As he reached the building in which was his apartment he again hesitated and again walked on. An unaccountable impulse led him in the direction of the house, a few blocks away, in which his friend was to be married, and as he neared it he crossed the street and in the darkness of the late afternoon looked with eyes, half mocking, half amazed, at the long line of limousines which stretched from one end of the block to the other. At the corner he stopped. For some minutes he stood looking at the little group of people who made effort to press closer to the entrance of the awning which stretched from door to curbing, then turned to go, when he felt a hand touch him lightly on the arm. "If you will come up to the top of the steps you can see much better," he heard a voice say. "I've seen almost everybody go in. I just ran down to tell you." CHAPTER IV Turning, Van Landing looked into the little face upraised to his, then lifted his hat. She was so enveloped in the big coat which came to her heels that for half a moment he could not tell whether she was ten or twenty. Then he smiled. "Thank you," he said. "I don't know that I care to see. I don't know why I stopped." "Oh, but it is perfectly grand, seeing them is! You can see everything up there"--a little bare hand was waved behind her in the direction of the porch--"and nothing down here. And you looked like you wanted to see. There have been kings and queens, and princes and princesses, and dukes and duchesses, and sirs, and--" She looked up. "What's the lady name for sir? 'Tisn't siress, is it?" "I believe not." Van Landing laughed. "I didn't know there was so much royalty in town." "There is. They are royals--that kind of people." Her hand pointed in the direction of the house from which could be heard faint strains of music. "They live in palaces, and wave wands, and eat out of gold plates, and wear silk stockings in the morning, and--oh, they do everything that's splendid and grand and magnificent and--" "Do you think people are splendid and grand and magnificent because they live in palaces and wear--" "Goodness gracious!" The big blue eyes surveyed the speaker with uncertainty. "Are you one of them, too?" "One what?"