We have calculated the energy per site for the ground state of antiferromagnetic quantum spin chain with variable range exchange $h(j-k)propto sinh^2 a sinh^{-2}a(j-k)$ in the framework of the asymptotic Bethe ansatz. By expanding it in powers of $e^{-2a}$, we have confirmed the value of the second-neighbor correlator for the model with nearest-neighbor exchange obtained earlier in the atomic limit of the Hubbard chain.