I must
have looked in the glass to array myself as I did; but the mind's
eye was the seeing eye, and it was filled with this frightful
vision of the notorious pugilist known to fame and infamy as Barney
Maguire.
It was only the week before that Raffles and I had been introduced
to him at the Imperial Boxing Club. Heavy-weight champion of the
United States, the fellow was still drunk with his sanguinary
triumphs on that side, and clamoring for fresh conquests on ours.
But his reputation had crossed the Atlantic before Maguire himself;
the grandiose hotels had closed their doors to him; and he had
already taken and sumptuously furnished the house in Half-moon
Street which does not re-let to this day. Raffles had made friends
with the magnificent brute, while I took timid stock of his diamond
studs, his jewelled watch-chain, his eighteen-carat bangle, and his
six-inch lower jaw. I had shuddered to see Raffles admiring the
gewgaws in his turn, in his own brazen fashion, with that air of
the cool connoisseur which had its double meaning for me. I for my
part would as lief have looked a tiger in the teeth.
Pages:
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215