Page:Dead Souls - A Poem by Nikolay Gogol - vol2.djvu/255

Rh "Red Hill." On that account I would rather sacrifice other better lands than give it up. Tradition is for me sacred.'

'So you are ready to let him have other land?'

'Yes, if he hadn't behaved like this; but as far as I can see, he wants to bring it into court. Very well, we shall see which wins the case. Though it is not very clear on the map, there are old men still living who know about it.'

'H'm,' thought Tchitchikov, 'they are both a bit touchy.' But aloud he said: 'It seems to me that the business might be arranged amicably. Everything depends on the arbitrator. By letter …'

… 'that for you too it will be very advantageous to transfer, for instance, to my name all the dead souls that are still reckoned on the old census lists as belonging to your estates, so that I should pay the taxes for them. And to avoid giving any cause of offence, you would make the transfer by means of a regular deed of purchase as though the souls were living.'

'Well, upon my word!' thought Lyenitsyn, 'this is something very queer,' and he drew a little back, chair and all, for he was completely nonplussed.

'I have no doubt you will readily agree to this,' said Tchitchikov, 'for it is a transaction of precisely the class of which you have been speaking. It will be a private affair between