Dorothea Hall Mysteries

Win, Lose, or Draw

About a week after the successful conclusion of my first case, we sat quite comfortably after dinner. I was doing some mending and Emory and Freddy were playing chess. My husband's father was an avid chess player so Emory had been playing it since he was nine years old. Mr. Hall had even tried to get his son to participate in the chess matches of 1834, but his mother had put her foot down. Freddy had seen his chess set when he moved in and had declared she always wanted to learn how to play. I have no interest in learning the games, so he was happy to teach her. As with many other things, she was a quick student.

"Young lady, you have brought our game to a draw. Well done." Emory and Freddy shook hands.

"You weren't going easy on me, were you?" she asked.

He put his hand on his heart. "I would never play less than my best at chess. My father would murder me if he heard my doing such a thing."

"People do seem pretty serious about their chess games."

"Oh yes. Have you ever heard about the Automaton Chess Player?"

"I don't think so."

Emory leaned back in his chair, if he hadn't been with us ladies, he would have lit his pipe. "Around 1770 Wolfgang von Kempelen told the Queen of Austria that he could create something better than François Pelletier's illusions. He made an automaton which could beat masters at chess. People thought it was both mechanical and magical, but it was just a very clever trick. He made the device in such a way that a master chess player could play from inside the device."

Freddy smiled big. "I'd love to see it. It sounds cracking."

"You'd have to travel to America. A man named Mazl bought it after Kempelen died and he shows it."

"Someday I'll travel to America and I'll put it on my lists of things to see."

"Well, if you keep playing chess, maybe they'll let you try out playing a game from inside. I'm pretty sure no women have been in the automaton."

The front doorbell rang and Freddy ran to greet our visitor. He was a dignified man with a balding pate and mustache. Emory stood when he came into the drawing room and offered the man his hand.

"Mr. Walker, what an honor. I've read all your articles on chess. What brings you to our home?" Emory asked.

Mr. Walker glanced at the chessboard and smiled. "It seems I have come to the right place. I'm looking for someone to investigate a mystery and I heard Mrs. Hall is the one to find."

"Is this a mystery that has to do with chess?" Freddy asked. "I guess you're a chess expert."

"Indeed. Someone has created a new automaton chess player and I want to hire you to prove this one is also a fraud."