A/n: a slightly different approach to "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"
Contains spoilers for that story
Thanks to Stutley Constable for technical support:-)
Holmes and companions do not belong to me.
POV of Watson
tweaked the poem a bit 22/1/13 as I wasn't happy with some of the verses
A Singular Case: part 1
Many years of friendship
With a master of deduction,
Have taught me that no detail
Is too humble nor too small.
For example, careful study
Of our simple fireside poker,
Shows fine traces which remind me
Of the strangest case of all…
~o~
Early, on a fine spring morning,
I was jolted from my slumber
By my fully dressed companion.
(April, eighteen eighty three.)
I was told that Mrs Hudson
Had been woken by a stranger;
She in turn had woken Holmes
And he, in turn, had woken me.
~o~
I descended to the parlour,
Where I saw a black-veiled stranger;
By her features, she was thirty;
Though her hair was flecked with grey.
Holmes deduced that she had travelled
Through the night by train and dog-cart;
Spattered mud and railway ticket
Gave her transport modes away.
~o~
Our address had been suggested
By a grateful former client;
Holmes agreed to hear her story
And invited her to start.
She declared the tale she'd tell us
Of her current situation
Showed the wicked depths which sometimes
Lurk within the human heart.
~o~
Thus we learned of Doctor Roylott,
Who had wed her widowed mother;
Filled with hate and disappointment;
Anger drove this dreadful man.
How her mother's tragic death
Had left our client and her sister
At the mercy of this monster
In his home at Stoke Moran.
~o~
She described their sad existence
In a bleak and cheerless household;
And of many sad occasions
When his rage got out of hand.
Strange exotic half-wild creatures
Wandered freely through his gardens;
While he spent his time with gypsies
Camped upon the doctor's land.
~o~
Julia, her dear twin sister,
And her constant close companion,
Visited an aunt in Harrow
Found great joy, so long denied;
Picture then our growing horror,
At the fate which overcame her,
Just two weeks before the date
She should have been her suitor's bride.
~o~
A corridor; three separate chambers,
No connecting doors to link them;
First in line is Doctor Roylott's,
Then her sister's, then her own.
In one final conversation;
Talk of fast-approaching wedding
And of nights disturbed by whistling;
Waking Julia, alone.
~o~
Doors were locked, a storm was raging;
Rain beat hard against the windows;
And our client lay unsleeping
Filled with vague impending doom.
Subtle links between twin sisters
Whispered hints of dire misfortune;
Then above the gale, wild screaming,
Soaked in terror, filled the room.
~o~
Door unlocked; a low soft whistle,
As she ran to save her sister,
And a clanging sound as if
A mass of metal dropped in place.
Her sister's door was moving slowly
And she froze, quite horror stricken;
At her swaying twin's emergence;
Raw, stark terror on her face.
~o~
Shocked, she saw her sister stagger,
Groping blindly from her bedroom
Falling with her limbs convulsing
In a writhing mass of pain.
As she held her dying sister,
One last phrase was clearly uttered;
"Speckled band!" was heard quite clearly;
Words which seared across her brain.
~o~
Two years passed; she mourned her sister,
Gained a suitor, plans a wedding;
Sought a future free from Roylott;
There's a better life in sight.
Planned repairs affect her bedroom;
So she moved into her sister's;
And as she lay awake, she heard
A gentle whistling in the night…
~o~
to be continued...