Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Speckled Band 05/17/1945 (Harwicke & Currie)

Summary

Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Episode: Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Speckled Band (Aired 05/17/1945, Harwicke & Currie cast)
Date: November 21, 2025
Host: Choice Classic Radio
Noteworthy Segment: Introduction by Adrian Conan Doyle, son of Arthur Conan Doyle.

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Episode Overview

This episode features a radio drama adaptation of one of the most famous Sherlock Holmes stories, "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." The production includes a rare introduction by Adrian Conan Doyle, providing personal insights into the origins of Sherlock Holmes. The story unfolds with Holmes and Watson investigating the ominous death of Julia Stoner and protecting her surviving sister, Helen, from a mysterious threat in a decaying country mansion.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Arcs

1. Introduction by Adrian Conan Doyle (00:44 – 03:45)

• Legacy of Sherlock Holmes: Adrian Conan Doyle addresses speculation about the inspiration for Holmes, clarifying that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself was the model for his great detective, not just Dr. Joseph Bell or Edgar Allan Poe.
• Personal Anecdotes: He recalls his father’s own skills in deduction and references cases Arthur solved for real people, often those the police could not.
• Quote:

  “For the mental prototype of Sherlock Holmes we need search no further than his creator.”
  — Adrian Conan Doyle (03:44)

2. Helen Stoner’s Plea for Help (05:20 – 18:30)

• First Interview: Holmes and Watson are visited very early by Helen Stoner, who is terrified and desperate.
• Deduction Display: Holmes dazzles Helen with immediate deductions about her train journey and reasons for fear.

  “You come in by train this morning. … The left arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven places. Only a dog cart throws up mud in that way.”
  — Sherlock Holmes (06:43)

• Helen’s Background: Helen recounts her family’s tragic history, her stepfather Dr. Roylott's violent behavior and criminal past, and describes the strange circumstances leading up to her twin Julia’s mysterious death.

3. The Night of the Crime (11:14 – 16:07)

• Reenactment: Helen describes, in a tense narrative, the night Julia died—her fear, the late-night whistle, metallic clang, a scream, and locked-room circumstances.

4. Holmes and Watson’s Growing Suspicions (18:30 – 21:04)

• Holmes’ Analysis: Data is assembled: the whistle, Dr. Roylott's financial motives, the “speckled band,” and the gypsies camping on the estate.

5. Threat from Dr. Roylott (19:17 – 21:28)

• Dramatic Confrontation: Dr. Grimesby Roylott storms into Baker Street, threatening Holmes with violence and displays his strength by bending a fireplace poker.

  “Take care I don’t use it on someone—as for instance, on this sofa cushion…”
  — Dr. Roylott (20:00)
  “I might have shown him perhaps my own grip is not much more feeble than his.”
  — Sherlock Holmes (21:06)

6. Investigation at Stoke Moran (21:28 – 26:10)

• Room Analysis: Holmes inspects the rooms. Finds:
  • Dummy bell rope attached near a small ventilator to Dr. Roylott’s room
  • Bed bolted to the floor
  • Odd presence of a milk saucer and a dog leash in Roylott’s room
• Holmes’ Instructions: To catch the would-be murderer, Holmes develops a plan for Helen to move rooms, while he and Watson prepare a stakeout.

7. The Night Vigil and Climax (26:25 – 30:45)

• Taut Atmosphere: Holmes and Watson wait in total darkness, amidst live exotic animals, for the attack.
• Pivotal Sequence:
  • Holmes lashes at something emerging from the ventilator; a scream is heard.
  • They discover Dr. Roylott dead, a “speckled band” (snake) around his brow.

  • “A swamp adder. The deadliest snake in India.”
    — Sherlock Holmes (29:07)

8. Holmes Explains the Solution (29:30 – 31:23)

• Killer's Method: Dr. Roylott used a trained snake, sent through the ventilator to crawl down the bell rope onto the bed. The whistle summoned it back.

  “Remember Dr. Roylott's supply of creatures from India? … Each night he put that snake through the ventilator with a certainty it would crawl down the rope and land on the bed.”
  — Sherlock Holmes (30:05)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Sherlock Holmes’ Origin:

  “Sherlock Holmes was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...”
  — Adrian Conan Doyle (01:27)

• Displaying Holmes’s Reasoning:

  “These are deep waters, Watson. We must not theorize without data.”
  — Sherlock Holmes (17:14)

• On the Nature of Crime:

  “When a doctor goes wrong he's the first of criminals.”
  — Sherlock Holmes (26:10)

• Holmes’s Responsibility:

  “I am indirectly responsible, you understand, for the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott. And I can’t say that it’s likely to weigh very heavily on my conscience.”
  — Sherlock Holmes (30:52)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:44–03:45: Adrian Conan Doyle on Holmes's origins
• 05:20–18:30: Helen Stoner’s account and Holmes’s deductions
• 19:17–20:55: Dr. Roylott’s threatening visit
• 21:28–22:51: Holmes investigates Julia’s room; discovers dummy bell rope and ventilator
• 26:25–30:52: The climactic vigil, Dr. Roylott’s death, and Holmes’s full explanation

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Tone and Style

The episode maintains the suspenseful, methodical, and faintly gothic tone typical of Sherlock Holmes adaptations. The radio script emphasizes deductive logic over physical action, punctuated by Holmes’s calm confidence and Watson’s loyal concern. The dramatic confrontation adds intensity, while the final exposition provides clear closure for the listener.

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Conclusion

A classic, atmospheric adaptation that captures all the intrigue and cerebral excitement of Doyle’s imagination, brought engagingly to life with golden age radio flair. Adrian Conan Doyle’s introduction adds unique historical gravitas, connecting the story’s real and fictional roots. For both Holmes aficionados and newcomers, this episode stands as a shining example of old time radio storytelling at its finest.

Transcript

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[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

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[Narrator / Adrian Conan Doyle]

On this occasion that the greatest of fictional detectives in his best known adventure should be introduced to us by Mr. Adrian Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur's son, who is with us tonight in the studio.

[Adrian Conan Doyle]

Mr. Adrian Conan Doyle, who was Sherlock Holmes? Since the death of my father, this question has often been renewed, and in this connection I regret to add that on one or two occasions some gratuitous nonsense has been written on the subject by persons possessing no factual knowledge whatever. Were Holmes remarkable Characteristics based on Dr. Joseph Bell of Edinburgh University, or merely rooted in the influence of Edgar Allan Poe? I am in a position to answer the question very simply. Sherlock Holmes was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A man, he once wrote, cannot spin a character out of his own inner consciousness and make it really lifelike unless he has the possibilities of that character within himself. But more than the possibilities were here. Many cases that had baffled the police were brought to him, and I can recall no single instance in which my father failed to solve the problem. He proved the innocence of a man convicted of murder. Holmes himself had no more difficult test. The very accoutrements of Sherlock Holmes, the curved pipe, the dust ray dressing gown, were the accoutrements of Conan Doyle, and the family still preserved the originals. When a difficult case demanded the utmost from his powers of dissection and deduction, he would, like Holmes retired into his curtained and silent study for two or three days on end. My father enjoyed many experiences in common with the great detective, including, to my knowledge, two threats against his life, one from an outwardly respectable person in the best Sherlock tradition, and the other from a man whom he had landed behind bars. As for those powers, I have never known his equal. In traveling through the capital cities of the world, it was one of my keenest enjoyments to accompany him to some principal restaurant and and there listened to his quiet speculations as to the characters, professions and other idiosyncrasies, all quite hidden from My eyes of our fellow diners. In many cases the person in question would be known to the Middletown and the accuracy of the deductions proved to be absolutely startling. Dr. Joseph Bell, his old mentor, did indeed help to develop those powers. But the powers were innate or no teacher could have stimulated them. For the mental prototype of Sherlock Holmes we need search no further than his creator. I think it only fair to say this before we travel in Fancy to number 221B Baker street and listen to another character, equally famous, equally beloved, John H. Watson M.D. as he tells us the adventure of the speckled Ban.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

In glancing over my notes of the 78 years I have studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange but non commonplace. But of all these varied cases I can recall none which presented more singular features than that associated with the well known Surrey family, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. It was early in April in the year 83, when Holmes and I were still sharing bachelor lodgings in Baker Street. I awoke one morning to find Sherlock Holmes standing fully dressed at the side of my bed.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Watson. Watson.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Eh, Holmes, what on earth?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Very sorry to disturb you, Watson, but it's the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been disturbed, she retorted upon me and I on you.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

What is it then, a fire?

[Sherlock Holmes]

No, Watson, a client. It seems that the young lady has arrived in a considerable state of excitement and insists on seeing me now at.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

What is it, seven o' clock in the morning?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Exactly, Watson. And when young ladies wander about the metropolis at this hour and knock sleepy people out of their beds, I presume it's something pressing. If this should prove an interesting case, Watson, and you should care to follow it from the outset, my dear fellow.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

I wouldn't miss it for anything.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Excellent, Watson. As we say, the sitting room in 10 minutes.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Nor shall I forget my first sight of the young lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who waited in the bow window of our sitting room. A fire had already been kindled there, its light touching the table of chemicals and the old worn sofa with a violin case in one corner. Yet the firelight could not penetrate that black veil, that opaque veil turned towards us as it was.

[Helen Stoner]

Good of you to see me, Doctor. Mr. Holmes.

[Julia Stoner]

You.

[Helen Stoner]

You are Sherlock Holmes?

[Sherlock Holmes]

That is my name, madam. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson.

[Helen Stoner]

How do you do?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Ah, and I see that Mrs. Hudson's had the good sense to light the fire. Pray draw up a chair to it. Allow me.

[Helen Stoner]

Thank you.

[Sherlock Holmes]

You sit there Watson, and I will make myself comfortable on the sofa. You're shivering.

[Helen Stoner]

Am I? Yes, I dare say.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Mrs. Hudson.

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, Mr. Holmes?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Will you bring some hot coffee for our guest, please?

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, Mr. Holmes.

[Julia Stoner]

Oh, thank you.

[Helen Stoner]

But it's not cold that makes me shiver.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Indeed. What then?

[Helen Stoner]

It's fear, Mr. Holmes. It's terror.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Mrs. Hudson.

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, sir?

[Sherlock Holmes]

That would be all, thank you. Bring the coffee, Preston. That will be all.

[Helen Stoner]

Very good, sir. You. You doubt what I say, Mr. Holmes? Let me raise my veil. I saw your eyes change. I'm barely 30 and yet you see the grey in my hair.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Do not be afraid. We shall do our best to set malice right. You come in by train this morning. I see.

[Helen Stoner]

Do you know me then?

[Sherlock Holmes]

No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm of your left wall glove. Quite a long distance too. You've had a good drive in dog cart along heavy roads before you even reach the station.

[Helen Stoner]

But how can.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Oh, there's no mystery, my dear madam. The left arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven places. Only a dog cart throws up mud in that way. Yes. Forgive me.

[Helen Stoner]

Whatever your reasons may be, you're perfectly correct. I took the first train to Waterloo this morning because I can't stand this train any longer. I shall go mad if it continues.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Strange. You say?

[Helen Stoner]

My name is Helen Stoner. I make my home with my stepfather. He's the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Stoke Moran.

[Helen Stoner]

Stoke Moran, yes, on the western border of Sally. The name is familiar to you?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Perfectly.

[Helen Stoner]

My stepfather's family was at one time among the richest in England. Now, genteel poverty, a few acres of bramble covered land and an old stone house in the park. That was why years ago my stepfather took a medical degree and went out to Calcutta. He established a large practice there. Heaven knows he had force of character.

[Sherlock Holmes]

But what?

[Helen Stoner]

But he beat his native servant to death and they put him in prison.

[Sherlock Holmes]

I see, Mr.

[Helen Stoner]

While Dr. Roylott was in India, he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, widow of.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Not Major General Stoner, Bengal Artillery.

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, Dr. Watson. Did you.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Watson himself served in India, Mrs. Stoner.

[Helen Stoner]

I see.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Pray go on, girl. Staple.

[Helen Stoner]

My sister Julia and I were twins. We were very young. When my mother remarried, she brought Dr. Roylott a large sum of money and gave it to him entirely, with only the provision that Julia and I should have an annual sum if we married. Married? No matter. After my stepfather's release from prison, we returned to England. My mother died and then don't clench your hands, mister.

[Sherlock Holmes]

You want to tell me that Dr. Roylott's fits of violence have increased? Yes, dangerously so.

[Helen Stoner]

He's quarreled with everyone in the neighborhood of Stoke Moran. He's brawled and fought and laid about him with a hunting crop and.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Thank you, I'd already guessed it. You guessed the frill of lace at your wrist, Ms. Stoner.

[Mrs. Hudson]

Oh, please don't turn it back.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

The blue marks of four fingers and the thumb. Oh, look here, holmes.

[Helen Stoner]

I say Dr. Roylott probably doesn't realize.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Evidently not.

[Helen Stoner]

He's immense in size and immense in strength. To see him striding along yellow eyed in top hat and frock coat and high gaiters with one of his animal pets following him.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Gentleman keeps pets?

[Helen Stoner]

He has a passion for Indian animals present. He's got a cheetah and a baboon roaming loose in the grounds.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Did you say cheetah? An Indian leopard, yes.

[Helen Stoner]

Some friend of his sends them from India. I say friend. I don't suppose Dr. Roylott has any friends except the wandering gypsies. He gives the gypsies leave to camp on our estate and he sits with them in their tents. Sometimes he wanders away with them for weeks on end. He's the terror of the village. And you can imagine, Mr. Holmes, that my sister and I had no great pleasure in our lives.

[Sherlock Holmes]

I can well imagine it.

[Helen Stoner]

No servant would stay with us. We did all the work of the house. Poor Julia was only 28 when she died.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Your sister's dead?

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, she died on the eve of her marriage.

[Sherlock Holmes]

On the eve of. I see.

[Helen Stoner]

Julia and I met so few people, Mr. Holmes, but at our aunt's, my mother's maiden sister, near Harrow, Julia met this young man and fell in love with him.

[Sherlock Holmes]

And your stepfather, what did he say?

[Helen Stoner]

Dr. Roylott offered no objection.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Indeed.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Very suggestive men.

[Helen Stoner]

Julia died.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Can you remember the details?

[Helen Stoner]

I wish I could forget them. I told you I think the manor house is very old. Only one wing is now inhabited and the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor. I want you to imagine three bedrooms in a line. The first Dr. Roylott's, the second Julia's and the third mine. There's no communication between them, but they all open out into the same corridor. Do I make myself clear?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Perfectly, mister.

[Helen Stoner]

The windows of all three rooms open out on the law opposite. On that night, the night it happened.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Go on.

[Helen Stoner]

On that night, a wild night of wind and rain, Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early. I Remember the whitewashed corridor with the flickering lamp? I remember going into my own room and locking the door. We always did that with a cheetah, losing the grounds and dropping the bar of the shutters across the windows. Then, just as I was preparing for bed.

[Julia Stoner]

Helen. Helen.

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, Julia?

[Julia Stoner]

May I come in, please?

[Helen Stoner]

Of course, dear. Just a moment while I unlock the door.

[Julia Stoner]

You needn't lock it again, Helen. I can only stay for a moment.

[Helen Stoner]

Julia, is anything wrong?

[Julia Stoner]

No, no, truly.

[Helen Stoner]

Only I wanted to speak to you.

[Julia Stoner]

And he's still awake.

[Helen Stoner]

How do you know?

[Julia Stoner]

Those Indian cigars of his. I can smell a cigar smoke in my room. Helen.

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, Julia?

[Julia Stoner]

I don't want to leave you, Helen, but I do love the man I'm engaged to and.

[Helen Stoner]

Oh, Helen.

[Mrs. Hudson]

Anything to get away from him.

[Helen Stoner]

You mustn't think of it like that, Julia.

[Julia Stoner]

No. No, I don't, really.

[Helen Stoner]

You'll marry too, Helen?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Perhaps.

[Helen Stoner]

Does it matter?

[Julia Stoner]

Oh, how the lamp flares in that draught. The cheetah's with him tonight, Helen. I heard it snarl. Have you barred the shutters?

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, dear.

[Julia Stoner]

Oh, I can imagine him in that room, pacing up and down past the iron safe with a big black shadow of him following the lamp. Helen.

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, dear?

[Julia Stoner]

Have you ever heard anyone whistle in the dead of night?

[Helen Stoner]

Heard anyone? No.

[Julia Stoner]

Don't stare. I mean it. A low, clear whistle. Have you heard it?

[Helen Stoner]

No, certainly not. I have.

[Julia Stoner]

Always in the dark?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Always.

[Julia Stoner]

About three o' clock in the morning.

[Helen Stoner]

Can't tell where it comes from.

[Julia Stoner]

Perhaps in the next room.

[Helen Stoner]

Perhaps on the lawn.

[Julia Stoner]

I thought I'd just ask you whether you'd heard it, Julia.

[Helen Stoner]

It must be those wretched gypsies in the plantation.

[Julia Stoner]

Very likely, yes. Anyway, it's of no great consequence. I'm happy, Helen.

[Helen Stoner]

I must remember that.

[Julia Stoner]

I'm happy. Good night, dear.

[Mrs. Hudson]

Sleep well.

[Helen Stoner]

Sleep well? That was what she said. But I couldn't sleep. Julia and I were twins, Mr. Holmes. Perhaps her emotions were my emotions. The wind howling, the rain beating and splashing against the windows. Towards 3 o', clock, under the hubbub of the gale, I suddenly sat up in bed to hear. Julia, was that you who screamed?

[Mrs. Hudson]

Julia.

[Helen Stoner]

I must get up. I'm scared to. Where's the door? It's too dark to find the door. Matches?

[Mrs. Hudson]

I can't even find any matches.

[Helen Stoner]

Mustn't be frightened. It was probably only a nightmare door. It's all right. Lamp will be lighted in the corridor.

[Julia Stoner]

Yes.

[Helen Stoner]

Julia.

[Mrs. Hudson]

The whistle. The whistle she heard. I didn't imagine it. I.

[Helen Stoner]

Was that.

[Mrs. Hudson]

A window by falling what was it? I'm coming Julia. Don't be afraid.

[Helen Stoner]

It's heaven.

[Mrs. Hudson]

Julia, open the door. I heard the whistle. I heard something like metal falling and then.

[Helen Stoner]

Julia. Oh thank God you're safe. Give me your hand.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

That's a good girl.

[Helen Stoner]

Julia, what's wrong? Why do you grope as though you were blind? Can't you speak? Speak out, Julia. What are you saying? It was the ben. Don't write Julia. I'm not strong enough to hold you up. Don't look at me like that.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Julia.

[Helen Stoner]

That's all, Mr. Holmes. She died presently in convulsions. Dr. Roylott came out of his room all huge and yellow faced. I can see him yet. And gave her brandy and tried to revive her but it was no use. That was the end of a sister I loved. Are you listening to me, Mr. Holmes?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Oh. Oh, I beg your pardon.

[Helen Stoner]

Sitting back with your eyes closed and your fingertips together. I.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Believe me, Ms. Turner, I was never more intent. Now tell me, this whistle and the metallic sound you heard, could you swear to it?

[Helen Stoner]

That was what the coroner asked me. Yes, I could swear to it.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Was your sister dressed?

[Helen Stoner]

No, she was in her nightdress. In one hand she had a box of matches and in the other a charred stump of a match showing she.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Had struck a light and looked about her. Yes, yes, that's important. And what conclusions did the coroner come to?

[Helen Stoner]

The doctors found no cause of death.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

No cause of death, Ms. Stoner?

[Helen Stoner]

None whatever, Dr. Watson. That's not all. My sister was alone, quite alone when this happened.

[Sherlock Holmes]

The room was locked up on the.

[Helen Stoner]

Inside door locked and windows barred. The walls and floor was solid.

[Sherlock Holmes]

You're quite sure of that?

[Helen Stoner]

Absolutely sure.

[Sherlock Holmes]

You spoke of gypsies, Miss Stoner. Were there gypsies in the plantation at the time?

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, there are nearly always some there.

[Sherlock Holmes]

What did you gather from this allusion to a band?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

A speckled band, surely, Holmes. Excuse me. Surely that's obvious. The band must refer to gypsies and the spotted handkerchiefs they wear over their heads. Surely that must have suggested the word.

[Sherlock Holmes]

These are deep waters, Watson. We must not theorize without data. Have you anything else to tell me, Ms. Stoner?

[Helen Stoner]

Yes. I'm engaged to be married now to a very old, very dear friend. And.

[Sherlock Holmes]

And?

[Helen Stoner]

And I heard the whistle again last night.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Where did you hear it?

[Helen Stoner]

Two days ago some repairs were started to the west wing of the building. My rooms uninhabitable. So I moved into my sister's old room. I slept in her bed and at 3 o' clock in the morning, in the silence and darkness of that room. I couldn't endure it, Mr. Holmes. I ran away in terror. What is it, Mr. Holmes? What do you think of it all?

[Sherlock Holmes]

I think, Ms. Donnell, that we haven't a moment to lose. If we were to come to Stoke Moran today, could we see these rooms without Dr. Roylott's knowledge?

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, he, he spoke of coming to town today on important business. He'll be away all day.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Excellent, excellent. You come along Watson.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

By all means my dear fellow, then.

[Sherlock Holmes]

You may expect us both. In the meantime I must go.

[Helen Stoner]

Mr. Holmes, I daren't stay any longer, but I shall be at Stoke Moran to meet you. Oh no, don't get up. You needn't see me to the door. I, I may have sounded foolish, sir, I may have sounded incoherent, but I, I am grateful to you both. I am deeply grateful.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Watson?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Yes Holmes?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Will you be good enough to hand me down the cherry wood pipe in the corner of the matter please?

[Narrator / Adrian Conan Doyle]

Yes.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Thank you. Well, what do you make of it, Watson?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

I don't know what to make of it. It's a dark and sinister business altogether.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Dark enough? Yes, sinister enough, undoubtedly. Data, Watson, I must have data. When you combine the idea of the whistle, the band of gypsies, the Doctor's financial interest in preventing this girl's marriage. Oh now come Watson. Surely you notice that finally. METALLIC clang. That might have been caused by a falling window bar.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

You think that's the line of solution?

[Sherlock Holmes]

May well be, Watson.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

And yet.

[Sherlock Holmes]

And yet. What in the devil's name is that?

[Mrs. Hudson]

Mr. Rose. Oh, Mr. Rose.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Yes, Mrs. Hudson, what is it?

[Mrs. Hudson]

There's a gentleman here, sir, so big his top hat brushes the cross part of the front door. Carrying on tin crop, overturning my copy trove and sign.

[Dr. Grimesby Roylott]

Which of you two is Holmes?

[Sherlock Holmes]

That is my name, sir, but you have the advantage of me.

[Dr. Grimesby Roylott]

I am Dr. Grantly Roylott of Stoke Morag.

[Sherlock Holmes]

In indeed Doctor, Pray take a seat.

[Dr. Grimesby Roylott]

I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I've placed her. What's she been saying to you?

[Sherlock Holmes]

It's a little cold for the time of the year.

[Dr. Grimesby Roylott]

What has she been saying to you?

[Sherlock Holmes]

But I've heard that the crocuses promise.

[Dr. Grimesby Roylott]

Well I carry a hunting crop, you notice. Take care I don't use it on someone. As for instance, I use it on this sofa cushion. You are holes the measure. Holmes the busybody. Holmes, the Scotland Yard jacking office.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Your conversation is most entertaining. Please close the door when you go out, there's a decided draft.

[Dr. Grimesby Roylott]

Can I prove to you, Mr. Holmes, that I am the wrong man to meddle with? Yes, I think I can. Let me demonstrate with the poker from your hearth. I pick it up like this. I grasp it at each end. I bend and bend and bend until it twists into a curve. There's your poker back again. See that you keep out of my grip. Good day.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Well, he seems an amiable sort of person, doesn't he?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Fancy his having the insolence to confuse me with the official detective force. I rather wish he'd stayed longer.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Stayed longer, Dr. Roylott? Why?

[Sherlock Holmes]

I might have shown him. Perhaps my own grip is not much more feeble than his.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

But Holmes. What are you doing, Nelly?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Straightening out the poker again? I miss. Put it back on the far. Aunt Watson. I think we may now order breakfast.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

And then that afternoon, the drive in a trap through deep surrey lanes. The grey gables of the house, lichen blotched and half ruined. Long windows from the lawn leading into the little oak panelled bedroom. Chest of drawers, small wicker work chairs. Narrow white counterpane bed where Julia Stoner had died. As the shadows gathered, I remember Helen standing there, white faced, while Holmes paced up and down, up and down, a magnifying lens in his hand.

[Sherlock Holmes]

You know, Watson. No. Won't do. What won't do, my dear friend, first theory of mine. No. You see these window shutters?

[Helen Stoner]

Well, Mr. Herbert, you must make haste. Dr. Rollitt may be back from London at any moment.

[Sherlock Holmes]

No one could have entered or left by these windows once the bars were up. You must discard any notion that the metallic noise was caused by a shutter bar. The door.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Look at.

[Sherlock Holmes]

It was locked on the inside.

[Helen Stoner]

I told you, Mr. Holmes, my sister.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Was alone, yet she died horribly. Yes. Estona.

[Helen Stoner]

Yes.

[Sherlock Holmes]

That bell rope hanging beside the bed. Where does the bell communicate with?

[Helen Stoner]

I think with the housekeeper's room.

[Sherlock Holmes]

So it looks newer than the other things.

[Helen Stoner]

It was only put there a couple of years ago.

[Sherlock Holmes]

I was just asked for it, I suppose.

[Helen Stoner]

No, Julian, never even used it. I told you we couldn't keep our servants.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Indeed. Very interesting. One moment while I examine him. Hello. This bell rope's a dummy.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

You mean it won't ring?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Admirably put, Watson. It's not even attached to a wire. When I stand back where you are, I can see the hook on the wall where it's tapped. Just above the little opening of the ventilator. Ventilator.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

I see, Holmes.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Mrs. Hudson]

What a fool.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

A bill it must be to open a ventilator into another room. Dr. Roylott's room isn't it? Well you could just as easily have made it an outside wall.

[Helen Stoner]

That's modern too Mr. Holmes.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Down about the same time as the bell rope I imagine.

[Helen Stoner]

Yes.

[Sherlock Holmes]

I must see your stepfather's room. I must see it at once.

[Helen Stoner]

That's easy Mr. Holmes. If you follow me out of the windows here and turn to the right. That's it. Well those are the windows of his room. But please don't ask me to go in.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Why not?

[Mrs. Hudson]

I tell you, Dr. Roylott may be.

[Helen Stoner]

Back at any moment.

[Sherlock Holmes]

We must risk it. Dear lady, will you precede me?

[Helen Stoner]

If you insist.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Come Watson, we'll give you a chance in the art of detection. What do you see in this room?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Well, a camp bed, an armchair, a wooden chair and an iron safe.

[Sherlock Holmes]

A safe? Yes. What's in the safe Ms. Stoner?

[Helen Stoner]

Oh only Dr. Roylott's business paper so far as I know.

[Sherlock Holmes]

There isn't a cat in it for instance.

[Helen Stoner]

Cat? No. What a strange idea.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Well look at the cup of safe, saucer of milk on the side each medicine, a dog leash tied in a loop at the end. That wooden chair against the wall. My lens, my lens. Watson, where's my lens?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

In your hand my dear fellow.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Ah, yes sir, it is. Forgive me if I bend down examine the seat of the chair. Thank you. That is quite settled.

[Helen Stoner]

Settled?

[Sherlock Holmes]

It's essential Ms. Stoner, that you should follow my advice in every respect. Your life may depend upon it. You understand that?

[Helen Stoner]

I understand.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Dr. Watson and I must spend the night in your sister's room. You could stay for one night in your old room.

[Helen Stoner]

Yes, of course, but.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Good. Now when you hear Dr. Roylon retire for the night, open the shutters and put a lamp in the window of your sister's room.

[Helen Stoner]

Yes.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Then go to your old room and stay there. We shall be watching from another part of the ground then.

[Helen Stoner]

Mr. Holmes, listen, I think I hear a carriage in the drive.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Will you be good enough to go and see? Hurry.

[Helen Stoner]

If it's Dr. Roy at returnant she says.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Holmes, if it is Dr. Roylott return.

[Sherlock Holmes]

There was no carriage Watson, or I should have heard it. I wanted a word with you in private. There's a distinct element of danger about this business tonight.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

If it's danger Holmes, you can count me in every time. But what have you seen? What is it?

[Sherlock Holmes]

You know my method Watson. Look up there at the ventilator between these two rooms.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Yes, but it's not such an unusual Thing. In any case the ventilator's too small. A rat couldn't get through there.

[Sherlock Holmes]

I knew we should find a ventilator before we even came to Stoke Moran, my dear.

[Narrator / Adrian Conan Doyle]

Oh yes, I.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Did you recall Ms. Stoner's testimony? Well her sister on that fatal night could smell the smoke of Dr. Roylott's cigar. Surely that meant some communication between the two rooms. It could only be a small one. It would have been noticed. I deduced a ventilator.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Yes, but what harm can there be in that?

[Sherlock Holmes]

The ventilator is made, a cord is hung and a lady who sleeps in the bed dies. Is there anything peculiar about that bed? No. It was clamped to the floor. It could not be moved away from the rope.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

That means I. I don't understand everything it means, Holmes, but I do seem to see dimly what you're hinting at. We are just in time. If we are in time to prevent some subtle, horrible.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Subtle enough. Horrible enough. When a doctor goes wrong he's the first to criminals. Not a word more, Watson, until tonight.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Shall I ever forget our vigil in Julius Stoner's room? It was bad enough that night. Creeping up through the dark grounds, a wind blowing in our faces and the yellow lamp shining ahead. Once out of the laurel bushes darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted child who threw itself on the grass with writhing limbs and then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness.

[Sherlock Holmes]

My God, did you see it? Household, Watson. That was the pet baboon.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

I had forgotten Dr. Rowlett's fancies. And the cheetah, we may find it.

[Sherlock Holmes]

On our shoulders at any moment.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

But worse, much worse, was the vigil in that bedroom. We walked on tiptoe, we closed the shutters, we turned out the lamp. I could not hear a sound, not even the drawing of a breath. Yet I knew that Holmes sat open eyed within a few feet of it. I carried a revolver. Holmes gripped a long thin cane. Once outside the windows the cheetah was indeed at liberty. But no other sound came to us through these cramped and dreary hours except the distant note of a church clock. Hours, days, weeks, then hopes.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Didn't I tell you not to speak?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

There was a gleam of light out by the ventilator. It's gone now.

[Sherlock Holmes]

He's lighted a dark lantern. Can't you smell the heated metal? Listen. Can you hear me Watson?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Yes.

[Sherlock Holmes]

I'm going to strike a match and then lash out of the bullock with this cane. Have your revolver at hand. Ready? Yes. Now. Did you see it Watson? Did you See it?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

I can't see anything. Even the match blinds me. It's that came from the next room.

[Sherlock Holmes]

What was it? It was pain, it was fear, it was rage. It was the end. Watson, come with me.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

In the next room, where the beam of a dark lantern fell on the open safe, sat Dr. Grimes. Be Roylott. He sat very quietly in a grey dressing gown and red Turkish slippers. Across his lap lay the dog lash with a looped end. His chin was cocked upwards and his eyes were fixed in a rigid stare on a corner of the ceiling. Round his forehead he had a peculiar yellow band with brownish speckles which seemed to be bound tightly around his head.

[Sherlock Holmes]

The band? Speckled band.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

That band moved. I swear I saw it move.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Oh yes. See the little down shaped head coil up out of Dr. Roylet's hair?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

What is it?

[Sherlock Holmes]

A swamp adder. The deadliest snake in India.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Has he been bitten?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Yes. Stay where you are. He's passed medically. What are you going to do? The darkness with the loop, Watson. That's how he carried it to and from the safe. That's how I shall carry it back to the safe.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Oh for God's sake, take care if that snake strikes again.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Take care, Watson. I throw the loop over the neck. So I drag it away from the doctor's head, bring it back to its hiding place and close the door of the safe, Watson. Close it. Now do you understand?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Yes. Yes I. I think I do.

[Sherlock Holmes]

The snake, Watson. It occurred to me as soon as I saw the tummy bell rope. Remember Dr. Rallitt's supply of creatures from India? You see the purpose of the bell rope?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Yes. It was nothing more than a bridge. Each night he put that snake through the ventilator with a certainty it would.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Crawl down the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the victim that night. Sooner or later it was enough.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

And Julius Stoner died in convulsions. The coroner might have guessed.

[Sherlock Holmes]

No. Perhaps, Watson, it seemed unlikely that a country coroner, even in this Year of Grace, 1883, would have noticed the two tiny marks of the poison fangs. You remember the whistle?

[Dr. John H. Watson]

It was a signal of some kind.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Dr. Roylott had trained the snake probably by the use of the milk over there to return to him when summoned. That metallic clang you heard it yourself came from closing the safe door too hastily. When I examined the doctor's chair and found that he'd been repeatedly standing on it to get at the ventilators.

[Dr. John H. Watson]

Well, it's an ugly sight now, Holmes. And I think I see how that happened. When you lashed out with the cane.

[Sherlock Holmes]

It turned on him, Watson. It flew at the first person it saw. I am indirectly responsible, you understand, for the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott. And I can't say that it's likely to weigh very heavily on my consc.

[Narrator / Adrian Conan Doyle]

That was the adventure of the speckled band by sir arthur conan doyle, adapted for broadcasting by john dixon carr and produced by martin c. Webster. Sherlock holmes was played by sir cedric hardwick, by permission of robert donut Dr. Watson by finley curry, helen stoner by griselda harvey, julia stoner by theo wells Dr. Grimesby roylott by richard george Mrs. Hudson by dora gregory animal imitations by brian pony. The program was introduced by adrian conan doyle.