"Very well, Bunny! That's finished; but your blood be on your own
pate if evil comes of it. Meanwhile we can't do better than turn
in here till you have finished your cigar as it deserves, and topped
up with such a cup of tea as you must learn to like if you hope to
get on in your new profession. And when the hours are small enough,
Bunny, my boy, I don't mind admitting I shall be very glad to have
you with me."

I have a vivid memory of the interim in his rooms. I think it must
have been the first and last of its kind that I was called upon to
sustain with so much knowledge of what lay before me. I passed the
time with one restless eye upon the clock, and the other on the
Tantalus which Raffles ruthlessly declined to unlock. He admitted
that it was like waiting with one's pads on; and in my slender
experience of the game of which he was a world's master, that was
an ordeal not to be endured without a general quaking of the inner
man. I was, on the other hand, all right when I got to the
metaphorical wicket; and half the surprises that Raffles sprung on
me were doubtless due to his early recognition of the fact.

On this occasion I fell swiftly and hopelessly out of love with the
prospect I had so gratuitously embraced. It was not only my
repugnance to enter that house in that way, which grew upon my
better judgment as the artificial enthusiasm of the evening
evaporated from my veins. Strong as that repugnance became, I had
an even stronger feeling that we were embarking on an important
enterprise far too much upon the spur of the moment. The latter
qualm I had the temerity to confess to Raffles; nor have I often
loved him more than when he freely admitted it to be the most natural