_ The room was a big one and most of the furniture had been cleared
       out to admit the guests who had come from the ends of the earth to
       learn the story of the twisted candles, and to test John Lexman's
       theory by their own.
       They sat around chatting cheerfully of men and crimes, of great
       coups planned and frustrated, of strange deeds committed and
       undetected. Scraps of their conversation came to Belinda Mary as
       she stood in the chintz-draped doorway which led from the
       drawing-room to the room she used as a study.
       ". . . do you remember, Sir George, the Bolbrook case! I took the
       man at Odessa . . . ."
       ". . . the curious thing was that I found no money on the body,
       only a small gold charm set with a single emerald, so I knew it
       was the girl with the fur bonnet who had . . ."
       ". . . Pinot got away after putting three bullets into me, but I
       dragged myself to the window and shot him dead - it was a real
       good shot . . . !"
       They rose to meet her and T. X. introduced her to the men. It was
       at that moment that John Lexman was announced.
       He looked tired, but returned the Commissioner's greeting with a
       cheerful mien. He knew all the men present by name, as they knew
       him. He had a few sheets of notes, which he laid on the little
       table which had been placed for him, and when the introductions
       were finished he went to this and with scarcely any preliminary
       began. _

CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXIII