A Thief in the Night | Page 6

she may be."
We had reached the Albany, and halted with one accord at the
Piccadilly portico, red cigar to red cigar.
"You wouldn't like to go and see if the answer's in your rooms?" he

asked.
"No. What's the good? Where's the point in giving her up if I'm going
to straighten out when it's too late? It is too late, I have given her up,
and I am coming with you!"
The hand that bowled the most puzzling ball in England (once it found
its length) descended on my shoulder with surprising promptitude.
"Very well, Bunny! That's finished; but your blood be on your own
pate if evil comes of it. Meanwhile we can't do better than turn in here
till you have finished your cigar as it deserves, and topped up with such
a cup of tea as you must learn to like if you hope to get on in your new
profession. And when the hours are small enough, Bunny, my boy, I
don't mind admitting I shall be very glad to have you with me."
I have a vivid memory of the interim in his rooms. I think it must have
been the first and last of its kind that I was called upon to sustain with
so much knowledge of what lay before me. I passed the time with one
restless eye upon the clock, and the other on the Tantalus which Raffles
ruthlessly declined to unlock. He admitted that it was like waiting with
one's pads on; and in my slender experience of the game of which he
was a world's master, that was an ordeal not to be endured without a
general quaking of the inner man. I was, on the other hand, all right
when I got to the metaphorical wicket; and half the surprises that
Raffles sprung on me were doubtless due to his early recognition of the
fact.
On this occasion I fell swiftly and hopelessly out of love with the
prospect I had so gratuitously embraced. It was not only my
repugnance to enter that house in that way, which grew upon my better
judgment as the artificial enthusiasm of the evening evaporated from
my veins. Strong as that repugnance became, I had an even stronger
feeling that we were embarking on an important enterprise far too much
upon the spur of the moment. The latter qualm I had the temerity to
confess to Raffles; nor have I often loved him more than when he freely
admitted it to be the most natural feeling in the world. He assured me,
however, that he had had my Lady Lochmaben and her jewels in his
mind for several months; he had sat behind them at first nights; and
long ago determined what to take or to reject; in fine, he had only been
waiting for those topographical details which it had been my chance
privilege to supply. I now learned that he had numerous houses in a

similar state upon his list; something or other was wanting in each case
in order to complete his plans. In that of the Bond Street jeweller it was
a trusty accomplice; in the present instance, a more intimate knowledge
of the house. And lastly, this was a Wednesday night, when the tired
legislator gets early to his bed.
How I wish I could make the whole world see and hear him, and smell
the smoke of his beloved Sullivan, as he took me into these, the secrets
of his infamous trade! Neither look nor language would betray the
infamy. As a mere talker, I shall never listen to the like of Raffles on
this side of the sod; and his talk was seldom garnished by an oath,
never in my remembrance by the unclean word. Then he looked like a
man who had dressed to dine out, not like one who had long since
dined; for his curly hair, though longer that another's, was never untidy
in its length; and these were the days when it was still as black as ink.
Nor were there many lines as yet upon the smooth and mobile face; and
its frame was still that dear den of disorder and good taste, with the
carved book-case, the dresser and chests of still older oak, and the
Wattses and Rossettis hung anyhow on the walls.
It must have been one o'clock before we drove in a hansom as far as
Kensington Church, instead of getting down at the gates of our private
road to ruin. Constitutionally shy of the direct approach, Raffles was
further deterred by a ball in full swing at the Empress Rooms, whence
potential witnesses were pouring between dances into the cool deserted
street. Instead he led me a little way up Church Street, and so through