Daybreak: A Romance of an Old World

檨Daybreak: A Romance of an Old World

Project Gutenberg's Daybreak: A Romance of an Old World, by James Cowan Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: Daybreak: A Romance of an Old World
Author: James Cowan
Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7814] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 19, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAYBREAK ***

Produced by Anne Soulard, Suzanne Shell, William Craig, Robert Laporte, Steen Christensen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

[Illustration: "HE MADE THE STARS ALSO"]
DAYBREAK A ROMANCE OF AN OLD WORLD
BY JAMES COWAN

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
AN ASTRONOMER ROYAL.

CHAPTER II.
A FALLEN SATELLITE.

CHAPTER III.
TWO MEN IN THE MOON.

CHAPTER IV.
AND ONE WOMAN.

CHAPTER V.
OUR INTRODUCTION TO MARS.

CHAPTER VI.
A REMARKABLE PEOPLE.

CHAPTER VII.
RAPID TRANSIT ON MARS.

CHAPTER VIII.
THORWALD PUZZLED.

CHAPTER IX.
THORWALD AS A PROPHET.

CHAPTER X.
MORE WORLDS THAN TWO.

CHAPTER XI
MARS AS IT IS.

CHAPTER XII.
WE REACH THORWALD'S HOME.

CHAPTER XIII.
A MORNING TALK.

CHAPTER XIV.
PROCTOR SHOWS US THE EARTH.

CHAPTER XV.
A NIGHT ADVENTURE.

CHAPTER XVI.
AN UNLIKELY STORY.

CHAPTER XVII.
THE DOCTOR IS CONVINCED.

CHAPTER XVIII.
STRUCK BY A COMET.

CHAPTER XIX.
I DISCOVER THE SINGER.

CHAPTER XX.
A WONDERFUL REVELATION.

CHAPTER XXI.
A LITTLE ANCIENT HISTORY.

CHAPTER XXII.
AGAIN THE MOON.

CHAPTER XXIII.
WE SEARCH FOR MONA.

CHAPTER XXIV.
THE PICTURE TELEGRAPH.

CHAPTER XXV.
AN UNSATISFACTORY LOVER.

CHAPTER XXVI.
AN ENVIABLE CONDITION.

CHAPTER XXVII.
THE CHILDREN'S DAY.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
BUSINESS ETHICS.

CHAPTER XXIX.
THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM.

CHAPTER XXX.
ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.

CHAPTER XXXI.
WINE-DRINKING IN MARS.

CHAPTER XXXII.
A GENUINE ACCIDENT.

CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE EMANCIPATION OF WOMAN.

CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE EMANCIPATION OF MAN.

CHAPTER XXXV.
AN EXALTED THEME.

CHAPTER XXXVI.
VANQUISHED AGAIN BY A VOICE.

CHAPTER XXXVII.
UNTIL THE DAY BREAK.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
AND THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY.

CHAPTER XXXIX.
A SUDDEN RETURN TO THE EARTH.
POSTSCRIPT.

DAYBREAK: A ROMANCE OF AN OLD WORLD

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 number of hurried visits during my stay in Europe, but we have seen more of each other in the course of this voyage than for two long years. I trust you will not be offended when I say I hoped to find you changed. I have never spoken to you about this, even in my letters, and it is only because I am a little older now, and because my love for you has increased with every day of life, that I have the courage to frame these words."
"Do tell me what it is," I exclaimed, thoroughly alarmed at her serious manner. "Let me know how I have disappointed you and I will make what amends I can. Tell me the nature of the change you have been looking for and I will begin the transformation at once, before my character becomes fixed."
"Alas! and if it should be already fixed," she replied, without a smile. "Perhaps it is unreasonable in me to expect it in you as a man, when you had so little of it as a boy; but I used to think it was only shyness then, and always hoped you would outgrow that and gradually become an ideal lover. You have such a multitude of other perfections, however, that it may be nature has denied you this so that I may be reminded that you are human. If the choice had been left with me I think I should have preferred to leave out some other