She returned, if not well, at any rate not worse.

She had got through the winter, and her lungs were still pronounced to be free from those dreadful signs of decay, the name of which has broken so many mothers' hearts, and sent dismay into the breasts of so many fathers.

During her sojourn at Torquay she had grown much, and, as is often the case with those who grow quickly, she had become weak and thin.

People at Torquay are always weak and thin, and Mrs.Woodward had not, therefore, been greatly frightened at this.

Her spirits, though by no means such as they had been in former days, had improved, she had occupied herself more than she had done during the last two months at Hampton, and had, at least so Mrs.Woodward fondly flattered herself, ceased to be always thinking of Charley Tudor.