Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong Read Online Free
Author: Pierre Bayard
Baskerville’s death,
the animal was sent after Sir Henry but was deceived by the scent of his castoff clothes. Although Holmes is convinced of
Stapleton’s guilt, he realizes that the evidence is weak and that it will be difficult to charge him. When the naturalist
is drawn by the commotion and joins them on the moor, Holmes is careful not to accuse him.
Two facts come in to reinforce the detective’s theory, however. The first is the discovery, soon afterward, of a curious resemblance
between Stapleton and a portrait of Hugo Baskerville that hangs in Baskerville Hall. Holmes is convinced that Stapleton is
actually a Baskerville, and hence has the motive for murder: the naturalist wants to eliminate everyone who stands between
him and the succession to title and estate.
Holmes then interviews Laura Lyons, to whom he reveals, to the young woman’s stupefaction, that Stapleton is married. She
then acknowledges that the letter asking Sir Charles Baskerville to go to the yew alley was dictated to her by Stapleton,
and that Stapleton went to the meeting place in her stead. After Baskerville’s death, he asked her to keep silent.
Despite all these convergent facts, Holmes is still unable to prove Stapleton’s guilt, and so he decides to lay a trap. He
tells Stapleton that he and Watson are returning to London and suggests to Sir Henry that he accept an invitation to dine
with the Stapletons, a dinner to which the heir will go alone.
Holmes and Watson then take up their post near the Stapletons’ house. Through a thick fog, the two men witness Stapleton and
Baskerville at table; Beryl is absent from the room. Then they see Stapleton head toward an outbuilding near the house from
which mysterious noises emanate.
When Sir Henry leaves the house, he is watched over from afar by the two men, tracking him through the fog. Suddenly they
hear the sound of footsteps and see an enormous hound rushing toward them, its eyes glowing, its muzzle and hackles outlined
in streaks of fire. Overcoming their fear, Holmes and Watson open fire on the animal. Wounded, the beast keeps running and
hurls itself onto Sir Henry, seizing him by the neck. Holmes empties his revolver into the dog, and it topples over dead.
Pursuing Stapleton, Holmes and Watson reach his house. The man is not there, but they hear sounds upstairs and discover, in
a locked room, Beryl gagged and tied to a post, her body wrapped in towels and sheets. Freed, the young woman collapses. She
says that Stapleton has probably fled into the marsh.
The two men start off after him, but in the darkness and the mire, the search seems hopeless. Yet Holmes sees on a tussock
of grass one of the shoes the naturalist had stolen from Baskerville. Later on they discover traces left by the dog on an
island in the middle of the mire, where Stapleton kept it confined between his excursions.
The final pages of the book allow Holmes to suggest a complete explanation of the tragedy to Watson. According to him, it
was Stapleton who organized everything, with the passive complicity of his terrorized wife. Stapleton is the son of Rodger
Baskerville, Sir Charles Baskerville’s younger brother, who died abroad and had been believed to be unmarried. The son lived
in South America, where he married Beryl, one of the beauties of Costa Rica, and, after stealing some money, changed his name
to Vandeleur. He then founded a school in the north of England, and, after it “sank from disrepute into infamy,” 15 changed his name again to Stapleton. He then settled in Devonshire, where he indulged his taste for entomology, a field in
which he had become an eminent authority.
Stapleton discovered that only two lives stood between him and a considerable fortune. At the time he had formed no definite
notion of how he might get hold of it, but, having settled near the home of his ancestors, he undertook to cultivate Sir Charles
Baskerville’s friendship.
the animal was sent after Sir Henry but was deceived by the scent of his castoff clothes. Although Holmes is convinced of
Stapleton’s guilt, he realizes that the evidence is weak and that it will be difficult to charge him. When the naturalist
is drawn by the commotion and joins them on the moor, Holmes is careful not to accuse him.
Two facts come in to reinforce the detective’s theory, however. The first is the discovery, soon afterward, of a curious resemblance
between Stapleton and a portrait of Hugo Baskerville that hangs in Baskerville Hall. Holmes is convinced that Stapleton is
actually a Baskerville, and hence has the motive for murder: the naturalist wants to eliminate everyone who stands between
him and the succession to title and estate.
Holmes then interviews Laura Lyons, to whom he reveals, to the young woman’s stupefaction, that Stapleton is married. She
then acknowledges that the letter asking Sir Charles Baskerville to go to the yew alley was dictated to her by Stapleton,
and that Stapleton went to the meeting place in her stead. After Baskerville’s death, he asked her to keep silent.
Despite all these convergent facts, Holmes is still unable to prove Stapleton’s guilt, and so he decides to lay a trap. He
tells Stapleton that he and Watson are returning to London and suggests to Sir Henry that he accept an invitation to dine
with the Stapletons, a dinner to which the heir will go alone.
Holmes and Watson then take up their post near the Stapletons’ house. Through a thick fog, the two men witness Stapleton and
Baskerville at table; Beryl is absent from the room. Then they see Stapleton head toward an outbuilding near the house from
which mysterious noises emanate.
When Sir Henry leaves the house, he is watched over from afar by the two men, tracking him through the fog. Suddenly they
hear the sound of footsteps and see an enormous hound rushing toward them, its eyes glowing, its muzzle and hackles outlined
in streaks of fire. Overcoming their fear, Holmes and Watson open fire on the animal. Wounded, the beast keeps running and
hurls itself onto Sir Henry, seizing him by the neck. Holmes empties his revolver into the dog, and it topples over dead.
Pursuing Stapleton, Holmes and Watson reach his house. The man is not there, but they hear sounds upstairs and discover, in
a locked room, Beryl gagged and tied to a post, her body wrapped in towels and sheets. Freed, the young woman collapses. She
says that Stapleton has probably fled into the marsh.
The two men start off after him, but in the darkness and the mire, the search seems hopeless. Yet Holmes sees on a tussock
of grass one of the shoes the naturalist had stolen from Baskerville. Later on they discover traces left by the dog on an
island in the middle of the mire, where Stapleton kept it confined between his excursions.
The final pages of the book allow Holmes to suggest a complete explanation of the tragedy to Watson. According to him, it
was Stapleton who organized everything, with the passive complicity of his terrorized wife. Stapleton is the son of Rodger
Baskerville, Sir Charles Baskerville’s younger brother, who died abroad and had been believed to be unmarried. The son lived
in South America, where he married Beryl, one of the beauties of Costa Rica, and, after stealing some money, changed his name
to Vandeleur. He then founded a school in the north of England, and, after it “sank from disrepute into infamy,” 15 changed his name again to Stapleton. He then settled in Devonshire, where he indulged his taste for entomology, a field in
which he had become an eminent authority.
Stapleton discovered that only two lives stood between him and a considerable fortune. At the time he had formed no definite
notion of how he might get hold of it, but, having settled near the home of his ancestors, he undertook to cultivate Sir Charles
Baskerville’s friendship.
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