A COSTUME PIECE
London was just then talking of one whose name is already a name andnothing more. Reuben Rosenthall had made his millions on the diamondfields of South Africa, and had come home to enjoy them according tohis lights; how he went to work will scarcely be forgotten by anyreader of the halfpenny evening papers, which revelled in endlessanecdotes of his original indigence and present prodigality, variedwith interesting particulars of the extraordinary establishment whichthe millionaire set up in St. John's Wood. Here he kept a retinue ofKaffirs, who were literally his slaves; and hence he would sally, withenormous diamonds in his shirt and on his finger, in the convoy of aprize-fighter of heinous repute, who was not, however, by any means theworst element in the Rosenthall melange. So said common gossip; butthe fact was sufficiently established by the interference of the policeon at least one occasion, followed by certain magisterial proceedingswhich were reported with justifiable gusto and huge headlines in thenewspapers aforesaid.
And this was all one knew of Reuben Rosenthall up to the time when theOld Bohemian Club, having fallen on evil days, found it worth its whileto organize a great dinner in honor of so wealthy an exponent of theclub's principles. I was not at the banquet myself, but a member tookRaffles, who told me all about it that very night.
"Most extraordinary show I ever went to in my life," said he. "As forthe man himself--well, I was prepared for something grotesque, but thefellow fairly took my breath away. To begin with, he's the mostastounding brute to look at, well over six feet, with a chest like abarrel, and a great hook-nose, and the reddest hair and whiskers youever saw. Drank like a fire-engine, but only got drunk enough to makeus a speech that I wouldn't have missed for ten pounds. I'm only sorryyou weren't there, too, Bunny, old chap."
I began to be sorry myself, for Raffles was anything but an excitableperson, and never had I seen him so excited before. Had he beenfollowing Rosenthall's example? His coming to my rooms at midnight,merely to tell me about his dinner, was in itself enough to excuse asuspicion which was certainly at variance with my knowledge of A. J.Raffles.
"What did he say?" I inquired mechanically, divining some subtlerexplanation of this visit, and wondering what on earth it could be.
"Say?" cried Raffles. "What did he not say! He boasted of his rise,he bragged of his riches, and he blackguarded society for taking him upfor his money and dropping him out of sheer pique and jealousy becausehe had so much. He mentioned names, too, with the most charmingfreedom, and swore he was as good a man as the Old Country had toshow--PACE the Old Bohemians. To prove it he pointed to a great diamondin the middle of his shirt-front with a little finger loaded withanother just like it: which of our bloated princes could show a pairlike that? As a matter of fact, they seemed quite wonderful stones,with a curious purple gleam to them that must mean a pot of money. Butold Rosenthall swore he wouldn't take fifty thousand pounds for thetwo, and wanted to know where the other man was who went about withtwenty-five thousand in his shirt-front and another twenty-five on hislittle finger. He didn't exist. If he did, he wouldn't have the pluckto wear them. But he had--he'd tell us why. And before you could sayJack Robinson he had whipped out a whacking great revolver!"
"Not at the table?"
"At the table! In the middle of his speech! But it was nothing towhat he wanted to do. He actually wanted us to let him write his namein bullets on the opposite wall, to show us why he wasn't afraid to goabout in all his diamonds! That brute Purvis, the prize-fighter, whois his paid bully, had to bully his master before he could be persuadedout of it. There was quite a panic for the moment; one fellow wassaying his prayers under the table, and the waiters bolted to a man."
"What a grotesque scene!"
"Grotesque enough, but I rather wish they had let him go the whole hogand blaze away. He was as keen as knives to show us how he could takecare of his purple diamonds; and, do you know, Bunny, _I_ was as keenas knives to see."
And Raffles leaned towards me with a sly, slow smile that made thehidden meaning of his visit only too plain to me at last.
"So you think of having a try for his diamonds yourself?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"It is horribly obvious, I admit. But--yes, I have set my heart uponthem! To be quite frank, I have had them on my conscience for sometime; one couldn't hear so much of the man, and his prize-fighter, andhis diamonds, without feeling it a kind of duty to have a go for them;but when it comes to brandishing a revolver and practically challengingthe world, the thing becomes inevitable. It is simply thrust upon one.I was fated to hear that challenge, Bunny, and I, for one, must take itup. I was only sorry I couldn't get on my hind legs and say so thenand there."
"Well," I said, "I don't see the necessity as things are with us; but,of course, I'm your man."
My tone may have been half-hearted. I did my best to make itotherwise. But it was barely a month since our Bond Street exploit,and we certainly could have afforded to behave ourselves for some timeto come. We had been getting along so nicely: by his advice I hadscribbled a thing or two; inspired by Raffles, I had even done anarticle on our own jewel robbery; and for the moment I was quitesatisfied with this sort of adventure. I thought we ought to know whenwe were well off, and could see no point in our running fresh risksbefore we were obliged. On the other hand, I was anxious not to showthe least disposition to break the pledge that I had given a month ago.But it was not on my manifest disinclination that Raffles fastened.
"Necessity, my dear Bunny? Does the writer only write when the wolf isat the door? Does the painter paint for bread alone? Must you and Ibe DRIVEN to crime like Tom of Bow and Dick of Whitechapel? You painme, my dear chap; you needn't laugh, because you do. Art for art'ssake is a vile catchword, but I confess it appeals to me. In this casemy motives are absolutely pure, for I doubt if we shall ever be able todispose of such peculiar stones. But if I don't have a try forthem--after to-night--I shall never be able to hold up my head again."
His eye twinkled, but it glittered, too.
"We shall have our work cut out," was all I said.
"And do you suppose I should be keen on it if we hadn't?" criedRaffles. "My dear fellow, I would rob St. Paul's Cathedral if I could,but I could no more scoop a till when the shopwalker wasn't lookingthan I could bag the apples out of an old woman's basket. Even thatlittle business last month was a sordid affair, but it was necessary,and I think its strategy redeemed it to some extent. Now there's somecredit, and more sport, in going where they boast they're on theirguard against you. The Bank of England, for example, is the idealcrib; but that would need half a dozen of us with years to give to thejob; and meanwhile Reuben Rosenthall is high enough game for you andme. We know he's armed. We know how Billy Purvis can fight. It'll beno soft thing, I grant you. But what of that, my good Bunny--what ofthat? A man's reach must exceed his grasp, dear boy, or what thedickens is a heaven for?"
"I would rather we didn't exceed ours just yet," I answered laughing,for his spirit was irresistible, and the plan was growing upon me,despite my qualms.
"Trust me for that," was his reply; "I'll see you through. After all Iexpect to find that the difficulties are nearly all on the surface.These fellows both drink like the devil, and that should simplifymatters considerably. But we shall see, and we must take our time.There will probably turn out to be a dozen different ways in which thething might be done, and we shall have to choose between them. It willmean watching the house for at least a week in any case; it may meanlots of other things that will take much longer; but give me a week andI will tell you more. That's to say, if you're really on?"
"Of course I am," I replied indignantly. "But why should I give you aweek? Why shouldn't we watch the house together?"
"Because two eyes are as good as four and take up less room. Neverhunt in couples unless you're obliged. But don't you look offended,Bunny; there'll be plenty for you to do when the time comes, that Ipromise you. You shall have your sh
are of the fun, never fear, and apurple diamond all to yourself--if we're lucky."
On the whole, however, this conversation left me less than lukewarm,and I still remember the depression which came upon me when Raffles wasgone. I saw the folly of the enterprise to which I had committedmyself--the sheer, gratuitous, unnecessary folly of it. And theparadoxes in which Raffles revelled, and the frivolous casuistry whichwas nevertheless half sincere, and which his mere personality renderedwholly plausible at the moment of utterance, appealed very little to mewhen recalled in cold blood. I admired the spirit of pure mischief inwhich he seemed prepared to risk his liberty and his life, but I didnot find it an infectious spirit on calm reflection. Yet the thoughtof withdrawal was not to be entertained for a moment. On the contrary,I was impatient of the delay ordained by Raffles; and, perhaps, nosmall part of my secret disaffection came of his galling determinationto do without me until the last moment.
It made it no better that this was characteristic of the man and of hisattitude towards me. For a month we had been, I suppose, the thickestthieves in all London, and yet our intimacy was curiously incomplete.With all his charming frankness, there was in Raffles a vein ofcapricious reserve which was perceptible enough to be very irritating.He had the instinctive secretiveness of the inveterate criminal. Hewould make mysteries of matters of common concern; for example, I neverknew how or where he disposed of the Bond Street jewels, on theproceeds of which we were both still leading the outward lives ofhundreds of other young fellows about town. He was consistentlymysterious about that and other details, of which it seemed to me thatI had already earned the right to know everything. I could not butremember how he had led me into my first felony, by means of a trick,while yet uncertain whether he could trust me or not.
That I could no longer afford to resent, but I did resent his want ofconfidence in me now. I said nothing about it, but it rankled everyday, and never more than in the week that succeeded the Rosenthalldinner. When I met Raffles at the club he would tell me nothing; whenI went to his rooms he was out, or pretended to be.
One day he told me he was getting on well, but slowly; it was a moreticklish game than he had thought; but when I began to ask questions hewould say no more. Then and there, in my annoyance, I took my owndecision. Since he would tell me nothing of the result of his vigils,I determined to keep one on my own account, and that very evening foundmy way to the millionaire's front gates.
The house he was occupying is, I believe, quite the largest in the St.John's Wood district. It stands in the angle formed by two broadthoroughfares, neither of which, as it happens, is a 'bus route, and Idoubt if many quieter spots exist within the four-mile radius. Quietalso was the great square house, in its garden of grass-plots andshrubs; the lights were low, the millionaire and his friends obviouslyspending their evening elsewhere. The garden walls were only a fewfeet high. In one there was a side door opening into a glass passage;in the other two five-barred, grained-and-varnished gates, one ateither end of the little semi-circular drive, and both wide open. Sostill was the place that I had a great mind to walk boldly in and learnsomething of the premises; in fact, I was on the point of doing so,when I heard a quick, shuffling step on the pavement behind me. Iturned round and faced the dark scowl and the dirty clenched fists of adilapidated tramp.
"You fool!" said he. "You utter idiot!"
"Raffles!"
"That's it," he whispered savagely; "tell all the neighborhood--give meaway at the top of your voice!"
With that he turned his back upon me, and shambled down the road,shrugging his shoulders and muttering to himself as though I hadrefused him alms. A few moments I stood astounded, indignant, at aloss; then I followed him. His feet trailed, his knees gave, his backwas bowed, his head kept nodding; it was the gait of a man eighty yearsof age. Presently he waited for me midway between two lamp-posts. AsI came up he was lighting rank tobacco, in a cutty pipe, with anevil-smelling match, and the flame showed me the suspicion of a smile.
"You must forgive my heat, Bunny, but it really was very foolish ofyou. Here am I trying every dodge--begging at the door onenight--hiding in the shrubs the next--doing every mortal thing butstand and stare at the house as you went and did. It's a costume piece,and in you rush in your ordinary clothes. I tell you they're on thelookout for us night and day. It's the toughest nut I ever tackled!"
"Well," said I, "if you had told me so before I shouldn't have come.You told me nothing."
He looked hard at me from under the broken brim of a battered billycock.
"You're right," he said at length. "I've been too close. It's becomesecond nature with me when I've anything on. But here's an end of it,Bunny, so far as you're concerned. I'm going home now, and I want youto follow me; but for heaven's sake keep your distance, and don't speakto me again till I speak to you. There--give me a start." And he wasoff again, a decrepit vagabond, with his hands in his pockets, hiselbows squared, and frayed coat-tails swinging raggedly from side toside.
I followed him to the Finchley Road. There he took an Atlas omnibus,and I sat some rows behind him on the top, but not far enough to escapethe pest of his vile tobacco. That he could carry his character-sketchto such a pitch--he who would only smoke one brand of cigarette! Itwas the last, least touch of the insatiable artist, and it charmed awaywhat mortification there still remained in me. Once more I felt thefascination of a comrade who was forever dazzling one with a fresh andunsuspected facet of his character.
As we neared Piccadilly I wondered what he would do. Surely he was notgoing into the Albany like that? No, he took another omnibus to SloaneStreet, I sitting behind him as before. At Sloane Street we changedagain, and were presently in the long lean artery of the King's Road.I was now all agog to know our destination, nor was I kept many moreminutes in doubt. Raffles got down. I followed. He crossed the roadand disappeared up a dark turning. I pressed after him, and was intime to see his coat-tails as he plunged into a still darker flaggedalley to the right. He was holding himself up and stepping out like ayoung man once more; also, in some subtle way, he already looked lessdisreputable. But I alone was there to see him, the alley wasabsolutely deserted, and desperately dark. At the further end heopened a door with a latch-key, and it was darker yet within.
Instinctively I drew back and heard him chuckle. We could no longer seeeach other.
"All right, Bunny! There's no hanky-panky this time. These arestudios, my friend, and I'm one of the lawful tenants."
Indeed, in another minute we were in a lofty room with skylight,easels, dressing-cupboard, platform, and every other adjunct save thesigns of actual labor. The first thing I saw, as Raffles lit the gas,was its reflection in his silk hat on the pegs beside the rest of hisnormal garments.
"Looking for the works of art?" continued Raffles, lighting a cigaretteand beginning to divest himself of his rags. "I'm afraid you won'tfind any, but there's the canvas I'm always going to make a start upon.I tell them I'm looking high and low for my ideal model. I have thestove lit on principle twice a week, and look in and leave a newspaperand a smell of Sullivans--how good they are after shag! Meanwhile Ipay my rent and am a good tenant in every way; and it's a very usefullittle pied-a-terre--there's no saying how useful it might be at apinch. As it is, the billy-cock comes in and the topper goes out, andnobody takes the slightest notice of either; at this time of night thechances are that there's not a soul in the building except ourselves."
"You never told me you went in for disguises," said I, watching him ashe cleansed the grime from his face and hands.
"No, Bunny, I've treated you very shabbily all round. There was reallyno reason why I shouldn't have shown you this place a month ago, andyet there was no point in my doing so, and circumstances are justconceivable in which it would have suited us both for you to be ingenuine ignorance of my whereabouts. I have something to sleep on, asyou perceive, in case of need, and, of course, my name is not Rafflesin the King's Road. So you will
see that one might bolt further andfare worse."
"Meanwhile you use the place as a dressing-room?"
"It is my private pavilion," said Raffles. "Disguises? In some casesthey're half the battle, and it's always pleasant to feel that, if theworst comes to the worst, you needn't necessarily be convicted underyour own name. Then they're indispensable in dealing with the fences.I drive all my bargains in the tongue and raiment of Shoreditch. If Ididn't there'd be the very devil to pay in blackmail. Now, thiscupboard's full of all sorts of toggery. I tell the woman who cleansthe room that it's for my models when I find 'em. By the way, I onlyhope I've got something that'll fit you, for you'll want a rig forto-morrow night."
"To-morrow night!" I exclaimed. "Why, what do you mean to do?"
"The trick," said Raffles. "I intended writing to you as soon as I gotback to my rooms, to ask you to look me up to-morrow afternoon; then Iwas going to unfold my plan of campaign, and take you straight intoaction then and there. There's nothing like putting the nervousplayers in first; it's the sitting with their pads on that upsets theirapplecart; that was another of my reasons for being so confoundedlyclose. You must try to forgive me. I couldn't help remembering howwell you played up last trip, without any time to weaken on itbeforehand. All I want is for you to be as cool and smart to-morrownight as you were then; though, by Jove, there's no comparison betweenthe two cases!"
"I thought you would find it so."
"You were right. I have. Mind you, I don't say this will be thetougher job all round; we shall probably get in without any difficultyat all; it's the getting out again that may flummox us. That's theworst of an irregular household!" cried Raffles, with quite a burst ofvirtuous indignation. "I assure you, Bunny, I spent the whole ofMonday night in the shrubbery of the garden next door, looking over thewall, and, if you'll believe me, somebody was about all night long! Idon't mean the Kaffirs. I don't believe they ever get to bed atall--poor devils! No, I mean Rosenthall himself, and that pasty-facedbeast Purvis. They were up and drinking from midnight, when they camein, to broad daylight, when I cleared out. Even then I left them soberenough to slang each other. By the way, they very nearly came to blowsin the garden, within a few yards of me, and I heard something thatmight come in useful and make Rosenthall shoot crooked at a criticalmoment. You know what an I. D. B. is?"
"Illicit Diamond Buyer?"
"Exactly. Well, it seems that Rosenthall was one. He must have let itout to Purvis in his cups. Anyhow, I heard Purvis taunting him with it,and threatening him with the breakwater at Capetown; and I begin tothink our friends are friend and foe. But about to-morrow night:there's nothing subtle in my plan. It's simply to get in while thesefellows are out on the loose, and to lie low till they come back, andlonger. If possible, we must doctor the whiskey. That would simplifythe whole thing, though it's not a very sporting game to play; still,we must remember Rosenthall's revolver; we don't want him to sign hisname on US. With all those Kaffirs about, however, it's ten to one onthe whiskey, and a hundred to one against us if we go looking for it.A brush with the heathen would spoil everything, if it did no more.Besides, there are the ladies--"
"The deuce there are!"
"Ladies with an _I_, and the very voices for raising Cain. I fear, Ifear the clamor! It would be fatal to us. Au contraire, if we canmanage to stow ourselves away unbeknownst, half the battle will be won.If Rosenthall turns in drunk, it's a purple diamond apiece. If he sitsup sober, it may be a bullet instead. We will hope not, Bunny; and allthe firing wouldn't be on one side; but it's on the knees of the gods."
And so we left it when we shook hands in Picadilly--not by any means asmuch later as I could have wished. Raffles would not ask me to hisrooms that night. He said he made it a rule to have a long nightbefore playing cricket and--other games. His final word to me wasframed on the same principle.
"Mind, only one drink to-night, Bunny. Two at the outside--as youvalue your life--and mine!"
I remember my abject obedience; and the endless, sleepless night itgave me; and the roofs of the houses opposite standing out at lastagainst the blue-gray London dawn. I wondered whether I should eversee another, and was very hard on myself for that little expeditionwhich I had made on my own wilful account.
It was between eight and nine o'clock in the evening when we took upour position in the garden adjoining that of Reuben Rosenthall; thehouse itself was shut up, thanks to the outrageous libertine next door,who, by driving away the neighbors, had gone far towards deliveringhimself into our hands. Practically secure from surprise on that side,we could watch our house under cover of a wall just high enough to seeover, while a fair margin of shrubs in either garden afforded usadditional protection. Thus entrenched, we had stood an hour, watchinga pair of lighted bow-windows with vague shadows flitting continuallyacross the blinds, and listening to the drawing of corks, the clink ofglasses, and a gradual crescendo of coarse voices within. Our luckseemed to have deserted us: the owner of the purple diamonds was diningat home and dining at undue length. I thought it was a dinner-party.Raffles differed; in the end he proved right. Wheels grated in thedrive, a carriage and pair stood at the steps; there was a stampedefrom the dining-room, and the loud voices died away, to burst forthpresently from the porch.
Let me make our position perfectly clear. We were over the wall, atthe side of the house, but a few feet from the dining-room windows. Onour right, one angle of the building cut the back lawn in twodiagonally; on our left, another angle just permitted us to see thejutting steps and the waiting carriage. We saw Rosenthall comeout--saw the glimmer of his diamonds before anything. Then came thepugilist; then a lady with a head of hair like a bath sponge; thenanother, and the party was complete.
Raffles ducked and pulled me down in great excitement.
"The ladies are going with them," he whispered. "This is great!"
"That's better still."
"The Gardenia!" the millionaire had bawled.
"And that's best of all," said Raffles, standing upright as hoofs andwheels crunched through the gates and rattled off at a fine speed.
"Now what?" I whispered, trembling with excitement.
"They'll be clearing away. Yes, here come their shadows. Thedrawing-room windows open on the lawn. Bunny, it's the psychologicalmoment. Where's that mask?"
I produced it with a hand whose trembling I tried in vain to still, andcould have died for Raffles when he made no comment on what he couldnot fail to notice. His own hands were firm and cool as he adjusted mymask for me, and then his own.
"By Jove, old boy," he whispered cheerily, "you look about the greatestruffian I ever saw! These masks alone will down a nigger, if we meetone. But I'm glad I remembered to tell you not to shave. You'll passfor Whitechapel if the worst comes to the worst and you don't forget totalk the lingo. Better sulk like a mule if you're not sure of it, andleave the dialogue to me; but, please our stars, there will be no need.Now, are you ready?"
"Quite."
"Got your gag?"
"Yes."
"Shooter?"
"Yes."
"Then follow me."
In an instant we were over the wall, in another on the lawn behind thehouse. There was no moon. The very stars in their courses had veiledthemselves for our benefit. I crept at my leader's heels to someFrench windows opening upon a shallow veranda. He pushed. Theyyielded.
"Luck again," he whispered; "nothing BUT luck! Now for a light."
And the light came!
A good score of electric burners glowed red for the fraction of asecond, then rained merciless white beams into our blinded eyes. Whenwe found our sight four revolvers covered us, and between two of themthe colossal frame of Reuben Rosenthall shook with a wheezy laughterfrom head to foot.
"Good-evening, boys," he hiccoughed. "Glad to see ye at last. Shiftfoot or finger, you on the left, though, and you're a dead boy. I meanyou, you greaser!" he roared out at Raffles. "I know you. I've beenwaitin' for y
ou. I've been WATCHIN' you all this week! Plucky smartyou thought yerself, didn't you? One day beggin', next time shammin'tight, and next one o' them old pals from Kimberley what never comewhen I'm in. But you left the same tracks every day, you buggins, an'the same tracks every night, all round the blessed premises."
"All right, guv'nor," drawled Raffles; "don't excite. It's a fair cop.We don't sweat to know 'ow you brung it orf. On'y don't you go for toshoot, 'cos we 'int awmed, s'help me Gord!"
"Ah, you're a knowin' one," said Rosenthall, fingering his triggers."But you've struck a knowin'er."
"Ho, yuss, we know all abaht thet! Set a thief to ketch a thief--ho,yuss."
My eyes had torn themselves from the round black muzzles, from theaccursed diamonds that had been our snare, the pasty pig-face of theover-fed pugilist, and the flaming cheeks and hook nose of Rosenthallhimself. I was looking beyond them at the doorway filled withquivering silk and plush, black faces, white eyeballs, woolly pates.But a sudden silence recalled my attention to the millionaire. Andonly his nose retained its color.
"What d'ye mean?" he whispered with a hoarse oath. "Spit it out, or,by Christmas, I'll drill you!"
"Whort price thet brikewater?" drawled Raffles coolly.
"Eh?"
Rosenthall's revolvers were describing widening orbits.
"Whort price thet brikewater--old _I.D.B._?"
"Where in hell did you get hold o' that?" asked Rosenthall, with arattle in his thick neck, meant for mirth.
"You may well arst," says Raffles. "It's all over the plice w'ere _I_come from."
"Who can have spread such rot?"
"I dunno," says Raffles; "arst the gen'leman on yer left; p'r'aps 'Eknows."
The gentleman on his left had turned livid with emotion. Guiltyconscience never declared itself in plainer terms. For a moment hissmall eyes bulged like currants in the suet of his face; the next, hehad pocketed his pistols on a professional instinct, and was upon uswith his fists.
"Out o' the light--out o' the light!" yelled Rosenthall in a frenzy.
He was too late. No sooner had the burly pugilist obstructed his firethan Raffles was through the window at a bound; while I, for standingstill and saying nothing, was scientifically felled to the floor.
I cannot have been many moments without my senses. When I recoveredthem there was a great to-do in the garden, but I had the drawing-roomto myself. I sat up. Rosenthall and Purvis were rushing aboutoutside, cursing the Kaffirs and nagging at each other.
"Over THAT wall, I tell yer!"
"I tell you it was this one. Can't you whistle for the police?"
"Police be damned! I've had enough of the blessed police."
"Then we'd better get back and make sure of the other rotter."
"Oh, make sure o' yer skin. That's what you'd better do. Jala, youblack hog, if I catch YOU skulkin'...."
I never heard the threat. I was creeping from the drawing-room on myhands and knees, my own revolver swinging by its steel ring from myteeth.
For an instant I thought that the hall also was deserted. I was wrong,and I crept upon a Kaffir on all fours. Poor devil, I could not bringmyself to deal him a base blow, but I threatened him most hideouslywith my revolver, and left the white teeth chattering in his black headas I took the stairs three at a time. Why I went upstairs in thatdecisive fashion, as though it were my only course, I cannot explain.But garden and ground floor seemed alive with men, and I might havedone worse.
I turned into the first room I came to. It was a bedroom--empty,though lit up; and never shall I forget how I started as I entered, onencountering the awful villain that was myself at full length in apier-glass! Masked, armed, and ragged, I was indeed fit carrion for abullet or the hangman, and to one or the other I made up my mind.Nevertheless, I hid myself in the wardrobe behind the mirror; and thereI stood shivering and cursing my fate, my folly, and Raffles most ofall--Raffles first and last--for I daresay half an hour. Then thewardrobe door was flung suddenly open; they had stolen into the roomwithout a sound; and I was hauled downstairs, an ignominious captive.
Gross scenes followed in the hall; the ladies were now upon the stage,and at sight of the desperate criminal they screamed with one accord.In truth I must have given them fair cause, though my mask was now tornaway and hid nothing but my left ear. Rosenthall answered theirshrieks with a roar for silence; the woman with the bath-sponge hairswore at him shrilly in return; the place became a Babel impossible todescribe. I remember wondering how long it would be before the policeappeared. Purvis and the ladies were for calling them in and giving mein charge without delay. Rosenthall would not hear of it. He sworethat he would shoot man or woman who left his sight. He had had enoughof the police. He was not going to have them coming there to spoilsport; he was going to deal with me in his own way. With that hedragged me from all other hands, flung me against a door, and sent abullet crashing through the wood within an inch of my ear.
"You drunken fool! It'll be murder!" shouted Purvis, getting in theway a second time.
"Wha' do I care? He's armed, isn't he? I shot him in self-defence.It'll be a warning to others. Will you stand aside, or d'ye want ityourself?"
"You're drunk," said Purvis, still between us. "I saw you take a neattumblerful since you come in, and it's made you drunk as a fool. Pullyourself together, old man. You ain't a-going to do what you'll besorry for."
"Then I won't shoot at him, I'll only shoot roun' an' roun' the beggar.You're quite right, ole feller. Wouldn't hurt him. Great mishtake.Roun' an' roun'. There--like that!"
His freckled paw shot up over Purvis's shoulder, mauve lightning camefrom his ring, a red flash from his revolver, and shrieks from thewomen as the reverberations died away. Some splinters lodged in myhair.
Next instant the prize-fighter disarmed him; and I was safe from thedevil, but finally doomed to the deep sea. A policeman was in ourmidst. He had entered through the drawing-room window; he was anofficer of few words and creditable promptitude. In a twinkling he hadthe handcuffs on my wrists, while the pugilist explained the situation,and his patron reviled the force and its representative with impotentmalignity. A fine watch they kept; a lot of good they did; coming inwhen all was over and the whole household might have been murdered intheir sleep. The officer only deigned to notice him as he marched meoff.
"We know all about YOU, sir," said he contemptuously, and he refusedthe sovereign Purvis proffered. "You will be seeing me again, sir, atMarylebone."
"Shall I come now?"
"As you please, sir. I rather think the other gentleman requires youmore, and I don't fancy this young man means to give much trouble."
"Oh, I'm coming quietly," I said.
And I went.
In silence we traversed perhaps a hundred yards. It must have beenmidnight. We did not meet a soul. At last I whispered:
"How on earth did you manage it?"
"Purely by luck," said Raffles. "I had the luck to get clear awaythrough knowing every brick of those back-garden walls, and the doubleluck to have these togs with the rest over at Chelsea. The helmet isone of a collection I made up at Oxford; here it goes over this wall,and we'd better carry the coat and belt before we meet a real officer.I got them once for a fancy ball--ostensibly--and thereby hangs a yarn.I always thought they might come in useful a second time. My chiefcrux to-night was getting rid of the hansom that brought me back. Isent him off to Scotland Yard with ten bob and a special message togood old Mackenzie. The whole detective department will be atRosenthall's in about half an hour. Of course, I speculated on ourgentleman's hatred of the police--another huge slice of luck. If you'dgot away, well and good; if not, I felt he was the man to play with hismouse as long as possible. Yes, Bunny, it's been more of a costumepiece than I intended, and we've come out of it with a good deal lesscredit. But, by Jove, we're jolly lucky to have come out of it at all!"
The Amateur Cracksman Page 2
