Page 64 - @ccess 3 Reader´s Book

'But how did you know about the snake, Holmes?' I asked.

'At first, Watson, I thought that it was the gypsies. But then
I understood. I thought that perhaps something came
through the air-vent, down the bell-rope and on to the bed.
Then there was the milk - and of course, snakes drink milk.
It was easy for the doctor to get Indian animals. And because
he was a doctor, he knew that this snake's poison is difficult
to find in a dead body. So, every night he put the snake
through the air-vent, and it went down the bell-rope on
to the bed. Of course, nobody must see the snake, so every
night he whistled to call it back. The sound of metal falling
was the door of the metal box, which was the snake's home.
Perhaps the snake came through the air-vent many
times before it killed Julia. But in the end, it
killed her. And Helen, too, nearly died
because of this snake.

'But tonight, when I hit the snake on the
rope, it was angry and went back through
the air-vent. And so, it killed the doctor.
I'm not sorry about that.'

Soon after this Helen Stoner married her young
man and tried to forget the terrible deaths of
her sister and stepfather. But she never really
forgot the speckled band.

Source: http://goo.gl/9tfpGF

Reader's Book 63