John Kendrick Bangs

Mrs. Raffles Illustrated John Kendrick Bangs

This is one of two short story collections as sequels to the Raffles books by E. W. Hornung. THE ADVENTURE OF THE HERALD PERSONAL. That I was in a hard case is best attested by thefact that when I had paid for my Sunday Herald there was leftin my purse just one tuppence-ha'penny stamp and two copper cents, one dated 1873, the other 1894. The mere incident that at this houreighteen months later I can recall the dates of these coins should beproof, if any were needed, of the importance of the coppers in myeyes, and therefore of the relative scarcity of funds in mypossession. Raffles was dead-killed as you may remember at thebattle of Spion Kop-and I, his companion, who had never known wantwhile his deft fingers were able to carry out the plans of thatinsinuating and marvellous mind of his, was now, in the vernacular ofthe American, up against it. I had come to the United States, notbecause I had any liking for that country or its people, who, to tellthe truth, are too sharp for an ordinary burglar like myself, butbecause with the war at an end I had to go somewhere, and Englishsoil was not safely to be trod by one who was required forprofessional reasons to evade the eagle eye of Scotland Yard untilthe Statute of Limitations began to have some bearing upon his case. That last affair of Raffles and mine, wherein we had successfully gotaway with the diamond stomacher of the duchess of Herringdale, wasstill a live matter in British detective circles, and the veryaudacity of the crime had definitely fastened the responsibility forit upon our shoulders. Hence it was America for me, where one couldbe as English as one pleased without being subject to the laws of hisMajesty, King Edward VII