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As soon as the Lady was out of sight Ransoh his hair, to expel the breath froarette, to put his hands in his pockets, and in general, to go through all that ritual of relaxation which ainterview But he had no cigarettes and no pockets: nor indeed did he feel hi in Someone&039;s Presence which had descended on hi the very first moments of his conversation with the Lady did not disappear when he had left her It was, if anything, increased Her society had been, in soainst it, and her absence left him not to solitude but to a more formidable kind of privacy At first it was al the story, &039;There seemed no room&039; But later on, he discovered that it was intolerable only at certain moments - at just those moments in fact (symbolised by his impulse to smoke and to put his hands in his pockets) when a man asserts his independence and feels that now at last he&039;s on his own When you felt like that, then the very air seemed too crowded to breathe; a co you from a place which, nevertheless, you were unable to leave But when you gave in to the thing, gave yourself up to it, there was no burden to be borne It became not a load but a mediuold, which fed and carried you and not only poured into you but out fro way, it suffocated; taken the right way, it made terrestrial life see moments occurred pretty often But like a man who has a wound that hurts hiradually learns to avoid those positions, Ransoesture His day beca the course of the day he explored the island pretty thoroughly The sea was still calm and it would have been possible inislands by a e of this teo, and fro out on the open sea They were lying, or else very slowly drifting, in the neighbourhood of the huge green column which he had seen a few moments after his arrival in Perelandra He had an excellent view of this object at about a mile&039;s distance It was clearly a mountainous island The column turned out to be really a cluster of coluher than they were broad, rather like exaggerated doloht be truer to describe thenified to the height of ht mass did not, however, rise directly froh country, but with setation in thees, and even of steeper and narrower valleys which ran sos It was certainly land, real fixed land with its roots in the solid surface of the planet He could dimly make out the texture of true rock froreat desire to explore it It looked as if a landing would present no difficulties, and even the great ht turn out to be cliain that day Early nextfor a little and eaten his firstout towards the Fixed Land Suddenly he heard her voice behind him and looked round She had co her Her words had been words of greeting, but she showed no disposition to talk She ca island beside hio there," she said at last "May I go with you?" asked Ransom

"If you will," said the Lady "But you see it is the Fixed Land"

"That is why I wish to tread on it," said Ransoive ave a sudden exclamation of surprise and stared at him "Where, then, do you live in your world?" she asked "On the lands"

"But you said they are all fixed"

"Yes We live on the fixed lands"

For the first ti not quite unlike an expression of horror or disgust passed over her face "But what do you do during the nights?"

"During the nights?" said Ransom in bewilderment "Why, we sleep, of course"

"But where?"

"Where we live On the land"

She re that Ransoain When she did, her voice was hushed and once h the note of joy had not yet returned to it

"He has never bidden you not to," she said, less as a question than as a statement &039;

"No," said Ransom

"There can, then, ,be different laws in different worlds"

"Is there a law in your world not to sleep in a Fixed Land?"

"Yes," said the Lady "He does not wish us to dwell there

We may land on them and walk on them, for the world is ours But to stay there - to sleep and awake there: &039; she ended with a shudder

"You couldn&039;t have that law in our world," said Ranso lauds with us"

"How many of you are there?" asked the Lady suddenly Ransom found that he didn&039;t know the population of the Earth, but contrived to give her some idea of many millions He had expected her to be astonished, but it appeared that numbers did not interest her "How do you all find room on your Fixed Land?" she asked

"There is not one fixed land, butas the sea"

"How do you endure it?" she burst out "Almost half your world empty and dead Loads and loads of land, all tied down Does not the very thought of it crush you?"

"Not at all," said Ransoht of a world which was all sea like yours would make my people unhappy and afraid"

"Where will this end?" said the Lady, speaking rown so old in these last few hours that all my life before seems only like the ste out in every direction They are getting so wide apart that I can hardly bear it First to have learned that I walk froh But now it seeood is not the same in all worlds; that Maleldil has forbidden in one what He allows in another"

"Perhapsabout this," said Ransom rather feebly, for he was dismayed at what he had done

"It is not so," said she "Maleldil Himself has toldlands But He is not telling me why He has forbidden it to us"

"There&039;s probably soan Ransohter

"Oh, Piebald, Piebald," she said, still laughing "How often the people of your race speak!"

"I&039;m sorry," said Ransom, a little put out "What are you sorry for?"

"I am sorry if you think I talk too much"

"Too much? How can I tell ould be too much for you to talk?"

"In our world when they say a man talks much they mean they wish him to be silent"

"If that is what they h?" asked Ransohed, Piebald, because you ondering, as I was, about this lahich Maleldil hasto say about it and yetto say, though," said Ransom almost under his breath "At least," he added in a louder voice, "this forbidding is no hardship in such a world as yours"

"That also is a strange thing to say," replied the Lady "Who thought of its being hard? The beasts would not think It hard if I told theht to walk on their heads I as are joys It is not that whichinto "

"Soan Ranso," she said "For I think, Piebald, you do not know , by all means," said Ransom "If only we can find hilish, "By Jove! What was that?" She also had exclai star seemed to have streaked across the sky, far away on their left, and some seconds later an indeterminate noise reached their ears

"What was that?" he asked again, this ti has fallen out of Deep Heaven," said the Lady Her face shoonder and curiosity: but on Earth we so rarely see these emotions without some ade to hiht," said he "Hullo l What&039;s this?" The cale of their island were in le wave passed under their island and all was still again

"So has certainly fallen into the sea," said the Lady Then she resu had happened "It was to look for the King that I had resolved to go over today to the Fixed Land He is on none of these islands here, for I have searched theh up on the Fixed Land and looked about, then we should see a long way We could see if there are any other islands near us"

"Let us do this," said Ransom "If we can swim so far"

"We shall ride," said the Lady Then she knelt down on the shore - and such grace was in all her ave three low calls all on the same note At first no result was visible But soon Ranso rapidly towards them A moment later and the sea beside the island was atheir bodies, pressing upon one another to get nearer, and the nearest ones nosing the land They had not only the colour but the s and all were thick-set and powerful-looking They were very unlike any terrestrial species, for the base of the head was noticeably wider than the forerew thicker again towards the tail Without this tailward bulge they would have looked like giant tadpoles As it was, they suggested rather pot-bellied and narrow-chested oldti two of them But the moment she had done so the others all fell back for a few yards and the two successful candidates wheeled round and lay still with their tails to the shore, gentlytheir fins "Now, Piebald, like this," she said, and seated herself astride the narrow part of the right-hand fish Ransoreat head in front of hier of sliding off He watched his hostess She gave her fish a slight kick with her heels He did the sa out to sea at about six miles an hour The air over the water was cooler and the breeze lifted his hair In a world where he had as yet only swuave the ilanced back and saw the feathery and billowy er and olden Ahead, the fantastically shaped and coloured mountain dominated his whole field of vision He noticed with interest that the whole school of rejected fish were still with the in wide extended wings to left and right

"Do they always follow like this?" he asked

"Do the beasts not follow in your world?" she replied "We cannot ride more than two It would be hard if those we did not choose were not even allowed to follow"