The command was grudgingly withdrawn.
A gasp—stillness, the extreme meta had been turned; then a restless, quivering sound, men, women, too agitated to shout, held their breath, but muttered and moved their feet—the blue! the blue gains; nay! the green is forging ahead—Ha! Ha! at the last moment in swung the blue, across the white line, one stride ahead of the green.
Then there rolled up a thunder of applause.
“The blue! the dear blue! the blue of the Augusta has it! Ye Gods be praised! I vow a pig to Eppona! The blue has it. All hail to the Augusta! to heaven’s blue!”
Domitian turned with a look of hate at his wife, and whispered:—
Nevertheless she shall come in second.
“NEVERTHELESS SHE SHALL COME IN SECOND.” Page 270.