"
"I was staying there at the time," said Raffles eagerly. No snob
was ever quicker to boast of basking in the smile of the great.
"We believe it to be the same man," said Lord Thornaby, speaking
apparently for the Criminologists' Club, and with much less severity
of voice.
"I only wish I could come across him," continued Raffles heartily.
"He's a criminal much more to my mind than your murderers who swear
on the drop or talk cricket in the condemned cell!"
"He might be in the house now," said Lord Thornaby, looking Raffles
in the face. But his manner was that of an actor in an unconvincing
part and a mood to play it gamely to the bitter end; and he seemed
embittered, as even a rich man may be in the moment of losing a bet.
"What a joke if he were!" cried the Wild West writer.
"Absit omen!" murmured Raffles, in better taste.
"Still, I think you'll find it's a favorite time," argued Kingsmill,
Q.C. "And it would be quite in keeping with the character of this
man, so far as it is known, to pay a little visit to the president
of the Criminologists' Club, and to choose the evening on which he
happens to be entertaining the other members.
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