"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is a famous Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is told by Dr. Watson. A young woman named Helen Stoner visits Holmes because she is afraid. She lives with her stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, in an old house called Stoke Moran. Helen’s mother had married Roylott after her first husband died. Helen’s mother died in a train accident, leaving Helen and her twin sister Julia under Roylott’s care. Roylott once lived in India and brought back wild animals. Gypsies camp on the land near the house, which makes the place feel strange and scary.
Two years earlier, Julia died just before her wedding. Before she died, she told Helen she had heard a low whistle at night. On the night she died, Julia screamed and said, “It was the band! The speckled band!” Now Helen is hearing the same whistle in the same room where Julia died. She is scared that she will die too.
Holmes and Watson go to the house. They see a ventilator between Helen’s room and Roylott’s room, a fake bell rope, and a bed fixed to the floor. That night, they wait in Helen’s room. At midnight, they hear the whistle and see a snake coming down the rope. Holmes hits the snake with his stick. The snake goes back through the ventilator and bites Roylott. He dies instantly.
Holmes explains that the “speckled band” was a deadly snake. Roylott wanted to kill his stepdaughters so he could keep their inheritance money. The story teaches that greed can be dangerous, but truth and intelligence can win. Holmes uses his quick thinking to save Helen and solve the mystery.
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