Bartley said it seemed to him a fair rent; still, he should like to know why the present tenant declined.
"Perhaps you had better ask him," said Walter.

"I should wish you to hear both sides." "That is like you," said Bartley; "but where does the shoe pinch, in your opinion ?" "Well, he tells me, in sober earnest, that he loses money by it as it is; but when he is drunk he tells his boon companions he has made seven thousand pounds here.

He has one or two grass fields that want draining, but I offer him the pipes; he has only got to lay them and cut the drains.

My opinion is that he is the slave of habit; he is so used to make an unfair profit out of these acres that he can not break himself of it and be content with a fair one." "I dare say you have hit it," said Bartley.

"Well, I am fond of farming; but I don't live by it, and a moderate profit would content me." Walter said nothing.