The doctor saw Lady Joan most every
time he came to see Cosmo, and she would enquire how his patient
was going on; she would also hear the housekeeper's complaints of
the difficulty she had in getting wine from the butler--of which
there was no lack, only he grudged it, for he was doing his best to
drink up the stock the old lord had left behind him, intending to
take his departure with the last bottle--but she took no farther
interest in the affair. The castle was like a small deserted
village, and there was no necessity for a person in one part of it
knowing what was taking place in another.
But that same morning she had a letter from the laird, saying he
was uneasy about his boy. He had been so inconsiderate, he informed
her, as to set out to visit her without asking her leave, or even
warning her of his intent; and since the letter announcing his
immediate departure, received a fortnight before, he had not heard
of or from him. This set Joan thinking. And the immediate result
was, that she went to the gardener's wife, and questioned her
concerning the appearance of her patient. In the old woman's
answers she certainly could recognize no likeness to Cosmo; but he
must have altered much in seven years, and she could not be
satisfied without seeing the young man.
Cosmo lay fast asleep, and dreaming--but pleasant dreams now, for
the fever gone, life was free to build its own castles. He thought
he was dead, and floating through the air at his will, volition all
that was necessary to propel him like a dragon-fly, in any
direction he desired to take.
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