A failure
would have been in better taste; it would have shown at least some
imagination, some anxiety on one's account I did not reflect that
even Raffles could scarcely be expected to picture me in my cups
with the son of the house that I had come to rob; chatting with him,
ministering to him; admiring his cheery courage, and honestly
attempting to lighten his load! Truly it was an infernal position:
how could I rob him or his after this? And yet I had thrust myself
into it; and Raffles would never, never understand!
Even that was not the worst. I was not quite sure that young
Medlicott was sure of me. I had feared this from the beginning,
and now (over the second glass that could not possibly affect a
man in his condition) he practically admitted as much to me.
Asthma was such a funny thing (he insisted) that it would not
worry him a bit to discover that I had come to take the presents
instead of to take care of them! I showed a sufficiently faint
appreciation of the jest. And it was presently punished as it
deserved, by the most violent paroxysm that had seized the sufferer
yet: the fight for breath became faster and more furious, and the
former weapons of no more avail.
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