Dorothea Hall Mysteries

In the Neighborhood

Miss Collins and Mr. Walker were both intrigued by my idea, but the young lady pointed out that she wasn't willing to act without her brother's agreement and support. Mr. Walker suggested we all meet the next morning at his office, which was in the Neighborhood of the Strand across from the Exeter Hall. Miss Collins said she would get him there no ifs and or buts. I hoped he wouldn't decide to flee the City, dragging his talented sister with him.

The Exeter Hall was a grand building, finished a bit less than a decade ago in 1831. I hadn't had a chance to go to a meeting there, but my mother had been to a number of events held by the Peace Society. She was always trying to get me to come with her, but working with Carmella had kept me far too busy. Now that she was on her honeymoon, maybe I could make it to one of their events. I would have liked to go to the first International Peace Congress they held back in June, but I'd been helping Carmella put on her play.

Mr. Walker's office had a view of the hall and the shops which surrounded it. It didn't look very imposing from across the street, just a set of pillars in front of large doors, but Mother had described the excitement of flowing into the building with hundreds of other people going to the same event. I wondered if a chess tournament could fill either the 1000 people or even 4000 people auditorium.

"I hope we haven't scared them off," Mr. Walker said. "I simply wanted to discover what was behind the new machine. I didn't mean to rob two young people of their livelihood. Even a fake chess automaton does get people interested in the game of chess."

"I suppose it does. I wish I was better at the game. My husband tried to teach me, but I have other interests."

"Many people think women shouldn't be interested in chess, but my first chess tutor was a lovely woman named Madame Jansen Bartolozzi."

"I know her work as a pianist. I didn't know she played chess."

"Unfortunately, in her later life her family's properties were taken by the French, and she separated from her husband in England. She mainly taught piano, but I was hopeless musically, so she saw my father's chess board and offered to teach me chess instead."

There was a knock on the door and Miss Collins and her brother entered the office. Miss Collins was all smiles, but her brother was not. He sat on a chair and kept his hat in his hands.

"My sister says you have a business proposition for us," he said.

"I do. Your sister deserves to be recognized as a great chess player rather than pretending to be a machine. I am working to organize and international chess tournament here in London. We believe a young woman showing her talent in the game would draw many people to back the idea. You are quite good at marketing, something which would also be helpful in my work. What do you say?"