Now I want to see everybody--lords, and earls, and dukes, and deans, and
prime ministers, and everybody. Do you know them?"
"Yes, most of them, by sight," the stranger said slowly, and taking his
stand where he could see her as well as the passers-by, he told her this
was a lord, and this was Disraeli, and this a grand lady of fashion, and
this a famous beauty, and this a duchess, and that Prince Leopold.
It was a fortunate afternoon Bessie had chosen, for everybody was one in
the early June sunshine, and she enjoyed it immensely, and said out what
she thought; that titled ladies and grand dames were very ordinary
looking people after all, and that the fat old dowager who rode in a
coach and four, with powdered footman behind, and a face as red as a
beet, was coarse as any fish-woman and that old Dorothy would have
looked better on the satin cushions than this representative of English
aristocracy.
"I wonder what you would think of the queen," the stranger said; but
before Bessie could reply, there was a sudden murmur among the crowd,
and a buzz of expectancy, and then the princess appeared in view, riding
slowly, and bowing graciously to the right and to the left.
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