Not long had I felt this consolation when both of us were in the shadow of a nobler and more mature personality. He came I knew not whence, and the suddenness of his appearance added to the awe I felt at once for his character. He was, I was certain, one of the sages of the community, so deeply had the centuries engraved their experience upon his face and spirit. There seemed to come from him even before he spoke or recognised our presence a benign and godlike influence, and I knew at once the greatness of his soul. There were the lines of long struggle and complete self-mastery upon the countenance like the curved stratification and cleavage of the older rocks. He had not to speak before I had surrendered myself entirely to his guidance. He who had seen so many hundreds of years pass over the earth and learned all the lessons they had to teach was the natural master of two such novices in life as we were. For I now felt that, however superior Thyriel was to myself in instincts and development and beauty of soul, she was completely overshadowed by this spirit of centuries. Yet when he spoke to us we felt that he had still the elasticity of youth about him; he had in his words and actions the rapid recoil of healthy tissues that have a long career before them yet, and in his faculties and ideas there was still the unlimited capacity of development. After explaining that he was to be the interpreter of this house beautiful for us, he led us by a maze of paths through the blossom and the verdure to an open space, from the centre of which rose a noble flight of steps flanked by porticoes and colonnades. These we ascended, resting at times on broad platforms, and looking out on the fairy scene that more and more unfolded itself to our eyes. At last we stood on the highest platform, not many hundred feet from the gleaming roof. He touched a spring here and there, and out of the tessellated floor came rests that moved automatically with the movements of the head and eyes; wherever I gazed as I reclined thither my rest wheeled round. This I afterwards discovered was managed by hidden springs in the groove in which the head rested. These were rests of observation, and the purpose was to allow of the whole energy and consciousness being directed into one channel, that of vision. The numberless easy methods of rest and motion that this people used would have certainly induced sloth and luxury but for their inherent energy of nature. To them these methods were but economisers of the time and power which might be spent on less routine work.