He was surprised to see a star.
This drew his attention to the fact that the bright lighting of these rooms was due to a multitude of very faint glow lamps set about the cornices.

There were no windows.

And he began to recall that along all the vast chambers and passages he had traversed with Howard he had observed no windows at all.

Had there been windows?
There were windows on the street indeed, but were they for light?
Or was the whole city lit day and night for evermore, so that there was no night there?
And another thing dawned upon him.

There was no fireplace in either room.
Was the season summer, and were these merely summer apartments, or was the whole city uniformly heated or cooled?
He became interested in these questions, began examining the smooth texture of the walls, the simply constructed bed, the ingenious arrangements by which the labour of bedroom service was practically abolished.