The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (good books to read for women txt) ๐
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It would be hard to nominate a more well-known character in English literature than that of the austere analytical detective Sherlock Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 1880s. Holmes, alongside his friend and biographer Dr. John Watson, appeared in two initial novels and dozens of short stories serialized in popular magazines, attracting a devoted, almost fanatical following which continues to this day.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, serialized in 1901โ1902, was the third novel featuring Holmes and Watson. Sherlock Holmes is consulted in his Baker Street apartment by Dr. Mortimer, a physician now living on the fringes of Dartmoor. He gives Holmes and Watson an account of a centuries-old legend, in which a hell-hound slaughtered the debauched heir of the Baskerville family who had been in lecherous pursuit of an innocent maiden across the moor. The same hound is reputed to have harrowed several of the subsequent heirs to the estate.
This ancient story might be dismissed as mere fancy, but for the fact that the elderly Sir Charles Baskerville recently died in very mysterious circumstances, apparently fleeing in terror from something which came from the moor. Dr. Mortimer is concerned that the new heir, Sir Henry, just returned from Canada, may be at risk from this supernatural beast. Holmes is intrigued, but being too busy to go himself, sends Dr. Watson to accompany Sir Henry to the ancestral home on Dartmoor and to report anything suspicious.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is arguably the best, and certainly the most popular, of Doyleโs novels featuring his iconic detective. It has been translated into almost every language in the world and been the basis of dozens of movies (starting as early as 1914), radio plays and comic books.
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- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
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โFrom one or two friends there on the occasion of my marriage.โ
โDear, dear, thatโs bad!โ said Holmes, shaking his head.
Dr. Mortimer blinked through his glasses in mild astonishment. โWhy was it bad?โ
โOnly that you have disarranged our little deductions. Your marriage, you say?โ
โYes, sir. I married, and so left the hospital, and with it all hopes of a consulting practice. It was necessary to make a home of my own.โ
โCome, come, we are not so far wrong, after all,โ said Holmes. โAnd now, Dr. James Mortimerโ โโ
โMister, sir, Misterโ โa humble M.R.C.S.โ
โAnd a man of precise mind, evidently.โ
โA dabbler in science, Mr. Holmes, a picker up of shells on the shores of the great unknown ocean. I presume that it is Mr. Sherlock Holmes whom I am addressing and notโ โโ
โNo, this is my friend Dr. Watson.โ
โGlad to meet you, sir. I have heard your name mentioned in connection with that of your friend. You interest me very much, Mr. Holmes. I had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such well-marked supraorbital development. Would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, sir, until the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull.โ
Sherlock Holmes waved our strange visitor into a chair. โYou are an enthusiast in your line of thought, I perceive, sir, as I am in mine,โ said he. โI observe from your forefinger that you make your own cigarettes. Have no hesitation in lighting one.โ
The man drew out paper and tobacco and twirled the one up in the other with surprising dexterity. He had long, quivering fingers as agile and restless as the antennae of an insect.
Holmes was silent, but his little darting glances showed me the interest which he took in our curious companion. โI presume, sir,โ said he at last, โthat it was not merely for the purpose of examining my skull that you have done me the honour to call here last night and again today?โ
โNo, sir, no; though I am happy to have had the opportunity of doing that as well. I came to you, Mr. Holmes, because I recognized that I am myself an unpractical man and because I am suddenly confronted with a most serious and extraordinary problem. Recognizing, as I do, that you are the second highest expert in Europeโ โโ
โIndeed, sir! May I inquire who has the honour to be the first?โ asked Holmes with some asperity.
โTo the man of precisely scientific mind the work of Monsieur Bertillon must always appeal strongly.โ
โThen had you not better consult him?โ
โI said, sir, to the precisely scientific mind. But as a practical man of affairs it is acknowledged that you stand alone. I trust, sir, that I have not inadvertentlyโ โโ
โJust a little,โ said Holmes. โI think, Dr. Mortimer, you would do wisely if without more ado you would kindly tell me plainly what the exact nature of the problem is in which you demand my assistance.โ
II The Curse of the BaskervillesโI have in my pocket a manuscript,โ said Dr. James Mortimer.
โI observed it as you entered the room,โ said Holmes.
โIt is an old manuscript.โ
โEarly eighteenth century, unless it is a forgery.โ
โHow can you say that, sir?โ
โYou have presented an inch or two of it to my examination all the time that you have been talking. It would be a poor expert who could not give the date of a document within a decade or so. You may possibly have read my little monograph upon the subject. I put that at 1730.โ
โThe exact date is 1742.โ Dr. Mortimer drew it from his breast-pocket. โThis family paper was committed to my care by Sir Charles Baskerville, whose sudden and tragic death some three months ago created so much excitement in Devonshire. I may say that I was his personal friend as well as his medical attendant. He was a strong-minded man, sir, shrewd, practical, and as unimaginative as I am myself. Yet he took this document very seriously, and his mind was prepared for just such an end as did eventually overtake him.โ
Holmes stretched out his hand for the manuscript and flattened it upon his knee. โYou will observe, Watson, the alternative use of the long s and the short. It is one of several indications which enabled me to fix the date.โ
I looked over his shoulder at the yellow paper and the faded script. At the head was written: โBaskerville Hall,โ and below in large, scrawling figures: โ1742.โ
โIt appears to be a statement of some sort.โ
โYes, it is a statement of a certain legend which runs in the Baskerville family.โ
โBut I understand that it is something more modern and practical upon which you wish to consult me?โ
โMost modern. A most practical, pressing matter, which must be decided within twenty-four hours. But the manuscript is short and is intimately connected with the affair. With your permission I will read it to you.โ
Holmes leaned back in his chair, placed his fingertips together, and closed his eyes, with an air of resignation. Dr. Mortimer turned the manuscript to the light and read in a high, cracking voice the following curious, old-world narrative:
โOf the origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles there have been many statements, yet as I come in a direct line from Hugo Baskerville, and as I had the story from my father, who also had it from his, I have set it down with all belief that it occurred even as is here set forth. And I would have you believe, my sons, that the same Justice which punishes sin may also most graciously forgive it, and that no ban is so heavy but that by prayer and repentance it may be removed. Learn then from this story not to fear the fruits of the past, but rather to be circumspect in the future, that those foul passions whereby our family has suffered so grievously may not again
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