'Nature's greatest
marvel, the blind singer! Splendid talent enveloped in darkness.' She
will be the success of the day, ma'am. Lord, and to think of my
chancing on her here, of all the little out-of-the-way places in the
world! Why, three hours ago I was cursing my luck, when my horse lost
a shoe and went lame, just outside your pleasant little town here. And
now, ma'am, now I count this the most fortunate day of my life! Is the
little lady in the house, ma'am? I'd like to have a little talk with
her; kind o' open her eyes to what's before her,--her mind's eye,
Horatio, eh? Know anything of Shakspeare, ma'am? Is she in the house,
I say?"
"She is not," said Miss Vesta Dale, finding her voice at last. "The
child is away, and you should not see her if she were here. She is not
meant for the sort of thing you talk about. She--she is the same as
our own child, my sister's and mine. We mean to keep her by us as long
as we live. I thank you," she added, with stately courtesy. "I don't
doubt that many might be glad of such a chance, but we are not that
kind, my sister and I."
The man's face fell; but the next moment he looked incredulous. "You
don't mean what you say, ma'am!" he cried; "you can't mean it! To keep
a voice like that shut up in a God-forsaken little hole like
this,--oh, you don't know what you're talking about, really you
don't.
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