlemen live on the moor like an animal? It is very strange to me."

I agreed with Barrymore, but I did not say so. Instead I thanked him, and he left me. I went to the window and looked out at the rain and the clouds. It was a wild night, with the rain pouring and the wind blowing hard. I knew the little stone houses Barrymore had spoken about. There were many of them on the moor. Many hundreds of years ago the people who lived on the moor had built them to live in. They would not keep a man warm and dry in bad weather. I guessed that because of the trouble he was in, Selden could not choose to live anywhere else. If he lived in the town, of course he would be caught. But why did this other gentleman want to live in such a strange place?

I sat and thought about what I should do next. I decided I must try to find the man who had been watching us. I felt sure he knew something very important about the case. Was he the enemy who had been following us since the very beginning in London? If he was, and I could make him talk to me, perhaps our difficulties would be at an end.

I decided to hunt for the man on my own. I did not want to lead Sir Henry out onto the moor, where he might be in danger.

(end of section)