"Ponderby, I forgot to ask you, does one drink the waters at these places, or merely bathe in them?"
"In each locality, my lord, there are waters to drink, but the sprudel, or carbonic acid waters, are bathed in."
"Mackeller suggests that the waters at Nauheim being the strongest, a cure may be more quickly accomplished there."
"Not necessarily, my lord, for sprudel baths in their full strength are rarely administered at Nauheim. At each place treatment lasts from twenty-one days to six weeks, and it begins not with the carbonic acid waters, but with salt baths in ever-increasing strength. All but the most serious cases yield to treatment in any of the three towns."
"That being so, Ponderby, it doesn't seem to matter much which an invalid chooses."
"I would not go so far as to say that, my lord," replied Ponderby in a tone of profound deference. "His most gracious Majesty King Edward visited Royat once or twice while Prince of Wales."
"Thank you, Ponderby, that is an unanswerable argument. Royat for Royalty, as one may say."
For the second time the loyal Ponderby disappeared. When he had gone, Stranleigh laughed a little.
