"What of it?"
"Could you give me the four-move solution?"
"Oh, that." Ardmore laughed heartily. "You'll believe anything, won't you? I had no solution; I was simply bluffing."
It was clear for an instant that something at last had cracked the Prince's cold self-control.
He never came to trial. They found him the next morning, his head collapsed across the chess-board he had asked for.