The Return of A. J. Raffles

by Graham Greene

Act I

The play starts on a date in late summer 1900, in A. J. Raffles's old Albany chambers in Piccadilly. Lord Alfred Douglas comes to see his friend Bunny Manders, who served a prison sentence for burglary and met Oscar Wilde in Reading Gaol. Bunny is wearing a black armband in memory of Raffles, who was reportedly killed in the Boer War six months prior. Bunny and Raffles had a homosexual relationship, and Bunny tells Lord Alfred he is still always faithful to Raffles. Raffles left a will leaving Bunny everything, including the Albany chambers. Bunny shows Lord Alfred some of Raffles's burglary tools. The Albany head porter, Smith, says a man in tweeds with a grey beard wants to see Bunny. Bunny recognizes the man as Inspector Mackenzie, the police detective who arrested Bunny and tried to arrest Raffles. Mackenzie questions Bunny about the tools, and Bunny comes up with innocent explanations for them.

After Mackenzie leaves the room, Lord Alfred suggests to Bunny that they steal from Lord Alfred's father, the Marquess of Queensberry, as a way of getting revenge for Wilde's prison sentence. Bunny is unwilling to do it without Raffles. Suddenly, Raffles enters, revealing that he was disguised as Mackenzie. He explains that on the battlefield, he exchanged papers with a dead soldier before he was captured by the Boers. He escaped, with a gold pocket watch owned by General Botha. After leaving the room, Raffles had eavesdropped on Bunny and Lord Alfred, because he was jealous after finding Bunny and Lord Alfred together. He heard Lord Alfred's burglary idea and approves of it. Bunny is delighted to be reunited with Raffles and removes his armband. They plan for Raffles to rob the Marquess's safe during a baccarat house party. Raffles asks Lord Alfred for a list of the guests and a floor plan of the house. Lord Alfred points out the safe in his father's bedroom.

Act II

The second act takes place a few nights later, in the Marquess of Queensberry's bedroom in his country house in Hertfordshire. After a waiter brings champagne to the room, Bunny and Raffles sneak in. Raffles uses one of his safe-keys to open the old safe. He fills a nearby gold box with sovereigns, and has Bunny put the letters that were in the box into his pockets. Raffles then gives Bunny the box to put under his cloak, and starts filling his own pockets with coins. They hear noises. Raffles closes the safe and hides with Bunny on the balcony behind the curtain. A lady, Alice, enters the room, followed by her lady's maid, Mary, who helps her mistress change into a dressing gown and also hints that she has romantic feelings for her mistress. The lady goes to another room to have a bath and Mary leaves. Raffles tells Bunny to bring the box to Albany, which Bunny does though he hesitates to leave Raffles. Raffles plans to steal from the baccarat players.

The Prince of Wales comes looking for Alice, with whom he is having an affair. The Marquess had lent Alice the room, which Lord Alfred didn't know. Raffles pretends to be a waiter named Jones. The Prince asks to be called Mr. Portland. Raffles mentions that he was wounded and captured at Spion Kop, which impresses the Prince. Raffles gives him the pocket watch and tells him to give it to his mother. The Marquess of Queensberry comes saying there is a Scotland Yard inspector downstairs, and realizes his safe was robbed. The real Inspector Mackenzie appears, having come because a German agent is trying to acquire the Prince's indiscreet letters to Alice, which she kept in a gold cigar box. Mackenzie recognizes Raffles and arrests him for robbing the safe, but Raffles proposes a deal, offering to find the letters and the German agent. He realizes the agent is the waiter who brought champagne. Alice returns and wonders why there are so many people in the room.

Act III

In Raffles's chambers in Albany, early the next morning, Bunny tells Lord Alfred that Raffles has been caught and that the police are probably looking for Bunny too. Bunny gives the money in the box to Lord Alfred. The waiter from before enters. He is Captain von Blixen, a German agent. He believes Bunny is a rival Russian agent and wants the letters. Bunny dropped most of them on the street while bicycling away, but he gives what he has to the agent, who is armed with a revolver. Captain von Blixen is disappointed to see these letters are dull. The Prince comes and tells the agent to put his gun down. There is a sound of broken glass. Raffles, Mackenzie, and the Marquess had gone to the roof to cut off a possible escape route for the German agent. Raffles reports that the Marquess fell through the roof into the Burlington Arcade. Raffles takes the agent's gun and gets him to agree not to search for the letters by making him undress to his combinations.

Mackenzie and Lord Alfred carry in the apparently dead Marquess. Lord Alfred, who despises his father, is pleased. Mackenzie tries to arrest Raffles for burglary, but the Prince refuses to charge Raffles with stealing the box and Lord Alfred claims that Raffles was only obtaining the allowance he was owed. Mackenzie exits. Lord Alfred leaves to go to Paris and possibly see Wilde. The Prince is not concerned about the lost letters, because the names in the letters are common. Raffles promises the Prince that from now on, he will only be known to England as a cricketer, not a burglar. The Prince, grateful for the pocket watch, gives Raffles the gold box. The Prince leaves. Raffles tells Bunny his promise would not prevent them from being burglars while spending the winter in France. Smith and Captain von Blixen start to carry the Marquess out when the Marquess suddenly sits up, alarmed. Raffles casually tells him they are simply taking him to the hospital.