A personality with a touch of smugness in it.

This was very generally thought to be the real Wilton Barnstable.

It was a fiction which he had succeeded in establishing.
When he addressed meetings, talked with reporters, wrote articles about himself, or came into touch with the public in any manner, he assumed this personality.

When he did not wish to be known he laid it aside.
When he desired to pass incognito, therefore, it was not necessary for him to assume a disguise.

He simply dropped one.
The two men with him, Barton Ward and Watson Bard, were his cleverest agents.