The San Francisco call., 1905-06-18

Copyright. 1893. by Charles Sc1ibners
Sons)
~EAT night he told me the story OF
his earliest crime. Not since the
fsteful morning OF the Ides OF
March. when he had just men
toned il as an unreported Incl
dent OF q certain cricket tour, had L
succeeded in getting word out Of Raj
hes on the subject IL was not for want
Of trz.rg; he would shake his head and
watch his cigarette smoke thoughtfully
8 subtle look in his eyes, half cynical,
half wissfui. as though the decent, hon
est Gays that were no more had had their
merits after ali. Rafles would plan a
fresh enormity or glory in the last with
the unmiJigated enthusiasm Of the artist
1t was impossible to imagine one throb or
twitter Of compunction beneath those
frankly egoistic and infectious transports.
And yet the ghost Of dead remorse
seemed stiIl to visit him with the memory
Of his first felony. so that / had given
the story UP long before the night of our
return from Winchester. Cricket, how
ever, was in the air, and Raffies' cricket
bag back where he sometimes kept il, IN
The fender. with the remains Of an Orient
label stiu adhering TO the leather. Ny
ewes had been on this label for some time,
and / suppose his eyes had been on mine,
f5r all at once he asked me if 1 still
burned to hear that yarn.
ITS no use" replied. You won't spin
it. I must imagine it for myself"
How can you?"
''Oh. 1 begin to know your methods"
nil
open, as I do now. eh?"
Il can't imagine your doing otherwise"
my dear Bunny, 1t was the most un-
premeditated thing I ever did in my life" !"
His chair wheeled back into the books
as he sprang up with sudden energy.
There was quite an indignant glitter in
his eyes.
y can't believe that." said 1 crafty. Il
can't pay you such a poor compliment"
Then you must be a fool
He broke off stared hard at me, and in
q trice stood smiling IN his own despite.
"Or better knaye than 1 thought you,
Bunny, and by Jove it's the knave! Well
I suppose I'm fairly drawn; / give you
best. as they say out there. As matter
Of fact I've been thinking of the thing
cNlAr Adct AltS. 80 AeANfNNA ANAH---NS ---S
il in one or two respects. tell you what,
though tnis is an occasion in any case,
and I'm going to celebrate it by breaking
the one good rule Of my life. I'm going
20 have a second drink.''
The whisky tinkled. the siphon
fixed, the ice plopped home; and seat
ed there in his pajamas. with the inev-
liable cigarette, Raffies told me the
story that / had given up hoping 10
hear. The windows were wide open;
the sounds Of PiccadiIly fioated in at
first Long before he finished the last
wheels had ratified. the last brawler
was removed, we alone broke the quiet
Of the summer night
80 No, they do you very well
indeed. You pay for nothing but
drinks. so TO speak but I'm afraid mine
were Of a comprehensive character.
had started in z hole. ought to have
refused the invitation: then we all
went TO the Melbourne Cup. and 1 had
the certain winner that didn't win. and
that's not the only way you can play
the fool ia Melbourne. l wasn't the
steady old stager am now, Bunny; my
analysis was confession in itself But
the others didn't know how hard UP
was, and ] swore they shouldn't
tried the Jews. but they're extra fly
out there. Then ! thought Of kins-
man of sorts. second cousin of my
fathers whom none of US knew any
thing about. except that he was sup
posed to be in one or other OF the col
onies II he was rich man, well and
IL
would be no harm done. I tried to get
on his tracks. and as luck would have
it. I succeeded COR thought 1 had) at
the very moment when / happened to
have a few days to myself. l was cut
over the hand just before the big
Christmas match and couldn't have
bowled a ball if they had played me.
The surgeon who fixed me up hap
pened to ask me if ] was any relation
of Raffies of the National Bank. and
the pure luck of IL almost took my
breath away. A relation who was a
high official IN one of the banks. who
would finance me on my mere name
could anything be better? 1 made up
my mind that this Raffies was the man
1 wanted and was awfully sold to find
next InOultlll liicA bC hoEA I a AAtl OA-
dcial at ALL Nor had the doctor so
much as met hIm, but had merely read
OF him in connection with a small SEN
sation at the suburban branch which
my namesake managed: an armed rob-
Der had been rather pluckily beaten
off. with a bullet in him, by this Raf-
hes; and the sort OF thing was so COM
mon out there that this was the first
had heard~of it! A suburban branch
my fnancier had faded into some ex-
cellent fellow with billet to lose IL
he called his soul his own. Still man
ager was manager, and said would
soon see whether this wss the relative
I was looking for. IL he would be good
enough TO give me the name of that
branch.
~Ill do more says the doctor. I'll