"'Damned if there is!' he thought; but he only said after a little hesitation, 'No, it is occupied.'
"'Now look here,' I continued, 'you will never guess why I came here; it is such fun, you will enjoy the situation, but you must keep it quiet. I have run off with some one else's wife!' and I burst out in loud laughter.
"He looked relieved, patted me on the back, and began to whistle. 'What about the cabin?' he said, laughing.
"'Oh!' I replied (having in truth forgotten all about it), 'that was my little joke.'
"'Then,' he thought, 'I need not mind about him now, and may as well make a dean breast of it!' 'I hope you have not run off with mine,' he said. 'You see I cannot now quite approve of these actions, I am a married man myself.'
"'A married man!' I exclaimed, trying to look more surprised than I felt, at what I supposed was a lie.
"'Look at that,' he continued, and drew from his pocket a copy of a marriage-licence dated that day at a registry office in Liverpool.
"It was--I could not be mistaken, the names and particulars were clear, though Vera's age had been inaccurately stated as twenty-one. I can see the paper distinctly at this moment, every cursed line. My brain reeled, and shouting out,--'My lie is true. I have run away with some one else's wife--your wife,' I fell forward on the floor insensible.
"On recovering I found that I had been placed in a cabin by myself, and was under the doctor's hands. It required but little power of thought-reading to discover that he regarded me as an escaped and rather dangerous lunatic, an opinion which I felt to be not far from correct. The position was ridiculous in the extreme. Following the dictates of my partially-developed powers, I had formed an erroneous view; rescued a girl against her will from her own husband, and was now taking a needless voyage in her place to America. I wondered what Vancome thought of it all, and had not long to wait before discovering, as he, having obtained permission from the doctor, appeared later on in the day.
"I hated him more than ever, but at the same time was anxious to discuss matters.