and smiling. Maskull felt rather embarrassed at being embraced by a
man, but submitted to it; a sense of cool, pleasant languor passed
through him in the act.

"The stranger is red-blooded, then?"

He was startled by Panawe's speaking in English, and the voice too
was extraordinary. It was absolutely tranquil, but its tranquillity
seemed in a curious fashion to be an illusion, proceeding from a
rapidity of thoughts and feelings so great that their motion could
not be detected. How this could be, he did not know.

"How do you come to speak in a tongue you have never heard before?"
demanded Maskull.

"Thought is a rich, complex thing. I can't say if I am really
speaking your tongue by instinct, or if you yourself are translating
my thoughts into your tongue as I utter them."

"Already you see that Panawe is wiser than I am," said Joiwind gaily.

"What is your name?" asked the husband.

"Maskull."

"That name must have a meaning--but again, thought is a strange
thing. I connect that name with something--but with what?"

"Try to discover," said Joiwind.