"'Oh certainly,' laughed my guardian, 'and my lovely bride will not object to my being away, as she is in widow's weeds, mourning the untimely death of her first and only love. So, good day. I must rest and take a long and very refreshing nap to account for my unexpected recovery.'
"'Just so,' laughed the lawyer, and I heard the door close behind him.
"The conversation that I had overheard froze the very blood in my veins. I learned that I had been deliberately deceived and not only robbed of a large fortune, but had been robbed of my affianced husband. Worse than this, I had been induced to take a step that made me false to him and at the same time precluded the possibility of our ever consummating our plighted faith without violating the marriage laws, as under the law I was his aunt and marriage with him would have been a crime, for which under the law I could be imprisoned for a long term of years.
"My whole nature arose in revolt against the iniquity that had been perpetrated against me. I determined to find Raphael and explain the whole matter to him. I hastily wrote a note to my guardian and left it where he would be sure to find it, denouncing his treachery and informing him that under no circumstances would I ever enter his door again.
"I made my way into the city and disguising myself in male attire I succeeded in finding a position as cabin boy on a steamer bound for Liverpool. I was determined to find Raphael. I kept up the search for nearly fifteen long years, visiting almost every part of the known world, and at last found him at San Francisco, on the eve of starting on an expedition to the north polar regions. Before revealing myself to him I wanted to ascertain beyond any doubt whatever, from his own lips, in just what light he would regard my marriage to his uncle and my subsequent long career on the high seas in male attire. So I applied for a place on the Ice King and succeeded in getting the position of scientist. I cultivated the acquaintance of the Captain, secured his confidence so far that he related to me the story of his life, which gave the opportunity I wanted to draw him out, and soon learned, what I had come to dread, that the prejudices engendered by social usages were stronger than his sense of natural justice, and I heard my own conduct denounced as perfidious and vile. But for the sudden sounding of the alarm I must have fallen at his feet and thus have in all probability revealed my identity.