E. W. Hornung_A J Raffles 03 Read Online Free Page B

little
farther to keep him from getting into another."
    "I don't see why she should," said I, honestly enough, yet with
the irritation of a less just feeling deep down in my inmost
consciousness.
    "Yet you did hear from her?" he persisted.
    "She sent me back my poor presents, without a word," I said, "if
you call that hearing."
    I could not bring myself to own to Raffles that I had given her
only books. He asked if I was sure that she had sent them back
herself; and that was his last question. My answer was enough for
him. And to this day I cannot say whether it was more in relief
than in regret that he laid a hand upon my shoulder.
    "So you are out of Paradise after all!" said Raffles. "I was not
sure, or I should have come round before. Well, Bunny, if they
don't want you there, there's a little Inferno in the Albany where
you will be as welcome as ever
    And still, with all the magic mischief of his smile, there was
that touch of sadness which I was yet to read aright.

The Chest of Silver
*
    Like all the tribe of which I held him head, Raffles professed the
liveliest disdain for unwieldy plunder of any description; it might
be old Sheffield, or it might be solid silver or gold, but if the
thing was not to be concealed about the person, he would none
whatever of it. Unlike the rest of us, however, in this as in all
else, Raffles would not infrequently allow the acquisitive spirit
of the mere collector to silence the dictates of professional
prudence. The old oak chests, and even the mahogany wine-cooler,
for which he had doubtless paid like an honest citizen, were thus
immovable with pieces of crested plate, which he had neither the
temerity to use nor the hardihood to melt or sell. He could but
gloat over them behind locked doors, as I used to tell him, and at
last one afternoon I caught him at it. It was in the year after
that of my novitiate, a halcyon period at the Albany, when Raffles
left no crib uncracked, and I played second-murderer every time.
I had called in response to a telegram in which he stated that he
was going out of town, and must say good-by to me before he went.
And I could only think that he was inspired by the same impulse
toward the bronzed salvers and the tarnished teapots with which
I found him surrounded, until my eyes lit upon the enormous
silver-chest into which he was fitting them one by one.
    "Allow me, Bunny! I shall take the liberty of locking both doors
behind you and putting the key in my pocket," said Raffles, when
he had let me in. "Not that I mean to take you prisoner, my dear
fellow; but there are those of us who can turn keys from the outside,
though it was never an accomplishment of mine."
    "Not Crawshay again?" I cried, standing still in my hat.
    Raffles regarded me with that tantalizing smile of his which might
mean nothing, yet which often meant so much; and in a flash I was
convinced that our most jealous enemy and dangerous rival, the
doyen of an older school, had paid him yet another visit.
    "That remains to be seen," was the measured reply; "and I for one
have not set naked eye on the fellow since I saw him off through
that window and left myself for dead on this very spot. In fact,
I imagined him comfortably back in jail."
    "Not old Crawshay!" said I. "He's far too good a man to be taken
twice. I should call him the very prince of professional cracksmen."
    "Should you?" said Raffles coldly, with as cold an eye looking into
mine. "Then you had better prepare to repel princes when I'm gone."
    "But gone where?" I asked, finding a corner for my hat and coat,
and helping myself to the comforts of the venerable dresser which
was one of our friend's greatest treasures. "Where is it you are off
to, and why are you taking this herd of white elephants with you?"
    Raffles bestowed the cachet of his smile on my description of his
motley plate. He joined me in one of his favorite cigarettes, only
shaking a superior head at his own decanter.
    "One question at a time, Bunny," said he. "In