CHAPTER ELEVEN

Laura Lyons

I told Sir Henry what I had learned about Laura Lyons. I wanted to speak with her as soon as possible, so I went to her house in Newtown.

A maid took me into the sitting room. There, a very pretty lady with dark hair was working at a typewriter. I told her who I was, and that I had met her father.

Mrs Lyons looked sad. "I do not speak to my father," she said. "He gave me no help when I was in trouble. Instead, Sir Charles Baskerville and some other kind people helped me when I was poor and hungry."

"As a matter of fact, I have come to talk to you about Sir Charles," I said. "I want to know if you ever wrote a letter to him, asking him to meet you anywhere."

Mrs Lyons looked angry, and her face turned red.

"Dr Watson!" she said. "I do not know why you are asking me about my private life, because it is none of your business. But if you must know, the answer is 'no'. I never wrote this kind of letter to him!"

Of course, I knew she was lying. "Mrs Lyons, I think you do not remember clearly," I said. "I know that you wrote a letter to him on the day of his death. The end of your letter said: 'Please, please, burn this letter, and be at the gate by ten o'clock.

For a moment Mrs Lyons said nothing and looked away from me, out the window. Then she sighed and said in a low voice: "I asked Sir Charles to tell nobody." "Do not think that Sir Charles told anyone about you," I said. "He put the letter on the fire, but not all of it was burnt. The end of the message was found by me. Now, did you write that letter to him?"

"Yes," she said. "Why should I be sorry for writing to him? Sir Charles had been very kind to me, and I asked him to help me one more time. I learned that he was going to London early on the following day, so I asked him to meet me before he went. I could not go to the Hall earlier that day."

"But why did you ask him to meet you in the alley of trees, instead of in the house?" I asked.

"What would people think if I went to the house of an unmarried man, at that time of night?" she asked.

"What happened when you got there?" I asked.

"I didn't go," she replied.

"Mrs Lyons, I don't believe you!" I said.

"I am telling you the truth! Something happened that stopped me from going. I won't tell you what it was!" she said angrily.

"Mrs Lyons," I said. "If you did not see Sir Charles, you must tell me why. If you do not, I will have to go to the police with this new piece of information about the letter. Then the police will come to you, and you may be in trouble."

Mrs Lyons seemed to think for a moment. Then she said: "I see that I must tell you. Perhaps you know that I married a terrible man who was very cruel to me. He hit me and called me names. I hate him, and I wanted to get a divorce. But a divorce is expensive, and I had no money. I thought that if Sir Charles heard my story, he would help me to get a divorce."

"Then why didn't you go to see Sir Charles?" I asked her.

"Because someone else helped me," she said.

"Why didn't you write to Sir Charles and tell him?"

"I was going to, but I saw in the newspaper the next morning that he had died."

I asked Mrs Lyons many other questions, but no matter what I asked her she did not change her story. I decided that she was telling me the truth, but I wanted to make sure. I decided to examine two important parts of her story. If they were right, then I had no doubt that she was telling me the truth. First, I could find out if Mrs Lyons had begun to get a divorce at the time of Sir Charles' death. Second, I could find out if she had really not gone to Baskerville Hall on the night of Sir Charles' death.

I had discovered all I could for the moment. I told Mrs Lyons goodbye, and went to search for more information. It was time to find the man on the moor.

(end of section)