Melbourne and Mars/Chapter 17

"HELEN."

"Yes, Charley."

Charley sat up and looked round him. "How long have I been here?"

"Just one day, Charley," replied Helen. "You fell in the carriage, you know, and we brought you to Grayson's to recover. Hearing what had happened Dr. Somers came at once, and sent for Felix Henderson, the great alienist. They consulted over your case, and came to the conclusion that you would awaken soon and be well. They left me with you and Grayson is within call. They said we would be able to help you to put your mind in order, as our experiences were in some senses similar."

"I do not feel anything wrong now," said Charley. "I know I am living two lives, but they are not mixed. While I have been lying here I have been getting a full knowledge of my earth life and history. We have now subjects of conversation in common. If our life here does not provide us with enough to think about we can speak about our previous life. The lonely half of me that is working down there will be happier now that my consciousness of his life is established. There is nothing now to hinder us from marrying and living a still happier life than the last."

"Oh yes there is, we have not been betrothed, I have not promised to marry you."

"Now Helen don't tease; you know that we two have to marry and you have known it for years."

"Nonsense, our having been married for forty years does not of necessity involve marrying again. You might have found some one else and so might I. What if you had not crossed the snow that night? What if you had found me half an hour later?"

"True, but I did find you and we have loved each other with a new love irrespective of the old one. Indeed, it is just possible that the same couple might be married in both planets and in each know nothing about the marriage in the other."

"We'll let that subject drop for the present," said Helen, "I will go and tell Dr. Somers that you have no further need of her aid, and you will see Grayson directly."

Charley spent an hour with Grayson that afternoon, and received the congratulations of many of his friends on having so easily got through his crisis. The Earthborns especially welcomed him as now capable of bringing his quota of news from the lower sphere.

Three days later there was a very pleasing ceremony in Frankston's rooms at the Equatorial. It was the marriage of Emma Vaughan and Harry Hern. The four members of the Frankston family, the three of the Hern family, and the Teacher who officiated at the cremation of Thomas Hern were present, together with Grayson, his wife, and a few select friends of the young people.

In the middle of the room a small dais was placed, and on this two chairs. Charley Frankston led Harry Hern to one of these seats and his mother led her daughter Emma to the other. The Teacher then stood up, and facing the little group upon and around the dais said or read:—

"We meet, this afternoon to solemnise the marriage of our dear young friends Emma Vaughan and Harry Hern. They are well assured that they love each other with a pure and strong affection, a love that will last through life, and that cannot be destroyed. Such a love is the best if not the only reason for marrying; without it there can be no true marriage, no happy family life. Such a love is sacred. It leads to the founding and sustaining of the family, and to the moral purity of social life. This in turn reacts upon every phase of life, and marks us as a virtuous and happy people. In uniting these two in the bonds of conjugal affection we lay the foundation of another happy home. We do something more towards promoting the social order which has been a leading feature of our life for ages, and we add to the sum total of the enjoyment of life. Our young friends will now rise and clasp hands, saying, 'We two love each other with an enduring conjugal affection, a love that causes each to seek to benefit; the other even at the expense of self-sacrifice. Our desire is to dwell together for life; to work together for the common good; to participate in each other's labors and enjoyments; to have interests in common; to worship together; to share joys and sorrows; to be true and helpful to each other in prosperity or adversity. We each endow the other with the wealth of love we can bestow, and we go through life side by side as comrades and equals. From you, Teacher and Pastor, we ask the benediction of the church, and from our parents, relatives and friends a continuation of the love and sympathy they have ever shown towards us.'"

The Pastor then stepped forward, and raising his hands over the now kneeling pair, said, "May the Divine blessing rest upon these two, whom I now declare to be man and wife, until the expiration of their present term of life, Amen." And all answered "Amen."

In the afternoon the marriage was registered in the district registry. The newly married pair remained in the Metropolis for another week, and then went with Mother Vance to their home in Highton. The three families arranged to spend thirty days of each year in each others company, the Badges of Freedom assisting materially.

Charley had been many times to the Observatory, and had learned to use the giant telescopes, both the reflector and the refractor. He had made arrangements, too, with the Astronomer-in-Chief to be present. Dr. Mark Haley was there to meet the rather numerous party, and Grayson, with one of his sons, came early in the morning. About twenty-three o'clock Charley, and one of Haley's juniors, commenced a general sweeping of the heavens with the refractor. They studied double stars, decomposed nebula, showed the rings of Saturn to be composed of millions of little globes moving at varying rates and never clashing with each other; saw the moons of Uranus, four of them being in sight; studied the surface of that cold, far away planet, and found that there were unmistakable signs of habitation by beings doubtless adapted to it.

Nearly three hours passed away as if they had been but moments. One little incident caused some momentary alarm and amusement. Harry Hern was at the eyepiece of the telescope, one hand on Emma's shoulder, she having just stepped aside. For a moment he looked steadily, and then jumped back in affright, his eyes staring widely and his hair actually bristling. "Oh! oh!!" he cried, "a great orb is falling upon us." He seized Emma and started to run away, as if that could do any good. The junior astronomer caught him and bid him look again. There all was us before, the red and blue stars scintillating in the silent heavens.

"What was it?" asked Harry. "It was our nearest moon. It is so near that it always appears as if falling upon the larger telescopes."

We teased Harry for many a day for his attempt to run away with Emma. As for his start, that was pardonable.