1 P-K4, P-K4; 2 Kt-KB3, Kt-QB3; 3 BKt5; Then there comes a question as to Black's best third move.
He has the choice of various defences.
It was White's third move that killed Gilmour Wilson, 3BKt5.
Only the third move - does that say nothing to you?"
I hadn't the least idea what he meant, and told him so.
"Suppose, Hastings, that while you were sitting in this chair, you heard the front door being opened and shut, what would you think?"
"I should think some one had gone out, I suppose."
"Yes - but there are always two ways of looking at things. Some one gone out - some one come in - two totally different things, Hastings.
But if you assumed the wrong one, presently some little discrepancy would creep in and show you that you were on the wrong track."
"What does all this mean. Poirot?"
Poirot sprang to his feet with sudden energy.
"It means that I have been a triple imbecile.
Quick, quick, to the flat in Westminster.
We may yet be in time."
We tore off in a taxi.
Poirot returned no answer to my excited questions.
We raced up the stairs. Repeated rings and knocks brought no reply, but listening closely I could distinguish a hollow groan coming from within.
The hall porter proved to have a master key, and after a few difficulties he consented to use it.
Poirot went straight to the inner room.
A whiff of chloroform met us.
On the floor was Sonia Daviloff, gagged and bound, with a great wad of saturated cotton wool over her nose and mouth.
Poirot tore it off and began to take measures to restore her.
Presently a doctor arrived, and Poirot handed her over to his charge and drew aside with me.
There was no sign of Dr. Savaronoff.
"What does it all mean?" I asked, bewildered.
"It means that before two equal deductions I chose the wrong one.
You heard me say that it would be easy for any one to impersonate Sonia Daviloff because her uncle had not seen her for so many years?"
"Yes?"
"Well, precisely the opposite held good also.
It was equally easy for any one to impersonate the uncle."
"What?"
"Savaronoff did die at the outbreak of the Revolution.
The man who pretended to have escaped with such terrible hardships, the man so changed 'that his own friends could hardly recognise him,' the man who successfully laid claim to an enormous fortune -"
"Yes. Who was he?"
"Number Four.
No wonder he was frightened when Sonia let him know she had overheard one of his private conversations about the 'Big Four.'
Again he has slipped through my fingers.
He guessed I should get on the right track in the end, so he sent off the honest Ivan on a tortuous wild goose chase, chloroformed the girl, and got out, having by now doubtless realised most of the securities left by Madame Gospoja."
"But - but who tried to kill him then?"
"Nobody tried to kill him.
Wilson was the intended victim all along."
"But why?"
"My friend, Savaronoff was the second greatest chess player in the world.
In all probability Number Four did not even known the rudiments of the game.
Certainly he could not sustain the fiction of a match.
He tried all he knew to avoid the contest.
When that failed, Wilson's doom was sealed.
At all costs he must be prevented from discovering that the great Savaronoff did not even know how to play chess.
Wilson was fond of the Ruy Lopez opening, and was certain to use it.
Number Four arranged for death to come with the third move, before any complications of defence set in."