The Hound of the Baskerviles: Chapter 5: Qs. & Ans.

The Hound of the Baskerviles: Chapter 5

1.       Remarkable qualities in  Sherlock Holmes of detaching his mind from anything for hours together.

2.       He can enjoy easily the pictures of the meodern Belgian masters.

3.       Sherlock holmes is going upstairs to meet Henry Baskerville and then he also looks at the entries about the visitors made by the clerk in the register of the hotel.

4.       There are two names: one is of Theophilus Johnson and the second one is of Mrs. Oldmore.

5.       Sherlock Holmes reaches upstairs and finds Sir Henry in extreme anger.

6.       Reason: One of his black shoes is missing. Previously it was  a brown one. In his anger, he calls the hotel ‘a den of thieves’.

7.       A German waiter tries to pacify Sir Henry by promising that he would surely make a search for his his mising boots.

8.       Sherlock Holmes finds the case very much complex. He has handled 500 cases so far, but this cases seems to be the most comlex for him.

9.       Sherlock Holmes becomes doubly sure now that Sir Henry Baskerville is being stalked by some evil doers. So he tells Sir Henry clearly that he was being followed by someone who must have very bad intention about him.

10.   Dr. Mortimer is also amazed to note that.

11.   Sherlock Homes asks Dr. Mortimer if there is a person with a black full beard as a neighbour or any acquaintance.

12.   Dr. Mortimer thinks a little and then says that there is Barrymore, Sir Charles’ butler who has full black beard. He also tells Sherlock Holmes that Barrymore and his wife live together at Baskerville Hall.

13.   After this Sherlock holmes wants to confirm if Barrymore is living at Baskerville Hall at that very time or not. So he sends a telegramme  at that address. He hopes to know the truth before evening. Another wire he sends to the post master in which he instructs him that the telegramme must be returned to the sender if the person in whose name it was addressed was not present there to receive it.

14.   Then he asks Dr. Mortimer for more detail about  Barrymore.

15.   Dr. Mortimers says that he is the son of the old caretaker, who is dead now. They have looked after the Hall for four generations. He also adds that Barrymore and his wife are respectable persons in that area.

16.   After that Sherlock Holmes asks Dr. Mortimer if Barrymore would be benefited by Sir Charles’ will.

17.   Dr. Mortimer replies that Barrymore and his wife would get five hundred pounds each.

18.   Then Holmes asks Dr. Mortimer if they knew about the profit by the will. Dr. Mortimer says that sir Charles was very fond of discussing his will openly. Dr. Mortimer here jokingly remarks that he himself  also has one thousand pounds by the will and , so, Sherlock Holmes should not become suspicious about him.

19.   He also tells Sherlock Holmes that the residue of the wil was about seven hundred and forty thousand pounds and it would go to Sir Henry Baskerville. The total value of the  Baskerville estate was nearly a million pounds.

Topic 1: About Sir Charles’s Will

ü  Sherlock Holmes wanted to know from Dr. Mortimer about Sir Charles’s will. He wanted to find out if any thread of suspicion is related to his will or not. Dr. Mortimer explains to Sherlock Holmes that Sir Charles was the owner of a huge property. People did not know about his being so much rich until his will was made open. The total value of his property was around one million pounds.

ü  Dr. Mortimer tells Sherlock Holmes all bout his will and also that he was very fond of discussing his will to others. Sir Charles had willed some of his funds to charitable societies, five hundred pounds each to Barrimore and his wife, one thousand pounds to Dr. Mortimer and the rest of the money i.e. seven hundred and forty seven thounsand pounds goes in favour of the only surviving heir to his property, who is  Sir Henry Baskerville.

ü  Sir Henry also explains to Sherlock Holmes that Sir Charles was a philanthropist type of person. In an indirect way, he hopes to restore and  maintain the glory of the Baskervilles with the money he gets from the will.

Topic 2: The Three Threads

ü  Sherlock Holmes has to unravel the mystery about the person who had sent a note to Sir Henry in the hotel he was staying.

ü  Another mystery was about the man who was sitting in the cab and watching intently towards Sir Henry Baskerville.

ü  Sherlock Holmes relates the first thread to Sir Charles Butler Barrymore because he was going to be benefited by keeping Sir Henry away from the Baskervilles estate. He is linked to the person who was stalking Sir Henry as he also had dark black beard. But soon Sherlock Holmes’ suspicion about the butler is cleared by a telegram. It showed that Barrymore was at the Baskerville Hall.

ü  The second thread also got broken as Sherlock Holmes could not get the copy of Times from which the words had been cut to make the note that was sent tp Sir Henry Baskerville. Cartwright could not collect the copy of Times from any hotel.

ü  The third thread was the cab man who drove the spy with dark black beard. The cabman’s name was John Clayton. He could not provide any other useful information except that the spy called himself Sherlock Holmes.

ü  Thus Sherlock Holmes felt cheated by the man in the cab.

Sherlock Holmes was disappointed and calls him a ‘cunning rascal.’

Topic 3: Why does Sherlock Holmes say the words to the hotel clerk, “ Have you any objection to my looking at your register?”

Detail:

ü  Sherlock Holmes reaches the hotel in which Sir Henry Baskerville is staying. He is not able to solve the riddle as to who had sent the note to Sir Henry.

ü  So as he enters the hotel, he asks the clerk if he can see his register in which the names of the visitors are written.

ü  He wants to know the names of the person who have checked in the hotel after Sir Henry. He finds the names of two persons who have checked after Sir Henry. The clerk tells Holmes that these two persons were the regular visitors of the hotel.

ü  Thus by looking at the register, Sherlock Holmes wants to know about the recent visitors and also to check their hand writing to find out if they had any link with the note sent to Sir Henry Baskerville.

ü  He also reaches the conclusion that the person who was tracking Sir Henry was not staying in the hotel.

Topic 4: Henry Baskervilles’s reaction when he found one of his old dusty boots.

Detail:

ü  Henry Baskervile lost two boots, one each from his two pairs of shoes since he has stayed in Northumberland hotel. Sherlock Holmes linked this incident to a dangerous conspiracy against the Baskeville Hall and the death of Sir Charles Baskerville.

ü  As Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson reached upstairs, they found Sir Henry shouting in anger. They came to know that  another boot of his black pair was lost. Sir Henry was shouting furiously at the waiter and he was unable to speak properly. He also warns the waiter od bad consequences if his boots were not found. He calls the hotel ‘the den of thieves’

ü  He told  Sherlock Holmes that he had only three pairs of shoes. One shoe from his brown pair was lost last night and another from his black pair was lost that day.

ü  Sherlock Holmes call the case as the most complicated of all handles by him so far.

Topic 5: The information given by the cabman, John Clayton about the spy.

The Hound of the Baskervilles: Chapter 4; Qs & Ans

The Hound of the Baskervilles: Chapter 4

Q1. What do you know about Sir Henry Baskerville?

Ans. Sir Henry Baskerville was Sir Charles’s second brother’s son. He lived in Canada before coming to London and did farming there.

Dr. Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskervilles reached Sherlock Holmes’s office on time.

Sir Henry Baskervilles was a strongly built young man of thirty years having a small stature. He had dark eyes with thick and black eyebrows. His face and appearance showed that he had lived in the open air for the most of his time. Although some features of his face were the proof of his quarrelsome nature, yet he seemed to be a gentleman.

He was wearing a red coloured tweed suit when he came to meet Sherlock Holmes in his office.

Q.2. What conclusions are drawn by Sherlock Holmes after examining the letter that Sir Henry Baskerville showed to him?

Ans. Sherlock Holmes draws the following conclusions after reading the contents of the letter and the address written on the envelope.

Someone must be tracking Sir Henry Baskerville’s movements as he arrived in London.

Sherlock Holmes observed that the words cut from a famous newspaper The Times of a previous day were pasted on a plain paper.

The address on the envelope was not written smoothly in a natural way, rather the writer had written it loosely to hide his own identity.

The writer was a well educated person.

Sherlock Holmes also concludes that the writer of the address was in a hurry and the ink spluttered on the paper showed that the pen of a hotel was used to write the address. It meant that the message was prepared in a hotel.

In this way, the message in the envelope and the way in which the address was written on it has created a lot of interest and suspense for the readers. It has also given a new task to Sherlock Holmes.

It was also concluded that the man who left the message in the envelope for Sir Henry Baskerville was not ‘ill disposed’ to him.

Q3. What was the mystery around Sir Henry Baskerville’s lost boot? Dr. Mortimer says that it has been ‘mislaid.’ Do you agree?

Ans. Sherlock Holmes continued enquirying from Sir Henry Baskerville. He also asked him if anything special happened to him in London since he arrived there. He told Sherlock Holmes in a light way that one of his boots was missing. He had put the pair of tan boots outside his room for polish. At this, Sherlock Holmes at once jumped to the conclusion that someone had stolen the boot to give its scent to a hound. But Sir Henry said that the pair of tan boots was new and unused.

He had purchased them to give himself a new look of a squire. Then Sherlock Holmes remarked that his boot would soon be returned.

But Dr. Mortimer thought differently. He said that the boot had been misplaced.

We do not agree with Dr. Mortimer’s conclusion.

In this way, the incident of the boot has created more suspense in the story.

Q4. What did Sherlock Holmes decide to do after Dr. Mortimer and Sir Henry had left his office?

Ans. Sherlock Holmes was an astute crime detective. His observations were par excellence. During the discussion with Sir Henry and Dr. Mortimer, he had concluded that someone had been tracking Sir Henry Baskerville’s movements. Therefore he had looked outside from the window of his office to see if anybody was wandering about there. The secret of Sir Henry’s stay in a hotel was known to only Dr. Mortimer, Dr. Watson and he himself.

As soon as Dr. Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville left the office to walk the distance, he told Dr. Watson to follow them to catch the person tracking Sir Henry.

After some time, Sir Henry stopped and walked towards a shop to enter it. It was then Sherlock Holmes saw a man sitting in a cab and he was looking at Sir Henry intently (with intention).

Sherlock Holme told Dr. Watson about the  person in excitement. But as they tried to reach there quickly, the man in the cab had disappeared. But Sherlock Holmes had noticed the man’s bushy black beard and the number of the cab.

Q5. Did the man in the cab escape because of his good luck or the bad management of Sherlock Holmes?

Ans. Sherlock Holmes thinks that the man in the cab had advantage of sitting in a cab. They were walking on foot. Al though Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson tried to chase him with quicker steps, but it was of no use. So Holmes called it his own bad luck as well as his bad management. The man in the cab had double advantage. One, he was sitting in a cab, therrefore, he was not fully visible to others. Two, he easily escaped with a speed because he was siting in a cab. Holmes should have hired a cab at once to give the person a good chase. So he called it a bad luck of himself and also his own mismanagement to face a situation.

The Hound of the Baskervilles Chapter Three; Qs. & Ans.

The Hound of the Baskervilles Chapter Three

Q1. Why does Sherlock Holmes quiz Dr. Mortimer about the Yew Alley?

Ans. Dr. Mortimer reports to Sherlock Holmes about the death of Sir Charles under unusual conditions. Sherlock Holmes feels very much interested in the case and asks him several questions  to reach the right conclusion. He comes to know from Dr. Mortimer that the Yew hedge was twelve feet high and there was no chance for anyone to penetrate it. The space in the centre was eight feet wide. There was a strip of grass about six feet broad. There was only a small gate in the hedge leading to the moor. Dr. Mortimer also tells Holmes that there was another entry to the Yew Alley and that was through a summer house at the far end. Sir Charles’s body lay 50 yards away from it. Sherlock Holmes asked Dr. Mortimer as to why he had not called him on the day when the tragedy occurred. Mortimer replies that he did not want to tell the whole world about the supernatural elements attached to the death. Sherlock Holmes rejects all details about the supernatural reasons about Sir Charles’s death.

Q2. “There is a realm in which the most astute and most experienced of detectives is helpless.” What does Mortimer mean by this statement?

                                                       Or

What is the probable cause of Sir Charles’s death, according to Mortimer? How does he substantiate it?

Ans. Dr. Mortimer tells Sherlock Holmes that there is a hidden reality in this world that cannot be explained by reason and logic. So, even the most acute and experienced of detectives is helpless to solve the cases related to it. He also knew very well that Sherlock Holmes is not going to believe in the supernatural cause of the Sir Charles’s death. Therefore, he tries his level best to convince Holmes about the mystery that surrounded Sir Charles death.

He says that he himself had noticed the marks of a hound like beast, 20 yards away from the dead body. No one, except he, noticed them. He also adds that he had enquired from certain people (a farmer and a blacksmith) of that area, about the haunting of the beast and they confirmed it.

Sherlock Holmes disagrees with Dr. Mortimer and also chides him for believing in illogical things in spite of being a man of science.

Q3. Who is Henry Baskervilles? Why is Dr. Mortimer concerned about his utmost safety?

Ans. Sir Henry had two more brothers. He himself was the elder one. The other two brothers had died. Sir Henry was the son of Sir Charles’s second brother and, therefore, is the only surviving kinsman of the Baskervilles.

Dr. Mortimer is very much concerned about the safety of Sir Henry because Sir Charles had appointed him the trustee of the whole property of the Baskervilles. He is worried about the safety of Sir Henry because of the diabolic presence haunting near the Baskervilles’ estate. He also regrets the negligence shown by Sir Charles. If he knew the presence of the demon, it must have talked to him.

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Therefore, Dr. Mortimer seeks the help and good advice from Holmes about what should be done at the very moment when Sir Henry is approaching there from Canada after an hour and a quarter.

Sherlock Holmes advised Mortimer to take Sir Henry to Devonshire and not to reveal anything about the facts.

Q4. Sherlock Holmes remarks, “The devil’s agents may be of flesh and blood.” What does this remark suggest?

Ans. It has already been cleared by the text of the novel that Sherlock Holmes is not an ordinary detective. He does not believe in supernatural powers as Dr. Mortimer and some residents at the moor believe in. Dr. Watson also asks him if he also believes in what Dr. Mortimer says about the supernatural power operating at the Baskervilles. Sherlock Holmes refuses believing so and thinks upon two possible reasons about Sir Charles’s death. One reason is that Sir Charles might have died a natural death by cardiac arrest. The second possibility may be that any person might have a hand in Sir Charles death. He believes that sometimes human vices also assume the level of devilish activities. In that case, ordinary people fail to apply their reasoning to reach a logical conclusion. So they start believing in supernatural powers. He decides to exhaust all the possibilities in that case. If there is a human being behind the crime, then, he would try to find out the motive behind it.