“And I failed to recognize you in the storm for you were so bundled up,” replied Maynard. “On reaching this house I was admitted by a man I had not seen for years, Count Fritz von Eltz. He had attempted to conceal his identity by dying his hair and shaving his beard and mustache, but his disguise was badly done.” Maynard paused. “I gave an assumed name and showed a faked telegram from Burnham. I could see Von Eltz was doubtful how to act; he dared not turn me away for fear I might investigate his right to be in the house, and he did the only thing he could—invited me in and took me up to his quarters, saying Burnham had permitted him to occupy the house in his absence.”
“He did!” Mrs. Burnham’s indignant interruption caused Maynard to look at her. “Where was he living in this house?”
“In the housekeeper’s suite of rooms on the third floor,” explained Maynard, and Mrs. Ward cowered back under their glances. “One thing and then another led Shipman—that was the name Von Eltz gave me—to suggest a game of chess and I jumped at the opportunity. We played most of the night, but during his many frequent absences, I heard him at the telephone downstairs, presumably trying to reach you, Hayden,” and the physician clenched his fists in wrath.
“Pity you didn’t get the ’phone numbers he was calling,” remarked Chief Connor.
“I didn’t try to get the numbers; another and more imperative matter engaged my attention, in his absence,” answered Maynard. “Among Von Eltz’ papers I found a set of problem diagrams, and on examining them the preponderance of pieces to pawns struck my eyes, but this was explained momentarily by the reflection that the composer had probably assigned himself a definite task which involved a certain specified number of men. When Von Eltz next absented himself from the room, I went over the problem diagrams again.” Maynard paused, and Burnham edged nearer, his eyes shining with excitement.
White to Play and Mate in Three Moves.
“One position had a white pawn on rook’s eighth, another a white pawn on the king’s square,” continued Maynard.
“One I would have passed as a misprint, a hasty setting down of the wrong man, but hardly two such errors in six diagrams, and I concluded, weighing the presence of Von Eltz under an assumed name in the house, that I had stumbled on a very serious message coded in the innocent disguise of chess problems.”
