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.