the Diary o

mpelled to abandon this method and to trust once more to my recollections, aided by the diary which I kept at the time. A few extracts from the latter will carry me on to those scenes wh

s upon the sides of the hills, and the distant boulders gleaming where the light strikes upon their wet faces. It is melancholy outside and in. The baronet is in a black reaction after the

g is surely not to be thought of. Stapleton may fall in with such a superstition, and Mortimer also; but if I have one quality upon earth it is common-sense, and nothing will persuade me to believe in such a thing. To do so would be to descend to the level of these poor peasants, who are not content with a mere fiend dog but must needs describe him with hell-fire shooting from his mouth and eyes. Holmes would not listen to such fancies, and I am his agent. But facts are facts, and I have twice heard this crying upon the moor. Suppose that there were really some huge hound loose upon it; that would go far to explain everything. But whe

that of Stapleton, far thinner than that of Frankland. Barrymore it might possibly have been, but we had left him behind us, and I am certain that he could not have followed us. A stranger then is still dogging us, just as a

as little as possible to anyone. He is silent and distrait. His nerves have been strangely shaken by that sou

n his study some little time. Sitting in the billiard-room I more than once heard the sound of voices raised, and I had a

hinks that it was unfair on our part to hunt his brother-in-l

ng very pale but very

time, I was very much surprised when I heard you two gentlemen come back this morning and learned that you h

t thing," said the baronet, "you only told us, or rather your wife only

ave taken advantage of it,

tick at nothing. You only want to get a glimpse of his face to see that. Look at Mr. Stapleton's house, for

ry arrangements will have been made and he will be on his way to South America. For God's sake, sir, I beg of you not to let the police know that he is still on the moor. They have given

you say

e safely out of the country it woul

nce of his holding som

provided him with all that he can want. To comm

aid Sir Henry. "W

rom my heart! It would have killed m

er what we have heard I don't feel as if I could give the man

atitude the man turned, but h

thing, Sir Henry, and perhaps I should have said it before, but it was long after the inquest that I fo

both upon our feet. "Do

I don't

t th

he gate at that hour. I

t a wom

s,

e woman

r, but I can give you the init

know this,

known for his kind heart, so that everyone who was in trouble was glad to turn to him. But that morning, as it chanced, there

el

he ashes of a burned letter in the back of the grate. The greater part of it was charred to pieces, but one little slip, the end of a page, hung together, and the writing could still be read, though it was gray on a bla

u got th

bled all to bits

ived any other letter

f his letters. I should not have noticed

e no idea wh

t if we could lay our hands upon that lady w

ore, how you came to conceal

very fond of Sir Charles, as we well might be considering all that he has done for us. To rake this up couldn'

might injure h

ave been kind to us, and I feel as if it would be treating yo

utler had left us Sir Henry turned to me. "Wel

he darkness rather b

e business. We have gained that much. We know that there is someone who

ive him the clue for which he has been seeking.

s which I had from Baker Street were few and short, with no comments upon the information which I had supplied and hardly any reference to my mission. No doubt

walked far upon the sodden moor, full of dark imaginings, the rain beating upon my face and the wind whistling about my ears. God help those who wander into the great mire now, for even the firm uplands are becoming a morass. I found the black tor upon which I had seen the solitary watcher, and from its craggy summit I looked out myself across the melancholy downs. Rain squalls drifted across their russet face, and the heavy, slate-coloured clouds

sed that he has not called at the Hall to see how we were getting on. He insisted upon my climbing into his dog-cart, and he gave me a lift homeward. I found him much troubled over the disappearance of his litt

rough road, "I suppose there are few people living w

any, I

the name of any woman wh

t for a f

the farmers or gentry there is no one whose initials are those. Wait a bit though," he added

she?"

ankland's

Frankland

what I hear may not have been entirely on one side. Her father refused to have anything to do with her because she had married without his

oes sh

ved one could not allow her to go hopelessly to the bad. Her story got about, and several of the people here did something to enable her to ear

Tracey, and if I can see this Mrs. Laura Lyons, of equivocal reputation, a long step will have been made towards clearing one incident in this chain of mysteries. I am certainly developing the wisdom of the serpent, for when Mortimer

melancholy day. This was my conversation with Barrymore just now,

d ecarté afterwards. The butler brought me my coffee into t

us relation of yours departed, o

has brought nothing but trouble here! I've not heard of him si

u see h

ood was gone when n

as certain

ir, unless it was the

up halfway to my lips

there is anot

e is another ma

you se

, s

u know of

ot a convict as far as I can make out. I don't like it, Dr. Watson-I tell you st

but that of your master. I have come here with no object except

regretted his outburst, or found it diffi

dow which faced the moor. "There's foul play somewhere, and there's black villainy brewing, to

s it that a

er sundown if he was paid for it. Look at this stranger hiding out yonder, and watching and waiting! What's he waiting for? What does it mean? It means no good

me anything about him? What did Selden say? Did

ught that he was the police, but soon he found that he had some lay of his own. A kind o

id he say th

hillside-the stone huts whe

about h

ks for him and brings him all he needs. I dare

. It is a wild night indoors, and what must it be in a stone hut upon the moor. What passion of hatred can it be which leads a man to lurk in such a place at such a time! And what deep and earnest purpose can he have which calls for such