On ten rows of chairs the toilets were
densely massed, and in the blithe open air their bright colors mingled
harmoniously. Chairs were scattered about, and as people met one another
friendly circles were formed, just as though the company had been
sitting under the trees in a public garden. Children had been allowed to
go free and were running from group to group, while over head the stands
rose tier above crowded tier and the light-colored dresses therein faded
into the delicate shadows of the timberwork. Nana stared at all these
ladies. She stared steadily and markedly at the Countess Sabine. After
which, as she was passing in front of the imperial stand, the sight
of Muffat, looming in all his official stiffness by the side of the
empress, made her very merry.
"Oh, how silly he looks!" she said at the top of her voice to
Vandeuvres. She was anxious to pay everything a visit. This small
parklike region, with its green lawns and groups of trees, rather
charmed her than otherwise. A vendor of ices had set up a large buffet
near the entrance gates, and beneath a rustic thatched roof a dense
throng of people were shouting and gesticulating. This was the
ring. Close by were some empty stalls, and Nana was disappointed at
discovering only a gendarme's horse there.
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