t."

I sat with my coffee-cup halfway to my lips and stared at
Barrymore.

"You know that there is another man then?"

"Yes, sir; there is another man upon the moor."

"Have you seen him?"

"No, sir."

"How do you know of him then?"

"Selden told me of him, sir, a week ago or more. He's in hiding,
too, but he's not a convict as far as I can make out. I don't
like it, Dr. Watson--I tell you straight, sir, that I don't like
it." He spoke with a sudden passion of earnestness.

"Now, listen to me, Barrymore! I have no interest in this matter
but that of your master. I have come here with no object except
to help him. Tell me, frankly, what it is that you don't like."

Barrymore hesitated for a moment, as if he regretted his
outburst, or found it difficult to express his own feelings in
words.

"It's all these goings-on, sir," he cried at last, waving his
hand towards the rain-lashed window which faced the moor. "There's
foul play somewhere, and there's black villainy brewing, to that
I'll swear! Very glad I should be, sir, to see Sir Henry on his
way back to London again!"

"But what is it that alarms you?"

"Look at Sir Charles's death! That was bad enough, for all that
the coroner said. Look at the noises on the moor at night.
There's not a man would cross it after sundown if he was paid for
it. Look at this stranger hiding out yonder, and watching and
waiting! What's he waiting for? What does it mean? It means no
good to anyone of the name of Baskerville, and very glad I shall
be to be quit of it all on the day that Sir Henry's new servants
are ready to take over the Hall."

"But about this stranger," said I. "Can you tell me anything
about him? What did Selden say? Did he find out where he hid, or
what he was doing?"

"He saw him once or twice, but he is a deep one, and gives
nothing away. At first he thought that he was the police, but
soon he found that he had some lay of his own. A kind of
gentleman he was, as far as he could see, but what he was doing
he could not make out."

"And where did he say that he lived?"

"Among the old houses on the hillside--the stone huts where the
old folk used to live."

"But how about his food?"

"Selden found out that he has got a lad who works for him and
brings him all he needs. I dare say he goes to Coombe Tracey for
what he wants."

"Very good, Barrymore. We may talk further of this some other
time." When the butler had gone I walked over to the blac