Kilmeny of the Orchard; by L. M. Montgomery.

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Kilmeny of the Orchard
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Here we seem to depart again from the characters familiar so far in these stories, whether of the Anne series or the King clan of the Story Girl volumes. Here we have a bright young man Eric Marshall, graduating from Queenslea College with a degree in arts, eager to join his father in Marshall & Company, expand the company's department store business, and big dreams for it. But his friend is unwell and Eric must take his place teaching school in Lindsay, PE, for the rest of the term after the spring vacation. He liked it more than he thought, despite the lack of excitement. 

"The Williamson place, where Eric boarded , was on the crest of the succeeding hill. He liked it as well as Larry West had prophesied that he would. The Williamsons, as well as the rest of the Lindsay people, took it for granted that he was a poor college student working his way through as Larry West had been doing. Eric did not disturb this belief, although he said nothing to contribute to it."

Eric went out one evening for a walk, and having walked through woods, came upon a neglected orchard. He walked through and flopped down on grass at the end under lilacs, and suddenly heard music enchanting, and discovered a girl on a bench under a lilac playing violin. He was struck with her beauty, but when she noticed him she was terrified and ran away. He couldn't get her out of his mind, to his chagrin, and looked for her in the orchard and in church, without success. Finally he asked Mrs Williamson. 

""I suppose it must have been Kilmeny Gordon, Master." 

""Kilmeny Gordon? Do you mean the niece of Thomas Gordon of whom your husband spoke?" 

""Yes." 

""I can hardly believe that the girl I saw can be a member of Thomas Gordon's family." 

""Well, if it wasn't Kilmeny Gordon I don't know who it could have been. There is no other house near that orchard and I've heard she plays the violin. If it was Kilmeny you've seen what very few people in Lindsay have ever seen, Master. And those few have never seen her close by. I have never laid eyes on her myself. It's no wonder she ran away, poor girl. She isn't used to seeing strangers." 

""I'm rather glad if that was the sole reason of her flight," said Eric. "I admit I didn't like to see any girl so frightened of me as she appeared to be. She was as white as paper, and so terrified that she never uttered a word, but fled like a deer to cover." 

""Well, she couldn't have spoken a word in any case," said Mrs. Williamson quietly. "Kilmeny Gordon is dumb.""

Kilmeny could hear and understand, but not speak, said Mrs Williamson. She told him the history of her mother, Margaret Gordon, her close friend and classmate, and what she knew about Kilmeny, whom nobody in Lindsay had seen outside the Gordon family, except Eric. He went to the orchard again, and saw her, and this time had a conversation with her, her using a slate hung around her waist. She promised to play for him next day, and he asked her for some of the June lilies - white narcissus -  that she'd been picking. 

"When she came to him, radiant, her hands full of the lilies, a couplet from a favourite poem darted into his head— 

""A blossom vermeil white 

"That lightly breaks a faded flower sheath, 

"Here, by God's rood, is the one maid for me.""

"Eric discovered that she had read a great deal of poetry and history, and a few books of biography and travel. She did not know what a novel meant and had never heard of one. Curiously enough, she was well informed regarding politics and current events, from the weekly paper for which her uncle subscribed."

They went on meeting in the orchard, unþil one day Mrs Williamson confronted Eric and told him he shouldn't, because Kilmeny wasn't used to the world and might care for him, while he was unlikely to marry her. 

"He was face to face with the knowledge that he loved Kilmeny Gordon with the love that comes but once, and is for all time. He wondered how he could have been so long blind to it. He knew that he must have loved her ever since their first meeting that May evening in the old orchard.

"And he knew that he must choose between two alternatives— either he must never go to the orchard again, or he must go as an avowed lover to woo him a wife."
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Neil Gordon, the Italian orphan brought up by Gordon family as their own, spied on their last meeting in the orchard. He informed her uncle and aunt Thomas and Janet, and quarrelled with Eric next day. Eric dealt with him quietly as an adult with a boy, went to meet the Gordon family, and convinced them about his serious and honourable intentions, winning their approval to court Kilmeny to win her. 

They had happy time until Kilmeny realised she loved him; she was distant, and when Eric confessed his love and proposed, she refused because she couldn't speak. He couldn't believe it, and tried to make her change her mind. 

"He did not understand that it was the very intensity of her love which gave her the strength to resist his pleading, where a more shallow affection might have yielded. It held her back unflinchingly from doing him what she believed to be a wrong."

But Eric spoke with Janet. They discussed about her inability to speak, and Eric proposed Kilmeny being examined by David Baker. 

"Janet plainly had no faith in the possibility of anything being done for Kilmeny. But a rosy glow of hope flashed over Kilmeny's face when Eric told her what he meant to do. 

""Oh, do you think he can make me speak?" she wrote eagerly. 

""I don't know, Kilmeny. I hope that he can, and I know he will do all that mortal skill can do. If he can remove your defect will you promise to marry me, dearest?" 

"She nodded. The grave little motion had the solemnity of a sacred promise. 

""Yes," she wrote, "when I can speak like other women I will marry you.""

David Baker arrived, and having won the Williamson household over, chided Eric in private. Eric told him hed but one argument. 

"The next morning Eric took David up to the Gordon homestead. As they approached the old orchard a strain of music came floating through the resinous morning arcades of the spruce wood— a wild, sorrowful, appealing cry, full of indescribable pathos, yet marvellously sweet. 

""What is that?" exclaimed David, starting. 

""That is Kilmeny playing on her violin," answered Eric. "She has great talent in that respect and improvises wonderful melodies." 

"When they reached the orchard Kilmeny rose from the old bench to meet them, her lovely luminous eyes distended, her face flushed with the excitement of mingled hope and fear. 

""Oh, ye gods!" muttered David helplessly."

Having examined her, David told Eric that there was nothing wrong in her vocal instruments, and it was psychological; it needed a great sudden desire for her to get over a barrier and say a word, that was all. But there was nothing he could do. David left, and Kilmeny refused to see Eric then on. Thomas advised him to leave Lindsay, however much they wanted to see him because they loved him. 

Eric went to the orchard without hope when the school was closed due to a local funeral, and saw Neil mending a fence. He felt pity for him. He walked through and sat, and was unaware of steps, and didn't know Kilmeny was coming. 

"Kilmeny walked through the lane slowly and absently like a woman in a dream. When she came to the gap in the fence where the lane ran into the orchard she lifted her wan, drooping face and saw Eric, sitting in the shadow of the wood at the other side of the orchard with his bowed head in his hands. She stopped quickly and the blood rushed wildly over her face. 

"The next moment it ebbed, leaving her white as marble. Horror filled her eyes,— blank, deadly horror, as the livid shadow of a cloud might fill two blue pools. 

"Behind Eric Neil Gordon was standing tense, crouched, murderous. Even at that distance Kilmeny saw the look on his face, saw what he held in his hand, and realized in one agonized flash of comprehension what it meant. 

"All this photographed itself in her brain in an instant. She knew that by the time she could run across the orchard to warn Eric by a touch it would be too late. Yet she must warn him— she must—she MUST! A mighty surge of desire seemed to rise up within her and overwhelm her like a wave of the sea,— a surge that swept everything before it in an irresistible flood. As Neil Gordon swiftly and vindictively, with the face of a demon, lifted the axe he held in his hand, Kilmeny sprang forward through the gap. 

""Eric, Eric, look behind you— look behind you!" 

"Eric started up, confused, bewildered, as the voice came shrieking across the orchard. He did not in the least realize that it was Kilmeny who had called to him, but he instinctively obeyed the command. 

"He wheeled around and saw Neil Gordon, who was looking, not at him, but past him at Kilmeny. The Italian boy's face was ashen and his eyes were filled with terror and incredulity, as if he had been checked in his murderous purpose by some supernatural interposition. The axe, lying at his feet where he had dropped it in his unutterable consternation on hearing Kilmeny's cry, told the whole tale. But before Eric could utter a word Neil turned, with a cry more like that of an animal than a human being, and fled like a hunted creature into the shadow of the spruce wood. 

"A moment later Kilmeny , her lovely face dewed with tears and sunned over with smiles, flung herself on Eric's breast. 

""Oh, Eric, I can speak,— I can speak! Oh, it is so wonderful! Eric, I love you— I love you!""

They arranged the wedding for spring, and Eric wrote his father, who promptly arrived. He was just as taken with the Williamson household and the Gordons, and floored by Kilmeny, he welcomed her into the family. 
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August 05, 2020 - August 10, 2020.
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