Helen Stoner describes to holms about the chilling death of her sister. Helen could not sleep the night Julia got murdered. She had a feeling something was going to happen, after all Julia and Helen were twins. “Suddenly amid all the hubbubs of the gale, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman”. Helen jumped off her bed and ran to the corridor, as she opened the door she heard a low whistle, just like her sister had described and a few seconds later she heard a clanging sound. Helen ran to the passage. Julia’s door was unlocked she said. “I saw my sister appear at the opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for help”. Helen bent down over her sister. Suddenly she heard Julia shriek out “ oh my god”! Helen! It was the speckled band”! Having said that she pointed to Dr. Roylott’s room. Helen called for her stepfather but when he reached for Julia, she was unconscious. Dr. Roylott had called for aid but it was too late. Julia died without regaining consciousness. Helen then tells Holmes that Julia wasn’t dressed; she was wearing her nightdress, which indicates that Julia wasn’t planning to leave and that her attack came without any threats. Holmes then asked what the coroner’s conclusion was. Helen explained, “ the coroner investigated with great care but he was unable to find any cause of death”, this implies that whoever killed Julia must be an expert on medicine’s and human body. “ There were no marks of violence on Julia’s body” which indicates that it must have been poison that killed her. But the doctors didn’t find any poison either so Holmes isn’t sure what exactly killed Julia.
However when Dr. Watson and Holmes visit Stoke Moran to investigate they find strange but important clues. For example “ what a fool of a builder must be to open a ventilator to another room, when, with the same trouble. He might have communicated, with the outside air”. This casts suspicions upon Dr. Roylott because the ventilator leads into his room. Dr Watson and holms carried on with their investigation when in Dr Roylotts room where, very strangely, Holmes finds a saucer of milk on the safe. Holmes knew that Dr Roylott owned a cheetah and a baboon but a saucer of milk wouldn’t fill their stomachs. So Dr Roylott must have kept a smaller but deadlier animal.
Sherlock Holmes first meets the character of Dr Grimesby Roylott when he bursts into Holmes office uninvited. Without a greeting Dr Roylott shouts out, “ Which of you is Holms”! Holms answered back calmly “I am sir”. “I am Doctor Grimesby Roylott of Stoke Moran”. Holmes continues to be calm. Dr Roylott is still shouting at Holmes staring at him with his blood shot eyes. “You are holms the meddler, holms the busybody, holms the Scotland jack in the office. When Dr Roylott was finished holms asked Dr Roylott to leave. But Dr Roylott wouldn’t leave until he had had his say. He tells Holmes, “ I am a dangerous man to fall foul for”. “See there”. He picked up a poker and bent it into a curve. This indicates that Roylott is trying to scare Holmes off so that he doesn’t play around with Roylotts business and that he obviously had something to do with Julia’s death otherwise he wouldn’t tell holms to keep himself out off his grip. The reason holms kept calm was because he knew that he is as strong as Roylott. We find this evidence when he picks up the poker and bends it back straight.
We learn a lot about Roylotts appearance. He is described as a typical villain, which are mostly discreditable. The clothes he was wearing were a black top hat, long frock coat, and high gaiters and in his hand he had a hunting crop as if he has just been hunting after her daughter. He is described as tall with a large face seared with wrinkles and his chin burned yellow by the sun. This gives proof that he has been to India. Watson also describes that his face is marked with every evil passion, which implies that Roylott was Holmes suspect from the beginning. “His fleshless nose gave him somewhat the resemblance to an old fierce bird of prey”. This tells us that from the looks of Roylott he looks scared because he knows that he is going to be caught sooner or later, but at the same time it also makes him appear fearsome.
Sherlock and Watson investigate Stoke Moran, the manor house where Roylott lives, because Holmes knows that he will find clues there. We collect this evidence when Holmes confirms, “there are 1000 details which I should desire to know before I decide upon our course of action”. Holmes knows he will find all the clues he needs in Stoke Moran. When Watson and Holmes finally arrive at the manor house Helen guides them though the house. It is described as “grey lichen blotched stone, with a central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab”. This is a typical way of describing the villain’s house. Especially the claws and the dull colour of the house. Holmes examined the windows but found nothing, which tells us that whoever committed the murder must have been inside the house. Helen takes both detectives to the upstairs rooms where the bedrooms are. Holmes cleverly says “ this I take it belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, the centre one to your sister and the one to the main building to Roylotts chamber”. Helen confirms that at the moment Helen is sleeping in the centre one where her sister’s brutal end took place. Helen had to sleep there because there was some building work going on in her own room, but to Holmes conclusion was that no building work was needed in Helen’s room. It was just an excuse to move Helen to Julia’s room. Holmes continues searching for clues on the windows and Doors but none of them had anything to reveal.
Helen then escorted Holmes and his partner to her sister’s room where Helen is now sleeping. The room was small, low ceiling. It contained a brown chest of drawers, a bed and a dressing table. On the wall was a bell with a rope hanging underneath it. It had caught Holmes attention. “Where does the bell communicate with”, asked Holmes. The bell was supposed to go to the housekeeper’s room but the Roylotts didn’t have a housekeeper because they feared Dr Roylott. So the bell suggested that there had to be some connection between the bell and the murder. Holes pulled the rope. But it didn’t give a sound. “ Why it’s a dummy”! This is very strong evidence that the bell has got something to do with the crime scene. He later sees that the rope isn’t connected to the bell, but the ventilator.
The last room, which they investigated, was Roylotts room. It was bigger but plainly furnished. There were only two things that caught Holmes eyes. The armchair, which had footprints on it and a dog lash that, had a knot on the end. Suddenly Holmes says “ah, me! It’s a wicked world, and when a clever man turns his brain to crime it is the worst of all”. This quote shows that Holmes has figured I out who committed the murder.
Holmes finds out that Dr. Roylott was responsible for Julia’s death because he had made up a plan to get evidence and eyewitnesses for this case on Dr. Roylott. Holmes and Watson were hiding in Julia’s room where Helen was sleeping. Suddenly Holmes hears a low whistle. He tells Watson to turn the light on. He suddenly hears a cry, “a dreadful shriek. Watson asked Holmes in terror, “What can it mean”? “It means it’s all over”, said Holmes. This gives us evidence that Holmes knew what had just happened and he wasn’t surprised. They grabbed their pistols and entered Roylotts room. On a wooden chair sat Dr. Roylott in a dressing grown and his bare ankles protruding beneath, his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. On his lap was a long lash they had seen before”. He had a yellow band with brown speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly on his head. Holmes had figured out what the speckled band was by how he says, “ the band, the speckled band”!
Dr. Roylott is a typical villain. We can work this out by the way he is described. “A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow by with sun and marked with every evil passion.” Usually the villains are discreditable. “His fleshless nose gave him somewhat the resemblance to an old bird of prey. This tells is that he was an ugly costumer. The first impression that he gives us that Roylott is the obvious villain is when he bursts into Holmes office uninvited and starts shouting at Holmes and warns him to stay out of his grip, because surely he was responsible for Julia’s death.
