SIGNS RELATING TO MARRIAGE  
What is called the Line of Marriage is that mark or marks, as the case may be, found on the side of the Mount under the fourth finger (1, Plate XVII.).
 
I will first proceed to give all the details possible about these lines, and then call my reader's attention to the other marks on the hand that qualify these Lines of Marriage, and further add a wealth of information regarding them.
 
The Line, or Lines, of Marriage may be found as very short marks almost on the very side of the hand, or they may appear as quite long lines rising from the side of the hand into the face of the Mount of Mercury, or, in some cases, going farther still into the hand itself.
 
Only the clearly formed lines relate to marriage, the short ones to deep affection, or marriage contemplated, but never entered into (2, Plate XVII.).
 
When the deep line is found lying close to the line of Heart, the marriage will take place early in life, but the other marks I am going to explain later will give more accurate dates as to when the event will occur.
 
For a happy marriage the lines on the Mount of[Pg 74] Mercury should be straight and clear, without breaks or irregularities of any kind (1, Plate XVII.).
 
 
Plate XVII. MARRIAGE LINES. THE LINE OF MARRIAGE. Plate XVII. MARRIAGE LINES. THE LINE OF MARRIAGE.
When the Line of Marriage curves or droops downwards (3, Plate XVII.), the person on whose hand this appears will outlive the other.
 
When the line turns upward in the reverse direction, the possessor is not likely ever to marry (4, Plate XVII.).[Pg 75]
 
When the line is clear and distinct, but has a lot of little lines dropping from it, it foreshadows trouble and anxiety in the marriage, but brought on by the delicacy and ill-health of the partner (5, Plate XVII.).
 
When the line has a curve at the end, and if a cross or line be found cutting into this curve (2, Plate XVIII.), the partner will die by accident or a sudden illness of some kind. But when the Marriage Line ends in a long, gradual curve into the Heart Line, the death of the partner will come about by gradual ill-health or illness of a very long duration.
 
When the line has an "island" at the beginning, then the marriage will be for a long time delayed, and the two persons will be much separated at the commencement of their married life.
 
When the "island" is found about the middle of the Marriage Line, some great trouble and separation will take place about the middle of the married life (3, Plate XVIII.).
 
When the "island" is found towards the end of the line, the marriage will most probably end in trouble and separation one from the other.
 
When the Line of Marriage divides into the form of a fork (4, Plate XVIII.), the two people will live apart from one another, but when the fork turns downwards towards the Line of Heart a legal separation may be anticipated (5, Plate XVIII.).
 
When this fork is more accentuated, and turns down more into the hand, divorce may be expected, and especially so if one end of this fork stretches across the hand in the direction of the Plain of Mars, or the Mount of Mars (5, Plate XVIII.).
 
In many cases a fine line may be found crossing the entire palm, from the Marriage Line, and in such a case[Pg 76] the greatest animosity and bitterness will enter into the fight for freedom and divorce. In such an example there is never any hope of reconciliation.
 
When the Line of Marriage is full of little islands, or linked like the loops of a chain, the subject should be warned not to marry at any time, as such a union would be full of the greatest unhappiness and continual separations.
 
When the line, which is otherwise well marked, appears about the centre to break in two, it foreshadows a fatality or break-up in an otherwise happy married life.
 
When the Line of Marriage itself, or an offshoot from it, goes into the hand, and joins or ascends upward with the Line of Sun, it promises that its possessor will marry some one of great wealth or distinction (6, Plate XVIII.).
 
When this above-mentioned line bends downward and cuts the Line of Sun, it denotes that the person on whose hand it is found will lose his position by the marriage he will make.
 
When any line from the top of the Mount of Mercury falls down into the Marriage Line, it shows that there will be great obstacles to overcome in whatever marriage the subject enters, but if the Line of Marriage is a good one, then such obst............