twitter against me in this rookery of an Albany. It
must have been started by that tame old bird, Policeman Mackenzie; it
isn't very bad as yet, but it needn't be that to reach my ears. Well,
it was open to me either to clear out altogether, and so confirm
whatever happened to be in the air, or to go off for a time, under some
arrangement which would give the authorities ample excuse for
overhauling every inch of my rooms. Which would you have done, Bunny?"

"Cleared out, while I could!" said I devoutly.

"So I should have thought," rejoined Raffles. "Yet you see the merit
of my plan. I shall leave every mortal thing unlocked."

"Except that," said I, kicking the huge oak case with the iron bands
and clamps, and the baize lining fast disappearing under heavy packages
bearing the shapes of urns and candelabra.

"That," replied Raffles, "is neither to go with me nor to remain here."

"Then what do you propose to do with it?"

"You have your banking account, and your banker," he went on. This was
perfectly true, though it was Raffles alone who had kept the one open,
and enabled me to propitiate the other in moments of emergency.

"Well?"

"Well, pay in this bundle of notes this afternoon, and say you have had
a great week at Liverpool and Lincoln; then ask them if they can do
with your silver while you run over to Paris for a merry Easter. I
should tell them it's rather heavy--a lot of old family stuff that
you've a good mind to leave with them till you marry and settle down."

I winced at this, but consented to the rest after a moment's
consideration. After all, and for more reasons that I need enumerate,
it was a plausible tale enough. And Raffles had no banker; it was
quite impossible for him to explain, across any single counter, the
large sums of hard cash which did sometimes fall into his hands; and it
might well be that he had nursed my small account in view of the very
quandary which had now arisen. On all grounds, it was impossible for
me to refuse him, and I am still glad to remember that my assent was
given, on the whole, ungrudgingly.

"But when will the chest be ready for me," I merely asked, as I stuffed
the notes into my cigarette case. "And how are we to get it out of
this, in banking hours, without attracting any amount of attention at
this end?"

Raffles gave me an approving nod.

"I'm glad to see you spot the crux so quickly, Bunny. I have thought
of your taking it round to your