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     David Baker’s Opinion 
     
    
   
   
    
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     facts. In short, Eric, I think it is possi- 
     
     ble that Kilmeny may speak sometime—— 
     
     if she ever wants to badly enough.” 
     
    

    
     “ Wants to! why, man, she wants to as 
     
     badly as it is possible for any one to want 
     
     anything. She loves me with all her heart 
     
     and she won’t marry me because she can’t 
     
     speak. ’Don’t you suppose that a girl 
     
     under such circumstances would ‘ want ’ 
     
     to speak as much as any one could? ” 
     
    

    
     “ Yes, but I do not mean that sort of 
     
     wanting, no matter how strong the wish 
     
     may be. What I do mean is—a sudden, 
     
     vehement, passionate inrush of desire, 
     
     physical, psychical, mental, all in one, 
     
     mighty enough to rend asunder the invis- 
     
     ible fetters that hold her speech in bond- 
     
     age. If any occasion should arise to evoke 
     
     such a desire I believe that Kilmeny 
     
     would speak—and having once spoken 
     
     would thenceforth be normal in that re- 
     
     spect—3y, if she spoke but the one 
     
     word.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     “ All this sounds like great nonsense to 
     
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