The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Plot summary
Holmes, Helen Stoner and Watson, illustrated by Sidney Paget
A young woman named Helen Stoner consults the detective Sherlock Holmes about th
e suspicious death of her sister, Julia. One night, after conversing with her tw
in sister about her upcoming wedding day, Julia screamed and came to the hallway
where Helen came out to see her, in Julia's dying words she said "it was the ba
nd, the speckled band!" Julia had been engaged to be married and, had she lived,
would have received an annual 250 GBP annuity from her late mother's income. No
w Helen is engaged to be married. Holmes' investigation of the mother's estate r
eveals that its value has decreased significantly, and if both daughters had mar
ried, Dr. Roylott, Helen's ill-tempered and violent stepfather, would be left wi
th very little, while the marriage of even one would be crippling. Therefore, th
e main suspicion falls on him.
Dr. Roylott has required Helen to move into a particular room of his heavily mor
tgaged ancestral home, Stoke Moran. A number of details about the place are myst
erious and disturbing. A low whistling sound is heard late at night, as well as
a metallic clank. There is a strange bell cord over the bed, and it does not see
m to work any bell. Stoner surmises that Julia might have been murdered by the g
ypsies, whom Dr. Roylott permits to live on the grounds they wear speckled handker
chiefs around their necks. A cheetah and a baboon also have the run of the prope
rty, for Dr. Roylott keeps exotic pets from India. Helen feels reluctant to slee
p in the room.
After Helen leaves, Dr. Roylott comes to visit Holmes, having traced his stepdau
ghter. He demands to know what Helen has said to Holmes, but Holmes refuses to s
ay. Dr. Roylott bends an iron poker into a curve in an attempt to intimidate Hol
mes, but Holmes is unaffected as he maintains a rather jovial demeanor during th
e encounter. After Roylott leaves, Holmes straightens the poker out again, thus
showing that he is just as strong as the doctor.
Having arranged for Helen to spend the night somewhere else, Holmes and Watson s
neak into her bedroom without Dr. Roylott's knowledge. Holmes says that he has a
lready deduced the solution to the mystery, and this test of his theory turns ou
t to be successful. They hear the whistle, and Holmes also sees what the bell co
rd is really for, although Watson does not. Julia's last words about a "speckled
band" were in fact describing "a swamp adder, the deadliest snake in India". Th
e venomous snake had been sent to Julia's room by Dr. Roylott to murder her. Aft
er the swamp adder bit Julia, he called off the snake with the whistling, which
made the snake climb up through the bell cord, disappearing from the scene.
Now the swamp adder is sent again through the ventilator by Dr. Roylott to kill
Julia's sister Helen. Holmes attacks the snake, sending it back through an air v
entilator connected to the next room. The aggravated snake bites Dr. Roylott ins
tead, and, within seconds, he is dead. Grimly noting that he is indirectly respo
nsible for Dr. Roylott's death, Holmes remarks that he is unlikely to feel much
guilt over the death.