Therefore they had removed, some years before, to Santa Barbara, on the Pacific coast.

The signal success of the experiment now kindled a glimmer of hope in poor Madge.

That remote city certainly secured the first requisites--separation and distance--and the fact that her friend found health and vigor in the semi-tropical resort promised a little for her frail young life.

She had few fears that her old friends would not welcome her, and she was in a position to entail no burdens, even though she should remain an invalid.
The practical question was, How should she get there?
But the more she thought upon the plan the more attractive it grew.

The situation seemed so desperate that she was ready for a desperate remedy.