Section 8, The Adventure of the Speckled Band Summary

"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" takes place before many of the other stories in this collection, in April of 1883. Watson and Holmes are living in Baker Street together as bachelors when one morning, Holmes wakes Watson very early to meet with a young woman, Miss Helen Stoner who has come with a mystery. She lives in the country house of an old aristocratic family, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, who have fallen on hard times. The head of the household is Miss Stoner's stepfather, a doctor who made a living in India before being forced to return to England after beating his butler to death in India. Miss Stoner now lives with her stepfather in the family home. Her only other relative was her twin sister who recently died under...