someone was snoring in the room. Whereupon after some searching they
perceived Bordenave, who, since taking his coffee, must have comfortably
installed himself there. He was sleeping on two chairs, his head propped
on the edge of the bed and his leg stretched out in front. Nana
thought him so funny with his open mouth and his nose moving with each
successive snore that she was shaken with a mad fit of laughter. She
left the room, followed by Daguenet and Georges, crossed the dining
room, entered the drawing room, her merriment increasing at every step.

"Oh, my dear, you've no idea!" she cried, almost throwing herself into
Rose's arms. "Come and see it."

All the women had to follow her. She took their hands coaxingly and drew
them along with her willy-nilly, accompanying her action with so frank
an outburst of mirth that they all of them began laughing on trust. The
band vanished and returned after standing breathlessly for a second or
two round Bordenave's lordly, outstretched form. And then there was
a burst of laughter, and when one of them told the rest to be quiet
Bordenave's distant snorings became audible.

It was close on four o'clock. In the dining room a card table had just
been set out, at which Vandeuvres, Steiner, Mignon and Labordette had
taken their seats. Behind them Lucy and Caroline stood making bets,
while Blanche, nodding with sleep and dissatisfied about her night, kept
asking Vandeuvres at intervals of five minutes if they weren't going
soon. In the drawing room there was an attempt at dancing. Daguenet was
at the piano or "chest of drawers," as Nana called it. She did not
want a "thumper," for Mimi would play as many waltzes and polkas as
the company desired. But the dance was languishing, and the ladies were
chatting drowsily together in the corners of sofas. Suddenly, however,
there was an outburst of noise. A band of eleven young men had arrived
and were laughing loudly in the anteroom and crowding to the drawing
room. They had just come from the ball at the Ministry of the Interior
and were in evening dress and wore various unknown orders. Nana was
annoyed at this riotous entry, called to the waiters who still remained
in the kitchen and ordered them to throw these individuals out of
doors. She vowed that she had never seen any of them before. Fauchery,
Labordette, Daguenet and the rest of the men had all come forward in
order to enforce respectful behavior toward their hostess. Big words