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<h2> CHAPTER XX </h2>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“... do you remember, Sir George, the Bolbrook case! I took the man at
Odessa....”</p>
<p>“... 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...”</p>
<p>“... 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...!”</p>
<p>They rose to meet her and T. X. introduced her to the men. It was at that
moment that John Lexman was announced.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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