The Spoils of Sacrilege

Last updated

The Spoils of Sacrilege
by E. W. Hornung
The Spoils of Sacrilege by Cyrus Cuneo 1.jpg
1905 Pall Mall illustration by Cyrus Cuneo
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series A. J. Raffles
Genre(s) Crime fiction
Publisher Pall Mall Magazine
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateAugust 1905
Preceded by"A Trap to Catch a Cracksman"
Followed by"The Raffles Relics"

"The Spoils of Sacrilege" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was published in August 1905 by Pall Mall Magazine in London. [1] The story was also included as the seventh story in the collection A Thief in the Night , published by Chatto & Windus in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1905. [2]

Contents

Plot

Bunny, wanting to demonstrate his own worthiness to Raffles, proposes they burgle his childhood home, now owned by a rich man named Guillemard who has altered the property to accommodate stables of horses, in Horsham. Bunny visits old friends in order to take photographs of the place and show them to Raffles. Bunny suggests they try for Guillemard's bedroom on the night when Guillemard will celebrate a horse race by hosting a dinner-party. Raffles prepares himself and his tools for the job, but on the understanding that Bunny will lead.

On the night of the dinner-party, Raffles and Bunny meet near the house. They sneak through the garden, and observe that all the house's inhabitants are in the dining room. They use Raffles's rope-ladder to ascend to the balcony of Bunny's old room, and proceed to the main bedroom. Raffles jams the door with wedge and gimlet, and Bunny draws the bolt on the connected dressing room's outer door. Bunny lowers the rope-ladder from the bedroom window, to prepare a way of escape. Raffles rifles the bedroom, but finds nothing of value.

In the dressing room, Raffles is encouraged by the presence of the door's bolt. While he jimmies open a chest, Bunny wanders back to the bedroom, in time to see the rope-ladder be removed from below. Alarmed, Bunny retreats and tells Raffles. They pocket some jewel cases, and Raffles follows Bunny out the bedroom door. They are spotted by Guillemard and other men climbing the stairs. Raffles and Bunny hurry through the hallway and upstairs, into a room underneath the house's tower. They climb the stepladder and shut the trapdoor, hitting Guillemard.

They stand on the trapdoor until Raffles screws it closed with gimlets. Through the tower's one window with a view of the house's roof, they see a man climbing through a skylight. Raffles fires his revolver to scare the man off. With no other course, Raffles shimmies down the perilously thin wire of a lightning rod, and Bunny follows. They descend safely to ground and take shelter in a small boathouse on a tiny lake in the backyard, hoping the place will be overlooked by their pursuers.

Soon, however, they realize that their pursuers have inexplicably given up the chase. Wordlessly, Raffles creeps away, but doesn't return. Bunny waits anxiously for hours, until Raffles returns with stolen riding-clothes. They leave, taking a train and several cabs home.

"Sorry I've been so long, Bunny, but we should never have got away as we were; this riding-suit makes a new man of me, on top of my own, and here's a youth's kit that should do you down to the ground."

— Raffles returns after his second, solitary break-in [3]

At the Albany, after Raffles says that the jewel cases he took were unfortunately empty, Bunny admits that his own were full, but that he left them in the tower out of guilt for robbing his childhood home. Yet Raffles declares that he had seen the house's inhabitants gloating merrily over Bunny's forfeited plunder. Raffles shows the jewelry to Bunny. He promises to relay to Bunny the full story of his second break-in at a Turkish bath.

Adaptations

The story was adapted as the third episode of the Raffles television series, with Anthony Valentine as A. J. Raffles and Christopher Strauli as Bunny Manders. The episode, titled "Spoils of Sacrilege", first aired on 11 March 1977.

BBC Radio did not adapt "The Spoils of Sacrilege" for an episode as part of its series of adaptations for the Raffles stories. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Raffles</i> (TV series) 1977 British television series

Raffles is a 1977 television series adapted from the A. J. Raffles stories by E. W. Hornung. The stories were adapted by Philip Mackie.

<i>Mr. Justice Raffles</i>

Mr. Justice Raffles is a 1909 novel written by E.W. Hornung. It featured his popular character A. J. Raffles a well-known cricketer and gentleman thief. It was the fourth and last in his four Raffles books which had begun with The Amateur Cracksman in 1899. The novel was published in the UK by Smith, Elder & Co., London, and in the US by Scribner's, New York.

Bunny Manders Fictional companion to AJ Raffles

Harry Manders is a fictional character in the popular series of Raffles stories by E. W. Hornung. He is the companion of A. J. Raffles, a cricketer and gentleman thief, who makes a living robbing the rich in late Victorian British High Society.

<i>A Thief in the Night</i> (short story collection)

A Thief in the Night is a 1905 collection of short stories by E. W. Hornung. It was published in the UK by Chatto & Windus, London, and in the US by Scribner's, New York.

A Trap to Catch a Cracksman

"A Trap to Catch a Cracksman" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was published in July 1905 by Pall Mall Magazine in London. The story was also included as the seventh story in the collection A Thief in the Night, published by Chatto & Windus in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1905.

The Raffles Relics

"The Raffles Relics" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was published in September 1905 by Pall Mall Magazine in London. The story was also included as the eighth story in the collection A Thief in the Night, published by Chatto & Windus in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1905.

The Criminologists Club Short story by E.W. Hornung

"The Criminologists' Club" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was published in March 1905 by Collier's Weekly in New York, and in April 1905 by Pall Mall Magazine in London. It was also included as the fourth story in the collection A Thief in the Night, published by Chatto & Windus in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1905.

A. J. Raffles (character) Character in the works of E. W. Hornung

Arthur J. Raffles is a fictional character created in 1898 by E. W. Hornung, brother-in-law of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Raffles is, in many ways, an inversion of Holmes – he is a "gentleman thief", living at the Albany, a prestigious address in London, playing cricket as a gentleman for the Gentlemen of England and supporting himself by carrying out ingenious burglaries. He is called the "Amateur Cracksman" and often, at first, differentiates between him and the "professors" – professional criminals from the lower classes.

The Ides of March (short story)

"The Ides of March" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and the first appearance of the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was first published in June 1898 by Cassell's Magazine. The story was also included in the collection The Amateur Cracksman, published by Methuen & Co. Ltd in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1899.

A Costume Piece

"A Costume Piece" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was first published in July 1898 by Cassell's Magazine. The story was also included in the collection The Amateur Cracksman, published by Methuen & Co. Ltd in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1899.

Le Premier Pas

"Le Premier Pas" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was first published as the fourth story in the collection The Amateur Cracksman, published by Methuen & Co. Ltd in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1899. This and "Wilful Murder" were the two stories in the collection not published previously in magazine format.

Wilful Murder (short story)

"Wilful Murder" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was first published as the fifth part of the collection The Amateur Cracksman, published by Methuen & Co. Ltd in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1899. This and "Le Premier Pas" were the two stories in the collection not published previously in magazine format.

The Return Match

"The Return Match" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was first published in October 1898 by Cassell's Magazine. The story was also included as the seventh story in the collection The Amateur Cracksman, published by Methuen & Co. Ltd in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1899.

No Sinecure Short story by E. W. Hornung, published in 1901

"No Sinecure" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was first published in Scribner's Magazine in January 1901. The story was also included as the first story in the collection The Black Mask, published by Grant Richards in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1901.

To Catch a Thief (short story)

"To Catch a Thief" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was first published in Scribner's Magazine in May 1901. The story was also included as the fifth story in the collection The Black Mask, published by Grant Richards in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1901.

The Wrong House

"The Wrong House" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was first published in Scribner's Magazine in September 1901. The story was also included as the seventh story in the collection The Black Mask, published by Grant Richards in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1901.

Out of Paradise

"Out of Paradise" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was first published in December 1904 by Collier's Weekly in New York, and in January 1905 by Pall Mall Magazine in London. The story was also included as the first story in the collection A Thief in the Night, published by Chatto & Windus in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1905.

The Rest Cure (short story)

"The Rest Cure" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was published in February 1905 by Collier's Weekly in New York and in March 1905 by Pall Mall Magazine in London. The story was also included as the third story in the collection A Thief in the Night, published by Chatto & Windus in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1905.

The Field of Philippi

"The Field of Philippi" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was published in April 1905 by Collier's Weekly in New York and in May 1905 by Pall Mall Magazine in London. The story was also included as the fifth story in the collection A Thief in the Night, published by Chatto & Windus in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1905.

A Bad Night

"A Bad Night" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was published in June 1905 by Pall Mall Magazine in London. The story was also included as the sixth story in the collection A Thief in the Night, published by Chatto & Windus in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1905.

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Rowland, page 282
  2. ↑ Rowland, page 280.
  3. ↑ Hornung, page 215.
  4. ↑ Passage, Frank M. (20 May 2004). "Raffles". Old-Time Radio. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
Sources
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.