They went into the little yard in front of the shed.  A stable boy, spruce and smart in his holiday attire, met them with a broom in his hand, and followed them.  In the shed there were five horses in their separate stalls, and Vronsky knew that his chief rival, Gladiator, a very tall chestnut horse, had been brought there, and must be standing among them.  Even more than his mare, Vronsky longed to see Gladiator, whom he had never seen.  But he knew that by the etiquette of the race course it was not merely impossible for him to see the horse, but improper even to ask questions about him.  Just as he was passing along the passage, the boy opened the door into the second horse-box on the left, and Vronsky caught a glimpse of a big chestnut horse with white legs.  He knew that this was Gladiator, but, with the feeling of a man turning away from the sight of another man’s open letter, he turned round and went into Frou-Frou’s stall.

“The horse is here belonging to Mak...Mak...I never can say the name,” said the Englishman, over his shoulder, pointing his big finger and dirty nail towards Gladiator’s stall.

“Mahotin?  Yes, he’s my most serious rival,” said Vronsky.

“If you were riding him,” said the Englishman, “I’d bet on you.”

“Frou-Frou’s more nervous; he’s stronger,” said Vronsky, smiling at the compliment to his riding.

“In a steeplechase it all depends on riding and on pluck,” said the Englishman.

Of pluck—­that is, energy and courage—­Vronsky did not merely feel that he had enough; what was of far more importance, he was firmly convinced that no one in the world could have more of this “pluck” than he had.

“Don’t you think I want more thinning down?”

“Oh, no,” answered the Englishman.  “Please, don’t speak loud.  The mare’s fidgety,” he added, nodding towards the horse-box, before which they were standing, and from which came the sound of restless stamping in the straw.

He opened the door, and Vronsky went into the horse-box, dimly lighted by one little window.  In the horse-box stood a dark bay mare, with a muzzle on, picking at the fresh straw with her hoofs.  Looking round him in the twilight of the horse-box, Vronsky unconsciously took in once more in a comprehensive glance all the points of his favorite mare.  Frou-Frou was a beast of medium size, not altogether free from reproach, from a breeder’s point of view.  She was small-boned all over; though her chest was extremely prominent in front, it was narrow.  Her hind-quarters were a little drooping, and in her fore-legs, and still more in her hind-legs, there was a noticeable curvature.  The muscles of both hind- and fore-legs were not very thick; but across her shoulders the mare was exceptionally broad, a peculiarity specially striking now that she was lean from training.  The bones of her legs below the knees looked no thicker than a finger from in front, but were extraordinarily