“Yes, possibly that’s true,” I conceded. And so what could I do but agree to give Aelios a further opportunity to help the State? But if I based any glamorous hopes upon her evident friendliness, I was building without knowledge of my foundations. Not long after my visit to her, a chance conversation showed me how far I was from that goal which my more sanguine fancies pictured. * * * * * It was Xanocles that unwittingly made me see the difficulties. During one of our numerous little talks, he touched casually upon the marriage system of Atlantis. “The Milares Compulsory Population Law,” he chanced to inform me, “is perhaps not the only reason for the present superiority of the Atlantean stock. Another factor is what I may call the marital selection. This is regulated primarily by custom and is almost exclusively in the hands of the women, yet is so rigid that an inferior man can hardly find a mate--indeed, a superior woman would be disgraced by linking herself to a weakling.” “But just what do you mean by a weakling?” I inquired. Xanocles looked at me in surprise. “A weakling, of course, is one with nothing to give to society. A great poet, for example, could never be thought of as a weakling; nor a competent painter, nor philosopher, nor musician, nor biologist. But the man whose contributions show no particular skill or individuality is regarded as a weakling, no matter what his pursuit. Naturally, he is not condemned so long as he does his best; but he is not regarded as a fit subject for marriage except with another weakling--and, needless to say, weaklings are not permitted to propagate.” If Xanocles noticed that I was moody and silent for the rest of the day, the reason would not have been hard to find. I do not believe that, in my own world, I had ever suffered from what is known as an inferiority complex; but among the Atlanteans, with their higher standards, mere honesty demanded that I question my own qualifications. And what, I wondered, had I to offer to a woman such as Aelios? Would not my meagre attainments appear childish and unattractive to her? Even if I finished my “History of the Upper World,” would it not be a second-rate affair, altogether incapable of winning her admiration? And would I not, by comparison with the natives, be considered a weakling, a man whom Aelios could not marry without incurring disgrace?