The Reigate Squires E-Book

Arthur Conan Doyle

• Herausgeber: SAMPI Books
• Kategorie: Krimi
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Seitenzahl: 34

Beschreibung

In "The Reigate Squires" by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, recovering from exhaustion, travels to the countryside with Dr. Watson for rest. However, his keen mind cannot resist a mystery. A break-in at the Acton estate and a murder at the Cunningham residence reveal a tangled web of deceit and greed among the local gentry. Using his unparalleled deductive skills, Holmes unravels the connections between the crimes, exposing a shocking conspiracy hidden beneath the peaceful rural facade.

Leseprobe

The Reigate Squires

Arthur Conan Doyle

SYNOPSIS

In “The Reigate Squires” by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, recovering from exhaustion, travels to the countryside with Dr. Watson for rest. However, his keen mind cannot resist a mystery. A break-in at the Acton estate and a murder at the Cunningham residence reveal a tangled web of deceit and greed among the local gentry. Using his unparalleled deductive skills, Holmes unravels the connections between the crimes, exposing a shocking conspiracy hidden beneath the peaceful rural facade.

Keywords

Intrigue, Betrayal, Investigation

NOTICE

This text is a work in the public domain and reflects the norms, values and perspectives of its time. Some readers may find parts of this content offensive or disturbing, given the evolution in social norms and in our collective understanding of issues of equality, human rights and mutual respect. We ask readers to approach this material with an understanding of the historical era in which it was written, recognizing that it may contain language, ideas or descriptions that are incompatible with today's ethical and moral standards.

Names from foreign languages will be preserved in their original form, with no translation.

The Reigate Squires

It was some time before the health of my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes recovered from the strain caused by his immense exertions in the spring of ’87. The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis are too recent in the minds of the public, and are too intimately concerned with politics and finance to be fitting subjects for this series of sketches. They led, however, in an indirect fashion to a singular and complex problem which gave my friend an opportunity of demonstrating the value of a fresh weapon among the many with which he waged his life-long battle against crime.

On referring to my notes I see that it was upon the 14th of April that I received a telegram from Lyons which informed me that Holmes was lying ill in the Hotel Dulong. Within twenty-four hours I was in his sick-room, and was relieved to find that there was nothing formidable in his symptoms. Even his iron constitution, however, had broken down under the strain of an investigation which had extended over two months, during which period he had never worked less than fifteen hours a day, and had more than once, as he assured me, kept to his task for five days at a stretch. Even the triumphant issue of his labors could not save him from reaction after so terrible an exertion, and at a time when Europe was ringing with his name and when his room was literally ankle-deep with congratulatory telegrams I found him a prey to the blackest depression. Even the knowledge that he had succeeded where the police of three countries had failed, and that he had outmaneuvered at every point the most accomplished swindler in Europe, was insufficient to rouse him from his nervous prostration.

Three days later we were back in Baker Street together; but it was evident that my friend would be much the better for a change, and the thought of a week of spring time in the country was full of attractions to me also. My old friend, Colonel Hayter, who had come under my professional care in Afghanistan, had now taken a house near Reigate in Surrey, and had frequently asked me to come down to him upon a visit. On the last occasion he had remarked that if my friend would only come with me he would be glad to extend his hospitality to him also. A little diplomacy was needed, but when Holmes understood that the establishment was a bachelor one, and that he would be allowed the fullest freedom, he fell in with my plans and a week after our return from Lyons we were under the Colonel’s roof. Hayter was a fine old soldier who had seen much of the world, and he soon found, as I had expected, that Holmes and he had much in common.

On the evening of our arrival we were sitting in the Colonel’s gun-room after dinner, Holmes stretched upon the sofa, while Hayter and I looked over his little armory of fire-arms.

“By the way,” said he suddenly, “I think I’ll take one of these pistols upstairs with me in case we have an alarm.”

“An alarm!” said I.