wholly unconcerned, and the smiles from the great black shining face did
not impress him at all; but when the swarthy giant caught the two fair
little hands in his own great black palm and wanted to kiss them, the
boy withdrew his hands with a quick gesture and struck the ebony
forehead with his tiny fist.

At last we were seated. The negro was gone, the guide went out and
locked the door after him. Seeing that the open window was disagreeable
to the lady, I volunteered to close it. She accepted gratefully, and at
the same time expressed her regrets that, in consequence of the accident
to the parlour-car, she had been compelled to disturb me. Of course, I
hastened to say that I was not in the least incommoded, and only
regretted that it was not in my power to make her more comfortable. She
then told me that she was an American, and pretty well used to railroad
accidents of a more or less serious character. Three times she had been
saved by a miracle in railway collisions at home, and she assured me
that in America about 30,000 persons were every year injured in railway
accidents, while some 4,000 were killed outright.

We conversed in German, and, as the lady became more and more
communicative, talk turned upon the subject of the child between us.
She told me that Master James was deaf and dumb, and could not
understand a word of our conversation; hence restraint was unnecessary.
I asked her if he was born with this defect, and she said, "No; until
the age of three he could speak very nicely, but at that age he was
thrown out of his little goat-carriage, and in consequence of the shock
and concussion lost his power of speech."

"Then he will possibly recover it," I said. "I knew a young man who lost
his speech in the same manner at the age of five, and could not speak up