Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong Read Free

Holmes.” 8 The actual Holmes, laughing, obtains a rough, disappointing description of his passenger from the driver:
    “And how would you describe Mr. Sherlock Holmes?”
    The cabman scratched his head. “Well, he wasn’t altogether such an easy gentleman to describe. I’d put him at forty years
     of age, and he was of a middle height, two or three inches shorter than you, sir. He was dressed like a toff, and he had a
     black beard, cut square at the end, and a pale face. I don’t know as I could say more than that.”
    “Colour of his eyes?”
    “No, I can’t say that.”
    “Nothing more that you can remember?”
    “No, sir; nothing.” 9

    The anonymous letter, the disappearance of the shoe, and the shadowing by the bearded man, added to Dr. Mortimer’s revelations,
     have the effect of creating a disturbing atmosphere.
    About all these mysterious occurrences that accompany the arrival of the Baskerville heir, Holmes’s investigation produces
     no conclusions. Searches made through hotel registers fail to identify the author of the anonymous letter, and the shoe thief
     remains elusive.
    As for the strange bearded man, Holmes thinks for a while that it might be Barrymore, Sir Charles Baskerville’s servant. So
     he sends him an innocuous telegram—asking if everything is ready at Baskerville Hall for Henry’s arrival—and then sends a
     second telegram to the postmaster nearest to the Hall, requesting that the first message be hand-delivered to its recipient.
     Unfortunately, the telegram is delivered to Barry-more’s wife, foiling the detective’s stratagem.
    Research into the inheritance is no more fruitful. The fortune and the Hall are left to Henry, aside from a few sums bequeathed
     to people like the Barrymore couple and Dr. Mortimer, or to various individuals and public charities. The total value of the
     property Henry inherits is close to a million pounds. If he were to die, the legacy would revert to a distant cousin, an elderly
     clergyman. Dr. Mortimer had met the clergyman once at Sir Charles’s house. He got the impression of “a man of venerable appearance
     and of saintly life” 1 0 who declined to accept any settlement when Sir Charles offered it to him: in short, a man who could scarcely be suspected
     of murdering for money. Henry, for his part, has not yet had the time to make a will.

    Undeterred by the threats hanging over him, Henry—now Sir Henry—Baskerville decides to go to the family manor. Holmes approves
     of his plan, but advises him against going there alone; further, he says, Dr. Mortimer will be too busy with his patients
     to provide sufficient company.
    Kept in London by his own clients and by a blackmail case, Holmes cannot accompany the new occupant of the Hall, but he suggests
     the services of Dr. Watson, who is instructed to keep the detective scrupulously abreast of all the developments in the investigation.

II
On the Moor
    SO DR. WATSON is charged with accompanying Sir Henry Baskerville and Dr. Mortimer to Devonshire; it is up to him to conduct
     the investigation, and to keep Holmes informed. He settles into the manor house of Sir Henry Baskerville, the man he is expected
     to protect.
    The region the three men enter is harrowing, with its bleak landscape, all peat and quagmire, the frequent fog, and the array
     of creatures—human and animal—that have chosen to live there. We learn that a particularly dangerous escaped convict lurks
     in the vicinity. What’s more, mysterious cries can at times be heard at night.
    During the period he is away from Holmes, Watson keeps him up to date about his discoveries by sending him regular letters,
     which go unanswered; the detective sends no news of his own in reply. Watson’s letters, which are shared with the reader and
     so become an integral part of the novel, allow the doctor to keep a link with his friend, who for a long time seems to be
     keeping his distance from the investigation.

    One of the first