The Adventure of the Beeswax Heiress

Inspector Gregson of Scotland Yard has come to 221B Baker Street to discuss the curious case of Mr. Winston Dunphy, who was found burned to death in a tool shed on his property three nights ago.

Dunphy was married to Miss Lesley Scott Rutherford, a wealthy heiress whose late father founded Rutherford Candlemakers, one of the largest beeswax and candlemaking companies in England.

Dunphy, ten years younger than Lesley Rutherford, met and married the woman three years ago. Since that time, the couple have lived as the only residents of Miss Rutherford's (now Mrs. Dunphy's) country estate in Wessex.

According to Mrs. Dunphy, she last saw her husband three nights ago when he went outside to check on a noise which seemed to come from the tool shed in the back of their house. Suspecting that there might be a prowler on the grounds, Mr. Dunphy took a lighted candle and went outside to check.

A few minutes later, the tool shed was aflame; and before help could be summoned, the shed burned to the ground. Mr. Dunphy's remains, burned beyond recognition, were found in the charred rubble of the shed.

The simple explanation for Dunphy's death is that Dunphy surprised a prowler in the tool shed; the prowler knocked Dunphy unconscious and fled; and the lit candle dropped to the ground and set the shed on fire.

But Gregson has a feeling that there's more to the case than that. He says he can't put his finger on it; but, for some reason he feels that Mrs. Dunphy is hiding something. Holmes and Watson agree to accompany Gregson to Wessex to view the scene of the crime and talk to Mrs. Dunphy. But first Holmes insists that they stop at the Bank. At the Dunphy home, Holmes spots a wheelbarrow standing near a back wall and notices deep wheelbarrow impressions leading from the house to the tool shed. Among the tool shed ashes, Holmes finds a large piece of green beeswax. While talking to Mrs. Dunphy in her study, Holmes holds up the beeswax and asks the woman if it is from the candle her husband carried outside three nights ago. Holmes tosses the wax to Mrs. Dunphy. She clasps her legs together, catching the wax in her lap, and examines it. "Yes," she says, "it definitely appears to be from the same candle." Holmes says, "I thought as much." Then the master detective turns to a surprised Gregson and Watson and announces that he has solved the case.