fter
his mean old heart: blackmail from me, bribes from the police, the one
bidding against the other; but he sha'n't play it with me, he sha'n't
live to, and the world will have an extortioner the less. Waiter! Two
Scotch whiskeys and sodas. I'm off at eleven, Bunny; it's the only
thing to be done."

"You know where he lives, then?"

"Yes, out Willesden way, and alone; the fellow's a miser among other
things. I long ago found out all about him."

Again I looked round the room; it was a young man's club, and young men
were laughing, chatting, smoking, drinking, on every hand. One nodded
to me through the smoke. Like a machine I nodded to him, and turned
back to Raffles with a groan.

"Surely you will give him a chance!" I urged. "The very sight of your
pistol should bring him to terms."

"It wouldn't make him keep them."

"But you might try the effect?"

"I probably shall. Here's a drink for you, Bunny. Wish me luck."

"I'm coming too."

"I don't want you."

"But I must come!"

An ugly gleam shot from the steel blue eyes.

"To interfere?" said Raffles.

"Not I."

"You give me your word?"

"I do."

"Bunny, if you break it--"

"You may shoot me, too!"

"I most certainly should," said Raffles, solemnly. "So you come at your
own peril, my dear man; but, if you are coming--well, the sooner the
better, for I must stop at my rooms on the way."

Five minutes later I was waiting for him at the Piccadilly entrance to
the Albany. I had a reason for remaining outside. It was the
feeling--half hope, half fear--that Angus Baird might still be on our
trail--that some more immediate and less cold-blooded way of dealing
with him might result from a sudden encounter between the money-lender
and myself. I would not warn him of his danger; but I would avert
tragedy at all costs. And when no such encounter had taken place, and
Raffles and I were fairly on our way to Willesden, that, I think, was
still my honest resolve. I would not break my word if I could help it,
but it was a comfort to feel that I could break it if I liked, on an
understood penalty. Alas! I fear my good intentions were tainted with
a devouring curiosity, and overlaid by the fascination which goes hand
in hand with horror.

I have a poignant recollection of the hour it took us to reach the
house. We walked across St. James's Park (I can see the lights now,
bright on the bridge and blurred in the water), and we had some minutes