Kilmeny of the Orchard

Kilmeny of the Orchard

Project Gutenberg's Kilmeny of the Orchard, by Lucy Maud
Montgomery #9 in our series by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: Kilmeny of the Orchard
Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5341] [Yes, we are more than one

year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on July 2, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KILMENY
OF THE ORCHARD ***

This book has been put on-line as part of the BUILD-A-BOOK
Initiative at the Celebration of Women Writers through the combined
work of Elizabeth Morton and Mary Mark Ockerbloom.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/
Reformatted by Ben Crowder
http://www.blankslate.net/lang/etexts.php

KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD
By L. M. MONTGOMERY
Author of "Anne's House of Dreams," "Rainbow Valley," "Rilla of
Ingleside," etc.
TO MY COUSIN Beatrice A. McIntyre THIS BOOK IS
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
"Kilmeny looked up with a lovely grace, But nae smile was seen on
Kilmeny's face; As still was her look, and as still was her ee, As the
stillness that lay on the emerant lea, Or the mist that sleeps on a
waveless sea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Such beauty bard may never declare, For
there was no pride nor passion there; . . . . . . . . . . . . . Her seymar was
the lily flower, And her cheek the moss-rose in the shower; And her
voice like the distant melodye That floats along the twilight sea."
-- _The Queen's Wake_ JAMES HOGG

CONTENTS
I. The Thoughts of Youth II. A Letter of Destiny III. The Master of
Lindsay School IV. A Tea Table Conversation V. A Phantom of

Delight VI. The Story of Kilmeny VII. A Rose of Womanhood VIII. At
the Gate of Eden IX. The Straight Simplicity of Eve X. A Troubling of
the Waters XI. A Lover and His Lass XII. A Prisoner of Love XIII. A
Sweeter Woman Ne'er Drew Breath XIV. In Her Selfless Mood XV.
An Old, Unhappy, Far-off Thing XVI. David Baker's Opinion XVII. A
Broken Fetter XVIII. Neil Gordon Solves His Own Problem XIX.
Victor from Vanquished Issues

KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD



CHAPTER I
. THE THOUGHTS OF YOUTH
The sunshine of a day in early spring, honey pale and honey sweet, was
showering over the red brick buildings of Queenslea College and the
grounds about them, throwing through the bare, budding maples and
elms, delicate, evasive etchings of gold and brown on the paths, and
coaxing into life the daffodils that were peering greenly and perkily up
under the windows of the co-eds' dressing-room.
A young April wind, as fresh and sweet as if it had been blowing over
the fields of memory instead of through dingy streets, was purring in
the tree-tops and whipping the loose tendrils of the ivy network which
covered the front of the main building. It was a wind that sang of many
things, but what it sang to each listener was only what was in that
listener's heart. To the college students who had just been capped and
diplomad by "Old Charlie," the grave president of Queenslea, in the
presence of an admiring throng of parents and sisters, sweethearts and
friends, it sang, perchance, of glad hope and shining success and high
achievement. It sang of the dreams of youth that may never be quite
fulfilled, but are well worth the dreaming for all that. God help the man
who has never known such dreams--who, as he leaves his alma mater,
is not already rich in aerial castles, the proprietor of many a spacious
estate in Spain. He has missed his birthright.

The crowd streamed out of the entrance hall and scattered over the
campus, fraying off into the many streets beyond. Eric Marshall and
David Baker walked away together. The former had graduated in Arts
that day at