Daniel rode up out of the mud and into the apple-garden, then dismounted and tethered the horse to the low branch of an apple tree – a garland of white flowers. The petals were coming down from the apple-blossoms like snow. Daniel swung round Isaac in a wide Copernican arc, peering at him through the fragrant blizzard. Isaac's hair had always been pale, and prematurely streaked with gray, but in the year since Daniel had seen him, he'd gone almost entirely silver. The hair fell about him like a hood – as Daniel came around to the front, he was expecting to see Isaac's protruding eyes, but instead he saw two disks of gold looking back at him, as if Isaac's eyes had been replaced by five-guinea coins. Daniel must have shouted, because Isaac said, 'Don't be alarmed. I fashioned these spectacles myself. I'm sure you know that gold is almost infinitely malleable – but did you know that if you pound it thin enough, you can see through it? Try them.' He took the spectacles off with one hand while clamping the other over his eyes. Daniel bobbled them because they were lighter than he'd expected – they had no lenses, just membranes of gold stretched like drum-heads over wire frames. As he raised them towards his face, their color changed.