When Miss Helen Stoner brought her case to Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, Holmes had some suspicions about what might be happening to her. Miss Stoner fears that someone is trying to kill her. She has recently become engaged and while sleeping in her sister's room she hears strange sounds in the night. Miss Stoner is afraid that whatever killed her sister while she was engaged to be married is coming to kill her as well.
When Miss Stoner leaves and her stepfather angrily bursts into the apartment, threatening Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson, Holmes naturally wonders why Dr. Roylott would have been so angry about Helen's visit. Holmes and Watson then visit the estate where Miss Stoner and Dr. Roylott live and inspect the premises. They agree to spend the night in Miss Stoner's room to try and hear the same strange sounds that have her so worried. They do hear animals romping outside--Miss Stoner explained that her stepfather kept many exotic pets-- before a whistling and clanging disturbs them. Discerning that the sound is coming from a grate in the wall, Holmes whacks at it with his cane.
On the other side, Dr. Roylott is bitten by the now-angry swamp adder he was trying to send through the wall. When Holmes and Watson emerge from Helen's room, they find Dr. Roylott dead and wearing a spotted yellow bandanna around his forehead-- the speckled band.
Holmes often solves his cases quite early in investigation, but still must prove himself to be right by allowing events to play out to some extent. This was just one such case where Holmes had put together the suspect, motive, and means long before the moment when Dr. Roylott planned to strike, but needed to catch him in the act. When Holmes and Watson finally see Dr. Roylott dead in his room, the case has officially been solved and remedied.
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