英语小说网

During dinner Sir Henry told us that he had spent a dull day and evening on his own. He had kept his promise to Holmes, and so he had not accepted the Stapletons" invitation to their house that evening. We did not tell him how glad we were that he had stayed away from the moor!

"Sir Henry, could you tell me which Baskerville that is?" he asked. Sir Henry and I both looked at the picture.

When we reached the Hall, Sir Henry was very pleased to see Holmes. But he was surprised that Holmes had no luggage and that he appeared so unexpectedly.

Holmes started to say something, and then he stopped suddenly. His eyes were fixed on one of the pictures of the past Baskervilles on the wall.

I had the unhappy job of telling Barrymore and his wife about her brother's death. Mrs Barrymore cried and was very sad indeed.

"That is Sir Hugo, the one who started all the trouble," said Sir Henry. "He was the first to see the Hound."

Holmes looked hard at the picture, but said nothing more.

Then after Sir Henry had gone to his room, Holmes made me stand in front of the picture. "Is it like anyone you know?" he asked. He stood on a chair, and with his hands he covered the hat and hair of the man in the picture.

When Sir Henry joined us, Holmes told him that we had to leave for London immediately after breakfast. Sir Henry was very unhappy about this, but Holmes asked him to help us by doing everything Holmes ordered him to do. Sir Henry agreed to help in this way, and to go by himself to the Stapletons that evening. He also agreed to tell the Stapletons that Holmes and I had gone to London, but that we would return to Devonshire soon.

"Good heavens!" I cried in surprise. I was looking at a picture of Stapleton's face.

"Yes," said Holmes before I could say anything more. "There's not much doubt about it. Stapleton is a Baskerville. He looks like Sir Hugo, and he has the same evil character. Now I understand why he wants to kill Sir Henry. I am sure we shall find that he will inherit the Baskerville lands. And so we have one more answer. By tomorrow night Stapleton will be canght like one of his butterflies, and we shall add him to the Baker Street collection."

We soon went to bed. I was up early in the morning, but Holmes was up earlier. He had already sent one message to the police about Selden, and another to his boy to stop him taking food to the hut.

"Across the moor?" said Sir Henry, very surprised. "But you have told me again and again not to do that."

"One more order," said Holmes. "I want you to drive to the Stapletons house and then send the driver away. Let the Stapletons know that you're going to walk home across the moor."

"This time it will be completely safe. I know that you are brave enough to do it, and it must be done."

"Then I will do it."

"But you must keep to the path between the Stapletons house and the Grimpen road, which is your natural way home. Do not leave the path."

I was very surprised by all this. Holmes had told Stapleton that he would return to London, but he had not said that I was going too. And I was very worried that neither of us would be with Sir Henry when he walked across the moor that night. But we had to obey Holmes orders.

"You will take the train to London, my boy. When you get there, you will send a telegram to Sir Henry in my name. It will ask him to send to me at Baker Street the pocket book I left at the Hall."

Holmes and I left Baskerville Hall immediately after breakfast and went to the station at Newtown. A small boy was waiting on the platform.

"Any orders, sir?" he asked Holmes.

I began to understand some of Holmes plan. When Sir Henry received the telegram sent by Holmes boy, he would think that we had arrived in London. He would tell Stapleton, who would then also believe that we were far away from Baskerville Hall. In fact, we would be very close in case Sir Henry needed us.

We left the station and went to see Mrs Laura Lyons. I introduced Holmes to her. After they had shaken hands, he said: "Dr Watson has told me everything, Mrs Lyons. We see Sir Charles death as a case of murder. Both Stapleton and his wife are suspects.

Mrs Lyons jumped from her chair. "His wife!" she cried."He has no wife. He is not a married man."

"I have come here ready to prove that he is married, and the woman calls herself his sister is really his wife," said Holmes. He took some photographs and papers from his pocket, and showed them to Mrs Lyons. She looked at the photographs and read the papers. When she put them down, I could see that she had accepted the truth.

"I thought this man loved me," she said, "but he has lied to me. Ask me what you like, Mr Holmes, and I will tell you the truth. I never thought any harm would come to Sir Charles. He was a dear old gentleman who was very kind to me. I would do nothing to hurt him."

"Stapleton told me that he could not allow any other man to give me the money for my divorce," Mrs Lyons said. "He said he was poor, but he would give all his money to bring us together. Then, after I heard about Sir Charles death, Stapleton told me to say nothing about my letter and the meeting. He said I would be a suspect. He frightened me into staying silent."

"I believe you, Mrs Lyons," said Holmes. "Now, let me tell you what I think happened. You can tell me If I'm right or if I'm wrong. First of all, I think Stapleton told you to write the letter to Sir Charles and to ask him for help. He also told you to ask Sir Charles to meet you at the moor gate. Then, after you had sent the letter, Stapleton persuaded you not to meet Sir Charles after all."

"Yes," said Holmes. "But you wondered about him?"

She said nothing for a moment, and looked down. "Yes," she said. "But since he has lied to me about marrying me, I will no longer keep his secrets."

"You are lucky that you have escaped him," Holmes said. "You know too much But I hope you are safe now. Good morning, Mrs Lyons, and thank you. You will hear from us soon."

"So one by one our questions are answered," said Holmes as we left Newtown. "When it is over, this will be one of the most famous cases of our time. And now it has nearly ended. We must hope that it ends safely and successfully."