Sherlock Holmes recounts to Watson the events arising after a visit from a former university acquaintance, Reginald Musgrave. Musgrave comes to see him after the disappearance of two of his domestic staff, Rachel Howells, a maid, and Richard Brunton, the longtime butler. The pair vanished after Musgrave had dismissed Brunton for secretly reading a family document, the Musgrave Ritual.

Musgrave asks Holmes, "Can you make anything of it?"