to look the part of squire at Baskerville Hall. Holmes agreed that the
boot seemed a singularly useless thing to steal and shared Dr. Mortimer's
belief that it would soon be found.
Sir Henry then insisted on an explanation of our anxiety, so Mortimer
read him the papers and presented the whole case to him. He had heard of
the hound ever since he was in the nursery, said the baronet, but he had
never taken it seriously. Had we yet made up our minds whether it was a
case for a policeman or a clergyman, he wanted to know. We had different
views as to the degree of danger involved and whether Sir Henry should
risk going to Baskerville Hall, but he himself had no doubts on the
question. He knitted his brows and flushed to a dusky red:
"There is no devil in Hell, and there is no man upon the Earth, who can
prevent me from going to the home of my own people," he declared, "and
