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 Darling (short story) great value in the religious faith. Like her first husband, he dies and she connects herself with another man shortly after his death; like all her other male connections she engulfs her thoughts in her husband's profession. Eventually all the male connections she has had are gone and it says "She had no opinions of any sort. She saw the object about her and understood what she saw, but could not form any opinion about them, and did not know what to talk about." The Darling (short story) "The Darling" () is a short story by Russian author Anton Chekhov,