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.
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