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The Adventure of the Speckled Band is a short story written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Released in 1892, it is the eighth short story in the anthology The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and tells of Holmes saving the life of a young woman.
Characters[]
- Dr. John Watson
- Sherlock Holmes
- Helen Stoner
- Dr. Grimesby Roylott
Synopsis[]
The tale begins with a woman named Helen Stoner approaching Sherlock Holmes for help. Following the mysterious death of her twin sister Julia two years earlier, Helen Stoner has become the only person (apart from an old housekeeper) to share the home of her bad-tempered stepfather Dr. Grimesby Roylott.
Julia died in agony two weeks before she was due to be married. The last words which she spoke to Helen concerned a "speckled band". A few hours before she died, Julia asked her sister if she had ever heard a whistle late at night. Shortly after she gets engaged to be married herself, Helen hears a whistle late at night for the first time.
She immediately comes to the conclusion that her life is in danger.
Plot[]
One morning, a client shows up at Baker Street. A young, scared-looking woman, she introduces herself as Helen Stoner. She lives with her ill-tempered stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, the last from an old, revered family, and resided in India for a while, from where he owns dangerous animals.
Stoner consults Holmes for the death of her sister Julia two years ago: She was in a closed off room at night when she screamed, stumbled out of said room and collapsed unconscious, dying soon after. Her last words concerned a "speckled band." Notably, she also asked Helen if she had ever heard a whistling at night, which the latter hadn’t – however, this was audible the night of the incident, along with some metal clanging. The death was most likely not murder, but rather a mental breakdown of sorts, and no poison was detected in the body.
Helen, now engaged, had to sleep in her sister’s old room due to renovations, and heard the whistling sound. Frightened, she left immediately and came all the way to Holmes, who declares that he will inspect the house where the incident took place later that day, and Stoner leaves.
Suddenly, Stoner’s stepfather bursts into the rooms of 221B Baker Street, and disrespectfully asks what Helen had been doing there, insulting and threatening Holmes.
Stoner, Watson and Holmes meet at Stoke Moran, Roylott’s house, and the detective comes to the conclusion that he and his friend shall, unbeknownst to the stepfather, stay the night in the lady’s room to see what’s up, while she sleeps at a nearby inn. Holmes also notably discovers a bell-pull, stationed over the bed in Julia’s room, that she never used, as it was unnecessary, and is, to Helen’s surprise, not functional, hung by a ventilation hole that doesn’t go outside – instead, it leads to the adjacent room occupied by Roylott.
In Julia’s old room, Watson and Holmes wait for several hours until they hear a sound similar to steam escaping from a kettle from the ventilation hole, which the detective wildly lashes at with his cane. A low whistle, and a scream from the neighboring room are heard, which the duo enter, finding that Dr. Roylott was killed by a lethal Indian snake that he owned.
Later, Holmes explains to Watson how he initially erred with his assumptions about the case, but, when he saw the bell-pull and combined it with Roylott’s pets from India, realized that a snake was slithering through the ventilation shaft to attack Julia, and being called back by the doctor with a whistle. He also offers an explanation for the metal clanging sound Helen heard the night her sister died – it must’ve been her stepfather hastily closing the doors to a special safe-like cupboard in on the snake after it committed the murder for him. Additionally, he remarks that the venom wouldn't be detectable by a chemical test, furthering the plan's genius. The detective also states that he is, no doubt, somewhat responsible for Roylott’s death, as he was the one who drove the agitated snake back to the doctor, but it is not likely that it will "weigh very heavily upon [his] conscience".