one. The fear that I should
reveal everything had apparently grown to haunt him, and he had
conceived that terrible mode of silencing my lips. But the true depth of
his villainy was not yet apparent until I was back in Finland.

"On the night of our arrival he called in his son, who had traveled with
us from Petersburg, and in writing again demanded that I should marry
him. I wrote my reply--a firm refusal. He struck the table angrily with
his fist and wrote saying that I should either marry his son or die.
Then next day, while walking alone out beyond the town of Helsingfors,
as I often used to do, I was arrested upon the false charge of an
attempt upon the life of Madame Vakuroff and transported, without trial,
to the terrible fortress of Kajana, some of the horrors of which you
have yourself experienced. The charge against me was necessary before I
could be incarcerated there, but once within, it was the scheme of the
Governor-General to obtain my consent to the marriage by threats and by
the constant terrors of the place. He even went so far as to obtain a
ministerial order for my banishment to Saghalien and brought it to me to
Kajana, declaring that if in one month I did not consent he should allow
me to be sent to exile. While I was in Kajana he knew that his secret
was safe, therefore by every means in his power he urged me to consent
to the odious union.

"All the rest is known to you--how Providence directed you to me as my
deliverer, and how Woodroffe followed you in secret, and pretending to
be my friend took me with him to Petersburg. He had learnt of my fortune
from the Baron, and intended to marry me himself. But now that all is
over it appears to me like some terrible dream. I never believed that so
much iniquity existed in the world, or that men could fight a
defenseless woman with such double-dealing and cruel ingenuity. Ah! the
tortures I endured in Kajana are beyond human conception. Yet surely
Oberg and Woodroffe will obtain their well-merited deserts--if not in
this world, then in the world to come. Are we not taught by Holy Writ to
forgive our enemies? Therefore, let us forgive."

* * * * *

There my silent love's strange story ended. A bald, straightforward
narrative that held us all for some moments absolutely speechless--one
of the strangest and most startling stories ever revealed.

She watched every expression of my countenance, and then, when I had
finished