“Yes, I heard about him,” said the host reluctantly; “but I was going to tell you about my⁠ ⁠…”

So you heard about him. I bought him just as he was, without pedigree, without proof; but then I knew Voyéïkof, and I traced him. He was sired by Liubeznuï I . He was called Kholstomír. 264 He’d measure linen for you! On account of his spotting, he was given to the equerry at the Khrenovski stud; and he had him gelded, and sold him to the dealer. Aren’t any horses like him anymore, friend! Akh! “What a time that was! Akh! vanished youth!” he said, quoting the words of a gypsy song. He began to get wild. “ Ekh! that was a golden time! I was twenty-five. I had eighty thousand a year income; then I hadn’t a gray hair; all my teeth like pearls.⁠ ⁠… Whatever I undertook prospered. And yet all came to an end.⁠ ⁠…”