"Oh, it is no trouble!" and Manella smiled at him in the most ravishing way—"The path is quite easy to follow."
She preceded him out of the "floral hall," and across the great gardens, now in their most brilliant bloom to a gate which she opened, pointing with one hand towards the hill where the flat outline of the "hut of the dying" could be seen clear against the sky.
"There it is"—she explained—"It's nothing of a climb, even on the warmest day. And the air is quite different up there to what it is down here."
"Better, I suppose?"
"Oh, yes! Much better!"
"And is that why Mr. Seaton lives in the hut? On account of the air?"
Manella waved her hands expressively with a charming Spanish gesture of indifference.
"I suppose so! How should I know? He is here for his health."
Sam Gwent uttered a curious inward sound, something between a grunt and a cough.
"Ah! I should like to know how long he's been ill!"