"Out of Paradise" is a short story by

E. W. Hornung Ernest William Hornung (7 June 1866 – 22 March 1921) was an English author and poet known for writing the A. J. Raffles (character), A. J. Raffles series of stories about a gentleman thief in late 19th-century London. Hornung was educa ...

, and features the gentleman thief

A. J. Raffles Arthur J. Raffles (usually called A. 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 Holmeshe is a "gentle ...

, and his companion and biographer,

Bunny Manders Harry Manders (almost exclusively known as Bunny 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 r ...

. The story was first published in December 1904 by ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

'' in New York, and in January 1905 by ''

Pall Mall Magazine ''The Pall Mall Magazine'' was a monthly British literary magazine published between 1893 and 1914. Begun by William Waldorf Astor as an offshoot of ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', the magazine included poetry, short stories, serialized fiction, and ge ...

'' in London. The story was also included as the first story in the collection '' A Thief in the Night'', published by

Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business ...

in London, and

Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...

in New York, both in 1905.

Plot

Bunny was once engaged to a niece to a rich politician, Hector Carruthers, who lives at Palace Gardens. However, following his shameful descent into crime, Bunny has written to her to end the relationship, and miserably awaits her reply from where she is staying in the country. Raffles, who has scored a

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

, invites Bunny to the

Café Royal A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

to celebrate. At dinner, Bunny explains his misery to Raffles. Raffles, in reply, contemplates breaking into Carruthers's house; he then appeases a horrified Bunny by explaining that someone else, Lord Lochmaben, now owns Carruthers's house. Bunny tells Raffles the house's security secrets. At the Albany, they wait until very early morning, then take a roundabout route to the house. Raffles considers how to enter, but Bunny marches ahead. Raffles follows, and carries Bunny across the noisy driveway. Using a skeleton key, Raffles enters. Bunny recognizes Carrthuers's furniture around them. Raffles implies that Lord Lochmaben is only renting the house. While Bunny helps, Raffles drills the lock out of the study door. Raffles works on the safe behind the bookcase. Suddenly, Bunny hears a door open upstairs. They watch silently from the darkness. They see Bunny's ex-fiancée, coming downstairs to prepare her reply to Bunny's letter. Dismayed, Bunny groans. She hears, and stares at them. No one moves. Suddenly, the son of the house returns. Raffles flees through the window. He encounters and knocks down one police officer, and runs from the other. As a third officer approaches, Bunny doubles back, and runs into his ex-fiancée. She hates him, but hides him in a cupboard. When the way is clear, she points Bunny to the exit. He flees, and hears her tear her letter apart. On the road, a gentlemanly Raffles is helping the police search. He identifies Bunny as his friend, and they leave. Raffles had shaken off his chaser by ducking into a ball and leaving his coat there. He explains that he lied about Lord Lochmaben to spare Bunny's feelings about robbing the house. Moreover, the lie was a half-lie: Carruthers was recently titled as Lord Lochmaben. Bunny is furious, yet cannot stay angry at Raffles. Some days later, Raffles stops by Bunny's rooms. Bunny tells Raffles that his ex-fiancée has sent back his gifts to her. Raffles comforts Bunny, reminding him that he is welcome at the Albany.

Adaptations

Television

Part of the story was adapted into the first episode of the '' Raffles'' television series, with

Anthony Valentine Anthony Valentine (17 August 1939 – 2 December 2015) was an English actor best known for his television roles: the ruthless Toby Meres in ''Callan'' (1967–72), the sadistic Major Horst Mohn in ''Colditz'' (1972–74), Bob in Tales of the Un ...

as A. J. Raffles and

Christopher Strauli Christopher Strauli (born 13 April 1946) is an English film, television and theatre actor. He is known for appearing as Norman Binns in the British Yorkshire Television sitcom '' Only When I Laugh''. Early life and education Strauli was born ...

as Bunny Manders. The episode, titled "The First Step", first aired on 25 February 1977.

Radio

BBC Radio adapted the story into the first half of the eighteenth episode of its '' Raffles'' radio series, "The Last Word", which first aired on 3 September 1992. The drama features

Jeremy Clyde Michael Jeremy Thomas Clyde (born 22 March 1941) is an English actor and musician. During the 1960s, he was one-half of the folk duo Chad & Jeremy (with Chad Stuart), who had little success in the UK, but were an object of interest to American ...

as Raffles and

Michael Cochrane Michael Cochrane is an English actor. Biography Cochrane was born in Brighton, East Sussex. He was educated at Cranleigh School. He has had many television and radio roles including Oliver Sterling in the Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers'', ...

as Bunny. The episode faithfully follows the plot of the original story, with minor changes: * Bunny's ex-fiancée is named Sophie Carruthers in the drama. In the original story, Bunny refuses to spoil her name by revealing it. * The final half of the episode concerns the events of the story's sequel, " The Last Word". The plot is largely the same, with some minor changes in the drama, including Raffles telling Sophie that he has no family. "Out of Paradise" was adapted as the fourth episode of ''

Raffles, the Gentleman Thief ''Imagination Theatre'' is an American syndicated radio drama program airing on FM and AM radio stations across the United States. It features modern radio dramas. The program first aired in 1996. Originally produced by Jim French Productions, t ...

'', a series on the American radio show ''

Imagination Theatre ''Imagination Theatre'' is an American syndicated radio drama program airing on FM and AM radio stations across the United States. It features modern radio dramas. The program first aired in 1996. Originally produced by Jim French Productions, t ...

''. The episode first aired in 2004.

References

;Notes ;Sources * *

External links

*
Free online annotated version of "Out of Paradise"

BBC Radio adaption of "The Last Word"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Out of Paradise 1904 short stories A. J. Raffles short stories Works originally published in Collier's