Nana laughed a good deal at this
exceedingly sudden out-of-door declaration. She continued:
"I say, that's not what I'm after. You're making me forget that I want
to lay wagers. Georges, you see that bookmaker down there, a great
red-faced man with curly hair? He's got a dirty blackguard expression
which I like. You're to go and choose--Oh, I say, what can one choose?"
"I'm not a patriotic soul--oh dear, no!" La Faloise blurted out. "I'm
all for the Englishman. It will be ripping if the Englishman gains! The
French may go to Jericho!"
Nana was scandalized. Presently the merits of the several horses began
to be discussed, and La Faloise, wishing to be thought very much in
the swim, spoke of them all as sorry jades. Frangipane, Baron Verdier's
horse, was by The Truth out of Lenore. A big bay horse he was, who
would certainly have stood a chance if they hadn't let him get foundered
during training. As to Valerio II from the Corbreuse stable, he wasn't
ready yet; he'd had the colic in April. Oh yes, they were keeping that
dark, but he was sure of it, on his honor! In the end he advised Nana to
choose Hazard, the most defective of the lot, a horse nobody would have
anything to do with.
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