A Study in Sherlock. Raymond G. Farney
Surrey. “A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the branches there jetted out the gray gables and high roof-tree of the very old mansion.”“The building was of gray, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion, and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab. In one of those wings the windows were broken and blocked up with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin.”
Locations mentioned:Leatherhead, where Helen Stoner took the train to Waterloo Station. Four or five miles from Stoke Moran Manor.Crown Inn, opposite Stoke Moran, is where Helen Stoner got a dog-cart to drive to Leatherneck Station. Holmes and Watson stayed there during the investigation, and watched for Helen’s signal to enter the house.Crewe, where Helen’s mother was killed in a railway accident.
Evidence & Clues:Helen’s mother’s will.Dummy bell-ropes, fastened to a hook just above the little ventilator (so small a rat could not pass through).Saucer of milk.Small dog leash, tied as to make a loop of whipcord.The bed, “It was clamped to the floor.”
Motive:Continue to control the use of a 750-pound-a-year inheritance. “Loss of even a portion would cripple him to a very serious extent.”
Timeline:Eight years Watson studies the methods of his friend Sherlock Holmes.Eight years earlier, Helen and Julia’s mother was killed in a railway accident near Crewe.Two Years Earlier, AprilHelen Stoner’s twin sister, two weeks before her wedding, dies.11:00 p.m., the night of her death, Julia leaves her sisters room after chatting about the approaching wedding, and tells Helen for the last few nights about 3:00 a.m., she would hear a low, clear whistle.A few hours later, Helen hears a wild scream of a terrified woman, her sister Julia, and goes to her. Julia collapses and dies at the bedroom doorway.1st DayHelen Stoner starts from home before 6:00 a.m. and reaches Leatherneck for the train to Waterloo at twenty past.7:15 a.m., Holmes wakes Watson; a client is waiting in their sitting-room.Helen Stoner visits Baker St. to ask Holmes for his help.12:00 train Helen Stoner will take back home to Stoke Moran.Holmes leaves Baker St. to walk down to the Doctor’s Commons to examine Helen’s mother’s will.It is nearly 1:00 p.m. when Holmes returns to Baker Street.Early afternoon, Holmes and Watson meet Helen Stoner and investigate the grounds and rooms of the Stoke Moran Manor. Holmes asks her to, after her stepfather retires for the night, open the window shutters in the bedroom, place a lantern as a signal, and sleep in her own room.About 9:00 p.m., Holmes and Watson, watching in their room at the Crown Inn across from Stoke Moran, see the light extinguished and all is dark at the manor.11:00 p.m., “a single bright light shone out right in front of us.” “It comes from the middle window” — “That’s the signal,” said Holmes.Holmes and Watson leave the Crown Inn, enter the manor grounds, and slip through the middle window into the bedroom to stand vigil.“Far away we could hear the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of an hour.”— “Twelve struck, and one, and two, and three, and still we sat.” Suddenly there was a momentary gleam of a light up in the direction of the ventilator, a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal, than all was silent.”For half an hour, I sat with straining ears. Then suddenly a very soothing sound like that of a small jet of steam escaping. At that instant Holmes sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with his cane at the bell-pull. He ceased to strike, and from the silence came a horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger. “What can it mean?” I gasped. “It means that it is all over,” said Holmes. Entering Dr. Roylott’s room a singular sight met our eyes, round his brow a peculiar yellow band, with brownish specks. “The band! The speckled band!” whispered Holmes.“We broke the sad news to the terrified girl, and we conveyed her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow.”About two months later in the spring, Helen and Percy were to be married.
Story Conclusion:Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott of Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a narrative which has already ran to too great a length, by telling how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I have yet to learn of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we traveled back next day.“I had,” said he, “come to an entirely erroneous conclusion, which shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data. The presence of the gypsies, and the use of the word ‘band,’ which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurry glimpse of by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly recognize my position when, however, it became clear to me that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not come either from the window or the door. My intention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this ventilator, and to the bell rope which hung down to the bed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole, and coming to the bed. The idea of the snake instantly occurred to me, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I was probably on the right track. The idea of using the form of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such a poison would take effect will also, from his point of view, be an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner indeed who could distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the whistle. Of course, he must recall the snake before the morning light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the rope, and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but sooner or later she must fall a victim.“I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in the habit of standing on it, which, of course, would be necessary in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of the whipcord were enough to finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her father hastily closing the door of the safe upon its terrible occupant. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature’s hiss, as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the light and attacked it.”“With the result of driving it through the ventilator.”“And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home, and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Grimesby Roylott’s death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience.”
Weather:1st Day:Morning: “It is a little cold for this time of year,” said HolmesAfternoon: “it was a perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the heavens.”
Payment:“At present it is out of my power to reward you for your services, but in a month or two I shall be married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you shall not find me ungrateful.”“As to reward, my profession is its reward; but you are at liberty to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which suits you best.”
Quotes:Holmes“You must not fear,” said he, soothingly, bending forward and patting her forearm. “We shall soon set matters right, I have no doubt.”“These are very deep waters,” said Holmes.“This is very deep business,” Holmes said at last.“Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another.”“I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid deductions, as swift as intuitions and yet always founded on a logical basis, with which he unraveled the problems which were submitted to him.”“I know you, you scoundrel! I have heard of you before. You