Kilmeny of the Orchard 
     
    
   
   
    
     She shook her head. 
     
    

    
     “ Oh, no,” she wrote, “ I do not mind 
     
     at all. Of course I am sorry I cannot 
     
     speak, but I am quite used to the thought 
     
     and it never hurts me at all.” 
     
    

    
     “ Then, Kilmeny, tell me this. Do you 
     
     know why it is that you are unable to 
     
     speak, when all your other faculties are 
     
     so perfect“? ” 
     
    

    
     “ No, I do not know at all why I cannot 
     
     speak. I asked mother once and she told 
     
     me it was a judgment on her for a great 
     
     sin she had committed, and she looked so 
     
     strangely that I was frightened, and I 
     
     never spoke of it to her or any one else 
     
     again.” 
     
    

    
     “ Were you ever taken .to a doctor to 
     
     have your tongue and organs of speech 
     
     examined? ” 
     
    

    
     “ No. I remember when I was a very 
     
     little girl that Uncle Thomas wanted to 
     
     take me to a doctor in Charlottetown and 
     
     see if anything could be done for me, but 
     
     mother would not let him. She said it 
     
    

    
     112 ‘