I do not want to go anywhere away from home . I do not want ever to see strangers or have them see me . I could not bear it . '' He thought that possibly the consciousness of her defect accounted for this . Yet she did not seem sensitive about her dumbness and made frequent casual references to it in her written remarks . Or perhaps it was the shadow on her birth . Yet she was so innocent that it seemed unlikely she could realize or understand the existence of such a shadow . Eric finally decided that it was merely the rather morbid shrinking of a sensitive child who had been brought up in an unwholesome and unnatural way . At last the lengthening shadows warned him that it was time to go . `` You wo n't forget to come to-morrow evening and play for me , '' he said , rising reluctantly . She answered by a quick little shake of her sleek , dark head , and a smile that was eloquent . He watched her as she walked across the orchard , `` With the moon 's beauty and the moon 's soft pace , '' and along the wild cherry lane . At the corner of the firs she paused and waved her hand to him before turning it . When Eric reached home old Robert Williamson was having a lunch of bread and milk in the kitchen . He looked up , with a friendly grin , as Eric strode in , whistling . `` Been having a walk , Master ? '' he queried . `` Yes , '' said Eric . Unconsciously and involuntarily he infused so much triumph into the simple monosyllable that even old Robert felt it . Mrs. Williamson , who was cutting bread at the end of the table , laid down her knife and loaf , and looked at the young man with a softly troubled expression in her eyes .
She wondered if he had been back XXXXX the Connors orchard -- and if he could have seen Kilmeny Gordon again .
At With across along before by from in into to