Colonel Morehead stuck his hands into his armpits and rested his chin upon his shirt front. Presently he went on:
"Peter, you know this is Murgatroyd's pet case. It's his first in his series of raids upon the iniquitous rich. He means to see to it that you serve ten years—less good behaviour. From the time you put up your million-dollar bail bond he has had you watched. Of course his task is a tremendous one. You and I know that time and time again we have eluded the vigilance of his men; and we know that we can do it again for a time; but that doesn't alter the situation. If you should disappear, every hotel, every train, every steamship would be thronged with plainclothes men. You can't get out of the United States, and you can't get out of the State, unless—you can't, in fact, elude Murgatroyd for any time at all, unless——" Again he stopped, and again Leslie and her father chimed in insistently:
"Unless——"
"Unless you follow my directions."
"What are they?" quickly asked the others.
"You've got to leave your beard and your name and all your worldly goods——" went on the Colonel, but he checked himself in time.
"My worldly possessions being minus anyway," sighed Wilkinson, helping the Colonel out.
"You've got to leave, even Mrs. Peter V.," smiled Morehead.
"Heaven forbid!" exclaimed Wilkinson with mock solemnity; then he added: "I can leave the lady with eminent complacency."
"And also," went on Morehead, mercilessly, "you must leave your daughter."