strolled indolently up.

He could now perceive the colour of her skin--it was a vivid, yet
delicate mixture of carmine, white, and jale. The effect was
startlingly unearthly. With these new colors she looked like a
genuine representative of a strange planet. Her frame also had
something curious about it. The curves were womanly, the bones were
characteristically female--yet all seemed somehow to express a
daring, masculine underlying will. The commanding eye on her
forehead set the same puzzle in plainer language. Its bold,
domineering egotism was shot with undergleams of sex and softness.

She came to the river's edge and reviewed him from top to toe. "Now
you are built more like a man," she said, in her lovely, lingering
voice.

"You see, the experiment was successful," he answered, smiling gaily.

Oceaxe continued looking him over. "Did some woman give you that
ridiculous robe?"

"A woman did give it to me"--dropping his smile--"but I saw
nothing ridiculous in the gift at the time, and I don't now."

"I think I'd look better in it."

As she drawled the words, she began stripping off the skin, which
suited her form so well, and motioned to him to exchange garments.
He obeyed, rather shamefacedly, for he realised that the proposed
exchange was in fact more appropriate to his sex. He found the skin