I know that I rose exultant from my deed....
CHAPTER XIV — Corpus Delicti
Raffles was still stamping and staggering with his knuckles in his eyes, and I heard him saying, "The letter, Bunny, the letter!" in a way that made me realise all at once that he had been saying nothing else since the moment of the foul assault. It was too late now and must have been from the first; a few filmy scraps of blackened paper, stirring on the hearth, were all that remained of the letter by which Levy had set such store, for which Raffles had risked so much.
"He's burnt it," said I. "He was too quick for me."
"And he's nearly burnt my eyes out," returned Raffles, rubbing them again. "He was too quick for us both."
"Not altogether," said I, grimly. "I believe I've cracked his skull and finished him off!"
Raffles rubbed and rubbed until his bloodshot eyes were blinking out of a blood-stained face into that of the fallen man. He found and felt the pulse in a wrist like a ship's cable.
"No, Bunny, there's some life in him yet! Run out and see if there are any lights in the other part of the house."