Pagina 430 de 2288

Nothing mortified Levin so much as that tone. But it was the tone

common to all the bailiffs he had ever had. They had all taken up

that attitude to his plans, and so now he was not angered by it,

but mortified, and felt all the more roused to struggle against

this, as it seemed, elemental force continually ranged against

him, for which he could find no other expression than "as God

wills."

"If we can manage it, Konstantin Dmitrievitch," said the bailiff.

"Why ever shouldn't you manage it?"

"We positively must have another fifteen laborers. And they don't

turn up. There were some here today asking seventy roubles for

the summer."

Levin was silent. Again he was brought face to face with that

opposing force. He knew that however much they tried, they could

not hire more than forty-thirty-seven perhaps or

thirty-eight-laborers for a reasonable sum. Some forty had been

taken on, and there were no more. But still he could not help

struggling against it.