47077    Was he the agent of others, or had he some sinister design of his own?

47078    What interest could he have in persecuting the Baskerville family?

47079    I thought of the strange warning clipped out of the leading article of The Times.

47080    Was that his work or was it possibly the doing of someone who was bent upon counteracting his schemes?

47081    The only conceivable motive was that which had been suggested by Sir Henry, that if the family could be scared away a comfortable and permanent home would be secured for the Barrymores.

47082    But surely such an explanation as that would be quite inadequate to account for the deep and subtle scheming which seemed to be weaving an invisible net round the young baronet.

47083    Holmes himself had said that no more complex case had come to him in all the long series of his sensational investigations.

47084    I prayed, as I walked back along the grey, lonely road, that my friend might soon be freed from his preoccupations and able to come down to take this heavy burden of responsibility from my shoulders.

47085    Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of running feet behind me and by a voice which called me by name.

47086    I turned, expecting to see Dr Mortimer, but to my surprise it was a stranger who was pursuing me.

47087    He was a small, slim, clean-shaven, prim-faced man, flaxen-haired and lean-jawed, between thirty and forty years of age, dressed in a grey suit and wearing a straw hat.

47088    A tin box for botanical specimens hung over his shoulder, and he carried a green butterfly-net in one of his hands.

47089    'You will, I am sure, excuse my presumption, Dr Watson,' said he, as he came panting up to where I stood.

47090    'Here on the moor we are homely folk, and do not wait for formal introductions.

47091    You may possibly have heard my name from our mutual friend, Mortimer.