n a room I had not before entered, about the same size as my own and
similarly furnished, but differently coloured, now communicating with
it by a door which I knew had not previously existed. Here were
Eveena's mother and sister, dressed as usual.

Eveena herself had exchanged her maiden white for the light pink of a
young matron, but was closely veiled in a similar material. Her mother
and sister kissed her with much emotion, though without the tears and
lamentations, real or affected, with which--alike among the nomads of
Asia and the most cultivated races of Europe--even those relatives who
have striven hardest to marry a daughter or sister think it necessary
to celebrate the fulfilment of their hopes, and the termination of
their often prolonged and wearisome labours. I was then left alone
with my bride, who remained half-seated, half-crouching on the
cushions in a corner of the room. I could not help feeling keenly how
much a marriage so unceremonious and with so little previous
acquaintance, or rather so great a reserve and distance in our former
intercourse, intensified the awkwardness many a man on Earth feels
when first left alone with the partner of his future life. But a
single glance at the small drooping figure half-hidden in the cushions
brought the reflection that a situation, embarrassing to the
bridegroom, must be in the last degree alarming and distressing to the
bride. But for her visit to the Astronaut we should have been almost
strangers; I could hardly have recognised even her voice. I must,
however, speak; and naturally my first sentence was a half-articulate
request that she would remove her veil.

"No," she whispered, rising, "_you_ must do that."

Taking off the glove of her left hand, she came up to me shyly and
slowly, and placed it in my right--a not unmeaning ceremony. Having
obeyed her instruction, my lips touched for the first time the brow of
my young wife. That she was more than shy and startled, was even
painfully agitated and frightened, became instantly apparent now that
her countenance was visible. What must be the state of Martial brides
in general, when the signature of the contract immediately places them
at the disposal of an utter stranger, it was beyond the power of my
imagination to conceive, if their feelings were at all to be measured
by Eveena's under conditions sufficiently trying, but certainly far
better than theirs. Nothing was so likely to quiet her as perfect
cal