? ? ? ? "Yes?" she said quite unemotionally, as though it was a matter of little moment that a young girl should be upon intimate terms with savage jungle beasts.
? ? ? ? "It was horrible!" ejaculated the Hon. Morison.
? ? ? ? "Horrible?" repeated Meriem, puckering her brows in bewilderment. "What was horrible about it? They are my friends. Is it horrible to talk with one's friends?"
? ? ? ? "You were really talking with them, then?" cried the Hon. Morison. "You understood them and they understood you?"
? ? ? ? "Certainly."
? ? ? ? "But they are hideous creatures--degraded beasts of a lower order. How could you speak the language of beasts?"
? ? ? ? "They are not hideous, and they are not degraded," replied Meriem. "Friends are never that. I lived among them for years before Bwana found me and brought me here. I scarce knew any other tongue than that of the mangani. Should I refuse to know them now simply because I happen, for the present, to live among humans?"
? ? ? ? "For the present!" ejaculated the Hon.
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