I shan't tell you any more, Marechal." "Oh, how can it hurt, Monsieur le Comte, at this time o' day ?" rejoined the other with the humble smile befitting an accomplice.

"I had to attract the people so as to lay your two thousand louis." At this Vandeuvres silenced him.

But as he was going off Marechal remembered something and was sorry he had not questioned him about the shortening of the odds on the filly.

It would be a nice business for him if the filly stood a chance, seeing that he had just laid fifty to one about her in two hundreds.
Nana, though she did not understand a word of what the count was whispering, dared not, however, ask for new explanations.

He seemed more nervous than before and abruptly handed her over to Labordette, whom they came upon in front of the weighing-in room.
"You'll take her back," he said.