How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #7
And so it was arranged. Resisting Stapleton's offer of hospitality, Holmes and I set off to Baskerville Hall, leaving the naturalist to return alone. Looking back we saw the figure moving slowly away over the broad moor, and behind him that one black smudge on the silvered slope which showed where the man was lying who had come so horribly to his end. (12.136)
This passage comes after the sudden death of Selden out on the moors, when Holmes and Watson meet Stapleton as he's coming to see if the dead body belongs to Sir Henry Baskerville (as he hopes). Stapleton (of course) doesn't admit that he's shocked at the identity of the dead man, and Holmes and Watson do not give away that they know he is guilty of murder. At this point in the plot, when we know whodunit and we're waiting to see how Holmes will stop him, the novel really changes tone. It stops being a mystery and starts being match of wits between Holmes and Stapleton. (Stapleton is obviously going to lose this match, but we keep on reading to see exactly how.)
Quote #8
"But one last word, Watson. Say nothing of the hound to Sir Henry. Let him think that Selden's death was as Stapleton would have us believe. He will have a better nerve for the ordeal which he will have to undergo tomorrow, when he is engaged, if I remember your report aright, to dine with these people." (13.18)
Holmes knows how people tick, and he knows how to push them to get them to act. Still, with the exception of Watson, he doesn't seem to have many friends. He likes Sir Henry, but he's still perfectly willing to use him as bait to draw out Stapleton. Holmes' highly rational and utilitarian way of looking at people often makes him seem cold and remote. It's not a good way to win friends. Luckily, Watson is around to show us Holmes' warmer side.
Quote #9
"Mr. Holmes," she said, "this man had offered me marriage on condition that I could get a divorce from my husband. He has lied to me, the villain, in every conceivable way. Not one word of truth has he ever told me. And why—why? I imagined that all was for my own sake. But now I see that I was never anything but a tool in his hands. Why should I preserve faith with him who never kept any with me? Why should I try to shield him from the consequences of his own wicked acts?" (13.123)
It's hard even to think of the words "Holmes" and "romantic" in the same sentence. But he's perfectly able to use other people's romantic feelings to his advantage. Here, he recognizes Laura Lyons' weak point: her belief that Stapleton will marry her. And indeed, as soon as Holmes mentions that Beryl is Stapleton's wife and not his sister, Laura immediately turns on her faithless lover. Holmes may not be personally interested in love—too messy—but he totally understands the crazy things it makes people do. In fact, maybe it's because he understands love as a motive in human behavior that he doesn't seem to want anything to do with it. His friendship with Watson appears to provide all the emotional connection he needs.