married couple, the Barrymores, as butler and housekeeper. The estate is surrounded by the moor and borders the Grimpen Mire, where animals and humans can sink into mud to their deaths. The news that a convict named Selden, a murderer, has escaped from nearby Dartmoor Prison and is hiding in the nearby barren hills adds to the gloomy atmosphere. There are inexplicable events during the first night, keeping Sir Henry and Watson awake, and only in the daylight do they relax while exploring the neighbourhood and meeting the few residents. Watson keeps searching for any lead to the identity of whoever is following Sir Henry, and faithfully sends details of his investigations to Holmes. Among the residents, the Stapletons, brother and sister, stand out: Jack is overfriendly and too curious toward Sir Henry and Watson, while Beryl, a beautiful woman, seems all too weary of the place and attempts to warn Sir Henry, via Watson, of danger. Distant howls and strange sightings trouble Watson during his long walks among the hills, and his mood is no better inside Baskerville Hall. Watson grows suspicious of the butler Barrymore, who at night is signalling from a window of the house with a candle, to someone on the moor. Meanwhile, Sir Henry is drawn to Beryl, who seems to be afraid of her brother's attitude to any relationship. To make the puzzle more complex there is Dr. Mortimer, who is all too eager to convince Sir Henry that the curse is real; Frankland, an old and grumpy neighbour, who likes to pry on others with his telescope; his estranged daughter Laura, who had unclear ties to Sir Charles; and even an unknown man roaming free on the moor and apparently hiding on a tor where ancient tombs have been excavated by Mortimer. Watson investigates the man on the tor, and discovers that it has been Holmes, who has been hiding on the moor all the time and is close to solving the mystery. He reveals that the hound is real and belongs to Stapleton, who promised Laura marriage and convinced her to lure Sir Charles out of his house at night, in order to frighten him with the hound. Beryl is in fact Jack Stapleton's wife, abused and forced into posing as his sister so as to influence Sir Henry and expose him as well to the hound. The hound kills a man