CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Looking Back

It was the end of November, more than a month after our return from Baskerville Hall. Now the wind was cool and sharp, and the trees were losing their leaves. On Baker Street, Holmes and I were sitting next to a bright, warm fire in our sitting room. Since our return, Holmes had been working hard on two other cases, and he had been too busy to discuss the Baskerville case. But now the other cases were finished, and he had been successful in both of them. I decided that now was a good time to ask Holmes a few more questions about the Baskervilles and the hound.

"The picture showed us that Stapleton was really one of the Baskervilles," Holmes began. "He was the son of Roger Baskerville, who was Sir Charles'youngest brother. You remember that Roger was a criminal. He escaped from prison and ran away to South America. Everyone thought that he had died with no wife or child, but that was not true. He had one son, who was also named Roger. We knew the son as Stapleton. Stapleton married a beautiful South American woman and came to England, where he started a school in the north. Stapleton found out that he would get all the Baskerville lands and money if Sir Charles and Sir Henry both died. That is why he moved to Devonshire when the school closed.

"Stapleton had decided to kill Sir Charles and Sir Henry, but he did not know how he was going to do this. But when he met Sir Charles, he heard the story of the Hound of the Baskervilles. He also learned that Sir Charles believed these supernatural stories, and that he had a weak heart."

"Stapleton went to buy a huge hound, and bought some phosphorous paint to make it shine just like the hound in the story. I have found the place where he bought the animal. He took the animal to Devonshire on the train, and then walked many miles over the moors with it so that no one at Baskerville Hall would see him with it.

"He needed to get Sir Charles out of the Hall at night. At first, he wanted his wife to make Sir Charles fall in love with her. Then Sir Charles would want to see her at any time. But, although he beat her, she would not help him.

"Then Stapleton met Lama Lyons. Mrs Lyons was weak, and Stapleton made her fall in love with him. He promised Laura that he would marry her, if she got a divorce. We know that he made her write a letter, asking Sir Charles to meet her at the moor gate on the night he died. The hound, which was shining white with phosphorus paint, chased Sir Charles down the Alley of trees. Sir Charles'terror was so great that his weak heart stopped, and he died, but the animal did not touch the dead body. What a horrible way to die!"

"The hound had run on the grass, so it left no footprints, except the one found by Dr Mortimer. You see how clever Stapleton was. Neither he nor the hound had touched Sir Charles, so no one knew that he had been murdered. There were only two people who might suspect him—his wife and Mrs Lyons. But Dr Mortimer told everyone that Sir Charles had died of a weak heart, so the women could not be sure about what had done. Anyway, neither of them would tell the police about him."

"Next, Stapleton learned that Sir Henry had arrived in London, so he went there. He hoped to murder Sir Henry in the city. He took his wife with him, but he did not think she would keep his secret, so he did not tell her the truth. He locked her up in their hotel. She knew that he had some evil plan, but she was too frightened to give Sir Henry a clear warning. So she sent him the letter made of words cut from a newspaper."

"Meanwhile, Stapleton was wearing a fake beard and following Sir Henry. He needed something to give the hound Sir Henry's scent, so he paid a maid at Sir Henry's hotel to steal one of his shoes. The first shoe was a new one, and it didn't have Sir Henry's scent on it. It was no use for the hound, so he put it back, and another older shoe was stolen. When the shoes were changed, I knew that the hound was a real animal, because if it had to find Sir Henry, it needed to smell him. A ghost would not need to do that!"

"When I looked at the letter Sir Henry got in London, I held it close to my eyes. I noticed a smell of perfume, so I guessed that a woman had sent the letter."

"By the time I went to Devonshire, I knew some important things. I knew that there was a hound that could kill people, and it was real. I also knew that we were looking for a man and a woman. I guessed that the Stapletons were the pair. I had to watch Stapleton, but I needed to hide myself. As you know, Watson, I could not tell you what I was doing. Otherwise, Stapleton might find us."

"Your letters were sent to me immediately from Baker Street, and were very helpful. You told me that Stapleton had once owned a school in northern England. So I checked on Stapleton, and where he had come from. I discovered that he had come from South America. And then everything became clear!"

"When you found me on the moor, I knew everything, but I could prove nothing. We had to catch the man doing something criminal, and so I had to put Sir Henry in danger in order to save his life!"

"Dr Mortimer tells me that Sir Henry will be completely better after some rest. As you know, the two of them have become good friends, and are going to travel together for a while. It will be some time before Sir Henry forgets about Miss Stapleton. He was in love with her, and he felt terrible when he learned the truth about her."

"Miss Stapleton was afraid of her husband, and she thought that he had somehow killed Sir Charles. She knew that Stapleton had a hound, and when Selden died, she guessed that the hound had killed him. She knew her husband had the hound outside the house on the night Sir Henry came to dinner. He knew that she wanted to help Sir Henry, so he beat her and tied her up. He probably told Sir Henry that she was sick, and could not eat with them.

"Stapleton probably hoped that when he got the Baskerville lands, his wife would love him again. He certainly thought that if his wife became Lady Baskerville, she would say nothing. But I think he was wrong. He had been too cruel to her. She could not forgive him or love him again, after he had killed people."

"Of course, he could not frighten Sir Henry in the same way as Sir Charles. Sir Henry was a young and healthy man, and his heart would not stop from fear. So he kept the hound very hungry. He knew that when the hound found Sir Henry, it would probably kill Sir Henry and eat him. Or, it would hurt him so badly that it would be easy for Stapleton to finish killing him. No one would ever know that Sir Henry had been murdered. They would think that the terrible hound had killed another Baskerville!"

I had another question for Holmes. "Roger Baskerville was living very close to Baskerville Hall, and using the false name of 'Stapleton'. If, after Sir Henry's death he got all the Baskerville lands and money, how would he explain who he really was to everyone?"

"I don't know how he was going to explain his false name of Stapleton," said Holmes. "Roger Baskerville was a clever man, so I am sure he had an answer to that problem.

I thought for a moment and said, "Holmes, the story of Sir Hugo Baskerville's death many years ago tells us about another huge, terrible hound, the first one. Do you think ... that hound was a ghost? Or was it a real hound, too?"

Holmes smiled. "That, Watson, we shall never know.

"But that's enough talking about work for the evening, Watson! I have two tickets for an excellent play at the theater. And if we leave now, we will have time to stop at my favorite restaurant on the way!"

(end of section)