# Out of Paradise explained — A Thief in the Night > Chapter companion for A Thief in the Night by E. W. Hornung. ## What happens Bunny reflects on his early days with Raffles, revealing the greatest wrong Raffles ever did him: leading him into a burglary at the house of Lord Lochmaben, which Bunny had mistakenly believed to be the home of his beloved's uncle, Hector Carruthers. Bunny recounts his engagement to a woman he later renounced due to his unworthiness, and describes the night Raffles manipulated him into participating in the crime, using Bunny's intimate knowledge of the house. ## Themes in this chapter ### Identity and Deception Raffles deceives Bunny about the target of the burglary, leading him to believe they are robbing the house of his beloved's uncle when it is actually Lord Lochmaben's residence. ### Friendship and Loyalty Bunny's loyalty to Raffles is tested as he is drawn into a crime against his better judgment, and Raffles exploits their friendship for his own ends. ### Crime and Morality The chapter details the planning and execution of a burglary, with Bunny grappling with his moral qualms and Raffles treating crime as a calculated profession. ## Character check-ins ### A. J. Raffles Raffles orchestrates the burglary, manipulating Bunny with false information about the target house. ### Bunny Bunny is the narrator, reflecting on his past engagement and his reluctant participation in the crime. ### Hector Carruthers Hector Carruthers is the pompous politician and uncle of Bunny's former fiancée, whose house Bunny mistakenly believes they are burgling. ### Lord Lochmaben Lord Lochmaben is the actual owner of the house being burgled, which was let furnished to the Carruthers family. ### Lady Lochmaben Lady Lochmaben's jewels are the target of the burglary, as Raffles had been planning to steal them. ## Key lines > If I must tell more tales of Raffles, I can but back to our earliest days together, and fill in the blanks left by discretion in existing annals. To continue recounting stories about Raffles, I must return to the beginning of our partnership and reveal details previously omitted out of caution. _Bunny introduces the chapter as a confession of previously hidden events._ > Raffles was a villain, when all is written; it is no service to his memory to glaze the fact; yet I have done so myself before today. Raffles was fundamentally a criminal, and it does not honor him to hide that truth, though I have softened it in the past. _Bunny acknowledges his earlier reluctance to fully portray Raffles's villainy._ > I pick my words with care and pain, loyal as I still would be to my friend, and yet remembering as I must those Ides of March when he led me blindfold into temptation and crime. I choose my words carefully and painfully, still wanting to be loyal to my friend, but I must recall that fateful day in March when he led me into crime without my full understanding. _Bunny references the Ides of March as the moment Raffles first involved him in criminal activity._ > The second offence, on the other hand, was to prove the less serious of the two against society, and might in itself have been published to the world years ago. The second crime was actually less harmful to society and could have been revealed long ago. _Bunny contrasts the two crimes, noting the second was less severe but kept secret for personal reasons._ > One other was involved in it, one dearer to me than Raffles himself, one whose name shall not even now be sullied by association with ours. Another person was involved, someone I loved more than Raffles, and I still refuse to tarnish their name by linking it to ours. _Bunny protects the identity of his former fiancée, who was indirectly affected by the crime._ > I had been engaged to her before that mad March deed. True, her people called it 'an understanding,' and frowned even upon that, as well they might. I was engaged to her before that reckless March crime. Her family called it merely an informal agreement and disapproved, understandably. _Bunny reveals his engagement and the family's disapproval._ > I let her guess that there was more upon my soul than she must ever share, and at last I had written to end it all. I allowed her to sense that I carried a burden I could not share with her, and eventually I wrote to break off the relationship. _Bunny explains how he ended the engagement due to his guilt._ > Raffles heard me out with grave attention. His sympathy was the more grateful for the tactful brevity with which it was indicated rather than expressed. Raffles listened seriously and showed sympathy in a restrained, tactful way that I appreciated. _Bunny describes Raffles's response to his confession about the engagement._ > He only wished that I had told him of this complication in the beginning; as I had not, he agreed with me that the only course was a candid and complete renunciation. Raffles said he wished I had told him earlier, but since I hadn't, he agreed that a full and honest breakup was the only option. _Raffles advises Bunny to end the engagement completely._ > I have a vivid memory of the interim in his rooms. I think it must have been the first and last of its kind that I was called upon to sustain with so much knowledge of what lay before me. I clearly remember waiting in his rooms, an experience I never repeated because I knew too much about what was coming. _Bunny recalls the tense wait before the burglary._ > I fell swiftly and hopelessly out of love with the prospect I had so gratuitously embraced. I quickly and completely lost any enthusiasm for the plan I had so willingly agreed to. _Bunny regrets his decision to participate in the burglary._ > He assured me, however, that he had had my Lady Lochmaben and her jewels in his mind for several months; he had sat behind them at first nights; and long ago determined what to take or to reject. He told me he had been planning to steal Lady Lochmaben's jewels for months, having observed them at the theater and decided which pieces to take. _Raffles reveals his long-term planning for the theft._ > I now learned that he had numerous houses in a similar state upon his list; something or other was wanting in each case in order to complete his plans. I discovered that he had many other houses on his list for potential burglaries, each missing some piece of information to finalize the plan. _Bunny learns of Raffles's extensive criminal planning._ > How I wish I could make the whole world see and hear him, and smell the smoke of his beloved Sullivan, as he took me into these, the secrets of his infamous trade! I wish I could convey to everyone the sight, sound, and even the smell of Raffles smoking his favorite Sullivan cigarettes as he revealed the secrets of his criminal profession. _Bunny expresses his desire to fully capture Raffles's charismatic presence._ > Neither look nor language would betray the infamy. As a mere talker, I shall never listen to the like of Raffles on this side of the sod; and his talk was seldom garnished by an oath, never in my remembrance by the unclean word. His appearance and speech gave no hint of his criminality. As a conversationalist, I will never hear anyone equal to Raffles in this life; he rarely swore and never used vulgar language. _Bunny emphasizes Raffles's refined demeanor despite his criminal activities._ > Then he looked like a man who had dressed to dine out, not like one who had long since dined; for his curly hair, though longer that another's, was never untidy in its length; and these were the days when it was still as black as ink. He appeared as if he had just dressed for dinner, not as if he had already eaten; his curly hair, though longer than most, was always neat, and at that time it was still jet black. _Bunny describes Raffles's youthful and polished appearance._ > Nor were there many lines as yet upon the smooth and mobile face; and its frame was still that dear den of disorder and good taste, with the carved bookcase, the dresser and chests of still older oak, and the Wattses and Rossettis hung anyhow on the walls. His face was still smooth and expressive, and the setting was his beloved, cluttered but tasteful room with antique furniture and paintings by Watts and Rossetti hung casually. _Bunny paints a picture of Raffles's room as a reflection of his character._ > Constitutionally shy of the direct approach, Raffles was further deterred by a ball in full swing at the Empress Rooms, whence potential witnesses were pouring between dances into the cool deserted street. Naturally cautious about taking a direct route, Raffles was also put off by a ball at the Empress Rooms, where people were coming out between dances into the empty street. _Raffles avoids the direct approach due to potential witnesses from a nearby ball._ > He knew the house as well as I did. We made our first survey from the other side of the road. And the house was not quite in darkness; there was a dim light over the door, a brighter one in the stables, which stood still farther back from the road. He was as familiar with the house as I was. We first observed it from across the street. The house wasn't completely dark; a faint light shone above the door and a brighter one in the stables further back. _Bunny and Raffles survey the house before the burglary._ > If the front door's only on the latch, and you're right about the lock, I shall walk in as though I were the son of the house myself. If the front door is just latched and the lock is as you described, I'll enter as casually as if I lived there. _Raffles plans to enter the house boldly if the lock is simple._ > I must teach you the step, he whispered, shaking his head. You shouldn't use your heel at all. Here's a grass border for you: walk it as you would the plank! He whispered that he needed to teach me how to walk quietly, advising me to avoid using my heel and to walk on the grass border as if on a narrow plank. _Raffles instructs Bunny on stealthy movement._ > Shoes in your pocket—that's the beauty of pumps! he whispered on the step; his light bunch tinkled faintly; a couple of keys he stooped and tried, with the touch of a humane dentist; the third let us into the porch. He whispered that the advantage of wearing pumps was that you could put your shoes in your pocket. He then tried a couple of keys gently, like a careful dentist, and the third opened the porch door. _Raffles uses his skill with lock picks to enter the house quietly._ > My half-hours of happiness had flown to just such chimes! I looked wildly about me in the dim light. Hatstand and oak settee belonged equally to my past. And Raffles was smiling in my face as he held the door wide for my escape. I had spent happy half-hours listening to that same chime! I looked around frantically in the dim light. The hatstand and oak settee were familiar from my past. Raffles was smiling at me, holding the door open as if for me to leave. _Bunny realizes the house is familiar and that Raffles has deceived him._ > You told me a lie! I gasped in whispers. I did nothing of the sort, he replied. The furniture's the furniture of Hector Carruthers; but the house is the house of Lord Lochmaben. I whispered accusingly that he had lied. He denied it, explaining that while the furniture belonged to Hector Carruthers, the house itself belonged to Lord Lochmaben. _Raffles reveals the truth about the house's ownership._ > My friends had let their house, furnished, as anybody but Raffles would have explained to me in the beginning. My friends had rented out their furnished house, something anyone other than Raffles would have told me from the start. _Bunny realizes the Carruthers family had sublet the house._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_thief_in_the_night_se/chapters/out-of-paradise - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_thief_in_the_night_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/a_thief_in_the_night_se/chapters