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โ€œOh, you return tomorrow?โ€

โ€œThat is my intention.โ€

โ€œI hope your visit has cast some light upon those occurrences which have puzzled us?โ€

Holmes shrugged his shoulders.

โ€œOne cannot always have the success for which one hopes. An investigator needs facts and not legends or rumours. It has not been a satisfactory case.โ€

My friend spoke in his frankest and most unconcerned manner. Stapleton still looked hard at him. Then he turned to me.

โ€œI would suggest carrying this poor fellow to my house, but it would give my sister such a fright that I do not feel justified in doing it. I think that if we put something over his face he will be safe until morning.โ€

And so it was arranged. Resisting Stapletonโ€™s offer of hospitality, Holmes and I set off to Baskerville Hall, leaving the naturalist to return alone. Looking back we saw the figure moving slowly away over the broad moor, and behind him that one black smudge on the silvered slope which showed where the man was lying who had come so horribly to his end.

โ€œWeโ€™re at close grips at last,โ€ said Holmes as we walked together across the moor. โ€œWhat a nerve the fellow has! How he pulled himself together in the face of what must have been a paralyzing shock when he found that the wrong man had fallen a victim to his plot. I told you in London, Watson, and I tell you now again, that we have never had a foeman more worthy of our steel.โ€

โ€œI am sorry that he has seen you.โ€

โ€œAnd so was I at first. But there was no getting out of it.โ€

โ€œWhat effect do you think it will have upon his plans now that he knows you are here?โ€

โ€œIt may cause him to be more cautious, or it may drive him to desperate measures at once. Like most clever criminals, he may be too confident in his own cleverness and imagine that he has completely deceived us.โ€

โ€œWhy should we not arrest him at once?โ€

โ€œMy dear Watson, you were born to be a man of action. Your instinct is always to do something energetic. But supposing, for argumentโ€™s sake, that we had him arrested tonight, what on earth the better off should we be for that? We could prove nothing against him. Thereโ€™s the devilish cunning of it! If he were acting through a human agent we could get some evidence, but if we were to drag this great dog to the light of day it would not help us in putting a rope round the neck of its master.โ€

โ€œSurely we have a case.โ€

โ€œNot a shadow of oneโ€”only surmise and conjecture. We should be laughed out of court if we came with such a story and such evidence.โ€

โ€œThere is Sir Charlesโ€™s death.โ€

โ€œFound dead without a mark upon him. You and I know that he died of sheer fright, and we know also what frightened him, but how are we to get twelve stolid jurymen to know it? What signs are there of a hound? Where are the marks of its fangs? Of course we know that a hound does not bite a dead body and that Sir Charles was dead before ever the brute overtook him. But we have to prove all this, and we are not in a position to do it.โ€

โ€œWell, then, tonight?โ€

โ€œWe are not much better off tonight. Again, there was no direct connection between the hound and the manโ€™s death. We never saw the hound. We heard it, but we could not prove that it was running upon this manโ€™s trail. There is a complete absence of motive. No, my dear fellow; we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that we have no case at present, and that it is worth our while to run any risk in order to establish one.โ€

โ€œAnd how do you propose to do so?โ€

โ€œI have great hopes of what Mrs. Laura Lyons may do for us when the position of affairs is made clear to her. And I have my own plan as well. Sufficient for tomorrow is the evil thereof; but I hope before the day is past to have the upper hand at last.โ€

I could draw nothing further from him, and he walked, lost in thought, as far as the Baskerville gates.

โ€œAre you coming up?โ€

โ€œYes; I see no reason for further concealment. But one last word, Watson. Say nothing of the hound to Sir Henry. Let him think that Seldenโ€™s death was as Stapleton would have us believe. He will have a better nerve for the ordeal which he will have to undergo tomorrow, when he is engaged, if I remember your report aright, to dine with these people.โ€

โ€œAnd so am I.โ€

โ€œThen you must excuse yourself and he must go alone. That will be easily arranged. And now, if we are too late for dinner, I think that we are both ready for our suppers.โ€

Chapter 13.
Fixing the Nets

Sir Henry was more pleased than surprised to see Sherlock Holmes, for he had for some days been expecting that recent events would bring him down from London. He did raise his eyebrows, however, when he found that my friend had neither any luggage nor any explanations for its absence. Between us we soon supplied his wants, and then over a belated supper we explained to the baronet as much of our experience as it seemed desirable that he should know. But first I had the unpleasant duty of breaking the news to Barrymore and his wife. To him it may have been an unmitigated relief, but she wept bitterly in her apron. To all the world he was the man of violence, half animal and half demon; but to her he always remained the little wilful boy of her own girlhood, the child who had clung to her hand. Evil indeed is the man who has not one woman to mourn him.

โ€œIโ€™ve been moping in the house all day since Watson went off in the morning,โ€ said the baronet. โ€œI guess I should have some credit, for I have kept my promise. If I hadnโ€™t sworn not to go about alone I might have had a more lively evening, for I had a message from Stapleton asking me over there.โ€

โ€œI have no doubt that you would have had a more lively evening,โ€ said Holmes drily. โ€œBy the way, I donโ€™t suppose you appreciate that we have been mourning over you as having broken your neck?โ€

Sir Henry opened his eyes. โ€œHow was that?โ€

โ€œThis poor wretch was dressed in your clothes. I fear your servant who gave them to him may get into trouble with the police.โ€

โ€œThat is unlikely. There was no mark on any of them, as far as I know.โ€

โ€œThatโ€™s lucky for himโ€”in fact, itโ€™s lucky for all of you, since you are all on the wrong side of the law in this matter. I am not sure that as a conscientious detective my first duty is not to arrest the whole household. Watsonโ€™s reports are most

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