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Title: Unveiling a Parallel
A Romance
Author: Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella Marchant
Release Date: May 26, 2013 [eBook #42816]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNVEILING A PARALLEL***
| Note: | Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See http://archive.org/details/unveilingparalle00jone |
COPYRIGHT 1893,
BY
ARENA PUBLISHING COMPANY.
All rights reserved.
| PAGE. | ||
| Chapter I. | A Remarkable Acquaintance | 5 |
| Chapter II. | A Woman | 28 |
| Chapter III. | The Auroras’ Annual | 59 |
| Chapter IV. | Elodia | 88 |
| Chapter V. | The Vaporizer | 106 |
| Chapter VI. | Cupid’s Gardens | 124 |
| Chapter VII. | New Friends | 147 |
| Chapter VIII. | A Talk With Elodia | 157 |
| Chapter IX. | Journeying Upward | 190 |
| Chapter X. | The Master | 220 |
| Chapter XI. | A Comparison | 248 |
You know how certain kinds of music will beat everything out of your consciousness except a wild delirium of joy; how love of a woman will take up every cranny of space in your being,—and fill the universe beside,—so that people who are not en rapport with the strains that delight you, or with the beauty that enthralls you, seem pitiable creatures, not in touch with the Divine Harmony, with Supreme Loveliness.
So it was with me, when I set my feet on Mars! My soul leaped to its highest altitude and I had but one vast thought,—“I have triumphed; I am here! And I am alone; Earth is unconscious of the glory that is mine!”
I shall not weary you with an account of my voyage, since you are more interested in the story of my sojourn on the red planet than in the manner of my getting there.
It is not literally red, by the way; that which makes it appear so at this distance is its atmosphere,—its “sky,”—which is of a soft roseate color, instead of being blue like ours. It is as beautiful as a blush.
I will just say, that the time consumed in making the journey was incredibly brief. Having launched my aeroplane on the current of attraction which flows uninterruptedly between this world and that, traveling was as swift as thought. My impression is that my speed was constantly accelerated until I neared my journey’s end, when the planet’s pink envelope interposed its soft resistance to prevent a destructive landing.
I settled down as gently as a dove alights, and the sensation was the most ecstatic I have ever experienced.
When I could distinguish trees, flowers, green fields, streams of water, and people moving about in the streets of a beautiful city, it was as if some hitherto unsuspected[Pg 7] chambers of my soul were flung open to let in new tides of feeling.
My coming had been discovered. A college of astronomers in an observatory which stands on an elevation just outside the city, had their great telescope directed toward the Earth,—just as our telescopes were directed to Mars at that time,—and they saw me and made me out when I was yet a great way off.
They were able to determine the exact spot whereon I would land, about a mile distant from the observatory, and repaired thither with all possible speed,—and they have very perfect means of locomotion, superior even to our electrical contrivances.
Before I had time to look about me, I found myself surrounded, and unmistakably friendly hands outheld to welcome me.
There were eight or ten of the astronomers,—some young, some middle-aged, and one or two elderly men. All of them, including the youngest, who had not even the dawn of a beard upon his chin, and the oldest, whose hair was silky white, were strikingly handsome. Their features were[Pg 8] extraordinarily mobile and expressive. I never saw a more lively interest manifest on mortal countenances than appeared on theirs, as they bent their glances upon me. But their curiosity was tempered by a dignified courtesy and self-respect.
They spoke, but of course I could not understand their words, though it was easy enough to interpret the tones of their voices, their manner, and their graceful gestures. I set them down for a people who had attained to a high state of culture and good-breeding.
I suddenly felt myself growing faint, for, although I had not fasted long, a journey such as I had just accomplished is exhausting.
Near by stood a beautiful tree on which there was ripe fruit. Some one instantly interpreted the glance I involuntarily directed to it, and plucked a cluster of the large rich berries and gave them to me, first putting one in his own mouth to show me that it was a safe experiment.
While I ate,—I found the fruit exceedingly refreshing,—the company conferred[Pg 9] together, and presently one of the younger men approached and took me gently by the arm and walked me away toward the city. The others followed us.
We had not to go farther than the first suburb. My companion, whom they called Severnius, turned into a beautiful park, or grove, in the midst of which stood a superb mansion built of dazzling white stone. His friends waved us farewells with their hands,—we responding in like manner,—and proceeded on down the street.
I learned afterwards that the park was laid out with scientific precision. But the design was intricate, and required study to follow the curves and angles. It seemed to me then like an exquisite mood of nature.
The trees were of rare and beautiful varieties, and the shrubbery of the choicest. The flowers, whose colors could not declare themselves,—it being night,—fulfilled their other delightful function and tinctured the balmy air with sweet odors.
Paths were threaded like white ribbons through the thick greensward.
As we walked toward the mansion, I[Pg 10] stopped suddenly to listen to a most musical and familiar and welcome sound,—the plash of water. My companion divined my thought. We turned aside, and a few steps brought us to a marble fountain. It was in the form of a chaste and lovely female figure, from whose chiseled fingers a shower of glittering drops continually poured. Severnius took an alabaster cup from the base of the statue, filled it, and offered me a drink. The water was sparkling and intensely cold, and had the suggestion rather than the fact of sweetness.
“Delicious!” I exclaimed. He understood me, for he smiled and nodded his head, a gesture which seemed to say, “It gives me pleasure to know that you find it good.” I could not conceive of his expressing himself in any other than the politest manner.
We proceeded into the house. How shall I describe that house? Imagine a place which responds fully to every need of the highest culture and taste, without burdening the senses with oppressive luxury, and you have it! In a word, it was an ideal house and home. Both outside and inside,[Pg 11] white predominated. But here and there were bits of color the most brilliant, like jewels. I found that I had never understood the law of contrast, or of economy in art; I knew nothing of “values,” or of relationships in this wonderful realm, of which it maybe truly said, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
I learned subsequently that all Marsians of taste are sparing of rich colors, as we are of gems, though certain classes indulge in extravagant and gaudy displays, recognizing no law but that which permits them to have and to do whatsoever they like.
I immediately discovered that two leading ideas were carried out in this house; massiveness and delicacy. There was extreme solidity in everything which had a right to be solid and stable; as the walls, and the supporting pillars, the staircases, the polished floors, and some pieces of stationary furniture, and the statuary,—the latter not too abundant. Each piece of statuary, by the way, had some special reason for being where it was; either it served some practical purpose, or it helped to carry[Pg 12] out a poetical idea,—so that one was never taken aback as by an incongruity.
Some of the floors were of marble, in exquisite mosaic-work, and others were of wood richly inlaid. The carpets were beautiful, but they were used sparingly. When we sat down in a room a servant usually brought a rug or a cushion for our feet. And when we went out under the trees they spread carpets on the grass and put pillows on the rustic seats.
The decorations inside the house were the most airy and graceful imaginable. The frescoes were like clouds penetrated by the rarest tints,—colors idealized,—cunningly wrought into surpassingly lovely pictures, which did not at once declare the artist’s intention, but had to be studied. They were not only an indulgence to the eye, but a charming occupation for the thoughts. In fact, almost everything about the place appealed to the higher faculties as well as to the senses.
There comes to us, from time to time, a feeling of disenchantment toward almost everything life has to offer us. It never[Pg 13] came to me with respect to Severnius’ house. It had for me an interest and a fascination which I was never able to dissect, any more than you would be able to dissect the charm of the woman you love.
With all its fine artistic elaborations, there was a simplicity about it which made it possible for the smallest nature to measure its capacity there, as well as the greatest. The proper sort of a yardstick for all uses has inch-marks.
Severnius took me upstairs and placed a suite of rooms at my command, and indicated to me that he supposed I needed rest, which I did sorely. But I could not lie down until I had explored my territory.
The room into which I had been ushered, and where Severnius left me, closing the noiseless door behind him, looked to me like a pretty woman’s boudoir,—almost everything in it being of a light and delicate color. The walls were cream-tinted, with a deep frieze of a little darker shade, relieved by pale green and brown decorations. The wood work was done in white enamel paint. The ceiling was sprinkled with[Pg 14] silver stars. Two or three exquisite water-colors were framed in silver, and the andirons, tongs and shovel, and the fender round the fire-place, and even the bedstead, were silver-plated.
The bed, which stood in an alcove, was curtained with silk, and had delicacies of lace also, as fine and subtle as Arachne’s web. The table and a few of the chairs looked like our spindle-legged Chippendale things. And two or three large rugs might have been of Persian lamb’s wool. A luxurious couch was placed across one corner of the room and piled with down cushions. An immense easy chair, or lounging chair, stood opposite.
The dressing table, of a peculiarly beautiful cream-colored wood, was prettily littered with toilet articles in carved ivory or silver mountings. Above it hung a large mirror. There was a set of shelves for books and bric-a-brac; a porphyry lamp-stand with a lamp dressed in an exquisite pale-green shade; a chiffonier of marquetry.
The mantel ornaments were vases of fine pottery and marble statuettes. A musical[Pg 15] instrument lay on a low bamboo stand. I could not play upon it, but the strings responded sweetly to the touch.
A little investigation revealed a luxurious bath-room. I felt the need of a bath, and turned on the water and plunged in. As I finished, a clock somewhere chimed the hour of midnight.
Before lying down, I put by the window draperies and looked out. I was amazed at the extreme splendor of the familiar constellations. Owing to the peculiarity of the atmosphere of Mars, the night there is almost as luminous as our day. Every star stood out, not a mere twinkling eye, or little flat, silver disk, but a magnificent sphere, effulgent and supremely glorious.
Notwithstanding that it was long before I slept, I awoke with the day. I think its peculiar light had something to do with my waking. I did not suppose such light was possible out of heaven! It did not dazzle me, however; it simply filled me, and gave me a sensation of peculiar buoyancy.
I had a singular feeling when I first stepped out of bed,—that the floor was[Pg 16] not going to hold me. It was as if I should presently be lifted up, as a feather is lifted by a slight current of air skimming along on the ground. But I soon found that this was not going to happen. My feet clung securely to the polished wood and the soft wool of the rug at the bedside. I laughed quietly to myself. In fact I was in the humor to laugh. I felt so happy. Happiness seemed to be a quality of the air, which at that hour was particularly charming in its freshness and its pinkish tones.
I had made my ablutions and was taking up my trousers to put them on, when there was a tap at the door and Severnius appeared with some soft white garments, such as he himself wore, thrown over his arm. In the most delicate manner possible, he conveyed the wish that I might feel disposed to put them on.
I blushed,—they seemed such womanish things. He misinterpreted my confusion. He assured me by every means in his power that I was entirely welcome to them, that it would give him untold pleasure to provide for my every want. I could not stand out[Pg 17] against such generosity. I reached for the things—swaddling clothes I called them—and Severnius helped me to array myself in them. I happened to glance into the mirror, and I did not recognize myself. I had some sense of how a barbarian must feel in his first civilized suit.
At my friend’s suggestion I hung my own familiar apparel up in the closet,—you may imagine with what reluctance.
But I may say, right here, that I grew rapidly to my new clothes. I soon liked them. There was something very graceful in the cut and style of them.
They covered and adorned the body without disguising it. They left the limbs and muscles free and encouraged grace of pose and movement.
The elegant folds in which the garments hung from the shoulders and the waist, the tassels and fringes and artistic drapery arrangements, while seemingly left to their own caprice, were as secure in their place as the plumage of a bird,—which the wind may ruffle but cannot displace.
I suspect that it requires a great deal[Pg 18] of skill to construct a Marsian costume, whether for male or female. They are not altogether dissimilar; the women’s stuffs are of a little finer quality ordinarily, but their dress is not usually so elaborately trimmed as the men’s garb, which struck me as very peculiar. Both sexes wear white, or a soft cream. The fabric is either a sort of fine linen, or a mixture of silk and wool.
After Severnius and I came to understand each other, as comrades and friends, he laughingly compared my dress, in which I had made my first appearance, to the saddle and housings of a horse. He declared that he and his friends were not quite sure whether I was a man or a beast. But he was too polite to give me the remotest hint, during our early acquaintance, that he considered my garb absurd.
When, having completed my toilet, I indicated to him that I was ready for the next thing on the program,—which I sincerely hoped might be breakfast,—he approached me and taking my hand placed a gold ring on my finger. It was set with a superb[Pg 19] rubellite enhanced with pearls. The stone was the only bit of color in my entire dress. Even my shoes were of white canvas.
I thanked him as well as I was able for this especial mark of favor. I was pleased that he had given me a gem not only beautiful, but possessing remarkable qualities. I held it in a ray of sunlight and turned it this way and that, to show him that I was capable of appreciating its beauties and its peculiar characteristics.
He was delighted, and I had the satisfaction of feeling that I had made a good impression upon him.
He led the way down-stairs, and luckily into the breakfast room.
We were served by men dressed similarly to ourselves, though their clothing was without trimming and was of coarser material than ours. They moved about the room swiftly and noiselessly. Motion upon that planet seems so natural and so easy. There is very little inertia to overcome.
Our meal was rather odd; it consisted of fruits, some curiously prepared cereals, and a hot palatable drink. No meat.
After this light but entirely satisfactory repast we ascended the grand stairway—a marvel of beauty in its elaborate carvings—and entered a lofty apartment occupying a large part of the last etage.
I at first made out that it was a place devoted to the fine arts. I had noticed a somewhat conspicuous absence, in the rooms below, of the sort of things with which rich people in our country crowd their houses. I understood now, they were all marshaled up here.
There were exquisitely carved vessels of all descriptions, bronzes, marbles, royal paintings, precious minerals.
Here also were the riches of color.
The brilliant morning light came through the most beautiful windows I have ever seen, even in our finest cathedrals. The large central stained glasses were studded round with prisms that played extraordinary pranks with the sunbeams, which, as they glanced from them, were splintered into a thousand scintillating bits, as splendid as jewels.
We sat down, I filled—I do not know[Pg 21] why—with a curious sense of expectancy that was half awe.
Across one end of the great room was stretched a superb curtain of tapestry,—a mosaic in silk and wool.
Severnius did not make any other sign or gesture to me except the one that bade me be seated.
I watched him wonderingly but furtively. He seemed to be composing himself, as I have seen saintly people compose themselves in church. Not that he was saintly; he did not strike me as being that kind of a man, though there was that about him which proclaimed him to be a good man, whose friendship would be a valuable acquisition.
He folded his hands loosely in his lap and sat motionless, his glance resting serenely on one of the great windows for a time and then passing on to other objects equally beautiful.
We were still enwrapped in this august silence when I became conscious that somewhere, afar off, beyond the tapestry curtain, there were stealing toward us strains of unusual, ineffable music, tantalizingly sweet and vague.
Gradually the almost indistinguishable sounds detached themselves from, and rose above, the pulsing silence,—or that unappreciable harmony we call silence,—and swelled up among the arches that ribbed the lofty ceiling, and rolled and reverberated through the great dome above, and came reflected down to us in refined and sublimated undulations.
Our souls—my soul,—in this new wonder and ecstasy I forgot Severnius,—awoke in responsive raptures, inconceivably thrilling and exalted.
I did not need to be told that it was sacred music, it invoked the Divine Presence unmistakably. No influence that had ever before been trained upon my spiritual senses had so compelled to adoration of the Supreme One who holds and rules all worlds.
This I murmured, and texts of our scriptures, and fragments of anthems. It was as if I brought my earthly tribute to lay on this Marsian shrine.
The gates did roll back, the heavens were broken up, new spiritual heights were shown to me, up which my spirit mounted.
I looked at Severnius. His eyes were closed.
I conjectured, and truly as I afterward learned, that I was in my friend’s private sanctuary. It was his spiritual lavatory, in which he made daily ablutions. A service in which the soul lays aside the forms necessary in public worship and stands unveiled before its God.
It was a rare honor he paid me, in permitting me to accompany him. And he[Pg 24] repeated it every morning during my stay in his house, except on one or two occasions. It speedily became almost a necessity to me.  If you leave it off, you are uncomfortable, you have a feeling that you have cheated your body out of its right. It was so with me, when for any reason I was obliged to forego this higher exercise. I was heavy in spirit, my conscience accused me of a wrong to one of the “selfs” in me,—for we have several selfs, I think.
There was not always music. Sometimes a wonderful voice chanted psalms and praises, and recited poems that troubled the soul’s deepest waters. At first I did not understand the words, of course, but the intonations spoke to me the same as music does. And I felt that I knew what the words expressed.
Often there was nothing there but The Presence, which hushed our voices and set our souls in tune with heavenly things. No matter, I was fed and satisfied.
At the end of a sweet half-hour, the music died away, and we rose and passed out of the sacred place. I longed to question Severnius, but was powerless.
He led the way down into the library, which was just off the wide entrance hall. Books were ranged round the walls on shelves, the same as we dispose ours. But they were all bound in white cloth or white leather.
The lettering on the backs was gold.
I took one in my hand and flipped its leaves to show Severnius that I knew what a book was. He was delighted. He asked me, in a language which he and I had speedily established between ourselves, if I would not like to learn the Marsian tongue. I replied that it was what I wished above all things to do. We set to work at once. His teaching was very simple and natural, and I quickly mastered several important principles.
After a little a servant announced some visitors, and Severnius went out into the hall to receive them. He left the door open, and I saw that the visitors were the astronomers[Pg 26] I had met the night before. They asked to see me, and Severnius ushered them into the library. I stood up and shook hands with each one, as he advanced, and repeated their own formula for “How do you do!” which quite amused them. I suppose the words sounded very parrot-like,—I did not know where to put the accent. They congratulated me with many smiles and gesticulations on my determination to learn the language,—Severnius having explained this fact to them. He also told them that I had perhaps better be left to myself and him until I had mastered it, when of course I should be much more interesting to them and they to me. They acquiesced, and with many bows and waves of the hand, withdrew.
The language, I found, was not at all difficult,—not so arbitrary as many of our modern languages. It was similar in form and construction to the ancient languages of southern Europe. The proper names had an almost familiar sound. That of the country I was in was Paleveria. The city was called Thursia, and there was a river flowing[Pg 27] through it,—one portion of Severnius’ grounds, at the back of the house, sloped to it,—named the Gyro.
Thus far, I had seen no women. I was curious on this point, and I was not kept long in suspense. Late in the afternoon of the day following my arrival, Severnius and I went out to walk about the grounds, and were returning through an avenue of eucalyptus trees,—of a variety more wide-spreading in their branches than any I have seen in our country,—when a person[Pg 29] alighted from a carriage in the porte cochere and, instead of entering the house, came to meet us. It was a woman. Though it was not left to her dress, nor her stature,—she was nearly as tall as myself,—to proclaim that fact; her grace and carriage would have determined her sex, if her beautiful face had not. She advanced swiftly, with long, free steps. Her white dress, similar in cut and style to ours, was relieved only by a girdle studded with gems.
I felt myself growing red under her lively gaze, and attributed it to my clothes. I was not accustomed to them yet, and I felt as you would to appear before a beautiful woman in your night shirt.  Of course that was my imagination, my apparel, in her eyes, must have been correct, since it was selected from among his best by my new friend, who was unmistakably a man of taste.
Her face, which was indescribably lovely, was also keenly intelligent,—that sort of intelligence which lets nothing escape, which is as quick to grasp a humorous situation as a sublime truth. It was a face of power and of passion,—of, I might say, manly self-restraint,—but yet so soft!
I now observed for the first time the effect of the pinkish atmosphere on the complexion. You have seen ladies in a room where the light came through crimson hangings or glass stained red. So it was here.
Severnius smiled, spoke, and gave her his hand. The glance they bestowed upon each other established their relationship in my mind instantly. I had seen that glance a thousand times, without suspecting it had ever made so strong an impression upon me that in a case like this I should accept its evidence without other testimony. They were brother and sister. I was glad of that, for the reason, I suppose, that every unmarried man is glad to find a beautiful woman unmarried,—there are seductive possibilities in the situation.
Severnius did his best to introduce us. He called her Elodia. I learned afterwards that ladies and gentlemen in that country have no perfunctory titles, like Mrs., or Mr., they support their dignity without that. It would have seemed belittling to say “Miss” Elodia.
I had a feeling that she did not attach much importance to me, that she was half amused at the idea of me; a peculiar tilting-up of her eyebrows told me so, and I was piqued. It seemed unfair that, simply because she could not account for me, she should set me down as inferior, or impossible, or ridiculous, whichever was in her mind. She regarded me as I have sometimes regarded un-English foreigners in the streets of New York.
She indulged her curiosity about me only for a moment, asking a few questions I inferred, and then passed me over as though she had more weighty matters in hand. I knew, later on, that she waived me as a topic of conversation when her brother insisted upon talking about me, saying half impatiently, “Wait till he can talk and explain[Pg 32] himself, Severnius,—since you say he is going to learn our speech.”
I studied her with deep interest as we walked along, and no movement or accent of hers was lost upon me. Once she raised her hand—her wide sleeve slipped back and bared a lovely arm—to break off a long scimeter-shaped leaf from a bough overhead. Quicker than thought I sprang at the bough and snapped off the leaf in advance of her, and presented it with a low obeisance. She drew herself up with a look of indignant surprise, but instantly relented as though to a person whose eccentricities, for some reason or other, might better be excused. She did not, however, take the leaf,—it fluttered to the ground.
She was not like any other woman,—any woman I had ever seen before. You could not accuse her of hauteur, yet she bore herself like a royal personage, though with no suggestion of affecting that sort of an air. You had to take her as seriously as you would the Czar. I saw this in her brother’s attitude toward her. There was none of that condescension in his manner that there often[Pg 33] is in our manner toward the women of our households. I began to wonder whether she might not be the queen of the realm! But she was not. She was simply a private citizen.
She sat at the dinner table with us, and divided the honors equally with Severnius.
I wish I could give you an idea of that dinner,—the dining-room, the service, the whole thing! It surpassed my finest conceptions of taste and elegance.
We sat down not merely to eat,—though I was hungry enough!—but to enjoy ourselves in other ways.
There was everything for the eye to delight in. The room was rich in artistic decorations upon which the rarest talent must have been employed. The table arrangements were superb; gold and silver, crystal, fine china, embroidered linen, flowers. And the food, served in many courses, was a happy combination of the substantial and the delicate.  Music enters largely into the life of these people. It seemed to me that something beat time to almost everything we did.
The conversation carried on between the brother and sister—in which I could take no more part than a deaf-mute—was, I felt sure, extremely entertaining if not important. My eyes served me well,—for one sense is quick to assume the burdens of another,—and I knew that the talk was not mere banter, nor was it simply the necessary exchange of words and opinions about everyday matters which must take place in families periodically, concerning fuel, and provisions, and servants, and water-tax, and the like. It took a much higher range. The faces of both were animated, their eyes beamed brightly upon each other. It was clear that the brother did not talk down to her understanding, rather he talked up to it,—or no, they were on a level with each other, the highest level of both, for they held each other up to their best. However, Elodia had been away for a couple of days, I learned, and absence gives a bloom of newness which it is delightful to brush off.
I did not detect any of the quality we call chivalry in Severnius’ pose, nor of its complement[Pg 35] in hers. Though one would hardly expect that between brothers and sisters anywhere. Still, we have a way with our near women relations which never ignores the distinction between the sexes; we humor them, patronize them, tyrannize over them. And they defer to, and exalt us, and usually acknowledge our superiority.
It was not so with this pair. They respected and honored each other equally. And there was a charming camaraderie between them, the same as if they had both been men—or women, if you single out the right kind.
They held widely different opinions upon many subjects, but they never crowded them upon each other. Their tastes were dissimilar. For one thing, Elodia had not her brother’s fine religious sense. She seldom entered the sanctuary, though once or twice I saw her there, seated far apart from Severnius and myself.
Stimulated by the hope of some day being able to talk with her, and of convincing her that I was a person not altogether beneath her intelligence, I devoted myself, mind and[Pg 36] soul, to the Paleverian language. In six weeks I could read and write it fairly well.
Severnius was untiring in his teaching; and every day strengthened my regard for him as a man. He was an accomplished scholar, and he was as clean-souled as a child,—but not weakly or ignorantly so. He knew evil as well as good; but he renounced the one and accepted the other. He was a man “appointed by Almighty God to stand for a fact.” And I never knew him to weaken his position by defending it. Often we spent hours in the observatory together. It was a glorious thing to me to watch the splendid fleet of asteroids sailing between Jupiter and Mars, and to single out the variously colored moons of Jupiter, and to distinguish with extraordinary clearness a thousand other wonders but dimly seen from the Earth.
Even to study the moons of Mars, the lesser one whirling round the planet with such astonishing velocity, was a world of entertainment to me.
I had begged Severnius not to ask me to see any visitors at all until I could acquit myself[Pg 37] creditably in conversation. He agreed, and I saw no one. I believe that in those weeks of quiet study, observation, and close companionship of one noble man, my soul was cleared of much dross. I lived with books, Severnius, and the stars.
At last, I no longer feared to trust myself to speak, even to Elodia. It was a great surprise to her, and evidently a pleasure too.
My first brilliant attempt was at the dinner table. Severnius adroitly drew me into a conversation about our world. Elodia turned her delightful gaze upon me so frankly and approvingly that I felt myself blushing like a boy whom his pretty Sabbath-school teacher praises with her smile when he says his text.
Up to that time, although she had been polite to me,—so entirely polite that I never for a moment felt myself an intruder in her home,—she apparently took no great interest in me. But now she voluntarily addressed me whenever we met, and took pains to draw me out.
Once she glanced at a book I was reading, a rather heavy work, and smiled.
“You have made astonishing progress,” she said.
“I have had the best of instructors,” I replied.
“Ah, yes; Severnius has great patience. And besides, he likes you. And then of course he is not wholly disinterested, he wants to hear about your planet.”
“And do you?” I asked foolishly. I wanted somehow to get the conversation to running in a personal channel.
“O, of course,” she returned indifferently, “though I am not an astronomer. I should like to hear something about your people.”
I took that cue joyfully, and soon we were on very sociable terms with each other. She listened to my stories and descriptions with a most flattering interest, and I soon found myself worshiping her as a goddess. Yes, as a goddess, not a woman. Her entire lack of coquetry prevented me from making love to her, or would have prevented me if I had dared to have such a thought. If there could have been anything tender between us,[Pg 39] I think she must have made the advances. But this is foolish. I am merely trying to give you some idea of the kind of woman she was. But I know that I cannot do that; the quality of a woman must be felt to be understood.
There was a great deal of social gayety in Thursia. We went out frequently, to opera, to concert, and to crowded gatherings in splendid homes. I observed that Elodia immediately became the centre of interest wherever she appeared. She gave fresh zest to every amusement or conversation. She seemed to dignify with her presence whatever happened to be going on, and made it worth while. Not that she distinguished herself in speech or act; she had the effect of being infinitely greater than anything she did or said and one was always looking out for manifestations of that. She kept one’s interest in her up to the highest pitch. I often asked myself, “Why is it that we are always looking at her with a kind of inquiry in our glances?—what is it that we expect her to do?”
It was a great part of her charm that she[Pg 40] was not blasé. She was full of interest in all about her, she was keenly and delightfully alive. Her manners were perfect, and yet she seemed careless of etiquette and conventions. Her good manners were a part of herself, as her regal carriage was.
It was her unvarying habit, almost, to spend several hours down town every day. I ventured to ask Severnius wherefore.
He replied that she had large business interests, and looked carefully after them herself.
I expressed astonishment, and Severnius was equally surprised at me. I questioned him and he explained.
“My father was a banker,” he said, “and very rich. My sister inherited his gift and taste for finance. I took after my mother’s family, who were scientists. We were trained, of course, in our early years according to our respective talents. At our parents’ death we inherited their fortune in equal shares. Elodia was prepared to take up my father’s business where he left it. In fact he had associated her with himself in the business for some time previous to his[Pg 41] departure, and she has carried it on very successfully ever since.”
“She is a banker!” said I.
“Yes. I, myself, have always had a liking for astronomy, and I have been employed, ever since I finished my education, in the State Observatory.”
“And how do you employ your capital?” I asked.
“Elodia manages it for me. It is all in the bank, or in investments which she makes. I use my dividends largely in the interest of science. The State does a great deal in that direction, but not enough.”
“And what, may I ask, does she do with her surplus,—your sister, I mean,—she must make a great deal of money?”
“She re-invests it. She has a speculative tendency, and is rather daring; though they tell me she is very safe—far-sighted, or large-sighted, I should call it. I do not know how many great enterprises she is connected with,—railroads, lines of steamers, mining and manufacturing operations. And besides, she is public-spirited. She is much interested in the cause of education,—practical[Pg 42] education for the poor especially. She is president of the school board here in the city, and she is also a member of the city council. A great many of our modern improvements are due to her efforts.”
My look of amazement arrested his attention.
“Why are you so surprised?” he asked. “Do not your women engage in business?”
“Well, not to such an extraordinary degree,” I replied. “We have women who work in various ways, but there are very few of them who have large business interests, and they are not entrusted with important public affairs, such as municipal government and the management of schools!”
“Oh!” returned Severnius with the note of one who does not quite understand. “Would you mind telling me why? Is it because they are incapable, or—unreliable?”
Neither of the words he chose struck me pleasantly as applied to my countrywomen. I remembered that I was the sole representative of the Earth on Mars, and that it[Pg 43] stood me in hand to be careful about the sort of impressions I gave out. It was as if I were on the witness’ stand, under oath. Facts must tell the story, not opinions,—though personally I have great confidence in my opinions. I thought of our government departments where women are the experts, and of their almost spotless record for faithfulness and honesty, and replied:
“They are both capable and reliable, in as far as they have had experience. But their chances have been circumscribed, and I believe they lack the inclination to assume grave public duties.
Elodia was always my standard of comparison.
“Perhaps you men take care of them all,” suggested Severnius, “and they have grown dependent. We have some such women here.”
“No, I do not think it is that entirely,” said I. “For in my city alone, more than a hundred and seventy thousand women support[Pg 44] not only themselves, but others who are dependent upon them.”
“Ah, indeed! but how?”
“By work.”
“You mean servants?”
“Not so-called. I mean intelligent, selfrespecting women; teachers, clerks, stenographers, type-writers.”
“I should think it would be more agreeable, and easier, for them to engage in business as our women do.”
“No doubt it would,” I replied, feeling myself driven to a close scrutiny of the Woman Question, as we call it, for the first time in my life. For I saw that my friend was deeply interested and wanted to get at the literal truth. “But the women of my country,” I went on, “the self-supporting ones, do not have control of money. They have a horror of speculation, and shrink from taking risks and making ventures, the failure of which would mean loss or ruin to others. A woman’s right to make her living is restricted to the powers within herself, powers of brain and hand. She is a beginner, you know. She has not yet learned to[Pg 45] make money by the labor of others; she does not know how to manipulate those who are less intelligent and less capable than herself, and to turn their ignorance and helplessness to her own account. Perhaps I had better add that she is more religious than man, and is sustained in this seeming injustice by something she calls conscience.”
Severnius was silent for a moment; he had a habit of setting his reason to work and searching out explanations in his own mind, of things not easily understood.
As a rule, the Marsians have not only very highly developed physical faculties, such as sight and hearing, but remarkably acute intellects. They let no statement pass without examination, and they scrutinize facts closely and seek for causes.
“If so many women,” said he, “are obliged to support themselves and others beside, as you say, by their work simply, they must receive princely wages,—and of course they have no responsibilities, which is a great saving of energy.”
I remembered having heard it stated that in New York City, the United States Bureau[Pg 46] gives the average of women’s wages—leaving out domestic service and unskilled labor—as five dollars and eighty-five cents per week. I mentioned the fact, and Severnius looked aghast.
“What, a mere pittance!” said he. “Only about a third as much as I give my stableman. But then the conditions are different, no doubt. Here in Thursia that would no more than fight off the wolf, as we say,—the hunger and cold. It would afford no taste of the better things, freedom, leisure, recreation, but would reduce life to its lowest terms,—mere existence.”
“I fear the conditions are much the same with us,” I replied.
“And do your women submit to such conditions,—do they not try to alter them, throw them off?”
“They submit, of course,” I said; “I never heard of a revolt or an insurrection among them! Though there seems to be growing up among them, lately, a determination strong as death, to work out of those conditions as fast as may be. They realize—just as men have been forced to realize in[Pg 47] this century—that work of the hands cannot compete with work of machines, and that trained brains are better capital than trained fingers. So, slowly but surely, they are reaching up to the higher callings and working into places of honor and trust. The odds are against them, because the ‘ins’ always have a tremendous advantage over the ‘outs.’ The women, having never been in, must submit to a rigid examination and extraordinary tests. They know that, and they are rising to it. Whenever, it is said, they come into competition with men, in our colleges and training schools, they hold their own and more.”
“What are they fitting for?” asked Severnius.
“Largely for the professions. They are becoming doctors, lawyers, editors, artists, writers. The enormous systems of public schools in my own and other countries is entirely in their hands,—except of course in the management and directorship.”
“Except in the management and directorship?” echoed Severnius.
“Of course they do not provide and[Pg 48] disburse the funds, see to the building of school-houses, and dictate the policy of the schools!” I retorted. “But they teach them; you can hardly find a male teacher except at the head of a school,—to keep the faculty in order.”
Severnius refrained from comment upon this, seeing, I suppose, that I was getting a little impatient. He walked along with his head down. I think I neglected to say that we were taking a long tramp into the country, as we often did. In order to change the conversation, I asked him what sort of a government they had in Paleveria, and was delighted when he replied that it was a free republic.
“My country is a republic also,” I said, proudly.
“We both have much to be thankful for,” he answered. “A republic is the only natural government in the world, and man cannot get above nature.”
I thought this remark rather singular,—at variance with progress and high civilization. But I let it pass, thinking to take it up at some future time.
“How do you vote here?” I asked. “What are your qualifications and restrictions?”
“Briefly told,” he replied. “Every citizen may vote on all public questions, and in all elections.”
“But what constitutes citizenship?”
“A native-born is a citizen when he or she reaches maturity. Foreigners are treated as minors until they have lived as long under the government as it takes for a child to come of age. It is thus,” he added, facetiously, “that we punish people for presuming to be born outside our happy country.”
“Excuse me,” I said, “but do I understand you to say that your women have the right of suffrage?”
“Assuredly. Do not yours?”
“Indeed no!” I replied, the masculine instinct of superiority swelling within me.
Severnius wears spectacles. He adjusted them carefully on his nose and looked at me.

His face was an exclamation and interrogation point fused into one.
“Indeed! and how do you manage it,—how, for instance, can you prevent them from voting?”
“O, they don’t often try it,” I said, laughing. “When they do, we simply throw their ballots out of the count.”
“Is it possible! That seems to me a great unfairness. However, it can be accounted for, I suppose, from the fact that things are so different on the Earth to what they are here. Our government, you see, rests upon a system of taxation. We tax all property to defray governmental expenses, and for many other purposes tending toward the general good; which makes it necessary that all our citizens shall have a voice in our political economy.  I interposed; “I did not say that. We have a great many very rich women,—women whose husbands or fathers have left them fortunes.”
“Then they of course have a vote?”
“They do not. You can’t make a distinction like that.”
“No? But you exempt their property, perhaps?”
“Of course not.”
“Do you tell me that you tax property, to whatever amount, and for whatever purpose, you choose, without allowing the owner her fractional right to decide about either the one or the other?”
“Their interests are identical with ours,” I replied, “so what is the difference? We men manage the government business, and I fancy we do it sufficiently well.”
I expanded my chest after this remark, and Severnius simply looked at me. I think that at that moment I suffered vicariously in his scornful regard for all my countrymen.
I did not like the Socratic method he had adopted in this conversation, and I turned the tables on him.
“Do your women hold office, other than in the school board and the council?” I asked.
“O, yes, fully half our offices are filled by women.”
“And you make no discrimination in the kind of office?”
“The law makes none; those things adjust themselves. Fitness, equipment, are the only things considered. A woman, the same as a man, is governed by her taste and inclination in the matter of office-holding. Do women never take a hand in state affairs on the Earth?”
“Yes, in some countries they do,—monarchies. There have been a good many women sovereigns. There are a few now.”
“And are they successful rulers?”
“Some are, some are not.”
“The same as men. That proves that your women are not really inferior.”
“Well, I should say not!” I retorted. “Our women are very superior; we treat them more as princesses than as inferiors,—they are angels.”
I was carried away in the heat of resentment, and knew that what I had said was half cant.
“I beg your pardon!” said Severnius[Pg 53] quickly; “I got a wrong impression from your statements.  Are they all angels?”
I gave him a furtive glance and saw that he was in earnest. His brows were drawn together with a puzzled look.
I had a sudden vision of a scene in Five Points; several groups of frowsled, petticoated beings, laughing, joking, swearing, quarreling, fighting, and drinking beer from dirty mugs.
“No, not all of them,” I replied, smiling. “That was a figure of speech. There are so many classes.”
“Let us confine our discussion to one, then,” he returned. “To the women who might be of your own family; that will simplify matters. And now tell me, please, how this state of things came about, this subjection of a part of your people. I cannot understand it,—these subjects being of your own flesh and blood. I should think it would breed domestic discontent, where some of the members of a family wield a power and enjoy a privilege denied to the[Pg 54] others. Fancy my shaking a ballot over Elodia’s head!”
“O, Elodia!” I said, and was immediately conscious that my accent was traitorous to my countrywomen. I made haste to add,
“Your sister is—incomparable. She is unusual even here. I have seen none others like her.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean that she is as responsible as a man; she is not inconsequent.”
“Are your women inconsequent?”
“They have been called so, and we think it rather adds to their attractiveness. You see they have always been relieved of responsibility, and I assure you the large majority of them have no desire to assume it,—I mean in the matter of government and politics.”
“Yes?”
I dislike an interrogative “yes,” and I made no reply. Severnius added,
“I suppose they have lost the faculty which you say they lack,—the faculty that makes people responsible,—through disuse. I have seen the same thing in countries on[Pg 55] the other side of our globe, where races have been held as slaves for several centuries. They seem to have no ideas about personal rights, or liberties, as pertaining to themselves, and no inclination in that direction. It always struck me as being the most pathetic feature of their condition that they and everybody else accepted it as a matter of course, as they would a law of nature.  Are your women happy?”
“You should see them!” I exclaimed, with certain ball-room memories rushing upon me, and visions of fair faces radiant with the joy of living. But these were quickly followed by other pictures, and I felt bound to add, “Of late, a restless spirit has developed in certain circles,—”
“The working circles, I suppose,” interrupted Severnius. “You spoke of the working women getting into the professions.”
“Not those exclusively. Even the women of leisure are not so satisfied as they used[Pg 56] to be. There has been, for a great many years, more or less chaffing about women’s rights, but now they are beginning to take the matter seriously.”
“Ah, they are waking up, perhaps?”
“Yes, some of them are waking up,—a good many of them. It is a little ridiculous, when one thinks of it, seeing they have no power to enforce their ‘rights’, and can never attain them except through the condescension of men. Tell me, Severnius, when did your women wake up?”
Severnius smiled. “My dear sir, I think they have never been asleep!”
We stalked along silently for a time; the subject passed out of my mind, or was driven out by the beauties of the landscape about us. I was especially impressed with the magnificence of the trees that hedged every little patch of farm land, and threw their protecting arms around houses and cottages, big and little; and with the many pellucid streams flowing naturally, or divided like strands of silk and guided in new courses, to lave the roots of trees or[Pg 57] run through pasture lands where herds were feeding.
A tree is something to be proud of in Paleveria, more than a fine residence; more even than ancient furniture and cracked china. Perhaps because the people sit out under their trees a great deal, and the shade of them has protected the heads of many generations, and they have become hallowed through sacred memories and traditions. In Paleveria they have tree doctors, whose business it is to ward off disease, heal wounded or broken boughs, and exterminate destructive insects.
Severnius startled me suddenly with another question:
“What, may I ask, is your theory of Man’s creation?”
“God made Man, and from one of his ribs fashioned woman,” I replied catechetically.
“Ours is different,” said he. “It is this: A pair of creatures, male and female, sprang simultaneously from an enchanted lake in the mountain region of a country called Caskia, in the northern part of this[Pg 58] continent. They were only animals, but they were beautiful and innocent. God breathed a Soul into them and they were Man and Woman, equals in all things.”
“A charming legend!” said I.
Later on I learned the full breadth of the meaning of the equality he spoke of. At that time it was impossible for me to comprehend it, and I can only convey it to you in a complete account of my further experiences on that wonderful planet.
It was winter, and snow was on the ground; white and sparkling, and as light as eider-down. Elodia kept a fine stable. Four magnificent white horses were harnessed to her sleigh, which was in the form of an immense swan, with a head and neck of frosted silver. The body of it was padded outside with white varnished leather, and inside with velvet of the color of a dove’s breast. The robes were enormous skins of polar bears, lined with a soft, warm fabric of wool and silk. The harness was bestrung with little silver bells of most musical and merry tone; and all the trappings and accoutrements were superb. Elodia had luxurious tastes, and indulged them.
Every day we took an exhilarating drive. The two deep, comfortable seats faced each[Pg 60] other like seats in a landau. Severnius and I occupied one, and Elodia the other; so that I had the pleasure of looking at her whenever I chose, and of meeting her eyes in conversation now and then, which was no small part of my enjoyment. The mere sight of her roused the imagination and quickened the pulse. Her eyes were unusually dark, but they had blue rays, and were as clear and beautiful as agates held under water. In fact they seemed to swim in an invisible liquid. Her complexion had the effect of alabaster through which a pink light shines,—deepest in the cheeks, as though they were more transparent than the rest of her face.  She was so beautiful that I wondered at myself that I could bear the sight of her.
Strange to say, the weather was not cold, it was simply bracing,—hardly severe enough to make the ears tingle.
The roads were perfect everywhere, and we often drove into the country. The horses[Pg 61] flew over the wide white stretches at an incredible speed.
One afternoon when, at the usual hour, the coachman rang the bell and announced that he was ready, I was greatly disappointed to find that we were not to have Elodia. But I said nothing, for I was shy about mentioning her name.
When we were seated, Severnius gave directions to the driver.
“Time yourself, Giddo, so that you will be at the Public Square at precisely three o’clock,” said he, and turned to me. “We shall want to see the parade.”
“What parade?” I inquired.
“Oh! has not Elodia told you? This is The Auroras’ Annual,—a great day. The parade will be worth seeing.”
In the excitement of the drive, and in my disappointment about not having Elodia with us, I had almost forgotten about The Auroras’ Annual, when three o’clock came. I had seen parades in New York City, until the spectacle had calloused my sense of the magnificent, and I very much doubted[Pg 62] whether Mars had anything new to offer me in that line.
Punctual to the minute, Giddo fetched up at the Square,—among a thousand or so of other turnouts,—with such a flourish as all Jehus love. We were not a second too soon. There was a sudden burst of music, infinitely mellowed by distance; and as far up the street as the eye could well reach there appeared a mounted procession, advancing slowly. Every charger was snow white, with crimped mane and tail, long and flowing, and with trappings of various colors magnificent in silver blazonry.
The musicians only were on foot. They were beating upon drums and blowing transcendent airs through silver wind instruments. I do not know whether it was some quality of the atmosphere that made the strains so ravishing, but they swept over one’s soul with a rapture that was almost painful. I could hardly sit still, but I was held down by the thought that if I should get up I would not know what to do. It is a peculiar sensation.
On came the resplendent column with[Pg 63] slow, majestic movement; and I unconsciously kept time with the drums, with Browning’s stately lines on my tongue, but unspoken:
There was no hill, but a very slight descent. As they drew nearer the splendor of the various uniforms dazzled my eyes. You will remember that everything about us was white; the buildings all of white stone or brick, the ground covered with snow, and the crowds of people lining the streets all dressed in the national color, or no-color.
There were several companies in the procession, and each company wore distinguishing badges and carried flags and banners peculiar to itself.
The housings on the horses of the first brigade were of yellow, and all the decorations of the riders corresponded; of the second pale blue, and of the third sky-pink. The uniforms of the riders were inconceivably splendid; fantastic and gorgeous head-gear,[Pg 64] glittering belts, silken scarfs and sashes, badges and medals flashing with gems, and brilliant colors twisted into strange and curious devices.
As the first division was about to pass, I lost my grip on myself and half started to my feet with a smothered exclamation, “Elodia!”
Severnius put out his hand as though he were afraid I was going to leap out of the sleigh, or do something unusual.
“What is it?” he cried, and following my gaze he added, “Yes, that is Elodia in front; she is the Supreme Sorceress of the Order of the Auroras.”
“The—what!”
“Don’t be frightened,” he laughed; “the word means nothing,—it is only a title.”
I could not believe him when I looked at the advancing figure of Elodia. She sat her horse splendidly erect. Her fair head was crowned with a superb diadem of gold and topazes, with a diamond star in the centre, shooting rays like the sun. Her expression was grave and lofty; she glanced neither to right nor left, but gazed straight[Pg 65] ahead—at nothing, or at something infinitely beyond mortal vision. Her horse champed its bits, arched its beautiful neck, and stepped with conscious pride; dangling the gold fringe on its sheeny yellow satin saddle-cloth, until one could hardly bear the sight.
“The words mean nothing!” I repeated to myself. “It is not so; Severnius has deceived me. His sister is a sorceress; a—I don’t know what! But no woman could preserve that majestic mien, that proud solemnity of countenance, if she were simply—playing! There is a mystery here.”
I scrutinized every rider as they passed. There was not a man among them,—all women. Their faces had all borrowed, or had tried to borrow, Elodia’s queenly look. Many of them only burlesqued it. None were as beautiful as she.
When it was all over, and the music had died away in the distance, we drove off,—Giddo threading his way with consummate skill, which redounded much to his glory in certain circles he cared for, through the crowded thoroughfares.
I could not speak for many minutes, and Severnius was a man upon whom silence always fell at the right time. I never knew him to break in upon another’s mood for his own entertainment. Nor did he spy upon your thoughts; he left you free. By-and-by, I appealed to him:
“Tell me, Severnius, what does it mean?”
“This celebration?” returned he. “With pleasure. Giddo, you may drive round for half an hour, and then take us to the Auroras’ Temple,—it is open to visitors to-day.”
We drew the robes closely, and settled ourselves more comfortably, as we cleared the skirts of the crowd. It was growing late and the air was filled with fine arrows of frost, touched by the last sunbeams,—their sharp little points stinging our faces as we were borne along at our usual lively speed.
“This society of the Auroras,” said Severnius, “originated several centuries ago, in the time of a great famine. In those days the people were poor and improvident, and a single failure in their crops left them in a[Pg 67] sorry condition. Some of the wealthiest women of the country banded themselves together and worked systematically for the relief of the sufferers. Their faces appeared so beautiful, and beamed with such a light of salvation as they went about from hut to hut, that they got the name of ‘auroras’ among the simple poor. And they banished want and hunger so magically, that they were also called ‘sorcerers’.”
“O, then, it is a charitable organization?” I exclaimed, much relieved.
“It was,” replied Severnius. “It was in active operation for a hundred or so years. Finally, when there was no more need of it, the State having undertaken the care of its poor, it passed into a sentiment, such as you have seen to-day.”
“A very costly and elaborate sentiment,” I retorted.
“Yes, and it is growing more so, all the time,” said he. “I sometimes wonder where it is going to stop! For those who, like Elodia, have plenty of money, it does not matter; but some of the women we saw in those costly robes and ornaments can ill afford[Pg 68] them,—they mean less of comfort in their homes and less of culture to their children.”
“I should think their husbands would not allow such a waste of money,” I said, forgetting the social economy of Mars.
“It does not cost any more than membership in the orders to which the husbands themselves belong,” returned he. “They argue, of course, that they need the recreation, and also that membership in such hightoned clubs gives them and their children a better standing and greater influence in society.”
Severnius did not forget his usual corollary,—the question with which he topped out every explanation he made about his country and people.
“Have you nothing of the sort on the Earth?” he asked.
“Among the women?—we have not,” I answered.
“I did not specify,” he said.
“O, well, the men have,” I admitted; “I belong to one such organization myself,—the City Guards.”
“And you guard the city?”
“No; there is nothing to guard it against at present. It’s a ‘sentiment,’ as you say.”
“And do you parade?”
“Yes, of course, upon occasion,—there are certain great anniversaries in our nation’s history when we appear.”
“And why not your women?”
I smiled to myself, as I tried to fancy some of the New York ladies I knew, arrayed in gorgeous habiliments for an equestrian exhibition on Broadway. I replied,
“Really, Severnius, the idea is entirely new to me. I think they would regard it as highly absurd.”
“Do they regard you as absurd?” he asked, in that way of his which I was often in doubt about, not knowing whether he was in earnest or not.
“I’m sure I do not know,” I said. “They may,—our women have a keen relish for the ludicrous. Still, I cannot think that they do; they appear to look upon us with pride. And they present us with an elaborate silken banner about once a year,[Pg 70] stitched together by their own fair fingers and paid for out of their own pocket money. That does not look as though they were laughing at us exactly.”
I said this as much to convince myself as Severnius.
The half-hour was up and we were at the Temple gate. The building, somewhat isolated, reared itself before us, a grand conception in chiseled marble, glinting in the brilliant lights shot upon it from various high points. Already it was dark beyond the radius of these lights,—neither of the moons having yet appeared.
Severnius dismissed the sleigh, saying that we would walk home,—the distance was not far,—and we entered the grounds and proceeded to mount the flight of broad steps leading up to the magnificent arched entrance. The great carved doors,—the carvings were emblematic,—swung back and admitted us. The Temple was splendidly illuminated within, and imagination could not picture anything more imposing than the great central hall and winding stairs, visible all the way up to the dome.
Below, on one side of this lofty hall, there were extensive and luxurious baths. Severnius said the members of the Order were fond of congregating here,—and I did not wonder at that; nothing that appertains to such an establishment was lacking. Chairs and sofas that we would call “Turkish,” thick, soft rugs and carpets, pictures, statuary, mirrors, growing plants, rare flowers, books, musical instruments. And Severnius told me the waters were delightful for bathing.
The second story consisted of a series of spacious rooms divided from each other by costly portieres, into which the various emblems and devices were woven in their proper tinctures.
All of these rooms were as sumptuously furnished as those connected with the baths; and the decorations, I thought, were even more beautiful, of a little higher or finer order.
In one of the rooms a lady was playing upon an instrument resembling a harp. She dropped her hands from the strings and came forward graciously.
“Perhaps we are intruding?” said Severnius.
“Ah, no, indeed,” she laughed, pleasantly; “no one could be more welcome here than the brother of our Supreme Sorceress!”
“Happy the man who has a distinguished sister!” returned he.
“I am unfortunate,” she answered with a slight blush. “Severnius is always welcome for his own sake.”
He acknowledged the compliment, and with a certain reluctance, I thought, said, “Will you allow me, Claris, to introduce my friend—from another planet?”
She took a swift step toward me and held out her hand.
“I have long had a great curiosity to meet you, sir,” she said.
I bowed low over her hand and murmured that her curiosity could not possibly equal the pleasure I felt in meeting her.
She gave Severnius a quick, questioning look. I believe she thought he had told me something about her. He let her think what she liked.
“How is it you are here?” he asked.
“You mean instead of being with the others?” she returned. “I have not been well lately, and I thought—or my husband thought—I had better not join the procession. I am awaiting them here.”
As she spoke, I noticed that she was rather delicate looking. She was tall and slight, with large, bright eyes, and a transparent complexion. If Elodia had not filled all space in my consciousness I think I should have been considerably interested in her. I liked her frank, direct way of meeting us and talking to us. We soon left her and continued our explorations.
I wanted to ask Severnius something about her, but I thought he avoided the subject. He told me, however, that her husband, Massilia, was one of his closest friends. And then he added, “I wonder that she took his advice!”
“Why so,” I asked; “do not women here ever take their husbands’ advice?”
“Claris is not in the habit of doing so,” he returned with, I thought, some severity. And then he immediately spoke of something else quite foreign to her.
The third and last story comprised an immense hall or assembly room, and rows of deep closets for the robes and paraphernalia of the members of the Order. In one of these closets a skeleton was suspended from the ceiling and underneath it stood a coffin. On a shelf were three skulls with their accompanying cross-bones, and several cruel-looking weapons.
Severnius said he supposed these hideous tokens were employed in the initiation of new members. It seemed incredible. I thought that, if it were so, the Marsian women must have stronger nerves than ours.
A great many beautiful marble columns and pillars supported the roof of the hall, and the walls had a curiously fluted appearance. There was a great deal of sculpture, not only figures, but flowers, vines, and all manner of decorations,—even draperies chiseled in marble that looked like frozen lace, with an awful stillness in their ghostly folds. There was a magnificent canopied throne on an elevation like an old-fashioned pulpit, and seats for satellites on either side,[Pg 75] and at the base. If I had been alone, I would have gone up and knelt down before the throne,—for of course that was where Elodia sat,—and I would have kissed the yellow cushion on which her feet were wont to rest when she wielded her jeweled scepter. The scepter, I observed, lay on the throne-chair.
There was an orchestra, and there were “stations” for the various officials, and the walls were adorned with innumerable cabalistic insignia. I asked Severnius if he knew the meaning of any of them.
“How should I know?” he replied in surprise. “Only the initiates understand those things.”
“Then these women keep their secrets,” said I.
“Yes, to be sure they do,” he replied.
The apartment to the right, on the entrance floor, opposite the baths, was the last we looked into, and was a magnificent banquet hall. A servant who stood near the door opened it as though it had been the door of a shrine, and no wonder! It was a noble room in its dimensions and[Pg 76] in all its unparalleled adornments and appurtenances.
The walls and ceiling bristled with candelabra all alight. The tables, set for a banquet, held everything that could charm the eye or tempt the appetite in such a place.
I observed a great many inverted stemglasses of various exquisite styles and patterns, including the thin, flaring goblets, as delicate as a lily-cup, which mean the same thing to Marsians as to us.
“Do these women drink champagne at their banquets?” I asked, with a frown.
“O, yes,” replied Severnius. “A banquet would be rather tame without, wouldn’t it? The Auroras are not much given to drink, ordinarily, but on occasions like this they are liable to indulge pretty freely.”
“Is it possible!” I could say no more than this, and Severnius went on:
“The Auroras, you see, are the cream of our society,—the elite,—and costly drinks are typical, in a way, of the highest refinement. Do you people never drink wine at your social gatherings?”
“The men do, of course, but not the[Pg 77] women,” I replied in a tone which the whole commonwealth of Paleveria might have taken as a rebuke.
“Ah, I fear I shall never be able to understand!” said he. “It is very confusing to my mind, this having two codes—social as well as political—to apply separately to members of an identical community. I don’t see how you can draw the line so sharply. It is like having two distinct currents in a river-bed. Don’t the waters ever get mixed?”
“You are facetious,” I returned, coldly.
“No, really, I am in earnest,” said he. “Do no women in your country ever do these things,—parade and drink wine, and the like,—which you say you men are not above doing?”
I replied with considerable energy:
“I have never before to-day seen women of any sort dress themselves up in conspicuous uniforms and exhibit themselves publicly for the avowed purpose of being seen and making a sensation, except in circuses. And circus women,—well, they don’t count. And of course we have a class of women[Pg 78] who crack champagne bottles and even quaff other fiery liquors as freely as men, but I do not need to tell you what kind of creatures those are.”
At that moment there were sounds of tramping feet outside, and the orchestra filed in at the farther end of the salon and took their places on a high dais. At a given signal every instrument was in position and the music burst forth, and simultaneously the banqueters began to march in. They had put off their heavy outside garments but retained their ornaments and insignia. Their white necks and arms gleamed bewitchingly through silvered lace. They moved to their places without the least jostling or awkwardness, their every step and motion proving their high cultivation and grace.
“We must get out of here,” whispered Severnius in some consternation. But a squad of servants clogged the doorway and we were crowded backward, and in the interest of self-preservation we took refuge in a small alcove behind a screen of tall[Pg 79] hot-house plants with enormous leaves and fronds.
“Good heavens! what shall we do?” cried Severnius, beginning to perspire.
“Let us sit down,” said I, who saw nothing very dreadful in the situation except that it was warm, and the odor of the blossoms in front of us was overpowering. There was a bench in the alcove, and we seated ourselves upon it,—I with much comfort, for it was a little cooler down there, and my companion with much fear.
“Would it be a disgrace if we were found here?” I asked.
“I would not be found here for the world!” replied Severnius. “It would not be a disgrace, but it would be considered highly improper. Or, to put it so that you can better understand it, it would be the same as though they were men and we women.”
“That is clear!” said I; and I pictured to myself two charming New York girls of my acquaintance secreting themselves in a hall where we City Guards were holding a banquet,—ye gods!
As the feast progressed, and as my senses were almost swept away by the scent of the flowers, I sometimes half fancied that it was the City Guards who were seated at the tables.
During the first half-hour everything was carried on with great dignity, speakers being introduced—this occurred in the interim between courses—in proper order, and responding with graceful and well-prepared remarks, which were suitably applauded. But after the glasses had been emptied a time or two all around, there came a change with which I was very familiar.  And more than this: the preservers of our ideals, the interpreters of our faith, the keepers of our consciences! I felt as though my traditionary idols were shattered, until I remembered[Pg 81] that these were not my countrywomen, thank heaven!
Severnius was not at all surprised; he took it all as a matter of course, and was chiefly concerned about how we were going to get out of there. It was more easily accomplished than we could have imagined. The elegant candelabra were a cunningly contrived system of electric lights, and, as sometimes happens with us, they went out suddenly and left the place in darkness for a few convenient seconds. “Quick, now!” cried Severnius with a bound, and there was just time for us to make our escape. We had barely reached the outer door when the whole building was ablaze again.
Severnius offered no comments on the events of the evening, except to say we were lucky to get out as we did, and of course I made none. At my suggestion we stopped at the observatory and spent a few hours there. Lost among the stars, my soul recovered its equilibrium. I have found that little things cease to fret when I can lift my thoughts to great things.
It must have been near morning when I[Pg 82] was awakened by the jingling of bells, and a sleigh driving into the porte cochere. A few moments later I heard Elodia and her maid coming up the stairs. Her maid attended her everywhere, and stationed herself about like a dummy. She was the sign always that Elodia was not far off; and I am sure she would have laid down her life for her mistress, and would have suffered her tongue to be cut out before she would have betrayed her secrets. I tell you this to show you what a power of fascination Elodia possessed; she seemed a being to be worshiped by high and low.
Severnius and I ate our breakfast alone the following morning. The Supreme Sorceress did not get up, nor did she go down town to attend to business at all during the day. At lunch time she sent her maid down to tell Severnius that she had a headache.
“Quite likely,” he returned, as the girl delivered her message; “but I am sorry to hear it. If there is anything I can do for her, tell her to let me know.”
The girl made her obeisance and vanished.
“We have to pay for our fun,” said Severnius with a sigh.
“I should not think your sister would indulge in such ‘fun’!” I retorted as a kind of relief to my hurt sensibilities, I was so cruelly disappointed in Elodia.
“Why my sister in particular?” returned he with a look of surprise.
“Well, of course, I mean all those women,—why do they do such things? It is unwomanly, it—it is disgraceful!”
I could not keep the word back, and for the first time I saw a flash of anger in my friend’s eyes.
“Come,” said he, “you must not talk like that! That term may have a different signification to you, but with us it means an insult.”
I quickly begged his pardon and tried to explain to him.
“Our women,” I said, “never do things of that sort, as I have told you. They have no taste for them and no inclination in that direction,—it is against their very nature. And if you will forgive me for saying so, I cannot but think that such indulgence as we[Pg 84] witnessed last night must coarsen a woman’s spiritual fibre and dull the fine moral sense which is so highly developed in her.”
“Excuse me,” interposed Severnius. “You have shown me in the case of your own sex that human nature is the same on the Earth that it is on Mars. You would not have me think that there are two varieties of human nature on your planet, corresponding with the sexes, would you? You say ‘woman’s’ spiritual fibre and fine moral sense, as though she had an exclusive title to those qualities.  I admit all you say about the unwholesome influence of such indulgence as wine drinking, late hours, questionable stories and songs,—a night’s debauch, in fact, which it requires days sometimes to recover from,—but I must apply it to men as well as women; neither are at their best under such conditions. I think,” he went on, “that I begin to understand the distinction which you have curiously mistaken for a radical difference. Your women, you say,[Pg 85] have always been in a state of semi-subjection—”
“No, no,” I cried, “I never said so! On the contrary, they hold the very highest place with us; they are honored with chivalrous devotion, cared for with the tenderest consideration. We men are their slaves, in reality, though they call us their lords; we work for them, endure hardships for them, give them all that we can of wealth, luxury, ease. And we defend them from danger and save them every annoyance in our power. They are the queens of our hearts and homes.”
“That may all be,” he replied coolly, “but you admit that they have always been denied their political rights, and it follows that their social rights should be similarly limited. Long abstinence from the indulgences which you regard as purely masculine, has resulted in a habit merely, not a change in their nature.”
“Then thank heaven for their abstinence!” I exclaimed.
“That is all very well,” he persisted, “but you must concede that in the first place it[Pg 86] was forced upon them, and that was an injustice, because they were intelligent beings and your equals.”
“They ought to thank us for the injustice, then,” I retorted.
“I beg your pardon! they ought not. No doubt they are very lovely and innocent beings, and that your world is the better for them. But they, being restricted in other ways by man’s authority, or his wishes, or by fear of his disfavor perhaps, have acquired these gentle qualities at the expense of—or in the place of—others more essential to the foundation of character; I mean strength, dignity, self-respect, and that which you once attributed to my sister,—responsibility.”
I was bursting with indignant things which I longed to say, but my position was delicate, and I bit my tongue and was silent.
I will tell you one thing, my heart warmed toward my gentle countrywomen!  And I thought of Elodia, sick upstairs from her last night’s carousal, with contempt.
My contempt for Elodia vanished at the first intimation of her presence. I had expected to meet her with an air of cold superiority, but when she entered the dining-room that evening with her usual careless aplomb, the glance with which she favored me reduced me to my customary attitude toward her,—that of unquestioning admiration. Our physical nature is weak, and this woman dominated my senses completely, with her beauty, with her melodious voice, her singular magnetic attraction, and every casual expression of her face.
On that particular evening, her dress was more than ordinarily becoming, I thought.[Pg 89] She had left off some of the draperies she usually wore about her shoulders, and her round, perfect waist was more fully disclosed in outline. She was somewhat pale, and her eyes seemed larger and darker than their wont, and had deeper shadows. And a certain air of languor that hung about her was an added grace. She had, however, recovered sufficiently from the dissipations of the day before to make herself uncommonly agreeable, and I never felt in a greater degree the charm and stimulus of her presence and conversation.
After dinner she preceded us into the parlor,—which was unusual, for she was always too sparing of her society, and the most we saw of her was at dinner or luncheon time,—and crossed over to an alcove where stood a large and costly harp whose strings she knew well how to thrum.
“Elodia, you have never sung for our friend,” said Severnius.
She shook her head, and letting her eyes rest upon me half-unconsciously—almost as if I were not there in fact, for she had a peculiar way of looking at you without actually[Pg 90] seeing you,—she went on picking out the air she had started to play. I subjoined a beseeching look to her brother’s suggestive remark, but was not sure she noted it. But presently she began to sing and I dropped into a chair and sat spell-bound. Her voice was sweet, with a quality that stirred unwonted feelings; but it was not that alone. As she stood there in the majesty of her gracious womanhood, her exquisite figure showing at its best, her eyes uplifted and a something that meant power radiating from her whole being, I felt that, do what she might, she was still the grandest creature in that world to me!
Soon after she had finished her song, while I was still in the thrall of it, a servant entered the room with a packet for Severnius, who opened and read it with evident surprise and delight.
“Elodia!” he cried, “those friends of mine, those Caskians from Lunismar, are coming to make us a visit.”
“Indeed!” she answered, without much enthusiasm, and Severnius turned to me.
“It is on your account, my friend, that I[Pg 91] am to be indebted to them for this great pleasure,” he explained.
“On my account?” said I.
“Yes, they have heard about you, and are extremely anxious to make your acquaintance?”
“They must be,” said Elodia, “to care to travel a thousand miles or so in order to do it.”
“Who are they, pray?” I asked.
“They are a people so extraordinarily good,” she said with a laugh, “so refined and sublimated, that they cast no shadow in the sun.”
Severnius gave her a look of mild protest.
“They are a race exactly like ourselves, outwardly,” he said, “who inhabit a mountainous and very picturesque country called Caskia, in the northern part of this continent.”
“O, that is where the Perfect Pair came from,” I rejoined, remembering what he had told me about Man’s origin on Mars.
Elodia smiled. “Has Severnius been entertaining you with our religious fables?” she asked. I glanced at him and saw that[Pg 92] he had not heard; he was finishing his letter.
“You will be interested in these Caskians,” he said to me animatedly as he folded it up; “I was. I spent some months in Lunismar, their capital, once, studying. They have rare facilities for reading the heavens there,—I mean of their own contrivance,—beside their natural advantages; their high altitude and the clearness of the air.”
“And they name themselves after the planetoids and other heavenly bodies,” interjected Elodia, “because they live so near the stars. What is the name of the superlative creature you were so charmed with, Severnius?”
“I suppose you mean my friend Calypso’s wife, Clytia,” returned he.
“O, yes, I remember,—Clytia. Is she to favor us?”
“Yes, and her husband and several others.”
“Any other women?”
“One or two, I think.”
“And how are we to conduct ourselves during the visitation?”
“As we always do; you will not find that they will put any constraint upon you.”
“No, hardly,” said Elodia, with a slight curl of the lip.
I was eager to hear more about these singular people,—the more eager, perhaps, because the thought of them seemed to arouse Elodia to an unwonted degree of feeling and interest. Her eyes glowed intensely, and the color flamed brightly in her cheeks.
I pressed a question or two upon Severnius, and he responded:
“According to the traditions and annals of the Caskians, they began many thousands of years ago to train themselves toward the highest culture and most perfect development of which mankind is capable. Their aim was nothing short of the Ideal, and they believed that the ideal was possible. It took many centuries to counteract and finally to eradicate hereditary evils, but their courage and perseverance did not give way, and they triumphed. They have dropped the baser natural propensities—”
“As, in the course of evolution, it is said,[Pg 94] certain species of animals dropped their tails to become Man,” interrupted Elodia.
She rose from the divan on which she had gracefully disposed herself when she quit playing, and glided from the room, sweeping a bow to us as she vanished, before Severnius or I could interpose an objection to her leaving us. Although there was never any appearance of haste in her manner, she had a swift celerity of movement which made it impossible to anticipate her intention.
Severnius, however, did not care to interpose an objection, I think. He felt somewhat hurt by her sarcastic comments upon his friends, and he expanded more after she had gone.
“You must certainly visit Lunismar before you leave Mars,” he said. “You will feel well repaid for the trouble. It is a beautiful city, wonderful in its cleanness, in its dearth of poverty and squalor, and in the purity and elevation of its social tone. I think you will wish you might live there always.”
There seemed to be a regret in his voice, and I asked:
“Why did not you remain there?”
“Because of my sister,” he answered.
“But she will marry, doubtless.” For some occult reason I hung upon his reply to this. He shook his head.
“I do not think she will,” he said. “And she and I are all that are left of our family.”
“She does not like,—or she does not believe in these Caskians?” I hoped he would contradict me, and he did. I had come to found my judgments of people and of things upon Elodia’s, even against the testimony of my reason. If she disapproved of her brother’s extraordinary friends and thought them an impossible people, why, then, I knew I should have misgivings of them, too; and I wanted to believe in them, not only on Severnius’ account, but because they presented a curious study in psychology.
“O, yes, she does,” he said. “She thinks that their principles and their lives are all right for themselves, but would not be for her—or for us; and our adoption of them would be simply apish. She is genuine, and she detests imitation. She accepts herself—as[Pg 96] she puts it—as she found herself. God, who made all things, created her upon a certain plane of life, and with certain tastes, faculties, passions and propensities, and that it is not her office to disturb or distort the order of His economy.”
“She does not argue thus in earnest,” I deprecated.
“It is difficult to tell when Elodia is in earnest,” he replied. “She thinks my sanctuary in the top story of the house here, is a kind of weakness, because I brought the idea from Lunismar.”
“O, then, it is not common here in Thursia for people to have things of that sort in their homes!” I said in surprise.
“Yes, it has gotten to be rather common,” he replied.
“Since you put in yours?”
He admitted that to be the case.
“You must think that you have done your country a great good,” I began enthusiastically, “in introducing so beautiful an innovation, and—”
“You are mistaken,” he interrupted, “I think the contrary; because our rich people,[Pg 97] and some who are not rich but only ambitious, took it up as a fad, and I believe it has really worked evil. It is considered aristocratic to have one’s own private shrine, and not to go to church at all except in condescension, to patronize the masses. Elodia saw clearly just how it would be, before I began to carry out my plan. She has a logical mind, and her thought travels from one sequence to the next with unfailing accuracy. I recall her saying that one cannot superinduce the customs and habits of one society upon another of a different order, without affectation; and that you cannot put on a new religion, like a new garment, and feel yourself free in it.”
“Does she not believe, then, in progress, development?”
“Only along the familiar lines. She thinks you can reach outward and upward from your natural environment, but you must not tear yourself out of it with violence. However, she admitted that my sanctuary was well enough for me, because of my having lived among the Caskians and studied their sublime ethics until I[Pg 98] grew into the meanings of them. But no person can take them second-hand from me, because I could not bring away with me the inexpressible something which holds those people together in a perfect Unit. I can go to Caskia and catch the spirit of their religion, but I cannot bring Caskia here. It was a mistake in so far as my neighbors are concerned, since they only see in it, as I have said, a new fashion, a new diversion for their ennuied thoughts.”
“What is there peculiar about the religion of those people?” I asked.
“The most peculiar thing about it is that they live it, rather than profess it,” he replied.
“I don’t think I understand,” said I, and after a moment’s consideration of the matter in his own mind, he tried to make his meaning clear to me.
“Do you often hear an upright man professing his honesty? It is a part of himself. He is so free of the law which enjoins honesty that he never gives it a thought. So with the man who is truly religious, he has flung off the harness and no longer[Pg 99] needs to guide himself by bit and rein, or measure his conduct by the written code. My friends, the Caskians, have emancipated themselves from the thraldom of the law by absorbing its principles into themselves. It was like seed sown in the ground, the germs burst from the husk and shot upward; they are enjoying the flower and the fruit. That which all nations and peoples, and all individuals, prize and desire above everything else in life, is liberty. But I have seen few here in Paleveria who have any conception of the vast spiritual meanings of the word. We limit it to the physical; we say ‘personal’ liberty, as though that were all. You admire the man of high courage, because in that one thing he is free. So with all the virtues, named and unnamable; he is greatest who has loosed himself the most, who weighs anchor and sails away triumphant and free. But this is but a general picture of the Caskians; let me particularize: we are forbidden to steal, by both our civil and religious canons,—the coarseness of such a command would offend them as much as a direct charge of theft would[Pg 100] offend you or myself, so exquisite is their sense of the rights of others, not only in the matter of property but in a thousand subtle ways. Robbery in any form is impossible with them. They would think it a crying sin for one to take the slightest advantage of another,—nay, to neglect an opportunity to assist another in the accomplishment of his rightful purpose would be criminal. We, here on Mars, and you upon the Earth, have discovered very sensitive elements in nature; they have discovered the same in their own souls. Their perceptions are singularly acute, their touch upon each other’s lives finely delicate. In this respect we compare with them as the rude blacksmith compares with the worker in precious metals.”
“But do they also concern themselves with science?” I asked.
“Assuredly,” he answered. “Their inventions are remarkable, their methods infinitely superior to ours. They believe in the triple nature,—the spiritual, the intellectual, and the physical,—and take equal pains in the development and culture of all.”
“How wonderful!” I said, remembering that upon the Earth we have waves of culture breaking over the land from time to time, spasmodic, and never the same; to-day it may be physical, to-morrow intellectual, and by-and-by a superfine spiritual bloom. But, whichever it is, it sacrifices the other two and makes itself supreme.
Severnius went on. As he proceeded, I was struck by the fact that the principles of our Christian civilization formed the basis of Paleverian law.
“I wanted to give you some other instances,” he said, “of the ‘peculiarities’ of the Caskians, as we started out with calling them. There is a law with us against bearing false witness; they hold each other in such honor and in such tenderness, that the command is an idle breath. There is nothing mawkish or sentimental about this, however; they, in fact, make no virtue of it, any more than you or I make a virtue of the things we do habitually—perhaps from unanalyzed motives of policy. You would not strike a man if you knew he would hit back and hurt you worse than he himself[Pg 102] was hurt; well, these people have sensibilities so finely developed, that a wrong done to another reacts upon themselves with exquisite suffering. The law and its penalties are both unseen forces, operating on an internal not an external plane. With us, the authority which declares, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery,’ becomes powerless at the threshold of marriage. Like other such laws which hold us together in an outward appearance of decency and good order, it is a dead letter to them up to the point where we drop and trample upon it; here they take it up and carry it into their inmost lives and thoughts in a way almost too fine for us to comprehend. Because we have never so much as dreamed of catching the spirit of that law.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded, with a wide stare.
“Why, that marriage does not sanction lust. The Caskians hold that the exercise of the procreative faculty is a divine function, and should never be debased to mere animal indulgence. It has been said upon Divine Authority—as we believe—that if[Pg 103] a man look upon a woman to lust after her, he has committed adultery in his heart. The Caskians interpret that to mean a man’s wife, the same as any other woman, because—they hold—one who owes his being to lust and passion naturally inherits the evil and the curse, just as surely as though wedlock had not concealed the crime. Their children are conceived in immaculate purity.”
My look of prolonged amazement called out the usual question:
“Have you no such class in any of your highly civilized countries?”
“No, I think not. With us, children do not come in answer to an intelligent desire for their existence, but are too often simply the result of indulgence, and so unwelcome that their pre-natal life is overshadowed by sorrow and crime.”
“Well,” said he, “it is the same here; our people believe that conception without lust is an impossibility in nature, and that instances of it are supernatural. And certainly it is incredible unless your mind can grasp the problem, or rather the[Pg 104] great fact, of a people engaged for centuries in eliminating the purely animal instincts from their consciousness.”
After a moment he added:
“In Caskia it would be considered shocking if a pair contemplating marriage were to provide themselves with only one suite of rooms, to be shared together day and night. Even the humblest people have their respective apartments; they think such separateness is absolutely essential to the perfect development of the individual,—for in the main we each must stand alone,—and to the preservation of moral dignity, and the fine sentiment and mutual respect which are almost certain to be lost in the lawlessness of undue familiarity. The relation between my friend Calypso and his wife is the finest thing I ever saw; they are lovers on the highest plane. It would be an impossibility for either of them to say or do a coarse or improper thing in the other’s presence, or to presume, in any of the innumerable ways you and I are familiar with in our observations of husbands and wives, upon the marriage bond existing between[Pg 105] them. This matter of animal passion,” he went on, after a little pause, “has been at the bottom of untold crimes, and unnumbered miseries, in our land. I doubt if any other one thing has been prolific of more or greater evils,—even the greed of wealth. Men, and women, too, have sacrificed kingdoms for it, have bartered their souls for it. Countless homes have been desolated because of it, countless lives and hearts have been laid on its guilty altar. We ostracize the bastard; he is no more impure than the offspring of legalized licentiousness, and the law which protects the one and despises the other, cannot discriminate in the matter of after effects, cannot annul or enforce the curse of heredity. With these people the law of chastity is graven in the inmost heart, and in this matter, as in all others, each generation acknowledges its obligation to the next.”
I was glad when spring came, when the trees began to bud, the grass to grow, the flowers to bloom; for, of all the seasons, I like it best,—this wonderful resurrection of life and sweetness!
Thursia is a fine city,—not only in its costly and architecturally and æsthetically perfect buildings, public and private, but in its shaded avenues, its parks, lawns, gardens, fountains, its idyllic statues, and its monuments to greatness.
Severnius took pains to exhibit all its attractions to me, driving with me slowly through the beautiful streets, and pointing out one conspicuous feature and another.[Pg 107] Of course there were some streets which were not beautiful, but he avoided those as much as possible,—as I have done myself when I have had friends visiting me in New York. It is a compliment to your guest to show him the best there is and to spare him the worst.
But often, too, we took long walks through fields and woods. When Elodia accompanied us, which she did a few times, the whole face of nature smiled, and I thought Paleveria the most incomparably charming country I had ever seen. Her presence gave importance to everything,—the song of a bird, the opening of a humble little flower, the babbling of water. But other things absorbed most of her time,—we only got the scraps, the remnants. When she was with us she relaxed, as though we were in some sort a recreation. She amused herself with us just as I have seen a busy father amuse himself with his family for an hour or so of an evening. And I think we really planned our little theatricals of evening conversation for her,—at least I did. I saved up whatever came to[Pg 108] me of thought or incident to give to her at the dinner table. And she appreciated it; her mind bristled with keen points, upon which any ideas let loose were caught in a flash. The sudden illumination of her countenance when a new thing, or even an old thing in a new dress, was presented to her, was of such value to me that I found myself laying traps for it, inventing stories and incidents to touch her fancy.
Besides her banking interests, over which she kept a close surveillance, she had a great many other matters that required to be looked after. As soon as the weather was fine enough, and business activities in the city began to be redoubled, especially in the matter of real estate, she made a point of driving about by herself to inspect one piece of property and another, and to make plans and see that they were carried out according to her ideas. And she was just as conscientious in the discharge of her official duties. She was constantly devising means for the betterment of the schools, both as to buildings and methods of instruction. I believe she knew every teacher[Pg 109] personally,—and there must have been several thousand,—and her relations with all of them were cordial and friendly. Her approbation was a thing they strove for and valued,—not because of her official position and the authority she held in her hands, but because of a power which was innate in herself and that made her a leader and a protector.
But I was too selfish to yield my small right to her society,—the right only of a guest in her house,—to these greater claims with absolute sweetness and patience.
“Why does she take all these things upon herself?” I asked of Severnius.
“Because she has a taste for them,” he replied. “Or, as she would say, a need of them. It is an internal hunger. It is her nature to exert herself in these ways.”
“I cannot believe it is her nature; it is no woman’s nature,” I retorted. “It is a habit which she has cultivated until it has got the mastery of her.”
“Perhaps,” returned Severnius, who was never much disposed to argue about his sister’s vagaries—as they seemed to me.
“All this is mannish,” I went on. “There are other things for women to do. Why does she not give her time and attention to the softer graces, to feminine occupations?”
“I see,” he laughed; “you want her to drop these weighty matters and devote herself to amusing us! and you call that ‘feminine.’”
I joined in his laugh ruefully.
“Perhaps I am narrow, and selfish, too,” I admitted; “but she is so charming, she brings so much into our conversations whenever we can entice her to spend a moment with us.”
“Yes, that is true,” he answered. “She gleans her ideas from a large and varied field.”
“I do not mean her ideas, so much as—well, as the delicious flavor of her presence and personality.”
“Her presence and her personality would not have much flavor, my friend, if she had no ideas, I am thinking.”
“O, yes, they would,” I insisted. “They are the ether in which our own thoughts expand[Pg 111] and take shape and color. They are the essence of her supreme beauty.”
He shook his head. “Beauty is nothing without intelligence. What is the camellia beside the rose? Elodia is the rose. She has several pleasing qualities that appeal to you at one and the same time.”
This was rather pretty, but a man’s praises of his sister always sound tame to me. “She is adorable!” I cried with fervor. We were walking toward a depot connected with a great railway. For the first time I was to try the speed of a Marsian train. Severnius wanted me to visit the city of Frambesco, some two hundred miles from Thursia, in another state.
After a short, ruminating silence I broke out again:
“We don’t even have her company evenings, to any extent. What does she do with her evenings?”
“Who? O, Elodia! Why, she goes to her club. For recreation, you know.”
“That is complimentary to you and me,” I said coolly.
He brought his spectacles to bear upon me somewhat sharply.
 “You have curious ideas about individual liberty! Now, we hold that every soul shall be absolutely free,—that is, in its relations to other souls; it shall not be coerced by any other. It is as though souls were stars suspended in space, each moving in its appointed orbit. No one has the right to disturb the poise and equilibrium of another, not even the one nearest it. That is a Caskian idea, by the way; about the only one Elodia is enamored of. These souls, or spheres, are extremely sensitive; and they may, and do, exert a tremendous influence, one upon another,—but without violence.”
“Your meaning is clear,” I said coldly. “My powers of attraction in this case are feeble. Is the club you speak of composed entirely of women?”
“Certainly.”
“Do not the men here have clubs?”
“O, yes; I belong to one, though I do not often attend. I will take you to visit it,—[Pg 113]I wonder I had not thought of it before! But those things are disturbing; we scientists like to keep our minds clear, like the lenses of our telescopes.”
“Is Elodia’s club a literary one?” I asked, though I was almost sure it was not.
“O, no; it is for recreation purely, as I said. The same kind of a club, I suppose, that you men have. Of course, they have the current literature, which they skim over and discuss, so as to keep themselves informed about what is going on in the world. It is the only way you can keep up with the times, I think, for no one can read everything. They have games and various diversions. Elodia’s clubhouse is furnished with elegant baths, for women have an extraordinary fondness for bathing. And they have a gymnasium,—you notice what splendid figures most of our women have!—and of course a wine cellar.”
“Severnius!” I cried.
“And it is tolerated, allowed, nobody objects?”
“O, yes, there are plenty of objectors,” he replied. “There is a very strong anti-intoxicant element here, but it has no actual force and exerts but little influence in—in our circles.”
Severnius was too modest a man to boast of belonging to the upper class of society, but that was what “our circles” meant.
“But do not the male relatives of these women object,—their husbands, fathers, brothers?”
“No, indeed, why should they? We do the same things they do, without demur from them.”
“But they should be looking after their domestic affairs, their children, their homes.”
“My dear sir! they have servants to attend to those matters.”
It seemed useless to discuss these things with Severnius, his point of view concerning the woman question was so different from mine. Nevertheless, I persisted.
“Tell me, Severnius, do women on this planet do everything that men do?”
“They have that liberty,” he replied, “but there is sometimes a difference of tastes.”
“I am glad to hear it!”
“For instance, they do not smoke. By the way, have a cigar?” He passed me his case and we both fired up. There is a peculiarly delightful flavor in Marsian tobacco.
“They have a substitute though,” he added, removing the fragrant weed from his lips to explain. “They vaporize.”
“They what?”
“They have a small cup, a little larger than a common tobacco pipe, which they fill with alcohol and pulverized valerian root. This mixture when lighted diffuses a kind of vapor, a portion of which they inhale through the cup-stem, a slender, tortuous tube attached to the cup. The most of it, however, goes into the general air.”
“Good heavens!” I cried, “valerian! the most infernal, diabolical smell that was ever emitted from any known or unknown substance.”
“It is said to be soothing to the nerves,” he replied.
“But do you not find it horribly disagreeable, unbearable?” I suddenly recollected that, in passing through the upper hall of the house, I had once or twice detected this nauseating odor, in the neighborhood of Elodia’s suite of rooms.
“Yes, I do,” he answered, “when I happen to come in contact with it, which is seldom. They are careful not to offend others to whom the vapor is unpleasant. Elodia is very delicate in these matters; she is fond of the vapor habit, but she allows no suggestion of it to cling to her garments or vitiate her breath.”
“It must be a great care to deodorize herself,” I returned, with ill-concealed contempt.
“That is her maid’s business,” said he.
“Is it not injurious to health?” I asked.
“Quite so; it often induces frightful diseases, and is sometimes fatal to life even.”
“And yet they persist in it! I should think you would interfere in your sister’s case.”
“Well,” said he, “the evils which attend it are really no greater than those that wait[Pg 117] upon the tobacco habit; and, as I smoke, I can’t advise with a very good grace. I have a sort of blind faith that these good cigars of mine are not going to do me any harm,—though I know they have harmed others; and I suppose Elodia reasons in the same friendly way with her vapor cup.”
The train stood on the track ready to start. I was about to spring up the steps of the last car when Severnius stopped me.
“Not that one,” he said; “that is the woman’s special.”
I stepped back, and read the word Vaporizer,—printed in large gilt letters,—bent like a bow on the side of the car.
“Do you mean to tell me, Severnius,” I exclaimed, “that the railroad company devotes one of these magnificent coaches exclusively to the use of persons addicted to the obnoxious habit we have been speaking of?”
“That is about the size of it,” he returned,—he borrowed the phrase from me. “Come, make haste, or we shall be left; the next car is the smoker; we’ll step into that and[Pg 118] finish these cigars, after which I’ll show you what sumptuous parlor coaches we have.”
As we mounted to the platform I could not resist glancing into the Vaporizer. There were only two or three ladies there, and one of them held in her ungloved hand the little cup with the tortuous stem which my friend had described to me. From it there issued a pale blue smoke or vapor, and oh! the smell of it! I held my breath and hurried after Severnius.
“That is the most outrageous, abominable thing I ever heard of!” I declared, as we entered the smoker and took our seats.
“O, it is nothing,” he returned, smiling; “you are a very fastidious fellow. I saw you look into that car; did you observe the lady in blue?”
“I should think I did! she was in the act,” I replied. “And I recognized her, too; she is that Madam Claris you introduced me to in the Auroras’ Temple, is she not?”
“Yes; but did you notice her cup?”
“Not particularly.”
“It is carved out of the rarest wood we have,—wood that hardens like stone with[Pg 119] age,—and has an indestructible lining and is studded with costly gems; the thing is celebrated, an heirloom in Claris’ family. They like to sport those things, the owners of them do. They are a mark of distinction,—or, as they might say in some of your countries, a patent of nobility.”
“I suppose, then, that only the rich and the aristocratic ‘vaporize’?”
“By no means; whatever the aristocracy do, humble folk essay to imitate. These vapor cups are made in great quantities, of the commonest clay, and sold for a penny apiece.”
“Then it must be a natural taste, among your women?” said I.
“No, no more than smoking is among men. They say it is nauseating in the extreme, at first, and requires great courage and persistence to continue in it up to the point of liking. There is no doubt that it becomes very agreeable to them in the end, and that it is almost impossible to break the habit when once it is fixed.”
“And what do they do with their cups,—[Pg 120]I mean, how do they carry them about when they are not using them?” I asked.
“Put them in a morocco case, the same as you would a meerschaum, and drop them into a fanciful little bag which they wear on the arm, suspended by a chain or ribbon.”
Frambesco could not compare with Thursia either in size or beauty; and it had a totally different air, a kind of swagger, you might say. I felt the mercury in my moral barometer drop down several degrees as we walked about the streets amid much filth, and foul odors, and unsightly spectacles.
I made the natural comments to my friend, and he replied that neither Frambesco nor any other city on the continent could hold a candle to Thursia, where the best of every thing was centered.
We observed a great many enormous placards posted about conspicuously, announcing a game of fisticuffs to take place that afternoon in an amphitheatre devoted to such purposes; and we decided to look in upon it. I think it was I who suggested it, for I had no little curiosity about the “tactics” of the manly art in that country, having[Pg 121] seen Sullivan and several other famous hitters in our own.
Severnius had considerable difficulty in procuring tickets, and finally paid a fabulous price to a speculator for convenient seats. The great cost of admission of course kept out the rabble, and, in a way, it was an eminently respectable throng that was assembled,—I mean in so far as money and rich clothes make for respectability. But there was an unmistakable coarseness in most of the faces, or if not that, a curiosity which bordered on coarseness. I was amazed to see women in the audience; but this was nothing to the horror that quivered through me like a deadly wound, when the combatants sprang into the arena and squared off for action. For they, too, were women,—women with tender, rosy flesh; with splendid dark eyes gleaming with high excitement. Their long, fair hair was braided and twisted into a hard knot on top of the head. They wore no gloves. Ah, a woman’s hands are soft enough without padding!—I thought.
They went at it in scientific fashion and[Pg 122] were careful to observe the etiquette of the game; it was held “foul” to attack the face. In fact it was more of a wrestling than a sparring match,—a test of strength, prowess, agility. But I recoiled from it with loathing, and feeling myself grow sick and faint, I muttered something to Severnius and rushed out of the place. He followed me, of course; the performance was quite as distasteful to him as to me, the only difference being that he was familiar with the idea and I was not.
As I passed out, I observed that many of the women were vaporizing and many of the men smoking. I suppose it was, in part, the intolerable abomination of these commingled smells that affected me, for I experienced a physical as well as moral nausea. I did not get over it for hours, and I was as glad as a child when it came time to take the train back to Thursia.
My disgust was so great that I could not discuss the matter with Severnius, as I was wont to discuss other matters with him. There was one thing for which I was[Pg 123] supremely thankful,—that Elodia was not there.
A few days later, the subject accidentally came up, and I had the satisfaction of hearing her denounce the barbarity as emphatically as I could denounce it,—and more sweepingly, for she included male fighters in her condemnation, and I was unable to make her see that that was quite another matter.
During the time that intervened before the arrival of the Caskians, to make their proposed visit, I gleaned many more interesting hints from Severnius relative to their life and conduct, which greatly whetted my curiosity to meet them. For instance, we were one day engaged in a conversation, he, Elodia, and myself, upon the subject of the province of poetry in history,—but that does not matter,—when dinner was announced in the usual way; that is, the way which assumes without doubt that nothing else in the world is so important as dinner. It may be a bell, or a gong, or a verbal call, but it is as imperative as the command of[Pg 125] an autocrat. It brings to the ground, with the suddenness of a mental shock, the finest flights of the imagination. It wakes the soul from transcendent dreams, cools the fervor of burning eloquence, breaks the spell of music. More than this: it destroys the delicate combination of mental states and forces sometimes induced when several highly trained minds have fallen into an attitude of acute sympathy toward one another,—a rare and ineffable thing!—and are borne aloft through mutual helpfulness to regions of thought and emotion infinitely exalted, which can never be reproduced.
I have often had this experience myself, and have wished that the cook was a creature of supernatural intuitions, so that he could divine the right moment in which to proclaim that the soup was served! There is a right moment, a happy moment, when the flock of intellectual birds, let loose to whirl and circle and soar in the upper air, descend gracefully and of their own accord to the agreeable level of soup.
On the occasion to which I have referred, I tried to ignore, and to make my companions[Pg 126] ignore, the discordant summons—by a kind of dominant action of my mind upon theirs—in order that we might continue the talk a little longer. We three had never before shown ourselves off to each other to such striking advantage; we traveled miles in moments, we expanded, we unrolled reams of intelligence which were apprehended in a flash, as a whole landscape is apprehended in a glare of lightning. It was as if our words were tipped with flame and carried their illumination along with them. I knew that there never would, never could, come another such time, but Elodia thwarted my effort to hold it a moment longer.
“Come!” she cried gayly, rising to her feet and breaking off in the middle of a beautiful sentence, the conclusion of which I was waiting for with tremors of delight,—for her views, as it happened, accorded with mine,—“the ideal may rule in art, but not in life; it is very unideal to eat, but the stomach is the dial of the world.”
“We make it so,” said Severnius.
“Of course, we make all our sovereigns,” she returned. “We set the dial to point at[Pg 127] certain hours, and it simply holds us to our agreement,—it and the chef.”
“That reminds me of our Caskian friends,” said Severnius. “They have exceedingly well-ordered homes, but occasionally one of the three Natures waits upon another; the Mind may yield to some contingency connected with the Body, or the Body waive its right in favor of the Spirit.”
“I had supposed they were more machine-like,” commented Elodia, with her usual air of not being able to take a great interest in the Caskians.
“They are the farthest from that of any people I know,” he answered. “They have great moments, now and then, when a few people are gathered together, and their thought becomes electrical and their minds mingle as you have seen the glances of eyes mingle in a language more eloquent than speech,—and, to tell the truth, we ourselves have such moments, I’ll not deny that; but the difference is, that they appreciate the value of them and hold them fast, while we open our hands and let them fly away like uncoveted birds, or worthless butterflies. I[Pg 128] have actually known a meal to be dropped out entirely in Calypso’s house, forgotten in the felicity of an intellectual or spiritual delectation!”
“Thank heaven, that we live in Thursia!” cried Elodia, “where such lapses are impossible.”
“They are next to impossible there,” said Severnius; “but they do happen, which proves a great deal. They are in the nature of miracles, they are so wonderful,—and yet not so wonderful. We forget sometimes that we have a soul, and they forget that they have a body; there’s no great difference.”
“There is a mighty difference,” answered Elodia. “We are put into a material world, to enjoy material benefits. I should think those people would miss a great deal of the actual good of life in the pursuit of the unactual,—always taking their flights from lofty pinnacles, and skipping the treasures that lie in the valleys.”
“On the contrary,” he returned, “the humblest little flower that grows, the tiniest pebble they pick up on the beach,[Pg 129] the smallest voice in nature, all have place in their economy. They miss nothing; they gather up into their lives all the treasures that nature scatters about. If a bird sings, they listen and say, ‘That song is for me;’ or, if a blossom opens, ‘I will take its beauty into my heart.’ These things, which are free to all, they accept freely. Their physical senses are supplemented,—duplicated as it were, in finer quality,—by exquisite inner perceptions.”
The morning after this conversation, Severnius and I took a long drive in a new direction. We went up the river a mile or so, the road winding through an avenue of century-old elms, whose great, graceful branches interlocked overhead and made a shade so dense that the very atmosphere seemed green. We were so earnestly engaged in conversation that I did not observe when we left the avenue and entered a wood. We drove some distance through this, and then the road branched off and skirted round a magnificent park,—the finest I had seen,—bordered by a thick hedge, all abloom with white, fragrant[Pg 130] flowers, and fenced with a fretwork of iron, finished with an inverted fringe of bristling points. Within, were evidences of costly and elaborate care; the trees were of noble growth and the greensward like stretches of velvet over which leaf-shadows flickered and played. The disposition of shrubbery and flowers, the chaste and beautiful statuary, the fountains, brooklets, arbors, and retreats; the rustic effects in bridges, caves, grottoes, and several graceful arches, hidden in wreathed emerald, from which snow-white cherubs with wings on their shoulders peeped roguishly, all betokened ingenious design, and skilful and artistic execution.
Beyond, seen vaguely through the waving foliage, were handsome buildings, of the elegant cream-colored stone so much in vogue in Thursia. Here and there, I espied a fawn; one pretty creature, with a ribbon round its neck, was drinking at a fountain, and at the same time some beautiful birds came and perched upon the marble rim and dipped into the sparkling water.
“How lovely! how idyllic!” I cried.[Pg 131] “What place is it, Severnius, and why have I never seen it before?”
His answer came a little reluctantly, I thought. “It is called Cupid’s Gardens.”
“And what does it mean?” I asked.
“Does not its name and those naked imps sufficiently explain it?” he replied. As I looked at him, a blush actually mantled his cheek. “It is a rendezvous,” he explained, “where women meet their lovers.”
“How curious! I never heard of such a thing,” said I. “Do you mean that the place was planned for that purpose, or did the name get fastened upon it through accident? Surely you are joking, Severnius; women can receive their lovers in their homes here, the same as with us!”
“Their suitors, not their lovers,” he replied.
“You make a curious distinction!” said I.
“Women sometimes marry their suitors, never their lovers,—any more than men marry their mistresses.”
“Great heavens, Severnius!” I felt the blood rush to my face and then recede, and a cold perspiration broke out all over me. There was a question in my mind which I[Pg 132] did not dare to ask, but Severnius divined it.
“Is it a new idea to you?” said he. “Have you no houses of prostitution in your country, licensed by law, as this is?”
“For men, not for women,” said I.
“Ah! another of your peculiar discriminations!” he returned.
“Well, surely you will agree with me that in this matter, at least, there should be discrimination?” I urged.
He shook his head with that exasperating stubbornness one occasionally finds in sweet-tempered people.
“No, I cannot agree with you, even in this,” he replied. “What possible reason is there why men, more than women, should be privileged to indulge in vice?”
“Why, in the very nature of things!” I cried. “There is a hygienic principle involved; you know,—it is a statistical fact,—that single men are neither so vigorous nor so long-lived as married men, and a good many men do not marry.”
“Well, a good many more women do not marry; what of those?”
“Severnius! I cannot believe you are in[Pg 133] earnest. Women!—that is quite another matter. Women are differently constituted from men; their nature—”
“O, come!” he interrupted; “I thought we had settled that question—that their nature is of a piece with our own. It happens in your world, my friend, that your women were kept to a strict line of conduct, according to your account, by a severe discipline,—including even the death penalty,—until their virtue, from being long and persistently enforced, grew into a habit and finally became a question of honor.”
“Yes, stronger than death, thank God!” I affirmed.
“Well, then, it seems to me that the only excuse men have to offer for their lack of chastity—I refer to the men on your planet—is that they have not been hedged about by the wholesome restraints that have developed self-government in women. I cannot admit your ‘hygienic’ argument in this matter; life is a principle that needs encouragement, and a man of family has more incentives to live, and usually his health[Pg 134] is better cared for, than a single man, that is all.”
We rode in silence for some time. I finally asked, nodding toward the beautiful enclosure still in view:
“How do they manage about this business; do they practice any secrecy?”
“Of course!” he replied. “I hope you do not think we live in open and shameless lawlessness? Usually it is only the very wealthy who indulge in such ‘luxuries,’ and they try to seal the lips of servants and go-betweens with gold. But it does not always work; it is in the nature of those things to leak out.”
“And if one of these creatures is found out, what then?” I asked.
He answered with some severity: “‘Creatures’ is a harsh name to apply to women, some of whom move in our highest circles!”
“I beg your pardon! call them what you like, but tell me, what happens when there is an exposé? Are they denounced, ostracized, sat upon?” I inquired.
“No, not so bad as that,” said he. “Of[Pg 135] course there is a scandal, but it makes a deal of difference whether the scandal is a famous or an infamous one. If the woman’s standing is high in other respects,—if she has money, political influence, talent, attractiveness,—there is very little made of it; or if society feels itself particularly insulted, she may conciliate it by marrying an honest man whose respectability and position protect her.”
“What! does an honest man—a gentleman—ever marry such a woman as that?” I cried.
“Frequently; and sometimes they make very good wives. But it is risky. I have a friend, a capital fellow, who was so unfortunate as to attract such a woman, and who finally yielded to her persuasions and married her.”
“Heavens! do the women propose?”
“Certainly, when they choose to do so; what is there objectionable in that?”
I made no reply, and he continued, “My friend, as I said, succumbed to her pleadings partly—as I believe—because she threw herself upon his mercy, though she is a[Pg 136] beautiful woman, and he might have been fascinated to some extent. She told him that his love and protection would be her salvation, and that his denial of her would result in her total ruin; and that for his sake she would reform her life. He is both chivalrous and tender, and, withal, a little romantic, and he consented. My opinion is that, if she could have had him without marriage, she would have preferred it; but he is a true man, a man of honor. Women of her sort like virtuous men, and seldom marry any other. Her love proved to be an ephemeral passion—such as she had had before—and the result has been what you might expect, though Claris is not, by any means, the worst woman in the world.”
“Claris?” I exclaimed.
“Ah! I did not mean to speak her name,” he returned in some confusion; “and I had forgotten that you knew her. Well, yes, since I have gone so far, it is my friend Massilia’s wife that I have been speaking of. In some respects she is an admirable woman, but she has broken her husband’s heart and ruined his life.”
“Admirable!” I repeated with scorn; “why, in my country, such conduct would damn a woman eternally, no matter what angelic qualities she might possess. She would be shown no quarter in any society—save the very lowest.”
“And how about her counterpart of the other sex?” asked Severnius, slyly.
I disregarded this, and returned:
“Did he not get a divorce?”
“No; the law does not grant a divorce in such a case. There was where Claris was shrewder than her husband; she made herself safe by confessing her misdeeds to him, and cajoling him into marrying her in spite of them.”
“I beg your pardon, but what a fool he was!”
Severnius acquiesced in this. “I tried to dissuade him,” he said, “before the miserable business was consummated,—he made me his confidant,—but it was too late, she had him under her influence.”
Another silence fell upon us, which I broke by asking, “Who were those pretty youngsters we saw lounging about on the[Pg 138] lawn back there?” I referred to several handsome young men whom I had observed strolling through the beautiful grounds.
He looked at me in evident surprise at the question, and replied:
“Why, those are some of the professional ‘lovers’.”
“Great Cæsar’s ghost!”
“Yes,” he went on; “some of our most promising youths are decoyed into those places. It is a distressing business,—a hideous business! And, on the other hand, there are similar institutions where lovely young girls are the victims. I do not know which is the more deplorable,—sometimes I think the latter is. A tender mother would wish that her daughter had never been born, if she should take up with such a life; and an honorable father would rather see his son gibbeted than to find him inside that railing.”
“I should think so!” I responded, and inquired, “What kind of standing have these men in the outside world?”
“About the same that a leper would have. They are ignored and despised by the very[Pg 139] women who court their caresses here. In fact, they are on a level with the common, paid courtesan,—the lowest rank there is. I have often thought it a curious thing that either men or women should so utterly despise these poor instruments of their sensual delights!”
My friend saw that I was too much shocked to moralize on the subject, and he presently began to explain, and to modify the facts a little.