"I'd be recognised as an impostor," he said warmly, "and booted out of the convention. I shudder to think of what Mr. Rodney will do to me when he learns the truth. Why, Medcroft, you must be crazy. There will be dozens of architects there who know you personally or by sight. You--" "My dear boy, if they don't see me there, they can't very well recognise me, can they? If necessary, you can affect an illness and stay away from the sessions altogether. Give a statement to the press from the privacy of the sickroom--regret your inability to take part in the discussions, and all that, you know. Hire a nurse, if necessary. You might venture to express an opinion or two on vital topics, in my name. I don't care a hang what you say. I only want 'em to think I'm there. No doubt our enemies will have a spy or two hanging about to see that I am actually off for a jaunt with the Rodneys, but they will be Viennese and they won't know me from Adam. What's the odds, so long as Edith is there to stand by you? If she's willing to assume that you are her husband--" "Good Lord!" half shouted Brock, leaping to his feet, wide-eyed. "You don't mean to say that she is--is--is to go to Vienna with me?" "Emphatically, yes. She's also invited. Of course, she's going." "You mean that she's going just as you are going--by proxy?" murmured Brock helplessly. "Proxy, the devil! 'Pon my soul, Brock, you're downright stupid. She can't have a proxy. They know her. The Rodneys are in some way connections of hers, and all that--third cousins. If she isn't there to vouch for you, how the deuce can you expect to--" "Medcroft, you _are_ crazy! No one but an insane man would submit his wife to--Why, good Lord, man, think of the scandal! She won't have a shred left--" "At the proper time the matter will be explained to the Rodneys,--not at first, you know,--and I'll be in a position to step into your shoes before the party returns to Paris. Afterwards the whole trick will be exposed to the world, and she'll be a heroine." "I'm absolutely paralysed!" mumbled Brock. "Brace up, old chap. I'm going to take you around to the Ritz at once to introduce you to my wife--to your wife, I might say. She'll be waiting for us, and, take my word for it, she's in for the game. She appreciates its importance. Come now, Brock, it means so little to you, and it means everything to me. You will do this for me? For us?"