d under the
trees, till it spread on and on and attained its climax in the imperial
stand, where the empress herself had applauded. "Nana! Nana! Nana!" The
cry rose heavenward in the glorious sunlight, whose golden rain beat
fiercely on the dizzy heads of the multitude.

Then Nana, looming large on the seat of her landau, fancied that it was
she whom they were applauding. For a moment or two she had stood devoid
of motion, stupefied by her triumph, gazing at the course as it was
invaded by so dense a flood of people that the turf became invisible
beneath the sea of black hats. By and by, when this crowd had become
somewhat less disorderly and a lane had been formed as far as the
exit and Nana was again applauded as she went off with Price
hanging lifelessly and vacantly over her neck, she smacked her thigh
energetically, lost all self-possession, triumphed in crude phrases:

"Oh, by God, it's me; it's me. Oh, by God, what luck!"

And, scarce knowing how to give expression to her overwhelming joy, she
hugged and kissed Louiset, whom she now discovered high in the air on
Bordenave's shoulder.

"Three minutes and fourteen seconds," said the latter as he put his
watch back in his pocket.

Nana kept hearing her name; the whole plain was echoing it back to
her. Her people were applauding her while she towered above them in
the sunlight, in the splendor of her starry hair and white-and-sky-blue
dress. Labordette, as he made off, had just announced to her a gain of
two thousand louis, for he had put her fifty on Nana at forty to one.
But the money stirred her less than this unforeseen victory, the fame of
which made her queen of Paris. All the other ladies were losers. With
a raging movement Rose Mignon had snapped her sunshade, and Caroline
Hequet and Clarisse and Simonne--nay, Lucy Stewart herself, despite the
presence of her son--were swearing low in their exasperation at that
great wench's luck, while the Tricon, who had made the sign of the cross
at both start and finish, straightened up her tall form above them, went
into an ecstasy over her intuition and damned Nana admiringly as became
an experienced matron.

Meanwhile round the landau the crush of men increased. The band of
Nana's immediate followers had made a fierce uproar, and now Georges,
choking with emotion, continued shouting all by himself in breaking
tones. As the champagne had given out, Philippe, taking the footmen with
him, had run to the wine bars.