ness.

"Yet you did hear from her?" he persisted.

"She sent me back my poor presents, without a word," I said, "if you
call that hearing."

I could not bring myself to own to Raffles that I had given her only
books. He asked if I was sure that she had sent them back herself; and
that was his last question. My answer was enough for him. And to this
day I cannot say whether it was more in relief than in regret that he
laid a hand upon my shoulder.

"So you are out of Paradise after all!" said Raffles. "I was not sure,
or I should have come round before. Well, Bunny, if they don't want
you there, there's a little Inferno in the Albany where you will be as
welcome as ever!"

And still, with all the magic mischief of his smile, there was that
touch of sadness which I was yet to read aright.

The Chest of Silver

Like all the tribe of which I held him head, Raffles professed the
liveliest disdain for unwieldy plunder of any description; it might be
old Sheffield, or it might be solid silver or gold, but if the thing
was not to be concealed about the person, he would have none whatever
of it. Unlike the rest of us, however, in this as in all else, Raffles
would not infrequently allow the acquisitive spirit of the mere
collector to silence the dictates of professional prudence. The old
oak chests, and even the mahogany wine-cooler, for which he had
doubtless paid like an honest citizen, were thus immovable with pieces
of crested plate, which he had neither the temerity to use nor the
hardihood to melt or sell. He could but gloat over them behind locked
doors, as I used to tell him, and at last one afternoon I caught him
at it. It was in the year after that of my novitiate, a halcyon period
at the Albany, when Raffles left no crib uncracked, and I played
second-murderer every time. I had called in response to a telegram in
which he stated that he was going out of town, and must say good-by
to me before he went. And I could only think that he was inspired by
the same impulse toward the bronzed salvers and the tarnished teapots
with which I found him surrounded, until my eyes lit upon the enormous
silver-chest into which he was fitting them one by one.

"Allow me, Bunny! I shall take the liberty of locking both doors
behind you and putting the key in my pocket," said Raffles, when he
had let me in. "Not that I mean to take you prisoner, my dear fellow;
but there are those of us who can turn keys from the outside