Sherlock Holmes Short Stories - The Adventure of the Reigate Squire: Part Two

Episode Date: December 25, 2025

Holmes raises eyebrows at the Cunningham estate, making apparently simple mistakes and clumsily knocking over the furniture. But there's method to his madness... and before long, a violent struggle reveals some shocking home truths to the Reigate residents. A Noiser podcast production.    Narrated by Hugh Bonneville   Written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle  Produced by Katrina Hughes and Duncan Barrett  Script Supervisor: Addison Nugent  Sound Design and Audio Editing by Tony Onuchukwu Sound Supervisor: Tom Pink  Compositions: Dorry Macaulay and Oliver Baines  Mix & Mastering: The Soundhouse Studios Series Consultant: Dan Smith  For ad-free listening and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Just click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Sherlock Holmes short stories. I'm Hugh Bonneville and from the Noiser Podcast Network. This is The Adventure of the Ryegate Squire, Part 2. Last time we found homes in a state of physical and mental exhaustion, following a particularly trying case. Dr. Watson took his friend to recuperate at the Surrey home of his old army friend, Colonel Hayter, hoping for a peaceful country retreat. Their rest was quickly interrupted, however, when the colonel shared news of a puzzling burglary at the home of local squire Acton, where the thieves took an odd assortment of items, a volume of Homer, two candlesticks, a paperweight, a barometer, and a ball of twine.

Despite Watson's protests, Holmes couldn't help showing interest in this curious case. The situation became more serious the following morning, when they learned that a second break-in had occurred at the next. labouring estate of the Cunningham's, this time resulting in murder. William Kerwin, the coachman, was shot dead after apparently disturbing the intruder. Inspector Forrester arrived, seeking Holmes' assistance and revealed a critical piece of evidence. A torn scrap of paper found clutched in the dead man's hand, apparently bearing the time of an appointment. Both old Mr. Cunningham and his son, Alec, claimed to have witnessed part of the crime, with the elder Cunningham seeing the murderer flee over the hedge.

Holmes, suddenly energized by the case, went to investigate the crime scene. Upon his return, he insisted that all four men, Holmes, Watson, the colonel and the inspector visit the Cunningham estate together. There they encountered the dismissive Cunningham's father and son, who seemed skeptical of Holmes' abilities. But just as Holmes was about to question them, he suddenly suddenly collapsed to the ground in apparent agony. Horrified at the suddenness and severity of the attack,

we carried him into the kitchen, where he lay back in a large chair and breathed heavily for some minutes. Finally, with a shame-faced apology for his weakness, he rose once more. Watson would tell you that I have only just recovered from a severe illness, he explained. I am liable to these sudden nervous attacks. Shall I send you home in my trap? asked old Cunningham. Well, since I am here, there is one point on which I should like to feel sure

we can very easily verify it. What was it? Well, it seems to me that it is just possible that the arrival of this poor fellow William was not before, but after the entrance of the burglar into the house. You appear to take it for granted that although the door was forced, the robber never got in. I fancy that is quite obvious, said Mr. Cunningham gravely. Why, my son Alec had not yet gone to bed, and he would certainly have heard anyone moving about.

Where was he sitting? I was smoking in my dressing-room. Which window is that? The last on the left next, my father's. Both of your lamps were lit, of course. undoubtedly. There are some very singular points here, said Holmes, smiling. Is it not extraordinary that a burglar, and a burglar who had had some previous experience,

should deliberately break into a house at a time when he could see from the lights that two of the family was still afoot? He must have been a cool hand. Well, of course, if the case were not an odd one, we should not have been driven to ask you for an explanation, said young, Mr. Alec. But as to your ideas that the man had robbed the house before William tackled him, I think it a most absurd notion. Wouldn't we have found the place disarranged and missed the things which he had taken?

It depends on what the things were, said Holmes. You must remember that we are dealing with a burglar who is a very peculiar fellow and who appears to work on lines of his own. Look, for example, at the queer lot of things which he took from Acton's. What was it? A ball of string? Let a wait, and I don't know what are there odds and ends. Well, we are quite in your hands, Mr. Holmes, said old Cunningham.

Anything which you or the inspector may suggest will most certainly be done. In the first place, said Holmes, I should like you to offer a reward, coming from yourself, for the officials may take a little time before. before they would agree upon the sum, and these things cannot be done too promptly. I have jotted down the form, here, if you would not mind signing it. Fifty pounds was quite enough, I thought. I would willingly give five hundred, said the J.P., taking the slip of paper and the pencil

which Holmes handed to him. This is not quite correct, however, he added, glancing over the document. I wrote it rather hurriedly. You see, you begin, whereas. at about a quarter to one on Tuesday morning an attempt was made and so on, it was at a quarter to twelve, as a matter of fact. I was pained at the mistake, for I knew how keenly Holmes would feel any slip of the kind. It was his specialty to be accurate as to fact, but his recent illness had shaken him, and this one little incident was enough to show me that he was still

far from being himself. He was obviously embarrassed for an instant, while the Inspector raised his eyebrows, and Alec, Cunningham, burst into a laugh. The old gentleman corrected the mistake, however, and handed the paper back to Holmes. "'Get it printed as soon as possible,' he said. "'I think your idea is an excellent one.' Holmes put the slip of paper carefully away into his pocketbook. "'And now,' said he, "'it really would be a good thing that we should all go over the house together

and make certain that this rather erratic burglar did not, after all, carry anything away with him. Before entering, Holmes made an examination of the door which had been forced. It was evident that a chisel or strong knife had been thrust in, and the lock forced back with it. We could see the marks in the wood where it had been pushed in. You don't use bars, then, he asked. We have never found it necessarily. necessary. You don't keep a dog? Yes, but he is chained on the other side of the house. When do the servants go to bed? About ten. I understand that William was usually in bed also at that

hour. Yes. It is singular that on this particular night he should have been up. Now, I should be very glad if you would have the kindness to show us over the house, Mr. Cunningham. A stone flagged, passage with the kitchens branching away from it, led by a wooden staircase directly to the first floor of the house. It came out upon the landing opposite to a second more ornamental stair which came up from the front hall. Out of this landing opened the drawing-room and several bedrooms, including those of Mr. Cunningham and his son. Holmes walked slowly, taking keen note of the architecture of the house. I could tell from his expression that he was on a hot scent,

and yet I could not in the least imagine in what direction his inferences were leading him. "'My good, sir,' said Mr. Cunningham with some impatience. "'This is surely very unnecessary. "'That is my room at the end of the stairs, "'and my sons is the one beyond it. "'I leave it to your judgment "'whether it was possible for the thief

"'to have come up here without disturbing us. "'You must try round and get on a fresh "'Scent, I fancy,' said the son, with a rather malicious smile. "'Still, I must ask you to humour me a little further. "'I should like, for example, to see how far the windows of the bedrooms command the front. "'This, I understand, is your son's room?' "'He pushed open the door. "'And that, I presume, is the dressing-room in which he sat smoking

"'when the alarm was given. "'Where does the window of that look out, too?' "'He stepped across the bedroom, pushed open the door, "'and glanced round the other chamber. "'I hope that you are satisfied now,' said Mr. Cunningham tartly. "'Thank you. I think I have seen all that I wished. "'Then if it is really necessary, we can go into my room. "'If it is not too much trouble.'

The J.P. shrugged his shoulders and led the way into his own chamber, which was a plainly furnished and commonplace room. As we moved across it in the direction of the window, Holmes fell back until he and I were the last of the group. Near the foot of the bed stood a dish of oranges and a cariff of water. As we passed it,

Holmes, to my unutterable astonishment, leaned over in front of me and deliberately knocked the whole thing over. The glass smashed into a thousand pieces and the fruit rolled about into every corner of the room.

You've done it now, Watson, said he coolly. A pretty mess you've made of the carpet. I stooped in some confusion, and began to pick up the fruit, understanding for some reason my companion desired me to take the blame upon myself.

The others did the same and set the table on its legs again. Hello, cried the inspector. Where's he got to? Holmes had disappeared. Wait here an instant, said young Alec Cunningham. The fellow is off his head, in my opinion.

Come with me, father, and see where he is. got to. They rushed out of the room, leaving the inspector, the colonel and me staring at each other. For my word, I am inclined to agree with Master Alec, said the official. It may be the effect of this illness, but it seems to me that... His words were cut short by a sudden scream of help, help! Murder! With a thrill, I recognised the voice of that of my friend. I rushed madly from the room onto the landing. The cries, which had sunk down into a horse inarticular, at shouting, came from the room which we had first visited. I dashed in, and on into the dressing

room beyond. The two Cunningham's were bending over the prostrate figure of Sherlock Holmes, the younger clutching his throat with both hands, while the elder seemed to be twisting one of his wrists. In an instant the three of us had torn them away from him, and Holmes staggered to his feet, very pale and evidently greatly exhausted. Arrest these men, Inspector, he gasped. On what charge, that of murdering their coachman, William Cowan. The inspector stared about him in bewilderment. Oh, come on now, Mr. Holmes, said he at last. I'm sure you don't really mean to...

Tuckman, look at their faces, cried Holmes curtly. Never certainly have I seen a plainer confession of guilt upon human countenances. The older man seemed numbed and dazed, with a heavy, sullen expression upon his strongly a marked face. The sun, on the other hand, had dropped all that jaunty, dashing style which had characterized him, and the ferocity of a dangerous wild beast gleamed in his dark eyes and distorted his handsome features. The inspector said nothing, but, stepping to the door, he blew his whistle. Two of his constables came at the call. I have no alternative, Mr. Cunningham, said he. I trust that this may all prove to be an absurd

mistake, but you can see that—ah, would you? Drop it? He struck out with his hand, and a revolver which the younger man was in the act of cocking clattered down upon the floor. Keep that, said Holmes, quietly putting his foot upon it. You will find it useful at the trial, but this is what we really wanted. He held up a little crumpled piece of paper. The remainder of the sheet, cried the inspector. Precisely. And where was it? Where I was sure it must be. I'll make the whole matter clear to you presently. I think, Colonel, that you and Watson might return now, and I will be with you again in an hour at the furthest. The inspector and I must have a word with the prisoners, but you will certainly see me back at luncheon time. it's a busy month with the launch of a brand new show. Join Sir David Soucher for Charles Dickens' Ghost Stories,

a selection of Dickens' most spine-tingling tales. In Jane Austen stories, Pride and Prejudice concludes, when all said and done, will Pride get in the way of true love? Short history of takes us onto the historic canals of Venice and beyond the courtrooms of the Nuremberg trials. On real survival stories, we'll follow an emergency chopper as it goes down in the Labrador Sea and traverse the mountain bike trails of Patagonia.

In Sherlock Holmes' short stories, Holmes unpicks a mysterious string of sculpture-related crimes in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons. And Real Dictators returns with the extraordinary story of Jean Bedell-Bocasse. Get all of these shows and more, early and ad-free on Noiser Plus. And if you're still on the hunt for Christmas presents, then why not grab a copy of A Short History of Ancient Rome, available in all good bookshops? Sherlock Holmes was as good as his word, for about one o'clock he rejoined us in the Colonel's smoking-room. He was accompanied by a little elderly gentleman who was introduced to me as the Mr. Acton, whose house had been the scene of the original burglary. I wished Mr. Acton

to be present while I demonstrated this small matter to you, said Holmes, for it is natural that he should take a keen interest in the details. I am afraid, my dear Colonel, that you must regret the hour that you took in such a stormy petrol as I am? On the contrary, answered the Colonel, warmly. I consider it the greatest privilege to have been permitted to study your methods of working. I confess that they quite surpass my expectations, and that I am utterly unable to account for your result. I have not yet seen the vestige of a clue.

I am afraid that my explanation may disillusionise you, but it has always been my habit to hide none of my methods, either from my friend Watson, or from anyone who might take an intelligent interest in them. But first, as I am rather shaken by the knocking about which I had in the dressing-room, I think that I shall help myself to a dash of your brandy, Colonel. My strength has been rather tried of late. I trust that you had no more of those nervous attacks. Sherlock Holmes laughed heartily.

"'We will come to that in its turn,' said he. "'I will lay an account of the case before you in its due order, showing you the various points which guided me in my decision. Pray interrupt me if there is any inference which is not perfectly clear to you. It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognize out of a number of facts which are incidental and which vital. otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated instead of being concentrated. Now, in this case, there was not the slightest doubt in my mind from the first,

that the key of the whole matter must be looked for in the scrap of paper in the dead man's hand. Before going into this, I would draw your attention to the fact that if Alec Cunningham's narrative was correct, and if the assailant after shooting William Kerwin had instantly fled, then it obviously could not be he who tore the paper from the dead man's hand. But if it was not he, it must have been Alec Cunningham himself, for by the time that the old man had descended, several servants were upon the scene. The point is a simple one, but the inspector had overlooked it

because he had started with the supposition that these county magnates had had nothing to do with the matter. Now, I make a point of never having any prejudices, and of following docilely wherever fact may lead me. And so in the very first stage of the investigation, I found myself looking a little askance at the part which had been played by Mr. Alec Cunningham. And now I made a very careful examination

of the corner of paper which the inspector had submitted to us. It was at once clear to me that it formed part of a very remarkable document. Here it is. "'Do you not now observe something very suggestive about it?' "'It has a very irregular look,' said the colonel. "'My dear sir,' cried Holmes, "'there cannot be the least doubt in the world "'that it has been written by two persons doing alternate words.

"'When I draw your attention to the strong tease of at and two "'and ask you to compare them with the weak ones of quarter and twelve, you will instantly recognize the fact. A very brief analysis of these four words would enable you to say with the utmost confidence that the learn and the maybe are written in the stronger hand and the what in the weaker.

By Jove, it's as clear as day, cried the colonel. Why on earth should two men write a letter in such a fashion? Obviously the business was a bad one, and one of the men who distrusted the other was determined that whatever was done, each should have an equal hand in it. Now, of the two men, it is clear that the one who wrote the at and two was the ringleader. How do you get at that? We might deduce it from the mere character of the one hand as compared with the other,

but we have more assured reasons than that for supposing it. If you examine this scrap with attention, you will come to the conclusion that the man with a stronger hand wrote all his words first, leaving blanks for the other to fill up. These blanks were not always sufficient, and you can see that the second man had a squeeze to fit his quarter in between the at and the two, showing that the latter were already written. The man who wrote all his words first is undoubtedly the man who planned. the affair. Excellent, cried Mr. Acton, but very superficial, said Holmes.

We come now, however, to a point which is of importance. You may not be aware that the deduction of a man's age from his writing is one which has been brought to considerable accuracy by experts. In normal cases, one can place a man in his true decade with tolerable confidence. I say normal cases because ill health and physical weakness reproduce the signs of old age, even when the invalid is a youth. In this case, looking at the bold, strong hand of the one and the rather broken-backed appearance of the other, which still retains its legibility, although the T's have begun to lose their

crossing, we can say that the one was a young man, and the other was advanced in years, without being positively decrepit. "'Excellent!' cried Mr. Acton again. There is a further point, however, which is subtler and of greater interest. There is something in common between these hands. They belong to men who are blood relatives. It may be most obvious to you in the Greek ease, but to me there are many small points which indicate the same thing.

I have no doubt at all that a family mannerism can be traced in these two specimens of writing. I am only, of course, giving you the leading results now of my examination of the paper. There were 23 other deductions which would be of more interest to experts than to you. They all tend to deepen the impression upon my mind. That the Cunningham's father and son had written this letter. Having got so far, my next step was, of course, to examine into the details of the crime, and to see how far they would help us. I went up to the house with the inspector and saw all that was to be seen. The wound upon the dead man was, as I was able to determine

with absolute confidence, fired from a revolver at the distance of something over four yards. There was no powder blackening on the clothes. Evidently, therefore, Alec Cunningham had lied when he said that the two men were struggling when the shot was fired. Again, both Father and Son agreed as to the place where the man escaped into the road. At that point, however, as it happens, there is a broadish ditch, moist at the bottom. As there were no indications of bootmarks about this ditch, I was absolutely sure not only that the Cunningham's had again lied, but that there had never been any unknown man upon the scene at all.

And now I have to consider the motive of this single. crime. To get at this, I endeavoured first of all to solve the reason of the original burglary at Mr. Acton's. I understood from something which the Colonel told us that a lawsuit had been going on between you, Mr. Acton, and the Cunningham's. Of course, it instantly occurred to me that they had broken into your library with the intention of getting at some document which might be of importance in the case. Precisely so, said Mr. Acton. They can be no possible doubt as to their intentions. I have the clearest claim upon half of their present estate, and if they could have found a single paper, which, fortunately, was in the

strong box of my solicitors, they would undoubtedly have crippled our case. There you are, said Holmes, smiling. It was a dangerous, reckless attempt in which I seemed to trace the influence of young Alec. Having found nothing, they tried to divert suspicious, by making it appear to be an ordinary burglary, to which end they carried off whatever they could lay their hands upon. That is all clear enough, but there was much that was still obscure. What I wanted above all was to get the missing part of that note. I was certain that Alec had torn it out of the dead man's hand, and almost certain that he must have thrust it into the pocket of his dressing-gown. Where else could he have put it?

The only question was whether it was still there. It was worth an effort to find out, and for that object we all went up to the house. The Cunningham's joined us, as you doubtless remember, outside the kitchen door. It was, of course, of the very first importance that they should not be reminded of the existence of this paper, otherwise they would naturally destroy it without delay. The inspector was about to tell them the importance which we attached to it when, By the luckiest chance in the world, I'd tumbled down in a sort of fit, and so changed the conversation.

"'Good heavens!' cried the Colonel, laughing. "'Do you mean to say all our sympathy was wasted and you're fit and imposter?' "'Speaking professionally, it was admirably done,' cried I, looking in amazement at this man who was forever confounding me with some new phase of his astuteness. "'It is an art which is often useful,' said he. "'When I recovered, I managed by a device "'which had perhaps some little merit of ingenuity "'to get old Cunningham to write the word twelve,

"'so that I might compare it with the twelve upon the paper.' "'Oh, what an ass I have been!' I exclaimed. "'I could see that you were commiserating me over my weakness,' said Holmes, laughing. "'I was sorry to cause you the sympathetic pain, which I know that you felt. We then went upstairs together, and having entered the room and seen the dressing-gown hanging up behind the door, I contrived by upsetting a table to engage their attention for the moment, and slipped back to examine the pockets. I had hardly got the paper, however, which was, as I had expected in one of them, when the two Cunningham's were on me,

and would, I verily believe, have murdered me then and there but for your prompt and friendly aid. As it is, I feel that young man's grip on my throat now, and the father has twisted my wrist round in the effort to get the paper out of my hand. They saw that I must know all about it, you see, and the sudden change from absolute security to complete despair made them perfectly desperate. I had a little talk with old Cunningham afterwards as to the motive of the crime. He was tractable enough, though his son was a perfect demon, ready to blow out his own or anybody else's brains if he could have got to his revolver. When Cunningham saw that the case against him was so strong, he lost all heart and made a clean

breast of everything. It seems that William had secretly followed his two masters on the night when they made their raid upon Mr. Acton's, and having thus got them into his power, proceeded under threats of exposure to levy blackmail upon them. Mr. Alec, however, was a dangerous man to play games of that sort with. It was a stroke of positive genius on his part to see in the burglary scare, which was convulsing the countryside, an opportunity of plausibly getting rid of the man whom he feared. William was decoyed up and shot. And had they only got the whole of the note and paid a little more attention to detail in the accessories,

it is very possible that suspicion might never have been aroused. And the note, I asked. Sherlock Holmes placed the paper before us. If you will only come round at quarter to twelve to the east gate, you will learn what will very much surprise you and may be be of the greatest service to you and also to Annie Morrison, but say nothing to anyone upon the matter. It is very much the sort of thing that I expected, said he.

Of course, we do not yet know what the relations may have been between Alec Cunningham, William Kerwin and Annie Morrison. The results shows that the trap was skillfully baited. I am sure that you cannot fail to be delighted with the traces of heredity shown in the P's and in the tales of the G's. The absence of the I-Dots in the old man's writing is most characteristic. Watson, I think our quiet rest in the country has been a distinct success, and I shall certainly return much invigorated to Baker Street tomorrow.

Next time on Sherlock Holmes short stories, Holmes and Watson pursue a mysterious stalker in The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist. When a beautiful young music teacher notices she's being followed by a bearded stranger on her lonely bicycle journeys through the Surrey countryside, she turns to Holmes for help. But what begins as a seemingly minor case quickly develops into something far more sinister. Soon, Holmes and Watson find themselves in a race against time

as they unravel the carefully woven web of deception the young teacher has become trapped within. But will they discover the true identity of her shadowy pursuer before it's too late? Find out next time. Can't wait a week until the next episode? Well, listen to it right away by subscribing to Noisor Plus. Head to www.com slash subscriptions for more information, or click the link in the episode description.