they realized enough for me to join Raffles on his deferred holiday
in Scotland, besides enabling him to play more regularly for
Middlesex in the ensuing summer than had been the case for several
seasons. In fine, this particular exploit entirely justified itself
in my eyes, in spite of the superfluous (but invariable)
secretiveness which I could seldom help resenting in my heart I
never thought less of it than in the present instance; and my one
mild reproach was on the subject of the phantom Crawshay.

"You let me think he was in the air again," I said. "But it wouldn't
surprise me to find that you had never heard of him since the day of
his escape through your window."

"I never even thought of him, Bunny, until you came to see me the
day before yesterday, and put him into my head with your first words.
The whole point was to make you as genuinely anxious about the plate
as you must have seemed all. along the line."

"Of course I see your point," I rejoined; "but mine is that you
labored it. You needn't have written me a downright lie about the
fellow."

"Nor did I, Bunny."

"Not about the 'prince of professors' being 'in the offing' when
you left?"

"My dear Bunny, but so he was!" cried Raffles. "Time was when I
was none too pure an amateur. But after this I take leave to
consider myself a professor of the professors. And I should like