Every few seconds an equestrian rode by, and a
swarm of people on foot rushed in a scared way among the carriages. On
the green the far-off rolling sound which issued from the avenues in the
Bois died out suddenly in dull rustlings, and now nothing was audible
save the hubbub of the ever-increasing crowds and cries and calls and
the crackings of whips in the open. When the sun, amid bursts of wind,
reappeared at the edge of a cloud, a long ray of golden light ran across
the field, lit up the harness and the varnished coach panels and
touched the ladies' dresses with fire, while amid the dusty radiance the
coachmen, high up on their boxes, flamed beside their great whips.
Labordette was getting out of an open carriage where Gaga, Clarisse and
Blanche de Sivry had kept a place for him. As he was hurrying to cross
the course and enter the weighing enclosure Nana got Georges to call
him. Then when he came up:
"What's the betting on me?" she asked laughingly.
She referred to the filly Nana, the Nana who had let herself be
shamefully beaten in the race for the Prix de Diane and had not even
been placed in April and May last when she ran for the Prix des Cars
and the Grande Poule des Produits, both of which had been gained by
Lusignan, the other horse in the Vandeuvres stable.
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