Kilmeny of the Orchard

Out of that fiery furnace of agony Eric Marshall was to go forth a man who had put boyhood behind him for ever and looked out on life with eyes that saw into it and beyond.

On Tuesday afternoon there was a fu- neral in the district and, according to cus— tom, the school was closed. Eric went again to the old orchard. He had no ex- pectation of seeing Kilmeny there, for he thought she would avoid the spot lest she might meet him. But he could not keep away from it, although the thought of it was an added torment, and he vibrated between a wild wish that he might never . see it again, and a sick wonder how he could possibly go away and leave it—that strange 01d orchard where he had met and wooed his sweetheart, watching her de— velop and blossom under his eyes, like some rare flower, until in the space of three short months she had passed from exquisite childhood into still more exqui- site womanhood.

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