himself up with one arm, then shifted the position
of the other hand, and very gradually worked himself waist-high with
the sill. But the sill was too narrow for him; that was as far as he
could get unaided; and it was as much as I could bear to see of a feat
which in itself might have hardened my conscience and softened my
heart. But I had identified his doggerel verse at last. I am ashamed
to say that it was part of a set of my very own writing in the school
magazine of my time. So Raffles knew the stuff better than I did
myself, and yet scorned to press his flattery to win me over! He had
won me: in a second my rounded shoulders were a pedestal for those
dangling feet. And before many more I heard the old metallic snap,
followed by the raising of a sash so slowly and gently as to be almost
inaudible to me listening just below.

Raffles went through hands first, disappeared for an instant, then
leaned out, lowering his hands for me.

"Come on, Bunny! You're safer in than out. Hang on to the sill and
let me get you under the arms. Now all together--quietly does it--and
over you come!"

No need to dwell on our proceedings in the bank. I myself had small
part in the scene, being posted rather in the wings, at the foot of the
stairs leading to the private premises in which the manager had his
domestic being. But I made my mind easy about him, for in the silence
of my watch I soon detected a nasal note overhead, and it was resonant
and aggressive as the man himself. Of Raffles, on the contrary, I
heard nothing, for he had shut the door between us, and I was to warn
him if a single sound came through. I need scarcely add that no
warning was necessary during the twenty minutes we remained in the
bank. Raffles afterward assured me that nineteen of them had been
spent in filing one key; but one of his latest inventions was a little
thick velvet bag in which he carried the keys; and this bag had two
elastic mouths, which closed so tightly about either wrist that he
could file away, inside, and scarcely hear it himself. As for these
keys, they were clever counterfeits of typical patterns by two great
safe-making firms. And Raffles had come by them in a manner all his
own, which the criminal world may discover for itself.

When he opened the door and beckoned to me, I knew by his face that he
had succeeded to his satisfaction, and by experience better than to
question him on the point. Indeed, the first thing