The Amateur Cracksman E. W. Hornung (desktop ebook reader txt) š
- Author: E. W. Hornung
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āYou must forgive my heat, Bunny, but it really was very foolish of you. Here am I trying every dodgeā ābegging at the door one nightā āhiding in the shrubs the nextā ādoing every mortal thing but stand and stare at the house as you went and did. Itās a costume piece, and in you rush in your ordinary clothes. I tell you theyāre on the lookout for us night and day. Itās the toughest nut I ever tackled!ā
āWell,ā said I, āif you had told me so before I shouldnāt have come. You told me nothing.ā
He looked hard at me from under the broken brim of a battered billycock.
āYouāre right,ā he said at length. āIāve been too close. Itās become second nature with me when Iāve anything on. But hereās an end of it, Bunny, so far as youāre concerned. Iām going home now, and I want you to follow me; but for heavenās sake keep your distance, and donāt speak to me again till I speak to you. Thereā āgive me a start.ā And he was off again, a decrepit vagabond, with his hands in his pockets, his elbows squared, and frayed coattails swinging raggedly from side to side.
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 escape the pest of his vile tobacco. That he could carry his character-sketch to such a pitchā āhe who would only smoke one brand of cigarette! It was the last, least touch of the insatiable artist, and it charmed away what mortification there still remained in me. Once more I felt the fascination of a comrade who was forever dazzling one with a fresh and unsuspected facet of his character.
As we neared Piccadilly I wondered what he would do. Surely he was not going into the Albany like that? No, he took another omnibus to Sloane Street, I sitting behind him as before. At Sloane Street we changed again, and were presently in the long lean artery of the Kingās Road. I was now all agog to know our destination, nor was I kept many more minutes in doubt. Raffles got down. I followed. He crossed the road and disappeared up a dark turning. I pressed after him, and was in time to see his coattails as he plunged into a still darker flagged alley to the right. He was holding himself up and stepping out like a young man once more; also, in some subtle way, he already looked less disreputable. But I alone was there to see him, the alley was absolutely deserted, and desperately dark. At the further end he opened a door with a latchkey, and it was darker yet within.
Instinctively I drew back and heard him chuckle. We could no longer see each other.
āAll right, Bunny! Thereās no hanky-panky this time. These are studios, my friend, and Iām one of the lawful tenants.ā
Indeed, in another minute we were in a lofty room with skylight, easels, dressing-cupboard, platform, and every other adjunct save the signs 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 his normal garments.
āLooking for the works of art?ā continued Raffles, lighting a cigarette and beginning to divest himself of his rags. āIām afraid you wonāt find any, but thereās the canvas Iām always going to make a start upon. I tell them Iām looking high and low for my ideal model. I have the stove lit on principle twice a week, and look in and leave a newspaper and a smell of Sullivansā āhow good they are after shag! Meanwhile I pay my rent and am a good tenant in every way; and itās a very useful little pied-Ć -terreā āthereās no saying how useful it might be at a pinch. As it is, the billycock comes in and the topper goes out, and nobody takes the slightest notice of either; at this time of night the chances are that thereās not a soul in the building except ourselves.ā
āYou never told me you went in for disguises,ā said I, watching him as he cleansed the grime from his face and hands.
āNo, Bunny, Iāve treated you very shabbily all round. There was really no reason why I shouldnāt have shown you this place a month ago, and yet there was no point in my doing so, and circumstances are just conceivable in which it would have suited us both for you to be in genuine ignorance of my whereabouts. I have something to sleep on, as you perceive, in case of need, and, of course, my name is not Raffles in the Kingās Road. So you will see that one might bolt further and fare worse.ā
āMeanwhile you use the place as a dressing-room?ā
āIt is my private pavilion,ā said Raffles. āDisguises? In some cases theyāre half the battle, and itās always pleasant to feel that, if the worst comes to the worst, you neednāt necessarily be convicted under your own name. Then theyāre indispensable in dealing with the fences. I drive all my bargains in the tongue and raiment of Shoreditch. If I didnāt thereād be the very devil to pay in blackmail. Now, this cupboardās full of all sorts of toggery. I tell the woman who cleans the room that itās for my models when I
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