My brother is so poor."
"I don't believe you know what it is to be poor," said Cosmo.
"Oh, don't I!" returned Joan with a sigh. "You see Constantine
requires for his experiments all the little money the trustees
allow."
[Illustration]
"I know this part," said Cosmo. "I made acquaintance with it the
last thing as I was growing ill. It looks to me so melancholy! If I
were here, I should never rest till I had with my own hands got it
into some sort of order."
"Are you as strong as you used to be, Cosmo--I mean when you are
well?" asked Joan, willing to change the direction of the
conversation.
"A good deal stronger, I hope," answered Cosmo. "But I am glad it
is not just this moment, for then I should have no right to be
leaning on you, Joan."
"Do you like to lean on me, Cosmo?"
"Indeed I do; I am proud of it!--But tell me why you don't take me
to a more cheerful part."
She made him no answer. He looked in her face. It was very pale,
and tears were in her eyes.
"Must I tell you, Cosmo?" she said.
"No, certainly, if you would rather not."
"But you might think it something wrong."
"I should never imagine you doing anything wrong, Joan."
"Then I must tell you, lest it should be wrong.--My brother does not
know that you are here."
Now Cosmo had never imagined that Lord Mergwain did not know he was
at the castle. It was true he had not come to see him, but nothing
was simpler if Lord Mergwain desired to see Cosmo as little as
Cosmo desired, from his recollection of him at Castle Warlock, to
see Lord Mergwain.
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