"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.

It almost took from him what little breath he had to learn that he had been all this time in a man's house without his knowledge.