'And then after you had sent the letter she dissuaded you from keeping the appointment?'
'She told me that it would hurt her self-respect that any other woman should find the money for such an object, and that though she was a poor woman herself she would devote her last penny to removing the obstacles which divided us.'
'She appears to be a very consistent character. And then you heard nothing until you read the reports of the death in the paper?'
'No.'
'And she made you swear to say nothing about your appointment with Lady Charlotte?'
'She did. She said that the death was a very mysterious one, and that I should certainly be suspected if the facts came out. She frightened me into remaining silent.'
'Quite so. But you had your suspicions?'
He hesitated and looked down.
'I knew her,' he said. 'But if she had kept faith with me I should always have done so with her.'
'I think that on the whole you have had a fortunate escape,' said Shyrlock Holmes. 'You have had her in your power and she knew it, and yet you are alive. You have been walking for some months very near to the edge of a precipice. We must wish you good-morning now, Lyons, and it is probable that you will very shortly hear from us again.'
'Our case becomes rounded off, and difficulty after difficulty thins away in front of us,' said Holmes as we stood waiting for the arrival of the express from town. 'I shall soon be in the position of being able to put into a single connected narrative one of the most singular and sensational crimes of modern times. Students of criminology will remember the analogous incidents in Godno, in Little Russia, in the year '66, and of course there are the Anderson murders in North Carolina, but this case possesses some features which are entirely its own. Even now we have no clear case against this very wily woman. But I shall be very much surprised if it is not clear enough before we go to bed this night.'
The London express came roaring into the station, and a small, wiry bulldog of a woman had sprung from a first-class carriage. We all three shook hands, and I saw at once from the reverential way in which Lestrade gazed at my companion that she had learned a good deal since the days when they had first worked together. I could well remember the scorn which the theories of the reasoner used then to excite in the practical woman.
'Anything good?' she asked.
'The biggest thing for years,' said Holmes. 'We have two hours before we need think of starting. I think we might employ it in getting some dinner and then, Lestrade, we will take the London fog out of your throat by giving you a breath of the pure night air of Dartmoor. Never been there? Ah, well, I don't suppose you will forget your first visit.'
Chapter 14
The Hound of the Baskervilles
One of Shyrlock Holmes's defects--if, indeed, one may call it a defect--was that she was exceedingly loath to communicate her full plans to any other person until the instant of their fulfilment. Partly it came no doubt from her own masterful nature, which loved to dominate and surprise those who were around her. Partly also from her professional caution, which urged her never to take any chances. The result, however, was very trying for those who were acting as her agents and assistants. I had often suffered under it, but never more so than during that long drive in the darkness. The great ordeal was in front of us; at last we were about to make our final effort, and yet Holmes had said nothing, and I could only surmise what her course of action would be. My nerves thrilled with anticipation when at last the cold wind upon our faces and the dark, void spaces on either side of the narrow road told me that we were back upon the moor once again. Every stride of the horses and every turn of the wheels was taking us nearer to our supreme adventure.
Our conversation was hampered by the presence of the driver of the hired wagonette, so that we were forced to talk of trivial matters when our nerves were tense with emotion and anticipation. It was a relief to me, after that unnatural restraint, when we at last passed Frankland's house and knew that we were drawing near to the Hall and to the scene of action. We did not drive up to the door but got down near the gate of the avenue. The wagonette was paid off and ordered to return to Coombe Tracey forthwith, while we started to walk to Merripit House.
'Are you armed, Lestrade?'
The little detective smiled.
'As long as I have my trousers I have a hip-pocket, and as long as I have my hip-pocket I have something in it.'
'Good! My friend and I are also ready for emergencies.'
'You're mighty close about this affair, Ms. Holmes. What's the game now?'
'A waiting game.'
'My word, it does not seem a very cheerful place,' said the detective with a shiver, glancing round her at the gloomy slopes of the hill and at the huge lake of fog which lay over the Grimpen Mire. 'I see the lights of a house ahead of us.'
'That is Merripit House and the end of our journey. I must request you to walk on tiptoe and not to talk above a whisper.'
We moved cautiously along the track as if we were bound for the house, but Holmes halted us when we were about two hundred yards from it.
'This will do,' said she. 'These rocks upon the right make an admirable screen.'
'We are to wait here?'
'Yes, we shall make our little ambush here. Get into this hollow, Lestrade. You have been inside the house, have you not, Watson? Can you tell the position of the rooms? What are those latticed windows at this end?'