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 Laughing Man (short story) the character's story in the series pilot, and also presented a copy of "The Catcher in the Rye". The Laughing Man (short story) "The Laughing Man" is a short story by J. D. Salinger, published originally in "The New Yorker" on March 19, 1949; and also in Salinger’s short story collection "Nine Stories". It largely takes the structure of a story within a story and is thematically occupied with the relationship between narrative and narrator, and the end of youth. The story is inspired by the Victor Hugo novel of the same name: "The Man Who Laughs" ("L'homme qui rit").