-es."

"At the Albany?"

"No, no; at Maguire's."

"You never said so. And where's Maguire?"

"In Half-moon Street."

"I know that. Is he there now?"

"No--not come in yet--and I'm caught."

"Caught!"

"In that trap he bragged about. It serves me right. I didn't believe
in it. But I'm caught at last ... caught ... at last!"

"When he told us he set it every night! Oh, Raffles, what sort of a
trap is it? What shall I do? What shall I bring?"

But his voice had grown fainter and wearier with every answer, and now
there was no answer at all. Again and again I asked Raffles if he was
there; the only sound to reach me in reply was the low metallic hum of
the live wire between his ear and mine. And then, as I sat gazing
distractedly at my four safe walls, with the receiver still pressed to
my head, there came a single groan, followed by the dull and dreadful
crash of a human body falling in a heap.

In utter panic I rushed back into my bedroom, and flung myself into the
crumpled shirt and evening clothes that lay where I had cast them off.
But I knew no more what I was doing than what to do next I afterward
found that I had taken out a fresh tie, and tied it rather better than
usual; but I can remember thinking of nothing but Raffles in some
diabolical man-trap, and of a grinning monster stealing in to strike
him senseless with one murderous blow. I must have looked in the glass
to array myself as I did; but the mind's eye was the seeing eye, and it
was filled with this frightful vision of the notorious pugilist known
to fame and infamy as Barney Maguire.

It was only the week before that Raffles and I had been introduced to
him at the Imperial Boxing Club. Heavy-weight champion of the United
States, the fellow was still drunk with his sanguinary triumphs on that
side, and clamoring for fresh conquests on ours. But his reputation had
crossed the Atlantic before Maguire himself; the grandiose hotels had
closed their doors to him; and he had already taken and sumptuously
furnished the house in Half-moon Street which does not re-let to this
day. Raffles had made friends with the magnificent brute, while I took
timid stock of his diamond studs, his jewelled watch-chain, his
eighteen-carat bangle, and his six-inch lower jaw. I had shuddered to
see Raffles admiring the gewgaws in his turn, in his own brazen
fashion, with that air of the cool connoisseur which had its double
meaning for me. I for my par