The Hound of the Baskervilles Part 20 (1/2)
”No, sir, I don't know that”
”What then?”
”I knohy he was at the gate at that hour It was to meet a woman”
”To meet a woman! He?”
”Yes, sir”
”And the woive you the naive you the initials Her initials were L L”
”How do you know this, Barrymore?”
”Well, Sir Henry, your uncle had a letter that reat many letters, for he was a public man and well known for his kind heart, so that everyone as in trouble was glad to turn to hi, as it chanced, there was only this one letter, so I took the more notice of it It was from Coombe Tracey, and it was addressed in a woht no more of the matter, and never would have done had it not been forout Sir Charles's study--it had never been touched since his death--and she found the 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 black ground It seemed to us to be a postscript at the end of the letter and it said: 'Please, please, as you are a gentleate by ten o clock Beneath it were signed the initials L L”
”Have you got that slip?”
”No, sir, it crumbled all to bits after we moved it”
”Had Sir Charles received any other letters in the sa?”
”Well, sir, I took no particular notice of his letters I should not have noticed this one, only it happened to come alone”
”And you have no idea who L L is?”
”No, sir No more than you have But I expect if we could lay our hands upon that lady we should know more about Sir Charles's death”
”I cannot understand, Barrymore, how you came to conceal this important information”
”Well, sir, it was immediately after that our own trouble caain, sir, ere both of us very fond of Sir Charles, as ellall that he has done for us To rake this up couldn't help our poor o carefully when there's a lady in the case Even the best of us--”
”You thought it ood could come of it But now you have been kind to us, and I feel as if it would be treating you unfairly not to tell you all that I know about the o” When the butler had left us Sir Henry turned to ht?”
”It seems to leave the darkness rather blacker than before”
”So I think But if we can only trace L L it should clear up the whole business We have gained that much We know that there is someone who has the facts if we can only find her What do you think we should do?”
”Let Holive hi I a him down”
I went at once to 's conversation for Holmes It was evident to me that he had been very busy of late, for the notes which I had from Baker Street were few and short, with no comments upon the information which I had supplied and hardly any reference toall his faculties And yet this new factor must surely arrest his attention and renew his interest I wish that he were here