"The Gift of the Emperor" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders.

[2] The events in the story lead to the eventual exposure of Raffles as a thief and contribute significantly to his cynicism about British High Society.

In private, Raffles tells Bunny of his plan to steal the emperor's pearl from a German officer, Captain von Heumann, on the ship.

With Bunny's help, Raffles will climb through the vent in their room's wall, which leads to von Heumann's cabin.

The exact location of the pearl was told to him by Miss Werner, who learned it from von Heumann, who is a rival for her affections.

Very early morning, Raffles squeezes through the vent, chloroforms the sleeping von Heumann, and takes the pearl.

Eager to avert this potentially embarrassing situation, a Foreign Office official approaches Gentleman thief A. J. Raffles to steal it back from him while he is in England, staying at a country house.

He travels out to stay at the house with his companion Bunny Manders and waits for a chance to steal the pearl.

Shunning his help, Raffles successfully manages to steal the pearl by climbing down a chimney and evades an attempt by the Germans to recover it.