"It has been necessary for me to dwell thus briefly on my life at Aphar to enable you to understand my further relations with Vera; but I have purposely avoided going into any unnecessary details, and do not intend to refer again to the matter at present. Indeed, if it had been possible to make myself intelligible without mentioning the subject, I should have preferred it. But it would have been hopeless otherwise to explain the power which I acquired, and the entire alteration in my views of life which dated from this time; for this experience changed and revolutionized my character in such a way that it would have been impossible for you to follow my further actions with any degree of comprehension.
"I propose now to let you have an account of what was taking place in England during my absence, but I shall let Vera tell it to you herself, in her own words, or rather it shall seem to you that this is so. But remember that the girl will appear to you as she was at the time, not only in appearance, but in thought and character."
Even as Alan Sydney spoke I found myself in complete darkness; then I heard Vera's voice.
"I have come," she said, "to tell you the story of my life after Alan left me and went to India."
As she was speaking the light once more fell softly on the room; my late companion had gone, and I was alone save for the presence of the beautiful girl, whose weak yet lovely face I have already endeavoured to describe.
"Listen!" Vera said, moving forward and sitting down on the couch beside me. "It is a strange experience. My position, to begin with, was unusual and somewhat upsetting to a girl of only eighteen. I was married to Lord Vancome, a man I did not even like, who had moreover disappeared; while the man I admired and trusted had also left England, after giving me a large fortune. I was in possession of Somerville, my husband's ancestral home, and of all his estates, neither of which had he power to enter without my consent. My father, whom I had always believed to be wealthy, would also soon be dependent upon my generosity.
"The day that Alan left, his lawyer arrived from London, and explained the position to me. Being married, I had become freed from all parental control; the estates and money were tied up in such a manner that my husband could not touch them; and, to my surprise, I found out from the conversation that a thousand pounds a year would be paid to Lord Vancome as long as he took no steps to interfere with my inclinations, but that should he at any time take legal action to compel me to live with him, this payment would be stopped.