At the Gate of Eden able wrong. How dared they doom her to such an existence? If her defect of utter— ance had been attended to in time, who knew but that it might have been cured? Now it was probably too late. Nature had given her a royal birthright of beauty and talent, but their selfish and unpardonable neglect had made it of no account. What divine music she lured out of the old violin—merry and sad, gay and sor- rowful by turns, music such as the stars of morning might have made singing to— gether, music that the fairies might have danced to in their revels among the green hills or on yellow sands, music that might have mourned over the grave of a dead hope. Then she drifted into a still sweeter strain. As he listened to it he realized that the whole soul and nature of the girl were revealing themselves to him through her music—the beauty and pur- ity of her thoughts, her childhood dreams and her maiden reveries. There was no thought of concealment about her; she 109