Page 423 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

behind, urging their horses on with a last effort close to
the winning post. From the center and outside of the ring
all were crowding to the winning post, and a group of
soldiers and officers of the horse-guards were shouting

loudly their delight at the expected triumph of their officer
and comrade. Vronsky moved into the middle of the
crowd unnoticed, almost at the very moment when the
bell rang at the finish of the race, and the tall,
mudspattered horse-guard who came in first, bending over
the saddle, let go the reins of his panting gray horse that
looked dark with sweat.
The horse, stiffening out its legs, with an effort stopped
its rapid course, and the officer of the horse-guards looked
round him like a man waking up from a heavy sleep, and
just managed to smile. A crowd of friends and outsiders
pressed round him.
Vronsky intentionally avoided that select crowd of the
upper world, which was moving and talking with discreet
freedom before the pavilions. He knew that Madame
Karenina was there, and Betsy, and his brother’s wife, and
he purposely did not go near them for fear of something
distracting his attention. But he was continually met and
stopped by acquaintances, who told him about the
previous races, and kept asking him why he was so late.

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