The Adventure of the Speckled Band that of Dr Roylott. Holmes and Watson arrange to spend the night in Helen's room. In darkness they wait; 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 the snake with a stick, driving it back through the ventilator. Agitated, it attacks Roylott, who had been waiting for it to return after killing Helen. Holmes identifies the snake as a "swamp adder" and reveals to Watson the motive: the late wife's will had provided an annual
The Preserving Machine (short story) chaotic, with all their beauty and harmony lost. The Preserving Machine (short story) "The Preserving Machine" is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was first published in 1953 in the "Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction", and is included in a later collection of the same name, "The Preserving Machine". "The Preserving Machine" was originally a companion piece to another Doc Labyrinth story, "Left Shoe, My Foot", later published as "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford". Doc Labyrinth fears for the safety of the fragile works of high culture, particularly classical music,