"
I made excuses, for his tone foretold the kind of amusement, and
it was a kind against which I had successfully set my face for
months. I have stated before, however, and I can but reiterate,
that to me, at all events, there was never anybody in the world
so irresistible as Raffles when his mind was made up. That we
had both been independent of crime since our little service to
Sir Bernard Debenham--that there had been no occasion for that
masterful mind to be made up in any such direction for many a
day--was the undeniable basis of a longer spell of honesty than I
had hitherto enjoyed during the term of our mutual intimacy. Be
sure I would deny it if I could; the very thing I am to tell you
would discredit such a boast. I made my excuses, as I have said.
But his arm slid through mine, with his little laugh of
light-hearted mastery. And even while I argued we were on his
staircase in the Albany.
His fire had fallen low. He poked and replenished it after
lighting the gas. As for me, I stood by sullenly in my overcoat
until he dragged it off my back.
"What a chap you are!" said Raffles, playfully. "One would really
think I had proposed to crack another crib this blessed night!
Well, it isn't that, Bunny; so get into that chair, and take one
of these Sullivans and sit tight."
He held the match to my cigarette; he brought me a whiskey and
soda.
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