THE GOVERNOR EXPLAINS.
       At the request of a person who has claims on me that I must not disown, I consent to look back through a long interval of years and to describe events which took place within the walls of an English prison during the earlier period of my appointment as Governor.
       Viewing my task by the light which later experience casts on it, I think I shall act wisely by exercising some control over the freedom of my pen.
       I propose to pass over in silence the name of the town in which is situated the prison once confided to my care. I shall observe a similar discretion in alluding to individuals--some dead, some living, at the present time.
       Being obliged to write of a woman who deservedly suffered the extreme penalty of the law, I think she will be sufficiently identified if I call her The Prisoner. Of the four persons present on the evening before her execution three may be distinguished one from the other by allusion to their vocations in life. I here introduce them as The Chaplain, The Minister, and The Doctor. The fourth was a young woman. She has no claim on my consideration; and, when she is mentioned, her name may appear. If these reserves excite suspicion, I declare beforehand that they influence in no way the sense of responsibility which commands an honest man to speak the truth.

first period: 1858-1859. events in the prison, related by the governor.
   Chapter I.
   Chapter II.
   Chapter III.
   Chapter IV.
   Chapter V.
   Chapter VI.
   Chapter VII.
   Chapter VIII.
   Chapter IX.
   Chapter X.
second period: 1875. the girls and the journals.
   Chapter XI.
   Chapter XII.
   Chapter XIII.
   Chapter XIV.
   Chapter XV.
   Chapter XVI.
   Chapter XVII
   Chapter XVIII.
   Chapter XIX.
   Chapter XX.
   Chapter XXI.
   Chapter XXII.
   Chapter XXIII.
   Chapter XXIV.
   Chapter XXV.
   Chapter XXVI.
   Chapter XXVII.
   Chapter XXVIII.
   Chapter XXIX.
   Chapter XXX.
   Chapter XXXI.
second period (continued). events in the family, related by the governor.
   Chapter XXXII.
   Chapter XXXIII.
   Chapter XXXIV.
   Chapter XXXV.
   Chapter XXXVI.
   Chapter XXXVII.
   Chapter XXXVIII.
   Chapter XXXIX.
   Chapter XL.
   Chapter XLI.
   Chapter XLII.
   Chapter XLIII.
   Chapter XLIV.
   Chapter XLV.
   Chapter XLVI.
   Chapter XLVII.
   Chapter XLVIII
   Chapter XLIX.
   Chapter L.
   Chapter LI.
third period: 1876. helena's diary resumed.
   Chapter LII.
   Chapter LIII.
   Chapter LIV.
   Chapter LV.
   Chapter LVI.
   Chapter LVII.
third period (continued). events in the family, related by miss jillgall.
   Chapter LVIII.
   Chapter LIX.
   Chapter LX.
   Chapter LXI.
third period (concluded). troubles and triumphs of the family, related by the governor.
   Chapter LXII.
   Chapter LXIII.
   Chapter LXIV.
Postscript.