Work Text:
"Face it, Raffles," I said once after perhaps a few too many glasses of excellent port, "you love our Inspector Mackenzie. The very thought of him flutters your heart. He makes you stand up, and very few do that."
"He does challenge me, dear rabbit." Had I been sober, I could have told from the minute tension on his forehead that he was not as fond of the subject as I; but as it was, I prosed on.
"He is dogged, steady and unrelenting, a true Javert of the Highlands. All things one never wishes a person to be when one would rather be left alone with one's foibles."
"Yes, very well, Bunny!" His mood caught up with me at last. As usual, Raffles was far less affected by drink than I was. "He is a problem of some concern. Heavens! Allow me to enjoy an evening in the company of the arts without plaguing my brain with inspectors and Scotsmen."
I relented and raised my glass to clink against his. "Hear, hear." On the stage below, a soprano raised her voice to near intolerable heights, and Raffles leaned over the railing of the box with a sigh of satisfaction.