something lacking."

"Yes?"

"You see, we left the earth-life, so suddenly--we were so poorly
prepared for this." His companion clasped his arm as if to be protected
from some impending danger. "We were boating on the lake, the boat
overturned, and here we are.... We were to have been married the next
day, but now--now what is our condition? We are not husband and wife;
neither, I suppose, can we be, for we were taught back in that world
from where we came, that there is no married condition here. Yet you
two are husband and wife, are you not?"

"Not yet," replied David, "but we expect to be."

"I don't understand; you seem to know; teach us. May we be married
here?"

David explained the principle of celestial marriage as it had been
revealed to them in earth-life, and contrasted that doctrine with what
was usually taught. "So you see," said he, "even if you had been married
on that day appointed in mortality, it would have been only until death
did you part. You have passed through death, and so, the contract
between you would have come to an end, and you would not now be husband
and wife."

"But you said that you two were to be married. How?"

"Had we been married in earth-life, it would have been for time and
eternity, because it would have been performed by the authority of the