"I told you to fence it in."

"You give us the timber," said an unsightly little peasant. "When I
cut a joist last summer, intending to make a fence, you locked me up
for three months in the castle to feed the insects. There was a fence
for you!"

"Is that true?" asked Nekhludoff of the manager.

"Der erste dich im dorfe," said the manager in German. "He was caught
every year in the woods. You must learn to respect other people's
property."

"Do we not respect you?" said an old man. "We cannot help respecting
you, because you have us in your hands, and you are twisting us into
rope."

"If you would only abstain from doing wrong," said the manager. "It is
pretty hard to wrong you."

"And who battered my face last summer? Of course, there is no use
going to law with a rich man."

"You only keep within bounds of the law."

This was evidently a wordy tourney of which the participants hardly
knew the purpose. Nekhludoff tried to get back to business.

"Well, what do you say? Do you wish the land, and what price do you