Directions: Answer the following questions in complete grammatically correct sentences.

Bold
your answers and put in red font.

Study Guide for “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”

1. Does Sherlock Holmes make a lot of money from his cases? Explain.
Sherlock Holmes does not make a lot of money from his cases because he is a sleuth
by passion and as a hobby rather than for money.

2. Doctor Watson, Holmes’ sidekick, narrates the story. Why is it important that he
should narrate and not Sherlock Holmes?
It is important that Dr. Watson narrates the story instead of Holmes because the
readers would know what Holmes was thinking about; therefore, since the short
story is a mystery, it would ruin the suspense.

3. What textual evidence on page one proves that Dr. Watson chronicles (records) the
detective’s exploits (adventures and achievements)?
On page one, the story start with Watson glacing over his notes of seventy odd cases
from the past eight year

4. Why does Holmes wake up Watson so early in the morning?

A. There was a fire B. Mrs. Hudson had an accident
C. A new client had arrived D. Sherlock was bored

5. In detective fiction, the detective is both eccentric (odd, peculiar, or unusual) and
brilliant. Identify two examples in the first two paragraphs that prove that Holmes is
eccentric.
A. Holmes is a detective because he enjoys the adventure, not because he wants
money for his cases.

B. Watson says that Holmes does not take cases that are not unusual or strange;
therefore, Holmes is eccentric because he chooses bizarre cases and manages to
solve them.

6. At the bottom of page one, we learn through Watson that Sherlock has which of the
following character traits?
A. deductive B. intuitive
C. logical D. All of the above

7. Which of the following best describes the state of mind of the female visitor?
A. cheerful B. cold
C. agitated D. heartbroken
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete grammatically correct sentences. Bold
your answers and put in red font.

8a. In describing the woman’s eyes, Doyle uses a simile (A direct comparison, using
“like,” “as,” “than,” or “resembles” between two essentially different things that have
something in common). Complete the following simile.
She had restless frightened eyes like those of some hunted animal.

8b. What does this simile tell you about her state of mind? Explain.
This simile tells us that the woman is suspicious and paranoid, she thinks that the
thing that killed her sister is hunting for her.

9. When Sherlock Holmes meets Helen Stoner, he demonstrates his powers of

observation and deduction by
A. informing her that he had been expecting her visit.
B. determining from her accent that she had come from Surrey.
C. telling her that he knew she was a twin.
D. describing how she had traveled to London that morning.

10. Who are the Roylotts of Stoke Moran?

A. the oldest Scottish family in Scotland
B. the oldest Parisian family of Paris, France
C. the oldest Saxon family in England
D. none of the above

11. How did the Roylotts lose their wealth?

A. The economy of their country took a turn for the worse.
B. The heirs of the family for generations were dissolute.
C. Some of the money was lost gambling
D. Both B and C
E. Both A and B

12. How would the marriage of either Julia or Helen have affected Dr. Roylott?
A. He would have become a lonely man.
B. He would have moved back to India.
C. He would have been exposed as a fraud
D. He would have lost part of his income.

13. As you continue the story, fill in the following chart analyzing Roylott’s character
traits (adjectives that describes the character’s personality). I have done one for you.
Give the quotation and page number that proves the character has this trait.

Trait and Page Number Example from the Text

Hostile and Combative “A series of disgraceful brawls took place, two of which
ended in the police-court, until at last he became the
Page 4 terror of the village, and the folks would fly at his
approach, for he is a man of immense strength, and
absolutely uncontrollable in his anger.”
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete grammatically correct sentences. Bold
your answers and put in red font.

Lonely and Antisocial “But a terrible change came over our stepfather about
this time. Instead of making friends and exchanging
Page 4 visits with our neighbors, who had at first been
overjoyed to see a Roylott of Stoke Moran back in the
old family seat, he shut himself up in his house and
seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels
with whoever might cross his path.”

Violent “For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black

lace which fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's
Page 7 knee. Five little livid spots, the marks of four fingers
and a thumb, were printed upon the white wrist.”

Intimidating “A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles,

burned yellow with the sun, and marked with every
Page 9 evil passion, was turned from one to the other of us,
while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin,
fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to
a fierce old bird of prey.”

14. Who died two years ago? How is this person related to Helen?
Julia died two years ago, she was Helen’s twin.

15. What sound had Julia been hearing at night?

Julia has been hearing a whistling sound at night.

16. After reading through the top of page five, put a check in front of the following
which would serve as clues to the case?
_____The Roylotts are related
X The Roylott daughters received some of their mother’s money if they
married.
X Both daughters heard whistling in the night.
X Julia’s door was unlocked when Helen ran into her room
X Julia said, “The band.....the speckled band”
_____Helen traveled to London by train and a dogcart
X A clanging sound was heard
X Julia died shortly before her wedding
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete grammatically correct sentences. Bold
your answers and put in red font.

17. In detective fiction, the official police force is unable to solve the crime. Although
there are no police in this story, which agency, which would have worked alongside the
police, cannot solve the crime and why?

If there were police, the county coroner would have worked with them, but he did
not have an adequate source of death.

18. After finding out all about Julia’s death by reading through page seven, what has
recently happened in Helen’s life that would make you think that her life is now also in
jeopardy?
Comparing to conditions of Julia’s death, Helen resides in the same room as she
did, while hearing the same whistling sounds as Julia did before she died. Helen is
also about to get married; Julia was also going to be married soon at the time of her
death.

19. How did Helen receive the marks on her wrist?

A. she fell off the dogcart on her way to London B. she had a rash
C. she was grabbed by a very strong person D. it was food coloring

20. Fill in the following, describing Dr. Roylotts physical characteristics.

A. His clothes were a mixture of agricultural and professional.
B. He was (A. tall B. short)
C. A large face seared with a thousand wrinkles
D. He had deep set, bile-shot eyes.
E. High, thin, fleshless nose
F. He resembled a fierce, old bird of prey.

21. Does Roylott have a motive for murder? Explain thoroughly.

Roylott does have a motive for murder, it was money. Roylott was running out of
money and from his wife’s will he had to give each of his daughters 250 pounds.
The estate was also worth approximately 750 pounds, therefore he would not be
able to follow his wife’s will due to the lack of money.

22. Another element of detective fiction is the disdain and contempt (dislike and
disrespect) between the police and the detective. Although there are no police in this
story, explain how this element still appears on page nine.
We can see the element of disdain and contempt on page nine between Holmes and
Dr. Grimesby Roylott because Roylott shows disrespect by calling Homes names
like “scoundrel” and “meddler.” He is also yelling and snarling at Holmes as he
angrily takes quick steps to leave.
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete grammatically correct sentences. Bold
your answers and put in red font.

23. After Sherlock inspects the premises of Stoke Moran, he finds many more clues.
List several of them (Do not include any from question number 16):
A. Helen’s bed is fastened to the floor so she cannot move it.
B. The bell-rope is a dummy fastened to a hook in the opening for the
ventilator, which does not ring.
C. Shutters could not be passed if they were bolted.
D. The ventilator does not ventilate.

24. Find an example of Holmes’ brilliance on page fifteen.

On page fifteen, Holmes could deduct that Julia’s and Dr. Roylott’s ventilators
were connected, without even seeing the house. He knew this because Helen had
said that he could smell Dr. Roylott’s cigar smoke.

25. What darted from the laurel bushes that seemed to be a hideous distorted child?
The baboon darted from the laurel bushed, it seemed to be a hideous distorted
child.

26. What was the peculiar yellow band with brownish speckles that encircled Dr.
Roylott’s brow?
A. the swamp adder
B. a gypsy scarf
C. a sleeping cap
D. the tail of a cheetah

27. On page 712, Sherlock says, “Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and
the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another.” Explain this moral of the story.
You may be able to think of some common saying that means the same thing.

This moral means that the person who does bad for someone else always ends up
experiencing the violence or bad thing themselves. This connects to this story
because Dr. Roylott eventually dies from a bite of his swamp adder, which was the
same way his daughter also died. He risked his life to murder his daughter, and he
got his consequence after.

28. For the following, mark the simple clues (S) and the red herrings (RH)
S Roylott owned Baboons and Cheetahs
S The whistle sound
RH Roylott let Gypsies stay on the premises.
S The Gypsies wore speckled headbands
S The bowl of milk
RH The dog lash tied in a loop
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete grammatically correct sentences. Bold
your answers and put in red font.

S A ventilator that didn’t ventilate

S A dummy rope pull

29. The final element of detective fiction is the simple but careful solution through logic
and deduction. Sum up how Sherlock Holmes came to the solution through logic and
intuition.

Sherlock Holmes used a chain of clues after observing Helen’s room to result in a
solution. He found a ventilator that did not ventilate, a dummy rope that did not
pull, and a bed that was clamped to the floor; these are all unusual signs of a plan
that Mr. Roylott had made. When he found the loop of whipcord and a bowl of
milk, he could deduct that a snake had been trained by Dr. Roylott to go through
the ventilator and bite Julia. The trained snake eventually kills Dr. Roylott himself.
Through the usage of logic and intuition Sherlock Holmes comes to a successful
solution to the case.