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13 - Mr Justice Raffles by E W Hornung · Mr. Justice Raffles

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  Speaker 1: E. W. Hornum, Chapter thirteen knocked out, but it was
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  Speaker 1: hardly likely to be the last excitement of the night.
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  Speaker 1: As I saw for myself before Raffles joined me at Vauxhall,
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  Speaker 1: an arch traitor like Daniel Levy might at least be
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  Speaker 1: trusted to play the game out with loaded dice. No
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  Speaker 1: single sportsman could compete against his callous machinations, and that
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  Speaker 1: was obviously where I was coming in. I only wished
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  Speaker 1: I had not come in before. I saw now the
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  Speaker 1: harm that I had done by my rash proceedings and
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  Speaker 1: grays in the extra risk entailed already and the worse
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  Speaker 1: one still impending. If the wretches who had shadowed him
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  Speaker 1: were really Levy's mercenaries, and if they really had been
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  Speaker 1: taken in their own trap, their first measure of self
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  Speaker 1: defense would be the denunciation of Raffles to the real police. Such,
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  Speaker 1: at least was my idea, and Raffles himself made light
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  Speaker 1: enough of it. He thought they could not expose him
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  Speaker 1: without dragging in Levy, who had probably made it worth
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  Speaker 1: their while not to do that, on any consideration his
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  Speaker 1: magnanimity in the matter, which he flatly refused to take
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  Speaker 1: as seriously as I did, made it difficult for me
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  Speaker 1: to press old Raffles, as I otherwise might have done
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  Speaker 1: for an outline of those further plans, in which I
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  Speaker 1: hoped to atone for my blunders by being of some
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  Speaker 1: use to him. After all, his nonchalant manner convinced me
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  Speaker 1: that they were cut and dried. But I was left,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps deservedly in the dark as to the details. I
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  Speaker 1: merely gathered that he had brought down some document for
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  Speaker 1: Levy to sign in execution of the verbal agreement made
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  Speaker 1: between them and town. Not until that agreement was completed
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  Speaker 1: by his signature was the Harpy to receive the precious
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  Speaker 1: epistle he pretended never to have written. Raffles in fine
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  Speaker 1: had the air of a man who has the game
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  Speaker 1: in his hands, who was none the less prepared for
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  Speaker 1: foul play on the other side, and by no means
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  Speaker 1: perturbed at the prospect. We left the train at a
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  Speaker 1: sweet smelling platform on which the lights were being extinguished
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  Speaker 1: as we turned into a quiet road, where bats flew
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  Speaker 1: over our heads between the lamp posts, and a policeman
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  Speaker 1: was passing a disc of light over a Jersey built
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  Speaker 1: abuse of the name of Queen Anne. Our led way
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  Speaker 1: through quieter roads of larger houses, standing further back, until
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  Speaker 1: at last we came to the enemies gates. They were
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  Speaker 1: wooden gates without a lodge. Yet the house set well
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  Speaker 1: beyond them on the river's brim was a mansion of
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  Speaker 1: considerable size and still greater peculiarity. It was really two houses,
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  Speaker 1: large and small, connected by a spine of white posts
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  Speaker 1: and joists and glimmering glass. In the more substantial building,
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  Speaker 1: no lights were to be seen from the gates, but
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  Speaker 1: in the annex a large French window made a lighted
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  Speaker 1: square at right angles with the river and the road.
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  Speaker 1: We had set foot in the gravel drive, with a
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  Speaker 1: long line of poplars down one side, and on the
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  Speaker 1: other a wide lawn dotted with cedars and small shrubs.
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  Speaker 1: When Raffles strode among these with a smothered exclamation, and
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  Speaker 1: a wild figure started from the ground. What are you
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  Speaker 1: doing here? Demanded Raffles, with all the righteous austerity of
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  Speaker 1: a law abiding citizen. Nothing, sir, replied an alien tongue,
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  Speaker 1: a gleam of good teeth in the shadow of his
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  Speaker 1: great soft hat. I've been seeing mister Levy in ze
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  Speaker 1: house in zibisiness, gentlemen seen him? Have you? Then? If
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  Speaker 1: I were you, I should make a decent departure, said
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  Speaker 1: Raffles by the gate, to which he pointed with increased
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  Speaker 1: severity of tone and bearing. The weird figure uncovered a
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  Speaker 1: shaggy head of hair, made us a grotesque bow with
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  Speaker 1: his right hand, melodramatically buried in the folds of a
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  Speaker 1: voluminous cape, and stalked off in the starlight with much dignity.
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  Speaker 1: But we heard him running in the road before the
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  Speaker 1: gate had clicked behind him. Isn't that the fellow we
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  Speaker 1: saw on German Street last Thursday? I asked Raffles in
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  Speaker 1: a whisper. That's the chap, he whispered back. I wonder
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  Speaker 1: if he spotted us. Bunny Levey's treated him scandalously. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: it all came out in a torrent the other morning.
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  Speaker 1: I only hope he hasn't been serving Dan Levy as
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  Speaker 1: Jack Rudder served Old Baird. I could swear that was
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  Speaker 1: a weapon of sorts he'd got under his cloak. And
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  Speaker 1: as we stood together under the stars, listening to the
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  Speaker 1: last of the runaway footfalls, I recalled the killing of
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  Speaker 1: another and a less notorious usurer by a man we
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  Speaker 1: both knew, and had even helped a shield from the
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  Speaker 1: consequences of his crime. Yet the memory of our terrible
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  Speaker 1: discovery on that occasion had not the effect of making
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  Speaker 1: me shrink from such another now, Nor could I echo
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  Speaker 1: the hope of Raffles in my heart of hearts. If
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  Speaker 1: Dan Levee also had come to a bad end, well
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  Speaker 1: it was no more than he deserved, if only for
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  Speaker 1: his treachery to Raffles, And at any rate, it would
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  Speaker 1: put a stop to our plunging from bad to worse,
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  Speaker 1: in an adventure of which the sequel might well be
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  Speaker 1: worst of all. I do not say that I was
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  Speaker 1: wicked enough absolutely to desire the death of this sinner
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  Speaker 1: for our benefit. But I saw the benefit at least
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  Speaker 1: as plainly as the awful possibility. And it was not
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  Speaker 1: with unalloyed relief that I beheld a great figure stride
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  Speaker 1: through the lighted windows at our nearer approach. Though his
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  Speaker 1: back was to the light before I saw his face,
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  Speaker 1: and the whole man might have been hacked out of ebony.
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  Speaker 1: It was every inch the living Levee, who stood peering
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  Speaker 1: in our direction, one hand hollowed at an ear the
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  Speaker 1: other shading both eyes. Is that you boys, he croaked
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  Speaker 1: in a supulchuil salute. It depends which boys you mean,
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  Speaker 1: replied Raffles, marching into the zone of light. There are
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  Speaker 1: so many of us about to night. Levee's arms dropped
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  Speaker 1: at his sides, and I heard him mutter raffles with
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  Speaker 1: a malediction. Next moment, he was inquiring whether we had
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  Speaker 1: come down alone yet, peering past us into the velvet night.
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  Speaker 1: For his answer, I brought our friend Bunny, said Raffles.
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  Speaker 1: But that's all, then, What do you mean by saying
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  Speaker 1: there are so many of you about? I was thinking
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  Speaker 1: of the gentleman who was here just before us, here,
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  Speaker 1: just before you. Why I haven't seen a soul since
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  Speaker 1: my household went to bed. But we met the fellow
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  Speaker 1: just this minute within our gates, a little foreign devil
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  Speaker 1: with a head like a mop and a cloak of
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  Speaker 1: an operatic conspirator. That beggar, cried Levy, flying into a
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  Speaker 1: high state of excitement on the spot. That blessed little
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  Speaker 1: beggar on my tracks down here. I've had him thrown
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  Speaker 1: out of the office in Jermyn Street. He's threatened me
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  Speaker 1: by letter and telegram. So now he thinks he'll come
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  Speaker 1: and try it on me in person. Down ere seen me? Eh?
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  Speaker 1: I wish i'd seen him. I'm ready for biters like that, gentleman,
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  Speaker 1: not to be caught on the opt. Down here and
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  Speaker 1: a plaited revolver twinkled and flashed in the electric light.
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  Speaker 1: As Letty drew it from his hip pocket and flourished
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  Speaker 1: it in our faces. He would have gone prowling through
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  Speaker 1: the grounds with it if Raffles had not assured him
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  Speaker 1: that the foreign foe had fled on our arrival. As
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  Speaker 1: it was, the pistol was not put back in his pocket.
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  Speaker 1: When Levee at length conducted us in doors. He placed
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  Speaker 1: it on an occasional table beside the glass that he
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  Speaker 1: drained on entering and forthwith set his back to a fire,
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  Speaker 1: which seemed in keeping with the advanced hour, and doubly
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  Speaker 1: welcome in an apartment so vast that the billiard table
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  Speaker 1: was a mere item at one end, and sundry trophies
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  Speaker 1: of travel and the chase a far more striking and
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  Speaker 1: unforeseen feature. Why that's a better grizzly than the one
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  Speaker 1: at Lord's, exclaimed Raffles, pausing to admire a glorious fellow
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  Speaker 1: near the door while I mixed myself a drink. He
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  Speaker 1: had declined, yes, said Levy. The man that shot all
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  Speaker 1: this lot used to go about saying he'd shoot me
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  Speaker 1: at one time. But I need hardly tell you he
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  Speaker 1: gave it up as a bad job and went and
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  Speaker 1: did what some folks call a worse instead. He didn't
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  Speaker 1: get much show here. I can tell you that little
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  Speaker 1: foreign snipe won't either, nor yet any other carryin' that
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  Speaker 1: think they want my blood. I'd empty this shooter of
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  Speaker 1: mine into their in'ards as soon as look at him.
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  Speaker 1: I don't give a curse who they are. It's as
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  Speaker 1: well I wasn't brought up to your profession, eh raffles,
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  Speaker 1: I don't quite follow you, mister Levey. Oh yes you do,
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  Speaker 1: said the money lender, with his gastric chuckle. Have you
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  Speaker 1: got on with that little bit of burgling? And I
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  Speaker 1: saw him screw up his bright eyes and glance through
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  Speaker 1: the open windows into the outer darkness, as though there
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  Speaker 1: were still a hope in his mind that we had
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  Speaker 1: not come down alone. I formed the impression that Levee
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  Speaker 1: had returned by a fairly late train himself where he
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  Speaker 1: was in morning dress in dusty boots, and there was
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  Speaker 1: an abundant supply of sandwiches on the table with the drinks.
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  Speaker 1: But he seemed to have confined his own attentions to
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  Speaker 1: the bottle. And I liked to think that the sandwiches
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  Speaker 1: had been cut for the two emissaries, for whom he
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  Speaker 1: was welcome to look out for all night. How did
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  Speaker 1: you get on, he repeated, when he had given them
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  Speaker 1: up for the present for a first attempt, replied Raffles,
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  Speaker 1: without a twinkle. I don't think I've done so badly, ah,
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  Speaker 1: I keep forgetting. You're a young beginner, said Lette, catching
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  Speaker 1: the old note in his turn, A beginner who scarcely
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  Speaker 1: likely to go on, mister Levee, If all cribs are
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  Speaker 1: as easy to crack as that lawyer of yours in
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  Speaker 1: Gray's Inn square as easy, Raffles recollected his pose. It
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  Speaker 1: was enormous fun, said he. Of course, one couldn't know
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  Speaker 1: that there would be no hitch. There was an exciting
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  Speaker 1: moment towards the end. I have to thank you for
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  Speaker 1: quite a new thrill of sorts. But my dear mister Levy,
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  Speaker 1: it was as easy as ringing the bell, and being
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  Speaker 1: shown in it only took rather longer. What about, the
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  Speaker 1: caretaker asked the you ser with a curiosity no longer
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  Speaker 1: to be concealed, You obliged me by taking his wife
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  Speaker 1: to the theater at your expense. No, mister Levy, the
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  Speaker 1: item will be debited to you in due course. So
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  Speaker 1: you got in without any difficulty over the roof. And
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  Speaker 1: then I hit upon the right room, and then Raffles,
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  Speaker 1: I opened the right safe, go on man. But the
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  Speaker 1: man was only going on at his own rate, And
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  Speaker 1: the more levee pressed him, the greater his apparent reluctance
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  Speaker 1: to go on at all. Well, I found the letter,
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  Speaker 1: all right? Oh yes, I made a copy of it.
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  Speaker 1: Was it a good copy? Almost too good? If you
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  Speaker 1: asked me? Thus Raffles under increasing pressure, Well, well you
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  Speaker 1: left that one there. I suppose what happened next There
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: was no longer any masking the money lender's eagerness to
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  Speaker 1: extract the denoument of Raffles adventure that it required extracting
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  Speaker 1: must have seemed a sufficient earnest of the ultimate misadventure
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  Speaker 1: so craftily plotted by Levy himself. His great nose glowed
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  Speaker 1: with the imminence of victory. His strong lips loosened their
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  Speaker 1: habitual hold upon each other, and there was an impressionous
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  Speaker 1: daub of yellow fang between the brilliant little eyes were
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  Speaker 1: reduced to sparkling pin heads of malevolent glee. This was
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  Speaker 1: not the fighting face I knew better and despised less.
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  Speaker 1: It was the living epitome of low cunning and foul play.
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  Speaker 1: The next thing that happened, said Raffles, in his most
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  Speaker 1: leisurely manner, was a descent of bunny, like a bolt
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  Speaker 1: from the blue. Had he gone in with you? No,
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  Speaker 1: he came in after me, as bold as blazes, to
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  Speaker 1: say that a couple of common low detectives were waiting
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  Speaker 1: for me down below in the square. That was very
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  Speaker 1: kind of him, snarled Levy, pouring a murderous fire upon
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  Speaker 1: my person from his little black eyes. Kind, cried Raffles.
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  Speaker 1: It saved the whole show, it did, did it. I
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  Speaker 1: had time to dodge the limbs of the law by
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  Speaker 1: getting out another way and never letting them know that
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  Speaker 1: I had got out at all. Then you left them
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  Speaker 1: there in their glory, said Raffles, radiant in his own
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  Speaker 1: though I must confess I could not see them at
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  Speaker 1: the time. There were excellent reasons for not staving there,
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  Speaker 1: and then the delicious plate in which we had really
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  Speaker 1: left Levy's mermidans. I myself would have driven home our
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  Speaker 1: triumph and his treachery by throwing our winning cards upon
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  Speaker 1: the table and simultaneously exposing his false play. But Raffles
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  Speaker 1: was right, and I should have been wrong, as I
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  Speaker 1: was soon enough to see for myself. And you came away,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: I suppose, suggested the money lender, ironically, with my original
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  Speaker 1: letter in your pocket. Oh no, I didn't, replied Raffles,
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  Speaker 1: with a reproving shake of the head. I thought not,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: cried Levy. In a gust of exultation. I came away,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: said Raffles, if you'll pardon the correction with a letter
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  Speaker 1: you never ramp of writing. Mister Levy, the jew turned
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  Speaker 1: a deeper shade of yellow, but he had the wisdom
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  Speaker 1: and the self control otherwise to ignore the point against him.
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  Speaker 1: You'd better let me see it, said he, and flung
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  Speaker 1: out his open hand with a gesture of authority, which
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  Speaker 1: it took a Raffles to resist. Levy was still standing
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  Speaker 1: with his back to the fire, and I was at
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  Speaker 1: his feet in a saddle bag chair, with my yellow
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  Speaker 1: beaker on the table at my elbow. But Raffles remained
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  Speaker 1: aloof upon his legs, and he withdrew still further from
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  Speaker 1: the fire as he unfolded a large sheet of office
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  Speaker 1: paper stamped with the notorious address in Jermyn Street, and
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  Speaker 1: displayed it on high like a phylactry. You may see
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: by all means, mister Levy, said Raffles, with a slight
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: but sufficient emphasis on his verb. But I'm not to touch,
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  Speaker 1: is that it? I'm afraid I must ask you to
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: look first, said Raffles, smiling. I should suggest, however, that
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: you exercised the same caution in showing me that pair
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  Speaker 1: of your quid pro quo, which you have doubtless in readiness.
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  Speaker 1: The other part is in my pocket, ready for you
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  Speaker 1: to sign, and after that the three little papers can
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: change hands simultaneously. Nothing could have excelled the firmness of
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: this intimation, except the aggravating delicacy with which it was conveyed.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: I saw Levee clench and unclench, his great fists, and
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: his canine jaw working protuberantly as he ground his teeth,
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  Speaker 1: But not a word escaped him, and I was admiring
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  Speaker 1: the monster's self control, when of a sudden he swooped
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  Speaker 1: upon the table at my side, completely filled his empty
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  Speaker 1: glass with neat whisky, and spluttering and blinking from an
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  Speaker 1: enormous gulp, made a lurch for Raffles, with his drink
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  Speaker 1: in one hand and his plated pistol in the other.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Now I'll have a look, he hiccuped, And a good look,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: unless you want a lump of lead in your liver.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Raffles awaited his uncertain advance with a contemptuous smile. You're
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: not such a fool as all that, mister Levy, drunk
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: or sober, said he. But his eye was on the
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: waving weapon, and so was mine, and I was wondering
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: how a man could have got so very suddenly drunk,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: when the nobbler of crude spirit was hurled with most
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: sober aim glass and all full in the face of Raffles,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: and the letter plucked from his grasp and flung upon
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: the fire, while Raffles was still wreathing in his blindness,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: and before I had struggled to my feet, Raffles, for
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: the moment, was absolutely blinded. As I say, his face
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: was streaming with blood and whisky, and the Prince of
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Traitors already crowing over his vile handiwork. But that was
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: only for a moment too. The Blackguard had been fool
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: enough to turn his back on me, and first jumping
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: upon my chair, I sprang upon him like any leopard,
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  Speaker 1: and brought him down with my ten fingers in his neck,
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  Speaker 1: and such a crack on the parquet with his skull
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: as left it a dead weight on my hands. I
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: remember the rasping of his bristles as I disengaged my
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: fingers and let the leaden head fall back. It fell
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: sideways now, and if it had but looked less dead,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I believe I should have stamped the life out of
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: the reptile on the spot. I know that I rose
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: exultant from my deed, and of Chapter thirteen,