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 Best Day (short story) The Best Day (short story) "The Best Day" is a short story by Orson Scott Card. It appears in his short story collection "Maps in a Mirror". Card originally published this story in his novel "Saints" (1983) under the pen name Dinah Kirkham. This story is about a woman who is happy but is afraid that the happiness in her life will come to an end. She prays for eternal happiness and the next day an old peddler shows up selling plain things. When she asks him if he has anything for happiness he tries to explain that happiness is