"Put into plain words, the matter is this," said he. "In your
opinion there is a diabolical agency which makes Dartmoor an
unsafe abode for a Baskerville--that is your opinion?"

"At least I might go the length of saying that there is some
evidence that this may be so."

"Exactly. But surely, if your supernatural theory be correct,
it could work the young man evil in London as easily as in
Devonshire. A devil with merely local powers like a parish
vestry would be too inconceivable a thing."

"You put the matter more flippantly, Mr. Holmes, than you would
probably do if you were brought into personal contact with these
things. Your advice, then, as I understand it, is that the young
man will be as safe in Devonshire as in London. He comes in
fifty minutes. What would you recommend?"

"I recommend, sir, that you take a cab, call off your spaniel who
is scratching at my front door, and proceed to Waterloo to meet
Sir Henry Baskerville."

"And then?"

"And then you will say nothing to him at all until I have made
up my mind about the matter."

"How long will it take you to make up your mind?"