I forgot just how I replied; I have an impression that my arms performed some lively antics, with Aelios as their goal, and that anything I said must have been merely incidental. “When shall the day be, Aelios?” I asked, when I was again in a mood for discussion. “When do you say?” “When do you want me to say?” she returned, as though surprised at my query. “If we are both sure, what is the use of delaying?” And, by dint of further questioning, I learned that long engagements were unknown in Atlantis. Although usually so slow-going and leisurely, the natives seemed to me singularly hasty in this one regard; and once two people had decided upon marriage, it was not customary to allow more than the few days’ interval necessary for the preparations. It had always been so in Atlantis, Aelios explained, and she could not imagine how it could be otherwise, for why subject the young couple to the unnatural tension of waiting, and why make love ridiculous by arbitrarily starving it? Previously, when I had dared to think of the possibility of marriage with Aelios, I had half reconciled myself to the prospect of a long engagement, since observation had taught me nothing of Atlantean marriage customs, and I had imagined that an interval at least of months, might be considered proper. And so I was a little bewildered by the unexpected imminence of our union; I was like a man who, long blind, has suddenly beheld a flash of light; and it took me a little while to adjust myself to the startling new unfolding vistas. * * * * * To begin with, I was not sure quite what was expected of me. Should I present Aelios with a ring or similar trinket such as was customary on earth? or was some more elaborate gift deemed necessary? In my perplexity, I consulted Xanocles, who merely smiled at my doubts. “Marriage with us,” he explained, “is not treated as a form of barter; nor is it a bargain wherein precious articles must be given as sureties. We have long ago stamped out of our marriage system all traces of its primitive origin--all traces of that old custom which regarded it merely as a contract of sale, and which in the beginning demanded the parental receipt of cattle or other material property, and later required rings or similar baubles as a tender of the purchase price if not as a pledge of good faith. When two of our people are married, they would consider it degrading to be expected to give anything beyond themselves.”