If the past is a house of many chambers, then the present is the most recent coat of paint. - Jack Vance

I can tell you this at least. The most convincing disguise for legitimacy is legitimacy itself.

They call me a renegade.
The epithet is inaccurate and undeserved. I cannot be faithless to a cause which I never have endorsed. Indeed, I am absolutely faithful to the only cause I espouse, which is my own welfare. I take pride in this unswerving loyalty!

Roger tried to find out all about her: he wanted, in one brief hour, to make up for a lifetime of non-acquaintance, a lifetime for all practical purposes wasted.