Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/253

 in form. Her bones were slender, although her brisket showed powerfully; her breast was narrow, the crupper was rather tapering; and the legs, particularly the hind legs, considerably bowed. The muscles of the legs were not big; but, on the other hand, where the saddle rested the horse was extraordinarily wide, and this was particularly striking by reason of the firmness and the smallness of her belly. The bones of the legs below the knee seemed not thicker than a finger, seen from the front; they were extraordinarily large when seen sidewise. The whole steed, with the exception of the ribs, seemed squeezed in and lengthened out. But she had one merit that outweighed all her faults: she was a thoroughbred, had good blood,—which tells, as the English say. Her muscles, standing out under a network of veins, covered with a skin as smooth and soft as satin, seemed as solid as bone; her slender head, with prominent eyes, bright and animated, widened out at the septum into projecting nostrils with membrane which seemed suffused with blood. In her whole form and especially in her head there was an expression of something energetic and decided, and at the same time good-tempered. It was one of those creatures which do not speak for the single reason that the mechanical construction of their mouths does not permit of it.

Vronsky, at any rate, was convinced that she understood all of his thoughts while he was looking at her. As soon as he went to her she began to take long breaths, and, turning her prominent eyes so that the whites became suffused with blood, she gazed from the opposite side at the visitors, trying to shake off her muzzle, and dancing on her feet with elastic motion.

"You see how excited she is," said the Englishman.

"Whoa, my loveliest, whoa!" said Vronsky, approaching to soothe her; but the nearer he came the more nervous she grew, and only when he had caressed her head did she become tranquil. He could feel her muscles strain and tremble under her delicate, smooth skin. Vronsky smoothed her powerful neck, and put into