But she never gave us a glance, and we
saw her turn safely in the right direction for Earl's Court, and
the wrong one for our humble mansions. Raffles thanked his gods
in a voice that trembled, and five minutes later we were in the
flat. Then for once it was Raffles who filled the tumblers and
found the cigarettes, and for once (and once only in all my
knowledge of him) did he drain his glass at a draught.
"You didn't see the balcony scene?" he asked at length; and they
were his first words since the woman passed us on his track.
"Do you mean when she came in?"
"No, when I came down."
"I didn't."
"I hope nobody else saw it," said Raffles devoutly. "I don't say
that Romeo and Juliet were brother and sister to us. But you
might have said so, Bunny!"
He was staring at the carpet with as wry a face as lover ever
wore.
"An old flame?" said I, gently.
"A married woman," he groaned.
"So I gathered."
"But she always was one, Bunny," said he, ruefully. "That's the
trouble. It makes all the difference in the world!"
I saw the difference, but said I did not see how it could make
any now. He had eluded the lady, after all; had we not seen her
off upon a scent as false as scent could be? There was occasion
for redoubled caution in the future, but none for immediate
anxiety. I quoted the bedside Theobald, but Raffles did not
smile. His eyes had been downcast all this time, and now, when
he raised them, I perceived that my comfort had been
administered to deaf ears.
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