"The stars! Do you know, little fellow, what you are chattering about? Those lights up there are not like the lanterns you see about you here. They are all worlds--every one of them much larger than this world with its thousands of cities--and in the midst of them we swing like a speck of dust. There is no above nor below. There are worlds on all sides of us--nothing but worlds, and there is no _end_ to them." "No, no!" cried Johannes in terror, "do not say so! I see little lights on a great, dark plain above me." "Yes, you can see nothing but little lights. If you gazed up all your life, you would see nothing else than little lights upon a dark plain above you. But you can, you _must_ know that the universe--in the midst of which this little clod with its pitiful swarm of dotards is as nothing--shall vanish into nothingness. So speak no more of 'the stars' as if they were but a few dozens. It is foolishness." Johannes was silenced. "Come on," said Pluizer. "Now we will go to see something cheerful." At intervals they were greeted by strains of music in lovely, lingering waves of sound. On a dark canal stood a large house, out of whose many tall windows the light was streaming brightly. A long line of carriages stood in front of it. The stamping of the horses rang with a hollow sound in the stillness of the night, and they were throwing "yeses" with their heads. The light sparkled on the silver trappings of the harness, and on the varnish of the vehicles. Indoors, it was dazzlingly bright. Johannes stood gazing, half-blinded, in the glare of hundreds of varicolored lights, of mirrors and flowers. Graceful figures glided past the windows, bowing to one another, laughing, and gesturing. Far back in the room moved richly dressed people, with lingering step or with rapid, swaying turns. A confused sound of laughter and of cheerful voices, sliding steps and rustling garments reached the street, borne upon the waves of that soft, entrancing music which Johannes had already heard from afar. In the street, close by the windows, stood a few dark figures, whose faces only--strange and dissimilar--were lighted by the splendor at which they were gazing so intently. "That is fine! That is splendid!" cried Johannes. He greatly enjoyed the sight of the color and light and the many flowers. "What is going on there? May we go in?" "Really, do you think this beautiful, too? Or perhaps you would prefer a rabbit-hole! Just look at the people--laughing, bowing, and glittering! See how dignified and spruce the men are, and how gay and smart the ladies. And how devoted they are to the dancing, as though it were the most important matter in the world."