long, thick hair of a colour something between bronze and grey. A broad
band of metal looking like light gold passed round the upper part of his
forehead, and from under this the hair fell in gentle waves to below his
shoulders.

For a few moments Zaidie and Redgrave stared about them in frank and
silent wonder. They were standing in a broad street running in a
straight line to what seemed to be several miles along the edge of a
city of crystal. It was lined with double rows of trees with beds of
brilliantly coloured flowers between them. From this street others went
off at right angles and at regular intervals. The roof of the city
appeared to be composed of an infinity of domes of enormous extent,
supported by tall clusters of slender pillars standing at the street
corners. The general level of the roof seemed about three hundred feet
above the ground, and the summits of the domes some fifty feet higher.

The houses, which were all square, were, as a rule, about forty feet
high. The roofs were covered with gardens and shrubberies, from which
creepers, bearing brillantly coloured leaves and flowers, hung down
about the windows in carefully arranged festoons. The walls were
composed of the opaque mica-like glass, relieved by pillars and arched
doorways and windows. The windows, of French form, were of clear glass,
and mostly stood open. A sweet, cool zephyr of hardly perceptible
strength appeared to be blowing along the street and over the house-tops
and in the vast airy space above the roofs.

Brightly plumaged birds were flitting about among the branches of giant
trees, and keeping up a perpetual chorus of song.

Presently their host touched Redgrave on the shoulder and pointed to a
four-wheeled car of light framework and exquisite design, containing
seats for four besides the driver, or guide, who sat behind. He held out
his hand to Zaidie, and handed her to one of the front seats just as an
Earth-born gentleman might have done. Then he motioned to Redgrave to
sit beside her, and mounted behind them.

The car immediately began to move silently, but with considerable speed,
along the left-hand side of the outer street, which, like all the
others, was divided by narrow strips of russet-coloured grass and
flowering shrubs.

In a few minutes it swung round to the right, crossed the road, and
entered a magnificent avenue, which, after a run of some four miles,
ended in a vast, park-like square, measuring at least