After a draining case on the Continent, Holmes recuperates at a friend’s house near Reigate, where a nearby burglary is quickly followed by the shooting of a coachman. Holmes treats the two crimes as connected and focuses on a scrap of a torn note found in the dead man’s hand. The trail leads to the wealthy Cunninghams next door, who staged the burglary to hide a forgery and then killed their coachman when he threatened to expose them. Holmes tricks the pair into betraying themselves, and the torn note supplies the proof that closes the case.