Checkmate (Sydney Horler)
Encyclopedia
Checkmate is one of the many popular novels written by Englishman
Sydney Horler
in the first half of the 20th century. Forgotten today, the book describes the exciting lifestyle of the wealthy social elite. Checkmate adds an element of crime
and adventure
to that atmosphere, but the countless coincidence
s throughout the plot guarantee a thoroughly predictable happy ending
, complete with a double wedding.
in a scheme to rid an English aristocrat of her family jewels.
. She answers the ad
of a Comtesse Zamoyski, who is looking for a companion with whom to travel to the Côte d'Azur, and, after an interview, she is accepted for the post. As Mary sees it, her new job combines at least two advantages: seeing the world and proving, to herself as well as her friends, that she is an independent woman. Mary's blinkered view lets her ignore all the warning signs that are pointed out to her. Jessie Stevens, her old schoolmate, even suspects that "White Slavery
" could be behind that ad, but Mary does not listen and leaves London with her new employer.
Through a series of coincidences a number of people are alerted to the dangers that might be in store for Mary. Apart from Jessie Stevens, it is Dick Delabrae, a society columnist
for The Sun
, and his friend Robert Wingate, who happens to be the nephew of Lady Wentworth, whose pearl
s the gang wants to steal. They all come to Cannes
, where the Comtesse Zamoyski and Mary Mallory are staying in a remote villa
, in order to help the young woman and prevent the theft of the pearls.
The Comtesse turns out to be rather moody, but at first Mary has no idea that she is associating with criminals. Her first visit to the Casino
is a huge success: Not only does she win more than ₤1,500 at baccarat
but she also makes the acquaintance of Lady Wentworth, who immediately takes a liking to the charming girl. Later that night, however, back at the villa, she overhears a conversation between the Comtesse, José Santes, allegedly the Comtesse's nephew, and a young Russian called Nadja, allegedly her maid
, which makes it unmistakably clear to her that she is staying under the same roof with criminals.
However, escape is now no longer possible. Before she can get away from the villa, Mary Mallory is captured, drugged and hypnotized
by the fourth member of the gang, a Frenchman
posing as a doctor. On his way to the villa to rescue Mary, Robert Wingate, who has fallen in love with Mary, is kidnapped
by Santes's men and thrown into catacombs somewhere below the streets of Cannes. Lady Wentworth is lured to the Comtesse's villa with the prospect of seeing Mary again but after her arrival she is tied to a chair and, in a drug-induced frenzy, stabbed to death by José Santes, a "dope fiend". As she is not wearing her pearls, the gang flee without any loot. When Mary Mallory wakes from her stupor some time later it is only to encounter the French police
accusing her of murdering Lady Wentworth, whose body she discovers in the same room where she was lying unconscious.
But Robert Wingate can escape from the dungeon, and all misunderstandings are cleared up in the end. The members of the gang are arrest
ed near the Italian border, and the two couples — Dick and Jessie on the one hand, Robert and Mary on the other — return to England to get married.
" motif —, romantic, sexy, with characters larger than life, with lots of complications during the plot but a clear-cut ending where good and virtuous
behavior is rewarded and evil
is punished.
Young women, it seems, are placed into three categories according to their knowledge of the world: Women like Nadja, who have seen and done it all, clearly belong to the "wrong 'un" type; the same would be true of the so-called Comtesse in her younger days ("a woman with a history […] and a past"). Girls such as Jessie Stevens, on the other hand, know what is going on and enjoy life to the full but never do anything illegal or immoral, which implies that they do not indulge in pre-marital sex or recreational drugs. Finally, there are young women like Mary Mallory, who is described as "absolutely a child, so far as the world is concerned" and so gullible she will believe almost anything she is told.
In a world full of double standards of morality
, men are conceded a greater amount of freedom. Robert Wingate, for example,
The people who have time and money enough to travel to the Côte d'Azur are seen in rather an unfavorable light. At one point in the novel Robert Wingate explains to Mary Mallory that, "apart from the millionaires, the courtesan
s, the crooks, and the gamblers", the majority of visitors to Cannes are "émigrés and hivernants — people who leave England in order to escape paying taxes, and who are able to make a better show financially than they would in their own country" (Chapter XII). However, honest members of the British upper
and upper middle class
es such as Delabrae and Jessie Stevens also mingle with that crowd.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Sydney Horler
Sydney Horler
Sydney Horler was a prolific British novelist specialising in thrillers. Born in Leytonstone, London and was educated at Redcliffe School and Colston School in Bristol....
in the first half of the 20th century. Forgotten today, the book describes the exciting lifestyle of the wealthy social elite. Checkmate adds an element of crime
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
and adventure
Adventure
An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...
to that atmosphere, but the countless coincidence
Coincidence
A coincidence is an event notable for its occurring in conjunction with other conditions, e.g. another event. As such, a coincidence occurs when something uncanny, accidental and unexpected happens under conditions named, but not under a defined relationship...
s throughout the plot guarantee a thoroughly predictable happy ending
Happy ending
A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the protagonists, their sidekicks, and almost everyone except the villains....
, complete with a double wedding.
Plot introduction
The novel is about a gang of four international criminals who hire a young and naïve English girl as an innocent decoyDecoy
A decoy is usually a person, device or event meant as a distraction, to conceal what an individual or a group might be looking for. Decoys have been used for centuries most notably in game hunting, but also in wartime and in the committing or resolving of crimes.-Duck decoy:The term duck decoy may...
in a scheme to rid an English aristocrat of her family jewels.
Plot summary
The innocent girl is 24 year-old Mary Mallory, who has spent the last seven years in isolation caring for her invalid aunt. After the latter's death, Mary, now living in London, realizes that she has to earn her own money unless she wants to live in relative povertyPoverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
. She answers the ad
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
of a Comtesse Zamoyski, who is looking for a companion with whom to travel to the Côte d'Azur, and, after an interview, she is accepted for the post. As Mary sees it, her new job combines at least two advantages: seeing the world and proving, to herself as well as her friends, that she is an independent woman. Mary's blinkered view lets her ignore all the warning signs that are pointed out to her. Jessie Stevens, her old schoolmate, even suspects that "White Slavery
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
" could be behind that ad, but Mary does not listen and leaves London with her new employer.
Through a series of coincidences a number of people are alerted to the dangers that might be in store for Mary. Apart from Jessie Stevens, it is Dick Delabrae, a society columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
for The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
, and his friend Robert Wingate, who happens to be the nephew of Lady Wentworth, whose pearl
Pearl
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
s the gang wants to steal. They all come to Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, where the Comtesse Zamoyski and Mary Mallory are staying in a remote villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
, in order to help the young woman and prevent the theft of the pearls.
The Comtesse turns out to be rather moody, but at first Mary has no idea that she is associating with criminals. Her first visit to the Casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
is a huge success: Not only does she win more than ₤1,500 at baccarat
Baccarat
Baccarat is a card game, played at casinos and by gamblers. It is believed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the reign of King Charles VIII , and it is similar to Faro and Basset...
but she also makes the acquaintance of Lady Wentworth, who immediately takes a liking to the charming girl. Later that night, however, back at the villa, she overhears a conversation between the Comtesse, José Santes, allegedly the Comtesse's nephew, and a young Russian called Nadja, allegedly her maid
Maid
A maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...
, which makes it unmistakably clear to her that she is staying under the same roof with criminals.
However, escape is now no longer possible. Before she can get away from the villa, Mary Mallory is captured, drugged and hypnotized
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
by the fourth member of the gang, a Frenchman
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
posing as a doctor. On his way to the villa to rescue Mary, Robert Wingate, who has fallen in love with Mary, is kidnapped
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
by Santes's men and thrown into catacombs somewhere below the streets of Cannes. Lady Wentworth is lured to the Comtesse's villa with the prospect of seeing Mary again but after her arrival she is tied to a chair and, in a drug-induced frenzy, stabbed to death by José Santes, a "dope fiend". As she is not wearing her pearls, the gang flee without any loot. When Mary Mallory wakes from her stupor some time later it is only to encounter the French police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
accusing her of murdering Lady Wentworth, whose body she discovers in the same room where she was lying unconscious.
But Robert Wingate can escape from the dungeon, and all misunderstandings are cleared up in the end. The members of the gang are arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ed near the Italian border, and the two couples — Dick and Jessie on the one hand, Robert and Mary on the other — return to England to get married.
Major themes
In Checkmate it is described how railway passengers, before boarding their train, would grab the latest novel from the bookstall at Victoria Station in order to be able to indulge in some light reading during their journey. Checkmate itself would have been such a novel: sensational, thrilling — a variation of the old "damsel in distressDamsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
" motif —, romantic, sexy, with characters larger than life, with lots of complications during the plot but a clear-cut ending where good and virtuous
Virtue
Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....
behavior is rewarded and evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
is punished.
Young women, it seems, are placed into three categories according to their knowledge of the world: Women like Nadja, who have seen and done it all, clearly belong to the "wrong 'un" type; the same would be true of the so-called Comtesse in her younger days ("a woman with a history […] and a past"). Girls such as Jessie Stevens, on the other hand, know what is going on and enjoy life to the full but never do anything illegal or immoral, which implies that they do not indulge in pre-marital sex or recreational drugs. Finally, there are young women like Mary Mallory, who is described as "absolutely a child, so far as the world is concerned" and so gullible she will believe almost anything she is told.
In a world full of double standards of morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
, men are conceded a greater amount of freedom. Robert Wingate, for example,
The people who have time and money enough to travel to the Côte d'Azur are seen in rather an unfavorable light. At one point in the novel Robert Wingate explains to Mary Mallory that, "apart from the millionaires, the courtesan
Courtesan
A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
s, the crooks, and the gamblers", the majority of visitors to Cannes are "émigrés and hivernants — people who leave England in order to escape paying taxes, and who are able to make a better show financially than they would in their own country" (Chapter XII). However, honest members of the British upper
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
and upper middle class
Upper middle class
The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term "lower middle class", which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum, and to the broader term "middle...
es such as Delabrae and Jessie Stevens also mingle with that crowd.