R. Holmes Co.

R. Holmes & Co., by John
Kendrick Bangs

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Title: R. Holmes & Co.
Author: John Kendrick Bangs
Release Date: February 11, 2007 [EBook #20559]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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HOLMES & CO. ***

Produced by Douglas Ethington

R. HOLMES & CO.
Being the Remarkable Adventures of Raffles Holmes, Esq., Detective
and Amateur Cracksman by Birth

by John Kendrick Bangs
Contents I. INTRODUCING MR. RAFFLES HOLMES II. THE
ADVENTURE OF THE DORRINGTON RUBY SEAL III. THE
ADVENTURE OF MRS. BURLINGAME'S DIAMOND
STOMACHER IV. THE ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING
PENDANTS V. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BRASS CHECK VI.
THE ADVENTURE OF THE HIRED BURGLAR VII. THE
REDEMPTION OF YOUNG BILLINGTON RAND VIII. "THE
NOSTALGIA OF NERVY JIM THE SNATCHER" IX. THE
ADVENTURE OF ROOM 407 X. THE MAJOR-GENERAL'S
PEPPERPOTS

R. HOLMES & CO.

I INTRODUCING MR. RAFFLES HOLMES
It was a blistering night in August. All day long the mercury in the
thermometer had been flirting with the figures at the top of the tube,
and the promised shower at night which a mendacious Weather Bureau
had been prophesying as a slight mitigation of our sufferings was
conspicuous wholly by its absence. I had but one comfort in the
sweltering hours of the day, afternoon and evening, and that was that
my family were away in the mountains, and there was no law against
my sitting around all day clad only in my pajamas, and otherwise
concealed from possibly intruding eyes by the wreaths of smoke that I
extracted from the nineteen or twenty cigars which, when there is no
protesting eye to suggest otherwise, form my daily allowance. I had
tried every method known to the resourceful flat-dweller of modern
times to get cool and to stay so, but alas, it was impossible. Even the
radiators, which all winter long had never once given forth a spark of
heat, now hissed to the touch of my moistened finger. Enough cooling
drinks to float an ocean greyhound had passed into my inner man, with
no other result than to make me perspire more profusely than ever, and
in so far as sensations went, to make me feel hotter than before. Finally,

as a last resource, along about midnight, its gridiron floor having had a
chance to lose some of its stored-up warmth, I climbed out upon the
fire-escape at the rear of the Richmere, hitched my hammock from one
of the railings thereof to the leader running from the roof to the area,
and swung myself therein some eighty feet above the concealed
pavement of our backyard--so called, perhaps, because of its
dimensions which were just about that square. It was a little
improvement, though nothing to brag of. What fitful zephyrs there
might be, caused no doubt by the rapid passage to and fro on the roof
above and fence-tops below of vagrant felines on Cupid's contentious
battles bent, to the disturbance of the still air, soughed softly through
the meshes of my hammock and gave some measure of relief, grateful
enough for which I ceased the perfervid language I had been using
practically since sunrise, and dozed off. And then there entered upon
the scene that marvelous man, Raffles Holmes, of whose exploits it is
the purpose of these papers to tell.
I had dozed perhaps for a full hour when the first strange sounds grated
upon my ear. Somebody had opened a window in the kitchen of the
first-floor apartment below, and with a dark lantern was inspecting the
iron platform of the fire-escape without. A moment later this somebody
crawled out of the window, and with movements that in themselves
were a sufficient indication of the questionable character of his
proceedings, made for the ladder leading to the floor above, upon
which many a time and oft had I too climbed to home and safety when
an inconsiderate janitor had locked me out. Every step that he took was
stealthy--that much I could see by the dim starlight. His lantern he had
turned dark again, evidently lest he should attract attention in the
apartments below as he passed their windows in his upward flight.
"Ha! ha!" thought I to myself. "It's never too hot for Mr. Sneak to get in
his fine work. I wonder whose stuff he is after?"
Turning over flat on my stomach so that I might the more readily
observe the man's movements, and breathing