In the front of her box stood the Countess Muffat. Very erect and
closely wrapped up in her furs, she stared at the gathering shadows and
waited for the crowd to pass away.
In the passages the people were jostling the attendants, who hardly knew
what to do among the tumbled heaps of outdoor raiment. Fauchery and La
Faloise had hurried in order to see the crowd pass out. All along the
entrance hall men formed a living hedge, while down the double staircase
came slowly and in regular, complete formation two interminable throngs
of human beings. Steiner, in tow of Mignon, had left the house among
the foremost. The Count de Vandeuvres took his departure with Blanche
de Sivry on his arm. For a moment or two Gaga and her daughter seemed
doubtful how to proceed, but Labordette made haste to go and fetch them
a conveyance, the door whereof he gallantly shut after them. Nobody saw
Daguenet go by. As the truant schoolboy, registering a mental vow to
wait at the stage door, was running with burning cheeks toward the
Passage des Panoramas, of which he found the gate closed, Satin,
standing on the edge of the pavement, moved forward and brushed him with
her skirts, but he in his despair gave her a savage refusal and vanished
amid the crowd, tears of impotent desire in his eyes.
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