in it, yet beauty there was, though neither of a masculine nor of a feminine type, for it had the three essentials of beauty:  character, intelligence, and repose.  The skin was copper-coloured and strangely luminous, as if lighted from within.  The face was beardless, but the hair of the head was as long as a woman’s, and, dressed in a single plait, fell down behind as far as the ankles.  Ae possessed only two eyes.  That part of the turban which went across the forehead protruded so far in front that it evidently concealed some organ.

Maskull found it impossible to compute aer age.  The frame appeared active, vigorous, and healthy, the skin was clear and glowing; the eyes were powerful and alert—­ae might well be in early youth.  Nevertheless, the longer Maskull gazed, the more an impression of unbelievable ancientness came upon him—­aer real youth seemed as far away as the view observed through a reversed telescope.

At last he addressed the stranger, though it was just as if he were conversing with a dream.  “To what sex do you belong?” he asked.

The voice in which the reply came was neither manly nor womanly, but was oddly suggestive of a mystical forest horn, heard from a great distance.

“Nowadays there are men and women, but in the olden times the world was peopled by ‘phaens.’  I think I am the only survivor of all those beings who were then passing through Faceny’s mind.”

“Faceny?”

“Who is now miscalled Shaping or Crystalman.  The superficial names invented by a race of superficial creatures.”

“What’s your own name?”

“Leehallfae.”

“What?”

“Leehallfae.  And yours is Maskull.  I read in your mind that you have just come through some wonderful adventures.  You seem to possess extraordinary luck.  If it lasts long enough, perhaps I can make use of it.”

“Do you think that my luck exists for your benefit? ...  But never mind that now.  It is your sex that interests me.  How do you satisfy your desires?”

Leehallfae pointed to the concealed organ on aer brow.  “With that I gather life from the streams that flow in all the hundred Matterplay valleys.  The streams spring direct from Faceny.  My whole life has been spent trying to find Faceny himself.  I’ve hunted so long that if I were to state the number of years you would believe I lied.”

Maskull looked at the phaen slowly.  “In Ifdawn I met someone else from Matterplay—­a young man called Digrung.  I absorbed him.”

“You can’t be telling me this out of vanity.”

“It was a fearful crime.  What will come of it?”

Leehallfae gave a curious, wrinkled smile.  “In Matterplay he will stir inside you, for he smells the air.  Already you have his eyes....  I knew him....  Take care of yourself, or something more startling may happen.  Keep out of the water.”

“This seems to me a terrible valley, in which anything may happen.”