Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman | Page 9

of value was gone from the one place which was
invisible from the little window in the door; elsewhere all was as it had
been left overnight. And but for a train of mangled doors behind the
iron curtain, a bottle of wine and a cigar-box with which liberties had
been taken, a rather black towel in the lavatory, a burnt match here and
there, and our finger-marks on the dusty banisters, not a trace of our
visit did we leave.
"Had it in my head for long?" said Raffles, as we strolled through the
streets towards dawn, for all the world as though we were returning
from a dance. "No, Bunny, I never thought of it till I saw that upper
part empty about a month ago, and bought a few things in the shop to
get the lie of the land. That reminds me that I never paid for them; but,
by Jove, I will to-morrow, and if that isn't poetic justice, what is? One
visit showed me the possibilities of the place, but a second convinced
me of its impossibilities without a pal. So I had practically given up the
idea, when you came along on the very night and in the very plight for
it! But here we are at the Albany, and I hope there's some fire left; for I
don't know how you feel, Bunny, but for my part I'm as cold as Keats's
owl."
He could think of Keats on his way from a felony! He could hanker for
his fireside like another! Floodgates were loosed within me, and the
plain English of our adventure rushed over me as cold as ice. Raffles
was a burglar. I had helped him to commit one burglary, therefore I was
a burglar, too. Yet I could stand and warm myself by his fire, and watch
him empty his pockets, as though we had done nothing wonderful or

wicked!
My blood froze. My heart sickened. My brain whirled. How I had liked
this villain! How I had admired him! Now my liking and admiration
must turn to loathing and disgust. I waited for the change. I longed to
feel it in my heart. But--I longed and I waited in vain!
I saw that he was emptying his pockets; the table sparkled with their
hoard. Rings by the dozen, diamonds by the score; bracelets, pendants,
aigrettes, necklaces, pearls, rubies, amethysts, sapphires; and diamonds
always, diamonds in everything, flashing bayonets of light, dazzling
me--blinding me--making me disbelieve because I could no longer
forget. Last of all came no gem, indeed, but my own revolver from an
inner pocket. And that struck a chord. I suppose I said something--my
hand flew out. I can see Raffles now, as he looked at me once more
with a high arch over each clear eye. I can see him pick out the
cartridges with his quiet, cynical smile, before he would give me my
pistol back again.
"You mayn't believe it, Bunny," said he, "but I never carried a loaded
one before. On the whole I think it gives one confidence. Yet it would
be very awkward if anything went wrong; one might use it, and that's
not the game at all, though I have often thought that the murderer who
has just done the trick must have great sensations before things get too
hot for him. Don't look so distressed, my dear chap. I've never had
those sensations, and I don't suppose I ever shall."
"But this much you have done before?" said I hoarsely.
"Before? My dear Bunny, you offend me! Did it look like a first
attempt? Of course I have done it before."
"Often?"
"Well--no! Not often enough to destroy the charm, at all events; never,
as a matter of fact, unless I'm cursedly hard up. Did you hear about the
Thimbleby diamonds? Well, that was the last time--and a poor lot of
paste they were. Then there was the little business of the Dormer

house-boat at Henley last year. That was mine also--such as it was. I've
never brought off a really big coup yet; when I do I shall chuck it up."
Yes, I remembered both cases very well. To think that he was their
author! It was incredible, outrageous, inconceivable. Then my eyes
would fall upon the table, twinkling and glittering in a hundred places,
and incredulity was at an end.
"How came you to begin?" I asked, as curiosity overcame mere wonder,
and a fascination for his career gradually wove itself into my
fascination for the man.
"Ah! that's a long story," said Raffles. "It was in the Colonies, when I
was out there playing cricket. It's too long a story to tell you now, but I
was in much the same fix that you were in