ly justified in those secret and solitary sorties which made
bad blood in my veins. He was far cleverer than I at getting in and
out; but even had I been his match for stealth and wariness, my company
would have doubled every risk. I admit now that he treated me with
quite as much sympathy as common caution would permit. But at the time
I took it so badly as to plan a small revenge.

What with his flourishing beard and the increasing shabbiness of the
only suit he had brought with him to the house, there was no denying
that Raffles had now the advantage of a permanent disguise. That was
another of his excuses for leaving me as he did, and it was the one I
was determined to remove. On a morning, therefore, when I awoke to
find him flown again, I proceeded to execute a plan which I had already
matured in my mind. Colonel Crutchley was a married man; there were no
signs of children in the house; on the other hand, there was much
evidence that the wife was a woman of fashion. Her dresses overflowed
the wardrobe and her room; large, flat, cardboard boxes were to be
found in every corner of the upper floors. She was a tall woman; I was
not too tall a man. Like Raffles, I had not shaved on Campden Hill.
That morning, however, I did my best with a very fair razor which the
colonel had left behind in my room; then I turned out the lady's
wardrobe and the cardboard boxes, and took my choice.

I have fair hair, and at the time it was rather long. With a pair of
Mrs. Crutchley's tongs and a discarded hair-net, I was able to produce
an almost immodest fringe. A big black hat with a wintry feather
completed a headdress as unseasonable as my skating skirt and feather
boa; of course, the good lady had all her summer frocks away with her
in Switzerland. This was all the more annoying from the fact that we
were having a very warm September; so I was not sorry to hear Raffles
return as I was busy adding a layer of powder to my heated countenance.
I listened a moment on the landing, but as he went into the study I
determined to complete my toilet in every detail. My idea was first to
give him the fright he deserved, and secondly to show him that I was
quite as fit to move abroad as he. It was, however, I confess, a pair
of the colonel's gloves that I was buttoning as I slipped down to the
study even more quietly than usual. The electric light was on, as it
generally was by day, and under it stood as formidable a figure as eve