It was late in August; he never played first-class cricket after July, when, a scholastic7 understudy took his place in the Middlesex eleven. And in vain did I scour8 my Field and my Sportsman for the country-house matches with which he wilfully9 preferred to wind up the season; the matches were there, but never the magic name of A. J. Raffles. Nothing was known of him at the Albany; he had left no instructions about his letters, either there or at the club. I began to fear that some evil had overtaken him. I scanned the features of captured criminals in the illustrated11 Sunday papers; on each occasion I breathed again; nor was anything worthy12 of Raffles going on. I will not deny that I was less anxious on his account than on my own. But it was a double relief to me when he gave a first characteristic sign of life.
I had called at the Albany for the fiftieth time, and returned to Piccadilly in my usual despair, when a street sloucher sidled up to me in furtive13 fashion and inquired if my name was what it is.
"'Cause this 'ere's for you," he rejoined to my affirmative, and with that I felt a crumpled14 note in my palm.
It was from Raffles. I smoothed out the twisted scrap15 of paper, and on it were just a couple of lines in pencil:
"Meet me in Holland Walk at dark to-night. Walk up and down till I come. A. J. R."
That was all! Not another syllable16 after all these weeks, and the few words scribbled17 in a wild caricature of his scholarly and dainty hand! I was no longer to be alarmed by this sort of thing; it was all so like the Raffles I loved least; and to add to my indignation, when at length I looked up from the mysterious missive, the equally mysterious messenger had disappeared in a manner worthy of the whole affair. He was, however, the first creature I espied18 under the tattered19 trees of Holland Walk that evening.
"No, I haven't; and I want to know where you've seen him," I replied sternly. "Why did you run away like that the moment you had given me his note?"
"Orders, orders," was the reply. "I ain't such a juggins as to go agen a toff as makes it worf while to do as I'm bid an' 'old me tongue."
"And who may you be?" I asked jealously. "And what are you to Mr. Raffles?"
"You silly ass6, Bunny, don't tell all Kensington that I'm in town!" replied my tatterdemalion, shooting up and smoothing out into a merely shabby Raffles. "Here, take my arm—I'm not so beastly as I look. But neither am I in town, nor in England, nor yet on the face of the earth, for all that's known of me to a single soul but you."
"Then where are you," I asked, "between ourselves?"
"I've taken a house near here for the holidays, where I'm going in for a Rest Cure of my own description. Why? Oh, for lots of reasons, my dear Bunny; among others, I have long had a wish to grow my own beard; under the next lamppost you will agree that it's training on very nicely. Then, you mayn't know it, but there's a canny24 man at Scotland Yard who has had a quiet eye on me longer than I like. I thought it about time to have an eye on him, and I stared him in the face outside the Albany this very morning. That was when I saw you go in, and scribbled a line to give you when you came out. If he had caught us talking he would have spotted25 me at once."
"So you are lying low out here!"
"I prefer to call it my Rest Cure," returned Raffles, "and it's really nothing else. I've got a furnished house at a time when no one else would have dreamed of taking one in town; and my very neighbors don't know I'm there, though I'm bound to say there are hardly any of them at home. I don't keep a servant, and do everything for myself. It's the next best fun to a desert island. Not that I make much work, for I'm really resting, but I haven't done so much solid reading for years. Rather a joke, Bunny: the man whose house I've taken is one of her Majesty's inspectors26 of prisons, and his study's a storehouse of criminology. It has been quite amusing to lie on one's back and have a good look at one's self as others fondly imagine they see one."
"But surely you get some exercise?" I asked; for he was leading me at a good rate through the leafy byways of Camp den2 Hill; and his step was as springy and as light as ever.
"The best exercise I ever had in my life," said Raffles; "and you would never live to guess what it is. It's one of the reasons why I went in for this seedy kit28. I follow cabs. Yes, Bunny, I turn out about dusk and meet the expresses at Euston or King's Cross; that is, of course, I loaf outside and pick my cab, and often run my three or four miles for a bob or less. And it not only keeps you in the very pink: if you're good they let you carry the trunks up-stairs; and I've taken notes from the inside of more than one commodious29 residence which will come in useful in the autumn. In fact, Bunny, what with these new Rowton houses, my beard, and my otherwise well-spent holiday, I hope to have quite a good autumn season before the erratic30 Raffles turns up in town."
I felt it high time to wedge in a word about my own far less satisfactory affairs. But it was not necessary for me to recount half my troubles. Raffles could be as full of himself as many a worse man, and I did not like his society the less for these human outpourings. They had rather the effect of putting me on better terms with myself, through bringing him down to my level for the time being. But his egoism was not even skin-deep; it was rather a cloak, which Raffles could cast off quicker than any man I ever knew, as he did not fail to show me now.
"Why, Bunny, this is the very thing!" he cried. "You must come and stay with me, and we'll lie low side by side. Only remember it really is a Rest Cure. I want to keep literally31 as quiet as I was without you. What do you say to forming ourselves at once into a practically Silent Order? You agree? Very well, then, here's the street and that's the house."
It was ever such a quiet little street, turning out of one of those which climb right over the pleasant hill. One side was monopolized32 by the garden wall of an ugly but enviable mansion33 standing34 in its own ground; opposite were a solid file of smaller but taller houses; on neither side were there many windows alight, nor a solitary35 soul on the pavement or in the road. Raffles led the way to one of the small tall houses. It stood immediately behind a lamppost, and I could not but notice that a love-lock of Virginia creeper was trailing almost to the step, and that the bow-window on the ground floor was closely shuttered. Raffles admitted himself with his latch36-key, and I squeezed past him into a very narrow hall. I did not hear him shut the door, but we were no longer in the lamplight, and he pushed softly past me in his turn.
"I'll get a light," he muttered as he went; but to let him pass I had leaned against some electric switches, and while 'his back was turned I tried one of these without thinking. In an instant hall and staircase were flooded with light; in another Raffles was upon me in a fury, and, all was dark once more. He had not said a word, but I heard him breathing through his teeth.
Nor was there anything to tell me now. The mere23 flash of electric light upon a hail of chaos37 and uncarpeted stairs, and on the face of Raffles as he sprang to switch it off, had been enough even for me.
"So this is how you have taken the house," said I in his own undertone. "'Taken' is good; 'taken' is beautiful!"
"Did you think I'd done it through an agent?" he snarled38. "Upon my word, Bunny, I did you the credit of supposing you saw the joke all the time!"
"Why shouldn't you take a house," I asked, "and pay for it?"
"Why should I," he retorted, "within three miles of the Albany? Besides, I should have had no peace; and I meant every word I said about my Rest Cure."
"You are actually staying in a house where you've broken in to steal?"
"Not to steal, Bunny! I haven't stolen a thing. But staying here I certainly am, and having the most complete rest a busy man could wish."
"There'll be no rest for me!"
Raffles laughed as he struck a match. I had followed him into what would have been the back drawing-room in the ordinary little London house; the inspector27 of prisons had converted it into a separate study by filling the folding doors with book-shelves, which I scanned at once for the congenial works of which Raffles had spoken. I was not able to carry my examination very far. Raffles had lighted a candle, stuck (by its own grease) in the crown of an opera hat, which he opened the moment the wick caught. The light thus struck the ceiling in an oval shaft39, which left the rest of the room almost as dark as it had been before.
"Sorry, Bunny!" said Raffles, sitting on one pedestal of a desk from which the top had been removed, and setting his makeshift lantern on the other. "In broad daylight, when it can't be spotted from the outside, you shall have as much artificial light as you like. If you want to do some writing, that's the top of the desk on end against the mantlepiece. You'll never have a better chance so far as interruption goes. But no midnight oil or electricity! You observe that their last care was to fix up these shutters40; they appear to have taken the top off the desk to get at 'em without standing on it; but the beastly things wouldn't go all the way up, and the strip they leave would give us away to the backs of the other houses if we lit up after dark. Mind that telephone! If you touch the receiver they will know at the exchange that the house is not empty, and I wouldn't put it past the colonel to have told them exactly how long he was going to be away. He's pretty particular: look at the strips of paper to keep the dust off his precious books!"
"Is he a colonel?" I asked, perceiving that Raffles referred to the absentee householder.
"Of sappers," he replied, "and a V.C. into the bargain, confound him! Got it at Rorke's Drift; prison governor or inspector ever since; favorite recreation, what do you think? Revolver shooting! You can read all about him in his own Who's Who. A devil of a chap to tackle, Bunny, when he's at home!"
"And where is he now?" I asked uneasily. "And do you know he isn't on his way home?"
"Switzerland," replied Raffles, chuckling41; "he wrote one too many labels, and was considerate enough to leave it behind for our guidance. Well, no one ever comes back from Switzerland at the beginning of September, you know; and nobody ever thinks of coming back before the servants. When they turn up they won't get in. I keep the latch jammed, but the servants will think it's jammed itself, and while they're gone for the locksmith we shall walk out like gentlemen—if we haven't done so already."
"As you walked in, I suppose?"
"No, Bunny, I regret to say I came in through the dormer window. They were painting next door but one. I never did like ladder work, but it takes less time than in picking a lock in the broad light of a street lamp."
"So they left you a latch-key as well as everything else!"
"No, Bunny. I was just able to make that for myself. I am playing at 'Robinson Crusoe,' not 'The Swiss Family Robinson.' And now, my dear Friday, if you will kindly43 take off those boots, we can explore the island before we turn in for the night."
The stairs were very steep and narrow, and they creaked alarmingly as Raffles led the way up, with the single candle in the crown of the colonel's hat. He blew it out before we reached the half-landing, where a naked window stared upon the backs of the houses in the next road, but lit it again at the drawing-room door. I just peeped in upon a semi-grand swathed in white and a row of water colors mounted in gold. An excellent bathroom broke our journey to the second floor.
"You'll do no such thing," snapped Raffles. "Have the goodness to remember that our island is one of a group inhabited by hostile tribes. You can fill the bath quietly if you try, but it empties under the study window, and makes the very devil of a noise about it. No, Bunny, I bale out every drop and pour it away through the scullery sink, so you will kindly consult me before you turn a tap. Here's your room; hold the light outside while I draw the curtains; it's the old chap's dressing-room. Now you can bring the glim. How's that for a jolly wardrobe? And look at his coats on their cross-trees inside: dapper old dog, shouldn't you say? Mark the boots on the shelf above, and the little brass46 rail for his ties! Didn't I tell you he was particular? And wouldn't he simply love to catch us at his kit?"
"Let's only hope it would give him an apoplexy," said I shuddering47.
"I shouldn't build on it," replied Raffles. "That's a big man's trouble, and neither you nor I could get into the old chap's clothes. But come into the best bedroom, Bunny. You won't think me selfish if I don't give it up to you? Look at this, my boy, look at this! It's the only one I use in all the house."
I had followed him into a good room, with ample windows closely curtained, and he had switched on the light in a hanging lamp at the bedside. The rays fell from a thick green funnel48 in a plateful of strong light upon a table deep in books. I noticed several volumes of the "Invasion of the Crimea."
"That's where I rest the body and exercise the brain," said Raffles. "I have long wanted to read my Kinglake from A to Z, and I manage about a volume a night. There's a style for you, Bunny! I love the punctilious49 thoroughness of the whole thing; one can understand its appeal to our careful colonel. His name, did you say? Crutchley, Bunny—Colonel Crutchley, R.E., V.C."
"We'd put his valor50 to the test!" said I, feeling more valiant51 myself after our tour of inspection52.
"Not so loud on the stairs," whispered Raffles. "There's only one door between us and—"
Raffles stood still at my feet, and well he might! A deafening53 double knock had resounded54 through the empty house; and to add to the utter horror of the moment, Raffles instantly blew out the light. I heard my heart pounding. Neither of us breathed. We were on our way down to the first landing, and for a moment we stood like mice; then Raffles heaved a deep sigh, and in the depths I heard the gate swing home.
"Only the postman, Bunny! He will come now and again, though they have obviously left instructions at the post-office. I hope the old colonel will let them have it when he gets back. I confess it gave me a turn."
"My dear Bunny, that's no part of my Rest Cure."
"Then good-by! I can't stand it; feel my forehead; listen to my heart! Crusoe found a footprint, but he never heard a double-knock at the street door!"
"'Better live in the midst of alarms,'" quoted Raffles, "'than dwell in this horrible place.' I must confess we get it both ways, Bunny. Yet I've nothing but tea in the house."
"And where do you make that? Aren't you afraid of smoke?"
"There's a gas-stove in the dining-room."
"But surely to goodness," I cried, "there's a cellar lower down!"
"My dear, good Bunny," said Raffles, "I've told you already that I didn't come in here on business. I came in for the Cure. Not a penny will these people be the worse, except for their washing and their electric light, and I mean to leave enough to cover both items."
"Then," said I, "since Brutus is such a very honorable man, we will borrow a bottle from the cellar, and replace it before we go."
Raffles slapped me softly on the back, and I knew that I had gained my point. It was often the case when I had the presence of heart and mind to stand up to him. But never was little victory of mine quite so grateful as this. Certainly it was a very small cellar, indeed a mere cupboard under the kitchen stairs, with a most ridiculous lock. Nor was this cupboard overstocked with wine. But I made out a jar of whiskey, a shelf of Zeltinger, another of claret, and a short one at the top which presented a little battery of golden-leafed necks and corks56. Raffles set his hand no lower. He examined the labels while I held folded hat and naked light.
"Mumm, '84!" he whispered. "G. H. Mumm, and A.D. 1884! I am no wine-bibber, Bunny, as you know, but I hope you appreciate the specifications57 as I do. It looks to me like the only bottle, the last of its case, and it does seem a bit of a shame; but more shame for the miser58 who hoards59 in his cellar what was meant for mankind! Come, Bunny, lead the way. This baby is worth nursing. It would break my heart if anything happened to it now!"
So we celebrated60 my first night in the furnished house; and I slept beyond belief, slept as I never was to sleep there again. But it was strange to hear the milkman in the early morning, and the postman knocking his way along the street an hour later, and to be passed over by one destroying angel after another. I had come down early enough, and watched through the drawing-room blind the cleansing61 of all the steps in the street but ours. Yet Raffles had evidently been up some time; the house seemed far purer than overnight as though he had managed to air it room by room; and from the one with the gas-stove there came a frizzling sound that fattened62 the heart.
I only would I had the pen to do justice to the week I spent in-doors on Campden Hill! It might make amusing reading; the reality for me was far removed from the realm of amusement. Not that I was denied many a laugh of suppressed heartiness63 when Raffles and I were together. But half our time we very literally saw nothing of each other. I need not say whose fault that was. He would be quiet; he was in ridiculous and offensive earnest about his egregious64 Cure. Kinglake he would read by the hour together, day and night, by the hanging lamp, lying up-stairs on the best bed. There was daylight enough for me in the drawing-room below; and there I would sit immersed in criminous tomes weakly fascinated until I shivered and shook in my stocking soles. Often I longed to do something hysterically65 desperate, to rouse Raffles and bring the street about our ears; once I did bring him about mine by striking a single note on the piano, with the soft pedal down. His neglect of me seemed wanton at the time. I have long realized that he was only wise to maintain silence at the expense of perilous66 amenities67, and as fully10 justified68 in those secret and solitary sorties which made bad blood in my veins69. He was far cleverer than I at getting in and out; but even had I been his match for stealth and wariness70, my company would have doubled every risk. I admit now that he treated me with quite as much sympathy as common caution would permit. But at the time I took it so badly as to plan a small revenge.
What with his flourishing beard and the increasing shabbiness of the only suit he had brought with him to the house, there was no denying that Raffles had now the advantage of a permanent disguise. That was another of his excuses for leaving me as he did, and it was the one I was determined71 to remove. On a morning, therefore, when I awoke to find him flown again, I proceeded to execute a plan which I had already matured in my mind. Colonel Crutchley was a married man; there were no signs of children in the house; on the other hand, there was much evidence that the wife was a woman of fashion. Her dresses overflowed72 the wardrobe and her room; large, flat, cardboard boxes were to be found in every corner of the upper floors. She was a tall woman; I was not too tall a man. Like Raffles, I had not shaved on Campden Hill. That morning, however, I did my best with a very fair razor which the colonel had left behind in my room; then I turned out the lady's wardrobe and the cardboard boxes, and took my choice.
I have fair hair, and at the time it was rather long. With a pair of Mrs. Crutchley's tongs73 and a discarded hair-net, I was able to produce an almost immodest fringe. A big black hat with a wintry feather completed a headdress as unseasonable as my skating skirt and feather boa; of course, the good lady had all her summer frocks away with her in Switzerland. This was all the more annoying from the fact that we were having a very warm September; so I was not sorry to hear Raffles return as I was busy adding a layer of powder to my heated countenance74. I listened a moment on the landing, but as he went into the study I determined to complete my toilet in every detail. My idea was first to give him the fright he deserved, and secondly75 to show him that I was quite as fit to move abroad as he. It was, however, I confess, a pair of the colonel's gloves that I was buttoning as I slipped down to the study even more quietly than usual. The electric light was on, as it generally was by day, and under it stood as formidable a figure as ever I encountered in my life of crime.
Imagine a thin but extremely wiry man, past middle age, brown and bloodless as any crabapple, but as coolly truculent76 and as casually77 alert as Raffles at his worst. It was, it could only be, the fire-eating and prison-inspecting colonel himself! He was ready for me, a revolver in his hand, taken, as I could see, from one of those locked drawers in the pedestal desk with which Raffles had refused to tamper78; the drawer was open, and a bunch of keys depended from the lock. A grim smile crumpled up the parchment face, so that one eye was puckered79 out of sight; the other was propped81 open by an eyeglass, which, however, dangled82 on its string when I appeared.
Not a word could I utter. But, in my horror and my amazement85, I have no sort of doubt that I acted the part I had assumed in a manner I never should have approached in happier circumstances.
"Come, come, my lass," cried the old oak veteran, "I'm not going to put a bullet through you, you know! You tell me all about it, and it'll do you more good than harm. There, I'll put the nasty thing away and—God bless me, if the brazen86 wench hasn't squeezed into the wife's kit!"
A squeeze it happened to have been, and in my emotion it felt more of one than ever; but his sudden discovery had not heightened the veteran's animosity against me. On the contrary, I caught a glint of humor through his gleaming glass, and he proceeded to pocket his revolver like the gentleman he was.
"Well, well, it's lucky I looked in," he continued. "I only came round on the off-chance of letters, but if I hadn't you'd have had another week in clover. Begad, though, I saw your handwriting the moment I'd got my nose inside! Now just be sensible and tell me where your good man is."
I had no man. I was alone, had broken in alone. There was not a soul in the affair (much less the house) except myself. So much I stuttered out in tones too hoarse87 to betray me on the spot. But the old man of the world shook a hard old head.
"Quite right not to give away your pal," said he. "But I'm not one of the marines, my dear, and you mustn't expect me to swallow all that. Well, if you won't say, you won't, and we must just send for those who will."
In a flash I saw his fell design. The telephone directory lay open on one of the pedestals. He must have been consulting it when he heard me on the stairs; he had another look at it now; and that gave me my opportunity. With a presence of mind rare enough in me to excuse the boast, I flung myself upon the instrument in the corner and hurled88 it to the ground with all my might. I was myself sent spinning into the opposite corner at the same instant. But the instrument happened to be a standard of the more elaborate pattern, and I flattered myself that I had put the delicate engine out of action for the day.
Not that my adversary89 took the trouble to ascertain90. He was looking at me strangely in the electric light, standing intently on his guard, his right hand in the pocket where he had dropped his revolver. And I—I hardly knew it—but I caught up the first thing handy for self-defence, and was brandishing91 the bottle which Raffles and I had emptied in honor of my arrival on this fatal scene.
"Be shot if I don't believe you're the man himself!" cried the colonel, shaking an armed fist in my face. "You young wolf in sheep's clothing. Been at my wine, of course! Put down that bottle; down with it this instant, or I'll drill a tunnel through your middle. I thought so! Begad, sir, you shall pay for this! Don't you give me an excuse for potting you now, or I'll jump at the chance! My last bottle of '84—you miserable92 blackguard—you unutterable beast!"
He had browbeaten93 me into his own chair in his own corner; he was standing over me, empty bottle in one hand, revolver in the other, and murder itself in the purple puckers94 of his raging face. His language I will not even pretend to indicate: his skinny throat swelled95 and trembled with the monstrous96 volleys. He could smile at my appearance in his wife's clothes; he would have had my blood for the last bottle of his best champagne97. His eyes were not hidden now; they needed no eyeglass to prop80 them open; large with fury, they started from the livid mask. I watched nothing else. I could not understand why they should start out as they did. I did not try. I say I watched nothing else—until I saw the face of Raffles over the unfortunate officer's shoulder.
Raffles had crept in unheard while our altercation98 was at its height, had watched his opportunity, and stolen on his man unobserved by either of us. While my own attention was completely engrossed99, he had seized the colonel's pistol-hand and twisted it behind the colonel's back until his eyes bulged100 out as I have endeavored to describe. But the fighting man had some fight in him still; and scarcely had I grasped the situation when he hit out venomously behind with the bottle, which was smashed to bits on Raffles's shin. Then I threw my strength into the scale; and before many minutes we had our officer gagged and bound in his chair. But it was not one of our bloodless victories. Raffles had been cut to the bone by the broken glass; his leg bled wherever he limped; and the fierce eyes of the bound man followed the wet trail with gleams of sinister101 satisfaction.
I thought I had never seen a man better bound or better gagged. But the humanity seemed to have run out of Raffles with his blood. He tore up tablecloths102, he cut down blind-cords, he brought the dust-sheets from the drawing-room, and multiplied every bond. The unfortunate man's legs were lashed103 to the legs of his chair, his arms to its arms, his thighs104 and back fairly welded to the leather. Either end of his own ruler protruded105 from his bulging106 cheeks—the middle was hidden by his moustache—and the gag kept in place by remorseless lashings at the back of his head. It was a spectacle I could not bear to contemplate107 at length, while from the first I found myself physically108 unable to face the ferocious109 gaze of those implacable eyes. But Raffles only laughed at my squeamishness, and flung a dust-sheet over man and chair; and the stark110 outline drove me from the room.
It was Raffles at his worst, Raffles as I never knew him before or after—a Raffles mad with pain and rage, and desperate as any other criminal in the land. Yet he had struck no brutal111 blow, he had uttered no disgraceful taunt112, and probably not inflicted113 a tithe114 of the pain he had himself to bear. It is true that he was flagrantly in the wrong, his victim as laudably in the right. Nevertheless, granting the original sin of the situation, and given this unforeseen development, even I failed to see how Raffles could have combined greater humanity with any regard for our joint115 safety; and had his barbarities ended here, I for one should not have considered them an extraordinary aggravation116 of an otherwise minor117 offence. But in the broad daylight of the bathroom, which had a ground-glass window but no blind, I saw at once the serious nature of his wound and of its effect upon the man.
"It will maim118 me for a month," said he; "and if the V.C. comes out alive, the wound he gave may be identified with the wound I've got."
The V.C.! There, indeed, was an aggravation to one illogical mind. But to cast a moment's doubt upon the certainty of his coming out alive!
"Of course he'll come out," said I. "We must make up our minds to that."
"Did he tell you he was expecting the servants or his wife? If so, of course we must hurry up."
"No, Raffles, I'm afraid he's not expecting anybody. He told me, if he hadn't looked in for letters, we should have had the place to ourselves another week. That's the worst of it."
Raffles smiled as he secured a regular puttee of dust-sheeting. No blood was coming through.
"I don't agree, Bunny," said he. "It's quite the best of it, if you ask me."
"What, that he should die the death?"
"Why not?"
And Raffles stared me out with a hard and merciless light in his clear blue eyes—a light that chilled the blood.
"If it's a choice between his life and our liberty, you're entitled to your decision and I'm entitled to mine, and I took it before I bound him as I did," said Raffles. "I'm only sorry I took so much trouble if you're going to stay behind and put him in the way of releasing himself before he gives up the ghost. Perhaps you will go and think it over while I wash my bags and dry 'em at the gas stove. It will take me at least an hour, which will just give me time to finish the last volume of Kinglake."
Long before he was ready to go, however, I was waiting in the hall, clothed indeed, but not in a mind which I care to recall. Once or twice I peered into the dining-room where Raffles sat before the stove, without letting him hear me. He, too, was ready for the street at a moment's notice; but a steam ascended119 from his left leg, as he sat immersed in his red volume. Into the study I never went again; but Raffles did, to restore to its proper shelf this and every other book he had taken out and so destroy that clew to the manner of man who had made himself at home in the house. On his last visit I heard him whisk off the dust-sheet; then he waited a minute; and when he came out it was to lead the way into the open air as though the accursed house belonged to him.
"We shall be seen," I whispered at his heels. "Raffles, Raffles, there's a policeman at the corner!"
"I know him intimately," replied Raffles, turning, however, the other way. "He accosted120 me on Monday, when I explained that I was an old soldier of the colonel's regiment121, who came in every few days to air the place and send on any odd letters. You see, I have always carried one or two about me, redirected to that address in Switzerland, and when I showed them to him it was all right. But after that it was no use listening at the letter-box for a clear coast, was it?"
I did not answer; there was too much to exasperate122 in these prodigies123 of cunning which he could never trouble to tell me at the time. And I knew why he had kept his latest feats124 to himself: unwilling125 to trust me outside the house, he had systematically126 exaggerated the dangers of his own walks abroad; and when to these injuries he added the insult of a patronizing compliment on my late disguise, I again made no reply.
"What's the good of your coming with me he asked, when I had followed him across the main stream of Notting Hill.
"Yes? Well, I'm going to swim into the provinces, have a shave on the way, buy a new kit piecemeal128, including a cricket-bag (which I really want), and come limping back to the Albany with the same old strain in my bowling129 leg. I needn't add that I have been playing country-house cricket for the last month under an alias130; it's the only decent way to do it when one's county has need of one. That's my itinerary131, Bunny, but I really can't see why you should come with me."
I shall hold my pen on that provincial134 tour. Not that I joined Raffles in any of the little enterprises with which he beguiled135 the breaks in our journey; our last deed in London was far too great a weight upon my soul. I could see that gallant136 officer in his chair, see him at every hour of the day and night, now with his indomitable eyes meeting mine ferociously137, now a stark outline underneath138 a sheet. The vision darkened my day and gave me sleepless139 nights. I was with our victim in all his agony; my mind would only leave him for that gallows140 of which Raffles had said true things in jest. No, I could not face so vile a death lightly, but I could meet it, somehow, better than I could endure a guilty suspense141. In the watches of the second night I made up my mind to meet it halfway142, that very morning, while still there might be time to save the life that we had left in jeopardy143. And I got up early to tell Raffles of my resolve.
His room in the hotel where we were staying was littered with clothes and luggage new enough for any bridegroom; I lifted the locked cricket-bag, and found it heavier than a cricket-bag has any right to be. But in the bed Raffles was sleeping like an infant, his shaven self once more. And when I shook him he awoke with a smile.
"Going to confess, eh, Bunny? Well, wait a bit; the local police won't thank you for knocking them up at this hour. And I bought a late edition which you ought to see; that must be it on the floor. You have a look in the stop-press column, Bunny."
I found the place with a sunken heart, and this is what I read:
Colonel Crutchley, R.E., V.C., has been the victim of a dastardly outrage at his residence, Peter Street, Campden Hill. Returning unexpectedly to the house, which had been left untenanted during the absence of the family abroad, it was found occupied by two ruffians, who overcame and secured the distinguished145 officer by the exercise of considerable violence. When discovered through the intelligence of the Kensington police, the gallant victim was gagged and bound hand and foot, and in an advanced stage of exhaustion146.
"Thanks to the Kensington police," observed Raffles, as I read the last words aloud in my horror. "They can't have gone when they got my letter."
"Your letter?"
"I printed them a line while we were waiting for our train at Euston. They must have got it that night, but they can't have paid any attention to it until yesterday morning. And when they do, they take all the credit and give me no more than you did, Bunny!"
I looked at the curly head upon the pillow, at the smiling, handsome face under the curls. And at last I understood.
"So all the time you never meant it!"
"Slow murder? You should have known me better. A few hours' enforced Rest Cure was the worst I wished him."
"'You might have told me, Raffles!"
"That may be, Bunny, but you ought certainly to have trusted me!"
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收听单词发音
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1
raffles
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| n.抽彩售物( raffle的名词复数 )v.以抽彩方式售（物）( raffle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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3
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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scholastic
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| adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的 | |
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8
scour
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| v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷 | |
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wilfully
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| adv.任性固执地；蓄意地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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16
syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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17
scribbled
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| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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18
espied
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| v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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21
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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canny
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| adj.谨慎的，节俭的 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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26
inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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27
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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28
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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commodious
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| adj.宽敞的；使用方便的 | |
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30
erratic
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| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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32
monopolized
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| v.垄断( monopolize的过去式和过去分词 )；独占；专卖；专营 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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36
latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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37
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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38
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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39
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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40
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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41
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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42
inured
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| adj.坚强的，习惯的 | |
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43
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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44
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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45
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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46
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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47
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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48
funnel
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| n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集 | |
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49
punctilious
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| adj.谨慎的，谨小慎微的 | |
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50
valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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51
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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52
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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53
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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54
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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55
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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56
corks
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| n.脐梅衣；软木( cork的名词复数 )；软木塞 | |
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57
specifications
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| n.规格；载明；详述；（产品等的）说明书；说明书( specification的名词复数 )；详细的计划书；载明；详述 | |
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58
miser
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| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
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59
hoards
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| n.（钱财、食物或其他珍贵物品的）储藏，积存( hoard的名词复数 )v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的第三人称单数 ) | |
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60
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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61
cleansing
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| n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词 | |
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62
fattened
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| v.喂肥( fatten的过去式和过去分词 )；养肥（牲畜）；使（钱）增多；使（公司）升值 | |
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63
heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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64
egregious
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| adj.非常的，过分的 | |
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65
hysterically
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| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
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66
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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67
amenities
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| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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69
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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70
wariness
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| n. 注意,小心 | |
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71
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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72
overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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73
tongs
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| n.钳；夹子 | |
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74
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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75
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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76
truculent
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| adj.野蛮的，粗野的 | |
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77
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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78
tamper
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| v.干预，玩弄，贿赂，窜改，削弱，损害 | |
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79
puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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80
prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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81
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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82
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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83
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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84
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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85
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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86
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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87
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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88
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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89
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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90
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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91
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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92
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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93
browbeaten
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| v.（以言辞或表情）威逼，恫吓( browbeat的过去分词 ) | |
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94
puckers
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的第三人称单数 ) | |
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95
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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96
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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97
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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98
altercation
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| n.争吵，争论 | |
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99
engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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100
bulged
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| 凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物） | |
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101
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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102
tablecloths
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| n.桌布，台布( tablecloth的名词复数 ) | |
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103
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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104
thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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105
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
bulging
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| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
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107
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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108
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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109
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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110
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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111
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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112
taunt
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| n.辱骂，嘲弄；v.嘲弄 | |
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113
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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114
tithe
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| n.十分之一税；v.课什一税，缴什一税 | |
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115
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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116
aggravation
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| n.烦恼，恼火 | |
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117
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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118
maim
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| v.使残废，使不能工作，使伤残 | |
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119
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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120
accosted
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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121
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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122
exasperate
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| v.激怒，使（疾病）加剧，使恶化 | |
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123
prodigies
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| n.奇才，天才（尤指神童）( prodigy的名词复数 ) | |
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124
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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125
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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126
systematically
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| adv.有系统地 | |
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127
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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128
piecemeal
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| adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块 | |
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129
bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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130
alias
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| n.化名；别名；adv.又名 | |
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131
itinerary
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| n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划 | |
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132
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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133
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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134
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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135
beguiled
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| v.欺骗( beguile的过去式和过去分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等） | |
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136
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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ferociously
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| 野蛮地，残忍地 | |
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138
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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139
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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140
gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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141
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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142
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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143
jeopardy
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| n.危险；危难 | |
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144
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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145
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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146
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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