How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Here are two moorland farmhouses, High Tor and Foulmire. Then fourteen miles away the great convict prison of Princetown. Between and around these scattered points extends the desolate, lifeless moor. This, then, is the stage upon which tragedy has been played, and upon which we may help to play it again."
"It must be a wild place."
"Yes, the setting is a worthy one. If the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men—" (3.116-8)
"Foulmire" is a great name for a farmhouse—it's like calling your house Reeking Mud or Gross Bog. Holmes is setting the stage: even though we haven't actually arrived at Dartmoor yet, we know that it's a place with a "desolate, lifeless moor" and a "great convict prison." Not quite the spot for a relaxing vacay. But Holmes' detached tone shows he isn't particularly worried about it.
Quote #5
"On the whole," said Holmes, "I think that your decision is a wise one. I have ample evidence that you are being dogged in London, and amid the millions of this great city it is difficult to discover who these people are or what their object can be. If their intentions are evil they might do you a mischief, and we should be powerless to prevent it. You did not know, Dr. Mortimer, that you were followed this morning from my house?" (5.39)
Here's one benefit of living in the country, according to Holmes: since you know pretty much everyone in the area, you might know the person trying to kill you. In London, "amid the millions of this great city," it can be harder to identify threats. Don't you suburbanites feel better now?
Quote #6
At every turn Baskerville gave an exclamation of delight, looking eagerly about him and asking countless questions. To his eyes all seemed beautiful, but to me a tinge of melancholy lay upon the countryside, which bore so clearly the mark of the waning year. Yellow leaves carpeted the lanes and fluttered down upon us as we passed. The rattle of our wheels died away as we drove through drifts of rotting vegetation—sad gifts, as it seemed to me, for Nature to throw before the carriage of the returning heir of the Baskervilles. (6.28)
Getting Watson out of London and into a new environment gives him a chance for some impressive description as our narrator. He emphasizes that the setting of Dartmoor holds "a tinge of melancholy." There is something vaguely sad about this whole area. Sir Henry doesn't know it yet, but it's not gonna be a beautiful day in the neighborhood.