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
Jack-in-the-Box (short story) Jack-in-the-Box (short story) Jack-in-the-Box is a short story by American author Ray Bradbury, first published as part of the 1947 short story collection "Dark Carnival". It was later collected in the magazine Avon Fantasy Reader and the anthologies Interplanet7: Fantascienza, The Small Assassin, Ghostly and Ghastly, and The Stories of Ray Bradbury. Living apart from the outside world, Edwin shares residence with his mother in a vast secluded mansion. She raises him to be god; telling him that his father, the original god, was killed by beasts from outside the estate, and that if he ever extricates himself he too