characteristic of this extraordinary thief—and the characteristic which I consider most essential to the operation of my plan. I refer to the sense of refinement—I might rather say, honor—which the extraordinary Mr. Manling has invariably shown.
"As we all know, he has never inflicted the slightest personal injury upon a single one of his victims. His remarkable shanghai-ing of the bobry drunkard at Plymouth—which he publicly deplored, you know—is the nearest he has ever approached to bodily harm to any one. Perhaps he may have chloroformed one of our fellow passengers a bit last night, but even if that were certain, it couldn't vitiate the fact that Mr. Manling avoids violence at almost any hazard.
"And quite as conscientiously as he has kept himself from doing bodily harm, you know, Mr. Manling has consistently made even his bally burglaries, themselves, as little embarrassing to others as possible. I might, indeed, say he has made it a positive point of honor to
256
