“Everything,” said Raffles. “Lord Ernest has been a wanderer these
twenty years. Texas, Fiji, Australia. I suspect him of wives and
families in all three. But his manners are a liberal education. He gave
me some beautiful whiskey, and forgot all about his fad. He is strong
and subtle, but I talked him off his guard. He is going to the
Kirkleathams’ to-night—I saw the card stuck up. I stuck some wax into
his keyhole as he was switching off the lights.”
And, with an eye upon the waiters, Raffles showed me a skeleton key,
newly twisted and filed; but my share of the extra pint (I am afraid no
fair share) had made me dense. I looked from the key to Raffles with
puckered forehead—for I happened to catch sight of it in the mirror
behind him.
“The Dowager Lady Kirkleatham,” he whispered, “has diamonds as big as
beans, and likes to have ’em all on—and goes to bed early—and happens
to be in town!”
And now I saw.
“The villain means to get them from her!”
“And I mean to get them from the villain,” said Raffles; “or, rather,
your share and mine.”
“Will he consent to a partnership?”
“We shall have him at our mercy. He daren’t refuse.”
Raffles’s plan was to gain access to Lord Ernest’s rooms before
midnight; there we were to lie in wait for the aristocratic rascal, and
if I left all details to Raffles, and simply stood by in case of a
rumpus, I should be playing my part and earning my share. It was a part
that I had played before, not always with a good grace, though there
had never been any question about the share. But to-night I was nothing
loath. I had had just champagne enough—how Raffles knew my measure!—and
I was ready and eager for anything. Indeed, I did not wish to wait for
the coffee, which was to be especially strong by order of Raffles. But
on that he insisted, and it was between ten and eleven when at last we
were in our cab.
“It would be fatal to be too early,” he said as we drove; “on the other
hand, it would be dangerous to leave it too late. One must risk
something. How I should love to drive down Piccadilly and see the
lights! But unnecessary risks are another story.”