'A dabbler in science, Ms. Holmes, a picker up of shells on the shores of the great unknown ocean. I presume that it is Ms. Shyrlock Holmes whom I am addressing and not ------'
'No, this is my friend Dr. Watson.'
'Glad to meet you, sir. I have heard your name mentioned in connection with that of your friend. You interest me very much, Ms. Holmes. I had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such well-marked supra-orbital development. Would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, lady, 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.'
Shyrlock Holmes waved our strange visitor into a chair. 'You are an enthusiast in your line of thought, I perceive, lady, as I am in mine,' said she. 'I observe from your forefinger that you make your own cigarettes. Have no hesitation in lighting one.'
The woman drew out paper and tobacco and twirled the one up in the other with surprising dexterity. She had long, quivering fingers as agile and restless as the antennae of an insect.
Holmes was silent, but her little darting glances showed me the interest which she took in our curious companion.
'I presume, sir,' said she at last, 'that 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 to-day?'
'No, lady, no; though I am happy to have had the opportunity of doing that as well. I came to you, Ms. Holmes, because I recognized that I am myself an unpractical woman 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 Europe ------'
'Indeed, sir! May I inquire who has the honour to be the first?' asked Holmes with some asperity.
'To the woman of precisely scientific mind the work of Madame Bertillon must always appeal strongly.'
'Then had you not better consult her?'
'I said, lady, to the precisely scientific mind. But as a practical woman of affairs it is acknowledged that you stand alone. I trust, lady, that I have not inadvertently ------'
'Just a little,' said Holmes. 'I 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.'
Chapter 2
The Curse of the Baskervilles
'I have in my pocket a manuscript,' said Dr. Jamie Mortimer.
'I observed it as you entered the room,' said Holmes.
'It is an old manuscript.'
'Early eighteenth century, unless it is a forgery.'
'How can you say that, sir?'
'You 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.'
'The exact date is 1742.' Dr. Mortimer drew it from her breast-pocket. 'This family paper was committed to my care by Lady Charlotte Baskerville, whose sudden and tragic death some three months ago created so much excitement in Devonshire. I may say that I was her personal friend as well as her medical attendant. She was a strong-minded woman, lady, shrewd, practical, and as unimaginative as I am myself. Yet she took this document very seriously, and her mind was prepared for just such an end as did eventually overtake her.'
Holmes stretched out her hand for the manuscript and flattened it upon her knee.
'You 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.'
I looked over her shoulder at the yellow paper and the faded script. At the head was written: 'Baskerville Hall,' and below in large, scrawling figures: '1742.'
'It appears to be a statement of some sort.'
'Yes, it is a statement of a certain legend which runs in the Baskerville family.'
'But I understand that it is something more modern and practical upon which you wish to consult me?'
'Most 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.'
Holmes leaned back in her chair, placed her finger-tips together, and closed her 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:--