Holmes and Watson sit in their Baker Street sitting room during a heavy gale, Watson reading a novel and Holmes cross-referencing his indexes. A young man calls upon them and asks permission to put his case to Holmes having been referred to him by one of his satisfied clients. The young man, John Openshaw, recounts how his Uncle Elias, an Englishman recently returned after living for decades in America, recently received an envelope postmarked Pondicherry in India and inscribed ‘K.K.K’. The envelope contained five dried orange pips, a fact that seemed to horrify his uncle. Immediately, he changed his will so that in the event of his death all would be left to his brother Joseph, John’s father. He then entered into a life of heavy drinking and extreme fear of the outside world. Not long after, he was found dead, face-down in a garden pond. His death was pronounced by a jury to be suicide as there were no signs of violence.