Helen Stoner comes to see Sherlock Holmes very early in the morning. She is terrified because she thinks her life is in danger. She tells Holmes and Watson a long back-story which includes an account of the mysterious death of her twin sister Julia Stoner two years ago. Julia was engaged to be married, but she died an agonizing death which was never explained because she had been sleeping in a locked room. Now Helen has been moved into that room by her violent stepfather, Dr. Roylott, under the pretext of having repairs done on her own bedroom. On the second night she was awakened by the sound of a low whistle, which was the same as the sound Julia had described to her shortly before her death. This is what frightened Helen into taking the train to London to consult Holmes.
After Helen leaves, the ferocious, half-mad Dr. Roylott bursts into Holmes and Watson's sitting room and demands to know what Helen has been telling them. Holmes cooly refuses.
Holmes chuckled heartily. “Your conversation is most entertaining,” said he. “When you go out close the door, for there is a decided draught.”
“I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here.” He stepped swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands.
This is the only time that Dr. Roylott will appear alive. But his menace hangs over the remainder of the story. The author's purpose in dramatising his visit is to establish that the conflict in the story is one of man against man, Holmes against Roylott.
Before going down to Stoke Moran to examine the crumbling old building, Holmes does some research and learns that, under the terms of his deceased wife's will, Roylott is legally bound to give either girl an annual payment of one-third of the income from the large sum he inherited from their mother. Julia died shortly before she was to be married--and now Helen has become engaged. Roylott is obviously a strong suspect for the murder of Julia, and now appears to be planning to murder Helen. As is often the case in Sherlock Holmes tales, the main motivating factor turns out to be money. But the big question in this so-called "locked room murder mystery" is how anyone could have killed Julia when her door was locked and her windows bolted. This mystery provides most of the complications involved in resolving the case. Many of the complications date back two years to the time of Julia's death.
Holmes later explains his observations and deductions to Watson:
My attention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was furnished with a supply of creatures from India [...]
Holmes and Watson spend the night in the bedroom next to Dr. Roylott's. At around three o'clock in the morning, they hear the low whistle Helen had described.
Holmes sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with his cane at the bell-pull.
This is the climax. Holmes drives the snake back up the bell-rope and through the ventilator, where it bites Dr. Roylott and kills him instantly. Thus the conflict between Holmes and Roylott is resolved by the death of the mad doctor.
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