The Speckled Band By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

777 Words2 Pages

The Speckled Band By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle It starts with when Watson is woken by Sherlock at an early hour in the morning. Straight away Holmes notices that this enquiry is a strange one. As Holmes comes down the stairs, he notices a middle aged woman sat on the window, dressed all in black and heavily veiled. Holmes introduces himself and notices her shivering he says 'I am glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot coffee, for I observe that you are shivering.' She replies 'It is not cold which makes me shiver, it is Fear Mr. Holmes. It is terror.' This makes the reader wonder, what has happened in her past to make her like this? Why has she come to Holmes? Holmes has studied her, he knows how she got their. After he has done this, she gives him a brief history of her family this includes; where they are from and the background of her stepfather, his going ons in India, his angry temperament. She also describes her sister which is the reason why she came to see Holmes, she describes the financial situation; if a step-daughter of his marries she gets £250 a year, and leaves him with £750, but if both marry he shall only be left with £500 a year. She also includes her sister's death and goes into great detail about it. Holmes asks about the possibilities of the causes of death and there is no luck, the doctors didn't know the cause of death. What is said in the paragraph is mainly descriptive detail to give the reader a feel for what is going on in the story. She talks about her step-father Dr. Roylott, and how he has a very violent background and had a conviction for murder. Roylott has an uncontrollable temper about him and seems to know this and use this to his advantage. He also doesn't like to be questioned in his actions,

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