49355    His reason for attempting this special line of business was that he had struck up an acquaintance with a consumptive tutor upon the voyage home, and that he had used this man's ability to make the undertaking a success.

49356    Fraser, the tutor, died, however, and the school which had begun well, sank from disrepute into infamy.

49357    The Vandeleurs found it convenient to change their name to Stapleton, and he brought the remains of his fortune, his schemes for the future, and his taste for entomology to the south of England.

49358    I learn at the British Museum that he was a recognized authority upon the subject, and that the name of Vandeleur has been permanently attached to a certain moth which he had, in his Yorkshire days, been the first to describe.

49359    'We now come to that portion of his life which has proved to be of such intense interest to us.

49360    The fellow had evidently made inquiry, and found that only two lives intervened between him and a valuable estate.

49361    When he went to Devonshire his plans were, I believe, exceedingly hazy, but that he meant mischief from the first is evident from the way in which he took his wife with him in the character of his sister.

49362    The idea of using her as a decoy was clearly already in his mind, though he may not have been certain how the details of his plot were to be arranged.

49363    He meant in the end to have the estate, and he was ready to use any tool or run any risk for that end.

49364    His first act was to establish himself as near to his ancestral home as he could, and his second was to cultivate a friendship with Sir Charles Baskerville and with the neighbours.

49365    'The Baronet himself told him about the family hound, and so prepared the way for his own death.

49366    Stapleton, as I will continue to call him, knew that the old man's heart was weak and that a shock would kill him.

49367    So much he had learned from Dr Mortimer.

49368    He had heard also that Sir Charles was superstitious and had taken this grim legend very seriously.

49369    His ingenious mind instantly suggested a way by which the Baronet could be done to death, and yet it would be hardly possible to bring home the guilt to the real murderer.