o the stables. Not that I ever set foot in the grounds from
the day we left; but for some years I used to visit old friends in the
neighborhood, and could never resist the temptation to reconnoitre the
scenes of my childhood. And so far as could be seen from the
road--which it stood too near--the house itself appeared to be the one
thing that the horsey purchaser had left much as he found it.

My only other excuse may be none at all in any eyes but mine. It was
my passionate desire at this period to "keep up my end" with Raffles
in every department of the game felonious. He would insist upon an
equal division of all proceeds; it was for me to earn my share. So far
I had been useful only at a pinch; the whole credit of any real
success belonged invariably to Raffles. It had always been his idea.
That was the tradition which I sought to end, and no means could
compare with that of my unscrupulous choice. There was the one house
in England of which I knew every inch, and Raffles only what I told
him. For once I must lead, and Raffles follow, whether he liked it or
not. He saw that himself; and I think he liked it better than he liked
me for the desecration in view; but I had hardened my heart, and his
feelings were too fine for actual remonstrance on such a point.

I, in my obduracy, went to foul extremes. I drew plans of all the
floors from memory. I actually descended upon my friends in the
neighborhood, with the sole object of obtaining snapshots over our own
old garden wall. Even Raffles could not keep his eyebrows down when I
showed him the prints one morning in the Albany. But he confined his
open criticisms to the house.

"Built in the late 'sixties, I see," said Raffles, "or else very early
in the 'seventies."

"Exactly when it was built," I replied. "But that's worthy of a
sixpenny detective, Raffles! How on earth did you know?"

"That slate tower bang over the porch, with the dormer windows and the
iron railing and flag-staff atop makes us a present of the period. You
see them on almost every house of a certain size built about thirty
years ago. They are quite the most useless excrescences I know."

"Ours wasn't," I answered, with some warmth. "It was my _sanctum
sanctorum_ in the holidays. I smoked my first pipe up there, and wrote
my first verses!"

Raffles laid a kindly hand upon my shoulder.

"Bunny, Bunny, you can rob the old place, and yet you can't hear a
word against it!"

"That's different," s