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 Moving Finger (short story) The Moving Finger (short story) "The Moving Finger" is a short story by Stephen King. It was first published in December 1990 in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", and three years later in 1993 was included in King's collection "Nightmares & Dreamscapes". A very ordinary man named Howard Mitla, who has a strange aptitude for "Jeopardy!", is confronted by the bizarre sight of a human finger poking its way out of the drain in his apartment's bathroom sink. He tries to deny the reality of what is happening, but the solitary digit eventually proves to be infinitely long