第557页 / 共2288页

She flew over it like a bird; but at the same instant Vronsky, to

his horror, felt that he had failed to keep up with the mare's

pace, that he had, he did not know how, made a fearful,

unpardonable mistake, in recovering his seat in the saddle. All

at once his position had shifted and he knew that something awful

had happened. He could not yet make out what had happened, when

the white legs of a chestnut horse flashed by close to him, and

Mahotin passed at a swift gallop. Vronsky was touching the ground

with one foot, and his mare was sinking on that foot. He just had

time to free his leg when she fell on one side, gasping

painfully, and, making vain efforts to rise with her delicate,

soaking neck, she fluttered on the ground at his feet like a shot

bird. The clumsy movement made by Vronsky had broken her back.

But that he only knew much later.