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It had been a long day of classes and lessons and I had grown quite tired. A small headache was blooming between my eyes. The fireplace in Raffles’s study was sputtering and inefficient. I could feel time slipping monotonously through my fingers as a handful of water.Staring at the page I had with me, I let the ink slowly dry on my pen. While typically the verses flowed like sunshine from my mind, today they had all but left me in a midnight. Raffles was certainly going to be irritated with me. Not only was I unable to complete this page for him, but I had nearly let the fire go out, as well. I was chilled, yet not enough to rise and tend to the blasted thing. Let it go out, I figured. The smoke would match the grey of the rest of today.My apathy was startled away when I heard footsteps land in the hallway. I leapt up like a fawn and flew to the fireplace, busying myself with the cooling ashes. The door opened behind me and I dared not turn around as Raffles set his things down in a heap in the corner.He sighed gustily. “What a day, Bunny, what a day.” He landed heavily yet quietly on the settee. “I swear I had to recite those Latin lines twenty times–and I said them correctly the first!” He huffed again. “I don’t suppose you’ve had any luck with that fire, eh, old thing?”I blabbered something about damp air and shoddy coal.“Well, better get it up again, anyhow. It’s blasted cold in here. I can’t hardly feel my toes.”I poked and blew at the smoking regions until a small, bright flame bloomed. Nestling it amongst more fuel, I watched as it grew slowly, then all at once. The warmth seeped outwards and into my shirtfront, relaxing the tension I hadn’t realized I had been carrying with me all of the day.I backed away from the fireplace and took up my blank page again. Raffles gestured for me to join him on the settee, so I did. He chuckled when he saw the result of my hour’s effort.“Well ran dry, eh, Bunny? Rotten luck. I’ve got to hand those in tomorrow.”“I know,” I wheedled, “but I couldn’t think of anything to match what you normally do.”He smiled. “What a flatterer you are, Bunny. You do me too well. Be a good rabbit, though, and think of something before to-night. I should not like to receive my first late mark when I am to leave so soon.”That thought stung me quickly. Caught unawares as I was, I had to fight to remain stoic. Tears were to me an old friend and they encroached rather too frequently on any emotional moment of mine.“I’m sorry, Raffles. I shall do better,” I rasped, when I had regained my ability of speech. I made to rise and return to the desk, but was stopped with a hand on my knee.“Oh, Bunny.” I was startled. The somewhat acerbic tone that normally graced Raffles’s voice was gone. In its place was something I hardly ever heard from him: affection. “I do apologize. I didn’t mean to remind you.”I swallowed thickly. “No, no, Raffles. It is simply the smoke.”He smiled at me, his eyes very soft.“It really is,” I continued, “I’d been at the fire for some time.” I gave a weak cough to demonstrate.Why was he looking at me in such a way? Had I made a fool of myself? I nearly began stumbling on again in excuses yet stopped when he spoke.“Dear, dear Bunny,” he murmured, “what a sweet thing you are.”My eyes had, no doubt, gone quite wide and confused at this point. I had certainly made some mistake, some grave error, and was now to be made a fool of in some drastic way.But then, his eyes were so gentle. He placed a hand on my cheek; all my thoughts stopped.His voice was quiet, melancholic. “I shall miss you. I shall miss your pretty smile.”
Pretty?
He sighed and his eyes flicked away from mine for a moment. “I dare say I shall miss you quite a lot, my rabbit. It is a lonely world out there. I shall nearly croak with misery if I can’t write to you.”“Of course,” I gasped out in reflex, “of course you can write to me.”He smiled and drew his deep gaze back to mine. “What a darling rabbit you are, Bunny. I am tempted to say several things to you that we both may regret.”Whatever he was referencing here was quite lost on me at the time. My only suppositions were towards some nefarious activity he would confess to. But then, is that not what he did?His thumb traced a gentle arc across my cheek. “You have always been there for me, Bunny. I shan’t forget that.” He licked his lips absentmindedly. “What a solid, dependable man you are turning out to be. I am quite jealous of you, you know.”The thought had never even entered into the realm of possibility for me. Raffles jealous of me? Blasphemy, through and through.“Bunny, I–” he cut himself off. “Oh, damn.”The word startled me, and his next actions startled me even more.Placing his other hand on my cheek, he then leaned in and kissed me directly, lightly, sweetly, sadly. I confess I must have been a terrible partner in this exchange; as I had never been kissed before, I was filled with anxiety and dreaded making a wrong move. I shyly pressed against him–but then, all too quickly, he was gone.His blue eyes searched mine thoroughly. Mine were, undoubtedly, quite glazed. His hand slid its way into my hair. I dared not move.“Bunny,” he whispered. “Oh, Bunny. I am a fool.”He seemed nearly to lean in again, and indeed I felt his warmth come nearer. Yet as all good things are bound to end, Raffles got up abruptly and turned himself away from me.He cleared his throat and pushed his hands in his pockets. “Thank you, Bunny, you may go. I shall finish the verses myself. Have a good-night.”“I–” Some vague syllable choked out of me. Raffles cut me off.“Good-night, Bunny.” He was sharp again, sharp as ever.Of course, I took my leave promptly. It was to be many years before I would encounter Raffles again, and many more before I would encounter the Raffles of that night. He never did write to me, and I suppose that was for the best. I forgot about him for the most part. I dare say he forgot about me, as well, until that night I so rudely placed myself in his hands.However, he most certainly remembered me that fateful night, and remembered me in all the best ways.