The evening world. Newspaper, July 22, 1905, Page 10

) Ourselves in evening dress, That much I saw as his hansom crossed our bows, > because I couid not help seeing it, but 1 should not have given the incident / & Second thought if it had not been for his extrac ry effect upon Raf- ) flies. In an instant he was out upon the curb paving the cabby, and in Mnother he was leading me across the street away from the mansions “Where on h are you going?” ‘I naturally exclaimed “Into the par’ said he. “We are too early.” His voice told me more than his words, It was strangely stern “Was that him—in the hansom?” “Tt was.” “Well, then, the coast's clear,” said I comfortably. I was for turning Yack then and there, but Raffles forced me on with a hand that hardened on my arm. “It was a nearer thing than T care about,” said he. » No, the next one’s further from a lamp-post. We will © half iovr, and I don't want to talk.” d We had been seated some minutes when BY Ben sent a languid chime ‘over our heads to the stars. It was half-past 10 and a sultry night, Eleven had struck before Raffles awoke from his sullen reverie and recalled me from mine with a siap on the back. This seat will do. ve him a good In a couple cf minutes we were in the lighted vestibule at the inner end of the courtyard of I John's Mansions. “Just left Lord Ernest at !ady Kirkleatham’s,” said Raffles. “Gave Me his key and asked us to wait for him in his rooms. ‘up in the lift?” In a small way, I never knew old Raffles do anything better. There ‘was not an instant’s demur. Lord Ernest Belville’s rooms were at the top ‘Of the building, but we were in them as quickly as lift could carry and page- boy conduct us. And there was no need for the skeleton key after all; the boy opened the outer door with one of his own, and switched on the lights before leaving us. “Now that’s interesting,” said Raffles, as soon as we were alone; “they can come in and clean when he is out. What if he keeps his swag at the bank? By jove, that’s an idea for him! I don’t believe he’s getting rid of it; it's all lying low somewhere, if I'm not mistaken, and he’s not a fool.” While he spoke he was moving about the sitting-room, which was charm- ingly furnished in the antique style, and making as many remarks as though he were an auctioxeer's clerk with an inventory to prepare and a day to do it in, instead of a cracksman who might be surprised in his erib at a Moment. “Chippendale of sorts, eh, Bunny? Not genuine, of course; but where can you get genuine Chippendale now, and who knows it when they see it? There’s no merit in mere anti- quity. Yet the way people pose on the subject! If a thing's handsome and ful, and good cabinetmaking, it's good enough for me.” “Hadn't we better explore the whole place?” I suggested nervously. He had not even bolted the outer Goor. Nor would he when I called his attention to the omission. “If Lord Ernest finds his rooms locked up he'll raise Cain,” said Raffles; “we must let him come in and lock up for himself before we corner him. But he won't come y if he did it might be awkward, for they'd tell him down below what I told them. A new staff comes on at midnight. 1 discovered that the other night.” ‘Supposing he does come in before?” ell, he can't have us turned out without first seeing who we are, and he won't try it on when I've had one word with him. Unless my suspicions are unfounded, I mean.” “Isn't it about time to test them?” ‘My good Bunny, what do you suppose I've been doing all this while? He keeps nothing in here. There isa't a lock to the Chippendale that you couldn't pick with a pocket- knife, and not a loose board on the floor, for I was treading for one be- fore the boy left us. Chimpey’s no use in a place like this, where they keep them swept for you. Yes, I'm quite ready to try his bedroom. There was but a bathroom be- sides; no kitchen, no servant's room; neither are necessary in King John's sions, I thought it as well to put Will you send us my head inside the bathroom while Raffles went into the bedroom, for I ‘was tormented by the horrible idea that the man might all this time be But concealed somewhere in the flat. the bathroom blazed void in the e tric light. I found Raffles han. out of the starry square which was the bedroom window, for the room was still in darkness. I feit for the switch at the door. “Put it out again!” said Raffles fiercely. He rose from the sill, drew blind and curtains carefully, then ewitched on the light himself. It fell upon a face creased more in pity than in anger, and Raffles only shook his head as I hung mine. “It's al) right, old boy,” said he; “but corridors have windows, too, and servanis have eyes; and you and I are supposed to be in the other room, not in this. But cheer up, Bunny! This is the room; look at the extra bolt on the door; he’s had that put on, and there's an iron lad- der to his window in case of fire! Way of escape ready against the hour of need; he’s a better man than | thought him, Bunny, after all, But you may bet your bottom dollar ii. if there’s any boodle in the flat it's in this room" Yet the room was yery lightly furnished; and nothing was locked We looked everywhere, but we looked in vain. The wardrobe was filled with hanging coats and trousers in a press, the drawers with the softest silk and finest linen. It was a camp-bedstead FONEAO = that would not have unsettled an | anchorite; there was no place for treasure there. I looked up the chita- ney, but Raffles told me not to be a fool, and asked if 1 ever listened to what he said, There was no question about his temper now. I never knew him in a worse “Then he has got it in the bank, he growled, "I'll swear I'm not mis- taken in my man!” r I had the tact not to differ with him there. But 1 could not help sug- ' gesting that now was our time to remedy any mistake we might have made. We were on the right side of midnight still. “Then we stultify ourselves downstairs,’ said Raffle } if Ido! He may come in with the Kirkleatham diamonds! You co what | you like, Bunny, but I don't budge.” “I certainly sha'n't leave you,” I retorted, “to be knocked into the midal of next week by a beiter man than yourself.” I had borrowed his own tone, and he did not like it, They never thought for a moment that Raffles was going to strike me—for the last time in his life. He could if he liked. My blood was up, I was ready to send him to the devil. And ! emphasized my offense by nodding and shrugging toward a pair of very large Indian clubs that stood in the fender ' on eliher side of the chimney up which 1 had presumed to glance. In an instant Raffles had seized the clubs, and was whirling them about his gray head in a mixture of childish pique and puerile bravado which [ whould haye thought him altogether above. And suddenly 1 watched him his face changed, softened, lit up, and he swung the clubs gently down upon the bed, “They're not heavy enough for their siz take my oath they're not the same weight!” He shook one club after the other, with both hands, close to his ea then he examined their butt-ends under the electric light, 1 saw what he puspected now, and caught the contagion of his suppressed excitement P Neither of us spoke. But Raffles had taken Out the portable toolbox that he “alled a knife, and always carried, aud as he opened the gimlet he hander the club he held, Instinctively I tucked the small end under my arm presented the other to Raffles. { Hold him tight,” he whispered, smiling. “He's not onty a better man nf thought him, Bunny; he's hit upon a better dodge than ever I did, of ' i. t and aid he rapidly; “and 1 kind. Only I should have weighted them evenly~-te hi He had screwed the gimlet into the circular butt, close to the e¢ and we were wrenching 1n opposite directions. For a moment or more thing happened, Thon all at once something gave, and Rafiles swore an as soft as any prayer. And for the minute after that his hand went ind and round with the gimlet, as though he were grinding a pianc- , While the end wonmed slowly out on its delicate thread of fine hard he clubs were as hollow as drinking-horns, the pair of them, for we from one to the other without pausing to undo the padded packe' 1 out upon the bed, Phese were deliciously heavy to the hand, ly swathed in cotton-wool, so that some stuck together, retaining THE WORLD: SATURDAY EVENING, JULY 22, 1905: the shape of the cavity, as though they had been run ont of a mould. And when we did oper them—but let Raffles speak Ho had deputed me to screw in the ends of the clibs, and to replace the latter in the fender where we had und them. When T had done the coun fterpane was glitterin with amonds where it was not shimmering with ' If n't the t at at Tady May was marricd in,” said Raifles, ‘and tha appeared ont oom she changed in, while it rated confetti on the steps, VIL present to her instead of the one she lost. . * It was stupid to keep these old gold spoons, valuahle as they they made th Terer n the weight * * Here we have probably the Kenworthy diamor Je I don’t know the history of these pearls s 6 © This looks like one family of rings—left on the basin-stand, per- haps—alas, poor tady! And that’s the lot.” Our eyes met across the bed ‘What's it all worth?” T asked, hoarsely “Impossible to say, But That Ul swear to. More than all” My tongue swell d with the thoug more than all we ever took in all our lives ht 3ut it'll take some turning into cash, old chap!” “And—must it be a partnership?” L asked, finding a lugubrious voice at length. “Partnership be damned!" cried Rattles, heartily, “Let's get out quicker than we came in, We pocketed the things between us, cotton-wool and all, not because we wanted the latter, but meritorious deed. to remove of Le d Prnest; “but that’s no veryth ‘aight in her s it was, and the blind up. dow open at the ether room, ‘That's all right, Bunny, while | open”—— His words died away in a whis outside. “Out with it—out with it! obeyed he picked me off my feet and s just as the o xt five were r door “The ti May was married said Rafiles. mahe lay a coruscating cluster of wout Lord Ernest's fingers a shruy The Kirkleathain diamon ale Raffles did so without a chin, his tall hat oressedt down to his ¢ features and his keen stern glance, he and the stage What 1 lookec show ms teeth at his Fide obyionsly a winning on¢ “Wouldn't take a share, [ suppe Raffles did not condescend to rep pup. hen a drink, at least! My mouth watered, but Raffles sh “We must be going, my lord, and I wondered what in the world we him. “Give me time to put some toothbrush, don't you know?” “J cannot give you many minutes disturbance he e back in a minute, and you must be better keep this while I am gone. thin The sinner won't dare to say a wora when he does find out, whispered opened, and a masterful step strode horrible minutes ra that Lady God knows, but I did my be I had thrown myself into the game, , 80 11) tell them to all immediate traces of our really remarked renson why he should find out before e, 1 think; no, better leave the win- Now out with the light. One peep too. Out with the age light, r. A key was fumbling at the lock Raffles in agony; and as I wing me bodily but silently into the in. We heard the apostle of Rational Drink unlock one of deep drawers in teboard, and wed ud ounds like fol- the the si- suspiciously of spirits and stream from a phon. Never before or since did I experie acha as assailed me ment, nor do | believe many tropical explorers have known its equal But t had Ra ffic with me, and his hand was as steady vol as the hand ed nurse. That 1 know in, r vercout for ane e reason, aud button ed it at the thro: 1 after- ward found that he had done the same to Dis own, but I did not hear him doing it. The one thing | heard in the bedroom was a tiny Hie click, muffled and deadened in his ov at pocket, and it not only removed my last tremor, ut ng me to her piteh of excitement than ever, Yet I had no more conception of the game that Raffles was decic ) play and that I was to play with him in another minute Tt cannot have nl vefore Lord Ernest came into his bedroom. Heavens, but my rt had not forgotten how to thump! We were stand- ing near the door, and IT cox wear he touched me; t his boots creaked, there was a rattle in the fender—and Raffles switched on the light Lord Ernest Belville crouched in its glare with one Injian club held the end, like « footman. w stolen bottle Ag ooking, well ‘ ‘ay 1 fool and a weakling at that mo- ment, { had ne u ‘fore, ord krn Beiville, id € it's no use, Th a loaded re- Iver, and if you force me I shall use it on yon as 1 would on any other rate criminal, I am here to arrest you for ries of robberies at uke of Dorehester's, Sir John Kenworthy’s, and other noblemen's rentiemen’s houses during the presegt season. You'd better drop what your and, It’s empty.” Lord Ernest lifted the club an inch or two, and with it his eyebrows fier it hi wart fraine as the club crashed back into the fender he vod full height courteous but ironic smile under the © mustache looked what he was, criminal or not and Yard?" said he “That's our affair, my lord.” “| didn't think they'd got It in them.” said Lord Ernest. “Now I lize you. You're my interviewer, No, | didn't think any of you fel- had got all that in you. Come into the other room, and I'll show yon something else, Oh, keep me covered by all means, But look at thi On the antique sideboard, their size doubled by reflection in the polished previous stones, thit fell in festoons he handed them to Raffles with scarcely a lhe. “Better add ‘em to the bag.” mile; with his overcoat buttoned up to his yes, and between the looked the two his incisive ideal detective of fiction 1 to glower and ° Lord Ernest sald casually. 1 rolled back my lips like a bull ook his head impatiently. you will have to come with us.” should do with him when we had got gs together? Pair of pajamas and my lord, but I don't want to cause all a cab if you dike, But I shall yeudy in five, Here, inspector, you'd and it was; And I was left alone with that dangerous criminal! Raflies nipped my arm as he handed me the revolver, but L got small comfort out of that. * “Sea-green incorruptible?” inquired Lord Ernest as we stood face to face. You don't corrupt me.” Then come into my room. if I misbehave I put the bed between us withont a second's delay. My prisoner flung siit-case upon it, and tossed things into it with a dejected air; suddenly ts he was fitting them in, without raising his head Gvhich Twas watching), his right hand clos h T covered him I replied through naked teeth I'll lead the way Think you can hit me ed over the barrel with which ‘You'd better not shoot.” he said, a knee \pon his side of the bed; “if you do it may be as bad for you as it will be for me!” I tried to wrest the revolver from him. will if you force me!" [ hissed “You'd better not,” he repe 1, smiling; and now T saw that if I did 1 should only shoot into the bed or my own legs. Tis hand was on the top of mine, bending it down, and the revolver with it. The str h of it was as the strength of ten of mine; and now both his knees were on the bed: and suddenly i saw his otber hand, doubled into a fist, coming up slowly over the 6. “Help aulled feebly, “Help, yoth' I begin to believe you are from the Yard,” he said— and his uppercut came with the ad.” It caught me under the chin. It lifted me off my leg I have a dim recollection of the crash that I made in falli Tit. Raffles was standing over me when I recovered consciousness. T lay stretched upon the bed across which that blackguard Belville had struck his knavish blow. The sit-case was on the floor, but its dastardly owner had disappeared. “Is he gone?” was my first faint question, “Thank God you're not. anyway!" replied Raffles, with what struck me then as mere Mippanc I managed to raise myself upon one elbow. I meant Lord Frnest Belville.” said I with dignity. ‘Are you quite sure that he’s cleared out?” Raffles waved a hand toward the w ummer stars “Of ce . “and by the route [ intended him to take; he’s gone by the as | hoped he wonld. What on earth should’ we have done with him? My poor dear Bunny, I thought you'd take a bribe! lly more convinein 's it is, and just as well for Lord Ernest © convinced for the time being.” Ave you sure he is?” T questioned, as I found a rather shaky pair of ow which stood wide open to the Of course,” cried Rafile . in the tone to make one blish for the ziving on the point. that it matters one bit,” he added, ‘or we have him either and when he does tumble to it, as he minute, ae won't dare to open his month Then the sooner we clear out the better.” said 1, but T looked as at the open window, for my head was spinning still When you feel up to it.” returned Raffles, “we shall stroll out, and T shall do myself the honor of ringing for the lift. Tho force of habit is too strong in you, Bunny. T shail shut the window and leave everything ex- tly as we found it. Lord Ernest will probably tumble before he | kanece missed; but then he may come back to put salt on us; but IT should li know what he can do even if be succeeds!) Come, Bunny, pull vou together, and you'll be a different man when you're in the open air.” And for a while I felt one such was my this ting out of those aged easily enough: As no less perfect of the snecessful ross St. James's with himself, and infernal mansions with unfettered wrists; but once more than Raffies's performance of a his more ambitious work upstairs, ar 's elation po: ed him as we w Park. It was long since T had known him so pleas only too long since he had had such r “1 don’t think I ever had a brighter idea in my life,” he said pver thought of it till he was in the next room; never dreamt of its coming off so ideally even then, and didn’t much care, because we had him all ways up. I'm only sorry you let him knock you out. I was waiting outside the door all the time, and it made me to heur it. But T once broke my own head, Bunny, if you r alf such an excellent cause! Raflles touched all his pockets in his turn, the pockets that contained a small fortune apiece, and he smiled in my face as we crossed the lighted avenues of the Mall. Next moment he was hailing a hansom—for I sup- pose 1 wal ill pretty pale—and not a word would he let me speak until we had alighted as near as was prudent to the flat. “What a brute I've been, Bunny!” he whispered then; “but take half the ld boy, and right well you've earned it. No, we'll go in b the wrong door and over the roof; it's to late for old Theobald to be still at the play, and too early for him to be safely in his cups.” So we climbed the many stairs with catlike stealth, and like © crept out upon the grimy leads. But to-night they were no than their canopy of sky; not a chimney: stack stood out against the starle night; one had to feel one’s way order to avoid trippi parapets of the L-sk in from roof to basement to light the inner rooms. One of these wells was spanned by a flimsy bridge with iron hand-rails that felt warm to the touch as Raffles led the D8 a hotter and a closer night T have never known, * you in ng over the low ed wells that flat will be like an oven,” I grumbled, at the head of our own taircase Then we won't go down,” siid mptly: “we'll slack it up bit instead. >, Bunny you where you are! I'll fet you a drink and a deck-chair you shan't come down till you feel more fit.” And I let him have his way, Dw yas usual, for I had ¢ ess y normal power of resistance ht. That villainous upperent’ My head still sang and throbb ited myself on one of the af varapets and buried it in my h hands. ‘or was the night one to di pel a headache; there was dista hunder in the air, Thus J sa heap and brooded over my misad re, a pretty figure o} dint villuin, until the step came for which 1 waited; and it never struek me the wrong direction been quick,” said 1 it came from the “You have simply "Yes," hissed a volve T recor nized; “and you've got to be quicker still! Here, out with your wrists; no, one at a time; and if you utter a yllable you're a dead man,” It was Lord Ernest Belville; his Posed by Kyrle Bell Arrangement Lhe cropped, iron-gray mustache “By a flash of lightning | gleamed through the darkness, drawn up over his set teeth. In his hand glittered a pair of handcuffs, and before I knew it it one had snapped its Jaws about my right wrist ‘ Now come this said Lord Ernest, showing me a re “and wait for your friend, And, recollect, a single syllable of wu be your death!" With that the rnffian led me to the very bridge I had just crossed at Raffle's heels and ndeuffed me te the ivon rail midway across the chasm, It no longer felt warm to my toneh, but fey as the blood in all my veins. » this high-born hypocrite had beaten us at our game and his, and Roltles had met his mateh at last! That was the most intolerable thought, thac Ruiies should be down in the flat.on my account, and that [ could not warn him of his impending fate: for how was it possible without making such an outery as should bring the mansions about our ears? And there 1 shiyered on that wretched plant, chained like Andomeda to the rock, with my eyes, now grown famillar est Belyille, waiting for Raffles clo al also, ning will a black infinity above and below; and befe with the peculiar darkness, stood Lord Br to emerge with full hands and unsuspecting heart! ‘Taken so horribly un- LWUPes, en Raffles must fall an easy prey to a desperado in resource and courage searcely second to himself, but one whom he had fatally under- rated from the beginning, Not that I paused to think how the thing had happened; my one concern was for what was to happen next. And what did happen was worse than my worst foreboding, for first a light came flickering into the sort of companion-hatch at the head of the elairs, and finally Raffles—in his shirt-sleeves!| He was not only carrying a candle to put the finishing touch to him as a target; he had dispensed with sunt and waistcoat downstairs, and was at once full-handed and un armed. “Where are you, old chap?” he erled softly, himself blinded by the light he sarrled and he advanced a couple of steps toward Belville, “This isn't you, is it? And Raffles stopped, his candle held on high, a folding chair under the other arm No, Lam not your friend,” replied Lord Ernest, easily; “but kindly re- main standing exactly where you are, and don't lower that candle an inch, unless you want your brains blown into the street,” Raifles said never a word, but for a moment did unshaken flame of the candle was testimony alike to the stilln night and to the finest set of nerves in Europe. Then, to my norror, he coolly stooped, placing candle and chair on the leads, and his hands in bis pockets, as though it were but a pop-gun that covered him. Why didn't you shoot?” he asked insolently as he rose. “Frightened of the noise? LT should de, too, with an old-pattern machine like that. All very well for service in the field—but on the housetops at dead of night!" “L shall shoot, however,” replied Lord Ernest, as quietly in his turn, and with less insolence, “and chance the noise, unless you instantly restore my property. Lam glad you don’t dispute the last word,” he continued after & slight pi “Ther no keener honor than that which subsists, or ought to subsist. among thieves; and I need hardly say that I soon spotted you as one of the fraterni Not in the beginning, mind you! For the moment 1 did think you were one of these smart detectives jumped to life from some sixpenny magazine; but to preserve the illusion you ought to provide your. self with a worthier lieutenant. It was he who gave your show away chuckled the wretch, dropping for a moment the affected style of speech which seemed intended to enchance our humiliation; “smart detectives don't £0 about with little innocents to assist them. You needn't be anxious about him, by the way; it wasn't nec y to pitch him mto the street; he is to be seen though not heard, if you look in the right direction. Nor must you put all the blame upon your friend; it was not he, but you, who made so sure that I had got out by the window, You see, | was in my bathroom all the time—with the door open.’ “The bathroom, eh?’ RaMles echoed with professional interest, “And you followed us on foot across the park?” “Of course.” nd then into a cab?” ha afterward on foot once more.” he simplest skeleton would let you in down below.” 1 saw the lower half of Lord Ernest's face grinning in the light of the candle set between them on the ground “You follow every move,” said he; “there can be no doubt you are one of fraternity; and I shouldn't wonder if we had formed our style upon the node er know A.J. Rattle The abrupt question took my b mn ir newer s he was bid and the of the the Sumit ath away, but Raffles himself did not Intimately,” said he That accounts for you, then,” laughed Lord Ernest, “as it does for me, ough L never had the honor of the master’s acquaintance. Nor is it for to say which is the worthier disciple. Perhaps, however, now that your friend is handen in midair, and you yourself are at my mercy, you will cede me some little temporary advantage? And his face split in another grin from the cropped mustache downward, as I saw no lenger by cardle-Hgeht, but by a flash of lightning which tore the sky in two before Raffles could rep “You have t to lay hands arily to do s yet nore considerat or two ago, When the The remainder of Raffles’s speech was drowned from my cars by the belated crash of thunder which the lightning had foretold. So loud, how- ever, was the erash when it came, that the storm was evidently approaching is ata high t, as the 1 ho rumbled away, I heard Raffles talking as though he hag neve “You offered us a share old blo. langerous ent,” admitted Raffles; “but you have still ill-gotten To shoot me is not neces- pone of violent end is only to court a tely more wweful one for yourself. Family ld rule that risk out of your game. Now, an hour exact opposite” yn your, or or , to bring e and inti ms alone st rods. velocity: y stoppe he was saying; “1 ye worth your while tor you had far pan to murder We offer better make the best of us enemies Lead the way down to your flat olver, “and perhaps. w terms, I imagine, and in the noup her rain was beginning in great drops, even sh of lightning I saw Raffles pointing to me. what about my friend?” said id Lord wy talk first place I nest, with a flourish of yout it. It ts for me to M not going to cet wet is he spoke, and by a sec- And then came ‘Oh, he replied; cateh me to one “You will find it equally rejoined Raffles, “to induce me to leave my friend to the merey of a ght like this. He has not recovered from the blow yon struck him in your own rooms. Tam not such a fool as to blame you that, but you are a sportsman than [ take you for on think of g him where he is. If he stays, however, so do I." And, just as it ceased, Raffles voice seemed distinctly nearer to me; Dut in the darkness and the rain, which now as heavy as hail, T » nothing clearly. The rain ‘ xtinguished the candle. JT heard an oath from Belyille laugh from Raffles, and for a second that was all. Raffles was coming to me, and the other could not even see to fire: that all T knew in the pitchy interval of invisible rain. be- fore the next crash and the next flash, And then! This time they came together, and not till my dying hour shall 1 forget the sight that the lightning lit and the thunder applanded, Raffles was on one of the parapets of the gulf that my foot-bridge spanned, and in the second peal all right,” the great brute him good. You don't letting myself in for two lifficult,” was the sudden illumination he stepped across it one might acro: den path, The width was scarcely reater, but the depth! In the sud- den flare IT saw to the concrete bot- of the well, and ft looked no larger than the hollow of my hand, Paffles was laughing in my ear; he had the fron railing fast; It be- tween us, but his foothold was as secure Lord Ernest Belviile, n the contrary, was a fifth of a sec- ond late for the light and half a foot short in his spring. Something struck our fridge plank so hard as to set it quivering Ike a harp-string; there was half a gasp and half a sob in midair beneath our feet; and then a sound far below that T prefer not to describe. Iam not sure that T could hit upon the perfect simile; it fs more than enough for me that T can hear it still, And with that slekening sound eame the loudest clap of thune der yet and a great white glare that showed us our enemy's body far be- low, with one white hand spread like any a starfish, but the head of him mer- 5 i » cifully twisted underneath, Raffles point to me, “It was his own fault, Bunny, Poor ay he and all of us be forgiven; but pull yourself together for Well, you can't fall; stay where you are a minute,” uproar of the elements while Raffles was gone; no other + not the opening of a single window, not the uplifting ien came Raffles with soap and water, and the gyve you withdraw a ring for which the finger t, I only remember shivering till morning lid oceupler was for once the nurse, and I saw devil! your own sake, 1 remember the sound mingled with of a single voice, 1 was wheedled from one wrist has grown too large. Of the in a pitch-dark flat, whose inv: his patient, ‘And that is the true ending of the episode in which we two set ourselves to cateh one of our own kidney, albeit in another place I have shirked the whole truth, It is nota grateful task to show Raffles as completely at fault as he really was on that occasion: nor ‘do I derive any subtle satisfaction from recounting my own twofold humiliation, or from having assisted aever so Indirectly in the death of a not uncongenial sinner, The truth, ‘iowever, has after all a merit of its own, and the great kinsfolk of poor Lord Ernest have but Httlé to lose by its divulgence, It would seem that they knew more of the rea! character of the apostle of Rational Drink than was known at Exeter Hall, The tragedy was indeed hushed up, as tragedies only are when they occur in such circles. But the rumor that did get abroad, us to the class of enterprise which the poor scamp was pursuing when he met hig death, cannot be too soon exploded, since it breathed upon the fair fame of some of the most respectable flats in Kensington, (THE END.) —————Ee Next Saturday—Twelfth Raffles Adventure, ‘An Old Flame.’’ pf