E. W. Hornung_A J Raffles 01 Read Online Free PDF Page B

enough game for you and me.
We know he's armed. We know how Billy Purvis can fight. It'll
be no soft thing, I grant you. But what of that, my good
Bunny—what of that? A man's reach must exceed his grasp, dear
boy, or what the dickens 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 I expect to find that the difficulties are nearly all on the
surface. These fellows both drink like the devil, and that
should simplify matters considerably. But we shall see, and we
must take our time. There will probably turn out to be a dozen
different ways in which the thing might be done, and we shall
have to choose between them. It will mean watching the house for
at least a week in any case; it may mean lots of other things
that will take much longer; but give me a week and I 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 a week? Why shouldn't we watch the house together?"
    "Because two eyes are as good as four and take up less room.
Never hunt 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 I promise you. You shall have your share of the fun,
never fear, and a purple 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 was gone. I saw the folly of the enterprise to
which I had committed myself—the sheer, gratuitous, unnecessary
folly of it. And the paradoxes in which Raffles revelled, and
the frivolous casuistry which was nevertheless half sincere, and
which his mere personality rendered wholly plausible at the
moment of utterance, appealed very little to me when recalled in
cold blood. I admired the spirit of pure mischief in which he
seemed prepared to risk his liberty and his life, but I did not
find it an infectious spirit on calm reflection. Yet the thought
of withdrawal was not to be entertained for a moment. On the
contrary, I was impatient of the delay ordained by Raffles; and,
perhaps, no small part of my secret disaffection came of his
galling determination to do without me until the last moment.
    It made it no better that this was characteristic of the man and
of his attitude towards me. For a month we had been, I suppose,
the thickest thieves in all London, and yet our intimacy was
curiously incomplete. With all his charming frankness, there was
in Raffles a vein of capricious reserve which was perceptible
enough to be very irritating. He had the instinctive
secretiveness of the inveterate criminal. He would make
mysteries of matters of common concern; for example, I never knew
how or where he disposed of the Bond Street jewels, on the
proceeds of which we were both still leading the outward lives of
hundreds of other young fellows about town. He was consistently
mysterious about that and other details, of which it seemed to me
that I had already earned the right to know everything. I could
not but remember 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 of confidence in me now. I said nothing about it, but it
rankled every day, and never more than in the week that succeeded
the Rosenthall dinner. When I met Raffles at the club he would
tell me nothing; when I 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
more ticklish game than he had thought; but when I began to ask
questions he would say no more. Then and there, in my annoyance,
I took my own decision. Since he would tell me nothing of the
result of his vigils, I determined to keep one on my own