The city of Strelsau is partly old and partly new.

Spacious modern boulevards and residential quarters surround and embrace the narrow, tortuous, and picturesque streets of the original town.

In the outer circles the upper classes live; in the inner the shops are situated; and, behind their prosperous fronts, lie hidden populous but wretched lanes and alleys, filled with a poverty-stricken, turbulent, and (in large measure) criminal class.

These social and local divisions corresponded, as I knew from Sapt's information, to another division more important to me.

The New Town was for the King; but to the Old Town Michael of Strelsau was a hope, a hero, and a darling.
The scene was very brilliant as we passed along the Grand Boulevard and on to the great square where the Royal Palace stood.