The Hound of the Baskervilles Chapter 13 Summary

Summary

Sherlock Holmes arrives at Baskerville Hall with Dr. Watson and immediately explains enough of his investigation to Sir Henry and the household. Holmes insists upon telling Barrymore and his wife the truth; the wife bursts into tears while Barrymore accepts the revelation stoically. Over supper Holmes studies the family portraits and is particularly struck by the portrait of Hugo Baskerville. By inspecting the painting closely he finds a startling likeness to Stapleton, concluding that Stapleton is a throwback to the Baskerville family and likely has designs on the inheritance. Holmes is confident that this visual clue furnishes one of the missing links in their enquiry.

The narrative then shifts to Holmes’s active preparations. He sends reports and arrangements — including notifying Princetown of Selden’s death and instructing his agent Cartwright — and persuades Sir Henry to cooperate with a plan that will make Stapleton believe Holmes has left. Holmes and Watson plan a brief trip to London to create the appearance of absence; they leave Sir Henry behind with strict orders to follow specified routes on the moor and to dine with the Stapletons as arranged. Back in town, Holmes and Watson call on Mrs. Laura Lyons. Holmes confronts her with evidence that Stapleton and his companion are a married couple in disguise and that Lyons was manipulated into writing a letter setting up Sir Charles’s fatal appointment. Lyons breaks down but insists she never intended harm. As the chapter closes, Lestrade arrives from London; Holmes is upbeat, feeling the ‘‘nets’’ are in place and expecting to trap the ‘‘lean-jawed pike’’ before nightfall.

Key events

1. Holmes reveals identity of the dressed corpse and confronts Barrymore and his wife.
2. Holmes studies family portraits and sees Stapleton’s likeness in Hugo Baskerville’s portrait.
3. Holmes decides on a deceptive plan: appear to leave Dartmoor while actually preparing a trap.
4. Sir Henry agrees to cooperate and to visit the Stapletons as part of the ruse.
5. Holmes interviews Mrs. Laura Lyons and proves Stapleton and his companion are secretly married.
6. Inspector Lestrade arrives from London; Holmes readies the final phase of the operation.

Analysis

This chapter shifts the novel from gathering clues to active strategy: Holmes moves from passive deduction to deliberate entrapment. The portrait episode is pivotal structurally and thematically — it literalizes the book’s recurrent concern with heredity and ‘‘throwbacks’’ by connecting Stapleton visually to the Baskerville lineage, suggesting both motive and identity without relying on direct confession. Holmes’s gleeful confidence and theatrical planning reveal his detective method: he constructs deception to expose deception, using appearances (the announced departure, Sir Henry’s attendance at Stapletons’ dinner) as bait. The interview with Laura Lyons consolidates the moral ambiguity around female victims and manipulated witnesses; she is shown not as villain but as coerced instrument, which sharpens the reader’s sympathy and narrows the circle of culpability toward Stapleton. Narrative technique also deepens: Watson’s first-person perspective remains the moral center and conduit for exposition, while Holmes’s private enthusiasms and cryptic pronouncements keep suspense high. Symbolically, the portrait and the ‘‘nets’’ metaphor reinforce themes of inheritance, entrapment, and the interplay of appearance and reality. Foreshadowing is heavy: Holmes’s laughter, the portrait revelation, and Lestrade’s arrival all signal that the investigation is about to reach a decisive, possibly dangerous, climax.

Important quotes

“We have him, Watson, we have him, and I dare swear that before tomorrow night he will be fluttering in our net as helpless as one of his own butterflies.”

Sherlock HolmesHolmes reacts to the likeness of Stapleton in Hugo Baskerville’s portrait and declares his confidence that they will catch the suspect.

“Wire received. Coming down with unsigned warrant. Arrive five-forty. Lestrade.”

NarratorThe telegram Holmes receives announcing Inspector Lestrade’s imminent arrival from London to assist in the case.

Characters in Chapter 13

• Sir Henry Baskerville
• Sherlock Holmes
• Dr. John Watson
• Mr. Barrymore
• Mrs. Barrymore
• Jack Stapleton
• Beryl Stapleton
• Laura Lyons
• Inspector Lestrade
• Cartwright
• Selden
• Sir Charles Baskerville
• Hugo Baskerville
• Dr. James Mortimer