Ι told Sir Henry about Laura Lyons,and that I wanted to speak to her as soon as possible.Then I went to her house in Newtown.

A maid took me into the sitting room,where a very pretty lady with dark hair was working at a typewriter.I told her who I was,and that I had met her father.

'I have no contact with my father,'she said.' He gave me no help when I was in trouble.Sir Charles Baskerville and some other kind people helped me when I was poor and hungry.'

'It is about Sir Charles that I have come to see you,'I said.'I want to know if you ever wrote to him and asked him to meet you.'

She looked very,angry,and her face went white.

'What a question!'she said.'What right have you to ask me about my private life?But the answer is “no”.'

'Surely you are not remembering clearly,'I said.'I think you wrote to him on the day that he died.And your letter said: “Please,please,burn this letter,and be at the gate by ten o'clock.”'

For a moment I thought she was going to faint.Then she said in a low oice:'I asked Sir Charles to tell nobdy.'

'You must not think that Sir Charles spoke to anyone about you,'I said.' He put the letter on the fire,but not all of it was burnt.Now,did you write that letter to him?'

'Yes,'she said.'Why should I be ashamed of writing to him?I wanted him to help me.I learned that he was going to London early on the following day,so I asked him to meet me before he went.I could not go to the Hall earlier that day.'

'But why did you ask him to meet you in the garden instead of in the house?'I asked.

'Do you think it would be sensible for a woman to go at that time of night into the house of an unmarried man?'she asked.

'Well,what happened when you got there?'I asked.

'I didn't go,'she replied.

'Mrs Lyons!'

'I tell you I did not go.Something happened that stopped me from going.I can't tell you what it was.'

'Mrs Lyons,' I said.' If you did not see Sir Charles,you must tell me why.If you do not,it will look very bad for you if I have to go to the police with this new piece of information about the letter.'

Mrs Lyons thought for a moment,and then she said:' I see that I must tell you.Perhaps you know that I married a man who was very cruel to me.I hate him and I wanted to get a divorce.But a divorce is expensive,and I had no money.I thought that if Sir Charles heard my sad story,he would help me to get a divorce.'

'Then why didn't you go to see Sir Charles?'I asked her.

'Because I got help from someone else,'she said.

'Why didn't you write to Sir Charles and tell him?'

' I was going to,but I saw in the newspaper the next morn ing that he had died.'

I asked Mrs Lyons a number of other questions,but she did not change her story,whatever I asked her.I was sure that she was telling the truth.I could check two important parts of the story.If they were right,there could be no doubt that she was telling the truth.I could check that she had begun to get her divorce at about the time of Sir Charles' death.I could also check that she had not been to Baskerville Hall on the night of Sir Charles' death.

But I was not sure that she had told me the whole truth.Why had she nearly fainted when I had told her about the let ter? That was not completely explained by the story she had told me.

I had discovered all I could for the moment.I left her,and went to search for more information in a different place.

我告诉了亨利爵士关于劳拉·莱昂丝的事情，还说我想尽快与她谈一谈。此后我便到纽顿去了她家。

一位女仆将我带进了起居室，一位非常漂亮的黑发女士正坐在打字机前工作。我告诉了她我是谁，还说我曾见过她父亲。

“我与我父亲之间没什么联系，”她讲道。“在我身处困境时他没有给我丝毫的帮助。查尔斯·巴斯克维尔爵士与别的一些好心肠的人们在我又穷又饿时曾经帮助过我。”

“我就是因为查尔斯爵士的事情才来见您的，”我说道。“我想知道您是否曾经给他写信并请求他来见您一面。”

她看上去十分愤怒，她的面孔还变得苍白。

“岂有此理的问题！”她说道。“您有何权利向我询问有关我的私人生活的事情？但是我的回答是：‘没有’。”

“您肯定没记清楚，”我说道。“我认为您在他临终的那天曾给他写过信。您的信中还是这么写的：‘请您千万将此信烧掉，并在10点钟的时候到栅门那里去。’”

我一度以为她就要晕厥了。接着，她低声说道：“我曾请求查尔斯爵士不要告诉任何人的。”

“您不该认为查尔斯爵士曾同任何人谈起您，”我说道。“他把这封信投在火中了，但并没全烧掉。我说，您曾给他写过那封信吗？”

“是的，我写过，”她说道。“我为何要为曾写信给他而感到羞愧呢？我本想让他帮助我。我听说他第二天一大早就要到伦敦去。那天我又不能早一点到庄园去。”

“但是您为何要求他在花园里而不是在屋里与您会面呢？”我问道。

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