h, the judge is getting into his box. D'you
say it's Monsieur de Souvigny? You must have good eyesight--eh?--to be
able to tell what half a head is out of a fakement like that! Do hold
your tongue--the banner's going up. Here they are--'tenshun! Cosinus is
the first!"

A red and yellow banner was flapping in mid-air at the top of a mast.
The horses came on the course one by one; they were led by stableboys,
and the jockeys were sitting idle-handed in the saddles, the sunlight
making them look like bright dabs of color. After Cosinus appeared
Hazard and Boum. Presently a murmur of approval greeted Spirit, a
magnificent big brown bay, the harsh citron color and black of whose
jockey were cheerlessly Britannic. Valerio II scored a success as he
came in; he was small and very lively, and his colors were soft green
bordered with pink. The two Vandeuvres horses were slow to make their
appearance, but at last, in Frangipane's rear, the blue and white showed
themselves. But Lusignan, a very dark bay of irreproachable shape, was
almost forgotten amid the astonishment caused by Nana. People had not
seen her looking like this before, for now the sudden sunlight was
dyeing the chestnut filly the brilliant color of a girl's red-gold hair.
She was shining in the light like a new gold coin; her chest was deep;
her head and neck tapered lightly from the delicate, high-strung line of
her long back.

"Gracious, she's got my hair!" cried Nana in an ecstasy. "You bet you
know I'm proud of it!"

The men clambered up on the landau, and Bordenave narrowly escaped
putting his foot on Louiset, whom his mother had forgotten. He took
him up with an outburst of paternal grumbling and hoisted him on his
shoulder, muttering at the same time:

"The poor little brat, he must be in it too! Wait a bit, I'll show you
Mamma. Eh? Look at Mummy out there."

And as Bijou was scratching his legs, he took charge of him, too, while
Nana, rejoicing in the brute that bore her name, glanced round at the
other women to see how they took it. They were all raging madly. Just
then on the summit of her cab the Tricon, who had not moved till that
moment, began waving her hand and giving her bookmaker her orders above
the heads of the crowd. Her instinct had at last prompted her; she was
backing Nana.

La Faloise meanwhile was making an insufferable noise. He was getting
wild over Frangipane.

"I've an inspiration," he kept shouting. "Just look at Frangipane. Wh