After dinner Nekhludoff with difficulty seated the superserviceable clerk, and in order to make sure of himself and at the same time to confide to some one the thoughts uppermost in his mind, told him of his project and asked his opinion.  The clerk smiled, as though he had been thinking of the same thing, and was very glad to hear it, but in reality did not understand it, not because Nekhludoff did not express himself plainly enough, but because, according to this project, Nekhludoff deprived himself of advantages for the benefit of others, whereas the truth that every man strives to obtain advantages at the expense of others, was so firmly rooted in the clerk’s mind, that he thought that he misunderstood Nekhludoff when the latter said that the entire income of the land was to go into the community’s treasury.

“I understand.  So you will draw the interest on the capital?” he said, becoming radiant.

“No, no.  I transfer the land to them entirely.”

“In that case you will get no income?” asked the clerk and he ceased to smile.

“I relinquish that.”

The clerk sighed deeply, then began to smile again.  Now he understood.  He understood that Nekhludoff’s mind was not entirely sound, and he immediately tried to find a way of profiting by Nekhludoff’s project, and endeavored to so construe it that he might turn it to his own advantage.

When, however, he understood that there was no such opportunity, he ceased to take interest in the projects, and continued to smile only to please his master.  Seeing that the clerk could not understand him, Nekhludoff dismissed him from his presence, seated himself at the ink-stained table and proceeded to commit his project to paper.

The sun was already descending behind the unfolding lindens, and the mosquitos filled the room, stinging him.  While he was finishing his notes, Nekhludoff heard the lowing of cattle in the village, the creaking of the opening gates and the voices of the peasants who were coming to meet their master.  Nekhludoff told the clerk not to call them before the office, that he would go and meet them at any place in the village, and gulping down a glass of tea offered him by the clerk, he went to the village.

CHAPTER IV.

The crowd stood talking in front of the house of the bailiff, and as Nekhludoff approached, the conversation ceased and the peasants, like those of Kusminskoie, removed their caps.  It was a coarser crowd than the peasants of Kusminskoie, and almost all the peasants wore bast shoes and homespun shirts and caftans.  Some of them were bare-footed and only in their shirts.

With some effort Nekhludoff began his speech by declaring that he intended to surrender the land to them.  The peasants were silent, and there was no change in the expression of their faces.

“Because I consider,” said Nekhludoff, blushing, “that every man ought to have the right to use the land.”