until the day after to-morrow,
but their windows were unshuttered and gaily decorated, to add to the
brightness of the scene. Strange old shops displayed the marvelous,
chased silver, the jeweled weapons and gorgeous embroideries from the
far eastern provinces of Rhaetia; splendid new shops rivaled the best
of the Rue de la Paix in Paris. Gray medieval buildings made wonderful
backgrounds for drapery of crimson and blue, and garlands of blazing
flowers. Modern buildings of purple-red porphyry and the famous
honey-yellow marble of Rhaetia, fluttered with flags; and above all,
in the heart of the town, between old and new, rose the Castle Rock.
Virginia's pulses beat, as she saw the home of Leopold for the first
time, and she was proud of its picturesqueness, its riches and
grandeur, as if she had some right in it, too.

Ancient, narrow streets, and wide new streets, were alike arbors of
evergreen and brilliant blossoms. Prosperous citizens in their best,
inhabitants of the poorer quarters, and stalwart peasants from the
country, elbowed and pushed each other good-naturedly, as they
streamed toward the Leopoldplatz. Handsome people they were, the girl
thought, her heart warming to them; and to her it seemed that the very
air tingled with expectation. She believed that she could feel the
magnetic thrill in it, even if she were blind and deaf, and could hear
or see nothing of the excitement.

"We must be in time--we shall be in time!" she said to herself. "I
shall lean out from my window and see him."

But at the hotel, which they did finally reach, the girl had to bear a
keen disappointment. With many apologies the landlord explained that
he had done his very best for Lady Mowbray's party when he received
their letter a fortnight before, and that he had allotted them a good
suite, with balconies overlooking the river at the back of the
house--quite a venetian effect, as her ladyship would find. But, as to
rooms at the front, impossible! All had been engaged fully six weeks
in advance. One American millionaire was paying a thousand gulden
solely for an hour's use of a small balcony, to-day for the unveiling
and again to-morrow for the street procession. Virginia was pale with
disappointment. "Then I'll go down into the crowd and take my chance
of seeing something," she said to her mother, when they had been shown
into handsome rooms, satisfactory in everything but situation. "I must
hurry, or there'll be no hope."

"M