CHAPTER XXXII.
THE NAIAD.
At length Cosmo was able to go out, and Joan did not let him go by himself.

For several days he walked only a very little, but sat a good deal in the sun, and rapidly recovered strength.

At last, one glorious morning of summer, they went out together, intending to have a real little walk.
Lady Joan had first made sure that her brother was occupied in his laboratory, but still she dared not lead her patient to any part of the garden or grounds ever visited by him.

She took him, therefore, through walks, some of them wide, and bordered with stately trees, but all grown with weeds and moss, to the deserted portion with which he had already made a passing acquaintance.

There all lay careless of the present, hopeless of the future, and hardly dreaming of the past.