How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #7
"We're at close grips at last," said Holmes as we walked together across the moor. "What a nerve the fellow has! How he pulled himself together in the face of what must have been a paralyzing shock when he found that the wrong man had fallen a victim to his plot. I told you in London, Watson, and I tell you now again, that we have never had a foeman more worthy of our steel." (13.1)
Holmes' superpower is detection. Q: How can Conan Doyle keep up the suspense of these mysteries when it seems so clear that Holmes can and will always find all the pieces of the puzzle? A: Give him an equally clever (well, maybe not equally…) opponent. Holmes respects Stapleton's nerve and cunning even if he loathes his motives. This convinces us readers that Stapleton is worth taking seriously as a threat, even if we're pretty sure that Holmes will prevail. At least Stapleton is smart enough not to make it challenging.
Quote #8
The London express came roaring into the station, and a small, wiry bulldog of a man had sprung from a first-class carriage. We all three shook hands, and I saw at once from the reverential way in which Lestrade gazed at my companion that he had learned a good deal since the days when they had first worked together. I could well remember the scorn which the theories of the reasoner used then to excite in the practical man. (13.138)
Lestrade, Scotland Yard policeman, has learned to respect Holmes over the course of their work together. He's apparently one of the rare few who wasn't always impressed with Holmes. Lestrade first appears in A Study in Scarlet, which was published fourteen years before The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1887. By the time of this story, he's a fan.