Now the Grand
Prix was about to be run, and the fever of the crowd increased, and they
were tortured by anxiety and stamped and swayed as though they wanted to
make the minutes fly faster. At this ultimate moment the betting world
was surprised and startled by the continued shortening of the odds
against Nana, the outsider of the Vandeuvres stables. Gentlemen kept
returning every few moments with a new quotation: the betting was thirty
to one against Nana; it was twenty-five to one against Nana, then twenty
to one, then fifteen to one. No one could understand it. A filly beaten
on all the racecourses! A filly which that same morning no single
sportsman would take at fifty to one against! What did this sudden
madness betoken? Some laughed at it and spoke of the pretty doing
awaiting the duffers who were being taken in by the joke. Others looked
serious and uneasy and sniffed out something ugly under it all. Perhaps
there was a "deal" in the offing. Allusion was made to well-known
stories about the robberies which are winked at on racecourses, but
on this occasion the great name of Vandeuvres put a stop to all such
accusations, and the skeptics in the end prevailed when they prophesied
that Nana would come in last of all.
Pages:
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589