Dr. Dumanys Wife | Page 3

red, thin,
tightly-compressed lips, and great, melancholy dark-blue eyes. As long
as the negro was occupied in arranging the rugs and pillows, he looked
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 to his tenth year; then he recovered, and now he has graduated
from college as senior wrangler."
"Yes," she said. "But Mr. Dumany is impatient, and he has sent the boy
to all the deaf-and-dumb boarding-schools in Europe. Even now we are
coming from such an institution in Italy; but none of all these different
masters has been able to teach more than sign-talk, and that is
insufficient. Mr. Dumany wants to give the German Heinicke method a
trial. That professes to teach real conversation, based on the
observations of the movements of the lips and tongue."
Of this method I also knew examples of success. I was acquainted with
a deaf and dumb type-setter, who had learned to talk intelligibly and
fluently, could read aloud, and take part in conversation, but in a piping

voice like that of a bird.
"Even that would be a great success," she said. "At any rate, little
James will be taken to the Zürich Institute, and remain there until he
acquires his speech."
During this whole conversation the little fellow had sat between us,
mute, and, to all appearance, wholly indifferent. His little pale face was
dull, and his great eyes half closed. I felt sorry for him, and with a sigh
of real compassion I muttered in my own native Hungarian tongue,
"Szegény fincska!" ("Poor little boy!") At this I saw a thrill of surprise
run through the child's little frame; the great blue eyes opened wide in
wonder and delight, and the closed cherry lips opened in a smile of joy.
I was struck with surprise, and did not believe my own eyes. The lady
had not noticed anything, since she still kept her bonnet on and the
thick veil tightly drawn over her face.
I took pity on her, and offered to go out into the corridor to smoke a
cigarette, so that she might make herself a little more comfortable until
we arrived at some large station, where she would enter another
parlour-car.
She accepted thankfully, and, to my utter astonishment, the little boy
raised his tiny hand, and caressingly stroked the fur collar of my coat. I
bent down to kiss him, and he smiled sweetly on me; and when I got up
and signed to him that he could now occupy both seats and stretch
himself upon the little sofa, he shook his head, and crept into the corner
which I had quitted. And there, as often as in my walk up and down the
corridor I threw a glance into his corner, I could see the child's large
dark-blue eyes following all my movements with an eager curiosity; the
white little