The general, the colonel, and even the major had their uniforms completely unbuttoned, so that their noble silk suspenders showed slightly, while the gentlemen officers, observing due respect, remained buttoned up except for the bottom three buttons.
"We can have a look at her now," said the general. "Please, my good fellow," he added, turning to his aide-de-camp, a rather adroit young man of pleasant appearance, "tell them to bring the bay mare here! You'll see for yourselves." Here the general drew on his pipe and let the smoke out. "She still hasn't been well cared for-cursed little town, not a decent stable in it. The horse, puff, puff, is quite a decent one!"
"And have you, puff, puff, had her long, Your Excellency?" said Chertokutsky.
"Puff, puff, puff, well… puff, not so long. It's only two years since I brought her from the stud farm!"
"And was she broken when you got her, or did they break her here?"
"Puff, puff, pu, pu, pu… u… u… ff, here." Having said which, the general vanished completely in smoke.
Meanwhile, a soldier sprang out of the stable, the sound of hooves was heard, another finally appeared in a white coverall, with an enormous black mustache, leading by the bridle the twitching and shying horse, which, suddenly raising its head, all but raised the crouching soldier into the air along with his mustache. "Now, now, Agrafena Ivanovna!" he said as he led her to the porch.
The mare's name was Agrafena Ivanovna; strong and wild as a southern beauty, she drummed her hooves on the wooden porch and suddenly stood still.
The general, lowering his pipe, began looking at Agrafena Ivanovna with a contented air. The colonel himself stepped down from the porch and took Agrafena Ivanovna by the muzzle. The major himself patted Agrafena Ivanovna on the leg. The rest clucked their tongues.
Chertokutsky got down from the porch and went behind her.
The soldier, standing at attention and holding the bridle, stared straight into the visitor's eyes, as if he wished to jump into them.
"Very, very good," said Chertokutsky, "a shapely horse! How's her gait, Your Excellency, if I may ask?"
"Her gait is good, only… devil knows… that fool of a vet gave her some sort of pills, and she's been sneezing for two days now."