'That cruel devil Stapleton has beaten her,'Holmes said.'Put her into a chair.'Miss Stapleton had fainted from the beating and exhaustion.As we put her into the chair,she opened her eyes.
'Is he safe?'she asked.'Has he escaped?'
'He cannot escape us,Miss Stapleton,'Holmes said.
'No,no,I don't mean my husband.I mean Sir Henry.Is he safe?'
'Yes,'I said,'and the hound is dead.'
'Thank God,'she said.'Thank God.Oh,the cruel devil.Look what he has done to me.'She showed us her arms,and we saw with horror that her skin was black and blue where she had been beaten.'But he has hurt me more in other ways.While I thought he loved me,I accepted many things.But he doesn't love me.He has used me.'
'Then help us now,'said Holmes.'Tell us where he has gone.'
'There is an old house on an island in the middle of the marsh,'she said.'He kept his hound there.He also had the house ready in case he needed to escape.He will be there,I'm sure.'
'Nobody could find his way into the Grimpen Marsh in this fog tonight,'said Holmes,looking out of the window.
The fog lay like white wool against the glass,and we knew we could not try to follow him until it cleared.We decided to take Sir Henry back to Baskerville Hall.We had to tell him everything about the Stapletons,and he was deeply hurt when he heard the truth about the woman he loved.The news that she was married,and the awful fear he had experienced,brought on a fever.We sent for Dr Mortimer,who came and sat with Sir Henry throughout the night.
On the following morning Miss Stapleton took us to the path through the marsh.The fog had lifted,and she showed us the sticks which she and her husband had put in to mark the way.We followed them through the marsh,which smelled of dying plants.The wet ground pulled at our feet as we walked.From time to time one of us stepped from the path and sank up to his waist in the marsh.One man on his own could not hope to escape the pull of the marsh；without help he would sink to his death.
But we did not find any sign of Stapleton.We searched andsearched without success.There is no doubt that he lost hisway in the fog,and sank in the marsh Somewhere,deep down,his body lies to this day.
We reached the island Miss Stapleton had described,and searched the old house.
'This place tells us nothing that we do not already know,'said Holmes.'These bones show that he hid the hound here,but he could not keep it quiet,so people heard its cries.Here is the bottle of phosphorous paint.Stapleton used it very cleverly on the hound.After what we saw and felt last night,we cannot be surprised that Sir Charles died of fright.And now I under stand how Selden knew that the hound was following him in the dark.It's not surprising the poor man screamed and ran as he did.The old story of the supernatural hound probably gave Stapleton the idea of using phosphorus.Very clever.I said it in London and I say it again,Watson.We have never had a more dangerous enemy than the one who is lying out there'—and he pointed to the great marsh that was all round us.
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