Helen Stoner Roylett's Desire To Kill

As many people have said, “What comes around, goes around.” Karma has been a major idea for many ideas for many books worldwide. For instance, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery and an example of karma. In the story, Dr. Roylett murdered Julia Stoner, his step-daughter, with a venomous snake and planned on killing Helen Stoner, his other step-daughter. At the end, Dr. Roylett was murdered by his own snake, while planning on killing Helen Stoner. In reality, karma happens and the villain meets his end, which he plans for another. Cr. Roylett’s history of violence affected his desire to kill. Dr. Roylett is an aristocratic country gentleman, who was ruined by mortgage and robberies. “In a fit of anger, he beat his native butler to death…” (110).

Roylett’s plan to kill Helen was very well-thought out. He had a venomous snake, whose venom can not be discovered, hidden in a safe in Dr. Roylett’s room. Additionally, his room was right next to Julia’s room, the first victim, and a ventilator connected both rooms. In Julia’s room, the bed is clamped to the floor and beside the bed is a fake bell-rope, which hangs on the ventilator. In Dr. Roylett’s room, there is a chair, which was stood on to reach the ventilator, a saucer of milk for the snake, and a lash, that is tied to make a loop of whipcord. Dr. Roylett’s plan to murder Helen begins when Helen had to go to Julia’s room due to fake repairs in Helen’s room. He would use the lash on the snake in the safe, so he wouldn’t be bitten, and use the chair to put the snake into the vent. Then, the snake would slither into Julia’s room, use the fake bell-rope as a bridge to the bed, and poison Helen. Lastly, Dr. Roylett would put the saucer in the vent, blow on a whistle to make the snake come back, and use the lash to put the snake into the safe. The brilliant plan to kill Helen Stoner would have made many detectives uncertain of Helen’s