TO CATCH A THIEF
I
Society persons are not likely to have forgotten the series ofaudacious robberies by which so many of themselves suffered in turnduring the brief course of a recent season. Raid after raid was madeupon the smartest houses in town, and within a few weeks more than oneexalted head had been shorn of its priceless tiara. The Duke andDuchess of Dorchester lost half the portable pieces of their historicplate on the very night of their Graces' almost equally historiccostume ball. The Kenworthy diamonds were taken in broad daylight,during the excitement of a charitable meeting on the ground floor, andthe gifts of her belted bridegroom to Lady May Paulton while the outerair was thick with a prismatic shower of confetti. It was obvious thatall this was the work of no ordinary thief, and perhaps inevitable thatthe name of Raffles should have been dragged from oblivion by callousdisrespecters of the departed and unreasoning apologists for thepolice. These wiseacres did not hesitate to bring a dead man back tolife because they knew of no living one capable of such feats; it istheir heedless and inconsequent calumnies that the present paper ispartly intended to refute. As a matter of fact, our joint innocence inthis matter was only exceeded by our common envy, and for a long time,like the rest of the world, neither of us had the slightest clew to theidentity of the person who was following in our steps with suchirritating results.
"I should mind less," said Raffles, "if the fellow were really playingmy game. But abuse of hospitality was never one of my strokes, and itseems to me the only shot he's got. When we took old Lady Melrose'snecklace, Bunny, we were not staying with the Melroses, if yourecollect."
We were discussing the robberies for the hundredth time, but for onceunder conditions more favorable to animated conversation than ourunique circumstances permitted in the flat. We did not often dine out.Dr. Theobald was one impediment, the risk of recognition was another.But there were exceptions, when the doctor was away or the patientdefiant, and on these rare occasions we frequented a certainunpretentious restaurant in the Fulham quarter, where the cooking wasplain but excellent, and the cellar a surprise. Our bottle of '89champagne was empty to the label when the subject arose, to be touchedby Raffles in the reminiscent manner indicated above. I can see hisclear eye upon me now, reading me, weighing me. But I was not sosensitive to his scrutiny at the time. His tone was deliberate,calculating, preparatory; not as I heard it then, through a head fullof wine, but as it floats back to me across the gulf between thatmoment and this.
"Excellent fillet!" said I, grossly. "So you think this chap is asmuch in society as we were, do you?"
I preferred not to think so myself. We had cause enough for jealousywithout that. But Raffles raised his eyebrows an eloquent half-inch.
"As much, my dear Bunny? He is not only in it, but of it; there's nocomparison between us there. Society is in rings like a target, and wenever were in the bull's-eye, however thick you may lay on the ink! Iwas asked for my cricket. I haven't forgotten it yet. But thisfellow's one of themselves, with the right of entre into the houseswhich we could only 'enter' in a professional sense. That's obviousunless all these little exploits are the work of different hands, whichthey as obviously are not. And it's why I'd give five hundred poundsto put salt on him to-night!"
"Not you," said I, as I drained my glass in festive incredulity.
"But I would, my dear Bunny. Waiter! another half-bottle of this," andRaffles leant across the table as the empty one was taken away. "Inever was more serious in my life," he continued below his breath."Whatever else our successor may be, he's not a dead man like me, or amarked man like you. If there's any truth in my theory he's one of thelast people upon whom suspicion is ever likely to rest; and oh, Bunny,what a partner he would make for you and me!"
Under less genial influences the very idea of a third partner wouldhave filled my soul with offence; but Raffles had chosen his momentunerringly, and his arguments lost nothing by the flowing accompanimentof the extra pint. They were, however, quite strong in themselves.The gist of them was that thus far we had remarkably little to show forwhat Raffles would call "our second innings." This even I could notdeny. We had scored a few "long singles," but our "best shots" hadgone "straight to hand," and we were "playing a deuced slow game."Therefore we needed a new partner--and the metaphor failed Raffles.
It had served its turn. I already agreed with him. In truth I wastired of my false position as hireling attendant, and had long fanciedmyself an object of suspicion to that other impostor the doctor. Afresh, untrammelled start was a fascinating idea to me, though two wascompany, and three in our case might be worse than none. But I did notsee how we could hope, with our respective handicaps, to solve aproblem which was already the despair of Scotland Yard.
"Suppose I have solved it," observed Raffles, cracking a walnut in hispalm.
"How could you?" I asked, without believing for an instant that he had.
"I have been taking the Morning Post for some time now."
"Well?"
"You have got me a good many odd numbers of the less base societypapers."
"I can't for the life of me see what you're driving at."
Raffles smiled indulgently as he cracked another nut.
"That's because you've neither observation nor imagination, Bunny--andyet you try to write! Well, you wouldn't think it, but I have a fairlycomplete list of the people who were at the various functions undercover of which these different little coups were brought off."
I said very stolidly that I did not see how that could help him. It wasthe only answer to his good-humored but self-satisfied contempt; ithappened also to be true.
"Think," said Raffles, in a patient voice.
"When thieves break in and steal," said I, "upstairs, I don't see muchpoint in discovering who was downstairs at the time."
"Quite," said Raffles--"when they do break in."
"But that's what they have done in all these cases. An upstairs doorfound screwed up, when things were at their height below; thief goneand jewels with him before alarm could be raised. Why, the trick's soold that I never knew you condescend to play it."
"Not so old as it looks," said Raffles, choosing the cigars and handingme mine. "Cognac or Benedictine, Bunny?"
"Brandy," I said, coarsely.
"Besides," he went on, "the rooms were not screwed up; at DorchesterHouse, at any rate, the door was only locked, and the key missing, sothat it might have been done on either side."
"But that was where he left his rope-ladder behind him!" I exclaimed intriumph; but Raffles only shook his head.
"I don't believe in that rope-ladder, Bunny, except as a blind."
"Then what on earth do you believe?"
"That every one of these so-called burglaries has been done from theinside, by one of the guests; and what's more I'm very much mistaken ifI haven't spotted the right sportsman."
I began to believe that he really had, there was such a wicked gravityin the eyes that twinkled faintly into mine. I raised my glass inconvivial congratulation, and still remember the somewhat anxious eyewith which Raffles saw it emptied.
"I can only find one likely name," he continued, "that figures in allthese lists, and it is anything but a likely one at first sight. LordErnest Belville was at all those functions. Know anything about him,Bunny?"
"Not the Rational Drink fanatic?"
"Yes."
"That's all I want to know."
"Quite," said Raffles; "and yet what could be more promising? A manwhose views are so broad and moderate, and so widely held already(saving your presence, Bunny), does not bore the world with themwithout ulterior motives. So far so good. What are this chap'smotives? Does he want to advertise himself? No, he's somebodyalready. But is he rich? On the contrary, he's as poor as a rat forhis position, and apparently without the least ambition to be anythingelse; certainly he won't enrich himself by making a public fad of whatall sensible people are agreed upon as it is. Then suddenly one
getsone's own old idea--the alternative profession! My cricket--hisRational Drink! But it is no use jumping to conclusions. I must knowmore than the newspapers can tell me. Our aristocratic friend isforty, and unmarried. What has he been doing all these years? How thedevil was I to find out?"
"How did you?" I asked, declining to spoil my digestion with aconundrum, as it was his evident intention that I should.
"Interviewed him!" said Raffles, smiling slowly on my amazement.
"You--interviewed him?" I echoed. "When--and where?"
"Last Thursday night, when, if you remember, we kept early hours,because I felt done. What was the use of telling you what I had up mysleeve, Bunny? It might have ended in fizzle, as it still may. ButLord Ernest Belville was addressing the meeting at Exeter Hall; Iwaited for him when the show was over, dogged him home to King John'sMansions, and interviewed him in his own rooms there before he turnedin."
My journalistic jealousy was piqued to the quick. Affecting ascepticism I did not feel (for no outrage was beyond the pale of hisimpudence), I inquired dryly which journal Raffles had pretended torepresent. It is unnecessary to report his answer. I could not believehim without further explanation.
"I should have thought," he said, "that even you would have spotted apractice I never omit upon certain occasions. I always pay a visit tothe drawing-room, and fill my waistcoat pocket from the card-tray. Itis an immense help in any little temporary impersonation. On Thursdaynight I sent up the card of a powerful writer connected with a powerfulpaper; if Lord Ernest had known him in the flesh I should have beenobliged to confess to a journalistic ruse; luckily he didn't--and I hadbeen sent by my editor to get the interview for next morning. Whatcould be better--for the alternative profession?"
I inquired what the interview had brought forth.
"Everything," said Raffles. "Lord Ernest has been a wanderer thesetwenty years. Texas, Fiji, Australia. I suspect him of wives andfamilies in all three. But his manners are a liberal education. Hegave me some beautiful whiskey, and forgot all about his fad. He isstrong and subtle, but I talked him off his guard. He is going to theKirkleathams' to-night--I saw the card stuck up. I stuck some wax intohis keyhole as he was switching off the lights."
And, with an eye upon the waiters, Raffles showed me a skeleton key,newly twisted and filed; but my share of the extra pint (I am afraidno fair share) had made me dense. I looked from the key to Raffleswith puckered forehead--for I happened to catch sight of it in themirror behind him.
"The Dowager Lady Kirkleatham," he whispered, "has diamonds as big asbeans, and likes to have 'em all on--and goes to bed early--and happensto be in town!"
And now I saw.
"The villain means to get them from her!"
"And I mean to get them from the villain," said Raffles; "or, rather,your share and mine."
"Will he consent to a partnership?"
"We shall have him at our mercy. He daren't refuse."
Raffles's plan was to gain access to Lord Ernest's rooms beforemidnight; there we were to lie in wait for the aristocratic rascal, andif I left all details to Raffles, and simply stood by in case of arumpus, I should be playing my part and earning my share. It was apart that I had played before, not always with a good grace, thoughthere had never been any question about the share. But to-night I wasnothing loath. I had had just champagne enough--how Raffles knew mymeasure!--and I was ready and eager for anything. Indeed, I did notwish to wait for the coffee, which was to be especially strong byorder of Raffles. But on that he insisted, and it was between ten andeleven when at last we were in our cab.
"It would be fatal to be too early," he said as we drove; "on the otherhand, it would be dangerous to leave it too late. One must risksomething. How I should love to drive down Piccadilly and see thelights! But unnecessary risks are another story."
II
King John's Mansions, as everybody knows, are the oldest, the ugliest,and the tallest block of flats in all London. But they are builtupon a more generous scale than has since become the rule, and with aless studious regard for the economy of space. We were about to driveinto the spacious courtyard when the gate-keeper checked us in order tolet another hansom drive out.
It contained a middle-aged man of the military type, like ourselves inevening dress. That much I saw as his hansom crossed our bows,because I could not help seeing it, but I should not have given theincident a second thought if it had not been for his extraordinaryeffect upon Raffles. In an instant he was out upon the curb, payingthe cabby, and in another he was leading me across the street, awayfrom the mansions.
"Where on earth are you going?" I naturally exclaimed.
"Into the park," said he. "We are too early."
His voice told me more than his words. It was strangely stern.
"Was that him--in the hansom?"
"It was."
"Well, then, the coast's clear," said I, comfortably. I was forturning back then and there, but Raffles forced me on with a hand thathardened on my arm.
"It was a nearer thing than I care about," said he. "This seat willdo; no, the next one's further from a lamp-post. We will give him agood half-hour, and I don't want to talk."
We had been seated some minutes when Big Ben sent a languid chime overour heads to the stars. It was half-past ten, and a sultry night.Eleven had struck before Raffles awoke from his sullen reverie, andrecalled me from mine with a slap on the back. In a couple of minuteswe were in the lighted vestibule at the inner end of the courtyard ofKing John's Mansions.
"Just left Lord Ernest at Lady Kirkleatham's," said Raffles. "Gave mehis key and asked us to wait for him in his rooms. Will you send us upin the lift?"
In a small way, I never knew old Raffles do anything better. There wasnot an instant's demur. Lord Ernest Belville's rooms were at the topof the building, but we were in them as quickly as lift could carry andpage-boy conduct us. And there was no need for the skeleton key afterall; the boy opened the outer door with one of his own, and switched onthe lights before leaving us.
"Now that's interesting," said Raffles, as soon as we were alone; "theycan come in and clean when he is out. What if he keeps his swag at thebank? By Jove, that's an idea for him! I don't believe he's gettingrid of it; it's all lying low somewhere, if I'm not mistaken, and he'snot a fool."
While he spoke he was moving about the sitting-room, which wascharmingly furnished in the antique style, and making as many remarksas though he were an auctioneer's clerk with an inventory to prepareand a day to do it in, instead of a cracksman who might be surprisedin his crib at any moment.
"Chippendale of sorts, eh, Bunny? Not genuine, of course; but wherecan you get genuine Chippendale now, and who knows it when they seeit? There's no merit in mere antiquity. Yet the way people pose onthe subject! If a thing's handsome and useful, and goodcabinet-making, it's good enough for me."
"Hadn't we better explore the whole place?" I suggested nervously. Hehad not even bolted the outer door. Nor would he when I called hisattention to the omission.
"If Lord Ernest finds his rooms locked up he'll raise Cain," saidRaffles; "we must let him come in and lock up for himself before wecorner him. But he won't come yet; if he did it might be awkward, forthey'd tell him down below what I told them. A new staff comes on atmidnight. I discovered that the other night."
"Supposing he does come in before?"
"Well, he can't have us turned out without first seeing who we are, andhe won't try it on when I've had one word with him. Unless mysuspicions are unfounded, I mean."
"Isn't it about time to test them?"
"My good Bunny, what do you suppose I've been doing all this while? Hekeeps nothing in here. There isn't a lock to the Chippendale that youcouldn't pick with a penknife, and not a loose board in the floor, forI was treading for one before the boy left us. Chimney's no use in aplace like this where they keep them swept for you. Yes, I'm quiteready to try his bedroom."
There was but a bathroom besides; no kitchen, no servant's room;neither are necessary in King John's Mansions. I thought it as well toput my head inside the bathroom while Raffles went into the bedroom,for I was tormented by the horrible idea that the man might all thistime be concealed somewhere in the flat. But the bathroom blazed voidin the electric light. I found Raffles hanging out of the starrysquare which was the bedroom window, for the room was still indarkness. I felt for the switch at the door.
"Put it out again!" said Raffles fiercely. He rose from the sill, drewblind and curtains carefully, then switched on the light himself. Itfell upon a face creased more in pity than in anger, and Raffles onlyshook his head as I hung mine.
"It's all right, old boy," said he; "but corridors have windows too,and servants have eyes; and you and I are supposed to be in the otherroom, not in this. But cheer up, Bunny! This is THE room; look at theextra bolt on the door; he's had that put on, and there's an ironladder to his window in case of fire! Way of escape ready against thehour of need; he's a better man than I thought him, Bunny, after all.But you may bet your bottom dollar that if there's any boodle in theflat it's in this room."
Yet the room was very lightly furnished; and nothing was locked. Welooked everywhere, but we looked in vain. The wardrobe was filled withhanging coats and trousers in a press, the drawers with the softestsilk and finest linen. It was a camp bedstead that would not haveunsettled an anchorite; there was no place for treasure there. Ilooked up the chimney, but Raffles told me not to be a fool, and askedif I ever listened to what he said. There was no question about histemper now. I never knew him in a worse.
"Then he has got it in the bank," he growled. "I'll swear I'm notmistaken in my man!"
I had the tact not to differ with him there. But I could not helpsuggesting that now was our time to remedy any mistake we might havemade. We were on the right side of midnight still.
"Then we stultify ourselves downstairs," said Raffles. "No, I'll beshot if I do! He may come in with the Kirkleatham diamonds! You dowhat you like, Bunny, but I don't budge."
"I certainly shan't leave you," I retorted, "to be knocked into themiddle of next week by a better man than yourself."
I had borrowed his own tone, and he did not like it. They never do. Ithought for a moment that Raffles was going to strike me--for the firstand last time in his life. He could if he liked. My blood was up. Iwas ready to send him to the devil. And I emphasized my offence bynodding and shrugging toward a pair of very large Indian clubs thatstood in the fender, on either side of the chimney up which I hadpresumed to glance.
In an instant Raffles had seized the clubs, and was whirling themabout his gray head in a mixture of childish pique and puerile bravadowhich I should have thought him altogether above.
And suddenly as I watched him his face changed, softened, lit up, andhe swung the clubs gently down upon the bed.
"They're not heavy enough for their size," said he rapidly; "and I'lltake my oath they're not the same weight!"
He shook one club after the other, with both hands, close to his ear;then he examined their butt-ends under the electric light. I saw whathe suspected now, and caught the contagion of his suppressedexcitement. Neither of us spoke. But Raffles had taken out theportable tool-box that he called a knife, and always carried, and as heopened the gimlet he handed me the club he held. Instinctively Itucked the small end under my arm, and presented the other to Raffles.
"Hold him tight," he whispered, smiling. "He's not only a better manthan I thought him, Bunny; he's hit upon a better dodge than ever Idid, of its kind. Only I should have weighted them evenly--to a hair."
He had screwed the gimlet into the circular butt, close to the edge,and now we were wrenching in opposite directions. For a moment or morenothing happened. Then all at once something gave, and Raffles sworean oath as soft as any prayer. And for the minute after that his handwent round and round with the gimlet, as though he were grinding apiano-organ, while the end wormed slowly out on its delicate thread offine hard wood.
The clubs were as hollow as drinking-horns, the pair of them, for wewent from one to the other without pausing to undo the padded packetsthat poured out upon the bed. These were deliciously heavy to thehand, yet thickly swathed in cotton-wool, so that some stuck together,retaining the shape of the cavity, as though they had been run out of amould. And when we did open them--but let Raffles speak.
He had deputed me to screw in the ends of the clubs, and to replace thelatter in the fender where we had found them. When I had done thecounterpane was glittering with diamonds where it was not shimmeringwith pearls.
"If this isn't that tiara that Lady May was married in," said Raffles,"and that disappeared out of the room she changed in, while it rainedconfetti on the steps, I'll present it to her instead of the one shelost.... It was stupid to keep these old gold spoons, valuable as theyare; they made the difference in the weight.... Here we have probablythe Kenworthy diamonds.... I don't know the history of thesepearls.... This looks like one family of rings--left on thebasin-stand, perhaps--alas, poor lady! And that's the lot."
Our eyes met across the bed.
"What's it all worth?" I asked, hoarsely.
"Impossible to say. But more than all we ever took in all our lives.That I'll swear to."
"More than all--"
My tongue swelled with the thought.
"But it'll take some turning into cash, old chap!"
"And--must it be a partnership?" I asked, finding a lugubrious voice atlength.
"Partnership be damned!" cried Raffles, heartily. "Let's get outquicker than we came in."
We pocketed the things between us, cotton-wool and all, not because wewanted the latter, but to remove all immediate traces of our reallymeritorious deed.
"The sinner won't dare to say a word when he does find out," remarkedRaffles of Lord Ernest; "but that's no reason why he should find outbefore he must. Everything's straight in here, I think; no, betterleave the window open as it was, and the blind up. Now out with thelight. One peep at the other room. That's all right, too. Out withthe passage light, Bunny, while I open--"
His words died away in a whisper. A key was fumbling at the lockoutside.
"Out with it--out with it!" whispered Raffles in an agony; and as Iobeyed he picked me off my feet and swung me bodily but silently intothe bedroom, just as the outer door opened, and a masterful step strodein.
The next five were horrible minutes. We heard the apostle of RationalDrink unlock one of the deep drawers in his antique sideboard, andsounds followed suspiciously like the splash of spirits and the steadystream from a siphon. Never before or since did I experience such athirst as assailed me at that moment, nor do I believe that manytropical explorers have known its equal. But I had Raffles with me,and his hand was as steady and as cool as the hand of a trained nurse.That I know because he turned up the collar of my overcoat for me, forsome reason, and buttoned it at the throat. I afterwards found that hehad done the same to his own, but I did not hear him doing it. The onething I heard in the bedroom was a tiny metallic click, muffled anddeadened in his overcoat pocket, and it not only removed my lasttremor, but strung me to a higher pitch of excitement than ever. Yet Ihad then no conception of the game that Raffles was deciding to play,and that I was to play with him in another minute.
It cannot have been longer before Lord Ernest came into his bedroom.Heavens, but my heart had not forgotten how to thump! We were standingnear the door, and I could swear he touched me; then his boots creaked,there was a rattle in the fender--and Raffles switched on the light.
Lord Ernest Belville crouched in its glare with one Indian club held bythe end, like a footman with a stolen bottle. A good-looking,well-built, iron-gray, iron-jawed man; but a fool and a weakling atthat moment, if he had never been either before.
"Lord Ernest Belville," said Raffles, "it's no use. This is a loadedrevolver, and if you force me I shall use it on you
as I would on anyother desperate criminal. I am here to arrest you for a series ofrobberies at the Duke of Dorchester's, Sir John Kenworthy's, and othernoblemen's and gentlemen's houses during the present season. You'dbetter drop what you've got in your hand. It's empty."
Lord Ernest lifted the club an inch or two, and with it hiseyebrows--and after it his stalwart frame as the club crashed back intothe fender. And as he stood at his full height, a courteous but ironicsmile under the cropped moustache, he looked what he was, criminal ornot.
"Scotland Yard?" said he.
"That's our affair, my lord."
"I didn't think they'd got it in them," said Lord Ernest. "Now Irecognize you. You're my interviewer. No, I didn't think any of youfellows had got all that in you. Come into the other room, and I'llshow you something else. Oh, keep me covered by all means. But lookat this!"
On the antique sideboard, their size doubled by reflection in thepolished mahogany, lay a coruscating cluster of precious stones, thatfell in festoons about Lord Ernest's fingers as he handed them toRaffles with scarcely a shrug.
"The Kirkleatham diamonds," said he. "Better add 'em to the bag."
Raffles did so without a smile; with his overcoat buttoned up to thechin, his tall hat pressed down to his eyes, and between the two hisincisive features and his keen, stern glance, he looked the idealdetective of fiction and the stage. What _I_ looked God knows, but Idid my best to glower and show my teeth at his side. I had thrownmyself into the game, and it was obviously a winning one.
"Wouldn't take a share, I suppose?" Lord Ernest said casually.
Raffles did not condescend to reply. I rolled back my lips like abull-pup.
"Then a drink, at least!"
My mouth watered, but Raffles shook his head impatiently.
"We must be going, my lord, and you will have to come with us."
I wondered what in the world we should do with him when we had got him.
"Give me time to put some things together? Pair of pyjamas andtooth-brush, don't you know?"
"I cannot give you many minutes, my lord, but I don't want to cause adisturbance here, so I'll tell them to call a cab if you like. But Ishall be back in a minute, and you must be ready in five. Here,inspector, you'd better keep this while I am gone."
And I was left alone with that dangerous criminal! Raffles nipped myarm as he handed me the revolver, but I got small comfort out of that.
"'Sea-green Incorruptible?'" inquired Lord Ernest as we stood face toface.
"You don't corrupt me," I replied through naked teeth.
"Then come into my room. I'll lead the way. Think you can hit me if Imisbehave?"
I put the bed between us without a second's delay. My prisoner flung asuit-case upon it, and tossed things into it with a dejected air;suddenly, as he was fitting them in, without raising his head (which Iwas watching), his right hand closed over the barrel with which Icovered him.
"You'd better not shoot," he said, a knee upon his side of the bed; "ifyou do it may be as bad for you as it will be for me!"
I tried to wrest the revolver from him.
"I will if you force me," I hissed.
"You'd better not," he repeated, smiling; and now I saw that if I did Ishould only shoot into the bed or my own legs. His hand was on the topof mine, bending it down, and the revolver with it. The strength of itwas as the strength of ten of mine; and now both his knees were on thebed; and suddenly I saw his other hand, doubled into a fist, coming upslowly over the suit-case.
"Help!" I called feebly.
"Help, forsooth! I begin to believe YOU ARE from the Yard," hesaid--and his upper-cut came with the "Yard." It caught me under thechin.
It lifted me off my legs. I have a dim recollection of the crash thatI made in falling.
III
Raffles was standing over me when I recovered consciousness. I laystretched upon the bed across which that blackguard Belville had struckhis knavish blow. The suit-case was on the floor, but its dastardlyowner had disappeared.
"Is he gone?" was my first faint question.
"Thank God you're not, anyway!" replied Raffles, with what struck methen as mere flippancy. I managed to raise myself upon one elbow.
"I meant Lord Ernest Belville," said I, with dignity. "Are you quitesure that he's cleared out?"
Raffles waved a hand towards the window, which stood wide open to thesummer stars.
"Of course," said he, "and by the route I intended him to take; he'sgone by the iron-ladder, as I hoped he would. What on earth should wehave done with him? My poor, dear Bunny, I thought you'd take a bribe!But it's really more convincing as it is, and just as well for LordErnest to be convinced for the time being."
"Are you sure he is?" I questioned, as I found a rather shaky pair oflegs.
"Of course!" cried Raffles again, in the tone to make one blush for theleast misgiving on the point. "Not that it matters one bit," headded, airily, "for we have him either way; and when he does tumble toit, as he may any minute, he won't dare to open his mouth."
"Then the sooner we clear out the better," said I, but I looked askanceat the open window, for my head was spinning still.
"When you feel up to it," returned Raffles, "we shall STROLL out, and Ishall do myself the honor of ringing for the lift. The force of habitis too strong in you, Bunny. I shall shut the window and leaveeverything exactly as we found it. Lord Ernest will probably tumblebefore he is badly missed; and then he may come back to put salt on us;but I should like to know what he can do even if he succeeds! Come,Bunny, pull yourself together, and you'll be a different man whenyou're in the open air."
And for a while I felt one, such was my relief at getting out of thoseinfernal mansions with unfettered wrists; this we managed easilyenough; but once more Raffles's performance of a small part was no lessperfect than his more ambitious work upstairs, and something of thesuccessful artist's elation possessed him as we walked arm-in-armacross St. James's Park. It was long since I had known him so pleasedwith himself, and only too long since he had had such reason.
"I don't think I ever had a brighter idea in my life," he said; "neverthought of it till he was in the next room; never dreamt of its comingoff so ideally even then, and didn't much care, because we had him allways up. I'm only sorry you let him knock you out. I was waitingoutside the door all the time, and it made me sick to hear it. But Ionce broke my own head, Bunny, if you remember, and not in half suchan excellent cause!"
Raffles touched all his pockets in his turn, the pockets that containeda small fortune apiece, and he smiled in my face as we crossed thelighted avenues of the Mall. Next moment he was hailing a hansom--forI suppose I was still pretty pale--and not a word would he let mespeak until we had alighted as near as was prudent to the flat.
"What a brute I've been, Bunny!" he whispered then, "but you take halfthe swag, old boy, and right well you've earned it. No, we'll go in bythe wrong door and over the roof; it's too late for old Theobald to bestill at the play, and too early for him to be safely in his cups."
So we climbed the many stairs with cat-like stealth, and like catscrept out upon the grimy leads. But to-night they were no blacker thantheir canopy of sky; not a chimney-stack stood out against the starlessnight; one had to feel one's way in order to avoid tripping over thelow parapets of the L-shaped wells that ran from roof to basement tolight the inner rooms. One of these wells was spanned by a flimsybridge with iron handrails that felt warm to the touch as Raffles ledthe way across! A hotter and a closer night I have never known.
"The flat will be like an oven," I grumbled, at the head of our ownstaircase.
"Then we won't go down," said Raffles, promptly; "we'll slack it uphere for a bit instead. No, Bunny, you stay where you are! I'll fetchyou a drink and a deck-chair, and you shan't come down till you feelmore fit."
And I let him have his way, I will not say as usual, for I had evenless than my normal power of resistance that night. That vi
llainousupper-cut! My head still sang and throbbed, as I seated myself on oneof the aforesaid parapets, and buried it in my hot hands. Nor was thenight one to dispel a headache; there was distinct thunder in the air.Thus I sat in a heap, and brooded over my misadventure, a prettyfigure of a subordinate villain, until the step came for which Iwaited; and it never struck me that it came from the wrong direction.
"You have been quick," said I, simply.
"Yes," hissed a voice I recognized; "and you've got to be quickerstill! Here, out with your wrists; no, one at a time; and if you uttera syllable you're a dead man."
It was Lord Ernest Belville; his close-cropped, iron-gray moustachegleamed through the darkness, drawn up over his set teeth. In his handglittered a pair of handcuffs, and before I knew it one had snapped itsjaws about my right wrist.
"Now come this way," said Lord Ernest, showing me a revolver also, "andwait for your friend. And, recollect, a single syllable of warningwill be your death!"
With that the ruffian led me to the very bridge I had just crossed atRaffles's heels, and handcuffed me to the iron rail midway across thechasm. It no longer felt warm to my touch, but icy as the blood in allmy veins.
So this high-born hypocrite had beaten us at our game and his, andRaffles had met his match at last! That was the most intolerablethought, that Raffles should be down in the flat on my account, andthat I could not warn him of his impending fate; for how was itpossible without making such an outcry as should bring the mansionsabout our ears? And there I shivered on that wretched plank, chainedlike Andromeda to the rock, with a black infinity above and below; andbefore my eyes, now grown familiar with the peculiar darkness, stoodLord Ernest Belville, waiting for Raffles to emerge with full hands andunsuspecting heart! Taken so horribly unawares, even Raffles must fallan easy prey to a desperado in resource and courage scarcely second tohimself, but one whom he had fatally underrated from the beginning.Not that I paused to think how the thing had happened; my one concernwas for what was to happen next.
And what did happen was worse than my worst foreboding, for first alight came flickering into the sort of companion-hatch at the head ofthe stairs, and finally Raffles--in his shirt-sleeves! He was not onlycarrying a candle to put the finishing touch to him as a target; he haddispensed with coat and waistcoat downstairs, and was at oncefull-handed and unarmed.
"Where are you, old chap?" he cried, softly, himself blinded by thelight he carried; and he advanced a couple of steps towards Belville."This isn't you, is it?"
And Raffles stopped, his candle held on high, a folding chair under theother arm.
"No, I am not your friend," replied Lord Ernest, easily; "but kindlyremain standing exactly where you are, and don't lower that candle aninch, unless you want your brains blown into the street."
Raffles said never a word, but for a moment did as he was bid; and theunshaken flame of the candle was testimony alike to the stillness ofthe night and to the finest set of nerves in Europe.
Then, to my horror, he coolly stooped, placing candle and chair on theleads, and his hands in his pockets, as though it were but a popgunthat covered him.
"Why didn't you shoot?" he asked insolently as he rose. "Frightened ofthe noise? I should be, too, with an old-pattern machine like that.All very well for service in the field--but on the house-tops at deadof night!"
"I shall shoot, however," replied Lord Ernest, as quietly in his turn,and with less insolence, "and chance the noise, unless you instantlyrestore my property. I am glad you don't dispute the last word," hecontinued after a slight pause. "There is no keener honor than thatwhich subsists, or ought to subsist, among thieves; and I need hardlysay that I soon spotted you as one of the fraternity. Not in thebeginning, mind you! For the moment I did think you were one of thesesmart detectives jumped to life from some sixpenny magazine; but topreserve the illusion you ought to provide yourself with a worthierlieutenant. It was he who gave your show away," chuckled the wretch,dropping for a moment the affected style of speech which seemedintended to enhance our humiliation; "smart detectives don't go aboutwith little innocents to assist them. You needn't be anxious abouthim, by the way; it wasn't necessary to pitch him into the street; heis to be seen though not heard, if you look in the right direction.Nor must you put all the blame upon your friend; it was not he, butyou, who made so sure that I had got out by the window. You see, I wasin my bathroom all the time--with the door open."
"The bathroom, eh?" Raffles echoed with professional interest. "And youfollowed us on foot across the park?"
"Of course."
"And then in a cab?"
"And afterwards on foot once more."
"The simplest skeleton would let you in down below."
I saw the lower half of Lord Ernest's face grinning in the light of thecandle set between them on the ground.
"You follow every move," said he; "there can be no doubt you are one ofthe fraternity; and I shouldn't wonder if we had formed our style uponthe same model. Ever know A. J. Raffles?"
The abrupt question took my breath away; but Raffles himself did notlose an instant over his answer.
"Intimately," said he.
"That accounts for you, then," laughed Lord Ernest, "as it does for me,though I never had the honor of the master's acquaintance. Nor is itfor me to say which is the worthier disciple. Perhaps, however, nowthat your friend is handcuffed in mid-air, and you yourself are at mymercy, you will concede me some little temporary advantage?"
And his face split in another grin from the cropped moustache downward,as I saw no longer by candlelight but by a flash of lightning whichtore the sky in two before Raffles could reply.
"You have the bulge at present," admitted Raffles; "but you have stillto lay hands upon your, or our, ill-gotten goods. To shoot me is notnecessarily to do so; to bring either one of us to a violent end isonly to court a yet more violent and infinitely more disgraceful onefor yourself. Family considerations alone should rule that risk out ofyour game. Now, an hour or two ago, when the exact opposite--"
The remainder of Raffles's speech was drowned from my ears by thebelated crash of thunder which the lightning had foretold. So loud,however, was the crash when it came, that the storm was evidentlyapproaching us at a high velocity; yet as the last echo rumbled away, Iheard Raffles talking as though he had never stopped.
"You offered us a share," he was saying; "unless you mean to murder usboth in cold blood, it will be worth your while to repeat that offer.We should be dangerous enemies; you had far better make the best of usas friends."
"Lead the way down to your flat," said Lord Ernest, with a flourish ofhis service revolver, "and perhaps we may talk about it. It is for meto make the terms, I imagine, and in the first place I am not going toget wet to the skin up here."
The rain was beginning in great drops, even as he spoke, and by asecond flash of lightning I saw Raffles pointing to me.
"But what about my friend?" said he.
And then came the second peal.
"Oh, HE'S all right," the great brute replied; "do him good! You don'tcatch me letting myself in for two to one!"
"You will find it equally difficult," rejoined Raffles, "to induce meto leave my friend to the mercy of a night like this. He has notrecovered from the blow you struck him in your own rooms. I am notsuch a fool as to blame you for that, but you are a worse sportsmanthan I take you for if you think of leaving him where he is. If hestays, however, so do I."
And, just as it ceased, Raffles's voice seemed distinctly nearer to me;but in the darkness and the rain, which was now as heavy as hail, Icould see nothing clearly. The rain had already extinguished thecandle. I heard an oath from Belville, a laugh from Raffles, and for asecond that was all. Raffles was coming to me, and the other could noteven see to fire; that was all I knew in the pitchy interval ofinvisible rain before the next crash and the next flash.
And then!
This time they came together, and not till my dying hou
r shall I forgetthe sight that the lightning lit and the thunder applauded. Raffleswas on one of the parapets of the gulf that my foot-bridge spanned, andin the sudden illumination he stepped across it as one might across agarden path. The width was scarcely greater, but the depth! In thesudden flare I saw to the concrete bottom of the well, and it looked nolarger than the hollow of my hand. Raffles was laughing in my ear; hehad the iron railing fast; it was between us, but his foothold was assecure as mine. Lord Ernest Belville, on the contrary, was the fifthof a second late for the light, and half a foot short in his spring.Something struck our plank bridge so hard as to set it quivering like aharp-string; there was half a gasp and half a sob in mid-air beneathour feet; and then a sound far below that I prefer not to describe. Iam not sure that I could hit upon the perfect simile; it is more thanenough for me that I can hear it still. And with that sickening soundcame the loudest clap of thunder yet, and a great white glare thatshowed us our enemy's body far below, with one white hand spread like astarfish, but the head of him mercifully twisted underneath.
"It was all his own fault, Bunny. Poor devil! May he and all of us beforgiven; but pull yourself together for your own sake. Well, you can'tfall; stay where you are a minute."
I remember the uproar of the elements while Raffles was gone; no othersound mingled with it; not the opening of a single window, not theuplifting of a single voice. Then came Raffles with soap and water,and the gyve was wheedled from one wrist, as you withdraw a ring forwhich the finger has grown too large. Of the rest, I only remembershivering till morning in a pitch-dark flat, whose invalid occupier wasfor once the nurse, and I his patient.
And that is the true ending of the episode in which we two setourselves to catch one of our own kidney, albeit in another place Ihave shirked the whole truth. It is not a grateful task to showRaffles as completely at fault as he really was on that occasion; nordo I derive any subtle satisfaction from recounting my own twofoldhumiliation, or from having assisted never so indirectly in the deathof a not uncongenial sinner. The truth, however, has after all a meritof its own, and the great kinsfolk of poor Lord Ernest have but littleto lose by its divulgence. It would seem that they knew more of thereal character of the apostle of Rational Drink than was known atExeter Hall. The tragedy was indeed hushed up, as tragedies only arewhen they occur in such circles. But the rumor that did get abroad, asto the class of enterprise which the poor scamp was pursuing when hemet his death, cannot be too soon exploded, since it breathed upon thefair fame of some of the most respectable flats in Kensington.
Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman Page 5