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By Root 295 0

not half-a-dozen men in the world who could have played the games so far recorded. Now I have a theory. I am a good Christian, I believe, both by profession and practice, and I have hesitated long in my mind before I was compelled to believe in this theory of mine. It brings me to think evil of a man who has been my friend and were I not so certain, Dryden, I would never breathe it to a soul. You are the first to hear. Listen. Of course, I long ago gave up the supposition of a wonderful scientific discovery, or anything of that sort. Since then I have simply been trying to find out the man. I have compared the games played by Mr. Greet’s figure with those played by most at the greater living masters, and I have found in one case a striking similarity. Even then I should not have spoken had not coincidence aided me still further; had not, in fact, my friendship for the man I suspect enabled me to follow his movements and be privy of his disappearances. It is — and I am grieved that he should have lent himself to such a deception — Murray.”

Mr. Dryden gave a gasp of astonishment.

“Murray!” He said, “Philip Murray of the Queen’s Library, the bibliophile, the old white-haired gentleman who comes sometimes to the club and plays a game or two; I can hardly believe it, Druce.”

“It was hard for me to believe it myself,” said Mr. Druce, “and I have only told you half of what I know. In my mind the truth of the thing admits of no doubt. I will tell you more of my proofs.”

“But the man couldn’t have done it.” Broke in Mr. Dryden. “He couldn’t have beaten these men, he couldn’t have played the games. I’ve seen him playing in the club, he is no extraordinary player. No, Druce, find some one else for the spirit of the Automaton.”

“Don’t be so impatient, and don’t be led astray by the idea of Murray’s incapacity,” said Mr. Druce. “You don’t know him properly, neither you nor anyone else at the club; but I do. He cares nothing for notoriety. Chess is his recreation, not his business; but I can tell you, Dryden — and many hundreds of games have Murray and I played together — that he is the first master of the game in England. Enough for his ability. Listen to these facts. How long ago is it that the Automaton was first exhibited in Prague? Eight months exactly. At that time Murray disappeared from England and was absent for six months, precisely the length of time that Greet was taking his figure through the big cities of Europe. The fact alone of his disappearance may be only a coincidence, but look at this, my sister Lizzie’s husband is at the Embassy in Vienna. She saw Murray three times in the streets during the time that the Automaton was there. She mentioned the fact in a letter to me, because, she said, he seemed to avoid her in so strange a manner. Tom Rollit, writing from Antwerp, told me how be met Murray in a cafe, and how constrained he seemed. The day was the second day after Greet and his figure had begun their matches in that city. I didn’t pay much attention to this at the time, but after the Automaton had come to London, and I had repeatedly called on Murray to have a chat about the thing, and been as often told that he was away, I became suspicious. He is a man who has all his life been most reluctant to leave his home, and after the first time that in my study of the games I had noticed a resemblance between Murray’s play and that of the Automaton, my suspicion; became very strong. It was then that I remembered his several journeys to Europe just before his long absence. He has always professed an extra distaste for continental travel. I remember too, how I had met Edouard Roulain, the man who has had such an extraordinary success in Berlin as a prestidigitateur, in the hall of Murray’s house on the occasion of one of my visits. When I asked him about the man — for I should like to have met him — he changed the subject at once and somewhat rudely. Again — it is really wonderful how so much circumstantial evidence has come my way — he was in Manchester when the Automaton was there. I was calling, and I could not help