s
an elaborate design in black and white, pointing out the merits of a
particular kind of soap called the Venus: a classical lady, holding
a looking-glass in one hand and a cake of this invaluable soap in the
other, was standing in a sphere surrounded by pointed rays, which was no
doubt intended to represent the most brilliant of the planets.

Fletcher sat down on the stool and took the receiver in his hand. As he
did so he had for one second the impression that the floor underneath
him gave way and that he was falling down a precipice. But before he had
time to realise what was happening the sensation of falling left him; he
shook himself as though he had been asleep, and for one moment a faint
recollection as though of the dreams of the night twinkled in his mind,
and vanished beyond all possibility of recall. He said to himself that
he had had a long and curious dream, and he knew that it was too late to
remember what it had been about. Then he opened his eyes wide and looked
round him.

He was standing on the slope of a hill. At his feet there was a kind of
green moss, very soft to tread on. It was sprinkled here and there with
light red, wax-like flowers such as he had never seen before. He was
standing in an open space; beneath him there was a plain covered with
what seemed to be gigantic mushrooms, much taller than a man. Above
him rose a mass of vegetation, and over all this was a dense, heavy,
streaming cloud faintly glimmering with a white, silvery light which
seemed to be beyond it.

He walked towards the vegetation, and soon found himself in the middle
of a wood, or rather of a jungle. Tangled plants grew on every side;
large hanging creepers with great blue flowers hung downwards. There was
a profound stillness in this wood; there were no birds singing and
he heard not the slightest rustle in the rich undergrowth. It was
oppressively hot and the air was full of a pungent, aromatic sweetness.
He felt as though he were in a hot-house full of gardenias and
stephanotis. At the same time the atmosphere of the place was pleasant
to him. It was neither strange nor disagreeable. He felt at home in this
green shimmering jungle and in this hot, aromatic twilight, as though he
had lived there all his life.

He walked mechanically onwards as if he were going to a definite spot of
which he knew. He walked fast, but in spite of the oppressive atmosphere
and the thickness of the growth he grew neither hot nor out of b