`` Kilmeny Gordon is dumb . '' Eric sat in dismayed silence for a moment . That beautiful creature afflicted in such a fashion -- why , it was horrible ! Mingled with his dismay was a strange pang of personal regret and disappointment . `` It could n't have been Kilmeny Gordon , then , '' he protested at last , remembering . `` The girl I saw played on the violin exquisitely . I never heard anything like it . It is impossible that a deaf mute could play like that . '' `` Oh , she is n't deaf , Master , '' responded Mrs. Williamson , looking at Eric keenly through her spectacles . She picked up her knitting and fell to work again . `` That is the strange part of it , if anything about her can be stranger than another . She can hear as well as anybody and understands everything that is said to her . But she ca n't speak a word and never could , at least , so they say . The truth is , nobody knows much about her . Janet and Thomas never speak of her , and Neil wo n't either . He has been well questioned , too , you can depend on that ; but he wo n't ever say a word about Kilmeny and he gets mad if folks persist . '' `` Why is n't she to be spoken of ? '' queried Eric impatiently . `` What is the mystery about her ? '' `` It 's a sad story , Master .
I suppose the Gordons look on her existence XXXXX a sort of disgrace .
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