The square shall be nameless, but if you drive due west from Piccadilly
the cab-man will eventually find it on his left, and he ought to thank
you for two shillings. It is not a fashionable square, but there are
few with a finer garden, while the studios on the south side lend
distinction of another sort. The houses, however, are small and dingy,
and about the last to attract the expert practitioner in search of a
crib. Heaven knows it was with no such thought I trailed Raffles
thither, one unlucky evening at the latter end of that same season,
when Dr. Theobald had at last insisted upon the bath-chair which I had
foreseen in the beginning. Trees whispered in the green garden
aforesaid, and the cool, smooth lawns looked so inviting that I
wondered whether some philanthropic resident could not be induced to
lend us the key. But Raffles would not listen to the suggestion, when I
stopped to make it, and what was worse, I found him looking wistfully
at the little houses instead.
“Such balconies, Bunny! A leg up, and there you would be!”
I expressed a conviction that there would be nothing worth taking in
the square, but took care to have him under way again as I spoke.
“I daresay you’re right,” sighed Raffles. “Rings and watches, I
suppose, but it would be hard luck to take them from people who live in
houses like these. I don’t know, though. Here’s one with an extra
story. Stop, Bunny; if you don’t stop I’ll hold on to the railings!
This is a good house; look at the knocker and the electric bell.
They’ve had that put in. There’s some money here, my rabbit! I dare bet
there’s a silver-table in the drawing-room; and the windows are wide
open. Electric light, too, by Jove!”
Since stop I must, I had done so on the other side of the road, in the
shadow of the leafy palings, and as Raffles spoke the ground floor
windows opposite had flown alight, showing as pretty a little
dinner-table as one could wish to see, with a man at his wine at the
far end, and the back of a lady in evening dress toward us. It was like
a lantern-picture thrown upon a screen. There were only the pair of
them, but the table was brilliant with silver and gay with flowers, and
the maid waited with the indefinable air of a good servant. It
certainly seemed a good house.
“She’s going to let down the blind!” whispered Raffles, in high
excitement. “No, confound them, they’ve told her not to. Mark down her
necklace, Bunny, and invoice his stud. What a brute he looks! But I
like the table, and that’s her show. She has the taste; but he must
have money. See the festive picture over the sideboard? Looks to me
like a Jacques Saillard. But that silver-table would be good enough for
me.”
“Get on,” said I. “You’re in a bath-chair.”
“But the whole square’s at dinner! We should have the ball at our feet.
It wouldn’t take two twos!”
“With those blinds up, and the cook in the kitchen underneath?”
He nodded, leaning forward in the chair, his hands upon the wraps about
his legs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account