Kilmeny of the Orchard 
     
    
   
   
    
     thinking they won’t get much nearer to it 
     
     than that. It is awesome, that is what it 
     
     is. Janet, woman, I feel as if I were in 
     
     a dream. Can Kilmeny really speak? ” 
     
    

    
     “ Indeed I can, Uncle,” said Kilmeny, 
     
     with a rapturous glance at Eric. “ Oh, I 
     
     don’t know how it came to me—I felt that 
     
     I must speak—and I did. And it is so 
     
     easy now—it seems to me as if I could 
     
     always have done it.” 
     
    

    
     She spoke naturally and easily. The 
     
     only difficulty which she seemed to expe- 
     
     rience was in the proper modulation of 
     
     her voice. Occasionally she pitched it too 
     
     high—again, too low. But it was evident 
     
     that she would soon acquire perfect con- 
     
     trol of it. It was a beautiful voice—very 
     
     clear and soft and musical. 
     
    

    
     “ Oh, I am so glad that the first word 
     
     I said was your name, dearest,” she mur— 
     
     mured to Eric. 
     
    

    
     “ What about Neil? ” asked Thomas 
     
     Gordon gravely, rousing himself with an 
     
     effort from his abstraction of wonder. 
     
    

    
     242