cy; he trusted me. He knew my weakness
and my strength, and was playing on both with his master's touch.

"Not so fast," said I. "Did I put this into your head, or were you
going to do it in any case?"

"Not in any case," said Raffles. "It's true I've had the key for days,
but when I won to-night I thought of chucking it; for, as a matter of
fact, it's not a one-man job."

"That settles it. I'm your man."

"You mean it?"

"Yes--for to-night."

"Good old Bunny," he murmured, holding the lantern for one moment to my
face; the next he was explaining his plans, and I was nodding, as
though we had been fellow-cracksmen all our days.

"I know the shop," he whispered, "because I've got a few things there.
I know this upper part too; it's been to let for a month, and I got an
order to view, and took a cast of the key before using it. The one
thing I don't know is how to make a connection between the two; at
present there's none. We may make it up here, though I rather fancy the
basement myself. If you wait a minute I'll tell you."

He set his lantern on the floor, crept to a back window, and opened it
with scarcely a sound: only to return, shaking his head, after shutting
the window with the same care.

"That was our one chance," said he; "a back window above a back window;
but it's too dark to see anything, and we daren't show an outside
light. Come down after me to the basement; and remember, though there's
not a soul on the premises, you can't make too little noise.
There--there--listen to that!"

It was the measured tread that we had heard before on the flagstones
outside. Raffles darkened his lantern, and again we stood motionless
till it had passed.

"Either a policeman," he muttered, "or a watchman that all these
jewellers run between them. The watchman's the man for us to watch;
he's simply paid to spot this kind of thing."

We crept very gingerly down the stairs, which creaked a bit in spite of
us, and we picked up our shoes in the passage; then down some narrow
stone steps, at the foot of which Raffles showed his light, and put on
his shoes once more, bidding me do the same in a rather louder tone
than he had permitted himself to employ overhead. We were now
considerably below the level of the street, in a small space with as
many doors as it had sides. Three were ajar, and we saw through them
into empty cellars; but in the fourth a key was turned and a bolt
drawn; and this one presently let us