nd he 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, Mrs. 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 man. 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 man 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 he 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 man.

"Anything good?" he 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 Sherlock Holmes's defects--if, indeed, one may call it a
defect--was that he was exceedingly loath to communicate his full plans
to any other person until the instant of their fulfilment. Partly it
came no doubt from his own masterful nature, which loved to dominate and
surprise those who were around him. Partly also from his professional
caution, which urged him never to take any chances. The result, however,
was very trying for those who were acting as his 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