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“The circumstances connected with the death of Sir Charles cannot be said
to have been entirely cleared up by the inquest, but at least enough has been
done to dispose of those rumours to which local superstition has given rise.
There is no reason whatever to suspect foul play, or to imagine that death
could be from any but natural causes. Sir Charles was a widower, and a man who
may be said to have been in some ways of an eccentric habit of mind. In spite
of his considerable wealth he was simple in his personal tastes, and his indoor
servants at Baskerville Hall consisted of a married couple named Barrymore, the
husband acting as butler and the wife as housekeeper. Their evidence,
corroborated by that of several friends, tends to show that Sir Charles’s
health has for some time been impaired, and points especially to some affection
of the heart, manifesting itself in changes of colour, breathlessness, and
acute attacks of nervous depression. Dr. James Mortimer, the friend and medical
attendant of the deceased, has given evidence to the same effect.
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« L’enquête n’a pu préciser les circonstances qui ont entouré la
mort de sir Charles Baskerville ; mais, au moins, elle a dissipé
certaines rumeurs engendrées par la superstition publique.
« Sir Charles était veuf ; il passait pour quelque peu
excentrique. Malgré sa fortune considérable, il vivait très simplement. Son
personnel domestique consistait en un couple, nommé Barrymore : le mari
servant de valet de chambre et la femme, de bonne à tout faire.
« Leur témoignage, confirmé par celui de plusieurs amis, tend à
montrer que, depuis quelque temps, la santé de sir Charles était fort
ébranlée. Il souffrait de troubles cardiaques se manifestant par des
altérations du teint, de la suffocation et des accès de dépression nerveuse.
Le docteur Mortimer, ami et médecin du défunt, a témoigné dans le même
sens.
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