of carriages and were borne
down the wind as the horses quickened their trot. Heads were stretched
out in Gaga's direction; Maria Blond and Tatan Nene turned round and
knelt on the seat while they leaned over the carriage hood, and the air
was full of questions and cutting remarks, tempered by a certain obscure
admiration. Gaga had known her! The idea filled them all with respect
for that far-off past.

"Dear me, I was young then," continued Gaga. "But never mind, I remember
it all. I saw her pass. They said she was disgusting in her own house,
but, driving in her carriage, she WAS just smart! And the stunning tales
about her! Dirty doings and money flung about like one o'clock! I don't
wonder at all that she's got a fine place. Why, she used to clean out a
man's pockets as soon as look at him. Irma d'Anglars still in the land
of the living! Why, my little pets, she must be near ninety."

At this the ladies became suddenly serious. Ninety years old! The deuce,
there wasn't one of them, as Lucy loudly declared, who would live to
that age. They were all done for. Besides, Nana said she didn't want
to make old bones; it wouldn't be amusing. They were drawing near their
destination, and the conversation was interrupted by the cracking of
whips as the drivers put their horses to their best paces. Yet amid all
the noise Lucy continued talking and, suddenly changing the subject,
urged Nana to come to town with them all to-morrow. The exhibition was
soon to close, and the ladies must really return to Paris, where the
season was surpassing their expectations. But Nana was obstinate. She
loathed Paris; she wouldn't set foot there yet!

"Eh, darling, we'll stay?" she said, giving Georges's knees a squeeze,
as though Steiner were of no account.

The carriages had pulled up abruptly, and in some surprise the company
got out on some waste ground at the bottom of a small hill. With his
whip one of the drivers had to point them out the ruins of the old Abbey
of Chamont where they lay hidden among trees. It was a great sell! The
ladies voted them silly. Why, they were only a heap of old stones with
briers growing over them and part of a tumble-down tower. It really
wasn't worth coming a couple of leagues to see that! Then the driver
pointed out to them the countryseat, the park of which stretched away
from the abbey, and he advised them to take a little path and follow the
walls surrounding it. They would thus make the tour of the p