While I was enrolled as a teacher of English, and the geography, history and institutions of the outer world, I had really given all of my attention to the study of the Altrurian language, and of the manner in which the great problems now confronting my own country had been solved. Every day revealed something new or presented the old in a new light. The arts and sciences had been developed to a degree that had scarcely been dreamed of in the outer world. Psychic powers such as clairvoyance, clairaudience and telepathy, which in the outer world were classed as occult by believers, and as baseless assumptions by the multitudes, were here well understood by the many, as revealed in the fact that my disguise had been so readily penetrated by native Altrurians. But at the same time they respected my right to conceal my identity. This was a marked peculiarity of these people. The right of persons to keep a secret in their own bosoms was never questioned, and when it was discovered, as I take it for granted was usually the case, it was never alluded to. Here, my assumed character of Jack Adams, the sailor, was held in the highest esteem by the few to whom I had explained the reason for it, because it had been necessary, in order to enable me to be true to my own higher sense of right. In the outer world this would have branded me as disreputable and I would have been ostracized as something vile by the so called better classes of society. After years of wandering, exposed to the perils and hardships of a sailor's life, I had found my lost lover, only to learn from his oft expressed sentiments, that he regarded such a course of life as I had pursued as so grossly disreputable that no honorable man could afford to contract a matrimonial alliance with such a woman. For this reason I had not revealed myself to him, and now that I was soon to leave him, the question often presented itself to my mind as to whether I ought to let him remain any longer in ignorance of the fact that Cassie VanNess had stood by his side in so many dangers. The time was at hand when this question must be decided and I determined to confer with my most intimate Altrurian friends of my own sex. Bona Dea had arrived at our Home at my invitation and Oqua and Iola were present to assist in making out a program for the excursion and my departure for the outer world. My proposed journey was of course the subject of conversation, but I wanted to draw them out in regard to the personal matter that was uppermost in my mind. I wanted their advice but did not want to be too abrupt in raising a question that was calculated to call the attention of these public spirited people away from an important public question in which they were deeply interested, to the consideration of my own private affairs. Oqua, however, soon gave me the opportunity I wanted by asking: