The Doings of Raffles Haw

The Doings of Raffles Haw

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Title: The Doings Of Raffles Haw
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Release Date: June, 2005 [EBook #8394] [This file was first posted on

July 6, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
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DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW ***

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THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW
Arthur Conan Doyle

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
1.
A DOUBLE ENIGMA
2. THE TENANT OF THE NEW HALL.
3. A HOUSE OF WONDERS.
4. FROM CLIME TO CLIME.
5. LAURA'S REQUEST

6. A STRANGE VISITOR
7. THE WORKINGS OF WEALTH.
8. A BILLIONAIRE'S PLANS.
9. A NEW DEPARTURE
10. THE GREAT SECRET
11. A CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION.
12. A FAMILY JAR.
13. A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE
14. THE SPREAD OF THE BLIGHT.
15. THE GREATER SECRET.

CHAPTER I.
A DOUBLE ENIGMA.
"I'm afraid that he won't come," said Laura McIntyre, in a disconsolate
voice.
"Why not?"
"Oh, look at the weather; it is something too awful."
As she spoke a whirl of snow beat with a muffled patter against the
cosy red-curtained window, while a long blast of wind shrieked and
whistled through the branches of the great white-limbed elms which
skirted the garden.
Robert McIntyre rose from the sketch upon which he had been working,

and taking one of the lamps in his hand peered out into the darkness.
The long skeleton limbs of the bare trees tossed and quivered dimly
amid the whirling drift. His sister sat by the fire, her fancy-work in her
lap, and looked up at her brothers profile which showed against the
brilliant yellow light. It was a handsome face, young and fair and clear
cut, with wavy brown hair combed backwards and rippling down into
that outward curve at the ends which one associates with the artistic
temperament. There was refinement too in his slightly puckered eyes,
his dainty gold-rimmed _pince-nez_ glasses, and in the black velveteen
coat which caught the light so richly upon its shoulder. In his mouth
only there was something--a suspicion of coarseness, a possibility of
weakness--which in the eyes of some, and of his sister among them,
marred the grace and beauty of his features. Yet, as he was wont
himself to say, when one thinks that each poor mortal is heir to a legacy
of every evil trait or bodily taint of so vast a line of ancestors, lucky
indeed is the man who does not find that Nature has scored up some
long-owing family debt upon his features.
And indeed in this case the remorseless creditor had gone so far as to
exact a claim from the lady also, though in her case the extreme beauty
of the upper part of the face drew the eye away from any weakness
which might be found in the lower. She was darker than her brother--so
dark that her heavily coiled hair seemed to be black until the light
shone slantwise across it. The delicate, half-petulant features, the finely
traced brows, and the thoughtful, humorous eyes were all perfect in
their way, and yet the combination left something to be desired. There
was a vague sense of a flaw somewhere, in feature or in expression,
which resolved itself, when analysed, into a slight out-turning and
droop of the lower lip; small indeed, and yet pronounced enough to
turn what would have been a beautiful face into a merely pretty one.
Very despondent and somewhat cross she looked as she leaned back in
the armchair, the tangle of bright-coloured silks and of drab holland
upon her lap, her hands clasped behind her head, with her snowy
forearms and little pink elbows projecting on either side.
"I know he won't come," she repeated.

"Nonsense, Laura! Of course he'll come. A sailor and afraid of the
weather!"