The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson rise unusually early one morning to meet a young woman named
Helen Stoner who fears that her life is being threatened by her stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott. Roylott
is a doctor who practiced in Calcutta, India and was married to Helen's late mother when she was a
widow living there. He is also the impoverished last survivor of what was once a wealthy but violent, ill-
tempered and amoral Anglo-Saxon aristocratic family of Surrey, and has already served a jail sentence
for killing his Indian butler in a rage.

Helen's twin sister had died almost two years earlier, shortly before she was to be married. Helen had
heard her sister's dying words, "The speckled band!" but was unable to decode their meaning. Helen
herself, troubled by the perplexing death of her sister,[3] is now engaged, and she has begun to hear
strange noises and observe strange activities around Stoke Moran, the impoverished and heavily
mortgaged estate where she and her stepfather live.

Dr. Roylott also keeps strange company at the estate. He is friendly with a band of gypsies on the
property, and has a cheetah and a baboon as pets. For some time, he has been making changes to the
house. Before Helen's sister's death, he had modifications made inside the house, and is now having the
outside wall repaired, forcing Helen to move into the room where her sister died.

Holmes listens carefully to Helen's story and agrees to take the case. He plans a visit to the manor later
in the day. Before he can leave, however, he is visited by Dr. Roylott himself, who threatens him should
he interfere. Undaunted, Holmes proceeds, first to the courthouse, where he examines Helen's late
mother's will, and then to the countryside.

At Stoke Moran, Holmes inspects the premises carefully inside and out. Among the strange features that
he discovers are a bed anchored to the floor, a bell cord that is not attached to any bell, and a ventilator
hole between Helen's temporary room and that of Dr Roylott.

Holmes and Watson arrange to spend the night in Helen's room. In darkness they wait until about three
in the morning; suddenly, a slight metallic noise and a dim light through the ventilator prompt Holmes to
action. Quickly lighting a candle, he discovers on the bell cord the "speckled band"—a venomous snake.
He strikes at the snake with his walking stick, driving it back through the ventilator. Agitated, it fatally
attacks Roylott, who had been waiting for it to return after killing Helen. Holmes identifies the snake as
an Indian swamp adder and reveals to Watson the motive: the late wife's will had provided an annual
income of £750 sterling, of which each daughter could claim one third upon marriage. Thus, Dr. Roylott
plotted to remove both of his stepdaughters before they married to avoid losing most of the fortune he
controlled when the daughters took with them their share of money left for them by their mother.
Holmes admits his attack on the snake may make him indirectly responsible for Roylott's demise, but he
doesn't foresee it troubling him, since his action saved Helen's life.

The Adventure of the Dancing Men

Cubitt explains to Holmes and Dr. Watson that he has recently married an American woman named Elsie
Patrick. Before the wedding, she had asked her husband-to-be never to ask about her past, as she had
had some "very disagreeable associations" in her life, although she said that there was nothing that she
was personally ashamed of. Their marriage had been a happy one until the messages began to arrive,
first mailed from the United States and then appearing in the garden.

The messages had made Elsie very afraid but she did not explain the reasons for her fear, and Cubitt
insisted on honoring his promise not to ask about Elsie's life in the United States. Holmes examines all of
the occurrences of the dancing figures, and they provide him with an important clue - he realizes that it
is a substitution cipher and cracks the code by frequency analysis. The last of the messages causes
Holmes to fear that the Cubitts are in immediate danger.

Holmes rushes to Ridling Thorpe Manor and finds Cubitt dead of a bullet to the heart and his wife
gravely wounded from a gunshot to the head. Inspector Martin of the Norfolk Constabulary believes
that it is a murder-suicide attempt; Elsie is the prime suspect. But Holmes, after noting some
inconsistencies in that theory, proves that there is a third person involved.

Holmes writes a message—in dancing figure characters—and has it delivered to a lodger at a nearby
farm. While waiting for the result of this message, Holmes explains to Watson and Inspector Martin how
he cracked the code of the dancing figures. The last message, which caused Holmes and Watson to rush
to Norfolk, read "ELSIE PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD".

The lodger, Abe Slaney, another American, unaware that Elsie is gravely wounded, arrives at Ridling
Thorpe Manor and is seized as he comes through the door. Holmes had sent for Slaney using the
dancing men, knowing that Slaney would believe the message is from Elsie. Slaney reveals that he had
been engaged to Elsie, the daughter of the Chicago crime boss whom Slaney works for, and that she had
fled to escape her old life. Slaney had come to England to get her back. When Slaney and Elsie were
speaking through a window, Cubitt had appeared and shots were exchanged; Cubitt was killed and
Slaney had fled. Apparently, Elsie then shot herself. Slaney is arrested and sentenced to hang, but his
sentence is reduced to penal servitude because Cubitt had fired the first shot. Elsie recovers from her
injuries, and spends her life helping the poor and administering her late husband's estate.

The Adventure of the Dying Detective

Holmes instructs Watson not to come near him, because the illness is highly infectious. In fact, he scorns
to be treated by Watson and insults his abilities, astonishing and hurting the doctor. Although Watson
wishes to examine Holmes himself or call in a specialist, Holmes demands that Watson wait several
hours before seeking help. While Watson waits, he examines several objects in Holmes's room. Holmes
grows angry when Watson touches items explaining that he does not like his things touched.

At six o'clock, Holmes tells Watson to turn the gaslight on, but only half-full. He then instructs Watson to
bring Mr Culverton Smith of 13 Lower Burke Street to see Holmes, but to make sure that Watson returns
to Baker Street before Smith arrives.

Watson goes to Smith's address. Although Smith refuses to see anyone, Watson forces his way in. Once
Watson explains his errand on behalf of Sherlock Holmes, Smith's attitude changes drastically. Smith
agrees to come to Baker Street within a half hour. Watson excuses himself, saying that he has another
appointment, and returns to Baker Street before Smith's arrival.

Believing that they are alone, Smith is frank with Holmes. It emerges, to the hiding Watson's horror, that
Holmes has been sickened by the same illness that killed Smith's cousin Victor. Smith then sees the little
ivory box, which he had sent to Holmes by post, and which contains a sharp spring infected with the
illness. Smith pockets it, removing the evidence of his crime. He then resolves to stay there and watch
Holmes die.

Holmes asks Smith to turn the gas up full, which Smith does. Smith then asks Holmes if he would like
anything else, to which Holmes replies—no longer in the voice of a man near death—"a match and a
cigarette." Inspector Morton then enters—the full gaslight was the signal to move in. Holmes tells
Morton to arrest Culverton Smith for the murder of his cousin, and perhaps also for the attempted
murder of Sherlock Holmes. Smith points out that his word is as good as Holmes' in court, but Holmes
then calls for Watson to emerge from behind the screen, to present himself as another witness to the
conversation.

Holmes explains his illness was feigned as a ruse to induce Smith to confess to his cousin's murder.
Holmes was not infected by the little box; he has enough enemies to know that he must always examine
his mail carefully before he opens it. Starving himself for three days and the claim of the "disease's"
infectious nature was to keep Watson from examining him and discovering the ruse, since, as he
clarifies, he has every respect for his friend's medical skills.