"So then you came away?"
"Not immediate, my girl. I was off at five o'clock this morning. I got shaved at a little place in Gray's Inn Road—after disposing of my wig and beard elsewhere, you know; and I bought this rig-out at two different places in Holborn. Then I breakfasted at a coffee-stall and came on here. They'll only just have found out that I've gone by now—if indeed so soon—unless they have found it out accidental-like."
"The woman—Meldreth is her name?—would not know what to do without consulting Mrs. Vane first, would she?"
"No. But then we don't know where Mrs. Vane is—she may have been in the house all the time for aught we know."
"I think not," said Cynthia decisively. "She would have come herself to look at you when Miss Meldreth was examining your hair if she had been in the house."
"Well, perhaps she would. You've got a head on your shoulders, Cynthia—that you have! Miss Meldreth would have to get to Mrs. Vane and tell her this morning, as she said; then Mrs. Vane would let the police know. That gives us till about eleven or twelve o'clock."
"Two hours' start. Is not that sufficient?"
Westwood shook his head.
"The first thing they will do is to telegraph to all the ports."
"But you look so different now, father! And I can make myself look quite different too."