Summary of chapter 6 (HoB) Summary of chapter 7 (HoB)
That Saturday, Holmes takes Watson to the train The next morning, the sun is shining and the
station to go to Baskerville Hall. house seems less, well, cursed.
Holmes asks Watson to send him information Even so, both Watson and Sir Henry agree that
about Sir Henry's neighbors. they heard a woman crying the night before.
Holmes gives Watson a quick list of people in the Watson suspects that the crying woman is Mrs.
area: Barrymore, and that Barrymore's responsible.
o Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore (the butler and his wife); Watson's suspicions about Barrymore's character
o Dr. Mortimer (unlikely to be the murderer); only increase when he walks into town and finds
o Mrs. Mortimer (totally unknown); out that it wasn't Barrymore, but Barrymore's wife
o Stapleton (a local scientist); who received the telegram Holmes sent to check
o Stapleton's sister (an attractive young woman); out his alibi while Sir Henry was in town.
o and Mr. Frankland (another neighbor). Could Barrymore have been in London spying on Sir
When Dr. Mortimer and Sir Henry arrive at the train Henry after all?
station, Holmes warns Sir Henry that it's not safe for A man runs up to Watson in the village and
him to go off on his own. Not. Safe. introduces himself: it's Stapleton, from nearby
Watson, Dr. Mortimer, and Sir Henry take the train Merripit House.
to Devonshire. He's carrying a butterfly net.
Watson notices that the landscape is a bleak and a He announces that he is a "naturalist" (a scientist
little sad. who studies nature, particularly animals and
Plus, there are soldiers watching the road to Sir plants).
Henry's property. Stapleton asks if Sherlock Holmes has any
The driver explains that a prisoner has escaped theories behind the Hound of the Baskervilles to expla
onto the moors. Sir Charles' death.
And he's not just any prisoner—he's an insane Watson is like, whuh? Holmes? How did you
murderer named Selden. know—?
Stapleton promises him that everyone in the
When they arrive at Baskerville Hall, they see that neighborhood knows why Watson is here.
(Evidently, Holmes is known far and wide after
it's a pretty gloomy place. his recent win on Britain's Got Talent.)
Stapleton invites Watson to Merripit House to
Barrymore welcomes Sir Henry to his (miserable- meet his sister.
looking, but very grand) family home. As they walk through the moors, Stapleton tells
Watson that the ground in this area is not stable:
He also suggests that Sir Henry start hiring a full there are bogs and marshes all over the place.
Stapleton warns that, if Watson went into the
staff of servants to keep the old place up.
Mire on his own, he would probably drown in the
Sir Henry wonders: is Barrymore planning swamp.
on quitting? His family has worked for Baskerville The two men hear a long, low howl over the moor
Hall for generations. .
Apparently, the local people believe that this howl
belongs to the Hound of the Baskervilles.
In fact, Barrymore does want to leave: he and his
Stapleton thinks it's a bittern—a kind of bird that's nea
wife were so weirded out by Sir Charles' death that extinct in England.
they don't feel comfortable at the Hall any longer. They walk past the remains of a prehistoric town.
(Okay, could this setting get any creepier, with the
In the middle of the night, Watson hears the sound mysterious howls and the ancient ruins?)
Stapleton suddenly spots a butterfly and goes
of a woman sobbing.
running off into the Mire.
Watson watches him anxiously, worried that he'll
lose his footing and sink.
As Watson stares after Stapleton, a woman
suddenly approaches him.
Watson assumes that she is Stapleton's sister,
even though she doesn't look very much like him.
She quickly warns him, "Go straight back to
Analysis chp 6 London, instantly" (7.91).
When Stapleton returns to the path, she suddenly
changes the subject and starts talking about the
flowers on the moor.
The trip into the country is described in Stapleton addresses her as "Beryl" (7.98)
(an unusual name, but any Sailor Moon fans out
inexact, transitional terms, such that it’s there will recognize "Beryl" as a woman's name.)
impossible to know for how long the group Beryl mentions that she has already introduced
has travelled, nor how far from London. herself to "Sir Henry."
Watson is like, ummm, no, I'm just Dr. Watson.
Fittingly, when they arrive, the sense is that Beryl blushes in embarrassment.
they have not only travelled a long ways in When Watson walks off in the direction of
miles, but also centuries back in time. Baskerville Hall, Beryl rushes over to speak to
him.
The image of a dangerous criminal hotly
She apologizes for confusing him with Sir Henry
pursued by soldiers in a desolate moor adds but refuses to explain why it's so important for
depth to the novel. Sir Henry to leave.
While both Sir Charles and Sir Henry were
Analysis chapter 7
bachelors, the younger Sir Henry would have With Mortimer out of the running, Doyle needs
been expected to find a suitable wife and to establish a new red herring. Although Mr.
have children. Barrymore has already been eliminated from
suspicion, he begins to fill that role here.
While not a gothic novel ,The Hound of the It’s interesting that, even as far removed as
Baskervilles dabbles in gothic imagery here. Baskerville Hall is from the rest of the world,
The portraits and the mysterious crying the telegraph lines still make their way there,
sending their lightning quick messages to and
woman are both genre staples.
from London with ease.
Interestingly, the first investigative action
Watson undertakes on his own reopens a line
of inquiry mistakenly closed by Holmes
himself. Holmes, of course, never mentions
this, and Mr. Barrymore is ultimately found
innocent of any wrongdoing. Still, it should be
noted that Holmes was wrong to trust so
completely in the postmaster’s adherence to
his instructions. Such trust could have been
disastrous.
The whole of the Baskerville mystery revolves
around Stapleton, who shows himself to be
very nearly the criminal mastermind that
Holmes feared. Given that, it’s surprising that
this interaction is the most time with Stapleton
that Doyle gives his readers.
