“Very often. I was to pay him a pension, and he intended to remove to the town; but he could not leave the place, and so we all lived together until his death. My mother is still alive. You may have seen her on the alp: she is always wandering about there.”
“Was your father obliged to ask the consent of your landlord when he resigned?”
“He was obliged to get the consent of government, and I had to pay the usual fine of five per cent. of the value of my house and ground.”
“Then you have no lease?”
“Lease? No, we have no lease.”
“And your land is hereditary in your family?”
“Yes; we have the usual taxes to pay, and we have fines in cases of death, succession, or exchange of land.”
“Could you sell your property if you wished it?”
“No doubt—if I obtained the consent of government; but who would sell their land and be without house or home?”
“I suppose it is always the eldest son who inherits?”