SUMMARY
When
Dr. Mortimer visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in their rooms in
Baker Street, he brings a centuries-old account of the death of the
debauched and ruthless Sir Hugo Baskerville, allegedly killed by a
diabolical hound. Dr. Mortimer’s friend and neighbor, Sir Charles
Baskerville, recently died under circumstances that suggest that this
ancient curse on the family persists. Mortimer is concerned for the
safety of the Canadian heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, who is to arrive
in London the next day en route to the Baskerville estate in Devon.
Mortimer also describes the few neighbors on the moor, a group
consisting of Mr. Stapleton, Miss Stapleton, Mr. Frankland, and Mr.
Frankland’s daughter.
Arriving
with Mortimer the next day, Sir Henry shows Holmes a note warning him
to stay away from Baskerville Hall, and Holmes discovers evidence
that his visitors were followed. Although Holmes is intrigued by the
problem, he says that he has other obligations to honor first, so it
is agreed that Watson will go to Baskerville Hall as companion,
observer, and protector. From the Hall, Watson writes Holmes
regularly and in detail about everything he learns and observes.
The
moor, already forbidding at night, is now terrorized by Selden, the
notorious murderer, who escaped from Princetown prison. Added to the
presence of Selden and the possibility that the diabolical,
night-stalking Hound of the Baskervilles has returned is the peculiar
behavior of Barrymore and his wife. On the first night, Sir Henry and
Watson hear a woman’s loud sobs. Later, Watson observes Barrymore
stealthily placing a candle in a second floor window. By catching him
in the act, Watson and Sir Henry force Barrymore and his wife to
admit that he is signaling Selden, the murderer, who is Mrs.
Barrymore’s younger brother. Sir Henry and Watson try
unsuccessfully to catch Selden by following his answering light. In
the process, Watson notices a tall, thin figure on a hill and deduces
that this might be the person who warned Sir Henry against coming to
Dartmoor. He determines to find this man and discover his intentions.
Miss Stapleton, mistaking Watson for Sir Henry, urgently warns him to
leave Devon. Sir Henry, meeting her later, is overwhelmed by her
beauty and character and is on the point of declaring his love for
her when Stapleton suddenly appears on the moor and castigates Sir
Henry for daring to declare his affections. Stapleton follows this
odd action by a visit during which he begs Sir Henry’s pardon and
explains how accustomed he has become to his sister’s company. He
invites Sir Henry to dinner and Sir Henry happily accepts.
During
this time, Watson discovers that a young woman wrote a letter to Sir
Charles asking him to meet her at the spot where the ghostly hound
later chased him and frightened him to death. After speaking with
her, he finds that she wrote the note at Stapleton’s urging. On his
return to Baskerville Hall, Watson observes through Frankland’s
telescope a boy running across the moor toward the remains of the
Neolithic stone huts on the hillside. Since Barrymore and his wife
have been supplying Selden, the supplies carried by this boy must be
for the mysterious stranger Watson saw on the moor. Watson examines a
number of stone ruins until he finds one containing evidence of
habitation. There he sits and waits. At nightfall, he hears footsteps
and a familiar voice. It is Holmes, who has been keeping watch on the
moor while reading Watson’s reports. Scanning them for clues, he
investigated Stapleton’s background, finding that he is in fact
another heir to the Baskerville fortune and that the young woman
living with him is his wife. As Holmes and Watson speak, a terrible
scream announces the death of Selden, who, wearing Sir Henry’s
cast-off clothes, fell fatally while pursued by the spectral hound.
Laying a trap that night, Holmes, Watson, and Inspector Lestrade—just
arrived from Scotland Yard—ambush and kill the hound as it stalked
Sir Henry. Stapleton escapes into the Grimpen Mire, where he
apparently takes a wrong step and sinks into the bog. Stapleton, it
transpires, was the spy in London, and the woman posing as his sister
sent the warning note.
