to freshen up our
wardrobe a bit."

Archie shook his head stubbornly.

"I haven't told you this, but I'm supposed to be in the Canadian
Rockies. It would be a risky business for me to show up in town! I might
at any turn run into relatives or friends who know I left for a two
months' absence in the Rockies. And incidentally, the same people
_might_ know I had been to Bailey Harbor."

"You're a frightful egotist, Archie! This is a large world and man's
memory is short. The man you dine with most frequently at your club
wouldn't remember in a week whether you told him you were going to the
Rockies or the Himalayas and if you met him on the Avenue he'd merely
nod and pass on trying to remember who the devil you were. But I renew
my sacred promise to take care of you; you may rely on me, Archie. Now
as always we invite the most searching scrutiny! If you see any old
friends I beg of you do not attempt to dodge them; shake one and all
heartily by the hand. We'll pretend that our black wool is as white as
the drifted snow, and no one will run after us shouting, 'Blacksheep,
blacksheep!'"

V

As the train flew along the Connecticut shore Archie realized with a new
poignancy the tremendous change that had occurred in his life since he
left New York, his birthplace and the home of his family for two hundred
years. Instead of lounging in clubs and his luxurious apartment he would
now go skulking through the streets with a master crook, and his
imagination was already intent upon the character of the lair to which
the Governor would guide him. He still swayed between the joys of his
mad adventure and its perils. He might, he knew, bid the Governor
good-by at the Grand Central Station, step into a taxi and walk into the
door of one or another of his clubs and bid the world defiance. The
serenity of his life as known to his friends would be a sufficient
refutation of any charge that might be made against him. No one would
believe the mysterious Governor if he were to declare on oath that
Archibald Bennett was a criminal who had left a scarlet trail across
three states.

It would be an interesting experiment to defy the Governor; but he
dismissed this as foolish and hazardous. The Governor had a long arm,
and having trifled with his good nature at the Walkers' it would
certainly be ungracious and in all likelihood disastrous to offend him a
second time. But the Governor's fantastic talk about the joining of
their stars in