THE ADVENTURE OF SPECKLED BAND : ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

 

THE ADVENTURE OF SPECKLED BAND :  ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

 

"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" , one of 56 short stories on  Sherlock Holmes.It is, the eighth story of twelve in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmeswhich was originally published in Strand Magazine in February 1892.

"The Speckled Band" is a classic locked-room mystery.It deals with the themes of parental greed, inheritance and freedom. It is considered as one of Doyle's finest works, with the author himself calling it his best story. 

 It has been adapted for television, film, theatre, radio and a video game. It is part of the exhibit at the Sherlock Holmes Museum.

The theatrical adaptation was written and produced by Doyle himself, directed by and starring Lyn Harding as Grimesby Roylott.

The role of Holmes was played by H. A. Saintsbury.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q. Who is ‘I’? What did he find?

Here ‘I’ is referred to Watson.

On glancing over the notes of the seventy odd cases in which he had during the last eight years studied the methods of his friend Sherlock Holmes, Watson found many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, but none commonplace.

Q. WHO IS ‘HE’? WHY DID HE WORK FOR?

He is Sherlock Holmes. For, working as he did rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic.

Q. What cannot Watson recall?

Of all these varied cases, however, he cannot recall any which presented more singular features than that which was associated with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran.

 Q.WHERE DID THEY SHARE ROOMS?

In the early days of  association with Holmes, they shared  rooms as bachelors in Baker Street.

Q.  What happened in April in the year ’83?

It was early in April in the year ‘83 that Watson woke one morning to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of his bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the mantelpiece showed that it was only a quarter-past seven.

Q. Who woke up Dr. Watson? Why?

Mr. Sherlock Holmes woke up Dr. Watson. He woke up Dr Watson because a young lady was waiting for them in the sitting room in an agitated state.

Q. Describe the physical appearance and emotional state of Miss Helen Stoner.

The lady in the sitting room was dressed in black and a heavy veil covered her face. The lady was shivering and looked agitated. She looked about thirty years old and had grey hairs.

Q. WHY WAS IT PRESUMED SO PRESSING?

Actually young ladies wander about the metropolis at the hour of the morning, but  knocking  sleepy people up out of their beds, is really something very pressing which they have to communicate. It should  be an interesting case.

Q. WHAT DID WATSON DO THEN?

Watson had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a logical basis with which  unravelled the problems which were submitted to Holmes. So he  rapidly threw on his clothes and was ready in a few minutes to accompany his friend down to the sitting-room.

Q.WHY WAS THE LADY SHIVERING?

Actually she was shivering in fearand in  terror.

Q. WHAT DID THEY SEE THEN?

Then she raised her veil as she spoke, and they  could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless frightened eyes,like those of some hunted animal. Her features and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard.

Q. WHAT DID HOLMES DO THEN?

Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, all-comprehensive glances. “You must not fear,” said he soothingly, bending forward and patting her forearm. “We shall soon set matters right,

Q.HOW DID HOLMES CAME TO KNOW HOW SHE CAME ?

 Holmes observed the second half of a return ticket in the palm of her left glove. Moreover,she had  started early, and yet she  had a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before she reached the station.

Q. WHAT WAS HOLMES EXPLANATION OF HIS GUESS?

The lady was bewilderment to here that Holmes observed that the  left arm of her jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when she  sits on the left-hand side of the driver.

Q. WHAT DID THE LADY ADMIT?

She admitted that Holmes was perfectly correct and it is true she started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo.

Q.WHAT DID SHE SAY TO HOLMES THEN?

She said the she couldnot  stand the strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. She  have no one to turn to—none, save only one, who cares for her.

Q. HOW DID SHE GOT THE ADDRESS OF HOLMES ?

She had  heard of Mr.Holmes  from Mrs. Farintosh, whom he  helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that she had his address.

 Q. WHO IS SHERLOCK HOLMES?

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.The character Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in 1887's A Study in Scarlet. 

 

Q.WHEN AND HOW WILL THE LADY PAY TO HOLMES?

The lady wants to help her  and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness which surrounds her; but it is out of her  power to reward Holmes for his services, but in a month or six weeks she will be married, with the control of her own income, and then she would pay.

Q.WHAT WAS HOLMES ANSWER?

. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small case-book, and he recalled  the case. Then he saidthat I should be happy to devote the same care to her case as he did to that of her friend. As to reward, Holmes profession is its own reward; So she may pay that suits her best and begged to lay before them everything that might help them in forming an opinion upon the matter.

Q.WHO IS THE LADY?

The lady  is Helen Stoner, and she is living with her stepfather, who is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Surrey.

Q. HOW WAS THE SAXON FAMILY?

 The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the days of the Regency.

 

Q. WHAT IS THE CONDITION AFTER IT?

Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but his only son, her stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he established a large practice.

Q. WHAT HAPPENED IN FIT OF ANGER?

In a fit of anger, however, caused by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, her stepfather beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man.

Q. WHAT DID MRS. STONER TELL OABOUT THEMSELVES?

Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old at the time of my mother’s re-marriage. She had a considerable sum of money—not less than 1000 pounds a year—and this she bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to each of us in the event of our marriage.

Q.WHEN DID HER MOTHER DIED AND HOW?

Shortly after our return to England my mother died—she was killed eight years ago in a railway accident near Crewe.

Q. WHAT DID DR.ROYLOTT DO NEXT?

Dr. Roylott then abandoned his attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The money which her mother had left was enough for all they want, and there seemed to be no obstacle totheir  happiness.

Q. WHAT CHANGES DID COME THEN?

A terrible change came over their  stepfather about that time. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the family, and in my stepfather’s case it had, I believe, been intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger.

Q. WHAT HAPPENED WITH A BLACKSMITH?

Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which she could gather together that she was able to avert another public exposure.

Q. WHAT IS ABOUT HIS PASSION?

Dr. Roylott has a passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the villagers almost as much as their master.

Q. WHY DID SHE CALL HER SISTER POOR?

It is hard to imagine from what she said  that her  poor sister Julia and she had no great pleasure in their lives. No servant would stay with them and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was but thirty at the time of her death, and yet my hair had already begun to whiten. She died just two years ago.

Q. WHY DID SHE COME TO HOMES?

It is of Julia’s death that she wished to speak to Holmes. It is hard to understand that, living the life which she described, really intolerable.

Q. WHO WAS MISS WESTPHAIL?

They had, however, an aunt, my mother’s maiden sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and they were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady’s house.

Q. WITH WHOM DID JULIA MEET AT HARROW?

Julia went Harrow at Christmas two years ago, and met there a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged.