Chapter 1. An Astronomer Royal
_ CHAPTER I. AN ASTRONOMER ROYAL
It was an evening in early autumn in the last year of the nineteenth century. We were nearing the close of a voyage as calm and peaceful as our previous lives.
Margaret had been in Europe a couple of years and I had just been over to bring her home, and we were now expecting to reach New York in a day or two.
Margaret and I were the best of friends. Indeed, we had loved each other from our earliest recollection. No formal words of betrothal had ever passed between us, but for years we had spoken of our future marriage as naturally as if we were the most regularly engaged couple in the world.
"Walter," asked Margaret in her impulsive way, "at what temperature does mercury melt?"
"Well, to hazard a guess," I replied, "I should say about one degree above its freezing point. Why, do you think of making an experiment?"
"Yes, on you. And I am going to begin by being very frank with you. You have made me a numbe

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