Its ribs of gorgeous light spread themselves from one side of heaven
to the other and were joined together by webs of a thousand colours,
of such stuff as the rainbow, only a hundred times more beautiful. The
reflection from these rainbow webs lay upon the earth, divided by
and sometimes mingled with those from the bars of light, and made it
glorious.

"All these things I saw from an eminence on which I stood that rose
between the rivers at the head of the plain. At length, overcome by the
splendour, drunk as it were with beauty, I turned to look behind me, and
there, quite close, in the midst of stately gardens with terraces and
trees and fountains and banks of flowers, I saw a house, and--now indeed
you will laugh--for so far as I can recollect it, in general style it
was not unlike our own; that is to say, its architecture seemed to be
more or less Elizabethan. If one who was acquainted with Elizabethan
buildings had gone to that land and built a house from memory, but
with more beautiful materials, he might have produced such a one as I
imagined in my dream.

"Presently from the door of the house emerged two figures. One of these
was my brother George and the other, Barbara, was our baby grown to a
little fair-haired child. The child perceived me first and ran to
me through the flowers. It leapt into my arms and kissed me. Then my
brother came and said--I do not mean he spoke, but his meaning was
conveyed to me:

"'You see, we are making your home ready. We hope that you will like it
when you come, but if not you can change it as you wish.'

"Then I woke up, or went to sleep--I do not know which."