Story summary

ピーター・ラフとダブル・フォーのあらすじ

著者： E・フィリップス・オッペンハイム

読了8分
10 parts
音声は近日公開

A gentleman thief leaves a supper table through a window and sets up as a private detective in London.

無料で始めます Read the opening free, no sign-in

3 months free · unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost

Nothing to pay today · お支払いの前にメールでお知らせします · オンラインで二回クリックするだけで解約できます

ピーター・ラフとダブル・フォーの概要

要約：読むのに8 minかかります

読書時間: 約7 h 35 min6 h fast, 9 h slow
所要時間: 108,500語
ライブラリ内の難易度: 標準 longer sentences, everyday words
初版刊行年: 1912by E・フィリップス・オッペンハイム

Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). 古典を読むのにかかる時間 · 更新日 22 October 2026

3か月間無料でご利用いただけます

ピーター・ラフとダブル・フォーの要約を最後まで無料で読めます

200,000+の古典を電子書籍、オーディオブック、15分で読める要約で楽しめます。紙の本と大活字本は印刷費のみで購入できます。
ひとつのプランで、ご家庭の最大5人までご利用いただけます

無料で始めます本日のお支払いはありません。初年度は一日あたりUSD 0.14、その後は一日あたりUSD 0.27です。

ピーター・ラフとダブル・フォー in short

Peter Ruff and the Double Four follows one clever man from a window in Streatham to a secret society in Paris and a duel with a German spy. He begins as a runaway cashier who sets up as a detective, with a loyal secretary and a rival at Scotland Yard who never quite catches him. Early cases give him a name, a wife and a taste for respectability.

What ピーター・ラフとダブル・フォー is about

Can a man who wants only a villa, a garden and a coal merchant's daughter be driven out of respectable life by a single knock at the gate? In Peter Ruff and the Double Four, a neat young cashier called Spencer Fitzgerald charms a whole family over cold beef in Streatham. Then heavy footsteps stop outside, and he is out of the window and away into the fog.

E. Phillips Oppenheim, a prolific English writer of thrillers, built this book as linked adventures in Edwardian London and Paris. The runaway becomes Peter Ruff, private detective, and later a secret society calls him back.

対象読者. You will enjoy this book if you like Edwardian London, clever disguises, gentlemen thieves, spies and secret societies, and a hero who dresses well and keeps his nerve.

The story in 10 parts

Key idea 1 · free to read
A supper in Streatham ends at the window
In Daisy Villa, Streatham, a coal merchant named David Barnes carves cold beef for his family. Beside his daughter Maud sits her guest, Mr. Spencer Fitzgerald, a gold-spectacled cashier. The family is delighted, and so, quietly, is he.
Then heavy footsteps stop at the gate. Fitzgerald understands at once. He strolls to the window, remarks on the fog, and vanishes. The detective John Dory walks in with two uniformed men and finds only an open sash and a spilled bottle of port.
Fitzgerald crosses the road to a flat where an actress, Violet Brown, greets him as Peter. The law has driven him out of respectable society, so he will turn private detective and work for clients, for cash in advance. He will call himself Peter Ruff, and Violet will be his secretary and partner. A man shut out by one door builds himself a new profession at once.
2
Peter Ruff sells safety to frightened men
A year later Maud is marrying John Dory, now a smart young officer.
無料で読書を始めます
3
A flying machine, a tarn and a trick
Violet complains that Peter turns away too many cases.
無料で読書を始めます
4
A shot in a sitting room and a girl's secret
Letty Shaw, a respected young actress, has just become engaged to Captain Brian Sotherst.
無料で読書を始めます
5
Maud sets a trap and a ball needs rescuing
One morning Peter reads a notice in the Daily Mail asking Mr. Spencer Fitzgerald to contact M. It can only come from Maud, now Mrs. Dory.
無料で読書を始めます
6
The Double Four calls and a bargain in Paris
All this time Peter keeps a link to a secret French society, the Double Four.
無料で読書を始めます
7
A farm, a new name and a duel of wits
Book Two begins four years on.
無料で読書を始めます
8
A thief learns to love respectability
The first deep question of the book is what a clever man does when the law shuts him out.
無料で読書を始めます
9
Disguise, women and the games of nerve
The second theme is identity.
無料で読書を始めます
10
How the stories are told and what to notice
Oppenheim tells the book as a run of chapters, each almost a short story.
無料で読書を始めます

Read all 10 key ideas now

3 months free, then USD 0.14 a day: unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost.

Nothing to pay today
お支払いの前にメールでお知らせします
オンラインで二回クリックするだけで解約できます

無料で始めます

Characters, plot and themes

Main characters

Peter Ruff Once the runaway cashier Spencer Fitzgerald, he becomes a private detective who wants a quiet respectable life and a victory over his rival.
Violet Brown An actress who becomes Peter's secretary, partner and later wife, and who sees through traps before he does.
John Dory A Scotland Yard detective who wants to catch Peter and cannot, and who marries Maud and rises in the end.
Maud Barnes A coal merchant's daughter in Streatham who loved Peter once and is used by her husband to trap him.
Marquis de Sogrange A French aristocrat of the Double Four who seeks danger against boredom and acts as Peter's closest friend.
Bernadine Known as Count von Hern, a German spy who hunts, plays polo and wants to destroy Peter Ruff.
Lady Mary Sotherst A loyal sister who hires Peter to save her brother and brings him two important cases.
Sir Richard Dyson A baronet in debt, Peter's first big client, who is later blackmailed and turns to him again.

How it ends (spoiler)

The house called High House collapses in a huge explosion that Bernadine has arranged through his servant. Bernadine himself is buried under a falling marble pillar and dies in the ruins. Peter, Sogrange and Sir John Dory escape into the garden, one limping badly, and the Baroness joins them. The Baroness admits that she invented her companion and even had a place set for her at dinner. The duel that began years earlier ends with the thirteenth encounter.

The whole book is coming to your plan

The full text of ピーター・ラフとダブル・フォー opens soon. Keep this summary as a file today.

Tell me when the book opens

Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way. Email me when it is printed

『ピーター・ラフとダブル・フォー』についての質問

What is Peter Ruff and the Double Four about?

It follows a clever runaway who becomes a private detective in London, outwits Scotland Yard, and is drawn into a secret French society called the Double Four. Later cases involve spies, stolen papers, jewels and a duel with a German agent.

Who is Peter Ruff?

He begins as Spencer Fitzgerald, a bookshop cashier and part-time thief, and then reinvents himself as Peter Ruff, private detective. Later he is known as Baron de Grost, a financier and leader of the Double Four in London.

What is the Double Four?

It is a secret society of French gentlemen who control the criminal world and plan its work. Its sign is the double four of the dominoes, and members use it to recognize one another. Later it turns to political causes.

Is Peter Ruff and the Double Four a true story?

No, it is fiction by E. Phillips Oppenheim, written in the Edwardian period. It borrows real places and issues of the time, such as London clubs, Paris society, Turkey and the Maine, but the people and cases are invented.

Is this book easy to read?

Yes, in the sense that the chapters are short and each case has its own clear shape. The style is lively and often funny, with plenty of dialogue, quick scenes and a hero who explains things at the end.

この版を引用します

Oppenheim, E. Phillips. Peter Ruff and the Double Four. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/peter-ruff-and-the-double-four.

Oppenheim, E. P. (2026). Peter Ruff and the Double Four. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/peter-ruff-and-the-double-four (Original work published 1912)

Oppenheim, E. Phillips. Peter Ruff and the Double Four. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/peter-ruff-and-the-double-four.

@book{oppenheim2026peter,
  author = {Oppenheim, E. Phillips},
  title = {Peter Ruff and the Double Four},
  publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/peter-ruff-and-the-double-four},
  note = {First published 1912}
}