He pressed her close; his emotion so great that for a minute he could not talk. Then he said, “I never thought of anything like that, Dottiegirl.” His voice was low and vibrant. “If I had, I wouldn’t have dared say it out loud. With you so far away from home, it’d seem . . .”
“It wouldn’t seem anything of the kind,” she denied, without waiting to find out what it was that she was denying. Don’t you see, you big, thick-headed, wonderful lug, it’s the only thing to do? We need each other—at least I need you so much . . .”
“Say ‘each other’—it’s right,” he declared fervently.
“The family would like to have seen me married, of course . . . but there are some advantages, even there. Dad would hate a grand Washington wedding, and so would you. It’s better all around to be married here.”
Seaton, who had been trying to get a word in, silenced her.
“I’m convinced, Dottie, have been ever since I came out of shock. I’m so glad I can’t express it. I’ve been scared stiff every time I’ve thought about our wedding. I’ll speak to the karfedix the first thing in the morning . . . or say, how’d it be to wake him up and have it done right now?”
“Oh, Dick, be reasonable !” Dorothy’s eyes, however, danced with glee. “That would never do. Tomorrow will be too awfully sudden, as it is. And Dick, please speak to Martin will you? Peggy’s scared a lot worse than I am, and Martin, the dear old stupid jerk, is a lot less likely than even you are to think of being prime mover in anything like this. And Peggy’s afraid to suggest it to him. Said she’d curl right up and die; and she just about would.”
“Ah. Aha!” Seaton straightened up and held her out at arms’ length. “A light dawns. I thought there was something fishy about your walking me home. Queer—like a nine-dollar bill. It didn’t register, even at ‘sob-story’—I thought my bad example was corrupting your English. A put-up job, eh?”
“What do you think? That I’d have the nerve to do it all by myself? But not all, Dick.” She snuggled up to him again, blissfully content. “Just the littlest, teeniest bit of it, was all.”
Seaton opened the door. “Mart, bring Peggy over here!”
“Heavens, Dick! Be careful! You’ll spoil everything!”
“No, I won’t. Leave it to me—I bashfully admit that I’m a blinding flash and a deafening report at this diplomacy stuff. Smooth, like an eel.” The other two joined them.
“Dottie and I have been talking things over, and have decided that today would be the best possible day for a wedding. She’s afraid of these long daylight nights, and I’d sleep a lot better if I knew where she was all the time instead of part of it. She’s willing, if you two see it the same way and make it a double. So how about it? And if you say anything but ‘yes’ I’ll tie you, Mart, up like a pretzel; and take you, Peg, over my knee and spank you. I’ll give you one whole second to think it over.”
Margaret blushed furiously but pressed herself closer against Crane’s side.
“That’s time enough for me,” Crane said. “A marriage here would be recognized anywhere, I think . . . with the certificate registered . . . if the final court declared it invalid we could be married again. . . . Considering all the circumstances, it would be the best thing for everyone concerned.” Crane’s lean, handsome face assumed a darker color as he looked down at Margaret’s sparkling eyes and happily animated face. “Nothing else in existence is as certain as our love. It is of course the bride’s privilege to set the date. Peggy?”
“The sooner the better,” Margaret said, blushing again. “Did you say today, Dick?”
“That’s what I said. I’ll see the karfedix about it as soon as we get up,” and the two couples separated.
“I’m just too perfectly happy for words,” Dorothy whispered into Seaton’s ear as he kissed her good night. “I simply don’t care whether I sleep a wink tonight or not.”
Chapter 19
SEATON WOKE up, hot and uncomfortable, but with a great surge of joy in his heart—this was his wedding day! Springing out of bed, he released the full stream of ‘cold’ water, filling the pool in a few moments. Poising lightly on the edge, he made a clean, sharp dive—and yelled in surprise as he came snorting to the surface. For Dunark had made his promise good; the water was only a couple of degrees above freezing point! After a few minutes of swimming and splashing in the icy water he rubbed himself down, shaved, put on shirt and slacks, and lifted his powerful base voice in the wedding chorus from “The Rose Maiden.”
“Rise, sweet maid, arise, arise;
“Rise, sweet maid, arise, arise;
” ‘Tis the last fair morning for thy maiden eyes,”
he sang lustily, out of his sheer joy in being alive, and was surprised to hear three other voices—soprano, contralto, and tenor—continue the song from the adjoining room. He opened the door.
“Good morning, Dick, you sounded happy,” Crane said.
“So did you all, but who wouldn’t be? Look what today is!” He embraced Dorothy ardently. “Besides, I found some cold water this morning.”
“Everybody within a mile heard you discover it,” Dorothy giggled. “We warmed ours up a little. I like a cold bath, too, but not in ice-water. B-r-r-r!”
“But I didn’t know you two boys could sing.” Margaret said.
“We can’t,” Seaton assured her. “We just barber-shop it now and then, for fun. But it sounded as though you can really sing.”
“I’ll say she can sing!” Dorothy exclaimed. “I didn’t know it ’til just now, but she’s soprano soloist in the First Episcopal, no less!”
“Whee!” Seaton whistled. “If she can stand the strain, we’ll have to give this quartet a workout some day—when there’s nobody around.”
All four became silent, thinking of the coming event of the day, until Crane said, “They have ministers here, I know, and I know something of their religion, but my knowledge is vague. You know more about it than we do, Dick—tell us about it while we wait.”
Seaton paused a moment, an odd look on his face. As one turning the pages of an unfamiliar book of reference, he was seeking the answer to Crane’s question in the vast store of Osnomian information received from Dunark. He spoke slower than usual, and used much better English, when he replied.
“As well as I can explain it, it’s a very peculiar mixture, partly theology, partly Darwinian evolution or its Osnomian equivalent, and partly pure pragmatism or economic determinism. They believe in a supreme being, the First Cause being its nearest English equivalent. They recognize the existence of an immortal and unknowable life-principle, or soul. They believe that the First Cause has laid down the survival of the fittest as the fundamental law, which belief accounts for their perfect physiques. . . .”
“Perfect physiques! Why, they’re as weak as children!” Dorothy exclaimed.
“That’s because of the low gravity,” Seaton explained. “You see, a man of my size weighs only about eighty-six pounds here, on a spring balance, so he wouldn’t need any more muscle than a boy of twelve or so on Earth. Either one of you girls could easily handle any two of the strongest men on Osnome. It’d probably take all the strength Dunark has, just to stand up on Earth.
“Considering that fact, they are magnificently developed. They have attained this state by centuries of weeding out the unfit. They have no hospitals for the feeble-minded or the feeble bodied; all such are executed. The same reasoning accounts for their cleanliness, physical and moral—vice is practically unknown. Clean thinking and clean living are rewarded by the production of a better mental and physical type. . . .”
“Especially since they correct wrong living by those terrible punishments Dunark told us about,” Margaret put in.
“Perhaps, although the point is debatable. They also believe that the higher the type, the faster the evolution and the sooner will mankind reach what they call the Ultimate Goal and know all things. Believing as they do that the fittest must survive, and of course thinking themselves the superior type, it is ordained that Mardonale must be destroyed utterly, root and branch.
“Their ministers are chosen from the very fittest, next to the royal family, which is, and must remain, tops. If it doesn’t, it ceases to be the royal family and a fitter family takes over. Anyway, ministers are strong, vigorous, and clean, and are almost always high army officers as well as ministers.”
An attendant announced the coming of the emperor and his son, to pay the call of state; and, after the ceremonious greetings had been exchanged, all went into the dining-hall for first-meal. After eating, Seaton brought up the question of the double wedding. The emperor was overjoyed.