"You put it most convincingly," the engineer bowed to him. "By the way," he added, rightly judging where the Colonel's thoughts were dwelling, "I hope you will tell me the day before you decide on telephoning Jess—I mean, of course, if the worst comes to the worst!"
"Certainly," he looked up. "But why do you want to know?"
"Perhaps you don't want to know why I want to know," Brent laughed.
"But I do, sir!"
"That isn't a sufficient reason, Colonel, for it may not be ethical for me to tell you. However, I've two plans. One is to give Dale a twenty-four-hour start, and in that event I'll go along to see him settled."
"I shall forget what you say," the old gentleman, immeasurably pleased, frowned sternly to ease his conscience. "But you can be of no service to him! He knows his country like a book!"
"It isn't to his country I'd advise him to go. No one would think, for instance, of looking for him in our house at home. He could keep on studying, too; and after awhile this thing would blow over."
The light in Colonel May's face was eloquent of a greater affection than he had at any time felt for Brent, but he simply said:
"Then I should lose you both! What is your other plan?"
"The other plan is something I am not at liberty to tell even you," Brent soberly answered.