“Give me time to put some things together? Pair of pyjamas and
tooth-brush, don’t you know?”
“I cannot give you many minutes, my lord, but I don’t want to cause a
disturbance here, so I’ll tell them to call a cab if you like. But I
shall be back in a minute, and you must be ready in five. Here,
inspector, you’d better keep this while I am gone.”
And I was left alone with that dangerous criminal! Raffles nipped my
arm as he handed me the revolver, but I got small comfort out of that.
“‘Sea-green Incorruptible?’” inquired Lord Ernest as we stood face to
face.
“You don’t corrupt me,” I replied through naked teeth.
“Then come into my room. I’ll lead the way. Think you can hit me if I
misbehave?”
I put the bed between us without a second’s delay. My prisoner flung a
suit-case upon it, and tossed things into it with a dejected air;
suddenly, as he was fitting them in, without raising his head (which I
was watching), his right hand closed over the barrel with which I
covered him.
“You’d better not shoot,” he said, a knee upon his side of the bed; “if
you do it may be as bad for you as it will be for me!”