"Lord secretary?"
"What?"
"Is that true about this forest?"
"True. But you must write a petition as a whole commune."
"I will not subscribe," said Repa, who had the general peasant aversion to subscribing his name.
"No one will beg of thee. If thou wilt not subscribe, thou wilt not receive. Thy will."
Repa fell to scratching his head; the secretary, turning to the mayor and the councilman, said in an official tone,—
"It is true about the forest; but each one must surround his own part with a fence to avoid disputes."
"That's it; the fence will cost more than the forest is worth," put in Repa.
The secretary paid no attention to him.