And you put in a good deal more than I ever told anybody.

Now you haven't brains enough to figure out all that." Seaforth laughed good-humouredly.

"It is possibly fortunate that Tom has," he said.
"Tom--be condemned," said Alton viciously, and Seaforth, seeing that he was about to revert to the previous question, apparently answered a summons from his host and slipped back into the smoking-room.
Alton waited a moment, and then moved somewhat stiffly towards a low stairway which led to a broad landing that was draped and furnished as an annex to an upper room.

One or two of the company were seated there, and he hoped they would not notice him, for while he could walk tolerably well upon the level a stairway presented a difficulty.

He had all his life been a vigorous man, and because of it was painfully sensitive about his affliction.