CHAPTER XIV.  IN HER SELFLESS MOOD

Eric noticed a change in Kilmeny at their next meeting—­a change that troubled him.  She seemed aloof, abstracted, almost ill at ease.  When he proposed an excursion to the orchard he thought she was reluctant to go.  The days that followed convinced him of the change.  Something had come between them.  Kilmeny seemed as far away from him as if she had in truth, like her namesake of the ballad, sojourned for seven years in the land “where the rain never fell and the wind never blew,” and had come back washed clean from all the affections of earth.

Eric had a bad week of it; but he determined to put an end to it by plain speaking.  One evening in the orchard he told her of his love.

It was an evening in August, with wheat fields ripening to their harvestry—­a soft violet night made for love, with the distant murmur of an unquiet sea on a rocky shore sounding through it.  Kilmeny was sitting on the old bench where he had first seen her.  She had been playing for him, but her music did not please her and she laid aside the violin with a little frown.

It might be that she was afraid to play—­afraid that her new emotions might escape her and reveal themselves in music.  It was difficult to prevent this, so long had she been accustomed to pour out all her feelings in harmony.  The necessity for restraint irked her and made of her bow a clumsy thing which no longer obeyed her wishes.  More than ever at that instant did she long for speech—­speech that would conceal and protect where dangerous silence might betray.

In a low voice that trembled with earnestness Eric told her that he loved her—­that he had loved her from the first time he had seen her in that old orchard.  He spoke humbly but not fearfully, for he believed that she loved him, and he had little expectation of any rebuff.

“Kilmeny, will you be my wife?” he asked finally, taking her hands in his.

Kilmeny had listened with averted face.  At first she had blushed painfully but now she had grown very pale.  When he had finished speaking and was waiting for her answer, she suddenly pulled her hands away, and, putting them over her face, burst into tears and noiseless sobs.

“Kilmeny, dearest, have I alarmed you?  Surely you knew before that I loved you.  Don’t you care for me?” Eric said, putting his arm about her and trying to draw her to him.  But she shook her head sorrowfully, and wrote with compressed lips,

“Yes, I do love you, but I will never marry you, because I cannot speak.”

“Oh, Kilmeny,” said Eric smiling, for he believed his victory won, “that doesn’t make any difference to me—­you know it doesn’t, sweetest.  If you love me that is enough.”

But Kilmeny only shook her head again.  There was a very determined look on her pale face.  She wrote,