offer; that when gathered in assembly they always acted in that
stubborn manner.

Nekhludoff then asked him to summon for the following day several of
the most intelligent peasants to whom he would explain his project at
greater length.

Immediately after the departure of the smiling clerk, Nekhludoff heard
angry women's voices interrupted by the voice of the clerk. He
listened.

"I have no more strength. You want the cross on my breast," said an
exasperated voice.

"She only ran in," said another voice. "Give her up, I say. Why do you
torture the beast, and keep the milk from the children?"

Nekhludoff walked around the house where he saw two disheveled women,
one of whom was evidently pregnant, standing near the staircase. On
the stairs, with his hands in the pockets of his crash overcoat, stood
the clerk. Seeing their master, the women became silent and began to
arrange their 'kerchiefs, which had fallen from their heads, while the
clerk took his hands out of his pockets and began to smile.

The clerk explained that the peasants purposely permitted their
calves, and even cows, to roam over the master's meadows. That two
cows belonging to these women had been caught on the meadow and driven
into an inclosure. The clerk demanded from the women thirty copecks
per cow, or two days' work.