The room was a big one and most of the furniture had been clearedout to admit the guests who had come from the ends of the earth tolearn the story of the twisted candles, and to test John Lexman'stheory by their own.

　　They sat around chatting cheerfully of men and crimes, of greatcoups planned and frustrated, of strange deeds committed andundetected. Scraps of their conversation came to Belinda Mary asshe stood in the chintz-draped doorway which led from thedrawing-room to the room she used as a study.

　　". . . do you remember, Sir George, the Bolbrook case! I took theman at Odessa . . . ."". . . the curious thing was that I found no money on the body,only a............