In spite of his considerable wealth he was simple in his personaltastes, and his indoor servants at Baskerville Hall consisted of amarried couple named Barrymore, the husband acting as butlerand the wife as housekeeper. Their evidence, corroborated by thatof several friends, tends to show that Sir Charles’s health has forsome time been impaired, and points especially to some affectionof the heart, manifesting itself in changes of colour, breathlessness,and acute attacks of nervous depression. Dr. James Mortimer, thefriend and medical attendant of the deceased, has given evidenceto the same effect.
“The facts of the case are simple. Sir Charles Baskerville wasin the habit every night before going to bed of walking downthe famous yew alley of Baskerville Hall. The evidence of theBarrymores shows that this had been his custom. On the fourthof May Sir Charles had declared his intention of starting next dayfor London, and had ordered Barrymore to prepare his luggage.
That night he went out as usual for his nocturnal walk, in thecourse of which he was in the habit of smoking a cigar. He neverreturned. At twelve o’clock Barrymore, finding the hall door stillopen, became alarmed, and, lighting a lantern, went in search ofhis master. The day had been wet, and Sir Charles’s footmarkswere easily traced down the alley. Halfway down this walk thereis a gate which leads out on to the moor. There were indicationsthat Sir Charles had stood for some little time here. He thenproceeded down the Alley, and it was at the far end of it that hisbody was discovered. One fact which has not been explained isthe statement of Barrymore that his master’s footprints alteredtheir character from the time that he passed the moor-gate, andthat he appeared from thence onward to have been walking uponhis toes. One Murphy, a gipsy horse-dealer, was on the moor at nogreat distance at the time, but he appears by his own confessionto have been the worse for drink. He declares that he heard cries,but is unable to state from what direction they came. No signsof violence were to be discovered upon Sir Charles’s person, andthough the doctor’s evidence pointed to an almost incredible facialdistortion—so great that Dr. Mortimer refused at first to believethat it was indeed his friend and patient who lay before him—itwas explained that that is a symptom which is not unusual in casesof dyspnoea and death from cardiac exhaustion. This explanationwas borne out by the post-mortem examination, which showedlong-standing organic disease, and the coroner’s jury returned averdict in accordance with the medical evidence. It is well thatthis is so, for it is obviously of the utmost importance that SirCharles’s heir should settle at the Hall and continue the goodwork which has been so sadly interrupted. Had the prosaicfinding of the coroner not finally put an end to the romanticstories which have been whispered in connection with the affair,it might have been difficult to find a tenant for Baskerville Hall.
It is understood that the next of kin is Mr. Henry Baskerville,if he be still alive, the son of Sir Charles Baskerville’s youngerbrother. The young man when last heard of was in America, andinquiries are being instituted with a view to informing him of hisgood fortune.”
Dr. Mortimer refolded his paper and replaced it in his pocket.
“Those are the public facts, Mr. Holmes, in connection with thedeath of Sir Charles Baskerville.”
“I must thank you,” said Sherlock Holmes, “for calling myattention to a case which certainly presents some features ofinterest. I had observed some newspaper comment at the time,but I was exceedingly preoccupied by that little affair of theVatican cameos, and in my anxiety to oblige the Pope I losttouch with several interesting English cases. This article, you say,contains all the public facts?”
“It does.”
“Then let me have the private ones.” He leaned back, put hisfinger-tips together, and assumed his most impassive and judicialexpression.
“In doing so,” said Dr. Mortimer, who had begun to showsigns of some strong emotion, “I am telling that which I havenot confided to anyone. My motive for withholding it from thecoroner’s inquiry is that a man of science shrinks from placinghimself in the public position of seeming to indorse a popularsuperstition. I had the further motive that Baskerville Hall, as thepaper says, would certainly remain untenanted if anything weredone to increase its already rather grim reputation. For both thesereasons I thought that I was justified in telling rather less than Iknew, since no practical good could result from it, but with youthere is no reason why I should not be perfectly frank.
“The moor is very sparsely inhabited, and those who live neareach other are thrown very much together. For this reason I sawa good deal of Sir Charles Baskerville. With the exception of Mr. Frankland, of Lafter Hall, and Mr. Stapleton, the naturalist, thereare no other men of education within many miles. Sir Charles wasa retiring man, but the chance of his illness brought us together,and a community of interests in science kept us so. He hadbrought back much scientific information from South Africa, andmany a charming evening we have spent together discussing thecomparative anatomy of the Bushman and the Hottentot.