“Why, don’t we respect you?” said an old man.  “We are obliged to respect you.  Why, you could twist us into a rope; we are in your hands.”

“Eh, my friend, it’s impossible to do you.  It’s you who are ever ready to do us,” said the steward.

“Do you, indeed.  Didn’t you smash my jaw for me, and I got nothing for it?  No good going to law with the rich, it seems.”

“You should keep to the law.”

A tournament of words was apparently going on without those who took part in it knowing exactly what it was all about; but it was noticeable that there was bitterness on one side, restricted by fear, and on the other a consciousness of importance and power.  It was very trying to Nekhludoff to listen to all this, so he returned to the question of arranging the amount and the terms of the rent.

“Well, then, how about the land?  Do you wish to take it, and what price will you pay if I let you have the whole of it?”

“The property is yours:  it is for you to fix the price.”  Nekhludoff named the price.  Though it was far below that paid in the neighbourhood, the peasants declared it too high, and began bargaining, as is customary among them.  Nekhludoff thought his offer would be accepted with pleasure, but no signs of pleasure were visible.

One thing only showed Nekhludoff that his offer was a profitable one to the peasants.  The question as to who would rent the land, the whole commune or a special society, was put, and a violent dispute arose among those peasants who were in favour of excluding the weak and those not likely to pay the rent regularly, and the peasants who would have to be excluded on that score.  At last, thanks to the steward, the amount and the terms of the rent were fixed, and the peasants went down the hill towards their villages, talking noisily, while Nekhludoff and the steward went into the office to make up the agreement.  Everything was settled in the way Nekhludoff wished and expected it to be.  The peasants had their land 30 per cent. cheaper than they could have got it anywhere in the district, the revenue from the land was diminished by half, but was more than sufficient for Nekhludoff, especially as there would be money coming in for a forest he sold, as well as for the agricultural implements, which would be sold, too.  Everything seemed excellently arranged, yet he felt ashamed of something.  He could see that the peasants, though they spoke words of thanks, were not satisfied, and had expected something greater.  So it turned out that he had deprived himself of a great deal, and yet not done what the peasants had expected.

The next day the agreement was signed, and accompanied by several old peasants, who had been chosen as deputies, Nekhludoff went out, got into the steward’s elegant equipage (as the driver from the station had called it), said “good-bye” to the peasants, who stood shaking their heads in a dissatisfied and disappointed manner, and drove off to the station.  Nekhludoff was dissatisfied with himself without knowing why, but all the time he felt sad and ashamed of something.