and he pushed softly past me in his turn.

"I'll get a light," he muttered as he went; but to let him pass I
had leaned against some electric switches, and while 'his back was
turned I tried one of these without thinking. In an instant hall
and staircase were flooded with light; in another Raffles was upon
me in a fury, and, all. was dark once more. He had not said a word,
but I heard him breathing through his teeth.

Nor was there anything to tell me now. The mere flash of electric
light upon a hail of chaos and uncarpeted stairs, and on the face
of Raffles as he sprang to switch it off, had been enough even
for me.

"So this is how you have taken the house," said I in his own
undertone. "'Taken' is good; 'taken' is beautiful!"

"Did you think I'd done it through an agent?" he snarled. "Upon my
word, Bunny, I did you the credit of supposing you saw the joke all.
the time!"

"Why shouldn't you take a house," I asked, "and pay for it?"

"Why should I," he retorted, "within three miles of the Albany?
Besides, I should have had no peace; and I meant every word I said
about my Rest Cure."

"You are actually staying in a house where you've broken in to
steal?"