Eliza Barrymore—Selden

Eliza Barrymore and Selden are siblings: she is his elder sister, and he is her younger brother. Their family bond turns the secret signals and supplies on the moor into an act of desperate care, not a plot against Sir Henry Baskerville. Eliza accepts responsibility for helping Selden, even as she acknowledges the crimes that have brought him to the edge of the scaffold.

Kinship and Family History

Eliza describes Selden as having been indulged in childhood and allowed his own way, until he came to believe the world existed for his pleasure. As he grew older, he fell in with criminal companions and descended through successive crimes, bringing grief and disgrace on their family. Eliza’s account does not excuse his conduct: it sets his criminal history beside the enduring familial attachment that shapes her response to it.

She remembers him not only as the notorious criminal he has become but as the little boy she nursed and played with. That remembered childhood bond persists despite the harm he has caused and helps explain why his escape from prison draws her into protecting him.

Shelter and Signals on the Moor

When Selden arrived at the house exhausted and starving, with warders close behind, Eliza and Barrymore took him in, fed him, and cared for him. After Sir Henry returned, Selden judged the moor safer than anywhere else while the search for him continued and hid there. Eliza and Barrymore continued to provide help rather than abandon him.

Their nighttime signals made that assistance possible. Every second night, a light in the window let Selden know that food was ready; his answering light showed where Barrymore should bring it. Barrymore carried bread and meat to him. The arrangement explains both the stealthy nighttime journeys and the light at the window, which had seemed suspicious before Eliza disclosed their purpose.

Responsibility and Significance

Eliza insists that Selden’s escape and hiding were not part of a scheme against Sir Henry. She says that Selden knew his sister was at the house and believed she would not refuse to help him. Although Barrymore acted by carrying food, Eliza claims the greater responsibility for his assistance, saying that her husband did it for her sake and at her request. She also explains that they hoped each day Selden had gone, but could not desert him while he remained on the moor.

Her confession reframes the apparent conspiracy as a conflict between the demands of the law and a sister’s loyalty to a brother whose crimes she does not deny. The relationship is therefore revealed not by a public family history but through the practical details of concealment: a window light, an answering signal, and food carried into hiding. Eliza’s continued care does not erase Selden’s criminal past; it shows how kinship outlasts her judgment of it.