'Very good, I will let you off three roubles; you shall pay me seventeen roubles yearly. Are you satisfied!' Slimak bowed to the ground and thought: 'What is he up to? He is not bargaining!' 'Now, Slimak,' continued the squire, 'I will make you another proposal. Do you know what Gryb paid me for the two acres he bought?' 'Seventy roubles.' 'Just so, and he paid for the surveyor and the lawyer. I will sell you those two acres for sixty roubles and let you off all expenses, so you would gain a clear twenty roubles against Gryb's bargain, But I make one condition, you must decide at once and without consulting your wife; to-morrow my conditions wouldn't be the same.' Slimak's eyes blazed; he fancied he saw quite clearly now that there was a conspiracy against him. 'That's not a handsome thing to offer, sir,' he said, with a forced smile; 'you yourself consult with the lady and the young gentleman.' 'There you are! Isn't he a finished idiot?' His brother-in-law tapped Slimak on the shoulder. 'Agree to it, my friend; you'll have the best of the bargain. Of course he agrees,' he said, turning to the squire. 'Well, Josef, will you buy it? Do you agree to my conditions?' 'I'm not such a fool,' thought Slimak, and aloud: 'It wouldn't be fair to buy it without my wife.' 'Very well, I'll let it to you. Give me your earnest-money and come for the receipt to-morrow. There you have the peasant, my democrat!' Slimak paid the ten roubles and glared at the retreating party. 'Ah! you'd like to cheat a peasant, but he has got too much sense! It's true, then, what Grochowski said about the land-distribution. Sixty roubles for a field worth seventy, indeed!' All the same he could not quite get rid of the thought that it might have been a straightforward offer. He felt hot all over and wanted to shout or run after the squire. At that moment the young man hastily turned back. 'Buy that field,' he said, quite out of breath; 'my brother-in-law would still consent if you asked him.' In an instant Slimak's distrust returned. 'No, sir; it wouldn't be fair.' 'Cattle!' murmured the democrat, and turned his back. The bargain had disappeared. 'Let's go home, boys,' and under his breath: 'Damn the aristocracy!' When they were nearing their home, the boys ran on ahead, for they were hungry. 'What is this Jendrek tells me? They wanted to sell you the land for sixty roubles?' 'That is so,' he replied, rather frightened; 'they are afraid of the new land-distributions. They are clever too! They knew all about my business beforehand, and the squire had set his brother-in-law on to me.' 'What! that fellow who spoke to me by the river?' 'That same fool. He gave Jendrek twenty kopeks and put my cap on my head, and he told me ten acres was a fortune.' 'A fortune? His brother-in-law has a thousand and says he hasn't enough! You did quite right not to buy the field; there is something shady about that business.'