“That boy’s in a bigger hole than he thinks. But we must pull him out between us before play begins. It’s one clear call for us, Bunny!”
“Is it a bigger hole than you thought?” I asked, thinking myself of the conversation which I had managed not to overhear.
“I don’t say that, Bunny, though I never should have dreamt of his old father being in one too. I own I can’t understand that. They live in a regular country house in the middle of Kensington, and there are only the two of them. But I’ve given Teddy my word not to go to the old man for the money, so it’s no use talking about it.”
But apparently10 it was what they had been talking about behind the folding-doors; it only surprised me to see how much Raffles took it to heart.
“So you have made up your mind to raise the money elsewhere?”
“Before that lad in there opens his eyes.”
“Is he asleep already?”
“Like the dead,” said Raffles, dropping into his chair and drinking thoughtfully; “and so he will be till we wake him up. It’s a ticklish11 experiment, Bunny, but even a splitting head for the first hour’s play is better than a sleepless12 night; I’ve tried both, so I ought to know. I shouldn’t even wonder if he did himself more than justice tomorrow; one often does when just less than fit; it takes off that dangerous edge of over-keenness which so often cuts one’s own throat.”
“But what do you think of it all, A.J.?”
“Not so much worse than I let him think I thought.”
“But you must have been amazed?”
“I am past amazement13 at the worst thing the best of us ever does, and contrariwise of course. Your rich man proves a pauper14, and your honest man plays the knave15; we’re all of us capable of every damned thing. But let us thank our stars and Teddy’s that we got back just when we did.”
“Why at that moment?”
Raffles produced the unfinished cheque, shook his head over it, and sent it fluttering across to me.
“Was there ever such a childish attempt? They’d have kept him in the bank while they sent for the police. If ever you want to play this game, Bunny, you must let me coach you up a bit.”
“But it was never one of your games, A.J.!”
“Only incidentally once or twice; it never appealed to me,” said Raffles, sending expanding circlets of smoke to crown the girls on the Golden Stair that was no longer tilted16 in a leaning tower. “No, Bunny, an occasional exeat at school is my modest record as a forger17, though I admit that augured18 ill. Do you remember how I left my cheque-book about on purpose for what’s happened? To be sinned against instead of sinning, in all the papers, would have set one up as an honest man for life. I thought, God forgive me, of poor old Barraclough or somebody of that kind. And to think it should be ‘the friend in whom my soul confided’! Not that I ever did confide19 in him, Bunny, much as I love this lad.”
Despite the tense of that last statement, it was the old Raffles who was speaking now, the incisively20 cynical21 old Raffles that I still knew the best, the Raffles of the impudent22 quotations23 and jaunty24 jeux d’esprit. This Raffles only meant half he said — but had generally done the other half! I met his mood by reminding him (out of his own Whitaker) that the sun rose at 3.51, in case he thought of breaking in anywhere that night. I had the honour of making Raffles smile.
“I did think of it, Bunny,” said he. “But there’s only one crib that we could crack in decency25 for this money; and our Mr. Shylock’s is not the sort of city that Caesar himself would have taken ex itinere. It’s a case for the testudo and all the rest of it. You must remember that I’ve been there, Bunny; at least I’ve visited his ‘moving tent,’ if one may jump from an ancient to an ‘Ancient and Modern.’ And if that was as impregnable as I found it, his permanent citadel26 must be perched upon the very rock of defence!”
“You must tell me about that, Raffles,” said I, tiring a little of his kaleidoscopic27 metaphors28. Let him be as allusive29 as he liked when there was no risky30 work on hand, and I was his lucky and delighted audience till all hours of the night or morning. But for a deed of darkness I wanted fewer fireworks, a steadier light from his intellectual lantern. And yet these were the very moments that inspired his pyrotechnic displays.
“Oh, I shall tell you all right,” said Raffles. “But just now the next few hours are of more importance than the last few weeks. Of course Shylock’s the man for our money; but knowing our tribesmen as I do, I think we had better begin by borrowing it like simple Christians31.”
“Then we have it to pay back again.”
“And that’s the psychological moment for raiding our ‘miser’s sunless coffers’— if he happens to have any. It will give us time to find out.”
“But he doesn’t keep open office all night,” I objected.
“But he opens at nine o’clock in the morning,” said Raffles, “to catch the early stockbroker32 who would rather be bled than hammered.”
“Who told you that?”
“Our Mrs. Shylock.”
“You must have made great friends with her?”
“More in pity than for the sake of secrets.”
“But you went where the secrets were?”
“And she gave them away wholesale33.”
“She would,” I said, “to you.”
“She told me a lot about the impending34 libel action.”
“Shylock v. Fact?”
“Yes; it’s coming on before the vacation, you know.”
“So I saw in some paper.”
“But you know what it’s all about, Bunny?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Another old rascal35, the Maharajah of Hathipur, and his perfectly36 fabulous37 debts. It seems he’s been in our Mr. Shylock’s clutches for years, but instead of taking his pound of flesh he’s always increasing the amount. Of course that’s the whole duty of money-lenders, but now they say the figure runs well into six. No one has any sympathy with that old heathen; he’s said to have been a pal38 of Nana’s before the Mutiny, and in it up to the neck he only saved by turning against his own lot in time; in any case it’s the pot and the kettle so far as moral colour is concerned. But I believe it’s an actual fact that syndicates have been formed to buy up the black man’s debts and take a reasonable interest, only the dirty white man always gets to windward of the syndicate. They’re on the point of bringing it off, when old Levy39 inveigles40 the nigger into some new Oriental extravagance. Fact has exposed the whole thing, and printed blackmailing41 letters which Shylock swears are forgeries42. That’s both their cases in a philippine! The leeches43 told the Jew he must do his Carlsbad this year before the case came on; and the tremendous amount it’s going to cost may account for his dunning old clients the moment he gets back.”
“Then why should he lend to you?”
“I’m a new client, Bunny; that makes all the difference. Then we were very good pals44 out there.”
“But you and Mrs. Shylock were better still?”
“Unbeknowns, Bunny! She used to tell me her troubles when I lent her an arm and took due care to look a martyr45; my hunting friend had coarse metaphors about heavy-weights and the knacker’s yard.”
“And yet you came away with the poor soul’s necklace?”
Raffles was tapping the chronic46 cigarette on the table at his elbow; he stood up to light it, as one does stand up to make the dramatic announcements of one’s life, and he spoke through the flame of the match as it rose and fell between his puffs47.
“No — Bunny — I did not!”
“But you told me you won the Emerald Stakes!” I cried, jumping up in my turn.
“So I did, Bunny, but I gave them back again.”
“You gave yourself away to her, as she’d given him away to you?”
“Don’t be a fool, Bunny,” said Raffles, subsiding48 into his chair. “I can’t tell you the whole thing now, but here are the main heads. They’re at the Savoy Hotel, in Carlsbad I mean. I go to Pupp’s. We meet. They stare. I come out of my British shell as the humble49 hero of the affair at the other Savoy. I crab50 my hotel. They swear by theirs. I go to see their rooms. I wait till I can get the very same thing immediately overhead on the second floor — where I can even hear the old swine cursing her from under his mud-poultice! Both suites51 have balconies that might have been made for me. Need I go on?”
“I wonder you weren’t suspected.”
“There’s no end to your capacity for wonder, Bunny. I took some sweet old rags with me on purpose, carefully packed inside a decent suit, and I had the luck to pick up a foul52 old German cap that some peasant had cast off in the woods. I only meant to leave it on them like a card; as it was — well, I was waiting for the best barber in the place to open his shop next morning.”
“What had happened?”
“A whole actful of unrehearsed effects; that’s why I think twice before taking on old Shylock again. I admire him, Bunny, as a steely foeman. I look forward to another game with him on his own ground. But I must find out the pace of the wicket before I put myself on.”
“I suppose you had tea with them, and all that sort of thing?”
“Gieshübler!” said Raffles with a shudder53. “But I made it last as long as tea, and thought I had located the little green lamps before I took my leave. There was a japanned despatch54 box in one corner. ‘That’s the Emerald Isle,’ I thought, ‘I’ll soon have it out of the sea. The old man won’t trust ’em to the old lady after what happened in town,’ I needn’t tell you I knew they were there somewhere; he made her wear them even at the tragic55 travesty56 of a Carlsbad hotel dinner.”
Raffles was forgetting to be laconic57 now. I believe he had forgotten the lad in the next room, and everything else but the breathless battle that he was fighting over again for my benefit. He told me how he waited for a dark night, and then slid down from his sitting-room58 balcony to the one below. And my emeralds were not in the japanned box after all; and just as he had assured himself of the fact, the folding-doors opened “as it might be these,” and there stood Dan Levy “in a suit of swagger silk pyjamas59.”
“They gave me a sudden respect for him,” continued Raffles; “it struck me, for the first time, that mud baths mightn’t be the only ones he ever took. His face was as evil as ever, but he was utterly60 unarmed, and I was not; and yet there he stood and abused me like a pickpocket61, as if there was no chance of my firing, and he didn’t care whether I did or not. So I stuck my revolver nearly in his face, and pulled the hammer up and up. Good God, Bunny, if I had pulled too hard! But that made him blink a bit, and I was jolly glad to let it down again. ‘Out with those emeralds,’ says I in low German mugged up in case of need. Of course you realise that I was absolutely unrecognisable, a low blackguard with a blackened face. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ says he, ‘and I’m damned if I care.’ ‘Das halsband, says I, which means the necklace. ‘Go to hell,’ says he. But I struck myself and shook my head and then my fist at him and nodded. He laughed in my face; and upon my soul we were at a deadlock62. So I pointed to the clock and held up one finger. ‘I’ve one minute to live, old girl,’ says he through the doors, ‘if this rotter has the guts63 to shoot, and I don’t think he has. Why the hell don’t you get out the other way and alarm the ’ouse?’ And that raised the siege, Bunny. In comes the old woman, as plucky64 as he was, and shoves the necklace into my left hand. I longed to refuse it. I didn’t dare. And the old beast took her and shook her like a rat, until I covered him again, and swore in German that if he showed himself on the balcony for the next two minutes he’d be ein toter Englander! That was the other bit I’d got off pat; it was meant to mean ‘a dead Englishman.’ And I left the fine old girl clinging on to him, instead of him to her!”
I emptied my lungs and my glass too. Raffles took a sip65 himself.
“But the rope was fixed66 to your balcony, A.J.?”
“But I began by fixing the other end to theirs, and the moment I was safely up I undid67 my end and dropped it clear to the ground. They found it dangling68 all right when out they rushed together. Of course I’d picked the right ball in the way of nights; it was bone-dry as well as pitch-dark, and in five minutes I was helping69 the rest of the hotel to search for impossible footprints on the gravel70, and to stamp out any there might conceivably have been.”
“So nobody ever suspected you?”
“Not a soul, I can safely say; I was the first my victims bored with the whole yarn71.”
“Then why return the swag? It’s an old trick of yours, Raffles, but in a case like this, with a pig like that, I confess I don’t see the point.”
“You forget the poor old lady, Bunny. She had a dog’s life before; after that the beans he gave her weren’t even fit for a dog. I loved her for her pluck in standing72 up to him; it beat his hollow in standing up to me; there was only one reward for her, and it was in my gift.”
“But how on earth did you manage that?”
“Not by public presentation, Bunny, nor yet by taking the old dame73 into my confidence more cuniculi!“
“I suppose you returned the necklace anonymously74?”
“As a low-down German burglar would be sure to do! No, Bunny, I planted it in the woods where I knew it would be found. And then I had to watch lest it was found by the wrong sort. But luckily Mr. Shylock had sprung a substantial reward, and all came right in the end. He sent his doctor to blazes, and had a buck75 feed and lashings on the night it was recovered. The hunting man and I were invited to the thanksgiving spread; but I wouldn’t budge76 from the diet, and he was ashamed to unless I did. It made a coolness between us, and now I doubt if we shall ever have that enormous dinner we used to talk about to celebrate our return from a living tomb.”
But I was not interested in that shadowy fox-hunter. “Dan Levy’s a formidable brute77 to tackle,” said I at length, and none too buoyantly.
“That’s a very true observation, Bunny; it’s also exactly why I so looked forward to tackling him. It ought to be the kind of conflict that the halfpenny press have learnt to call Homeric.”
“Are you thinking of tomorrow, or of when it comes to robbing Peter to pay Peter?”
“Excellent, Bunny!” cried Raffles, as though I had made a shot worthy78 of his willow79. “How the small hours brighten us up!” He drew the curtains and displayed a window like a child’s slate80 with the sashes ruled across it. “You perceive how we have tired the stars with talking, and cleaned them from the sky! The mellifluous81 Heraclitus can have been no sitter up o’ nights, or his pal wouldn’t have boasted about tiring the sun by our methods. What a lot the two old pets must have missed!”
“You haven’t answered my question,” said I resignedly. “Nor have you told me how you propose to go to work to raise this money in the first instance.”
“If you like to light another Sullivan,” said Raffles, “and mix yourself another very small and final one, I can tell you now, Bunny.”
And tell me he did.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
raffles
|
|
| 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 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
replenished
|
|
| 补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
zealous
|
|
| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
renderings
|
|
| n.（戏剧或乐曲的）演奏( rendering的名词复数 )；扮演；表演；翻译作品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
watts
|
|
| （电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
shrug
|
|
| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
ticklish
|
|
| adj.怕痒的；问题棘手的；adv.怕痒地；n.怕痒，小心处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
sleepless
|
|
| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
pauper
|
|
| n.贫民，被救济者，穷人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
knave
|
|
| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
tilted
|
|
| v. 倾斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
forger
|
|
| v.伪造；n.（钱、文件等的）伪造者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
augured
|
|
| v.预示，预兆，预言( augur的过去式和过去分词 )；成为预兆；占卜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
confide
|
|
| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
incisively
|
|
| adv.敏锐地，激烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
cynical
|
|
| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
impudent
|
|
| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
quotations
|
|
| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
jaunty
|
|
| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
decency
|
|
| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
citadel
|
|
| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
kaleidoscopic
|
|
| adj.千变万化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
metaphors
|
|
| 隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
allusive
|
|
| adj.暗示的；引用典故的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
risky
|
|
| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
Christians
|
|
| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
stockbroker
|
|
| n.股票（或证券），经纪人（或机构） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
wholesale
|
|
| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
impending
|
|
| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
rascal
|
|
| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
fabulous
|
|
| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
pal
|
|
| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
levy
|
|
| n.征收税或其他款项，征收额 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
inveigles
|
|
| v.诱骗，引诱( inveigle的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
blackmailing
|
|
| 胁迫，尤指以透露他人不体面行为相威胁以勒索钱财( blackmail的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
forgeries
|
|
| 伪造( forgery的名词复数 )； 伪造的文件、签名等 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
leeches
|
|
| n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
pals
|
|
| n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
martyr
|
|
| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
chronic
|
|
| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
puffs
|
|
| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
subsiding
|
|
| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的现在分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
crab
|
|
| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
suites
|
|
| n.套( suite的名词复数 )；一套房间；一套家具；一套公寓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
foul
|
|
| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
shudder
|
|
| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
despatch
|
|
| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
tragic
|
|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
travesty
|
|
| n.歪曲，嘲弄，滑稽化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
laconic
|
|
| adj.简洁的；精练的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
sitting-room
|
|
| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
pyjamas
|
|
| n.（宽大的）睡衣裤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
pickpocket
|
|
| n.扒手；v.扒窃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
deadlock
|
|
| n.僵局，僵持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
guts
|
|
| v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
plucky
|
|
| adj.勇敢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
sip
|
|
| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
Undid
|
|
| v. 解开, 复原 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
dangling
|
|
| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
gravel
|
|
| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
yarn
|
|
| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
dame
|
|
| n.女士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
anonymously
|
|
| ad.用匿名的方式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
buck
|
|
| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
budge
|
|
| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
brute
|
|
| n.野兽，兽性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
willow
|
|
| n.柳树 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
slate
|
|
| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
mellifluous
|
|
| adj.（音乐等）柔美流畅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |