'No sir,' Barrymore said. ' I never read Sir Charles' letters. But Sir Charles usually kept his letters on his desk.
This letter was unusual. He read it. Then he put it on the fire.'
'Oh, so he burnt it,' Holmes said. 'Perhaps this letter asked him to meet someone. Perhaps he went to this meeting and met someone - or something.'
'But why did Sir Charles burn the letter?' I asked. 'Why do people burn letter, Watson?' asker Holmes. ' Often because they have something to hide. But Sir Charles was afraid to go out on the moor at night. Dr Mortimer told us that Sir Charles believed the story of the Hound of the Baskervilles. Why would he go out on the moor, alone, at night? It he was going to meet someone, it was someone he knew. But way meet on the edge of the moor? Was it a secret meeting?'
'Do you think Sir Charles was murdered by a friend?' I asked.