Lady Bersford said, "Thank you very much, Mr. Gordon, I have enjoyed our visits and hope that we will meet again some time. May I ask where you are going from here?" "I am going direct to New York as I have important business matters to look after there," he replied. "Mr. Gordon, you don't look strong," she said. "It seems to me you need to take more care of your health and have more rest. I am going from here to Sebring, Florida. Have heard so many stories of this wonderful place that I want to go there to recoup my health." "Is it a health resort?" asked Robert. Lady Bersford said, "I understand there is a sunshine sanitarium there. They teach you how to eat and play. The water is the finest in the State of Florida; in fact, one of the few places in Florida where you can get good drinking water. The climate is ideal. Lake Jackson, one of the most beautiful lakes in the State is near there, as well as many others. I am told the fishing and boating is fine. The Kissimmee River is near there. This beautiful river is associated with songs and stories of the Southland and I am anxious to see it. I met some friends in England who spent the past winter at Sebring and they were enthusiastic over the place. They had regained their health and felt that it was the place Ponce de Leon was looking for when he made his search to find the fountain of youth. They said that Sebring had more sunshine than any other place in Florida. I made up my mind that I would never leave Florida before I visited this wonderful spot and see what it would do for my health." Robert was very much impressed with Lady Bersford's report on Sebring and decided that it must be the ideal place for a tired business man to go and enjoy the sports and recoup his health. It took very little persuading on the part of Lady Bersford to get Robert to go to Sebring with her. On March 27th, Lady Bersford and Robert Gordon arrived in Sebring, Florida. They found everything just as had been described by her friends. The climate was ideal, fishing good. Robert enjoyed the golf links and his health began to improve a few days after he arrived. Time went by rapidly and a month was gone before Robert knew it. He had regained health so rapidly that he felt he had indeed found the Fountain of Youth. Having been born on the farm, he loved nature. The beautiful scenery around Sebring delighted him; made him forget his troubles and caused him to be more hopeful of the future. He dreamed of the day when Marie might return to him, and he could take her to Florida to see beautiful Silver Springs, then to Sebring to see all the beautiful lakes and the Kissimmee River. If her health should ever be bad, that would be the place to restore her and she would enjoy the surrounding country as he had. CHAPTER XXIV