feeling in the world. He assured me, however, that he had had my
Lady Lochmaben and her jewels in his mind for several months; he had
sat behind them at first nights; and long ago determined what to
take or to reject; in fine, he had only been waiting for those
topographical details which it had been my chance privilege to
supply. I now learned that he had numerous houses in a similar
state upon his list; something or other was wanting in each case in
order to complete his plans. In that of the Bond Street jeweller
it was a trusty accomplice; in the present instance, a more intimate
knowledge of the house. And lastly, this was a Wednesday night,
when the tired legislator gets early to his bed.

How I wish I could make the whole world see and hear him, and smell
the smoke of his beloved Sullivan, as he took me into these, the
secrets of his infamous trade! Neither look nor language would
betray the infamy. As a mere talker, I shall never listen to the
like of Raffles on this side of the sod; and his talk was seldom
garnished by an oath, never in my remembrance by the unclean word.
Then he looked like a man who had dressed to dine out, not like
one who had long since dined; for his curly hair, though longer that
another's, was never untidy in its length; and these were the days
when it was still as black as ink. Nor were there many lines as yet
upon the smooth and mobile face; and its frame was still that dear
den of disorder and good taste, with the carved book-case, the
dresser and chests of still older oak, and the Wattses and Rossettis
hung anyhow on the walls.

It must have been one o'clock before we drove in a hansom as far as
Kensington Church, instead of getting down at the gates of our
private road to ruin. Constitutionally shy of the direct approach,