It was a superb ride past! The laughter in the carriages had ceased, and faces were turned with an expression of curiosity.

The rival parties took stock of each other amid a silence broken only by the measured trot of the horses.

In the first carriage Maria Blond and Tatan Nene were lolling backward like a pair of duchesses, their skirts swelling forth over the wheels, and as they passed they cast disdainful glances at the honest women who were walking afoot.

Then came Gaga, filling up a whole seat and half smothering La Faloise beside her so that little but his small anxious face was visible.

Next followed Caroline Hequet with Labordette, Lucy Stewart with Mignon and his boys and at the close of all Nana in a victoria with Steiner and on a bracket seat in front of her that poor, darling Zizi, with his knees jammed against her own.
"It's the last of them, isn't it ?" the countess placidly asked Fauchery, pretending at the same time not to recognize Nana.
The wheel of the victoria came near grazing her, but she did not step back.