That , and the expression that flashed into her eyes , told Janet Gordon all she wished to know . With a stifled sigh she bade her niece good night and went away . Kilmeny ran fleetly up the stairs to her dim little room , that looked out into the spruces , and flung herself on her bed , burying her burning face in the pillow . Her aunt 's words had revealed to her the hidden secret of her heart . She knew that she loved Eric Marshall -- and the knowledge brought with it a strange anguish . For was she not dumb ? All night she lay staring wide-eyed through the darkness till the dawn . 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 XXXXX harmony .
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