When the Count d'Artigas, Captain Spade, and the director entered the
garden, the first person they saw was the warder Gaydon, standing
at the door of the pavilion. Unnoticed by the director the Count
d'Artigas eyed the attendant with singular persistence.

It was not the first time that strangers had come to see the occupant
of Pavilion No. 17, for the French inventor was justly regarded as the
most interesting inmate of Healthful House. Nevertheless, Gaydon's
attention was attracted by the originality of the type presented by
the two visitors, of whose nationality he was ignorant. If the name
of the Count d'Artigas was not unfamiliar to him, he had never had
occasion to meet that wealthy gentleman during the latter's sojourn in
the eastern ports. He therefore had no idea as to who the Count was.
Neither was he aware that the schooner _Ebba_ was then anchored at the
entrance to the Neuse, at the foot of the hill upon which Healthful
House was situated.

"Gaydon," demanded the director, "where is Thomas Roch?"

"Yonder," replied the warder, pointing to a man who was walking
meditatively under the trees in rear of the pavilion.

"The Count d'Artigas has been authorized to visit Healthful House,"
the director explained; "and does not wish to go away without having
seen Thomas Roch, who was lately the subject of a good deal too much
discussion."

"And who would be talked about a great deal more," added the Count,
"had the Federal Government not taken the precaution to confine him in